Casper surveyed the bar, turning slowly in his seat. He looked at the humans and the few people that he had transformed, and the people who were Synthetics already when they came in.
He noticed that one of the televisions was not playing sports, but seemed to be turned to a news channel. On closer inspection, it was a LIVE broadcast! He thought about testing the ring again. Transforming the current mayor of the city would probably call down the long arm of the cosmic law onto him, but transforming another person on the television would be another matter...
He had tried to transform people in a picture before, with no luck, and people in a newspaper article, with similar results.
He was able to transform his parents without being directly near them, or having line of sight. He could hear them, so he thought that might be the requirement, but he remembered the beach, and the large number of people he changed into rubber balloon animal people. There was no way he could individually hear every person on that beach. So, he thought, maybe he just needed a good idea of the location of the transformee. He had tried to change the neighbor's kid without looking, and that had not worked, so he definitely needed some sort of contact with the target.
This live news broadcast would be the perfect test. He could see and hear the broadcaster, but he didn't know where the studio was...maybe this wouldn't work out.
Casper watched the news for a bit, talking with Ashley about his thoughts on the capabilities of the ring.
"Ooh, that's a great idea!" Ashley exclaimed.
A minute or so later, the news anchor started reporting on a story within the city that Casper and Ashley lived, something about the community college football game with a college in the neighboring state.
Casper realized he had forgotten about that game, and missed his chance to transform the parents of the football team. No matter, he thought, there will be more games.
He started to pay more attention to the news broadcast, catching the last of what the anchor was saying.
"Let's go to Michelle, live at Lehrman Memorial Field, Michelle?" the news anchor asked.
"Thank you, Alice. Tonight at Lehrman Memorial Field, our own Metro Community College Bulls met the State Wildcats for the first game of the season..."
Casper realized that he knew exactly where Michelle the field reporter was, she was on the home team sideline benches at the field of his community college, and she was interviewing the coach, now a latex anthro bear balloon!
Perfect!
He fixed the image of the location, the field, and the reporter in his mind, concentrated on her words and her image on the TV, and pushed this out to the ring, again with the request to let the reporter's subconscious choose the rubber animal and color she would become. He watched, and for a minute, nothing happened. He was about to give up when Ashley put a hand on his, and said "Look!"
The latex ram man and rubber lizard woman watched as Michelle's skin became shiny, lightening to a peach color. Her body began to increase in size, straining her clothing, as her head began to change shape. Her ears became rounded and moved up to the top of her head, as her nose and mouth swelling and merging, teeth changing into tusks. Her fingers became stubby, and Casper had to assume her feet followed suit, as he could not see them in the frame. Just as her clothing would give way to her increasing size, they vanished, exposing her large bosom, latex breasts devoid of nipples, and Casper and Ashley could just see the top of her nozzle poking from her prodigious belly. Casper could not see her barcode, or between her thighs, but he knew that she was just as null as the rest of them down there. Standing naked in front of the camera, a latex balloon hippopotamus woman now interviewed a naked latex bear.
She kept her bracelets and her necklace, a subdued affair, simple chain and pendant that complemented her new color quite well.
The whole time the change occurred, neither her, nor the rubber bear coach, nor anyone else at the bar seemed to notice the change.
519.
The hippo woman finished her interview and the broadcast shifted back to the anchor in the studio.
Casper then tried to change the news anchors into Synthetics, but again, it did not seem to work. He reasoned that this was due to him not knowing where the studio was located, or not having been there.
"Interesting," Ashley said, "funny that she became a big hippo woman, I would think that most women would want to be something thin."
"Well," Casper admitted, "not everyone views large animals as fat. Hippos can be pretty too, I suppose."
He ordered another round of drinks for he and Ashley, this time asking for the golden colored liquid that he had seen the cobra man drinking. When it came, it was thick and sniffing it, Casper did find out it was motor oil or some derivative. He sipped the drink, feeling the slick liquid coat his tongue and mouth, numbing them ever so slightly, but not unpleasantly. Ashley sniffed her drink, grimacing at the odor, then sipped it, grimacing again.
"Blech," she exclaimed, pushing the drink away from her, "no sir, I don't like that one."
She flagged down the shiny finch waitress, and a few minutes later the rubber bird-girl brought a pink colored drink in a martini glass. Casper could smell the ammonia scent from it, and saw what looked like chunks of plastic fruit floating in the glass. Ashley sipped at this, finding it to her liking and smiled.
"Hey, Ashley," Casper said, licking his lips to clear them of the viscous fluid, "would you be willing to help me test the ring further?"
"Sure," she said, "what did you have in mind?"
"Well," he continued, "I'm curious if the ring can alter people who have already been changed into Synthetics. I mean, Tommy and Lana were human, used magic rings to become what they were before I changed them, so I don't think having a ring makes you immune to another ring. So what if someone got a ring just like mine, to make people into latex anthro animals, would it work? If it did, then why couldn't my ring work on someone who'd been changed by it before?"
Ashley looked at him cautiously, and said "What...what do you want to do to me?"
Casper realized what she was implying, and quickly backpedalled.
"No, no, I don't want to change any part of your person or your shape. I rather like you as you are. I was wondering if you might like a little more color to your person? If it works, I promise that I won't change you in any way without your permission."
"Why don't you test it on yourself?" she asked.
"I suppose I could." he agreed, "Alright, here goes then."
Casper thought of himself, pictured himself in his mind, as he was now, a inflatable latex ram-man, purple and red, metallic purple horns and hooves, and thought he would start small. He stuck his tongue out at Ashley.
"What color is my tongue?" he asked.
"Red," was her answer.
He concentrated, picturing his tongue to be blue. He concentrated, willing it to be so. It felt as though he was pushing his mind through a sheet of plastic, reality seemingly resistant to the effort. Not at all like when he used the ring on a human target. Finally, something seemed to give, and he pushed through.
"Whoa," Ashley said, "What did you do? I remember just now saying your tongue is red, but I remember you showing me, and it was blue."
Casper stuck his tongue out at her again, and Ashley confirmed that his tongue was indeed blue.
Both of their eyes went wide as they realized what this implied.
"I promise, I won't change you, unless you want me to." Casper said to the latex lizard girl.
He sent a thought down to the ring, asking it that he not be able to change anyone who had already been changed unless they explicitly ask him to do so. He felt a sense of acknowledgment from the magical device.
"Okay, no changes to anyone already changed, unless they ask for it." he assured her.
"Actually," she piped up, "would you do one thing for me? Can you give me a blue stripe down my back and tail?"
Casper nodded, smiling, and concentrated, envisioning Ashley as she was, with a bright blue stripe from her head to halfway down her tail, the edges of the stripe fading into the bright green of her back and sides, itself fading into the yellow of her stomach and throat. He felt the resistance like before, but it was slightly less this time, now that he knew he could do it and what it took to do so.
"Done." he said.
Ashley looked over her shoulder, spying the new blue coloring and turned back to Casper, hopping off her bar stool and hugging him.
"Thank you!" she exclaimed, "Its perfect!"
"I'm glad you like it." he replied.
Casper glanced around the bar, locating the clock on the wall.
"Ugh, I didn't realize it was so late." he said. "What do you want to do now?" he asked Ashley.