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jades-typurriter · 8 months

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Thorn's Hoop-Hole Loophole

CW: Transformation, Accidental Suiting

“Sophomores and seniors,” hollered a short, pink-and-white cat in a witch’s hat about two sizes too big for his body, projecting his voice all the way to the back row like the ringleader of a circus. “Red wizards and blue wizards too, students and sages of ALL kinds of ages… Welcome!” he chirped, undercutting the booming introduction he had built up for himself—not that his voice was all that imposing, anyway.

“I’m sure some of you recognize me from class. I see a few familiar faces! For those of you who recognize me from, well, from an incident with some transmutation magic a few months back, boy, do I have a treat for you today! We’re gonna do something like that again!”

A few of the spectators tensed in their chairs; one or two jumped straight out and started heading for the doors of the auditorium.

“I’m not gonna do the SAME trick! I promise! The folks in the office wouldn’t have let me into the talent show to begin with if I’d pitched that to them, ahaha.” Most of the anxious members of the audience relaxed, though one of them was still waiting near the exit, just in case. “Anyway, that’ll be the real trick! We’re all magicians here, so casting any old spell wouldn’t be all that impressive—illusions are first-year stuff, too! Instead, you’re all going to watch the Hoodini of Academic Holds do the one thing he’s been banned from doing!” He paused for a moment, scratching his head with one pink paw. “Well, not the one thing, but who’s counting?”

“We’re gonna need a volunteer, by the way. How abooouuut, ummmmmm…” He looked out over the crowd. A few people (especially the ones who had been on edge earlier) avoided making eye contact; even fewer raised their hands. He settled on someone sitting a few rows away from the front: a timid-looking, periwinkle sea serpent with a pair big, round, pupilless eyes above an equally-round snout. “You! You’ll do just fine! Why don’t you come up here?”

The dragon’s fins stood on end, ver eyelashes fluttering as vee blinked in surprise.

“Oh! Um,” vee considered, shifting around in ver chair. “Sure, I could come onstage.” Vee rose and shuffled sideways past ver seatmates’ legs to the aisle. As vee ambled up to Thorn, vee held ver claws up in front of ver in a way that reminded Thorn of a friend of his. Not quite as anxious of a gesture, but then, she’d gotten better about that recently. Well enough that she’d be joining him onstage as well, as it happened!

The cat took a dramatic bow to greet ver when vee climbed the steps to the stage, waving a paw in the air behind himself with a flair and a flick. In his grasp appeared a large hoop with a little puff of smoke. He let it go, sending it rolling along his arm, past his still-lowered head, and down the other arm onto the stage; it rolled around and around the dragon on its edge, finally tipping over onto its side and spinning to a stop right before ver feet.

“Why don’t you step into the ring for me, oh brave volunteer?” He beckoned, having slipped right back into his showman’s voice. The dragon obliged, looking uncertainly at Thorn.

“You’re gonna have to get that tail in there,” he nudged ver, pointing down at the floor outside the hoop. Once vee had gathered it up around ver feet, snugly coiled within the confines of the ring, vee looked back up at the cat; he nodded between ver and the audience, directing them to face forward. Vee gave a little wave with one of ver idly-hanging claws.

“So! What’s your name, bestie?”

“Bowsie!”

“Ahaaah, not for long it isn’t,” replied the cat, smugly. Bowsie cocked ver head to the side, and a few murmurs arose from the members of the crowd who had seen Thorn’s handiwork before. “Oh, don’t worry! It’s great to meet you! As a matter of fact, I’m gonna show these fine folk how to turn you into a friend of mine. A very specific one, in fact! Some of y’all might recognize her, too, once she joins us on stage! That’s where you’re gonna help me, Bowsie. But first, let’s get to know each other a little better, huh? What do you study?”

“Well, ah, I actually just changed my major. I realized I was very interested in fashion, so, I changed most of my classes over to that! Lots of working with unorthodox materials, enchantments for practical wear, you know.”

“Interesting! And a fantastic coincidence—I’ve got just the pattern for you to try on. I promise, she’ll be a real great fit!”

“Ah, that’s right, you said this was… transmutation magic?”

“Ahuh, yep!”

“And… you’re going to turn me into this friend of yours.”

“That’s right!”

“Oh. Goodness,” vee mumbled, hoping that the blush spreading across ver face wouldn’t be visible in the front row. Perhaps the spotlight washed it out? The idea of being somebody else for a bit just sounded… very, very fun!

