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Daniel could only watch helplessly as the people around him were struck by one terrible energy after another, each one frightened and horrified by what was happening. His real concern was for Cori, who he quickly lost contact with and could only watch as they began to pitch and dance as a bird.

The voice of the strange hostess, whose name they had never learned, now turned to Daniel. But unlike the others, except for Cori, the contempt was absent, and for Daniel, it was downright fawning. She saw not the cervine druid character he had once LARPed as, but as a deer. A genuine red deer. Daniel had to admit that he had always admired their size and strength, and he could tell, she admired them too. He could feel her remaking his body, reshaping his painted fingers into stiff hooves, weaving the fabric as fur into his skin, dropping him down to all fours, filling him with muscle and power. His real cervine ears perked up as her magic -- what else could it have been -- filled him, consumed his soul -- or perhaps it awoke a genuine cervine soul within him -- and left him thinking not of Daniel, nor of LARPing, nor of costumes or parties or Cori, but of nature.

As if walking into a dream, Daniel stepped out into the cool open air of the forest that beckoned before him.

Cori, meanwhile, realizing the freedom that lay before her... her? yes, she was still feeling a bit of female in her, despite his male dancing... followed after the deer, eager to see what lay beyond.