A Summoning: Part XIX

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Part XIX
~Wheel of Fortune, Part 1~

Sam pulled at the hoodie he had on, starting to take it off before pausing. “Do you mind if I—?”
“Go ahead,” she nodded.

He took it off, revealing a gray t-shirt with a full moon photo on it underneath, and hung it over the chair before coming around to take a seat. This also freed a long, bushy black-furred canine tail to match his ears. “Haah, sweet moon, this thing's too much for the weather down here,” he said. Then, looking at Damon: “Well, uh, you know me yet? You've been sorta quiet.”
“I think I do,” she said slowly. “Somehow you don't smell like I think you're s'posed to. A-and you're another wolf!”

“Yeeaah...”

“'Down here'?” Onida pressed.
“Yeah, I'm, from up north. Drove this way for almost a day straight, eating and a hotel sleep not included. I feel pretty bad, you know; when he said something about a nasty bite I knew that might be what it was, but...not really a good way to warn someone behind the veil. Then he was gone on the full moon, and I just knew it.”

“That was Friday night,” she pointed out. “Why'd you start driving here yesterday?”
“Well, the stream—wait. Has nobody...?” He paused, leaning over to dig a phone out of his hoodie. “I'll show you, okay?”

---

Thomas had yet to find an upper limit.

Letting more and more of her strength “free” to lift increasingly heavy weights seemed effortless, not even requiring her to break a sweat so far. Using it, however, seemed to give her a better feel for its superhuman nature. It felt like this strength was coming from her other form—that of a gigantic, monstrous warm-blooded lizard beast. While little muscle was visible on her as she looked now, that “native” form's full strength and power was hers to command in any form. It was a curious feeling, to be sure, but not bad.

Setting down her latest weight, she caught sight of one of the gym's employees, a personal trainer, walking her way. In fact she knew this guy—Kyle and Thomas had spotted each other now and then, had a few conversations here and there. Only—she didn't recall him having bright red skin, pointy ears and a pair of long horns sticking out from either side of his forehead. He was tall, muscular, in a sleeveless shirt and shorts, with the usual semi-spiky, neon-blue hair she was no longer quite as certain had been dyed that color. They had bonded somewhat on both being nearsighted; he had contacts in at the moment.

“Yoo. You just join up?” he said.

“...No.” At least avoiding any strong reactions was easy enough for her. “I've been a member for years.” She set her weights down.
“No kidding?” He leaned a bit closer in and said quietly, “I'd think I'd remember if we had a dragon goin' here.”

After a second's pause, she whispered back, “Well, I wasn't a dragon the last time I was here.”

The rather..demonic looking man leaned back a bit, his eyebrows raised. “Duude, it really is you! Thomas, right?” he added a little quieter, double checking.

“Yeah...long story.”
“Well, hey, I got time! Now I'm curious.” He indicated a side room reserved for one-on-one training, and she nodded, following him into the more private room.

“You look different, too,” the dragon-girl stated.
“Naah. Maybe you're seein' me different, though,” Kyle said, pointing to himself with his thumbs. “Hope you don't have any hangups about demon, 'cause I've been one all along.”
“I don't really know enough about 'real' demons to have an opinion,” she said, her head tilting slightly to one side.

“Ah, well, there's lots of different kinds. Lesser demons are all like rabid, wild animals; if you see one here in the upper plane, you oughta run. Or...kill it quick, in your case,” he said. “Greater demons are people, though, and feed offa different kinds of...stuff. Like, I am a pride demon.”
“In a gym?”
“Suure,” he said, “it's perfect. You know how much ego people put into their fit bodies and keeping 'em that way? Anyway, that's also how I could tell who you were. Different people have, like, different 'flavors'; it's not perfect, but it totally helps.”

“Enough about me, though, what happened to you?!” he said, spreading his arms out at Thomas's new appearance.

---

Onida squinted her eyes after seeing the brief clip of video her sister had unwittingly sent out to the world two nights ago. “How did that happen? She can't even log in!”
“Uhh...well, let me just say that Windows is a really secure operating system,” Sam said with a tone of understated sarcasm, shrugging.

“Should we be worried about this?”

“Ahh, not much, no. Look—people tend to believe only what they think is possible. Plus, if you don't know werewolves are real, the ears on the video look fake. Anyone aware of magic would think this a little weird, maybe, buut..it'll blow over pretty quick. But, yeah, I was worried,” he added. “Turns out I'm the closest out of Damon's friends who are both aware of magic aand already knew where he lives, which..isn't a very long list.”

Seeing the smaller girl leaning in with interest, Sam said, “What? You recognize me now?”

“Your voice is really familiar,” she said. “...You still smell funny, though.”
“Well, I guess somewhere in there—” he said, pointing to his own head “—you remember seeing me as human, so you think I should smell human. Do I smell how you think I would as a wolf?”
“Um...” Damon sniffed the air a couple of times. “Yes! And you are a wolf, huh?”
“Yes. I'm glad you're...okay, even if you don't seem to be all there?”

Onida crossed her arms. “Most of my brother's memory is gone. Is that normal?”

“I guess?” he said, his ears folding down in obvious uncertainty. “Wolves running wild and biting people without—going through a lot of red tape—is real rare these days. Much less someone coming back to themselves after a whole day. It could also have to do with, uhh, whatever made her that way..?”

“Two witches ran into him in the woods and tried an 'experimental calming spell' or something,” Onida said. “Then they brought her back to me. I care a lot more that she's alive, with me, and, not hurting people than what she looks like.”

“Understandable,” Sam nodded.

“They did say something about side effects, but I think they said the memory loss was all because of the werewolf thing, not the spell.”
“Well, they probably know more than me if they could do that,” he said, “I'd believe it.”

Damon yawned at this point, somewhat loudly. After looking between her and their visitor for a moment, Onida said, “Look, I've got to get to work soon, and she hasn't slept. I'd like to continue this, but...”
Sam nodded. “I got it. Honestly, I wouldn't trust me to stick around here all day with how I look, either. I got a hotel to stay at today. Do you, have any contact info for those witches, though?”

“Yeah,” she said, digging out the paper with their numbers on it. “Here.” Sam took a picture of it with his phone.

“I'll come back later, if that's okay with you?” he said. “Like seven, eight PM?”
“That should be fine,” Onida said: Plenty of time to get home, wake Damon, have supper and mentally prepare for another round of trying to help her sister remember things—this time with assistance from a near-stranger. It was worth it, as long as there was a chance it would work...

---

Halfway through the beginning of her explanation, Thomas remembered that Zotha wanted her being a literal goddess to be at least somewhat of a secret—so she just described her as a friend who'd recently gained some magic power and tried pumping it into her, resulting in the “hatching”. Kyle at least appeared to believe this explanation.

“Yeeah, that kinda thing seems to be happening more often these days than it used to,” he said. “Still, a dragon? I'd say you won the lottery,” he said, pointing with both hands.

“It does feel like it,” she said with a slight grin. “But being stuck a girl will take some getting used to.”

“Compared to what all else you are, that's nothin',” he said.

“Anyway, you were—what, still exercising on the equipment here?”
“Just...curious about the newfound strength.”

“Ah. Well. Not much here can really challenge an adult dragon,” he said. “Unless you wanna go to your native form and pick up the whole gym. But I got some magic-enhanced weights in the back for all the magically super-strong.”