“That’s where this hoop comes in!” Thorn explained, bubbly as ever. He produced his wand, seemingly from nowhere, and pointed it at the ring on the ground. “This is your round-trip ticket,” he continued as the ring beginning to vibrate and, ever so slightly, lift from the ground at the wand’s command. “We’re gonna go from the ground up, change you bit by bit! As it passes over you, it’s gonna turn you into someone you might otherwise be studying in one of your enchanting classes. Doesn’t that sound fun?” Turning and winking to the crowd, he added, “And yes, this is all one hundred percent sanctioned by the good folks running the show. I hope you all have a good time trying to puzzle that one out! But, you know what they say about magicians and secrets, and cats and bags, ‘n’ all that. So whaddaya say, Bowsie? You feel ready?”

The dragon nodded, tight-lipped. It was a little embarrassing to be so excited about something in front of a crowd this big, but vee thought vee was holding it together pretty well! Now all vee had to do was sit still and let it happen. Just like getting a shot at the apothecary! Easy as pie!

“Fantastic! Everybody, let’s give my lovely assistant a nice big round of applause, huh?” Politely, the crowd followed along, cheering to send Bowsie off like the onlookers to a ship’s maiden voyage; just like the christening of a new ship, they could only hope vee would come back in one piece.

“And awaaaaayyyyyy we go!”

As soon as the ring began to levitate around ver ankles, Bowsie could feel ver composure start to slip. They shivered with anticipation, trying to keep still enough not to give it away to any of the spectators. Already, ver feet began to feel heavier; vee lifted one foot slightly, wiggling ver toes. Strangely, the big, plushie paw didn’t leave the wooden panels of the stage—but vee could feel the swish of fabric on fabric! It was like pulling on a pair of leggings that were fresh out of the dryer, or wriggling into a warm sleeping bag on a cold night.

Vee couldn’t bring verself to look down, or ver face might’ve started burning bright enough to outshine the spotlight over ver head. Vee tried not to move too much, either, even though vee wanted more than anything to experiment a little more with ver new, minky parts, for fear that it might somehow disrupt the spell. Every little movement vee made had a little bit of resistance to it, anyway, like the parts of ver body that had been changed were squished between blocks of memory foam on all sides.

The ring continued to float higher and higher, bringing that warm, swaddled-in-blankets feeling to more and more of Bowsie’s body. At points, it seemed to get stuck on ver new shape—or maybe stuck on itself? It was hard to tell… When it reached ver thighs, it seemed almost as though ver new pillowy outside was spilling out of the hoop, like a comforter being pulled out of the bag that it came vacuum-sealed in. Vee wondered whether vee’d have difficulty fitting into certain places like this—doorframes, maybe even hallways… Vee reached down to touch some of the short fur covering ver legs, now that it was close enough to reach without having to bend over fully. It was velvety to the touch, and it gave way under ver claws the same way that a particularly soft mattress might.

As it slid over ver hips and past the base of ver tail, it unwound from around ver legs, no longer held tightly against verself for the sake of keeping it inside the hoop. Vee caught a glimpse of it at ver feet and could no longer hold still, whipping it up toward their face. It didn’t move exactly as vee directed it—it was still up in front of ver face, but much more slowly and deliberately, nothing at all like the excited vigor vee had put behind it. Maybe vee just wasn’t used to a body made of cloth and stuffing? Vee imagined that a body like that would be a bit more sluggish… It brushed against ver nose like a feather duster, though vee tried to hold it steady. Maybe it was just so floppy that it was hard to control.

Stranger still was the way that vee seemed to be higher up off the ground! No longer holding back from examining ver new body, vee saw that ver lower half was now much longer than ver upper half. It was such an odd sensation; vee could still feel ver paws squishing against the floor, could still feel ver new fabric stretching along ver legs, but vee knew they weren’t that long before. Vee thought that Thorn wasn’t allowed to do transformation magic! Even as the one having the magic done on ver, vee couldn’t figure out what else it could possibly be! The ring kept on creeping upwards, with a pillowy, striped tummy spilling out from inside it, stretching the serpent’s body out longer and longer as vee adjusted to the weight. It wasn’t that much heavier—Bowsie was a stout little dragon before—but it sat differently on ver body, was springier as vee shifted around. When it crept up to ver shoulders, it wrapped around ver arms, leaving massive, cushiony hanging at the ends of ver wrists where ver claws just were. Again, vee tried immediately to get a closer look, and again, they moved in a way that wasn’t quite how vee intended, slower, not exactly the right position.

Vee began to wonder if it was really as simple as needing to adjust to a new body, but before vee could think too deeply about it, the ring zipped the rest of the way up past ver head, leaving the button-eyed, fluffy-cheeked face of a chipper tiger girl in its wake.

“Oh my goodness!” plushie cried in a voice that didn’t belong to the dragon. For an instant, Bowsie thought vee had blurted out its thoughts in an excited outburst. There was something stilted—rehearsed—about the voice, though, and the tiger kept right on speaking without ver: “You turned me into Lyra! Incredible!”

