A Summoning, Part XXXVI

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Part XXXVI
~Lovers~

The goddess and two other girls sat around a small table, eating quietly for a little while. "Soo, how is it?" Zotha asked their guest.
"Mmh." Stella paused to swallow some food. "It's quite delicious! I must say, I did not think you meant you would literally create the food. As I understand, gods can create many things within their own realms, and even outside of them—but I don't know of any others who use that to make meals."
"That's a shame. There's no better way to become friendlier with someone than over a meal," Zotha said. "At least—if you don't already dislike each other. Maybe if I ever get all the other gods 'on my side', I'll host a big potluck!"

"Pffheheh..that's certainly something to picture!" Stella said.

After their guest was fed, excused herself, and left, Zotha made one of the doors go to their dorm room, and led her little priestess through it. She didn't need to read Jess's mind to tell she wasn't in the best of spirits. "You're still worried about the rebirth program, hmn?"

"I—yes. I admit, if it were me, I'd never agree to something that risky. That's—that's not to say I think your decision was wrong, Master, or that I ever thought I could make it for you! It's just...as, uh.." She blushed. "A-as someone who's come to really, care about you...I just hope it doesn't turn out to be a mistake."

"Awwh...you're sweet." The goddess picked Jess up into a close hug, running a hand through her hair and exercising a little of her power to slip pieces of both of their clothes off one by one. "Even if you weren't before, and it's all my changing that's made you this way...I'm glad to have someone who cares about me as much as you do." She walked slowly toward their bed, listening to Jess's adorable little squeak as she noticed what was happening.

"A-ah..M-master..."

Zotha brought them both down to the bed, now that they were both in only lingerie, and held her little priestess nice and close, enjoying her small, soft, curvy body all over again. "I don't know if I could do this all on my own, you know that? Knowing there are people who believe in me, who support me—normal people, not big, powerful gods with their own agendas and machinations..that's what gives me confidence."

"Mmmmnh..."
"Heheh..you're not listening to me at all, are you?"

"O-of course I am! B-but this is still, pretty...distracting," Jess said softly, her voice trailing off as the goddess's fingers started tickling certain parts of her body.

"I was hoping to make you feel better," Zotha murmured, her lips next to Jess's ear. "You're awfully cute when you're 'distracted'."
"Eheheh..ah..aa~aahnnn~nnh..." The curvy little priestess squirmed, losing herself in some pleasure, and Zotha mentally urged her to help her along. Jess did just what she wanted, petting and rubbing her right back.

"Mmm~mnnh..."

---

Graham went to work again on Monday. There wasn't quite such an influx of people suddenly in need of entire new wardrobes, but there was still a trickle of people who she was especially equipped to help. She got home with plenty of time to make supper, then played her games for a little bit before going to watch someone stream for an hour or two into the night. Just watching and chatting was getting a little boring, so she got a book and read it off and on. She had plenty of attention span to spare, it seemed, and didn't have any real difficulty focusing on two or three things at once.

Tuesday was much the same at first; she hadn't had the job or the game console very long, but it was already starting to feel like a pleasant routine. The work of cooking was worth it to see the pleased look on her granddaughter's face, and it was wonderful having something they could do together, other than talk and watch TV. The streamer she'd been watching the night before wasn't on tonight, so she went looking for someone else—one of his friends, maybe. It looked like 'incuopkal22' was playing something she'd at least heard of before; the stream title said something about a 'surprise guest', so maybe that would be interesting.

"..yeah, still getting used to being super short. At least I'm not puking my brains out anymore, though...heheh." The host was a dark-haired girl with some obvious wolfish features: Fuzzy ears, sharp teeth, and occasionally a slim tail coming up into frame behind her. Graham sort of wondered why nobody seemed to be mentioning any of that...maybe people who didn't know magic existed just couldn't see those things somehow? It didn't feel right for her to point it out, anyway. The chat was instead busy being grossed out by what she'd just said.

"Oh, sorry, yeah—that's why I didn't wanna go into the symptoms in too much detail before. It's aah..it's, really unpleasant. You guys should all hope you don't have any of those genes. Aah, yeah, though—speaking of that. I told you guys last time at the Q and A that I couldn't really talk about Damon, yeah?"

