The party had been a good time, I supposed. I'm not much of a party person, but Hallowe'en can be fun, and Tia wanted to go.

I felt the ouroboros charm pressed tight against my chest, beneath the sports bra, under the tight costume that would only fit if I wore the sports bra (it would have taken more than Tia's wonderful hypnotism to get me to bind my breasts). Thank whoever might have been listening that it was a slimming black, and was all in one piece so I didn't have to worry about muffin top being squeezed out into public view.

Knowing the silver necklace was around my neck, though... I knew I'd handed it off to her before she'd gone to work that morning. Which meant that between her arrival home and our departure for the party, she had used it on me, stripping naked so that all I could focus on was the ouroboros, doing... something to me, hypnotically, and then by agreement passing the charm to me.

Almost out of habit, I ran a paw-gloved hand over my hood, smoothing out the ears. After a couple hours in the suit, I could feel when they were a bit misaligned. The tail was a lost cause, and had to be pinned down to my leg; a crowded house is not a place to have an appendage half the length of my body getting trampled underfoot. We couldn't find a lion costume, so I went as a cat. Tia still had her lion-tamer costume, regardless, mostly I think because it let her carry around a fake whip, though she did look good in the sparkly red vest and bright top-hat to match. Maybe she'd pose for a painting like that.

The cold metal of the charm around my neck reminded me that I had a way to get her to pose. And also that she had done something.

We were walking home after all the kids had finished trick-or-treating; the evening was cool, but not cold, so Tia had a light jacket over her vest. Mine was warm enough that I didn't need it—yet another reason I didn't really want to stay any longer, I had been starting to overheat. Other than the boots on my feet, I was just in my costume, and in the shadows I might as well have been invisible. Tia stood further out into the road than I did, neither of us wanted either of us to get hit by an inattentive driver.

She had done something.

I had watched an old episode of a TV show during the day, where a bunch of cute high-school students—well, twenty-somethings playing high-school students—fell under a curse and were forced to act like their costumes. That's an old trope, but... I looked at Tia, half-skipping through the streetlights on our walk from the bus. It's the sort of old trope she would have loved.

The ouroboros was cold against my chest, the only point of cold on my otherwise-warm body. I smoothed out my ears again, licked my lips, and started to wonder. Maybe I was wiggling my ass a bit more as I walked. I unpinned the tail, there was no one else around. Was I sashaying? Was the tail wiggling a little?

"Hey," Tia said, probably sensing that I'd slowed down. "Anything wrong, Pel?"

I shook my head. "Ny-uh, no. Nyuh uh." I fought my urge to purr a bit. Still, hearing my own voice nearly meowing just lent more weight to my suspicions.

"Good," Tia answered, waiting a moment for me to catch up. She'd only been a step ahead of me so we were once again side-by-side.

For some reason, I didn't want to pull the paw-glove off, even though I would have really liked to hold her hand.

"The night's still young," my partner said, putting an arm around my shoulders. "Lots of time to play tonight." She chuckled.

She would have known that I was tired. Tia was outgoing, and had worked the room, having a great time—and I, too, was having a fun time, but where she walked out of there energized, I was quiet and exhausted. And after all that I wanted... I just...

What did I want, anyway?

We turned onto the street we lived on. My nose twitched. I smoothed my ears again, not that they were out of place. I felt an odd nervousness. She'd done something. I leaned my head awkwardly on Tia's, rubbing my head against hers, accidentally knocking her hat off. We both laughed as she stopped to retrieve it. Did I... did she want me on all fours? I didn't know where the thought had come from, which left me only one source for suspicion.

But I couldn't ask her. I'd been talking enough for one night, for one. And if it was going to happen, it was going to happen. And I had to admit, I wanted it, much as I felt like fighting it out of spite. My feet felt odd in my boots, almost as if I wasn't supposed to be wearing them. That alone was exciting.

She was a step ahead of me again as she made her way to the front door, her keys in her hand. I hadn't brought my bag, or anything but my costume. Because she told me I wouldn't need it. Was I about to... We walked in the door. My boots needed to come off. Tia was already into the living room, heading upstairs as I sat on my butt on the floor, unsure why I wasn't using the chair. I pulled and pulled, fighting to get them off with my paws, trying to kick them off one against another, until finally I gave up as Tia came back down, her costume shed, just wearing her bright red bra and panties.

"What the heck are you doing, Pel?" she asked, laughter in her voice.

I just looked up at her helplessly.

She held a hand out to me, and I batted at it lightly with my paw. I had these boots on, it must have been her fault. Something in my eyes must have clued her in to what the trouble was, because she sat down next to me and unlaced the things that were covering my feet, pulling them off. I immediately rolled up on all fours and nuzzled her face in thanks.

She kept laughing. "Oh really?" She scratched behind my ears before getting to her feet. "Come on, Pel. If this is what you want, this is what we'll have."

I didn't understand what she was telling me as I followed her in. She patted on the couch as she sat and I climbed up beside her, laying my head in her lap as she petted me.

"Definitely not what I was expecting when I told you that you could have anything you want when we got home," Owner said, running her hands down my back. "I really do appreciate you coming with me though, sweetie."

Her voice was nice, and she was petting me. Nothing else mattered. I nuzzled into her belly and mrowed lightly.

"Good, Pel." She patted my bottom and I planted my paws on her legs, putting my head down contentedly. I was in safe hands. I had everything a cat could want.