“I'll keep that in mind, thanks,” she said, nodding. “For now, I need to go pretty soon to get lunch before class.”

“Oh, yeah. Diet,” he said, pointing again. “Listen, I'm sure you noticed what your teeth look like?”
“Uh-huh.” She drew her lips back for a second to show them.

“You should probably be prepared to be hungry for a lot more than you used to, mostly meat,” he said. “I suggest going for organ meat to get good nutrition without having to eat veggies. Tends to help folks who are suddenly a lot more, ah, carnivorous than before. Won't be easy on the wallet, though.”

“Thanks.”
“Yeah, just doin' my job,” he said.

---

Zotha contacted Jess at lunch. Text from someone claiming to know our werewolf friend.

I know. He sent me the same thing. Someone should meet with him...

But both of us are booked solid this afternoon—assuming my educated guesses are correct—and he wants to meet this afternoon. I'd hate to keep him waiting.

Prama's going with Anika's roommate to try to find a potions master or whatever... What about Riana?

I think she'll be busy too, and bring Cameron with her.

That just leaves Anika.

Well—is she not capable?

Hmm, capable enough I guess. Not exactly the biggest vote of confidence. The goddess got the impression that Jess saw Andrew as the least reliable of the group to handle something social, aside from maybe Cameron. But she had a little more faith in the Kitsune, who had done quite well on Sunday.

I say, ask her to meet him.

But he wants to meet with one of us.

In that case...we could trade one of our times with her. Ooorrr...she could pose as you, Zotha suggested with a hint of mischief. At least at first. Easy enough illusion to make.

Very well, Master. I'll see if I can convince her to do it. And then explain what it is 'I' need to tell him.

---

As she ate lunch alone in a half-hidden corner of the dining hall, Prama tried to psych herself up a bit. Sure, Steph wasn't someone she knew personally, but he was Anika's roommate, so he was someone who someone she knew...knew. Besides, he'd made a “Deal” with Jess to help her, and evidently Kitsune took that sort of thing very seriously. So he would be trying to help, whether he liked her or not. In short, there was nothing to be nervous about.

Naturally, when they met near the entrance to the parking deck, the bespectacled genius was expending half her effort just not to constantly shake. He'd gotten there first, and waited until she was in conversational distance before speaking. “Hey.”

“Um..y-yes. Hello.” Too quiet; not much of a first impression. She looked up at him—still very unused to other people being so tall by comparison to her.

“You're, Prama, right?” he said, offering her a hand. “Steph.”
“Th-that's right,” she said, taking it weakly. “Nice to m-meet you.”

Her hand jerked back to her side involuntarily about halfway into a normal-length handshake. “You don't seem too pleased,” he said, looking more concerned than anything.

Prama cleared her throat softly, determining to present the facts as rationally as possible. “T-traded social confidence for intellect a few d-d-days ago. St-still, working on it.”

“I hope you got a lot of brains for it, then. I'm supposed to be pretty good at making people at ease around me,” he said.

“Oh, I did,” she said, managing to project a bit of confidence for the first time in the encounter. He nodded in response, then turned.

“Let's get to the car, then. I gave Jess directions, it's about a half hour out.”

“I know. Already m-memorized them,” she mumbled.

Once they were seated and on the way out of the parking deck, he said, “I really don't know if this is gonna work. Not that I won't give it my best shot. This alchemist is an old werewolf, like—eighty-something, I think? Kinda ornery, very dry sense of humor. Seems real mean, scary almost, if you don't know him.”

“Unlikely to see much in a mouse, huh,” Prama said. Being in a very one-on-one setting felt slightly better.

“Yeah. I dunno. This guy used to run with an old-school pack. You know: Fight to join, fight for rank. Fight for fun. Old wolves like that tend to respect, you know, pluck. Boldness.”
“Fight?”

“Yeah. And they absolutely treasure honesty.”

No asking Zotha for false confidence, then—not unless she wanted to have to maintain it at all times around him until she'd learned enough. “Persistence, perhaps?”
“I'm sure that figures into it too,” he said, nodding.

“Hey, why d'you want to be an alchemist anyway?”

“Intellectual challenge. Money. Connections in the magic world,” Prama listed. “And there are some potions I assume exist which I would like to use myself, and which I assume would be much more expensive to buy than to make once I know how.”

“Oh, like what?”

“You know...confidence, until I can re-learn it for myself. Or maybe height, strength. Magic power, so I could try out some spells or something.”

“You can't ask your goddess for that stuff?”
“I..could, but everything has a price,” she said. “Permanent gain could require me to trade something back, but I like my intellect where it is. Temporary gain may require upkeep which I don't want someone else to foot. I would rather stand on my own two feet as much as possible, and utilize the boon I was granted to benefit both myself and her. I'm sure potions cost something too, but it would be something I paid for myself.”

“Guess I can respect that.”

“..We're still more or less trying to keep Zotha a secret from the world at large,” Prama stated. “If possible, I'd like you to introduce me without reference to her, or the..change I've been through.”
“Fair enough. I don't see any reason I'd need to tell him that info anyway,” Steph said.

“Jess said that you were something of a regular,” Prama said.

“Yeah. Sometimes I wanna do a trick that takes a lot of power and leaves me drained, so I like to have a supply of magic replenishing potions handy. That stuff's pretty basic, so it's not too expensive.”

“How does running out of magic work, exactly?”
“I dunno..you spend a bunch, and then you feel like you can't anymore,” he said with a shrug. “It's not too different from physical exercise. Like: If you run enough you eventually have to stop and take a breather. And also like exercise, stretching out to your limit and then recovering will expand how much you can do next time. Oh, but if you do start trying to learn spells, you should know that's also physically taxing. So you might wanna work on your body's stamina at the same time anyway.”

“Good to know,” she said, nodding and filing that information away.

“Hey, you seem a lot better,” Steph commented after a moment's pause.
“I feel better, for now. Confined space with only one other person makes it much easier.”
“You know if this guy does let you work for him, he'll probably expect you to handle customers too. I mean—for that matter, you'll need to do that eventually anyway.”

“I'm aware of that,” she said. “It'll be part of my practice to get used to people again. However, I'm hoping to handle potion sales mostly online once I'm on my own, assuming there is a way to do so.”

“That'd be a new one,” Steph said, “Convenient, even. I don't really know if it's something that hasn't been allowed 'till now, or if it's just that alchemists tend to be pretty rare and traditionalist enough to only sell to folks whose faces they've seen.”

“'Allowed'? You think it would hurt the veil?”

“Ehh, probably not,” he shrugged. “It'd be pretty easy for anyone not in the know to write off a 'potion selling shop' as bogus. But those in charge of keeping it up might feel differently.”

---

The goddess's prediction had been correct; no sooner than 24 hours since her first visit to Rachel and Graham's house, she received a text with the former's decision. She still very much wanted to be a Neko, and the white-haired catgirl wanted to speak to Zotha as well. So she appeared in front of their door not long afterward, ringing the doorbell. Graham answered, wearing a tight blouse and short skirt; it seemed like she was already quite comfortable with femininity.

“Welcome, miss Zotha.” She paused, one of her ears lowering. “Ehh, Lady Zotha? Is there a right title for a goddess?”
“I'm not really hung up on that kind of formality,” the goddess said, shrugging. “And I'm still younger than you are, anyway.”