The catgirl's ears perked up at a familiar name, and she leaned in toward the computer slightly.

"Well—look. The thing with this..condition, that I got is—it affects different people in different ways. When I came here to check on my man, I had no idea I'd get hit with it while I was here. In fact, I onlyl found out it even existed because, aah, he got hit with it before I did. And—way worse. Listen, what happened to Damon was horrible and..pretty traumatizing. I dunno all the medical details, but, he got hit so bad he literally didn't know who he was by the end of it. I've been trying to help him recover alongside his sister, and he's a lot better now, but still kinda far from a hundred percent. Look..."

She reached up and turned the webcam slightly, revealing another short wolf-girl who'd apparently been sitting just out of frame this whole time. "He~ey..." she smiled and waved at the camera. This person Graham recognized instantly.

"Aaah...I shouldn't say 'he', actually. Yyyeah."

The chat positively erupted with questions and reactions. Graham noticed a lot of people asking if this had something to do with a weird stream that showed up on Damon's channel 'last week'. Some people were asking the main host if she was sure whatever condition she'd been talking about wasn't infectious. The wolf-girl who wasn't Damon took charge: "Hey, hey—this isn't another Q and A stream, guys. We're here to actually play something! So aah..we'll get started first, and then we can talk and play at the same time, 'kay?"

Graham's heart was going a little fast, and her tail was flicking around rapidly behind her. Even though she'd only seen this girl one time before...she'd only felt something like this toward one other person in her entire life, and that was...Rachel's grandmother. But they really hadn't even met, not even now; the catgirl was merely seeing Damon for a second time, from effectively a vast distance away. Well, she didn't really want to intrude on this conversation that seemed to involve a lot of people who already knew each other. Maybe she'd wait and say hello after things settled down a little...and just watch until then.

---

Early Wednesday afternoon, Prama double-checked a message on her phone while getting ready to work at the potion shop. "Let's see...Zotha's message for La Lune is: 'I met with him yesterday. So just let me know when and how.'"

"Got it," Boreas said, nodding—not that she knew exactly what this was a response to. Prama wasn't exactly sure either, although she likely had a better guess. She deliberately put it out of her mind, however, deciding that prying into secret communication between the gods too much was bound to get someone in trouble.

"You could take a day or two off some time, you know? Been workin' pretty hard since we got started," the werewolf commented.
"I am addicted to learning. The more progress I see, the more I want more," she said.
"No reason to risk burnin' yourself out."
"Well, what about you? You ever take a day off?"
"Now and then," the werewolf alchemist shrugged. "Just kick back and relax 'round the house some."
"You don't like..go out see a movie or something?"
"Nah. Ain't been out in a while."

The bespectacled girl paused for a second, looking up at the taller woman. "You haven't been out in 'a while'. How long is 'a while,' exactly?"
"Mmh.." Boreas sort of nonchalantly shrugged. "Couple decades, give or take?"
"You've had to get groceries in all that time, for sure."
"Have 'em delivered. Trash picked up. Know folks I can call to come fix what breaks."
"So you mean to tell me, that you haven't been outside this building, in twenty years?!"

"I've been outside," Boreas clarified. "Just not beyond the reach of my territory."

"So you haven't left your property. In twenty, years."
"I saw the world already when I was younger. Not too interested in a second look. An' besides, I'm old," Boreas shrugged.
"You're young now, and the world has changed a lot in the past two literal decades! You should take a month off, maybe in the summer, go see some sights!"

"Hmmh. It's comfortable here," she said. "Folks depend on me."

"Surely there's no one who'll die if you don't make them a potion for a month. Or, at least, from what I can tell these things keep basically forever, so—just let people know and they can stock up!"

"S'pose I could, sure. This your way of sayin' you don't want to work over the summer?"

Prama sighed. "No, look, this isn't about me, it's about you. If you want to keep working over the summer, and have me keep working as your apprentice over that time, I'm sure I can find some way to teleport here from home or whatever. Tell my parents I've got a summer job and pretend to drive, maybe. But I'm astonished you haven't gone insane from sitting around here, in this same exact place with the exact same surroundings, by yourself, for twenty entire years."

