Con-magic

Talia Odle scrolled through the message boards, the screen of her desktop illuminating her face. The glaring numbers on her clock said it was some time after three in the morning, her slender frame was fueled by caffeine and sheer stubborn mindedness. The con looked to be another same-y event, bunch of girls in costumes fending off hordes of desperate lonely otaku. After the debacle that was last years event, she debated even attending. The whole event had started going downhill if you asked her ever since they had banned that burlesque group. She'd danced with them the last time they had been allowed to have space.

One posting in the events board caught her eye. The user claimed to be a magician by the name of Andrew the Average, an interesting stage name. Most of the responses seemed to be very hostile and mocking. Poor guy, she liked magic, unlike most of the guests it seemed. She just rolled her eyes at some of the vitriol flung his way. It was really childish, then she read his response.

“To respond to all the guests assuming I will be doing nothing but small sleight of hand and chicanery. I had planned some bigger illusions, but now my primary assistant does not feel comfortable performing at this venue. Talk about self fulfilling prophets!” She couldn't really blame the girl, then she got a wicked idea.

Quickly her fingers pulled up the send private message function, and they started dancing along the keys as she did something that her roommate, if she was awake, would say was the dumbest thing she'd ever done.

“Dear Andrew,” she started the message formally, “My names Talia, I'm sorry to hear about your assistant dropping out. I just wanted to offer my services if you still wanted to do the bigger stuff at the convention.” she typed out her qualifications; Exotic dancer, stage actor, and yoga instructor. She was about to hit send when she decided to attach a picture of her last cosplay, a red haired wolf girl that had gone over well.

That outfit still hung in her closet, she was probably most proud of that one more than any of the dozens of other ones she'd done. She sent the message and hoped, but for now, her body cried for sleep and she obliged it. Falling into the soft mattress and only pulling the covers half way up her body.

The next day, and the day after saw no response from Andrew. Talia went to work, came home and zoned out with a cocktail of animated shows and video games. Why would he respond, no reason to believe the claims she made, he probably deleted the message out of hand. But when she got home from work she saw a message blinking on her email. It said she had a new private message.

“Dear Talia, thank you for interest, while I normally don't take new assistants on without a lengthy series of interviews, rehearsals, and tests, desperate times call for desperate measures, with the convention only a week away and all. If we could meet up tomorrow, we can talk about this.”

She was so happy she could explode. Getting to assist a real live magician was something a family thing, her mom had been an assistant during college and her father was a magician though the two swore they never worked together. She'd grown up admiring her mother in that sequined dress, floating over the heads of her elementary school class during career day. Sadly, living where she did, there had been no real chance to assist anyone.

The two set a time, she'd head out to the local coffee shop after work to meet. That day seemed to crawl by, she caught herself slipping into her own fantasy world of spangly dresses and imagined peril. Finally she was off the clock, she said goodbye to her boss and walked down the road to the coffee shop. She had a skip to her step as she walked. She saw him sitting out front, dressed in a tee shirt, jeans and sneakers. Everything about him seemed clean and well kept. He had a small cup of coffee in front of him.

“hey there, its me Talia.” she smiled as she slid into the chair across from him. “we talked on line?”

“Ah yes, the picture you sent doesn't quite do you justice.” He cracked a soft smile. “though I should of known you weren't a natural red head.”

She had actually rather plain brown hair that she kept cut short, made wigs less of a pain. She just let out a soft chuckle as they started to talk about the routine, it was going to be a show mostly focused on transformations. Taking object ad, and making it object b. he told her that his stuff came from some company called Arcaneotech, a company specialized in making props that actually did what the illusions pretended to do with out harming the assistant. She'd done some work as a booth girl for them last time there had been a tech convention. Sadly she never got picked for the product demo.

“alright, and we finish out with a wringer?” She asked reading the set list one more time.

“yeah, usually its a crowd pleaser, and the con wants me to distribute promotional wall scrolls using it.” He nodded slowly. “I would of preferred something with an edge, but even the magician is under the ban of no weapons.”

“I guess that's for the best, I don't know if my costume would survive.” She laughed softly. “Speaking of which. Which costume of mine did you want me to wear?” her hand pulled out the touch screen phone.

“Lets see them then,” He took the offered phone and began swiping through her pictures. “too big, too many tails. Hmmmm, this one, I like this one.” he slid the phone back to her.