“A'right. Please, c'mon in.”

Once the door was shut, Zotha went over to Rachel, who was standing near the middle of the room. “Okay, Rachel. You've said it once already, but I'd like to confirm one more time that you're sure about this,” she said.

“I'm definitely sure!” she said nodding. “I really thought about it, too. It's definitely worth it.”
“Heh, okay. In that case, just hold still a moment...” Taking a lesson from the night before, the goddess simply reached over, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder, and gently pushed magic into her until she started to awaken. The girl's ears stretched out past her hair, growing black fur and fluff on the inside, and then a tail spread its way out from her back already twitching. At the same time she grew taller, gaining a few inches of height over the change, and her chest visibly puffed out just a bit. By the time Zotha withdrew her hand, the girl's eyes were shut and she was softly purring, clearly enjoying the feeling of being part cat.

Rachel slowly opened her eyes; they'd turned a golden yellow, with tall slits of pupils like her grandfather's. The two of them looked even more like siblings now; if anything, the slight growth spurt had also further enhanced the impression that she was the elder one. “Waa~ah!” She turned all around, examining the tail and reaching a hand up to feel an ear. Then she tackled Zotha with an enthusiastic hug. “Thank you, Lady Zotha!” she said while the goddess chuckled, returning the hug with one arm and letting the girl nuzzle her cheek a moment before gently setting her down again.

“Heheh, you're quite welcome,” she said, enjoying both the gratitude itself and its display.

“Now, what was it you wanted?” Zotha asked, turning back toward Graham—who had on a grin of what appeared to be either pride or satisfaction at seeing her granddaughter's change.

“Oh! Ah, yeah. It's, uh, a bit petty, but I don't fit in the driver's seat of my pickup all that well,” she said, looking a little embarrassed about the request.
“I can always make you a little taller, I guess.”
“Nah, I—rather like this look, really. I was more just wondering if you could change the seat a little for me, so I don't have to buy a new car or somethin'.”
“Oh. Well, I haven't done something like that before, but it should be easy enough. Would you mind showing me the truck?”
“Certainly. I-I mean, not at all!” she corrected after a second. “It's just in the garage...”

Zotha had the curious sense that the white-haired catgirl wanted some private conversation as she followed her around to the door leading out into the garage, so once it was shut she quietly gave them some selective privacy—being well aware that Rachel's ears would be perfectly able to hear them. Anything relating to the truck would go through; anything else wouldn't.

“I went shoppin' for new clothes this mornin',” Graham said, opening the pickup's door. “Haven't done that in ages. It was pretty exciting, tryin' on all these totally different clothes. Small stuff that'd never have fit me before.”
“I guess that's when you found out it wasn't exactly built for someone your size,” Zotha said. “Think you could sit in it for a moment to show me?”
“Sure.”

After climbing in, she said, “I couldn't help but notice Rachel, ahh, grew a little from that.”
“Yeah. Seems like some physical change is normal with most awakenings, even if it's not as extreme as yours. On the bright side, I think it was a small enough change that most of what she has should still fit. Maybe some new bras, at most.”

“Heheh, I could imagine,” the Neko said.

By now she was finished making the adjustment to the seat's mechanics. “It should be able to scoot forward more and go up and down now. Try it out?”
“A'right.” Graham began fiddling with the controls.

“I couldn't help but overhear there, a girl named Damon and her sister talkin'. She looked sorta...well, as doggish as I am cattish,” she said. “You know anything about that?”
“Mmaybe. Why?”
“Oh, it just made me curious, is all.” Zotha could feel some of the Neko's emotions surrounding Damon and concluded from them that this was a lie. But there was no need to tell Graham she knew that.

“Well—first of all, she's more wolf than dog. Werewolves are a thing in our world,” Zotha said. “Damon was human last month, but a werewolf bit him and he nearly lost his mind. I employed some of my power to try to fix it, or at least give him back some self-control, and it wound up turning him into a girl too.”
“I see...”
“What you really should know about her, is that she's not in the best mental state right now. The new 'wolf' side taking over for so long screwed up her memories, and she's still having a lot of trouble controlling those instincts. I think she's on the road to recovery now, but there's no telling how long that road actually is.”

“Ah. Well. I do hope she gets better, then,” Graham said; this part she meant. There had been some disproportionate sadness from hearing that a complete stranger wasn't well, too.

“Looks like it works,” the catgirl added, leaning back and demonstrating that her arms and legs reached the car's controls properly now. “Thanks a heap.”

“No problem. Let me know if you need anything else, but you should be aware I have lots of followers and there might be backlog for smaller stuff,” Zotha said. “Oh, but Rachel does have my number if you're curious about anything else.”
“I got it,” Graham said, hopping back out of the car. “I'll try not to make my request so petty next time, eh?”

“It's not petty to want to be safe on the road,” the goddess said. “But, you know, as long as I was already here. Now, I've got another appointment to make, so I'll need to say bye for now.” She headed back toward the door, and the Neko followed, shutting the pickup's door on the way.

A Summoning: Part XVIII

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Part XVIII
~Devil~

“Daamoon!” Onida knocked on her...sister's door, and heard some canine whining from inside. “Come on, breakfast is gonna get cold. What's wrong?”

“Mnh didn't sleep any,” the werewolf girl said weakly from inside. “Couldn't figure out the hint thingy. Wann' sleep.”

She sighed. “Look, I've only got a few hours before I need to be at work, and we need to buy at least some underwear that fits you. Just—get up, eat breakfast and try on some clothes, then I'll drop you off here and you can sleep as long as you want until I get back. Okay?”

“Mrrf...okay.”

Damon was visibly sleepy all through breakfast, rubbing her eyes and yawning several times throughout. Her sister wondered whether coffee was poisonous to werewolves before imagining the often almost hyperactive girl hopped up on a ton of caffeine and deciding that this was much the better option. Anyway, if she was still in this state at the store, she probably wouldn't want to spend energy or possible sleep-time on arguing or complaining about the necessary parts of getting feminine clothes. She might even be willing to try on whatever Onida threw at her.

...She realized after a moment that she was thinking about dressing up the wolf-girl, just a little bit. Even though she still wasn't really even used to the idea of her brother being a girl, she was really cute, and that small part of Onida that would've wanted to dress up a little sister now and then if she'd had one in the past was acting up. This was supposed to be a temporary state, they hoped, so why not give Damon a small taste of what it was like to be a girl, wear the clothes they wore?

...Well, at least she could find things more comfortable and fitting than the male-sized t-shirt awkwardly draped over her sister right now.

---

“..up, sleepyhead.”
“Mrrf?” Anika woke up to the feeling of a soft hand running through her hair from the bangs up to the top of her head. Her eyes opened slowly, her mind at the same time processing the physical sensation of the cute, dark-haired girl still fully entangled with her own curvy body. “W-wah!”

“Heheh. Take it easy there,” Steph said, grinning down at her. “Sorry to disturb you, but—I gotta catch up on some homework I didn't do last night, and youuu~, have a class this morning. Riiight?”
“Oh. Um. Y-yeah.”

They remained in place for an awkward moment. “So..kinda need your help pulling us apart here,” Steph prompted.

“Ah! R-right...” Anika blushed, her half-asleep, overwhelmed mind spinning back up to at least half functionality.