"Well. No alchemist is totally sane in the first place," Boreas said. "We take on risks other folks don't, an awful lot—if you haven't noticed."

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of a customer at the door. The werewolf shrugged in a way that suggested she was done with this topic of conversation anyway, and went to greet them. Stopping near the door to the front counter, Prama picked up a faint growl from Boreas's throat.

But she said: "Welcome. Need somethin'?"
"Uhhh whoa whoa, hang on! Before you kick me out, I just—came to apologize. Yeah." Well, that was a familiar voice.

"Mmhmmn?" The alchemist's tone of voice didn't sound very charitable.

"Look, I know I screwed up the other day. I just, like—pffsshhww. Brain turns off when I see a really pretty face, you know?"
"Haven't had the experience m'self," Boreas interjected dryly.

"And I default to the dumbest lines, too...I-I mean, you know, my friends say some girls like that, but I shoulda noticed sooner you were like, actually mad. Soo, sorry. Really! If I can make it up to you somehow..?"
"Treat me with the proper respect, young pup—especially in my territory—and we'll get along fine," she said. "Now, do you need anything else?"

"I, uuhh...this? What's this do?"
"Turns your tongue different colors."
"Oh. This one?"
"Hair growth."
"R-really? Oh, cool, I've got a human uncle who could use a little help with that..uh, here!" He must've counted out exact change this time, since Boreas took the money.

"Thanks, see you."
"Oh, y-yeah? I kinda hope so. Uh—bye!" This abrupt farewell, and how quickly he left afterward, sounded like she'd given him a terrifying look.

She came back through after he left. "You know, you could just ban that guy for life," Prama said. "I mean, that was a pretty pathetic apology."
"I made a sale," the werewolf replied impassively, going to continue her work.

---

"Hey."
Thomas was sitting with Dai at lunch Wednesday.

"Hey. Hey." Currently in male form, he was trying to get her attention. "Hey."
"What." Some acid breath came out with the word.

"Hahah, dude! I'm just try'na ask what you're looking so stressed about?"
"I'm not stressed. Just trying to figure something out," the dragon-girl said.

"Oh, yeah? What's that?"

"It's...rrrgh. Complicated."

"C'mon, it can't be that complex."
"It's weird."
"Can't possibly be weirder than our friend turning into a goddess," he countered.

Thomas sighed. "You remember the big rainstorm last week?"
"Uh-huh. We got a day off! I usually remember stuff like that," he said with a grin.
"I found someone..fighting a big demon. And helped him kill it. Or—unsummon it, whatever."
"Dude, seriously?! Where was I for this?!"
"I would guess, still sleeping in. Anyway, he was bleeding really bad, so I asked Zotha if she could heal him. He had like...wings, and a sword he could make appear or disappear at will. She fixed him, but he turned into a girl, too. Then she decided to call herself Stella."
"'Kaay..." He nodded. "So, we got eagle-people? Or is she like, some kinda angel person?"
"...The second one, I guess. Called celestials, apparently."

The dragon-girl paused to scarf down some more meat, and Dai patiently waited for her to swallow it and continue. No—actually, he used the opportunity to talk: "So you helped save the life of this angel-girl, huh? Is she cute?"
"...Yes, very." Thomas cleared her throat, ignoring the warmth in her cheeks. "But also, she was 'created' less than two weeks ago. That's just..how celestials work apparently, they're just like..made, as fully-formed adults with a bunch of skills and knowledge built in, and given some stupid dangerous job to do, and if they don't die trying to do that then they get to live however they want from then on."
"Dude. Gettin' some real-life lore up in here, huh?"

"Yyyyeah."

"Well, if she's an adult, then there's no problem, right? Just ask her out and she if she's interested!"

Thomas sighed. "That's the problem. I sort of did, without even realizing it.

"She doesn't..I think doesn't know I was a guy before. She thinks my name is Toma. And, Monday night, I took her out to eat at a steak place because the alternative was her only experiencing this cafeteria as some of her earliest food experiences."

