Melanie heard the apartment door open and saw her roommate, Aster, stumble in and flop down on the sofa, a dreamily happy but completely exhausted look on her face.
"Aster? What's with you? Where have you been?"
Aster took a deep breath and sighed. "I've been mythed."
"What? You had sex with some satyr guy? Who? Where . . .?"
Another sigh. "Remember Nicky from high school?"
"Nicky—Nicky—oh, not C. Nickolas d'Rheim? That weed? The guy no girl would give the time of day to?
He's
a satyr?"
"Mm-hm. Some girl not only gave him the time of day she probably gave him the time of his life. Melanie, he had me four times last night!"
"Four . . ."
"And four more times this morning! I'm going to go lie down. Wake me up for lunch."
*****
There were plenty of stories going around about what happened to girls who get 'mythed'. Bigger boobs, wider hips, relentless libidos—a lot of them seemed like either exaggerations or outright lies but a google-search of the local area turned up a small website labeled www.calliope's_shop.com/nymphs. The site discreetly claimed that they specialized in 'nymph fashion' and advice to the newly converted. It also stated that the shop was part of a chain wholly owned by The Glistening Cucumber 'A Store for Adults'. It seemed like a good place to start.
An old-fashioned bell tinkled as they entered the door of the little emporium tucked into the corner of a quiet suburban strip mall. Once inside Aster and Melanie were greeted by a spectacular woman of indeterminate age. Evidently the stories about boobs and hips weren't exaggerations.
"Hello, dears," she fluted, "How can I assist you?"
Melanie looked at Aster with a cocked eyebrow. "Well, tell the nice lady."
"Uh, I—uh . . ."
"Ah, some naughty satyr got to you and you've heard that you will need specialized clothing from here on. True?"
"Uh—well, yeah. I was at a party and met this guy I'd known from high school. I didn't like him back then but he fascinated me and . . ."
The woman chuckled. "Let me guess. He seemed to be wearing an aftershave or a cologne that smelled kind of like apple pie but not quite. Yes?"
Aster nodded.
"Ah, the mythic's pheromones. He had you there, young lady. And he took you home and had you repeatedly. And since once he had his clothes off you could tell from all the body hair and the outsize dangly bits what you were about to get and you wanted them, a lot."
Another nod.
"Just between us, darling, how many times did he have you?" There was an amused glint in the woman's eye and a look of mischief on her face.
"Four times that night and four more in the morning."
"Impressive! Even for a satyr that's unusual. You say you didn't like him in high school?"
"None of the girls did. He was a weed, an annoying, stuck-up, self-important weed. At least he was back then."
A slow, sympathetic nod followed. "Alright then. Well, come sit, ladies. My name is Calliope and I'm the owner of this place. And I know just exactly what is going to happen because I've already been through it. And you two are . . .?
"Aster and Melanie."
"And is it just you, Aster who's about to begin metamorphosis or is it both of you?"
"Just me," Aster said quietly.
Calliope patted her hand. "Just you,
this
time. Melanie will get hers. In today's world it's pretty much unavoidable."
Tears began to leak down Aster's cheeks. "But if I change shape too much I'll have to get a whole new wardrobe and I won't be able to pay for my Spring Break trip. We were going to go to Cancun!"
"Oh, poor darling! However, your timing is immaculate. I was just discussing with the CEO that we really need a truthful, graphic video to show new customers. We need a young woman, like yourself, who was very recently mythed who can pose nude for a time-lapse video showing her change shape. Five seconds per day, every day for as long as the metamorphosis takes will show new customers how much more breast and hip they can expect to develop. You don't shave or wax, by any chance, do you?"
"Uh, no."
"Excellent. That means that about three or four days in you will suddenly be smooth all over. I have no doubt that Hal will be only too happy to exchange a pretty complete wardrobe for a month-ish of your time in a video studio so that when Spring Break comes you'll have a new body, a new wardrobe and a paid-for ticket to the riotous week in Cancun. What do you say?"
Aster thought it over. Possibly some residual effect of Nicky's pheromones had some play in her thinking but she had to admit that it was an attractive offer. She'd started saving baby-sitting money, fast-food salary and every other nickel she could get her hooks into from clear back in high school so that she could spend the Spring Break of her college sophomore year in Cancun. She'd heard plenty of stories of the riotous goings on in resorts all over the continent but had set her heart on the Yucatan Peninsula and now it would either be snatched away or she could pose naked.
Hell, I'm going to turn into a nymph. Whether I want to or not, sex is what they do. So I'm feeling a little shy now. By the time I'm half way through the process I'll be begging for a chance to show off how hot I am. At least, that's what everyone says.
"Okay, I'll do it. Start today?"
"Let me make a phone call or two and we'll start now."