A Summoning, Part LIV

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Part LIV
~Empress~

It was a surprise to get back to the dorm room Wednesday evening and find that Logan wasn't there. But it was a much bigger surprise when he finally arrived a while later, sporting the obvious signs of having joined the ranks of the mystical! Two tails, even! Julian had to know what had happened. Had he met a fairy in the woods? Uncovered his mystical bloodline and destiny? Taken a potion from a witch? He was awfully cagey about exactly how the awakening had happened, which only made Julian suspect it had been very special indeed!

It was a somewhat tragic turn that his friend and roommate of nearly three years had all along known Julian's shoulder-length, bright red hair to be matched by the feline ears and tail of a Neko, but had staunchly refused to say so. It was, however, also very impressive, and Julian let him know as much. The Ruler of Foxes should surely appreciate such a feat! Logan only seemed nervous to hear that. All the more mysterious was the fact that 'someone', and he wouldn't say who, had explained quite a bit of what lay beyond the veil right after his awakening, with said explanation supposedly being the very reason for his unexpected tardiness.

Putting the pieces together as he lay excitedly awake in his bed for an extra hour that night, Julian concluded that his friend had found a beautiful princess. Maybe her true-love's kiss had awakened him! Sooner or later, he'd open up about it, and until then, well, Julian was happy enough to continue playing a supporting role.

Ever since he was a kitten, Julian had been a little bit unusual. He concluded quickly that if magic existed, then not every fairy tale could be false. If fairies—the fae—existed, and intervened sometimes in the lives of mortals, then could they not sometimes bless people with a happy ending? If there were actually demons and dragons, then there must really have been some points in history where parties of heroes went on grand adventures to slay the evil ones. And if there was a god of love, then under his purview, true love had to be real.

He'd thought at first to weave stories of his own, but lacked the patience for writing. Singing and acting were much more within Julian's talents, and he found that he greatly enjoyed telling the tales of others in that way. Besides, he thought, maybe he and those he knew could weave a better ending together, out in the real world, than anything a single writer might have the capacity to imagine!

Thursday evening held another surprise. Logan came in around the usual time, but said, "Hey, I'm gonna get up early tomorrow morning."
"I see, I see! Noted. To what do we owe such an early awakening? Are you having breakfast with a—"
"No, I don't have a date. And again, there are exactly zero princesses in America."
"In that case, I may join you for breakfast. But pray tell, could it be a surprise study group? Or, perhaps, you're embracing the nature of your kind, and making the lives of a few lucky mortals a little bit more interesting with a clever trick?"

Logan frowned, his ears folding back. "You are way too good at guessing this stuff. Yeah—a kitsune who did me a favor right after I awakened, like, wants my help with some prank. So, I'm helping, to say thanks. I don't really think I'm gonna enjoy it."
"Ooh, give it a chance, my friend!" Julian said, clapping him on the back. "Just wait 'till you see the gormless expressions on their faces. The confusion! The realization! Hahah."
"I feel like you'd make a better kitsune, if you weren't born a cat-person," Logan pointed out.
"Maybe so, maybe so. But one must play the hand fate deals him! Really now, do try to enjoy yourself," he said with a genuine smile.
"Yeah, whatever." Logan just sort of shrugged. "Anyway, I need to get to my homework now..."

---

Felix—that is, 'Fel'—went back Thursday night to the same place as the Thursday before. She made sure that she put her clothes on properly this time, and that there were no stickers left: A short-sleeved top, thigh-high socks, a short skirt, and—conscious of the risk that posed—some shorts under it. The week before had been fun, and, maybe more importantly, Felix had started feeling somewhat restless since then. Either 'uniting' with his wolf side, or perhaps having what seemed to be a physically younger form to shift to, gave him a bit more pent-up energy than he was used to. Sitting at his desk all day at work wasn't helping, and his older leisure habits weren't doing much for him either. Burning some of it off again was a very attractive prospect.

She went in, and took a brief tour around the place before heading for the dance floor. It was probably too much to hope for that she might run into the two young women from the previous week, but Fel had hoped to at least see some sort of friendly face. She was able to let those thoughts go for a while, just letting loose and not thinking much of anything, but once she'd mostly rid herself of the excess energy and gone to sit down for a drink, a touch of uncertain anxiety crept back in.

Everyone was friendly here...but at the same time, nobody was really paying much attention to anyone they didn't already know. It was an impression she'd had last Thursday too, and—not wanting to intrude on anyone else's fun—she had only really approached Prama out of concern. It would be ridiculous to hope or expect the same kind of encounter to happen tonight...most people here weren't likely to wear themselves out so completely, and it wouldn't be good for them if they did. She slumped forward a little bit, staring into the half-empty glass of drink for a long moment. Was this really what she wanted out of being (or at least acting) 'younger'?

"Helloo~oo there." Fel sat up, her thoughts interrupted by a very deep purr of a voice. Its owner sat down at the opposite side of the table from her, grinning back: A woman with golden eyes, long black hair, and cat ears—plus a matching tail, as a second glance would find. "Say, a face as cute as yours ain't fit for that awful expression. What's got ya down, don't like your drink?" She was around Fel's height, with some good curves that her tight shirt and pants made no effort to hide; her expression was a coy, if not flirtatious, grin.

"Uh, n-no." Seeing that directed her own way made Fel feel flustered more than anything else. "Just uhm..thinking about things," the werewolf said a little lamely.

"Pffheheh..!" The catgirl giggled soflty. "Heck of a place to do your thinkin'! You've gotta loosen up."
"Uh—I was out on the floor a minute ago. Just, needed a break, you know?"

"Oo~oo, really?" She leaned up and forward a little bit, wearing an energetic, eager smile. "Maybe ya know some of these newfangled dances, then. Hey, if you're all rested up, how 'bout teaching me some?"

"Uh..sh..sure." Fel sat up. "Let me just um.." She took a long chug of her drink and set the glass back down, deciding she didn't really need the rest of it. Anyway, she was feeling rested enough by now.