He had settled on the wolf outfit. A good choice, lots of nerds fawned over her, and with good reason, redhead and fuzzy add on's? Perfect for reeling them in. she'd been meaning to update the outfit anyway.

“good choice, I still have that one mostly together too, should not take much to get it set up.” She nodded along, then got a wicked idea. “this is in the 18+ room, right?”

“yes.” Andrew was looking nervous. “why do you ask?”

“I was just thinking, I could probably do a strip tease between this flesh to stone trick, and the wringer.”

“well I suppose that could work. Keep up interest in the second act slump.” He nodded along. “if you need to get anything for your outfit, you got a 100 dollars to cover it.” a crisp 100 dollar bill changed hands. “consider it an advanced payment.”

the two chatted some more, Andrew turned out to be quite a pleasant man. He had been named for a distant ancestor, an old school magician who pushed the envelope in terms of stage illusions. Quite the pedigree for a man willing to stoop to the level of convention entertainment for hire. Eventually she left to go home, take inventory on her costume, everything had to be perfect for this, if she wanted to make this a regular thing. She had the red contacts, the fluffy tail, the ear head band. And the clothes hung, a purple skirt and light blouse. It had won an award from a costume contest a few years back.

The days before the convention passed with agonizing slowness. Even her nightly matches seemed to tick by. The show was set for the Saturday which left her the Friday to explore the merchants row, which was the usual assortment of manga, colorful posters, and figurines covered every shelf and stall. It was honestly a little disappointing, she didn't have space in her room for all the new stuff that she saw. She retired to her room after attending a few very interesting panels by reviewers and voice actors, the room had been paid for well in advance, long before she knew about the show.

The day and hour of the show came silently, she got a call from Andrew at about six in the morning. He sounded strained, but still mostly calm.

“I just realized I forgot to tell you how the apparatus works.” there were sounds in the background like work men hammering away.

“will it cause any problems?” She asked, the show was in a few hours, not a lot of time to learn the mechanism.

“it shouldn't, the thing is virtually self working.”

“then don't bother, and don't stress. My reactions will be more natural this way.”

That was the beauty of Arcanotech props, they were nearly ten times the price of a gimmick-ed prop. But the assistant didn't need to learn a complex trick, and it could be used on any one. She'd heard from one girl that going through one of their props felt, like the best massage you ever had, focused on one part of your body. She tried playing a game until nine rolled around, but she was too nervous and excited to enjoy it.

Finally she settled on a shower, letting the water hit her body. It was nice, until someone used up most of the hot water, slapping her in the face with ice cold water. She let out a squeal and jumped, swiftly wrapping herself in one of the cheap hotel towels. Checking her cell phone, crap! Only an hour till show time. Quickly she applied the pasties over her breasts, the tan bikini bottom, and the loose fitting light purple tunic. She tied on the fake, limp tail that hung from the small of her back, poking out from under the tunic. She set a meticulously fit to her head, in line with her ears. Two fuzzy fake ears stood proudly in her hair.

She slipped on a pair of fuzzy slippers as she skipped down to the theater, her heart racing as she walked. The space they'd been given was a large conference hall, a stage made from girders and scaffolding. Andrew was pacing nervously, muttering under his breath. Different than the man she saw doing small tricks as he wandered the convention floor.

“hey andrew!” she waved as she bounced up onto the stage.

“Oh, hey Talia!” his face tightened in a gentle smile. “just in time, only five minutes till they start seating.”

“want me to go hide?” she was bubbling with excitement, ready jump in.

“yeah, get settled.” He nodded as she scampered behind the curtain.

She watched the show through a slit in the curtain, Andrews hands flew and danced as he moved through the routines of sleight of hand, cards doves balls, all seemed to pour from his hands. It was astounding, even the most cynical of geek was impressed, especially when he made a staggeringly accurate Bat'leth from seeming thin air, before handing it off to the woman running the charity auction. After about 20 minutes of banter and sleight of hand the crowd seemed to tire of the small stuff, impressive as it was. Andrews eyes gleamed as he cued the music.

“Now for the second act, I've enlisted the help of some one well known to all of you!” his arm swing back pulling the curtains aside.

