With careful determination, fighting back the instinct to cry or much worse, you nod slowly. Not like you're accepting her insane logic, rather as an acceptance of your current fate. Chances are it will be over by morning and you can go back to being a bum not making nearly enough money to pay his own bills. "Okay, Marisa." You say, looking into her eyes and nodding again. "I really need this job." Of course that isn't your reason, not really. No job, no matter how well paying, would be worth your manhood. But if you play along, hopefully she won't do anything permanent to you while this is effecting your mind. "What should I do about housing, though? I live with my girlfriend... somehow I doubt I could trick Lauren into thinking I'm still David."
Marisa bites her lip for a moment, pondering this. Eventually she offers her hand down to you, and you take it, getting unsteadily to your feet. If this is a trip, it's by far the most realistic one you have ever had. You feel slightly more top-heavy than you remember, and your slim legs ending in wide hips make it very clear why that might be. "I'll think of something, David. But either way, you're going to need a familiar to be my apprentice. Why don't we go into the shop and pick one out for you, okay?" You don't much like this idea, but Marisa takes your hand and drags you through the doorway and the thick hanging beads into the shop proper. You blush a little at her grip- being changed into a woman has evidently done nothing to how attractive she looks. That is encouraging to you if nothing else - if you still think she's attractive, then this can't be real! The animals are, though. You remember seeing them, remember walking through the shelves of little cages while you waited for the shop to close down, looking at each and every one of the little critters. Either Marisa has an exotic animal permit or she's doing this illegally, which you suspect is the case considering what she's already done to you. Anything small enough to be lifted in two hands is here. Dogs and cats of course, but other things too. Ferrets, fish, birds. You see a kangaroo, which catches your attention. You could've sworn you saw the tentacle of an octopus in one of the tanks, but when you look again only a boring goldfish is floating there.
"Pick one, David." You look at each cage, and you can see an intricate little sticker with a name, sex, and age for each animal, along with the species. However crazy this situation might be, you've always liked animals. Maybe you could get a cool pet out of this whole debacle! You scan the shelves, looking at all of the animals here for sale. The first thing you notice is that the years don't add up at all. Your eyes fall first on a fairly young-looking ferret who's name is apparently "Tommy", but whose age is listed as 31! You don‘t know much about ferrets, but you're pretty sure that they don't like that long. How on earth could that goldfish be 60? You're positive goldfish don't live that long! In light of the insanity of everything else though, you ignore that fact and look over all the choices open to you. Eventually you decide to gesture at the little red Cardinal in a birdcage with several duller specimens, reading the tag as you do so.
"I like him... Justin? 12, Male…"
Marisa nods, reaching down to her pocket and drawing out a heavy-looking keyring, selecting one and sliding it into the cage. "Now the rest of you behave. She glowers at the other birds, which all retreat a few paces along their various perches. "If you try to fly out and do anything funny, I'll make you into slugs. If you think it‘s hard to be picked as a bird, just you wait until you've been a slug. Have you /ever/ see anyone come in with a slug familiar?" She swings the cage open wide. you expect her words to do all of nothing to the assembled crowd. Birds might be able to be trained, but you always heard it was huge tropical birds and massive birds-of-prey that could be taught to obey. Not pigeons and bluejays and other little things. But they held still, even as Justin hopped tentatively forward a few paces towards the exit, seemingly afraid to do anything. At an encouraging gesture from Marisa, he fluttered lightly out and onto her finger.
"He's a scrawny little thing, isn't he?" You observe, looking the little bird over. He's clearly young, and looks a little bedraggled. He‘s got a subtle cuteness there, like a dirty little kid.
"You should've seen him when I found him. I've never seen a worse-off child. Apparently he had an older sister once, but I never could find her. Living alone in /our/ city, stealing food and sleeping anywhere he wouldn't be yelled at. I kept seeing him... when winter came, I absolutely had to do something. Justin's one of my favorites: He'll make a great familiar." She extended her hand to you, finger outstretched with the little bird perched on it. You extend your hand almost reflexively, even if you are still turning over the details of the story in your head.
Reality does not wait for you to finish, though. The effect of contact with the bird is immediate. You feel something strange and inexplicable coursing through you, as though the bird had been made of ice, dripping cool fluid all over your arm. Only the fluid is inside you, and the cool travels rapidly through your body. It's the strangest sensation; as the fluid spreads it seems to be taking your body with it. You feel yourself stretching and shrinking at the same time, as though parts of you are dissolving and the rest of you is stretching to make up the difference. You shrink about eight inches in height, but almost more in other ways. You go from a well-endowed, wide-hipped young woman to more of a scrawny build, not unlike the bird. Your chest feels much lighter as the cool sensation starts to fade. The only thing that has grown more pronounced is your hair, which seems redder than ever. To add insult to injury, your now thin build is too slim to hold up your shorts and boxers, which slip off your girlish frame without much resistance. You've still got wide hips, but a smaller body in general just doesn't have the bulk to hold them up.
You reach down to snatch them back up as quickly as you possibly can, holding your shorts up with one hand as Justin lands on the other, looking up curiously at your face. Of course, that isn‘t before you caught a good look at yourself, little red bush and all. Marisa giggles, which does nothing to comfort you, though you admit you're glad there aren't any boys around. None except the bird, who watches you with frighteningly blue eyes that are far more intelligent than any bird should be. Of course, what catches you most off-guard are his words. "Sorry, David!" It sounds just like birdsong, but the presence in your mind, a presence you hadn't noticed until that exact moment, supplies the words. What's even stranger is the feeling of holding him, which feels much more like holding one of your hands with another than holding a bird in yours. As though you were feeling what /he/ felt, as well as you. "I hope we can still be friends! I'll be a good familiar! The others even told me what I‘m apposed to do! I’m a quick learner! I'll be the best familiar you ever got!"
Your mouth falls open, and you stare speechless at the bird. For too long it seems, because the bird flutters off your hand and lands back on Marisa's, where you feel more than hear him chirp up to her. "She hates me! She won't let me be her familiar! She's gonna stuff me and and and andandand" Marisa reaches over with her other hand and closes the little bird's beak gently.
"Be quiet Justin! She's just adjusting to the change. Connecting with you changed her- just give her a minute. I‘m sure she doesn't hate you. RIIIIGHT?" There's a meaningful glance from Marisa in your direction then, like that which would be given in the presence of a small child on the verge of going into hysterics, keying in another adult whose words might prevent or provoke what was to come.
In some way you can't explain, Justin's discomfort is quickly becoming your own, and it is more and more difficult to answer calmly. You do, though. "O-of course!" You manage to say with more enthusiasm than you feel. "I just didn't expect I would... what happened, Marisa?"
Marisa looks relieved as the bird relaxes. "When you and your familiar are connected, it changes you." She held onto her black highlights for a moment, as if showing them to you. You don't really understand what she means, but listen anyway as she continues. "You became a little more like Justin, and he became a little more like you. That's okay... fewer of my customers should think we're sisters now that you look so different." You want to object, just as you wanted to object the moment this awful situation left the realm of reality and solidly entered the domain of insanity. But you don't get the chance, because she continues on. "I have a few ideas about where you could live. One of my employees is looking for a roommate. He's a little... different... but he would love to split the cost with you. Either that, or I could give you a compatibility spell, and you could just keep living where you are. It would change things around you to match the way they are now, but the changes wouldn't extend more than a mile or so."
This isn't fair! So much is going on that you can't even think straight! You want to break down and curl up in a corner, not make all sorts of decisions! In the end though, you speak up and say that you would like to...
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