"And because you wanted a steak, riiight?"
"..Yes. Anyway, neither of us called it a date, but now my brain's processing it like it was one anyway. But I don't think.." Thomas flushed. "I don't know if she has any idea how cute she really is. I'm pretty sure she has no idea how I feel, and now it's just..so...awkward."

"So ask her out again!" he said. "And this time, tell her it's a date."
She seriously considered this for a moment before stopping to lean forward and bury her face in her hands. "Uuugh. I don't know what I'm even doing. I mean, I'm stuck as a girl, here!"

"Zotha could totally turn you back in a couple weeks, tops," he said. "She's gotta be getting stronger all the time, right? Leveling up and stuff?"

"I don't think that's how being a deity works in the real world," the dragon-girl said. "In fact, I don't even know of any fictional worlds where it works like that."

"Hey, she said she gets stronger whenever someone's grateful to her, right? So she knows the route to power! And anyway, Zeke's always been the type to help people out, yeah?"

"I guess so."

"Anyway, if you're just taking her out to eat and telling her you think she's cute..what's to stop ya from doing that much, no matter what?"

"My crippling awkwardness when it comes to anything vaguely approaching romance."

"Hmmmh, yeah. I guess that would make it kinda tough. Well, if she's that cute, you've just gotta suck it up anyway, man! Otherwise some hot guy like me is gonna snap her up quick!" he said, pointing a thumb at his own chest.

"Rrrrrrrh..." Thomas growled somewhat loudly for a few seconds, leaning slowly forward toward him with her hands gripping the metal table almost hard enough to break it, before she stopped herself, letting go and snapping upright. "Uh...sorry. I'm, not really sure what just came over me."
"Well, you are a dragon, right? I bet somethin' in your instincts just heard that and was like 'no, mine!'."
"..That's terrifying. I don't want to think of anyone as my 'property', ever," Thomas said. "Maybe I should just...stay away from her. See if this...goes away."
"I bet you thirty dollars it won't," Dai said. "Seriously, just let her know how you feel, dude!"
"Mnnnngh." He was definitely trying to help, but...she really wasn't feeling any better about the whole situation by the end of the meal.

---

Onida pulled her car up into the driveway and got out, walked up to the front door, and went to get her keys out of her purse. She didn't quite get her hands on them before the door opened from the other side—thanks to Sam being there. "Hey, welcome back!" she said, grinning and wagging her tail cutely. Onida's tail had started wagging too, before the door was even open—she could actually smell the other werewolf through the door, it seemed.
"Oh..thanks." Sam moved out of the way so Onida could come inside, dropping off her things on the way. "Everything going okay around here?"
"Yeah! Sorry we weren't up for breakfast with you this morning, we played pretty late last night."

"That's all right," she said, reaching over to pet the top of the dark-haired wolf-girl's head a little. "How'd the stream go?"
"Mrr~rrfh," she barked cutely before responding, blushing from the gesture. Actually, Onida was blushing a little bit too. "About as well as we hoped. People were understandably shocked that something like that had happened to Damon too, but also generally supportive—especially after they heard about the amnesia and such. How was work for you?"

"Oh, you know...about the same. Few coworkers commenting about my height still, or how I 'dyed my hair'." Onida wasn't sure why she was just standing there instead of continuing the rest of the way into the living room—that is, not until Sam reached over with both hands and briefly rubbed her ears. "Ah—rrfh."
"H-heheh, sorry," she said nervously (with a little more of a blush than before). "It...seemed like you wanted that."
Onida tilted her head slightly. "I..suppose I did? I'm still, feeling out these instincts...

"Well, I should get supper started, then. You want to help?"

"I'd be happy to! I've, aah, just been pretty lazy all day so far. Lots of napping."

"I would say something about being jealous, but I'm really not," Onida said. "Ever since...this," (she pointed at one of her wolfish ears), "I seem to have more energy than I really know what to do with. Having something useful to do at work is helpful..I think I'd just get restless and start walking in circles, sitting around here."
"Hmmn. Being blessed by La Lune might've made you even wilder than most werewolves," Sam said. "It might be your instincts saying you wanna hunt for your pack or something, but since you know doing your job accomplishes the same thing, you feel satisfied?"
Onida shrugged. "Or maybe I just got physically younger, and have more energy and less patience from that. Not everything has to be because I'm part wolf."