---

Ever since her tail had finished splitting, Graham seemed noticeably bolder and—for lack of a better word—wilder. Damon took a couple of days to realize this, and then just a few minutes to conclude that she liked it. Once they were alone in Damon's room, the catgirl would often take a deep breath and grow up to the large, curvy, strong form she'd taken right when her tail had first split, letting the breath out in what sounded like a slight sigh of relief. Then, usually, she'd shift her arms and hands back to lacking fur, probably finding fully-human hands easier to use a controller with, and maybe not wanting to shed fur into said controller. She'd sit up close to Damon, and spend maybe half the time they were playing games leaning on top of the smaller werewolf, putting an arm around her neck, patting her head...

And then, of course, whether in the 'grown up' form or not, she'd ambush Damon with petting now and then. The wolf-girl had never contemplated it before, but even in the small, cute form Zotha had given her, she seemed to have more physical stamina than the human, boy-Damon had before that full moon happened. At least, it was hard to imagine him keeping up quite so well with Graham back then. But speaking of being male—only on a couple of visits since that one, the Nekomata had shifted Damon's sex to pull him in for another kiss. This was maybe the only way in which Graham seemed to still be restraining herself, limiting it to just a couple of minutes at a time, very occasionally. But it was still enough for Damon to start to learn in that male form the same kind of self-control which Zotha's 'restraint' had enforced for her female one.

Around the middle of Thursday afternoon, the two of them were just chatting on the couch for a moment. "What about this one?" Graham said, waving her free left hand and making the purple glow of her magic pick up a cartridge. Neither of them had to get up this way, which let Graham keep her arm around Damon, and let the wolf-girl just lean into the big catgirl in return.

"Uh, sure. Hey um.."
"Yes?"
"S-so, Onida and Sam are planning on going out for a 'proper date' tomorrow night. I guess that means I'm free at supper time."
"Oh, I see. I could probably whip us something up, if you'd like. And.."

Graham turned her head to look right in Damon's eyes. "I've gotten a little curious, to be honest. Your more wolfish form...is it, taller?"

"Mm-hm."
"Stronger, I presume?"
"Yep. Um—bigger uh." The wolf-girl cupped her chest with a hand briefly. "..You know. Too."

"Heehee. If you don't too much mind—maybe you could show it to me then."

"S-sure! Though, um, I c-can't actually talk when I'm, transformed," she said. "Just make..dog noises."
"Well, I'm pretty sure we can understand each other anyway, eh?" she said, gently patting the top of Damon's head.
"Rrfh..mm-hm."

"Okay, then let's call it a plan for tomorrow. For now—" Graham picked up her controller, and waved a hand to float Damon's up in front of her. "You want player one?"
"Uh, s-sure!"

---

The brunette cutie was the first one Billie tried approaching who satisfied two necessary conditions: One, she looked great; and two, she responded to the approach semi-positively, rather than with outright rejection, a confused look, or an annoyed glare. It seemed like something of a coincidence that she was also one of the few other people in the club with furry ears and a tail, but the now-young woman kind of liked that too. And the blush she'd been wearing since looking the Neko's way got a little brighter when Billie started to get the hang of the strange, jerking dance everyone was doing and used it to get a little closer to her.

This new dance partner gave out after a short while, slumping slightly forward and breathing in heavily. "Whoo~oo!" Billie cheered, then gently took hold of one of the other girl's hands. "Had enough already? Lemme buy ya another drink, huh?" she offered, starting to lead the way over toward the bar.

"Uh, ffh, s-sure.." She didn't seem to know what to do with herself once her hand had been grabbed, other than follow along. Once they were off of the dance floor proper, in a small empty space between there and the bar—well, the catgirl really couldn't help herself! She gently pulled herself up into a close hug, enjoying the feeling of the wolf-girl's chest pressing against her own, and placed a hand on top of her head.
"You're real cute, you know that?" she said, just barely loud enough for animal ears to hear over the music and noise.
"Uh—uhm." The other girl's ears folded back, her face a mixture of surprise and embarrassment.

Billie had mercy enough to let go right away, pulling a foot or so back. "Pfft—heheh..!" Something about this young woman's reactions just made her feel like teasing her, and had her giggling like crazy when it paid off.

The folks that Valoz had pointed her toward were extremely helpful. They seemed to have the whole process streamlined, like they'd gone through it a dozen or more times recently. They gave her an overall rundown of how she was a 'Neko' now, and did a quick magic-based checkup to verify that she was physically young again in basically every way. They told her that to people who couldn't see Bill's new feline parts, she had been 'extremely sick' since last night while her body physically changed due to a 'rare hereditary condition', or something like that...they'd supplied some paperwork to that effect to give her employer, anyway, which was more than good enough. And they'd been kind enough to get her a fresh driver's liscense with the slightly girlier name she'd chosen—all during that same visit. That meant she wasn't going to have any trouble buying drinks tonight!

The wolf-girl sat down and leaned her arm on the counter, dropping her chin into her forearm and huffing for air for a moment. Billie came and took a seat next to her, then ordered a drink that looked good, quickly pulling out and showing that shiny new license to order with. "And one for my friend here, too!" she added.

"Uh—" This made her 'friend' sit up. "I uh, can't actually um.." Whatever her objection was, the bartender was off to make the drinks before she could finish it. She seemed to give up pretty quickly, sinking back to her previous position and continuing to try to catch her breath.

"Sooo~." The catgirl leaned forward onto an elbow, resting her right cheek on that hand to face the wolf-girl with a bright grin. "What's your name, eh? I'm Billie," she said.
She sat up slightly to turn her head Billie's way. "Oh, uh. I-it's Fel," she said after a brief hesitation. "Nice to um. M-meet you I guess."
"Heheh! Yep, I'm pleased as punch to meet someone as pretty as you are!"

"Errm." Fel's brief, flustered stammering was interrupted by the arrival of the drinks. The catgirl downed half her glass in practically one gulp, which made Fel sit up, her ears popping up right. "A-are you sure you should um...?"
"Ahhh~. Don't worry 'bout me," she said, placing it down. "I've got plenty of practice handlin' my drink. Oh—were you tryin' to say you didn't want alcoholic before?" Billie asked, tilting her head slightly with concern. It would be rude to make someone else drink who didn't want to.
"Uh—not exactly. I-I guess just one wouldn't hurt, but—I do need to be careful."