A bit of awkward motion later, they came apart and rolled onto their backs on opposite sides of the bed, Steph sitting herself up right away and offering the white-haired vixen a hand to help her get up, too. “..Thanks.” She took the hand, making her own way to her feet.

“You can take first shower,” Steph said with a small nod, “since you got somewhere to be.”

“Okay...” Still a little dazed, Anika went to get some clothes for the day and went into the bathroom, feeling a bit like she was floating. As she came fully awake, she found herself far better rested than she had been in weeks, and feeling a kind of permanent-feeling afterglow of happiness from what had happened the night before. As impossible and bizarre as it all was, it was somehow just what she'd needed, too...and it seemed like somehow Steph had known this.

Her roommate was back to the male form by the time she came out, back to just one tail out (the pink-with-white tip one, though) and dressed in the kimono from the Ruler of Foxes.

“Where'd that come from?” he said. “It looks lovely on you.”
“Uh, um..” Anika fidgeted her hands for a moment, flushing again from the compliment. “The Ruler sorta 'gifted' it to me...more like, turned some of my clothes into it. It's...r-really comfy, and easier to move around in than it looks,” she added, moving over to get her stuff for the day.

“I'd say I was jealous, but I'm concerned how she might react to that. Since she's almost certainly watching you, so—me too, by extension,” he said.

“Hey, d'you think your curse involves making you act more..feminine?” Steph asked after a moment.
“Uh..not that I know of. I mean—it's not in the stated terms from when it happened. Wait, have I been acting different?” she said, one ear tilting downward in concern.

“Little bit, yeah. I guess it could be hormones, or something? Or...hm. Do you think I act like a normal guy?” he said, pointing to himself.

“Well-sure, of course!” she nodded. “I mean—I'd be a lot less surprised last night if you didn't.”

“I think, I didn't do as convincing of a job when I first changed. But the longer I had this male form, the more I acted like I saw other guys as acting.” He shrugged. “Maybe...some kind of instinctive adaptation? Foxes are meant to have a natural talent for fitting in to whatever role they choose.”

“But I didn't choose this role!” Anika said, feeling somewhat mortified. “It's a curse!”

“Sorry..I didn't mean to make you worry,” he said, concerned. “If you're aware of it, maybe you can adjust accordingly.”
“Y-yeah.” She nodded. “Thanks.” After this, Anika fled the room.

Steph took a long, deep breath, and sighed. After last night went so well, why'd he have to say something like that? Maybe he was wrong about the Ruler blessing him; this entire situation had as much potential to torment him as it did his roommate. Maybe it'd be a whole century before Andrew could be male—could be Andrew again, and until then they'd both have to settle for just petting. Well, he was nothing if not patient, Steph decided. Be a man for four years? Fine. Wait a century for love? ...Also fine. It was only, what, twenty-five times as long?

He shook his head, dispelling the thoughts as best he could. Petting had been, and would be, wonderful, so much so that it felt like an insult to describe doing more of that as “settling”. And..he had other things to do today. Like pick up the phone and make a call to his magic-replenishment-potion supplier. It was almost time to buy some more anyway, he thought; ordinarily the current supply could last at least another month, but it was better to have more than enough than to run out.

---

Zotha awoke, teleported herself off of Jess and into a standing position, and stretched. “Aaa~ah.”
“Mrrh?” Her catgirl priestess's eyes fluttered open, quickly missing her goddess's presence.

“Morning, kitty-cat. You can take the bathroom first, if you want.”
“Ah. Um...something going on?” she asked, noticing Zotha's clothes were mid-morph as she sat up.

“Riana's trying something new with our 'prayer language': Asking me to meet with her. I'd hate to disappoint.” They ended up as a tight dark t-shirt with a red pentagram logo on it and a pair of short jean-shorts. “Be back soon~.” With that, Zotha shadow-ported over to Riana's apartment, appearing in the middle of the living room.

“It worked!” Riana, currently male, was standing a short way in front of her.

“Indeed. Good morning,” the goddess said.

“Your wings're different,” Kamari helpfully pointed out; she was standing to one side of her (presently) boyfriend in wolf-girl form.

“Mm-hm. And you're looking pretty tall and fit, yourself,” Zotha nodded. Then, back to Riana: “You wanted to talk about something?”

“Yes!” he said. “Can you cure terminal diseases?”
“I happened to do just that on Sunday, for the grandfather of one of our followers,” the goddess replied. “It doesn't seem to be too difficult to 'change' a sick person to a healthy one.”
“That's what I thought. So can we do—a lot of that, then?”
“Hmmn.”

Seeing exactly where this conversation was going by now, Zotha thought carefully about how to put her reply. “Okay, first of all—I'd like you to know that I do agree with you. Healing sick people, especially keeping them from dying, is a good thing to do, maybe even the right thing to do with the kind of power I, and by extension you all, have right now. Besides it being right, almost every healed person will be very grateful for it, so it even sounds strategically viable. However...

“There are lots of gods much bigger and stronger than I am, with a vested interest in keeping the veil intact. Ahh, do you know about the veil, actually?”

“You're talking about, whatever keeps normal humans from seeing the magic going on all around them, right?” Riana said.

“Yeah, pretty much. Anyway—it seems like basically all of the other gods want that to keep working. If we were to even, say, cure everyone at once in a single hospital, it would be nothing short of a miracle. Miracles like that get press—lots of it. I suspect, much more than the people whose job it is to help maintain the veil and help people who get brought out of it to adjust could handle. The other gods would find this very irritating, and based on the conversation I had with their messenger, through Anika, they're collectively on the fence about letting me stick around in the first place. I really do not want to bring any more of them to the wrong side of that fence; I have no idea how close I actually am to having more enemies than friends, or more powerful ones, for that matter.”

“So you're—” he started, a righteous anger evident in his voice and posture.

“Ahp!” she put up a hand to stop the rant before it could pick up steam. “Hold on, let me finish please before you get angry,” Zotha said. “Come on, you liked my idea for Cameron before, right?”
“Was that your idea, or Jess's?” he said, putting a hand on his hip in an expression of obvious skepticism.

“Noot really important right now. Anyway—as I was saying, the problem is that a sudden, big act is going to draw too much attention. But a lot of little miracles, maybe not. I healed that girl's grandfather, and I believe no press outlet even noticed. Sooo, if one or more of my followers were to occasionally go into a hospital, pick out people with terminal illnesses or such, and quietly 'pray' to me to use my power to help them, I would wholeheartedly approve. It's not perfect, but more people would be guaranteed to live that way, and if we are careful and subtle about it, the other gods might even let us get away with it. At the very least, it's a small enough thing that their response will probably be to send someone to tell me to stop first instead of going straight to the nuclear options. How's that?”

“It's...much better, I guess, than...nothing,” Riana said, some disappointment still evident in his voice.

Zotha exhaled audibly. “I know. I am sorry it can't be more right away, but if I play my cards well enough for long enough, I believe that I can hope to gain enough power and influence to be seen as someone who'll be sticking around for good. And then maybe we can see about making some more drastic changes to our world's healthcare system, hmn?”

“Yeah...you're right,” he nodded. “Sorry—I wasn't thinking entirely through the consequences. That's a much better plan, for now. It's just unfortunate that some people will die while we're waiting.”
“I agree,” Zotha nodded. “Believe me, it's equally disappointing to me to be a literal god but still be powerless to do some things. But this is why we also had to say no if someone wished for world peace on Sunday, you know?”

