Circe's Acupuncture Clinic
By Wolfy

Bert stared at the sign, accompanied by a rather pudgy-looking porcupine, for several minutes. He couldn’t help grinning a little at the puns, but the notice that there was going to be free acupunctures for the grand opening made him consider it more seriously. He’d heard lots of wonderful things about acupuncture, though the thought of having needles placed in his body made him a little squeamish. Still he wanted to try it and it was free.

‘Oh why not? What could it hurt?’ he thought and opened the door, ringing a set of chimes attached. The inside was a very pleasant-looking office. Oddly it didn’t smell medicinal but had a more fragrant smell that reminded him of the woods in spring. He was about to sit in one of the soft-looking green seats when the owner stepped in. Bert felt his temperature rise by several degrees as she slinked into the room. She had shoulder-length blond hair and grey eyes that seemed to be laughing. Her smile was warm and somehow mischievous as he looked at him. She wore a white nurse’s cap like a tiara in her hair and her body was covered in a tight-fitting sleeveless pink dress that somehow seemed to reveal more than it hid.

“Hello there” she said melodically “my name is Madam Cee.”

“B-b-b-Bert. Bert Dorsatum. He said, approaching her as if draw.

“Here for the free acupuncture? You’re the first. Please follow me.” Madam Cee led Bert down brightly lit hallways with beautiful pictures of nature adorning them. She stopped outside a room and let Bert in first. There was a doctor's table with a soft-looking brown cover, a tray sat next to it with three ceramic porcupines, each sporting a different colored quill. A seat was placed near the table and on it was a royal purple towel with gold lining.

“I can stay or leave as you disrobe.” Madam Cee said politely.

Bert stood dazed for a minute. “I’d like to be alone.” He said, blushing. Madam Cee giggled and shrugged “Call me when you’re ready.” She said as she left.

As he started taking his clothes off and putting them on the chair he noticed there were two letters engraved in the lower corner of the towel, ‘CF’. Shrugging it of as somehow part of Madam Cee’s name Bert undressed as quickly as he could, feeling himself blush a little. Finally he laid himself on the table and placed the towel over his buttocks. “I’m ready.” He called. Madam Cee was in the room almost instantly, approaching him with a smile and an odd gleam in her eyes.

“So what color quills would you like Bert?” she asked, lightly resting her fingers on the stems of first one, then another.

“Black will due.” He said, smiling.

“Here you go; the first of my special needles.” She said. “After this session I guarantee you’ll feel completely changed.” Bert felt the tiniest prick in the skin of his right shoulder. Madam Cee then proceeded to prick his left shoulder in the same way. A nice warm tingling feeling seemed to spread out from both needles.

“That feels pretty good!’ said Bert, relaxing a little more. Cee just giggled, a mischievous gleam played in her eyes.

“There will be more like them very soon.” She said and stared to remove the towel covering his butt. As she did Bert noticed an odd sensation in his right shoulder spreading out from the needle. It felt as if the hairs on his arm were all starting to grow. Turning his head he saw a forest of thick black hairs where moments ago bare skin had been! He was so shocked he hardly noticed the same feeling creeping across his face. He did feel that at the same time Cee lifted the towel up and place a needle in his right butt cheek.

“Hey, there’s something… odd going on.” Bert said as he saw that his left arm was now slowly growing the same hairs on it.

“Really? It must be the special lotion I use on the needle tips.” said Cee, placing a needle in his left butt cheek. Bert felt the same odd tingling sensation around the quills on his butt but his attention was drawn back to his arms, which were now covered in black, quill-like hairs. He hardly even noticed the odd feeling in his face as it slowly grew hairier and longer, the feeling that he was gaining weight or the odd sensation as his feet slowly changed as well. Instead his focus was on his hands. The base of his palms were getting thicker and darker, looking more and more like paws. As he watched his fingers seemed to be eager to meet one another in height, his second, middle and index finger shrinking and thickening while his thumb grew. His pinky and second fingers slowly merged as he watched, and his nails darkened and lengthened into claws.

“Here’s another one.” Madam Cee said, placing one in the center of Bert’s back. By now Bert could feel the strange quill-like hairs growing all over his body but could only really focus on his hands. He felt his face pushing out, his ears moving up on his head, but all that mattered were his hands somehow becoming paw-like. As a writer and an artist his hands were the key to his creativity, yet as pawlike as they became he seemed to be loosing no flexibility in them at all.

Suddenly he felt Madam Cee massaging an area of his back where the quills hadn’t quite grown in yet as if encouraging them. Bert started panicking - it was feeling too good.

“I-I’m not sure this would qualify as customer satisfaction.” He stammered, even though he never felt better in his life.

“Oh? Well maybe these last two needles will help.” She said, placing a needle into the heels of his already half-transformed feet.

Bert felt a soothing wave of warmth flow over his body like an ocean wave. He felt his face finish pushing out and watched as the last bits of humanity vanished from his paws. Despite their paw-like appearance Bert found he could still move his four digit paws like fingers and a thumb, almost like a cartoon animals. ‘At least I’ll still be able to write and draw.’ He thought, dazed as what had happened to him started sinking in.

“All done.” Madam Cee said with a lighthearted giggle. Bert moved his head slowly over his shoulder to see what happened to him but found most of his view blocked by long black quills.

Bert rose from the table on his hind legs and took a good look at his fur-covered body. He could see he was now a plump porcupine like that he’d seen in the store window. He heard Madam Cee giggling as he checked himself out.

“I did say you would feel completely changed after the session.” she said.
“Yeah, I definitely got the point.”