"Alright, alright. I'll get a virgin for ya next time," Billie offered. "I just thought it might help ya relax a little more. That is what you're after, coming here, isn't it?"

Fel had taken a moderate sip of her drink at this point, and paused to wince and cough a little bit. "Uh—that's a lot stronger than I'm used to," she said. "I guess? I'm not really sure what I'm doing here at this point. I've been, uh, feeling restless lately. Needed something to do with that extra energy."
"Oh, you an' me both, Fel!" Billie said. Leaning in a little conspiratorially, she continued at a volume only Fel's wolfish ears would hear: "Would you believe I'm fifty-seven years old? Woke up this morning lookin' like this and feeling like I did in my early twenties. Heheh..!"

The wolf-girl sat up a little. "R-really!? Uh..I guess there were some clues. Magic sure is um..something, huh?"

"Yeah! Couldn't be happier to bump into it, however it did happen," the Neko said, and downed the rest of her glass. Fel took a careful, polite sip of her drink in response, and visibly restrained herself from wincing again.

"It wasn't as nice to me," she said. "Last week, I found out that I'd been a werewolf for months and hadn't even known it. Weird, right?"
"Reee-ally? That seems like the kinda thing a body ought to notice sooner, heheh!"
"Y-yeah, but the whole 'veil' thing messed my memories up or something. Anyway, it's better now, at least."

"Hey, you feeling better? Ready to go out on the floor another round?" Billie asked.
"Um..I guess so."
"Well, don't feel obliged to drink any more of that. I'll get ya something that doesn't burn next time, huh?"
"Yeah, thanks..." The catgirl hopped back onto her feet, and Fel moved to follow. She paused a second with an uncertain look on her face, then picked her glass and downed maybe twice as much as she had in total before then. Billie couldn't help but giggle again as this caused her new friend to have a brief coughing fit. Then they headed back out to dance again.

---

Do you think we could meet up to talk some?

Not long after leaving his meeting with three more experienced kitsune, an angel girl, and a dragon, Logan received a text from Prama. He thought about it for a moment, considering what he had been through and thought through since then, and then shrugged to himself. sure. where, when?

Can't be today, I have work.

ok, so?

I'm off tomorrow. Afternoon? My dorm room maybe?

"Hmm." He considered this location for a long moment. On one hand, a girl asking a guy to meet up in her dorm room—or really, much more so the reverse—would usually raise a lot of red flags...but on the other, they'd already met there once before. Prama probably just wanted privacy, a place she considered 'safe' to talk about anything. They could achieve a decent level of privacy by being in some public area, like one of the less-used benches around campus again, but her strange social anxiety thing would have her worrying about the off chance of someone walking by and causing her to clam up or start stammering again.

Besides, he had superpowers now. Nobody would question his presence in the dorm if he used an illusion of that form he'd been in right after 'awakening'. They certainly hadn't on "her" first visit, anyway. So he answered: sure. exact time tho?

---

Felix drank wine only very rarely, always just one glass, and always with food. He had never actually tested his alcohol tolerance, but even as little as that would usually have him feeling something. There was no telling whether being a werewolf, or the female form itself somehow, might come with some different metabolism that would handle that substance any better or worse than before. But...

She kind of liked the way Billie was looking at her. Talking to her. And that hug had been...nice, if very strange. Realizing that made her want to be at least a little braver, and...that was one of the things a drink was supposed to supply. Maybe it was a mistake, but she told herself that just a little more of the one drink couldn't possibly put her in knock-out, painful-hangover-drunk territory.

Maybe going back out and dancing with the catgirl somehow caused it to take effect faster. She was definitely feeling it by the time they both went out toward a table for another break. And so..just near the table, Fel boldly pulled her new friend into a hug like the one before. "Whoa! Oh, hey there~..." Billie was surprised, but not upset by the gesture, eagerly returning the hug itself. But despite being the one to start it, Fel wasn't really sure how to follow up.
"Uh.."

"H-heheh..mro~owh." The catgirl just grinned across at her and put a hand on her head, stroking some hair on the way to the base of Fel's right ear before rubbing it for a moment.
"R-rfh..!" Okay, now this was getting a little too weird. Fel hurriedly pulled out.

"Awwh. You feeling okay there?"

"Uh, y-yeah. Just...a little unstable," the werewolf said, quickly going and sitting down. Billie came and sat next to her, instead of across from her.

"Pff, you weren't kidding about needing to be careful, huh?"

"R-right. I'm've...never really been able to hold my drink, I guess. Becoming a werewolfffff, I think didn't help."

"Well, I sure wouldn't mind if you were a little bolder. Y'know—it's awful loud in here, and nobody's really looking our way," Billie said with the same coy grin as earlier.
"Uh..y-yeah.." Fel's face was very warm...which probably wasn't just because of the drink.
"Maybe we could go somewhere quieter after, hmmn?" the catgirl purred. "Your place maybe, or mine?"
"Oh! Uh. Um." It finally occurred to Fel what kind of thing Billie seemed to have in mind, and she sat bolt upright, scrambling for a good excuse. "I-I really can't do that. I huh...have work tomorrow. Early—early morning, you know!"

"Heh—well, I guess I gotta work tomorrow, too. Not this Saturday, though. But if I don't know any better..you're more just tryin' ta get away from me, aren't ya? Am I being too much?"
"Uh, well. It's just that I've never—I mean nobody's uhm. A-and this is re, really too fast."
"Hmmnh. Maybe we could just go somewhere for dinner tomorrow night, then? Not so loud, less dancing and more conversation? Action to come afterward, if we wanna?"

The way Billie leaned up toward her with her head tilted slightly as she said that...it was extremely cute. Fel wasn't sure she could say no to that look. Anyway, this offer sounded a lot more reasonable. "Uhm...y-yeah. That'd work, a lh..lot better for me."

"All right, let's call it a date then~. You won't mind giving me your number then, would ya?"
"I-I guess not..."