Riana nodded. “Well, you can expect some healing prayers from me today, at least,” he said.

“I'll be more than happy to grant them. See you two later.”

Zotha returned to her dorm after that to find Jess just getting out of the shower. She quickly, mentally communicated the content of the conversation.

“Aah! I hadn't even thought of something like that,” she said.

“Well, we've all had quite a lot to think about lately,” the goddess replied. “Anyway, we've got a plan in place now, so there's not too much to worry about.” She reached over and rubbed Jess's still-feline ears a bit, drawing a delighted purr from her little priestess.

“U-um, am I keeping these?” she asked when it was over, her tail twitching back and forth with curiosity.

“Hmm, maybe for today, I think,” Zotha said with a nod. “You do seem to like them, and if the goddess changes appearance periodically then her priestess can look a little different now and then too, right?”
“Mm-hm!”

---

Graham found driving to be a bit of a challenge. Even with her pickup's seat pulled all the way forward, she needed to sit halfway up the seat for everything to be in reach. For the first time in her entire life, she was seriously considering getting a smaller car, if only to make it easier to physically drive. Or—perhaps her new goddess could modify things here just a bit. Buying a new car was a lot more trouble than just asking for something, after all, and she still rather liked the pickup. On the other hand, it was a little surreal to have the option of asking someone to physically morph the interior of a car as the simpler alternative.

“Um...” Her granddaughter Rachel was in the passenger seat. She happened to not have any classes this morning, and was game to help pick out some new clothes. “Grandpa..”
“Yees, dear?”

“Should I...be calling you that? Orr, grandma? You don't really look like either one.”
“Heheh, I s'pose I don't. More like we're sisters or something,” the Neko agreed. “Well, if you can make it feel natural, you could just call me Graham. I'm used to that name.”

After some time getting fitted for underwear, they walked over to the store's feminine wear section, and Graham just grabbed up anything that looked interesting to try on. The first thing she came out with was a tight-fitting white blouse and a short, black skirt. “Well, what d'ya think?” she asked her granddaughter, brushing a hand down the top.

“Um..I really didn't expect you to go for skirts first,” Rachel admitted.
“You kiddin'? I've been curious how it felt to wear this stuff for years. Just, you know, wouldn't be proper to even try 'em on as a man.”
“Well uh—it certainly fits. The colors look good on you, and all,” she said.

“Thank ya. I'll certainly keep these, then.”

The catgirl's ears twitched a bit as she changed into her next outfit, overhearing a conversation nearby. First a girl said: “Rrf..this is too tight.” Weird barking noise at the start of her speech?

“It just fits you. It's not any tighter than what you came in wearing the other night,” another, older-sounding woman said.

“Yeah, but the stuff I came in with today is comfier.”

The older voice sighed. “Okay, Damon, we'll go a size up then. While I look for that, you try these on.” Odd name for a girl...not that Graham was one to talk.

The younger voice made a clear—very canine—whine, but then said, “Okay, sis.”

At this point her curiosity got the best of her, and—finished changing anyway—Graham poked her head slightly out of the changing room door to see what they looked like. She could only see the older sibling from the back, but the younger one was headed toward her, and she was cute. Long, brown tresses, pinkish-red eyes, a bit taller than Graham was but still fairly short overall. Her present outfit wasn't very different from what the catgirl was trying on, a tight t-shirt and a pair of shorts that barely came down to the thighs, so they did little to hide her slim figure. And she had tall, fuzzy ears and a tail—a very canine looking tail, in fact—which together only seemed to enhance her overall adorableness. For as much as she caught the catgirl's eye, she might as well have been sparkling.

The Neko realized she'd stared for a bit long and drew herself back behind the door before she was noticed, a small, high gasp coming into her lips. “Fffh.” She listened for the door next to hers to open and shut before leaving, which also gave her time to realize her heart was racing and will it to quiet down a little bit. Then she strode back out to her granddaughter, putting on as calm an attitude as possible. Her tail betrayed her a bit with some violent twitching well beyond its usual, calmer motion.

Thankfully, Rachel didn't appear to notice that. “How 'bout this one?”

“It looks really good on you,” she nodded in approval. “Honestly, if you like what you see in the mirror, that's the important thing.”
“Sure, but if we go out to eat sometime I'd hate to embarrass ya,” Graham said. She leaned in slightly, and half-whispered: “Hey, d'you know any girls who go to your school by the name of Damon?”
“Um...noo? Gram—Graham, there's lots more people who go there than I've ever met. Why?”
“Just overheard somethin' a little odd, is all,” she said, straightening up and pointing a finger at one of her ears. “I probably oughtn't pry anyhow. Maybe that's the first lesson about havin' ears that can hear through walls.”

“I'll, um, keep that in mind...” Oh, right; she'd been promised an opportunity to become a Neko, too. Which meant...

“Say, did Zotha mention when she wanted to meet with ya again?”
“Uhm, no, but, I have her number,” Rachel said. “She just said to wait 'one day', so I thought I'd send a text or something with my decision when it's, about the time she came to our house yesterday. Why?”
“Ehh, just thought of a couple'a things I may wanna ask her about,” Graham said. “Nothin' major enough enough to warrant a whole visit, but if I can be there when she is...”
“Sure. I can, mention that to her,” Rachel said, nodding.
“Right! I'll go change into somethin' else, then. Maybe I'll impress you, yet,” the Neko said, whirling to head back to the changing room.

---

When Thomas's alarm went off, her left hand reached for the nightstand and swatted against a wall a couple of times. This began a moment of brief but extreme confusion, the events of the previous night taking a moment to settle back into her conscious mind. “Rrrgh—raah!” This coincided with some struggling and animal-like growling noises, and ended with her bursting violently up out of the pile of gold and blankets, scattering some of its contents all across the room.

She stood up, rubbing her eyes for a second. “..Oh. Whoops.” Taking a deep breath, she stepped carefully over the remaining pile in the corner to go turn off the alarm on her phone. After that she sent a few texts out Zeke—rather, Zotha's way:

Thanks for insisting.

I have never before wanted precious metals.

Much less literally needed them to sleep.

The reply to this was just a thumbs-up emoji.

After a shower—which gave ample opportunity to be simultaneously proud of and embarrassed at the female form she now had—the dragon-girl opened her fridge and leaned in slightly, sniffing at the contents. It was easy enough to tell that she was more of a carnivore than before, and the way her brain registered the smell of vegetables emphasized this fact. Keeping a balanced diet that lacked those was going to be..interesting, she thought, but for now there was meat that would work for breakfast.

There was enough space in the kitchen to spread her wings out once she was seated. It didn't hurt to keep them “compressed” for any length of time, but having them out did feel...comfortable and natural, in a way. Eyeing them a couple of times, she wondered if this body really could fly, or if it was too heavy. Maybe weight didn't matter as much as physics would say it should for some magic-related reason; after all, if she had a gigantic dragon form, that would almost certainly be too heavy to fly with just wings, yet every indication was that real dragons did fly—or were at least capable of doing so. There had to be somewhere to try it out with minimal witnesses...maybe those woods the shack was in? It was still near a city, but after sunset she may be able to get away with it.

