“Okay, now that the round is over, I go back to what I was doing, which was playing “Animal Feet” on myself!” This time, the card glowed the way it was supposed to. “And, in addition, I’m discarding a card to cancel a previous change.” The card vanished from her hand as the card on the bed glowed and turned into ribbons of light. These flew towards Karyn and wrapped around her like a Sailor Moon transformation. Where the ribbons landed, her size returned and soon, she was back to her old height. But the ribbons weren't done. They wrapped around her feet and legs, which turned to light as the other ribbons had done. But here, they changed shape while featureless, to the digitigrade legs of a beast. The ribbons then braided themselves at the base of her spine and a tail formed, with white fur floofing out from it as the light faded and reality reasserted itself. Karyn was no longer floating in the air being transformed, but standing, looking down at her furry paws.
“Wow.” Jon said as he tried to process everything. “Wait, you played 1 card and three things happened. You had mentioned ending the shrinking, but why do you have a tail?”
“That’s because I chose to follow my ‘Animal Destiny’ instead of picking something myself. The rule book is vague about it, but if you let the target, me in this case, follow their destiny, you get to add an extra animal aspect when the card is played. So in addition to the paws, I got a tail. I’m not exactly sure, but I think my animal destiny is this husky I fell in love with at the dog park when I was a girl. I drew that dog several times a day for a year. She’s what I think of when I think of dogs.”
“So you played one card, got a bonus animal step, and discarded a card to get big again. Pretty big turn. I’m going to have to stop you cold. By which I mean “Inanimate form: Ice statue!” Jon held out the card which began glowing. Karyn shook her head.
“Sorry to burst your bubble, Jon, but it’s time to teach you how to cancel a card. All I have to do is say goodbye to two of these…” Two cards vanished from her hand, leaving her with just Animal Coloration “and your card is voided.”
“Drat. I wanted to see what that did.” Jon frowned, then looked at Karyn’s hand. “Wait, you’re down to just one card.”
“Yep! No idea if it was worth it, but it helped teach the rules and I guess that’s what counts. End of the round.”
Above them, an orb around each of the floating cards burst, leaving one orb orbiting around Most Bestial and two around Hottest. Jon draws a third objective “‘Our Elected Official. The point goes to the person most likely to be elected to lead as a public office.’ That’s a weird one.”
“Wacky.” Karyn corrected. “We’re calling the guy behind all of this ‘Wacky’, remember?”
“Oh, right. I don’t think I’m discarding any cards.”
“Neither am I.”
Karyn drew her cards, Basic Gender Bender and Start Fresh. The first made her chuckle, but the second was sort of concerning. Jon drew a single card to fill his hand.
- Identity Alteration - You gain memories of a different past than what you actually had.
- Start Fresh - You forget everything that has transpired in the game and all changes that have taken place seem as normal to you
- Basic Gender Bender - If you’re male, you’re now female. If you’re female, you are now male.
“Okay, should we be worried about cards that are doing some mindfuckery?” Karyn asked.
“Is it cool mindfuckery?” Jon asked, looking at his own mental change card.
“Maybe?” I don’t think it would be really fun just the two of us, but in a bigger game, I could see it being fun. Or in one of those games with enemies that the letter talked about.”
“Well, if you want to discard it, I can give you the opportunity. Your transformation gave me ideas. And so I play my Outfit: Costume card on you!” The card began to glow, but it hadn’t started a transformation, perhaps because the wacky game was indeed polite. Karyn eyed the glowing card with suspicion.
“What sort of costume?”
“That’s for me to know, and you to find out if you don’t cancel it. Nyeh.” Jon stuck out his tongue at Karyn. She responded in kind.
“Nyeh yourself. Do your worst, bridgekeeper, I’m not afraid.”
“Then in the name of the moon, Outfit: Costume activate!”
It was not a Sailor moon style transformation, depending on how you define it. Instead of floating and glowing ribbons, Karyn’s outfit sort of liquified around her skin and reformed. Her pants split at the knee, the lower parts becoming a sort of red sock that came down over the fur of her legs. The rest formed into a pleated blue skirt. Up top, the green sweater became a white uniform with a large bow. Some piece of cloth crawled up the back of Karyn’s head and with a sudden flurry of movement, her blonde hair was tied up in twin buns with long tails. Well, as long as her current hair could allow it, which wasn’t very long.
Karyn looked down at herself and then around the room. “Jon, why don’t you have a mirror in your room? Is that a guy thing? It probably explains a lot.” One second. Karyn headed to the door.
“Karyn! Where are you going!?” Jon hissed at her back and curled tail that was heading down the hall.
“I want to go see what this looks like. Oh, hey Zoe.” Karyn smiled at Jon’s sister who was trudging up the stairs.
“Hmm?” Zoe looked up from her book. “Oh, hey Karyn. Nice cosplay.”
“Thanks. I was just showing Jon. What do you think of the socks?” She held out a paw for Zoe to examine. Jon held his breath for Zoe to freak out or react at all, but instead, his sister just nodded with an approving noise.
“That’s a good solution for matching the costume to your feet. The actual boots would probably be a nightmare for you.”
“Yeah, shoe shopping is a pain. Do you have a mirror in your room I could use real quick?”
“Of course I do, who doesn’t?”
For Jon, it felt like time had frozen. Or it had been grabbed and stretched like taffy. Excruciating for someone who was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Instead, he listened in anxious terror as Karyn looked at herself in the mirror and the girls discussed the merits of modifying a skirt to accommodate a perky tail. After an eternity and a half Karyn was back in the hallway and loud music began to blare from Zoe’s room.
With a twinkle in her eye, Karyn skipped past Jon to his room. He stomped after her and went to slam the door, but thought better of it, slowing it down at the last moment.
“What was that?”
“What was what?” Karyn asked, feigning ignorance. She held it for a second before she broke into laughter. “Oh, your face. Relax Jon. It’s kind of like the wishing stone. To “Outsiders”, whatever is going on in the game is just part of reality. They think it's normal, no matter what is going on.”
“Well, you could have told me!” Jon yelled, throwing his hands up in frustration. “I thought everything was blown, and that we’d have to give up all of the secrets. We couldn’t cut Zoe out without her tattling. All of the worst case scenarios went through my head and one of us isn’t completely human, Kar!”
“You’re right, Jon.” Karyn said, “I should have told you a little at least. I’m sorry for making you worry. I think I’ve told you all the things now. I pass my turn.”
Jon blinked in surprise, not expecting her to have passed. Above them the orbs burst and the first Objective, most Bestial, lowered and flew around the pair of them, as if judging the, Jon was a full human in swimming trunks, while Karyn had husky legs and tail. A clear winner. The card stretched and spun into a bronze bracelet on her wrist.
“Well, that’s much better than a simple victory point.” Karyn said, examining the bracelet. “Stylish.”
The new Objective was “Fastest. The point goes to the person who is most likely to win a race (Or who does win a race)”.
Jon discarded Identity Alteration, as he wasn’t sure what he would really do with that. Karyn didn’t discard any, so after filling their hands, they were both at five cards again.
- Jon - Cosmetic - Your appearance becomes different.
- Karyn - Animal Voice - You speak like an animal, only making sounds it could make. This normally means you can no longer speak.
- Karyn - Animal Voice - You speak like an animal, only making sounds it could make. This normally means you can no longer speak.
Karyn looked at the card she’d drawn two copies of this round and looked up at the Objectives overhead. A plan was forming. It may not be a great plan, but it was a plan.