A little while later, Fel walked outside with Billie next to her. When the door closed behind them and shut out the club's noise, it felt like the whole world had gone suddenly silent. "Hey, Fel—make sure ya have a snack or somethin' before bed," the catgirl advised. "Drink lots of water. Ya need to drive home?"
"Uh, yeah.."
"Be extra careful, then, hear?"
"O-of course. Hey..." She said, just as Billie turning to head off.
"Mm-hmn?" she asked, looking the wolf-girl's way again.
"Did you just...go after the first person you saw, or..?"
"Well, you've got me there. I sure did." Billie stepped a little closer, smiling brightly. "First one I liked...and the second, third, an' so on...but you're still special, Fel."
"Um...how so?"

She teased the wolf-girl's hair a little bit, and giggled softly. "You're the first one to say yes!"

---

I've been holding back on publishing this one for a long while, despite having finished it, because it's kind of part of a "set" with the next two parts...those parts are kind of being written simultaneous to each other. But this one is done, so under the same "push it out the door" feeling as the last couple of BV episodes, I'm publishing it anyway.

Battle Vixens! - 143

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Episode 143: She Hates Me

Emma sat up in the large bed abruptly at the sound of knocking. It wasn't the same sound as the last couple of nights: A different amount of force, a different rhythm. The person at the door of the room she occupied in her dreams was not Amory.

She hopped down, stretched very briefly, and hurried to answer the door. The person on the other end..looked a little bit like Amp after all. She was taller and more mature-looking overall for sure, but the blue eyes and blond hair, and the fur of her ears and singular fluffy tail taking on the latter color as well, besides a great many details about her face and build overall, made her almost look...kind of like the cute girl's "mother". Despite the drastic difference from any previously-known appearance, however, Emma also recognized exactly who she was looking at, and not just from context; the sense of familiarity was just as if this was how she had always looked.

She smiled slightly, but her expression overall seemed almost...a little bit nervous. "Hello there~." Well, the voice was the same, at any rate. "Could I..come in?"

"Yeah, sure!" Emma hurried to take a few steps back. "You look uh—really different!"
"Well...I don't know whether I have a 'true form', but this appearance most closely matches how I looked during my earliest memories," she said with a slight shrug, walking inside. "I tend to use it when I'm not trying to intimidate or impress my audience. You must not be happy to see me, either way."

"Hey, don't be like that! I've wanted to see you again for days! C'mon, let's—sit down somewhere."

Emma gestured emphatically toward a part of the room that had been empty a moment ago. She and Amory had figured out a lot about how this place worked: Expecting a comfy couch and chair to be there more or less caused them to be, so she just hurried over and hopped onto one side of the former.

"Hmmph—how could I say no that?" Her guest went to sink into the chair, slumping back a bit in the process. "I really am surprised, though. You wanted to see me?"
"Yeah, of course! We've been friends for like two years!"
"That wasn't really—"

"I know, I know—Beryl never was real or whatever. But that doesn't mean you didn't enjoy being her, does it? I just can't believe you'd spend so much time and effort being that nice, actually helping people who can't do anything back—if there wasn't something you were getting out of it, yourself. Maybe you are a huge jerk, and hurt a lot of people, but I think...that's not really all you are."

She sat up slightly. "Hah...you might be the only person of your entire world who thinks even that highly of me."

She leaned her head on a hand, with that elbow on the chair's armrest. "..Don't get me wrong. It's not like that was ever by accident. If I wanted to be adored by all the inhabitants of a planet, it'd be all too easy for me. Only ever telling the truth is hardly even a handicap."

"So, what, you made everyone on Earth hate you, on purpose?"
"Of course," she sat up again to nod slightly, folding her hands across her lap. "If I came off as some sort of benevolent goddess, then most of those wielding my power would never stop 'praying' to me. It'd be cute at first, but I could never afford to protect you that way forever. I just..didn't think success at this task would bother me as much as it does. I've been hated by entire universes' worth of people before and hardly felt a thing."

"How many of them did you really meet? Spend a week or two with, let alone over a year?"

She shrugged, "Not too many, I suppose. Hardly ever in a context that wasn't just them demanding things from me."

Emma said, "Well, there's gotta be something in between 'everyone worshiping you' and 'everyone hating you', if like you just—wanted us to grow power of our own instead of using yours."

"But that was the most efficient way. It doesn't really matter how anyone feels, including me, if it gets the right results."

Emma leaned up and forward a little bit. "You've got such an awful way of thinking about things, you know? All 'efficiency' this and 'results' that. There's way more to being around other people than just getting what you want out of it."

"I don't know of any other reason," she said, tilting her head slightly. "If I want to make someone else happy, that's still something I want. And if I must choose between making someone happy or helping them to survive, then surely it's only a matter of whether I like them or not."

"Does that really have to be a choice?"

The Watcher was quiet for a moment, then just shrugged. "Hard to say. Really, I haven't cared at all about whether I make anyone but myself happy until very recently. Even then, I don't fully comprehend why I do...

"I apologized to you for doing to you and your friends what I still feel was right. But not even my closest acquaintance at the moment—you've never met her—would agree that it was. Light certainly doesn't."

"Do you...care a lot about Blake's opinion of you?"
She nodded slowly.
"You said you like her before. But...why?"

"I don't know whether I can really explain it. I've just been fascinated, watching the 'Hero' do her thing, since the very beginning. Such a talent for creative, flexible uses of her power, but such a strange, hard-headed way of looking at things. So willing to forgive even those who would take her life, but holding such a deep hatred under the right circumstances. Besides, she's just so cute when she glares..."

Emma thought about it for a moment. It was easy for her to think of reasons why she liked Amory, although..the point where respect, gratitude, interest and then friendship, turned into attraction, affection, or infatuation...it was hard for her to really draw the line. Maybe her question had been unfair. So, instead of pressing...

"You know...one of Blake's strongest beliefs is that anyone can change. Being a bad person isn't something that you're just, stuck with forever, after it happens. No matter how much bad."

"I know that..." Her expression shifted to a kind of crooked, sad smile. "But even if I somehow became the ideal person, I don't think I'd be able to show her. She told me she never wanted to see me again, last night, and most definitely meant it. And I will not visit someone who won't let me in. Hmmh..." She closed her eyes slightly, still smiling.

