***** Wednesday *****

Having her parents consent to attend a slumber party, she happily told Victoria first thing in the morning. They quickly agreed on some details. Soon Victoria excused herself to use the restroom. Heading to her own class she wondered how Victoria used the restroom stuffed with a plug.

*Shoot! Forgot to check if her plug needed some changes.* Blushing crimson as she noted what lewd thoughts were becoming commonplace for her. Just she entered the first class her smartphone vibrated. Victoria had sent her a single emoticon text: # :-( #

Quickly she typed back. #What's wrong?# But no answer came.

Near the end of the second class, her phone buzzed again. Mercy did read a rather cryptic text from Victoria. #usual size; twisted like soft ice cream; colors: cream and caramel#

Mercy was confused. *Maybe she meant to send it to someone else.*

*****

Mercy found the usual suspects already at their table chatting about something. Victoria and Brian were debating about some game characters practicality of clothes if they were real.

Before Mercy joined in she decided to remedy her earlier forgetfulness. She found a new plug. All black again.

*But why is it half of her usual size?* Something of her own thought tucked at her mind. "Usual size"? She took out her phone and read Victoria's last text again. #usual size; twisted like soft ice cream; colors: cream and caramel#

A frightening thought crept into her mind. *Does she know? How?* She decided to test it. Thinking of the text she started resculpting the plug in her mind. It got bigger and twisted. It became a bit longer and tapered. Most of it she recolored in cream with a bit caramel along the lines as if someone had purred caramel sauce over it. Near the base, she changed the texture a bit and it's color to imitate an ice cream cone. The base itself she changed to a clear material.

With her visualization done she pushed the change onto the plug. However without altering the memory, as Mercy wanted to see Victoria's reaction. There was a minuscule yelp, but besides that Victoria continued her talking with Brian like normal.

Pushing the whole deal aside she joined the talk. With ten minutes to spare in their lunch break, Victoria excused herself again and headed to the restroom.

Just as Mercy took her seat for the next class she was startled by her buzzing phone. Taking a quick look she did read: # Perfect. Thx. #

Mercy's mind whirled. *She knows! She freaking knows.* When the teacher was not looking, she typed: # How? #

As reply came:# Secret till sleepover <3 <3 #

*Oh right. The Sleepover. So just to rehash. I changed a butt plug of a girl, that everyone thought was the model person of prim and proper. Now she found out and there is the sleepover with her that I agreed to. Brilliantly done Mercy. Brilliantly done.*

*****

Mercy's list of strange things to figure out:
- not freaking out about new gender (body feels strangely familiar/no trouble with balance despite new center of gravity - unless sports; does not extend to social things!!)
- Magic (one big and one small natural spell; might have other spells; need to learn about limitations; don't go over 100% or below 15% or bad things happen)
- Spell 1 lets me change clothes (targets don't notice change unless I want them to; others might notice change; Mom, Dad, Al and Brian know my spell; Victoria too!; 150 feet and line of sight limit; tiring if more than 90 feet)
- Victoria is wearing a Buttplug!!! (Just today?; is she forced?; That thing is huge!; other stuff too; at least three plugs; she is more deviant than I thought and she admitted as much!!; help! I fucked up! Victoria knows!)

***** Thursday *****

The first half of Mercy's school day was torture. Too many things occupied her mind and dampened her mood. Finding out what long-term effects her pranks could have made her tread carefully what pranks she could do.

And while her sock tactic still worked it had gotten boring real fast. By now it felt like a chore. Then there was still the matter concerning Victoria. Since when did she know and how? Has she gotten immune to the mental part? After all, she was one of Mercy's more common "victims".

To kill the last rest of her mood she had to suffer through a full class of mister Hesbrows physics lectures. She was so bored by his droning on that she was tempted to gag him - literally - but that would give her spell away.

*****

Mercy was dragging herself to lunch. Arriving finally with a tablet in hand at their usual table, she plopped down. Victoria and Brian were talking about video games again. Or more specifically they argued about something rather passionately.

Mercy brooded a bit longer till she heard one of Victoria's arguments that made her listen up. "I am just saying outfits in games don't have to be realistic. I think a lot of girls like those revealing outfits. Something they can't do in real life is possible in games."

Brian looked not happy. "Sure they couldn't wear them in real life. They are impossible. And you wanna tell me, if they could, girls would put up with those in real life?!"

Victoria quickly squashed his argument:"Of course! Well not all but come on. If women would avoid everything impractical we wouldn't wear high heels or makeup and so on."

Both looked to Mercy as she had a sudden burst of laughter. "What!?" asked both of them in unison.

When Mercy caught herself she replied still chuckling. "You're arguing plays exactly out like I thought it would between a girl and a guy. Just that the positions you took is switched."

That got a chuckle out of both.

Well, sorry that I am not the typical hormone-driven boy," came from Brian.

"Well, yeah sorry that I am a modern independent girl," pitched Victoria in.

Both chuckled and shook hands to bury the argument. For now anyways.

"So has Miss broody decided to join us? What is up with you today?" wanted Victoria to know.

"The day before yesterday something happened. One of my spells had unintended consequences. Thought I could put it out of my mind. Guessed wrong. Now I have to be more careful how I use my spell for pranks. It kind of sucks."