The first thing to do this morning was to drive out to the place on the card Zotha had given her. When they were through with her, hopefully there would still be time before lunch to go hit the gym. She felt very strong, like a kind of semi-passive restraint was needed to not break things by carelessly swatting at them. It'd be nice to test the limits of that strength with some weights rather than destruction.

---

Onida really shouldn't have been surprised, she decided. Wanting to be comfortable in her clothes above all else was a very “Damon” way of thinking about them. They left the store with her wearing a loose hoodie over a slightly oversized t-shirt and cloth shorts, and that sort of outfit seemed to appeal to her the most in general if her original, “male” clothes were forbidden. Well, at least she'd gotten her to try on a few skirts and dresses, and she seemed perfectly oblivious to her sister buying those. It hadn't taken too long, either. They were on schedule to get back to the house with an hour or so to spare.

When she did pull up near their house's driveway, there was another car parked out next to the nearby sidewalk, a man she thought looked slightly familiar most of the way through a walk to its driver-side door until he turned, noticing the approaching car. He was very tall, kind of gaunt, with very dark, almost pitch-black hair that came down to his shoulders and seemed to threaten to merge with his chinstrap beard, and he was wearing a long hoodie and baggy jeans that obscured much of his body. Damon was leaning over staring at him too, she realized while she parked and took the key out of the ignition.

The semi-stranger walked their way as she came out of the car, stopping a respectable few yards away. “Heey,” he said semi-hoarsely, waving; this appeared to set Damon off barking, climbing over to the driver-side door to get out in that direction quicker.
“Damon!” Onida turned, glaring, as her sister came out of the car; the werewolf seemed to snap out of the barking fit and slunk back into the driver's seat, whining in contrition.

“Uh, sorry about that,” the main said, putting a hand behind his head. “..Hey.”

“Hello. Who are you?” she said, crossing her arms—still a little suspicious of his overall appearance.

“Oh, sorry. Sam,” he said. “We, ah, met last year at a, convention. You'rrrre Onida, right?”
“Yeah..” There was only one convention he could be talking about, an event full of streamers she'd brought Damon to and come in with him on his insistence. But she wasn't recognizing him from the blur of introductions that day; rather, she realized, this had been among the pictures she'd shown the werewolf girl of her streamer friends. This was..“incupokal22” or something like that.

“I guess we have met. I don't recall giving you my address, though.”

“Um..I shipped some games out to Damon a couple a' times,” he said. “Really, sorry for the intrusion. But ah...” He waved his hand vaguely at Onida's sibling, who had finally climbed herself back out of the car and made her way to exactly up against her sister's side, now leaning slightly forward and sniffing the air in Sam's general direction. “How do I put this? Your brother's..”
“That's him. Or—her, whatever,” she said. “It's a long story, but she's not exactly in the best shape for visitors right now.”

“Okaaay, yeah. Let me..” Sam took a second to reach up and pull his hood off, revealing two big, fuzzy ears that had been folded down under it—and flipped themselves upright the instant they were unrestrained. “D'you see anything weird?”
“You mean your ears?” Onida deadpanned. “I do see those.”
“Yes! Right. Okay, good. Aaaand, Damon was bit, and the long story is from there to..thaat.” he said, waving slightly toward her. “Right?”

“Yeah.” Onida sighed; it didn't seem likely she'd get any of that extra hour to herself. “Maybe you should come in.”

The "Best" RPG Ever-104

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---

There was a very light knock on the bedroom door, which Rayna suspected human ears might have missed out on entirely. "Come in?" It opened slowly, and Nora was standing there. The fox-girl sat up on her bed, crossing her legs. "Hiya."
"Err, hello," the elf, currently in her feline form, replied. "Um..I was wondering, whether you might be hungry?"
"Hm. Gettin' there. You?" Nora nodded. "Let's gooo find something, then," she said, getting up.

"Maybe...we could go out somewhere?" the elf suggested quietly.

"Eh? Sure! Lemme throw something travel-worthy on and I'll be right with you."

At the stairwell, Nora gestured for her to go first. "So, did you finish reading?"

"Err, sort of. Um...really, I didn't get much farther. I became...distracted, thinking about my reaction to your visit."
Rayna looked back slightly. "Oh? How so?"
"Well um...I can see how, perhaps, that sort of hesitation from me would...appear normal, to you, but under close scrutiny it, really isn't."

The fox-girl opened the stairwell door and started toward the door to town; once they were both out of the stairs, she continued. "I um...actually had an urge to pet Zack a while before it actually happened. So I jumped at the opportunity when it became clear we both wanted it. That's...how this all began. I was equally, um..eager when Katherine proposed it."

"Well, I already knew you weren't some timid li'l flower," Rayna said, "I guess I just thought being nervous about this was normal in general."
"It is. I think, perhaps, I am not so normal. Not that I consider that a..um, disadvantage."

"So, that is why I became distracted. Uh..wondering, what was different. My conclusion is, that I knew both of them quite well already. And perhaps, I don't feel that I know you quite as well."

Once they were out of the house, Rayna turned her head around briefly to look the tall girl's way again. "Huh, really? I thought we got along alright."
"We do."
"And we went on a whole quest together! To those weird research lab ruins."
"Well, yes but..I didn't do very much of the talking. It's..not really in my nature to speak up around people more eager to talk than I am."
"Heheh, you've got us there.

"So you're saying it's a problem of familiarity, not that you don't like me or anything."
"I..suppose so."
"Well, we can talk right now!" Rayna realized something. "Oh, wait, that was your idea the whole time, huh?" Nora nodded. "Derp. So where to?"

After a short search, they found a small cafe and sat on either side of a booth in a relatively deserted corner, ordering their meals all at once with the drinks.

"Well, let's see uh..how should we start?"

"Um...how did you and Lynn come to..work together? Or, how did you meet?" Nora asked. "...On Earth, I mean," she added a little quieter—not that anyone seemed to be eavesdropping.

"Well...let's see. When I was a kid I memorized factoids—you know, from those books like 'one hundred and one facts about Texas' or whatever—and I liked to roll them out to anyone who even halfway seemed like they'd listen. I got a little older and my reading expanded. And I got into games. Lyle was one of the kids who lived near me and we went to the same school, so kinda by default we were 'friends'. Our little group would get together in one of our houses to play something almost every weekend for a while.

"Sometimes just the two of us would play together. I thought I was a genius back then, and I guess he was the only one who kept up with me—or put up with me, more like. Instead of just ignoring me or brushing me off or telling me to please stop when I spouted some useless information, he'd actually challenge me on it. Like, ask for my sources and their sources and how this or that statistic was gathered. This was—I was like fifteen and we were having these long, drawn-out philosophical conversations sometimes. Like I said, I thought I was smart because I knew things, but really he was always the smart one, you know? Because he didn't settle for just information, he wanted to really, deeply understand, and to know that what he believed was actually true.

"...So anyway, our little group kinda drifted apart throughout high school. I think both of us rubbed the others the wrong way at one time or another, and eventually it got to be too much. And believe me, I can see it, we both kinda have some really annoying personality traits and those were way worse when we were teenagers. In our senior year we decided to just do what we usually do, pick up a game and talk to death about it, but actually record it and try putting it up on that Youtube thing. Really the only difference after the dry run was we had to talk louder so the mic could pick us up, and that also had us put more energy into it than usual. We uploaded like ten video from a single game and thought, 'welp, that was fun, let's get on with our lives'."