"You don't look that upset about it, though. Are you thinking of some way to trick her into talking to you again anyway?"
She opened her eyes again. "No, no—nothing like that, I promise you. It's just..

"Hahah...heheh...For once, I don't have the words—or better, I don't think they exist in your langauge. Pain just...isn't something that comes naturally to me. I don't really comprehend it. Even emotional pain, is brand new to me as an experience. Light hating me and wishing I were dead hurts, it hurts so much—but I'm also fascinated by that feeling itself." She sniffed once, and Emma realized there were about two or three tears coming down her cheeks.

"You haven't heard of 'masochism' before?"
"Pffhahah!" She chuckled. "No, no—it's not that, I swear! I do...I do want it stop, but I also don't want it to end. It's so much easier to just stay the same, and savor it, but a part of me wants to change anyway, and see what happens then."

"Okay...so what makes changing so hard anyway, if you want to?"

She wiped her face on a sleeve, the tears gone as soon as they had appeared. "I have made a great many decisions. Commitments. Promises. I must be fair to everyone, as much as I can. Being 'good', according to Light, means acting immediately just because one person is in trouble, but I have to think about the price of every action in terms of what it will cost billions of others. Worse, I don't have the excuse of not having time to think things through. In under a second, I can compute the consequences of my next action out to at least several decades in most situations. So...even if I truly wish to do something kind for someone, I'm trapped within the many constraints that my own actions have created. In short, being an adult is hard," she said, shrugging.

"Do you regret starting to help people fight those monsters?"
"Never," she answered instantly. "Not one bit." She sighed. "Now and then, I do miss the days when I was only an audience member, sitting back and watching events play out...but I've had my focus drawn to plenty of exciting things I would never have noticed otherwise. And, my time with the people of your world has been another unique experience all its own."

"You know, it doesn't sound like it'd cost you that much to just...get to know the people of some other world. Like, one that's not in danger? You could show up and just talk honestly with people—like, actually honest, not that 'tell only the truth' thing, but not going out of your way to make them hate or love you, either."

"Emma, I legitimately don't know whether I'm capable of that kind of honesty."
"Well—then—you definitely can't figure that out unless you try!"
"Hmm, perhaps not..."

She paused for a moment, looking over at the door, then back Emma's way. "Time here doesn't work exactly the same as in your waking world, but.."
"Are you wondering about Amp? Rowan wanted her help to hold a last-minute meeting thing with a bunch of the other leaders," Emma said.
"That's good..but I did already know that. I was going to say, I've been here for a while as it is. It's...good you're all taking tomorrow seriously. And it's nice to have the opportunity to talk to you again..."

Emma gave her a long look. "There's something you're not saying, isn't there?"
"Well," she shrugged, "I..don't know whether this will be the last time. Obviously I never do, but especially..."

"Tomorrow will be, difficult. Exceedingly so. More than you might expect. For your world, the enemy's usual pattern of behavior was thrown off a little by my interference; its first few strikes were the sort that would have wiped your world out if you had no help. But after that, it began its usual...'strategy', to use the word lightly. A number of probing attacks, with a certain pattern of intensity to them. That's what it does with worlds full of magic, which at least appear to be well-prepared for its assault. After that, a brief pause, and then..."
"And then?"
"It makes its true strike. An all-out assault, you could say. The earlier attacks tend to expose the weaknesses of a world's defenses, widen the cracks that were narrowly present before—often in ways the world's own protectors barely notice or can do little about in so short a time. And then, at this point, those cracks are hit hard enough to shatter everything, if it's possible. The good news is that if this fails, it tends to give up for a while...but if it perceives a serious weakness this time, it will continue to strike at it again and again until the world falls."

"Do we...have a huge weakness like that?"
"I don't believe so. And at least you don't have...

"Well, a world having powerful magic from the start, especially if it's closely concentrated, can be a double-edged sword, is all. We lost such a world recently; its gods made powerful protectors so that their people could live in peace and harmony, but all it took was the enemy swallowing just one of those for the rest to fall like so many dominos. If only more of them had swallowed their pride and accepted my help...

"Your world doesn't have that problem, but as a result, you aren't terribly secure either. Your collective power is just about enough to resist its strike. So I'm su...sssuuu....mmh." She appeared to be unable to finish her sentence. "I mean, I hope you'll make it through this. I, believe you are capable."

"But—you can't actually say you're 'sure' we will."
She nodded slightly. "Sorry. I've...given you all I can afford to. It is your fight now."
"It kinda always was, though, wasn't it?"
She grinned a little wryly. "...Yes. You're right."

Battle Vixens! - 142

First / Previous / Next / Latest

---

Episode 142: The Future

No sooner had the news crew packed up and left than a line began to form outside the door. Maybe it was more accurate to call it a crowd instead. Ning leaned back in her seat, sighed, then stood up. The kids had the day off from school, and there was no risk of an attack interrupting things...so there was no better time to take care of this. Still, it was going to be a long day, if every single one of them was here to apply for the job. But delaying any more would only make it all take even longer, so she hopped to her feet and went to let the first person in.

"C'mon in! One at a time, please. Form a line out there, if you don't mind!'

"Uh hi!" The first to enter was short, thin young woman in casual dress. She seemed nervous, excited, and very fidgety.

"Morning. You have a resume?"
"N-no. I just. Tobehonest myfriendskinda pushedmetocome."

"That's fine. Take a seat, and a deep breath, if you don't mind. We'll just do a short interview for now. To begin with...why don't you introduce yourself?"

The fifth was an average-height guy, slightly overweight, wearing glasses. "Do you have any experience working retail?" Ning asked.

"Yeah. I've stocked shelves at a big grocery in my hometown before."
"You have their number? Or location? For a reference, I mean."
"Uh, not on me...honestly, we didn't really part on theee, best of terms..."

Applicant number ten actually brought a resume...although it more closely resembled a kindergartener's art project. Ning couldn't read what much of what she'd handwritten in glittery ink on that pink piece of paper.

"And how are you with kids?"
"Oh, I'm great~. I worked as a babysitter for my mom's friends~," she said.

"Why do you want to work here?"

"Are you kidding? You must meet all kinds of amazing people! Hey, does Light hang out here often?"
Ning said, a little wearily: "Not really..." Number fifteen wasn't looking too promising.