Talia burst out, kicking her leg up and sinking into a split as Duran Duran's “Hungry like the wolf” began swelling from the speakers. She crawled towards the audience like a wolf in heat, her tail limply swinging between her legs as she arched her back up, pressing her barely contained breasts forwards. The crowd was starting to cheer, drowned out by the music, but she drank in the approval all the same. Slowly she slid her body back up, raising her ass into the air. She let it sway to the music before letting her self roll onto her back. Pushing with her legs she drove her hips up, which she gracefully swung to get herself standing up right, if facing the wrong way. She coyly drooped one of the shoulders of her shirt down so it hung under her arm. Andrew had set up a marble pedestal for her and she pressed her toes onto its hard surface, her digits splaying across its surface as she struck a demure pose for the audience as she felt a chill run up her leg. Quickly she placed her other leg in front, standing on tip toe with that foot as well.

Andrew had warned her that this might feel strange as the marble crawled up her legs. It was like a soothing numbness, a gentle buzzing that grew stronger as it moved up her slender dancers legs. She bit her lips to stifle the soft moan as the buzzing grew into a pleasurable wave of warmth that rolled over her crotch. She savored the tingling feeling as it swam across her body. Her legs where now fully petrified as she slid her arm up around her other shoulder. With in seconds the wave of marble had rolled up her body, swallowing her breasts but leaving the costume untouched. Five seconds later and her smiling face was cold stone. She could see and hear, and even feel, andrews touch on her though as he turned her to face the adoring audience set off a burst of passion in her mind.

“now how is that for a second act opening?” Andrew chuckled, the crowd definitely liked what they saw.

“of course, since we are doing bigger tricks, I'll need my lovely assistant back to her normal perky self.” Andrew bent down to grab a hammer and chisel from behind a light.

He placed the tip of the chisel against her calf. If she could of she would of tensed up in anticipation. His arm pulled back in slow motion before driving the steel tip into the stone surface. Cracks running up her leg. The crinkling and popping of breaking stone grew louder and louder as the cracks spread across her body. With each new fissure breaking open, the pleasure building inside her brain got more and more intense. Finally, the stone sloughed off in a cascade of grey sheets. The clattering covered her soft cries of delight.

She bowed slowly, her body shaking as she started the long process of coming down from that much pleasure suddenly being released. She panted softly, and thanked god for the extra lining in her briefs. She finished pulling the remaining shoulder down. And shimmied the tunic down as Andrew wheeled out a large contraption.

The crowd went wild, she was standing there in nothing but a gold bikini bottom, a pair of pasties, and a smile. She swayed her hips slowly as she stepped over the shards of dusty stone towards the rollers. Andrew's hands gripped gently around her waist and lifted her up into the air, her tail swinging out and brushing across his face as she rolled her top half back. She shivered as her toes brushed the cold steel roller. She felt her body settle on the table, her eyes following Andrew his fingers wrapping around the long crank handle. If the petrification platform was any indication this was going to feel amazing.

She grinned as the rollers started turning, a few clicks passed before her toes where pulled in. a soft pressure emanated from her toes. Each turn of the crank pulled her further and further in. the rollers pressed her flat, and paper thin. Unlike the petrification, this was an intense deep rumble of pleasure as every fiber of her being rubbed against each other. She didn't bother to hide the moans that rolled from her lip, her body squirming as the drums rolled, pulling more and more of her legs through, squeezing her flat. Her crotch dripped slightly as it was pulled closer and closer. Her back arched and she let out a loud cry as it slipped between the rollers. Talia fell silent and limp, letting out soft murmurs as her body was pulled through. She saw the crowd, many quite red in the face at her, fairly obscene display. Her lips played into a coy smile as her face passed into the rollers, somehow her ears stayed in place.

Aside from the incredible pleasure that seeped into her very being she felt a tingling in her ears
and on her back. She tried to look around but found her gaze was fixed forward, and it was covered by a rain of posters, each one bore her likeness, and the details of the convention. She watched from her limited viewpoint as all the posters were handed out to the attendees.

“now you've been a lovely audience, but my time is up, before I go, I need to repair the lovely miss Odle to three dimensions.” Andrew said gently scooping her body up, shaking her out.

Each shake brought a new wave of pleasure and ecstasy, and some more depth. Eventually She was one, three dimensional girl, who just so happened to be a moaning quivering sweaty mess. The crowd leapt to their feet applauding madly. Talia smiled broadly and her tail wagged.

Wait?

Tail?