You sit and twiddle with the head of the flashlight back and forth. Its plastic clicking is barely audible in the busy cafe. The only real noise you can hear from the small flashlight is the more metallic pinging whenever you click through its default mode. You lean over the table, and your abdomen pinches the small loose-leaf between you and the flashlight into the side of table-- creasing it. You don't really care however, you're still processing its claim that the small pocket flashlight you're holding can do even more than what you've seen it do. You've already used it to change your best friend into a woman-- well, sort of. Apparently, that wasn't even half of the pocket light's capabilities. Squeezing it in your hand, the cheap and light feeling helps make the whole situation feel surreal.
You twist the head until it gives off a ping. It's barely audible over the noise of the cafe, which makes sense-- it's a Saturday. You look down and pull the paper up. Going down the list, you twist one click to the left. Its plastic click can't overpower the noise. You follow down the list, ending on the mode called "Copy-Paste and Swap". The head won't twist any further to the left, so you twist the other way until it won't turn anymore. Age Mode. You click left again, and then again. Animal mode. Looking at the bent paper, a little detail catches your eye that you missed before. You quickly flip the pocket light. Sure enough there's a small hole at the bottom, maybe about as thick as a toothpick. You cock your eyebrow at the idea of a flashlight coming with a microphone. Still, that wouldn't be the most farfetched thing you've come across today. Curious, and without much thought, you say the name of the first animal that comes to mind.
"Horse."
You pull the flipped flashlight towards your mouth, like an actual microphone. Nothing else happens. You stare at the light for a few brief moments. You know it probably worked, but the lack of feedback makes you feel a bit uncertain. You point the light towards your left hand like you did to Gene's earlier but stop yourself. If it did work you're likely to have a hoof for a hand, which doesn't really sound pleasant. You spin the light back down towards the table as you think about what to do.
"Excuse me sir?"
The question startles you and you look up from the flashlight. It's the baristess who served you coffee earlier. You give a weak smile. Despite her talking first, she looks busy, carrying several mugs of coffee and even a pastry or two. Looks like she just happened to look over to you.
"Yes?"
It's a little more meek than you would've wanted it to.
"Is the coffee okay?" She asks earnestly. You simply smile and nod, grabbing the coffee to take a drink.
She smiles and nods as she makes her way to the next table over. You simply watch her leave, coffee in one hand and light in the other. You're not sure why that spooked you, especially since you've been to this coffee shop before, and you know they're pretty good about their service. Still, you continue to watch the woman make her way through the tables. Eventually, she lands back behind the bar. After ringing someone up, she begins attending to a man who just sat down. Letting your gaze hover on the man by himself, an idea strikes you. You get up, stuff the paper into your pocket, and grab your coffee. The small two person table behind the man is free so you grab it, making sure to sit facing the man.
The table is a fair bit away, so you angle the flashlight towards the ceiling and turn the pink setting on high. Immediately, a bright pink spotlight floods the ceiling, barely missing you're nose. You're a little worried people will notice the brightness, even during the day, but no one seemed to care. Looking up, you notice nothing changing about the ceiling. You guess the mode must work only on organic things. Looking back down, you see the man sitting at the bar chatting with the baristess from earlier. You gulp. It's do or die time. You dip the light forward just enough so the man's head is in the very edge of the light's circle.
Immediately, his ears shoot up to the top of his head, elongating into that of a horse's while his hair simultaneously darkens to a chestnut brown, exploding down the back of his head. It's hard to tell, but you see his jaw grow larger along with his neck as he grows a snout. As the hair dips into his collared shirt, you flick off the light. In just a few seconds, the man's now got the head of a horse! Excited, you just had to get a better look.
Leaning over, you motion to the baristess, who is still talking with the now horse-headed man. You hesitate slightly. She had ears like a horse! Moreover, her hair was darker now too! You must've hit her in a little bit of the light as well. Never the less, she looks over at you waving your hands, mildly surprised to see you. Perhaps it's because she expected you in the corner. Her puzzlement gets the attention of the horse-headed man however, and he looks around to face you as well. It's just the briefest of looks, but you watch wide-eyed as the man reveals his entirely equine head to you. His snout isn't quite as long as a real horse's and he's still able to emote, sharing the mildly confused expression of the baristess, but he's unmistakably equine. He quickly realizes you're trying to get her attention and simply spins back around to take care of his own coffee.
The baristess acknowledges your waving hand, and says a few more words to the horse-headed man. You nod back, oddly happy with results. A little more confident, you aim the light's beam square at the back of the horse-headed man, and bathe him in the bright pink light. In the briefest of moments, he morphs again. As he grows taller, his hair becomes a mane that snakes into his collared shirt before exploding out the bottom as a horse's tail. His back grows wider to match the barrel-chestedness of a horse, while his clothes expand to fit his new body. His shoes briefly morph trying to match his changing feet before shimmering out of existence as his feet become heavy, wide hooves. Just as quickly, you flick off the light again. You can feel your heart race a bit as you now sit behind a wide-shouldered horse-morph.
Giving a goodbye to the horse-morph, who waves back with dark nailed yet still human-like hands, the baristess begins making her way over to you. She's also different. Catching the spare bit of light not taken up by the horse-morph, Her hair is now completely black, with horse ears of the same color sticking up through it. Her face seems to just now be pushing out into a snout, and the hair on her body is just so ever slightly darker and more prominent. As she walks around the bar to get to you, you wonder what to do.