---

April looked over a table covered in fox-masks, eventually picking a couple of them up to inspect more closely. "Impressive work..so many variations. I certainly couldn't have imagined all this from our first couple of phone calls." Setting them down again, she turned to the two men who'd hired her. "Are you certain you're academics and not artists?"

"We didn't directly make these designs," Dr. Bridges said. "There are several artists in our department. But they needed your original ideas to go off of before these started actually working."

"Strange. You couldn't simply mass-produce the same appearance, either?"
"We obviously could. But only the first copy of any specific design is functional," Dr. Brand said. "As if the blasted masks themselves know they're not 'original enough'."

Dr. Bridges adjusted his glasses. "Thankfully, only a slight change is usually needed to fix that...but eventually we run out of working variations for the paint, and have to come up with a different shape."

"This is bound to become a fundamental limit to our output at some point. Unless someone like you can do something about it."

"Goodness. I never expected the limits of creativity to have such a practical consequence," she said.

"Hmmmh." For a moment April closed her eyes, tapping her cheek with her index finger. "Surely we could move on to other sorts of accessories...and we haven't exhausted the potential of hats with just the one, have we?"

"Probably not, but that one was difficult enough to produce," Dr. Brand said. "It would be preferable to use rings, bracelets, watches—something which is not supposed to hide one's original appearance. We received a hint from the Giver to the effect that something like that may allow powers without the need for a change in one's overall appearance."
"It sounds as if you want a jeweler," April said. "I work largely in thread, you know; the masks were already a stretch for me. I suppose it would be impractical to use the likes of shirts or dresses—they'd take too long to put on when needed."

"What about gloves?" Dr. Bridges suggested.

"That, at least, I could produce. Although there is still something of an aspect of covering one's true appearance with those."

Dr. Brand sighed, "We tried gloves before, with no success. I wouldn't be opposed to another attempt, if we weren't in the middle of a crisis."

"Ah—what about..?" Thinking of her conversation with Emma earlier that day, April took off the headband she still had on, presenting it to the researchers. "This is hardly the direction you're asking for, but in the interest of having more variations to pick from..."

They looked at each other as if something terribly obvious had been pointed out to them. "Right..." Dr. Bridges said. "Probably because of the Giver's actions, there is a certain preference for 'animal ears', let's say. We've received a little bit of evidence lately that it's moving away from exclusively foxes..."

"It's an idea, at least," Dr. Brand said, not looking particularly happy (but April was rapidly forming a suspicion that he almost never did). "While there is still an emergency to respond to, we can't afford to be too picky. We will need to hammer out a functional prototype today."

April nodded, putting the headband back on. "I hope it shall not be a surprise to you gentlemen that I have little experience in making these, too. But I am always looking for new challenges, especially now that they're in fashion..."

---

After the conversation with all of the other "Reborn" was over, Simon followed Cynthia out of the room. She turned a couple of random corners to confirm that he was actually trying to stick with her and not just coincidentally going the same direction, and then turned and glared. "You want somethin'?!"

"Oh, well, since you asked—I have a short break, and I thought we could resume our conversation from last night for a minute or two," he said.

"Last night...what, you mean about the colleges? I thought you were done with that stuff once you started talkin' to other folks."

"I gave you some opinions, sure, but then I just got distracted. My main point was: Considering all of the options, where do you think you'd like to go?"

"'To go'?"

"You know, starting mmmh, possibly next fall? I don't think it's quite too late to get some applications in," he said, "especially not for a celebrity."
"Wha—?! I d—! Back up like five steps, would ya?"
"Oookay?" He started literally taking steps backward.
"I don't mean it like that! What're you talkin' about applications in the first place for?!"

"Oh." Simon stopped. "Well, you're obviously an extremely talented artist, so it only seems right to me to find you somewhere you can actually develop those talents. Ideally with the option of making a career out of it, but obviously it's not up to me which way you want to ultimately steer your life."

"You think I, should go to some college somewhere? Me?"
"Sure. You're, what, eighteen or nineteen? That's about the right age for college."
She crossed her arms, glaring. "I can't afford jack."
"There are these wonderful things called scholarships and student loans. The latter are less pleasant, but if you get to be rolling in cash the way I am, they can be dispensed with pretty quickly."

"I ain't got enough schooling. Neither me nor Donny ever graduated, y'know?"

Simon shrugged. "A minor obstruction. A GED isn't that tough to earn."

"You think I'm'onna get a scholarship, with a GED?"

"It could happen! But, really, success is often in large part to do with who you know. And you know me," he said, giving a grand gesture toward his own chest, "And I am good friends with plenty of people in the art world, including the academic side. A couple of phone calls, maybe a visit to show off some of your sketches, and I'm sure I could work something out with..at least most of the less-picky colleges. Besides, that's not even counting the other advantages you have."

"Like what? 'Celebrity'!? You think I oughta use how I'm sorta famous to get accepted over somebody else?"

"Well, obviously. Anyone who aims to get ahead in life should leverage every advantage at their disposal, especially if you think you're at a disadvantage to start with. I don't mean hurting other people, obviously, but the fact that you are miss came-back-from-the-dead Phoenix will carry some weight no matter what. If nothing else, your powers could literally protect campus—if those monsters keep attacking the world for that long, anyway. But, hey, even if not, who knows what else we vixens might be called on to help out with?"

"You...I just don't get how you think."

"It's pretty straightforward," he said with a shrug. "I'm always looking out for number one."
"Then what you wanna help me out for?"
"You're very talented, remember? So if you turn that talent into a career as a famous artist, then I get to be the man who 'discovered' you!" he said, pointing to his own chest proudly with his right thumb. "You mention how very much I helped you in aaaallll your big award speeches. Introduce me to all the movers and shakers you happen to meet. And as a result, my fame and influence grows all the more!" he concluded, spreading his arms out dramatically.

"You think I'd do all that, knowing you only helped me so I would?"

"I don't see any reason to be coy about it, at least. People like you better if they think you're honest, after all. So, what do you say? How about applying to some places for next school year?"