"Heheh, I guess not..."

Damon, as usual, didn't need to be called down; she could smell the meat from all the way upstairs. She would've sleep-walked down to the kitchen if she was in a coma, Onida thought. But—she quickly had a slight mental recoil at the thought of her sister being in a coma...Damon had had more than enough trauma to work through lately without something like that.

Onida's sister made herself scarce again as soon as they were done eating; there was an hour and a half yet until Sam's usual stream time, when they were planning to have her on as a guest once more. But, until then...the dark-haired girl followed Onida into the living room and sat on the couch next to her, wagging her tail expectantly until her alpha gently picked her up into a hug and some gentle petting. The idea of...doing something like this, with both of them in werewolf form, still floated through Onida's mind, a significant part of her actually wanting it. But it was still just a little too embarrassing. Occupying a similar mental space was the idea of turning herself male, or asking Sam to do the same, so they could...

Well, there were a lot of things they could do in that case, but she definitely didn't want to go too fast. Sam didn't even know La Lune had given her a male form yet, after all. Maybe she'd have him kiss her just once...see how that felt. How both of them felt about it, first. But for tonight...cuddling like this was good enough.

---

Anika's classes on Wednesday were over a little before Steph's were, so she made her way to their room, going to sit on their bad and watch the door. She'd quit splitting the bed back into two pieces not long after their first night or hugging and petting; there was no point taking up so much extra floor space when they were just going to want it to be one bed again every night. Even if one of them wanted a nap, there was plenty of space. She'd just have to turn it back if someone came by to inspect the room, and when they moved out later on.

Her big, white, furry ears twitched and turned, hearing footsteps approach. It was funny—even though humans could certainly hear other people walking, Andrew had never particularly picked out any specific person's gait before gaining such strong hearing. Now she could easily identify Steph, currently in male form, as the person walking up. This was confirmed when a slight hint of his scent came through the cracks in the door, and when he got out his keys to open the door. The curvy kitsune soon found herself looking up at her roommate as he came in, a feeling she felt like she'd been pushing back against for over a week now welling up yet again.

"Uh..hey there," he said, shutting the door behind him. "Something up?"
"Uh, n-no." Anika hopped up off of the bed. "Just uh..hang on, could you...stay? Like that, for a little longer?"
"Like..you mean, as a guy?" Steph put down his backpack. "How come?"

She moved up close to him. Fighting this..was frustrating. It was ultimately pointless. It was making her a lot less happy than she really wanted to be. She was going to be stuck like this for a long time, probably, and during all that time, never even getting to...

"Um...yeah?" Anika was maybe half a pace in front of Steph and staring up into his face. Of course she was blushing, her single currently-visible tail slowly wagging behind her and her ears down in a friendly, horizontal position; she was somewhat relieved to see him blushing too, even if his ears and facial expression were mostly confusion/concern.
"I wah. I want...hmmh." She couldn't really bring herself to put it into words, and just did it instead, hopping up at him to hug him, holding herself around him high enough for their faces to be almost level.
"O-oh. You..want to hug? L-like this?" he said, carefully putting his arms around her and lifting her the last bit to get their heads to the same height.

"I..d-don't play dumb with me!" she said, some of her frustration boiling over at him. "Y-you know what I mean."
"Y-you want me to kiss you? With us like this?" She nodded, and started slowly leaning forward.

"Please. I cah..I can't..."
Steph leaned back away from her slightly, so she stopped. "Are you sure? I mean..is it really something you want? Not just, the curse keeping you that way, or your body doing something..?"
"Steph. I." Now, all of a sudden there were some tears coming down her cheeks. If Anika didn't feel like she was stuck being thoroughly girly before, this emotional outburst only added to that. "I love you!" she yelled. "I love you, and I don't care anymore! We can kiss with me as a guy a century later or whatever, when I finally earn that stupid fifth tail, but I'm tired of hanging around with you, you like that and me like this, and not even getting to enjoy it!"