The food arrived, and after the waiter left the fox-girl realized she'd been the only one talking for a while. "...Sorry, do you wanna interject?"
"No, um..I'm interested," the cat-eared elf said with a tiny nod. "Please go on."

"Okay, yeah. So, a month or two after that some huge youtuber, like one of the first to get monetized and all that, came out and recommended our videos to his fans. I looked at the channel one morning and our views had jumped from tens to thousands. So I called him and I was like, 'we gotta do more of this, man!' So, uh, we did, all through senior year.

"Then we had to stop, though, because we were graduating, and not even going to the same college. I went looking for a degree in logic, philosophy, that kinda thing, because..I felt like I needed to train myself to see things the way Lyle always did. Not a bunch of known answers filed away, but questions waiting to be asked. Meanwhile, he was looking for a job that would pay well, I think some kind of engineering...I always forget what exactly.

"We still did the show. Just—we happened to have the same days off, and we'd always come back home and take some time to record a little more. We started making, basically side money off of it, but kept up at school until graduation. Then it was—looking like a stable income. We talked back and forth about it for a month or two, and eventually decided to try doing that full time for a while. If it fell through, it was still famous enough to go on a resume, and we had pretty decent degrees to fall back on for jobs, if we had to. Well—him more than me."

"Mmh." Since the story was over, Nora took a moment to chew and swallow before responding. "I, uh..don't think I've seen this from you before."

"What 'this'?" the fox-girl said, one ear tilting down a bit.
"Sorry. I mean, just...self-deprecating, even a little bit. You usually come off as, uh, extremely confident. Like you know everything and nothing bothers you."

"Heh, well, I try," Rayna said. "Really though, 'overconfidence' has always been my default state. It took me a long time to learn to admit my mistakes and faults at all, much less see someone else as better than me in any way. So with that done, noow I'm perfect!" she said with an exaggerated flourish of her free hand. Slightly to her surprise, the joke actually landed, Nora giggling softly in reply.

"But, as um...'arrogant' people go, you don't really match my idea of one, either. You know, uh..instead of treating other people like they don't matter, you kind of, project your confidence on them, too."

"Well, it's a little bit of a false bravado thing. If you act like everything's good, it's easier to make it that way. I envy Aria's total self-confidence a little bit."

"Hey, how about you?" the fox-girl said. "What's your story? I've heard bits of it before, but..."

"Well, um..there isn't that much to say," Nora said. "I was born with a, genetic condition that made my bones fragile...so I spent a lot of time reading, mostly."
"What kind of books?" Rayna said, leaning in a bit with interest.
"Um..history, science, fiction—fantasy, mystery, sci-fi...almost anything my parents would let me buy. We um...went with home-schooling because I was in and out of care a lot, so my textbooks, too. I don't...want to brag too much, but...I ran out of 'high school' level material a couple of years ago, and had to start working out of college books instead."

The fox-girl raised an eyebrow and the adjoining ear. "You were just about to start college when this happened, too—right?"
"Mmhm," she said with a small nod.

"Yeesh. That on top of all the reading you did here, as 'Nora', you're probably smarter than me and Lynn combined."

"Mmngh," Nora blushed and squirmed in her seat slightly. "I don't, um, think I know as much as either of you."

"You're more than ten years younger than we are!"
"Uhm...'here' I'm actually forty-something, though..."

"Good point. Wait, does that mean you know more about this world than Earth?"
"Maybe? Um...my reading here was broken up with meditation, prayer, exercise, uh, practicing weaver powers. Not so much the kind of, breadth my education had on Earth."

"Either way, I'd say you probably know more useful stuff than I do already."

"What's useful or, not, is really...a matter of opinion," Nora said.

---

Since there was nobody downstairs, Zack led the way up the stairwell—both the shorter wolf-girl and the dragon following behind him—like uncertain puppies, he thought. "Hello?" Nora and Rayna's doors were open; they weren't there, either. Mira came out of her bedroom, carefully shutting the door on her way out so the interior couldn't be seen and waving awkwardly at the three of them.
"Heeeyyy."

"Where is everyone?" It was unusual for the witch to be awkward at anything, but he chose to ignore it because he probably didn't want to know why.
"Ah, well, Aria and Katherine went to town to take care of some errands. Lynn's still out, so she probably found Rast; I bet she'll stick with him at least through lunch. Clera's here; I think I heard Rayna inviting Nora to go eat, so if they're not downstairs I guess they went to town for that, too." By this point the empath had opened her own door to look in on the conversation.

"Hey, if you're hungry we could try to run into those two and eat out too," the witch suggested cheerfully. "You in, Clera?"
"Thank you, but I think I'd rather just take something up to my room from the kitchen."

"Oh, come on, you can study or whatever anytime!" Mira went over toward her. "Just imagine eating delicious food in the company of friends! Or do you not like us anymore?"
The shorter winged girl crossed her arms, giving a look of disapproval. "Don't attempt to emotionally manipulate me. If you were going to insist, then you shouldn't ask my opinion in the first place."

"I was just trying to tempt you," Mira said, "not...whatever you said. It's no more fun than you not being there if you feel like I twisted your arm."

"You and I clearly value different things," she said. Then, with a brief exhalation of a sigh, "I'll come. Give a me a moment to prepare."
"Okay! We'll be downstairs," Mira said.

Both halves of her had never been especially fond of large crowds—but then, for 'original' Clera it was a matter of not wanting to hurt people rather than something she didn't personally want experience. And Ian was also rather unused to having 'friends', come to think of it, as opposed to colleagues, coworkers, subordinates...

The door to town opened not long after they got downstairs, Katherine coming through. "Hey, I'm back. We've got an appointment this afternoon for someone to come hook up the door and hand us the new one it goes with, and I guess we then need to take it out to the forest by foot—or wing, or whatever. I checked on Aria too, and she said not to wait up on her—plans on being busy for the next hour at least."

Mira gave her a quick mental summary of what she'd told Zack and the decision to eat out; the stairwell door opened and Clera arrived. "Soo, should we go drag her in on this?"
The catgirl shook her head. "She let me know she plans to grab something to eat on the way between shops pretty soon. We know where we're going yet?"

This started an energetic volley of suggestions from the witch and the dragon-girl, and a rapid-fire discussion of the options afterward; Zack didn't participate, but Lupa started to express her own opinion on the matter (mostly "This one wants good meat!") before long. Clera watched this quietly, thinking: Said friends were a bunch of strange, rowdy kids, but on the balance it was nice to have them. Being completely stuck in her old ways wasn't good for her mental flexibility, so something to challenge that was almost refreshing. An open, relatively simple mind was preferable to an "intelligent" one that was entirely closed off to new ideas.

---

"Helloooo? Anybody home?" Rayna's call, loud though it was, went unanswered. She took a moment to turn and peek outside, again not finding anyone. "Well, I think they abandoned us."
"We must've just missed them." Nora said. "...Now I feel a little bad for not inviting anyone else."
"Nah, it's for the better. Between you preferring not to talk, and me wanting to talk to everyone, we'd probably never have a serious one-on-one conversation is if we weren't totally alone," the fox-girl said. "Besides, if everyone else is gone, then we have the house to ourselves, right?"
"Yeah...um..."

The cat-eared elf fidgeted a bit. "Uh..do you want to, do 'that' now?"
"Sure! Your room or mine?" Rayna headed for the stairwell, holding the door open for the other girl to go ahead.