He had an irritating grin on that was probably supposed to be charismatic and winning...no, on second thought, Cynthia decided that this grin was an intentionally annoying one because that would make her respond faster. She just sighed. "I guess I'll think about it."
"Perfect! Think about which college too, while you're at it!" he said. "Maybe do some of your own research on them. Well, I've got to run now, so we'll talk again later!" With that, Simon about-faced and practically sprinted out of sight.

Cynthia paused a long moment, then started off in the direction she'd been going before noticing Simon following her. She realized slowly that he'd done all of that specifically to make her start thinking about it, and now she was, so as far as he was concerned, he'd "won" the conversation. The way he thought was a little less opaque now, but still just as much of a headache for her.

---

After the nineteenth semi-disastrous interview, Ning took a short break to get up, stretch, check on Nadia, and drink some water. Glancing out the window before she let the next one in, it seemed like the crowd had thinned considerably. She could almost make out a coherent line now, and a few of them were even dressed up instead of just wearing casual clothes or worse. Probably a lot of people had just come around to gawk, or (optimistically) to cheer their friends on, and/or egg them into coming in to apply.

Number twenty was already looking better: He had an actual resume, had experience...

"What hours do you think you'll be able to work in a typical week?"
"Uh...let's see..classes are out right now, but with my usual schedule...I guess I'd be free most afternoons? Just not Wednesday, I've got a lab class."
"Weekends?"

"Uhhhmmostly?" he said.

"'Kay then," Ning noted that down. "And—how are you with kids?"
"Prretty bad. I honestly just kinda find it tough to relate to anyone under, like, fifteen."

She nodded. "Got it. Thank you for being honest. I'll call you if I wanna hire you."

Applicant twenty-five came in wearing a proper dress..and a fox-ear headband. "Why don't you introduce yourself?"

"Oh, sure. I'm Maria Faye, senior year but I'm probably gonna need a fifth one at this rate. It's how things go when you switch majors."

No experience..but she expressly wanted to learn how to handle a store, for her future career. So at least she was serious...
"My schedule's pretty rough this semester...I've gotta go to class all day Thursday and Friday. Mornings are open otherwise?"

And she'd never been around any kids...being the youngest of a few siblings. But she was sure it couldn't be 'that hard'...Ning had to restrain herself from shaking her head and/or saying something like 'oh you sweet child, bless your heart'.

The end of the line was visible out the window by number thirty-one. Ning felt like she might be able to get in a lunch by maybe 2:00, and then open the store normally for the rest of the afternoon. This one came wearing a suit, and he was...tall. Huge, broad-shouldered, fit. He had to duck to get into the door, and made the interviewee chair look like it was designed for someone a third his age.

"Mmh, sorry about the chair," Ning said. "You can stand if you want?"
"Nah, I'm used to it," he said, offering her a proper-looking resume.

"Thank you. Now, why don't you introduce yourself?"

"Uh, sure. Gustav Cooper. Lot of people just call me Gus. I'm majoring in theater...kinda. I work in the props department, but I'm actually hoping to be a modern-day blacksmith. Make real swords and stuff, like for ren fairs. Pretty niche, I know."

"Interesting. And—do you have any experience working retail?"
"I'm..not sure it counts, exactly. But I've done a lot of booths at cons and fairs, that kind of thing. Not..you know, a normal store or anything," he shrugged.

"That's fine, if you're open to learning a thing or two. Why do you want to work here?"

"I just thought..you know, some extra money and experience might help. Seems like you're pretty good at managing your own business, financially speaking, so..thought maybe I could pick up a few tips? If you don't mind."

"We'll see. What hours do you think you'll be available to work?"
"It's..a little up in the air. If they need me doing props, I've gotta be at the theater department all day, whether it's the weekend or not. But when I'm done, I get a lot of time free. No classes on Wednesday, not much on Tuesday or Thursday. It's all squeezed into the edges of the week."

"Oo-kay. And: How are you with kids, Gustav?"
"Oh, I'm great! Got some younger cousins who're always begging for piggyback rides. Or they wanna play Lilliput and Gulliver, try to 'knock the giant down' and stuff."

"That sounds nice." Ning stood up and offered him a hand to shake. "Thanks for your time; I'll call you if I wanna hire you."

"Sure. Thank you." While he was walking out (and carefully ducking through the doorway again), she made a quick note that this one was a definite keeper.

"...Next, please!"

---

April took command of a small temporary office—mostly just needing the desk and the chair—and got to work sketching out some designs. After making a few reasonable attempts at animal-ear headbands, she also tried her hand with a few hats, pairs of gloves, and a choker. The numerous back-and-forth exchanges while designing Magus's hat had taught her the sort of designs that were likely to "work" and the sort that definitely wouldn't, but she would struggle terribly if asked to put that comprehension into words.

While she was coincidentally taking a brief stretch break, there was a knock on the door, so she went to answer it. "Ah, Dr. Brand. Something I can help you with?"
"Perhaps. If you wouldn't mind speaking in confidence for a moment?"
"Oh, no trouble at all," she said, heading deeper into the little office again to get out of his way. The aged physicist carefully closed the door behind him, clearly trying to minimize the noise it made, and paused to glance at the desk, and the half-finished sketches upon it.
"I suppose that's going well enough?"
"Yes..I believe I should have something adequate soon," she said. "Although—some of these designs are rather obvious. If they do work, it'd be rather surprising that nobody else has already stumbled upon them."
"That is true, but constructing the object is only the first step of the process. It must be the right kind of object for the rest of the process, which is classified for the moment, to work."

"I see—that does make a bit more sense," she said, nodding.

"Well then...there was something else you wished to discuss?"

"I have a strange question," Dr. Brand said. "Have you had any contact with persons...especially women, whose names sound like some kind of gemstone?"

"I can think of several, off the top of my head," she said with quick nod. "Names like 'Ruby', 'Diamanda', 'Sapphire'...are all fairly common among fashionistas and models, you know. Although I can't say for certain whether those are their legal names."

"Yes, of course," he nodded just slightly. "Have any of these people..said or done something notably strange? I'm not sure how to put it—have they, seemed to demonstrate extraordinary knowledge? Or refused to lie when it clearly would have been beneficial to do so?"

