Contract Trap

On the table in the middle of the room was a statue, just starting to glow ominously. It was a little taller than a person's head, cast in some pitch black stone, in the shape of a sort of rectangular-prism plinth with a detailed human figure standing atop its center. That figure would appear well-dressed at a first glance, but then the distressing detail of a collar around the figure's neck, with a chain-leash attached, would reveal itself to any careful observer. After the glow had brightened a little, it lifted itself an inch or so off of the table's surface.

Niko, who'd been sitting at the table in front of it, jolted back slightly. "What th—?"

A voice from the statue interrupted him: "In exchange for altering the contract's terms, one must taste it in full."

"Aack! No, wait—stop..!" Being an experienced mage, and an expert particularly in enchantments, artifacts, and the sort, he put some active defenses up between himself and the statue to add to all of the passive ones already built into the room. But it was no good; he'd intertwined his magic with this artifact's own in the process of 'negotiating' with it to alter its rules. He realized this after a second and started trying to sever the connection, at the same time saying, "I didn't want to—I wasn't even finished with...ugh!"

It didn't seem interested in these objections, instead continuing to push its power into him, initiating its 'contract' just the same as if he'd spoken its usual activation phrase. It felt like the harder he tried to pull his own magic apart from what was flowing in, the more that power seeped into and took it over. Pretty soon he'd be practically powerless against it.

Niko groaned, leaning over and putting his face in his hands. "Auuugh! Stupid, dumb—first rule is to not mess with anything you don't have to!" But he'd only meant to make an indestructible, horrid curse of an artifact less dangerous for anyone who stumbled across it in the future! It wasn't like he could guarantee it'd stay locked up somewhere forever, no matter how hard he tried to make it so.

He sat up, starting to feel a sharp tingling racing across his scalp, and immediately saw his bangs growing longer before his eyes. By now, the statue had stopped glowing and floating, and just looked like an inert hunk of rock on the table, but its power had entirely swallowed Niko's, and now it was using his own magic to start transforming him. His ears were tingling too, as that hair's color brightening from brown toward red, and—given the state of the last person to activate this thing—he was fairly sure he knew which way this change was going.

Niko had an idea: Maybe he could stall or cancel this with some other enchantment's power! It was unlikely, but worth a try. He quickly stood up and hurried out of the room to go look for something, mentally sifting through a list of what he knew he had. The tingling was spreading its way down his face and to the rest of his skin, making him pause in the hallway to shudder briefly, and he stopped again when he was passing a bathroom, catching sight of his face in the mirror: That hair had turned a blazing, brilliant red by now, was long enough to almost touch his shoulders, and framed a smooth-shaven, soft-looking face. Furthermore, he'd started to feel his ears stretching as their tingling got stronger, and now they were big enough for their pointed tips covered in reddish peach fuzz to poke out past that hair.

The strange thing was, seeing his face like that, the thought that popped into his head was: Wow, cute.

He quickly shook his head. Focus, dummy! It was only a brief sprint from there to where the item he hoped would help was held. As he ran, the tingling was replaced by a squeezing sensation, and his perspective began sinking downward, his stride and balance starting to change. Niko stumbled, caught himself with a hand on the wall, and then had to slow his pace as he continued to shrink. He could feel his face growing smaller and rounder, his shoulders narrowing, his arms and legs and waist all slimming down, and as he made his way into the storage room, the shelves already looked strangely tall.

He kept on shrinking as he went and rifled through a box, before finally pulling out a small metal bracelet. "Ah—he~ere!" Niko tried to ignore his voice cracking strangely, and how small and delicate his fingers looked holding that item, and simply snapped it onto his left wrist. It was an unremarkable enough item, something novice mages wore sometimes; its enchantment canceled out a large portion of one's own power so that casting even basic spells would become meaningful practice. But no sooner had he put it on than he felt a rush of his stolen power straight to that wrist, and the bracelet glowed a bright red before disintegrating into dust.

"Shoot!" He'd hoped that would at least buy him a few more minutes! As if in response to his attempt to stop it, the change briefly accelerated, squeezing Niko hard enough to briefly fix him in place and making his height plummet. "Aa~aa~aah..!" At the same time he could feel his ears pushing their way up hard, growing into a pair of huge, fluffy triangles, and a tail sprouting from the base of his spine, too..!

