"No, no, no." Marcus repeated, staring with horror down at his tail. He grabbed desperately for anything that he could use to wipe off the foreign lower half of his body. He ended up grabbing a blanket that was neatly folded in a small pile of clothes he had done recently. The pile was upturned when he whipped the base out from underneath it, sending clothes everywhere. But Marcus didn't pay it any mind, wiping off the tail his tail with an almost manic fervor. He made sure to get every single drop of water off of the scales and just as Ondina's had not an hour earlier, his legs returned once they were dry. His clothes returned as well, but he found that to be a trite mercy compared to what he found himself faced with. The very secret he had just sworn to upkeep had now become his own. The only difference, he quickly realized, was that they were not aware of his secret while he was very aware of theirs.
"Alright, alright." He said, jumping to his feet and beginning to pace back and forth across his floor, his footfalls nearly silent on the polished wooden floor. "Just breathe, Marcus, breathe." He followed his own advice, taking several deep breaths and exhaling through his nostrils.
Then the significance of what had just happened fully hit him. "I've got to tell the others. Maybe they know some way to reverse this." He flung open his door and stepped through, before quickly realizing his mistake. The rain ran down his neck and arms in less than a second and Marcus was diving back through his door an instant later, his legs transforming into a tail before he hit the ground. "Stupid rain." He fumed, he reached for his cellphone before realizing that his clothes had disappeared yet again.
For a second time he dried off his tail and waited for his legs to reappear. When they did he reached into his pocket and withdrew his phone with every intention of calling emergency services and telling them everything. He had dialed the numbers and his thumb was hovering over the call button when he forcibly stopped himself and terminated the attempt. He ran a hand through his hair and gave an angry shout, throwing his phone against the wall. The device shattered, glass traveling all over the floor as it landed heavily on the floor. Marcus watched it fall, feeling rather foolish for his overreaction. But he stood by his decision. As much as he hated it, he knew that if he called for help then it wasn't only him who would be suffering for his actions. Loyal to the end, Marcus decided then and there that this secret was one that he would never reveal. Not even to those who shared his predicament.
He walked over to the window and peered outside at the rain which continued to pour down. He glanced at his watch and frowned. "Thirty minutes to get to Rita's house." He muttered. "And it doesn't look like it's going to stop anytime soon."
With another shout of frustration he whirled around and threw his hands up in the air. When he did, a very interesting thing happened. The blanket that he had used to dry off his tail floated up several feet in the air. Marcus watched it fall back to the floor and then looked down at his hands, his eyes narrowing with suspicion. He raised a hand tentatively and focused on the blanket, willing it to repeat what it had done moments ago. The blanket gave a half-turn on the ground but refused to rise into the air. Glaring now with concentration, Marcus raised both his hands and gritted his teeth as he put every fiber of his being into lifting the blanket. This time, the blanket followed his wishes and rose gently into the air. Panting with effort, Marcus dropped his hands and the blanket.
As he caught his breath, an idea began to grow in his mind and with that idea a smile began to spread across his face. He jogged into his bedroom and began to tear apart his carefully organized closet, searching for the items he required. When he had gathered everything he sought he marched into the bathroom with them in his arms and began to pull on the odd wardrobe.
When he had finished donning his outfit he gazed at himself in the mirror, examining just how ridiculous he looked. He had a long leather duster on with its collar raised to protect his neck, a brown cowboy hat, long pants, and boots. All in all, he wasn't displeased with the look although he knew that he neighbors, and coincidentally everyone that happened to see him, would think that he had just fallen out of an old western movie. "Just need some spurs and a pistol and I would be ready for a showdown at high noon." Marcus muttered to himself as he swept out of the bathroom. He tried to ignore it but he found that he rather liked how the duster looked as it swung behind him. No, no. He told himself. Duster is bad. Stop liking it.
He took a deep breath and threw open the door, concentrating immediately on repelling the rain from his face. Unfortunately, he had forgotten to repel the rain from his hands and even if he hadn't, the rain would not be stopped by such a feeble effort. It ran down his neck completely disregarding the efforts he had made to avoid such a situation. Marcus slammed the door and waited for his tail to appear. Several seconds passed and he began to hope that possibly it was only a two time thing. "Hm." He said, his heart heavy with relief. "Well that's certainly-."
He didn't get any farther as his odd wardrobe disappeared just as his legs morphed into a long blue tail. "Oh damn." He said. "Okay, maybe this won't be as easy as I thought."
For a third time, Marcus dried off his tail and waited for his legs to reappear. He didn't get to his feet however. He laid on the floor with his hands behind his head, simply staring up at the ceiling. At this point most people would have called for help after being thrust into a situation that they had absolutely no idea with which how to handle. Not Marcus. As he stared up at the ceiling he gnawed at his lip, considering just how to approach his new situation. "Alright," He said as he sprung lightly to his feet and shrugged off his trench coat. "It's time to find out just what I can do."