Ethalia - Apprentice Muse TG

I sighed, twirling a finger through my hair as I watched it shift from brown to red and back again, making a pit stop at blue along the way. I let it cycle a few times from boredom, before making a face at it and telling it to settle down while I typed ideas into Kevin's brain. The screen lit up as I put in something about a ball, shifting from one screen to the next as I pushed him away from one idea and towards another. I grinned, sliding into the groove of things as I pushed my chair in a circle, twirling to the one directly behind me and dragging the keyboard with me.

The familiar drop down list of characters came down on the blue screen, as I shifted down the list. Most of them wouldn't even talk to me, I remembered, a bit of bitterness spoiling my mood. All too afraid of what story of theirs I was going to have Kevin tell the world next. My eyes hit a new name, a crash making me look up before I could look at it too long.

I stood up with a groan, edging my way out of the Muse center and glancing around the room to make sure all the wires were still up. Nodding to myself, I stepped over the array of blues and red, taking a walk down the hallway and into the main living complex.

The ground outside was covered in lush carpet, my bare feet sinking into the fuzz as I smiled, momentarily distracting me until I heard another crash. A plot bunny bounced across my feet, making me curse as I wondered who was getting into my stuff. There was nothing left to do but to follow a plot through once the bunny had gotten so far from it's cage, and the idea of having a prepackaged story let loose when I was still trying to plan a new one annoyed me.

I glanced over the mahogany shelves as I continued glancing, grumbling a little when I found a plot hook missing. A half empty bottle of characterization nearly made me curse as it crunched beneath my feet, the glass sliding off my smooth skin. I shook a few fragments off my feet, remembering that it had already been half empty; I'd been meaning to restock them.

I peered around the side of the cabinet, watching a little figure try to shove a plot point onto a hook. "You're doing that wrong," I sighed, watching him stiffen with a  small smile. A gremlin from the look of it, the golden tuft of fur at his tail standing out against his tan colored skin. His hair was golden too, barely longer than the tail hair and not nearly long enough to hide the reflection of his scowl in the glass cabinet. "You're supposed to use a stray thought to attract a plot bunny," I continued, not bothering to stop. "The hook is for the reader, and the plot point is to drill the story in place.

"Shut up!" he snarled, blushing. "I can figure this out! I'm gonna be my own muse - just watch!"

"With my supplies?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "You have any idea how much stuff you broke?" I demanded, wincing a little as I took it in myself. The man had gone on a rampage, probably chasing that plot bunny. Broken glass, torn chair, shattered vile of suspense. The last one in particular made me wince, among a few other things. "Do you have any idea how hard this stuff is to collect?" I demanded, grabbing an undertone from floor. It wriggled in my fingers until I found enough plot for it to bury into.

"You don't scare me," he muttered, crossing his arms over his chest and pouting at me. He looked to be about twenty by human years, judging by the look of him. Not that he was acting the part. "I'm gonna be a muse all on my own!"

"Not until you pay me off, you aren't." He didn't uncross his arms as I glared at him. "You're going to be my apprentice, until I'm content that you can work without bloody getting your author killed."

He opened his mouth wide at the idea, gaping like a fish out of water as his mouth soundlessly opened and closed. "I don't need you!" he said, at last.

"Tough. You pissed me off." I smirked, tapping my foot on the floor. "I hope you like sleeping with pink sheets."

"I'm a boy," he muttered back. His absent minded look gave him away as he started to plot about getting out, making my smirk widen into a smile. I'd been hoping he'd say that.

"What do you take me for?" I demanded, watching his eyes rise in confusion. "I'm a chaste woman, I'll have you know! …Mostly. It's not like I'm gonna have a boy in here."

"Then you'll let me go?" he asked, eyes wide with seeming excitement that hid just the tiniest drop of disappointment. He needed a teacher, whether he admitted it or not. A moot point, as it happened.

"'Course not," I muttered, the hints of a claw overlapping my delicate hand as I conjured a holographic keyboard. A bit of smoke drifted from my nostril as I began to type.

"What- what are you?" asked the boy, sneaking a little bit away from me. I tossed the pen behind me ears at him without looking, hearing his yelp as it turned sword and pinned his pants to the floor.

"I'm a muse, dummy," I muttered, continuing to type as light began to grow around the boy, his image appearing on a screen before me. "I just so happen to be part dragon, as well. Makes things convenient when someone shatters glass all over the floor." I smiled at his gaping mouth, before tapping the enter button. "Something you're about to find out firsthand."

The light condensed around him before he could do so much as squeak, his eyes gong wide as it hid him from view entirely. I condensed the screen in my hands as the glow turned skintight, watching the process.

His chest was first, distinct spheres pressing out as perfect breasts of my own design pressed out, large by gremlin standards. The face shifted, next, feminizing as the golden hair cascaded down. Each strand was wrapped in its own field of light, drifting down over his chest dramatically and splaying against the flattened belly. The figure squirmed a little as the manhood slipped inside, leaving a more standard figure as the butt swelled and the legs slenderized. She buckled a little as her hips cracked out, gasping as a pink dress blossomed into existence before the light faded away completely. She blinked her baby blues at me in shock, making me snort.

"What did you do to me?" she squeaked, scrambling away from me, her skin now pale in the soft light of the living room.

"I thought it was obvious," I muttered, turning away. "I turned you into an appropriate apprentice. Now, come along Lexi," I smiled, repeating the name I'd found on my computer screen. "Unless you want this new form to be your punishment forever," I added. I didn't even bother to look before adding, "And don't touch those, so much. You'll get a reputation among the boys if you do."

I watched her blush in the reflection of a cabinet, smiling as I walked away. Somehow, I thought Lexi was going to fit in just fine.