"Ugh...ffh..." Niko panted briefly, feeling some heat in his cheeks. He looked around the room he was in, trying to think of what else might work here. "W-wah!" A high, cute surprised cry came out when he tried to move, as he nearly tripped over his pants. He realized then that they'd fallen off of him, and his shirt was hanging awkwardly loose across a very slender frame; his underwear, however, miraculously stayed on? Or, maybe it wasn't such a miracle, he realized, as he noticed its leggings were gone and it felt awfully tight, especially..down there.

Speaking of which, he was starting to feel...kind of tingly, in that same area.

"Urrgh, no no no...s-something else..." Niko's voice came out in a soft, mature, womanly alto now, as he carefully stepped over the lost pants and went over to another shelf to pull out another item. What he decided to try next was a necklace that normally did nothing if a man wore it, but turned a female wearing it male. He hurriedly pushed it past the new huge, vulpine ears to hang it around his neck, hoping it would at least reverse that part of the effect once it happened.

That tail he'd sprouted earlier pushed its way out past the hem of his shirt now, swishing back and forth behind him. The heat in Niko's cheeks had grown stronger, and his heart was racing—was that because of the sprint earlier, or the change? Maybe both? The tingling downstairs had been steadily picking up in intensity, and he could feel the...what were surely panties, starting to fit more comfortably as there was less and less in the way. This felt...nice? He hadn't felt bad at all after the sprint, so...was his heart racing because he was...excited? Niko remembered how cute his face had looked in the mirror; he had to be even cuter now.

"Urgh..n-no, stop that..!" He shook his head again, hard enough for the bright red locks to swish around and the big animal ears to flop around. "Th-that's the...enchantment talking...!" But his voice did sound kind of nice like that...low enough to be mature, but cute too.

"Mnnfh!" The tingling progressed now into a tugging, slipping sensation; Niko's new tail had grown out into a huge, fluffy pillow nearly as long as one of his arms, and was whipping back and forth excitedly behind him. His ears lowered out to point to his sides, and he felt warm all over...! "Aah...mnn~ngh...!" His sex was changing...! He tried to reassure himself that the necklace would stop it, or at least soon reverse it, but then he realized that his neck and the skin around his left shoulder exposed by the too-big shirt could feel no such object on them. But...he'd put it on, hadn't he? Then he realized that when he'd been shaking his head, his magic had reached out and swallowed the necklace's, just like the statue had his own. So...he'd only made it stronger!

"Aa~aah...-m-mmrr~rr~RRRRRRRrrrhh...!" This realization was punctuated by the immediate shift down between Niko's legs. What had made him male his whole life disappeared, swallowed fully into his body, and a rapid shift from there up to the pit of Niko's stomach replaced it with everything that would now make her female. It felt...unimaginably nice! And it was immediately followed by a tingly, fuzzy feeling down there, drawing a soft, low "O-oo~ooh...!" from the new girl's lips.

"R-rrgh..." She tried to get a hold of herself, as that fuzzy feeling faded slightly. Her hips were starting to press outward, and her chest tingling, but she mumbled. "M-must be..s-something that c'n...rrgh..." There were plenty more items similar to the first two she'd tried, but Niko knew deep down this was a statement of denial; it was pretty much too late. Her mind was hazy from the pleasant sensations of turning into a girl, and now of starting to grow some curves; she was distracted by thinking about how cute and sexy she must look now and kind of wanting to go back and look in a mirror; and already she was starting to think about who...who to...

"M-mnnhh...aah...mrr~rrrrrh..." Her mental fortitude exhausted, the fox-girl just cried out softly, letting out some vulpine churring, as her hips and thighs filled out, and the tingling across her chest gave way to a gentle, pleasant push, expanding them out into some small breasts. "Aah..AAH!" Her voice went high and squeaky as her bust continued to push out, then descended again to a helpless "Oo~oh...mm~mnnfh.." when the feeling of some suddenly-sensitive breasts pushing into and sliding across the material of her shirt made her new girly parts erupt into more fuzzy tingles. "Mrr~rrnnh..ah...oo~ooh..." There was pretty much nothing she could do but enjoy the ride as those puppies continued growing for a moment longer, spreading out into some generous breasts that completed her new soft, curvy figure.

"Hfff...ugh..." Niko blinked her eyes open (wondering when she'd closed them exactly) and then turned around and hurried back to the bathroom to get a good look in the mirror. What awaited her was more or less expected, but no less distressing: A short, curvy redheaded fox-girl, with an adorable, brightly-blushing face, bright yellow eyes, huge fox-like ears, and a big, fluffy tail—red with a white tip.