As Thorn took another deep bow, gesturing proudly at the result of his magic, Bowsie wondered: who on earth is Lyra? That certainly hadn’t come from ver. As if on cue, ver arms began to move of their own accord. Lyra waved shyly at the audience, even curtsying as they applauded for Thorn’s trick. As far as they knew, he had finally casted a spell in public where something hadn’t gone horribly wrong, but something was definitely awry here!

“Thank you, thank you!” the cat flaunted, keeping the audience on the hook for what he planned next. “And Lyra, thank you again for showing up on such short notice!” He added, with a wink.

“It iiiis a pleasure to be here, Thorn!” She replied, a bit stiffly.

“Now, we’re almost done hoggin’ the stage, folks. All we gotta do is—” Lyra interrupted him with an eep! Beneath the zipper that ran along the front of her body, Bowsie was trying to figure out just what was going on here. The tiger’s arms wobbled as Bowsie strained vers beneath her fuzzy exterior; she felt wriggling in her stomach as the serpent struggled and felt around inside her. She glanced down at herself, then her eyes—flickering through the whole range of emotion from confusion to mortification to accusation—turned to Thorn, shooting daggers at him. For his part, his eyes zipped from her torso, to the audience, back to her, his showmanly smile straining to remain on his face.

“Ahem! All we gotta do is say thank you one more time and get outta your hair!” He said, tugging Lyra’s paw towards the wings of the stage and ushering her quickly along. Her arms wrapped around her tummy (at least as best as she could manage the gesture), trying to hide the serpent’s movements inside her. “You’ve been a wonderful crowd we hope to see you at the next talent showeverybodyhaveagoodnight!”

“Thorn!” hissed Lyra as the two (three) of them slipped into the dressing room backstage. “Would you like to explain what this is?!” She unzipped herself, allowing Bowsie’s head to pop out of her chest. Vee suddenly felt shorter again, still higher up than usual but this time because ver were being held up, and not because ver legs were suddenly longer. Vee looked out at Thorn, then craned ver neck to look up at Lyra, whose face looked just as apologetic as she glanced upside-down at ver.

“Um, hello.”

“Hi,” Thorn awkwardly replied.

“I said I’d be your assistant cause I’m trying to work through my whole thing with crowds, and you pack me in front of a packed house?”

“Not on purpose!” the catboy protested. “The ring was supposed to switch your places! Teleportation magic, remember?”

“Yeah, and instead, it just transported me around… who even is this?”

“Bowsie!” chirped Thorn, eager to change the subject.

“Bowsie,” mumbled the serpent at the same time, musing that this was one of the strangest introductions vee’d ever taken part in.

“You two know each other?” Lyra asked.

“Nope!”

“No.”

“So were you just gonna… send this person to your room? Who you’ve never met?”

“Well, the plan was to switch the two of you around again right after, right? I just picked someone who looked, uh… harmless? Polite! Just, who didn’t look like trouble, so nothing would happen in there in the thirty seconds you’d be on stage for.”

“Well, that didn’t exactly work, did it? You still haven’t answered for embarrassing me like that!” “Uh, I’m still not really sure what happened? It should’ve just been a portable portal, but…” Thorn fished around in the pockets of his puffy little shorts and pulled out a roll of parchment, unfurling and squinting at it. “Yeah… yeah… no, I think I got most of it right? Just, hang on…” As he continued to pore over his notes, Lyra pressed her paws into her own face.

“Every time, dude. It’s unbelievable.” She looked down at her little passenger and sighed. “So, um. Bowsie, right?”

“Mhm?”

“I think you heard already, but, I’m Lyra.”

“A pleasure.”

“Likewise! Um, did you at least enjoy your time on stage?”

“Oh, I’m not much of a performer…”

“Well, that makes two of us, ahaha…”

“I, uh, apologize for making it more difficult.”

“Oh! No, it’s not your fault, really! You haven’t caused any trouble in there or anything, it’s just,” she began, gently wringing her paws. “This is usually a more… intimate? Arrangement?”

“Ah,” replied the serpent, ver cheeks beginning to warm again.

“It’s just a bit embarrassing. It feels like a public display of affection, and in front of all those people, y’know…”

“Well… it was fun! You’re very comfortable.”

“Uh, thank you?” Lyra accepted the compliment rather bashfully. “You’ve been a nice… guest?” Bowsie smiled up at her, and she smiled in turn.

“I felt much taller while you were zipped up, you know. It was a bit like balancing on a wobbly chair, except the legs are a part of you? It was definitely odd to get used to, even if we didn’t have much time for it.”