Victoria and Brian both started to ask something but stopped and looked at each other with a look on their face that asked: "does he/she know?"

Mercy sighed. "Yes, both of you know."

Brian was the first to react. "You told her?"

Mercy gave Victoria an accusing look. "She found out."

"How?" asked Brian and looked at Victoria.

"I won't tell you. And I told you Mercy I will tell you at the sleepover. It kinda involves a secret I am not prepared to tell yet. Especially not here."

Mercy gave a disappointed look but still was curious. "Okay, I can wait on the 'how'. Can you tell me at least how much you figured out?"

That made Victoria grin. "I suppose. Well, you can change clothes, right? As well as alter a cloth so it splits in two. So, in other words, you can create new clothes too. Right again? Thought so. Oh and if you want you somehow alter the memory of the person to think their altered clothes were always like this."

Mercy nodded along until the last bit. "Uhm the last thing is a little the reverse. The memory thing is always there unless I concentrate and suppress it. I also can't influence how the memory is altered. I think each target decides themselves. Subconsciously."

"So what happened the day before yesterday?" asked Brian.

"Ahh, I can't really tell. It too involves another person's secret."

"Speaking of secrets. Does Brian know how you 'pranked' me?" Victoria wanted to know.

Mercy shook her head and Victoria looked relieved. Brian, however, gave a bit of a grumpy look. To distract them Mercy told them a bit more. "I can tell you however that the mind-altering part is more powerful than I thought. If I change a random thing that is not worn often everything is fine. But if I change something that is worn daily or has a special meaning then that familiarity is transferred. Worse case scenario, as I found out, is that it doesn't change just the memory but the personality too. It's kinda heavy stuff."

Both listeners nodded gravely. Eventually, Brian had to ask." So this is all and good but let's return to the really interesting thing. Victoria told me you have a sleepover. Why am I still not invited?"

Both girls rolled their eyes.

*****

This afternoon Mercy was again visiting Al at the self-help center. Of course, she told him everything about her new insight.

"It is good you are cautious. A good character trade. I think you might now benefit from a bit group therapy. Well, it's more like a weekly meeting with the local trickster mages. We share stories and insight. Till then I have two more things for you. Firstly I want you to have this book. It's a copy of encyclopedia I own for trickster mage spells. I marked the pages related to clothing. Try a bit and see if there is more hidden inside you."

"A book? Really? Isn't there an app or something?" Mercy needled.

"The youth of today," Al grumbled. "Books have their advantages. Now let's get down to the cellar or do you need to download an app to find the way there?"

Once there Mercy noticed that the damaged vessel had been exchanged and a new one was installed.

"Okay, listen up Mercy. See this rectangle? Yep, the slightly glowing one. I want you to concentrate on it and try to push with your mind."

Mercy nodded and did as she was told. Not soon after Al's panicked shouting interrupted her. "Stop! Mercy stop! Stop NOW! Oh my, that was close."

"What happened?" she asked confused.

Al looked pale and shaken. "Mercy. Tell me how do you feel? Do you feel a rushing feeling? Like something is pouring in?"

Mercy took a moment to check but she didn't feel anything unusual. "Not that I can tell."

By now Al was pacing through the room. "Okay, Mercy. You told me you that you mainly change a few socks each day, right? So tell me how many did you change today?"

"Not sure. I didn't count. Maybe eighty pairs. You said if I need to I should prank so I did."

"Eighty!? Okay, no more vessel filling for you."

By now Mercy was kinda scared but also got angry. "Al. Tell me what's wrong or I swear you will wear a whole baby outfit in a minute!"

That got Al to stop his pacing. "Okay. Okay. Listen. What happened isn't bad in itself. Just unusual. Okay, actually I never heard of anything like that. Mercy those maybe five seconds you concentrated you nearly filled a new empty vessel up. One or two seconds more and you might have .. well let's not get into that. Clearly, you have more trickster magic and potential than we thought. That explains your massive sock changing. I thought you were changing a few per day. Max of seven or eight. You see not every mage has the same amount or should I say capacity for trickster magic. The higher the cap the faster the refill rate. Okay, for now, you have to promise me that if you ever get close to maximum. You prank. No matter what. Even if you have to hurt somebody or lose a friend. If the feeling to prank someone is strong and it doesn't go away prank like hell. Because one thing is clear. If you ever top off and lose control it might just be as catastrophic as a nuclear bomb hitting the city."

By now it was Mercy that turned pale and paced nervously through the room. Al stopped her by grabbing her and giving a hug.

"Look. It sounds bad. Well, it kinda is. But you will do fine. You did great the past week. Just follow the lokian way like before. Then I promise everything will be ok. I will write down that you are rated a ten. That's the highest on our scale. Same as our founder had. But if I am honest you would probably rate at least eighteen or more. Don't tell anyone about that, okay? There is always somebody unreasonable out there who easily panics. Let's not give them something to worry about. Also now I am pretty sure you have more spells up your sleeve. Find them. It will help you. Believe me. You need those.

It took a few more promises but Mercy calmed down. She thought she had her trickster magic under control, but now she wasn't so sure. And after the commotion in the principal's office, she wasn't sure if she could handle the second spell. Or a third. She promised however to try. Still worried she headed home.