"Aauugh! Th-this is even worse than I thought," she said, tugging at the edges of her shirt with her hands. "I can barely even feel my own magic." Normally a transformation like this would be easy for Niko to reverse, but now, thanks to that statue's contract, she needed someone else's help.

About a week back, Niko had gotten a call to help with a "cursed" statue, and what he'd found was much worse than that description suggested. The girl who'd been affected by it was extraordinarily lucky to have a friend she could actually trust—but they would be much better off not knowing the full truth. He kind of wished he didn't know how it worked, because that meant that someone had intentionally made something like this. It was purpose-built, and the worst part was that its age suggested that it had served its purpose for quite some time in the past.

Ancient enchanted artifacts such as this were like the radioactive waste of magic. In some ways they were worse, since magic itself could be coaxed into making that mundane waste a little bit less of an issue. The insidious thing was that this "Servant's Statue" didn't really have a curse at all; it was instead a channel and source for a very particular contract spell. Curses could be cured, but someone who agreed to a contract spell was most likely stuck with the results for good. And, unlike legal contracts, magic didn't particularly care if it was "signed" under duress.

That was how she'd wound up in this situation. After helping the two "renegotiate" the terms of their contract (which required the "master" to be willing, so again the one affected was very lucky), Niko had claimed it as 'payment', hoping to defang its effects once he got it home. And he'd taken every precaution he could think of before even touching it, too!

Trying to destroy or disenchant something like this would cause its magic to throw a tantrum, whose effects would be vastly worse than anything it could do while intact. So the only reasonable way to make the statue less dangerous was to change the terms of its contract. He'd spent over an hour analyzing that contract, poking and prodding it to see what kind of changes it would accept, and then taken another hour to actually make the changes it would accept, and which would make it do as little harm as possible, even in the wrong hands. And now...that new form of the contract was what the fox-girl was stuck with.

Ordinarily, the statue's magic granted the person who activated it a certain amount of power. It charged up energy over time, then dumped whatever it had built up into the next person to use it. Its immediately-previous owner had been after a very long time of disuse, and so had wound up with power on the level of maybe a three-tailed kitsune. However, that power was only usable under the orders of the "master".

Since Niko had acquired it right after that, it had little power to grant, but he hadn't realized that it would lock up the user's own, intrinsic power too. Of course it made sense for the new power to join with one's existing power, but for a mage like Niko, having her power sealed like this was somewhat scary and extremely irritating! And this effect was something Niko had been completely unable to change, along with the statue always transforming its activator into a form designed to "please the master".

She crossed her arms, sighing. "Who can I...?" Fortunately, she had removed a lot of the nastier mental effects: Almost no emotional manipulation, no compulsion to talk or not talk in any particular way, little-to-no constant urge to please the 'master', didn't even have to call them 'master' in the first place. But whoever she took on as the other member of this contract, she'd still be compelled to do whatever that person ordered her to do. Unless the order would keep her from talking. Niko had thought that both parties being forced to obey each other was at least a decent compromise, but she hadn't expected to actually be one of said parties! The worst part was that, now that the contract had begun, she'd feel an increasingly strong compulsion to choose a 'master' and convince them to agree to it...

That compulsion had already started, too; right now it was a dim but persistent thought in the back of her mind. So it was best to do this now, when she could actually focus and think more or less rationally. Niko went through a mental list of people she knew, trying to decide who would be the best to ask. However, she was slightly distracted on each name, when picturing that person, with some foreign-seeming thoughts: He'll think I'm really cute. She isn't really into animal ears. He'd pull my tail. She'll just be jealous of how big my...

"Urrgh...s-stupid statue...!" Shaking her head again, the fox-girl tried to clamp down on those thoughts, and focus on who she could actually trust—and who might willingly agree to this absurd contract. One person did stand out as the right answer once she really thought about it. Only—at the same time—he was...

That is, he really liked...

Niko huffed, crossing her arms and glaring at her reflection in the mirror like it was whoever made that awful artifact. "Did it already decide for me?!" It wasn't an impossible notion, considering the original form of the contract chose whoever the activator looked at first as a 'master' and caused a transformation into what that person would like. Niko had accepted the transformation happening right away for the ability to actually choose and require both parties to agree, but hadn't considered how this could still satisfy the condition of "pleasing the master". Many artifacts had something like a 'mind' to them, but she hadn't expected this one's to be quite that sophisticated.