“Yeah, that has something to do with the way Thorn set up my zipper and lining to begin with? I got curious and dug through some of his textbooks, and I twisted his arm about it ‘til we figured out what exactly the spell was like. The easiest way he could think of to give me an interior while keeping me the same size was to… ‘add space’, so to speak? That’s the simplest way to describe it. The flip side of it is that anything that goes in occupies the same amount of space as me, too.”

“It was fun! It really made me think he was transforming me, haha. Why, um, were people so worried about Thorn casting transformation magic, exactly?”

“You don’t want to know,” she said bluntly, averting her gaze. She rubbed her face again, as if trying to wipe the image away from her mind’s eye.

“...I see. Well, it was still exciting to think about.”

“Sorry to let you down, then. We weren’t planning on doing anything to you other than moving you around a little. I didn’t even realize what was going on until you started moving around in there, which—” she cleared her throat, trying to keep her voice from cracking. “—That was really a surprise.”

“At least you kept your composure. I thought you were speaking clearly, at least. I didn’t have to say much at all.”

“Well… thank you. I guess it wouldn’t be public speaking without a distraction, right? I’m trying to get better at it. I’ve had, ah, some bad experiences with speaking in front of a class.”

“That gets a bit easier,” vee encouraged her. “I wasn’t too happy that so many classes assigned oral presentations for their final projects, but after a couple of years of studying here, I feel I’ve improved at least enough to do it when I have to. Just keep practicing!”

“Are you a sophomore? Junior?”

“A junior. Yourself?”

“I don’t exactly study here, um, officially. But I’ve been with Thorn about a year and a half, I think? I want to call him a dependable roommate, but this sort of thing…” She cast a withering look in the cat’s direction—he flashed her a thumbs up and a reassuring smile. “...Well, it happens way too often.”

“I take it he hasn’t taken many courses on applied magic?”

“Oh, he’s tried.”

“Hey, be nice!” he called over his sheet.

“What about you, Bowsie?”

“Oh, I’m majoring in Practical Enchantments! What I’m really passionate about is designing clothes—I realized how interesting fashion was partway through my sophomore year and switched—and I want to try to push the limits of what materials can be worked with, and what they can do!”

“Ooooh!! That’s fascinating, goodness! I mean, you might be able to tell, but,” she gestured broadly up and down at herself, “That’s a field with some personal relevance, haha.”

“Well, I wouldn’t want to intrude, but—”

“…Oh,” Thorn finally piped up again. “Well, okay, that’d do it.”

“What?” Lyra asked, exasperatedly.

“It’s, uh, a perfectly functional portal, but I forgot to… make it two-way?” The cat smiled sheepishly at her.

“So we’re just lucky your last mistake gave me a hollow inside.”

“Yeah, I guess so! Otherwise I might’ve gotten myself banned from a different type of spell entirely, ahaha… It, uh, it would’ve been hard to get all your stuffing clean.”

“Huh?!” The serpent squeaked, suddenly much less comfortable in the plushie’s soft interior.

“Oh, uh. Do you want out of there?” the tiger asked. Vee nodded emphatically. Lyra unzipped herself the rest of the way and held out a paw for the dragon to hold as vee hopped out of her chest, turning away from Thorn and now-intimately-familiar stranger to zip herself up. “Sorry about all this, by the way.”

“Well, it was no trouble. Luckily, I suppose,” vee added.

“Right! All’s well that ends well, right?” Thorn bombasted, moving the subject along. “Bolt dodged!”

“Yeah, and I didn’t have to scramble around to bail you out, this time,” retorted Lyra, an unimpressed look on her face.

“Oh, speaking of things I need you to do—”

“Thorn.”

“—did you happen to grab the key to my room?”

“Agghh,” she grunted, knowing where this was heading. “No!”

“Right, which is a problem, ‘cause you like to lock the door, and—”

“And you forgot it when you left?” She exclaimed. Thorn nodded, still doing kitty-cat eyes above his please-don’t-be-too-mad smile.

“I expected you to still be in there, so…”

“Unbelievable.”

“Well, hey, uh… While we wait for the housemistress to come by with a master key, we cooouuuld… watch the rest of the show?” He shrugged, putting on his best play at being disarmingly cute. Lyra was a little too used to it at this point for it to work. “How about you, Bowsie? You feel like joining us?”

“Um. Are the other acts going to go anything like this?”

“I sure hope not.”

This one was a bit of a format experiment—me and a friend (who would like to remain anonymous) were shooting for an "illustrated storybook" style here, and played around with thumbnails as a means of outlining a written story. The more I write with Lyra and Thorn the more I feel like an episodic structure would suit them well, so a series of short, fun books might be the direction I take with them. I hope you enjoyed it!! If you did, please check out my commissions sheet! This was partially driven by requests from my friend, who wanted to interact with my OCs; I'd be happy to work with you as well! =^w^=

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