"Hmmn." April tilted her head slightly, thinking. She wasn't really built for intrigue. "I have the feeling...one of us knows something they shouldn't, and I'm not certain which one it is. Oh, well, I'm certain I can trust you to keep something quiet either way. My younger sister Emma—I'm sure you're somewhat acquainted?" Dr. Brand nodded. "She had a roommate by the name of Beryl. I can't say that I ever saw anything unusual from her, but Emma evidently worked out that she was really that person they call 'the Giver'. It was something of a game for Beryl, to see how long it would take her to work it out, and once she did, the game was 'over' and she left for good. Perhaps that is the sort of thing you wanted to know?"

"...It is. Thank you." Maybe April just wasn't used to how he displayed his mood, but Dr. Brand seemed slightly more irritated than usual.
"Is something the matter?"
"Not exactly. I don't really enjoy being led by the nose, but it's only been to our benefit so far." He shook his head. "Thank you; I'll leave you to work."

---

"Mrrr~rrh..."

There was no telling exactly how long "a while" was turning out to be. Emma was entirely too focused on cuddling with and petting the other fox-girl with her on her couch to really keep track of time. And, rather than either of them breaking it off, a sudden noise interrupted this process. Emma yipped loudly, pulling herself partly upright and off of Amp, looking around in a brief panic before fully making sense of what the sound even was.

"..Oh. That's my phone."
"Pffheheh," the blond fox-girl giggled softly.

"Whaat?"
"Cuu~ute."
"Hmph..." Emma pouted a little. "You're one to talk."

They reluctantly and a little slowly disengaged enough for Emma to go retrieve the source of the noise, but unfortunately still quickly enough that she could answer it. "Uh..hello?"

"Hiii! This is Felicity Brown," the woman on the phone said in a chipper tone of voice. "Do I have miss Emma Hayes on the other end there?"
"Uh..yeah?"

"Well! I'm with the Vixen Initiative's research department—or, more specifically, hiring and allocation. As far as I know, you spoke with our psych lead—Dr. Bridges—some time a couple of days ago, about possibly working with us at some point?"
"Uhm...I think I remember a conversation like that." That whole visit to the VI was kind of a blur for Emma, except for meeting the various former-puppet people.

"Well, we would be just as interested as ever to have your help with some things—paid help, I should emphasize, maybe part time? I was asked to call you because, err. While it is for very unfortunate reasons, I'm sure, one of the major obstructions to a normal hiring process at the time has since been uuhh, removed! Yes."

Emma looked over at Amp with a very confused expression, knowing that her giant fox-ears could hear the other end of the conversation. So she explained: "She means, since your identity is publicly known now, it's way easier to legally hire you."

"Oh! Uhhh. You want to hire me? I don't really know how much help I'd actually be with, researching magic, though."

"I've got the wrong area of expertise to argue with you about that, but I can say our research leads at least think you'd be a lot of help. If you find some time to come over, when you're not busy with your studies, or with the giant black monsters. Aaaalso, not all of what our department's engaged in really takes much expertise. I can think of at least one job you'd do twice as fast just from having two bodies to do it with."

"I guess...uhm.." Emma was briefly distracted by trying really hard to read Amp's lips, until she finally discerned the words 'how much'. "How uh..what kind of 'paid' do you mean, exactly?"
"Oh, we're willing to negotiate a pretty generous hourly rate—the VI's doing really well financially, you know, with plenty of donations and other sources of bankrolling. I admit the numbers haven't fully been crunched yet, but I've got some of the paperwork around my office here if you'll give me juust a moment."

"You need to know the actual job description, too," Amp pointed out while they both heard some papers shuffling on the other end of the phone. "They probably wanna meet in person for the paper-signing anyway."
"Uh, y-yeah," Emma said with a small nod after pulling the phone slightly away from her face.

Felicity quoted a 'lowball' estimate of the hourly rate that made Emma's eyes pop. When looked to for advice, Amp said "Up to you, but I'd take it." She eventually agreed to head over and meet with someone to talk about it in the late afternoon, which (she finally looked at her phone to check) would be a couple of hours later. After all, everyone was going to be too busy for this kind of thing tomorrow.

---

After a lunch with Nadia, Ning went shuffling through all of her notes and the fairly small number of resumes that she'd acquired from the forty-something applicants of the day. Most of them were instant rejections, but she was fairly sure there were decent applicants whose available hours could be combined to fill most of the day on most days of the week. Her granddaughter took one of the rejected resumes and started drawing something on it in crayon, which she probably should've stopped—after all, even if she wasn't going to hire that particular person, this was maybe a bit disrespectful. But she'd already started by the time Ning noticed, and this really didn't qualify as misbehavior worth scolding her for, so she just let it go.

After a few minutes, Nadia presented her with the results of her work: A few stick figures with fox-like ears and tails, standing under a smiling sun. "Oh, that's sweet~," she said, patting her granddaughter's head. "Who all is this, dear?"

"That's you, an' Gemma, an' Amp, an' Light." The tails were more or less the right colors for each, and she probably should've guessed Gemma was the one with two tails.

Ning nodded. "Thank you! Now, if you'd like to draw some more, use this paper, hmm?" she said, offering some blank pages.

"A'kay!"

Not everyone Ning intended to hire had said they were good with kids, but babysitting wasn't really going to be their job in the first place. Ideally, Nadia would be in school most of the time they were working anyway. She consolidated her decisions into a short list, with the names and numbers and the weekly hours she expected to get out of them, and then wrote some back-ups on a second piece of paper. Then she gathered everything together—including the resume Nadia had drawn over—with those papers on top, and set them aside. The time to hire would be another day, after she'd had time to really mull it over, and had someone draft out the legal paperwork, come up with a way to train the new hires and possibly introduce them to each other...

But at least she had a plan now.

---

I've had this part mostly written for so long, and then entirely written for a little while, but kept putting off publishing it until I had "more done". Well, no more of that. And I'll publish the next part I've finished, too. This story has been stuck on this day for too long, time to move on, but I admit the next day is going to involve writing a lot of action. Writing action is fun but also uniquely hard; I have to be in the right mood...well, hopefully I can manage it.