"Mmaybe...yours?"

"Alright. Think I threw what I had on over the covers, so I'll just need to get that outta the way..."

After leaving the stairwell, Nora paused in the hallway for a second like she just remembered something, and then shifted forms, growing taller and losing the tail and the fur of her ears. "Back to the tall elf form?" the fox-girl asked, her tone merely curious.
"Yes. I-it's um, I have the sense that the 'p-proper' way to 'commune' with someone for the first time is as my 'native' self. S-something like, if I'm t-trying to learn to weave my spirit to be like one animal's, it would be c-confusing to already have it woven into another's?"

"Mmh, that make sense," Rayna said with a nod, continuing on toward her room. "Might be a little hard for us both to reach at first though, heheh."

"I'll m-manage," Nora assured her, following slowly.

Once it was cleared off, the two of them sat next to each other on the side of the bed, the door in front of them closed. "Well, you start any time you want to~," Rayna invited, and Nora almost immediately reached over to play with an ear a bit. "Mrrh, you're pretty good.."

After progressing her hand on down to the base and scratching both ears for a little bit, the elf felt Rayna pulling herself around, coming up close with her arms wrapping around Nora's waist, and pressing her face unashamedly into her chest. She continued some vulpine churring, seemingly aware but not caring about which part of the elf's body she was nuzzling, while the weaver gently ran a hand across the top of her head and down through her hair a bit.

They moved around and over until the elf was on her back with Rayna on top of her, face still buried in her bosom. The hand not occupied with the fox-girl's ears brushed a little farther down her long, red hair, this time closer to the body—feeling the curve of her back—until it arrived at the base of her tail and continued its way on along that. It was a bit of a challenge, as the big fluffy thing was busy swishing back and forth constantly, but Rayna's high, pleased yips encouraged her to stroke the tail again, and a third time yet. After this the fox-girl reached up and pulled at Nora's shoulder, crawling herself up to where her face was hovering over the elf's blushing visage.
"Ye~es, you're really good at petting," she murmured. "Nice and gentle, but bold where you need to be...rrf. Love it~." With that, Rayna slid down to nuzzle Nora's cheek, her enormous breasts now pressed right up against the elf's own pair and her arms holding on tight to keep it that way.

Nora giggled softly, then nuzzled back, her senses reaching into the fox-girl's spirit and feeling exceptionally welcome there. The fox was agile, yes, but also very clever. Her confidence was different from Katherine's feline confidence; the weaver had the sense that a cat's attitude was very independent and self-centered in some ways, while the fox's was projected outward toward her friends and allies—her pack, if the word applied. It was a very social sort of certainty that made not just herself, but others feel at ease. Gently the elf tugged at that vulpine spirit, crossing it with her own, and began to change.

"Mn~nh.." The elf's body started shrinking down right away, even as the first of the light purple fuzz appeared on her ears. "Mrr~rh..." Her body seemed to relax even more than usual, her muscles losing a bit of strength in the process. As a tail sprouted from her back, her figure began to improve itself, her hips widening and her chest puffing forward, more flesh filling out to press against Rayna's generous proportions.

"Mmrrr..rrf...!" Her mouth wasn't so different from the wolf form, with some fangs and a longer tongue, but Nora heard her voice deepening ever so slightly as she continued getting shorter—smaller already than her feline form by now. "M~mnhh.." No sooner did she sport a pair of tall, foxlike ears than Rayna eagerly rubbed them, and her still-growing tail found the Vulpin's gigantic ball of fluff brushing across it right away, drawing a few high yips from Nora's mouth as that confidence and assurance became her own.

"Mnh...mrrrRRrrh...rrf!" Soon Nora's transformation concluded, her tail and breasts seeming to both reach their final size at the same time. She was still taller than Rayna, but not by nearly as much; her body had a much curvier figure than before, with a bust to rival Mira's, if not Zack's. And she felt good...at least as sure of herself as she did in feline form, if not more. Continuing to nuzzle and pet Rayna felt not just good but right; any trace of uncertainty or embarrassment vanished away for the moment, so they continued this way, slowly rolling onto their sides, for a long time.

Both of them certainly lost track of time, finding a kind of animal bliss in each other's touch. This spell was only broken when both of them heard the sound of the door downstairs opening and being tossed shut shortly after, the noise making them both flinch slightly before pulling apart just enough to see each others' blushing faces.

"I'm baaack!" Aria's voice yelled from downstairs. Neither of them really saw fit to reply to her for now.

"I must say, you make a lovely vixen~," Rayna said. "I'm impressed."
"Me too," Nora said. "Feels good being a fox. And you're really...mrr, affectionate." Her hand teased the Vulpin's hair a bit.
"Heheh, you're one to talk. After all this time thinking of you as the shy one, too. Were you like this with Zack and Kath?"
"Mm-hm. If it's not who I 'really' am, it's definitely someone I want to be when I can," Nora said with a pleased grin. "I feel..calm, and like I'm helping someone else feel better too. Which I am, right?"

"Oh, absolutely," Rayna grinned back, before getting a thoughtful expression.
"Something up?"

"Yeeaah...you're not stuttering. Or getting weird pauses between your words or anything. Right?"
"I'm not?" Her ears twitched around for a second as she thought about the past minute or so of conversation. "I'm not! Heheh, I guess I just feel that confident like this. Thank you~," she added, rubbing Rayna's ears again.
"Mrrh~...you might get us in trouble starting that up again," the fox-girl said.

"Anybody hooome?" This yell was going up the stairwell, with the door open.

"I'm tempted to just keep quiet until she goes away," Nora whispered.

"Naah, she'll just grow cat ears or something. We can certainly do this again sometime, though," Rayna said.
"Yes, let's."

After taking a moment to disentangle themselves, Rayna hid Nora from sight and sat up on the side of the bed. "In here!"
"Oh, hey." Aria opened the door. "You look...happy."
"Am I ever not happy? I think everyone else went somewhere to eat. Oh, and Lynn's not back from going to see Rast yet."
"Yeah, they'll probably hang out all day if we let 'em get away with it. Hey do you know much about computers?"

"I knooow...how to use one," Rayna said. "Some of the theory of programming and stuff. Not much at the 'bare metal' level. Why?"

"Mmnh, I already talked to Kath about it, but I wanna brag to someone else about what I'm doing."
"I know a few things about computer hardware," Nora's voice said—from behind her. The elf had snuck around through Lynn's room to get back out into the hallway.
"Oh? Heeey, fox ears!" Aria said, instantly distracted by the new form. She shifted herself a similar pair of ears and tail in pure white. "Congratulations, you two! Orrr, is that not the right thing to say?" she corrected after a second, only just now remembering the results of a similar reaction at breakfast.

"Congratulations are acceptable," the elf said. "I'd also take 'you look good like that, Nora', or 'hey, why aren't you stuttering your mouth off'?"

"Wh—heey, you're not!" she said, pointing. "That's great!"
"Yes. It's freeing to be able to put things however I like again. If I can just take this back to my other forms, it'll be perfect," she said. "Now, what did you want to brag about?"

"Oh, yeah!" Aria said, her short attention span returning to its original focus. "I have set a plan in motion, and if it works, this world's gonna have computers like ours within a year. I mean—maybe not as powerful, but like proper, computationally Turing complete Von Neumann machines."