Yukino helped Cobalt into her third outfit of the day while Iris and Sakaki hefted the yards of hair freshly cut from Cobalt's head and arms into large garbage bags.
"I don't know why...huff!...I thought you could just retract the hair...back into you," Iris grunted, dragging two stuffed bags over to the service entrance of the large studio. "But still, I think it was worth it."
"Ye-e-e-e-e-a-a-a-ah," Cobalt replied as Yukino laced up the back of her black dress. "Wha-a-a-a-at thi-i-i-i-i-is?"
"Excuse me?" Yukino said. "I'm sorry, but it's getting harder to understand you."
"It's the side effects...of that silly collar," Iris said as she dragged another two bags past them. "Don't expect her to be saying...words at all for much longer. Right, CK?" She threw the bags onto the growing pile with a huff.
"Ri-i-i-i-i-i-ight," came Cobalt's protracted confirmation. Her voice was being devoured by a persistent bleat.
Yukino tied white lace around one of her wrists with a red ribbon, securing what were very long sleeves that completely covered Cobalt's hands. "Forgive my curiosity, Miss Kimera... What is it that attracts you so much to this specific form, that you would put up with this kind of inconvenience?"
"U-u-u-m... i-i-i-inco-o-o-on...? Ca-a-an't... so-o-o-ory-y-y-y..."
Iris had finished hauling the fur-filled bags and was returning to the staging area. "CK? Are you all right?"
"Fi-i-i-ine. Mi-i-i-ind ju-u-u-ust... mo-o-o-o-ore si-i-i-i-impl-l-le," Cobalt bleated.
"Simple...minded? You mean...you mean you're getting dumber?!" Iris shouted. Cobalt nodded. "For crying out loud, Cobalt! What else haven't you warned me about? Are you going to start chewing the outfits?"
"Mi-i-i-i-ight," Cobalt answered.
Iris threw up her hands. "Okay, that's it! I'm getting your collar and you're going back to regular-brained you. Where'd you leave it, the dressing room?"
"It's all right," Yukino said to Iris. "We'll be ready in just a minute."
"Wha-a-a-at we-e-e-ea-a-ar?" Cobalt asked.
"If you're wondering what the theme for the dress is," Sakaki answered, bringing over a frilly white apron and cummerbund, "It's a formal but fun manor maid."
Cobalt's semi-glazed goat eyes brightened. "Ple-e-e-e-e-a-a-ase I-i-i-i-iri-i-i-is, ta-a-a-ake pi-i-i-i-ic. I-I-I-I ba-a-a-a... be-e-eha-a-ave... ba-a-a... ba-a-a-a-a-a. Bah," Cobalt ended her series of degenerating bleats with a deflated sigh. It was clear to all four women the goat girl had just lost the ability to speak any English.
Iris stood silently, visibly aggravated by the turn of events but simultaneously pitying the goat girl and her self-inflicted state of dumbness. After a bit, she regained a dignified posture and cleared her throat. "CK, can you still understand me?"
The goat nodded her head, upon which a white maid crown was then placed to complete her ensemble.
"Then get to your mark and we'll get this over with. Glad this is the last outfit of the day."
* * *
An hour later, Cobalt had returned to his normal clothes and his normal form. Yukino and Sakaki had long since bid their farewells, but Cobalt stayed to help Iris take down her lights and camera equipment.
"You're putting your collar back on between every outfit tomorrow," Iris lectured.
"Okay," Cobalt said in a bigger sigh than he meant to.
The two worked in silence for a few minutes, dismantling the lighting c-stands, until Iris piped up with a question that had been lingering in her mind.
"At the end there, when I took the last picture, did you start to feel different?" she asked. "Like, more different?"
"Umm...I don't think so," Cobalt said, stacking the c-stands in a corner. "Why?"
"I thought I saw something change in your face. Not a physical change to your face, just an expression. Like your mind had gone somewhere else."
"I don't usually go that long without my collar," Cobalt admitted. "Parts of my mind start shutting down. I can't understand big words, or hold my concentration for longer than a minute. Recalling everything is a bit hard because my memory is affected a little, too."
"Why do you do it at all, then?" Iris asked.
"Because it's fun," Cobalt answered plainly. "Not the part where I start thinking like a goat, everything before it. Being a woman, being a little shorter, being able to grow my hair at will...and I like the sound of my voice when it has just a hint of a bleat to it."
The equipment was finally all put away and the two walked to the large main doors to the studio. Iris began shutting the overhead lights off.
"I think you're lying," she said.
"I'm not."
"I think you like more than just the parts you said you like."
Cobalt's face was blank. "See you tomorrow?"
"You'd better."
Cobalt stepped out of the studio and Iris snapped off the final light.
To Be Continued
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