She stopped yelling, sniffling and feeling some relief that she'd had the presence of mind to at least mute that outburst from being heard outside their room. Steph's expression was promising, a sort of surprised realization. "I..wow, I'm sorry. I thought we were cool, you know," he said, one of his hands reaching up to gently run through her hair. "I uh...you know, I feel the same way. I've, had the hots for you before you were even a fellow fox, you know? It's just—I never wanted to, to push you into..'being the girl', I guess, even if you were stuck as one? I'm willing to wait as long as I have to, if you don't want to do more than hug—was what I was thinking. But if you, really want..."
"Mmh." She nodded, and pulled closer again. This time Steph didn't pull back, leaning in to meet her halfway instead, and their lips touched.

As soon as it was started, Anika began pushing herself close, turning the kiss into an increasingly passionate one. And it was only an embrace and a kiss, but it was the most wonderful thing she'd felt in recent memory—maybe ever. Steph was holding her tight, returning her expression of affection and attraction note for note. A relief washed over her, making her feel like—she just didn't have to pretend anymore, to Steph and other people but especially to herself. She was still crying some, but they'd turned into happy tears. And—well, the first time she'd been a girl had come with a sampling of how girls could feel good, but she'd fought against it. She'd felt something like that once again each time she was holding tightly onto Steph in her true form with them petting each other. But none of those girly feelings compared to how he was making her feel right now.

They released with a loud smacking sound only once it became absolutely necessary to come up for air, and were both left gasping for it for a long moment. "Uh..hff...h-hey...you, done this before?" Steph said slowly through panting breaths.
"N-no, dummy! You know I've..haff..always been a complete loser before...fffh...before this happened to me! I've never...hff...even, been on a date before..you."

"H-heheh..I've at least never been on this end before, anyway," Steph said, his hand stroking through her hair once again. It had felt reassuring before, but now the exact same gesture—the same physical sensation—was making her shiver slightly with delight. "I teased a few boys back in high school, but..you know, nothing serious."

"This better not be a prank," she said with a non-serious frown. "You'll know the wrath of a four-tailed fox." It was probably..a very cute expression. She didn't mind being cute, just for him.
"I know better than that," Steph said, and then went in for a second kiss.

She returned it, of course, and with just as much passion as the first one. And it was every bit as enjoyable as that one—if not even more so! But, around halfway through, Steph let out a soft "Mmf" sound in his throat, and started to shrink and shift toward his true, feminine form. She didn't let him out of the kiss easily, even ramping up the passion briefly as she heard his voice in his throat steadily changing to that of his girl form's, and let go only when he was hanging on to manhood by a thread.

"Ah, aaa~aa~aAAAA~Aaaah...!" Steph cried out as his sex changed and she rapidly resumed her true form—including all her tails coming out into full view—squirming in Anika's arms as their heights came to match and she very obviously felt a wave of pleasure similar to what she'd just treated the other fox to. "Aa~ah...hff, ffh..c-couldn't, concentrate on the..k-keeping my, ffh.." she half-explained between gasping for breath. "S-sorry!" Despite the apology, she had the hugest grin on her face.

"T-that's okay.." Anika stroked the other girl's hair the same way Steph had hers a moment ago, and enjoyed Steph shivering a little bit in response. "I got what I wanted. W-we both know how we feel, and..it's a huge relief, knowing I can kiss you whenever I want from now on." She said this last part with a mischievous grin.

Steph's blush didn't get any dimmer. "Ah, uh...h-heheh. N-now who ever s-said that?"
"I know you'll let me," Anika said, rubbing the three-tailed kitsune's ears, and letting the rest of her own tails free to curl forward and wrap around Steph's. "Just like how we let each other pet when we want, right?"
"O-oh, alright. G-guess you've got me...rr~rfh.."

Satisfied for the moment—as far as kissing went, not petting—Anika gently guided her roommate over to their bed and lay down on it with her, on their sides and holding onto each other as tightly as ever. She certainly enjoyed Steph's cute murring and affectionate petting even more than ever before, and she was fairly sure that the other girl's appreciation had been similarly enhanced. It had to have felt pretty good, getting kissed by a soft, adorable, gorgeous, curvy woman like her...

Someday, Anika thought...she was going to make Steph return the favor. But for now...this was good enough.