"Always expect the worst," she mumbled to herself, turning around to go get her phone. The sooner he came over, the sooner she'd have access to her own power again, and then she could turn back....

...If he wants me to.

…......If I really want to, I mean!

Since some of the artifacts Niko had (and would lend customers the use of) could transform people, she kept some spare clothes around in various sizes. It didn't take her long to locate a shirt and some shorts that would fit. Her ears twitched as she pulled the shorts on, picking up the buzz of her phone vibrating to notify her of Jordan's response to her text. She felt a brief urge to run and look, but forced herself to take a deep breath and walk slowly over to pick it up. Still, her heart skipped a beat when it was a response from him.

Their conversation, in full, was:

Need your help badly. Artifact screwed me over.

whoa

sounds serious

how?

I got a contract spell forced on me, and need another person to 'sign' it.

It sealed my magic until I do.

And transformed me.

so you want me to 'sign'?

what r the terms n stuff?

Short version: We'd have to obey each other's spoken orders.

Plus other things I can tell you in person

ok ill be over when im off work.

Thanks, sorry.

Niko was briefly worried that needing to wait a couple of hours for Jordan to get off work and come over to her house-slash-place of business would result in the compulsion to find a 'master' driving her crazy the entire time through. However, she actually felt that mental effect fade off instead; it was 'satisfied' that she'd found a candidate, apparently. However, she did catch herself thinking about how it might feel for him to put his hands through the fur of her ears...which he would almost definitely want to at some point.

That is: She could trust him not to screw her over, but she also knew that he was really into furry girls. His computer's desktop wallpaper, some art he hung around the rooms of his house, and some of the media he liked ensured this was no secret, and he wasn't shy about it if someone asked. He wasn't weird about it or anything; Jordan was just someone who knew what he liked, and didn't care if other people knew that too. It was just that—the way she looked right now—Niko was pretty sure that what he liked included that. And now, some kind of mental effect of the contract that she hadn't even noticed was making her kind of want him to pet her almost as much as he was going to want it.

Well...no...that didn't make any sense, actually. Niko had had a very close look at the entire contents of that statue's magic. He couldn't have missed something this big, especially not attached to its transformative effect—as it would have had to be. Was she just thinking like this because of the dull but still-present urge to 'please the master'? Yet, Jordan wasn't her 'master' according to the contract yet; she could very well pick someone else, or he could decide not to agree to the contract, so...

So...?

She struggled over this for a few minutes before deciding it was best to just distract herself instead. So Niko stood up from her chair and went to get something to snack on, and thought about picking out something to watch until Jordan's shift at work was over.

Eventually her phone buzzed again, and on seeing that it was a text from Jordan saying that he was on his way, the fox-girl hopped to her feet and took five or six rapid steps toward the door. Then...she slowed herself down, eventually stopping around halfway there, and took a deep breath. "Ugh...he's not here yet. Why'd I want to...? Oh, right...compulsion.." She was at least pretty sure this was part of the compulsion to hurry up and get a 'master'. At the same time, when Niko tried to figure out which part of her thought process said mental effect had hijacked, she remembered only thinking of showing off her cute, curvy new form to him. Realizing that brought on some warmth to her cheeks...and she quickly shook her head hard again. Nope—nope! I just want really my magic back, and out of this stupid, tiny form!

Hearing a car pulling into the driveway, Niko clamped down on another brief spike of excitement, and then made herself take some slow, deliberate steps to the front door. Then she waited until Jordan knocked to open it.

"Uh, so...hi," she said, craning her head up. A brief thought of wow he's tall! flashed through her mind before the realization that actually, she was just short now. Really, Jordan was a little on the short side for a guy, with black hair and clear blue eyes. He worked an IT job sitting in front of a computer, and wasn't a very active person in general, so he was a bit overweight, and usually wore loose-fitting shirts to partially hide that fact. But he had a handsome enough face, at least, which lit up with a slight blush at this moment.

"Uh—wow! You uh.." He was checking her out! "...didn't mention what kind of transformation, huh?"
"It's r-really annoying," she said. "Please don't be too weird about it...come in." With that, she got out of the way, and hurried back through the foyer to the living room.
"Um, sure," he said, closing the door behind him before following.

"So, like—what kinda artifact was this, anyway? A hot vixen maker?"

Niko sighed loudly, although she could feel her face burning with a brighter blush on being called 'hot'. "It's called the 'Servant's Statue'. It was originally designed to force people to be slaves against their will, with a constant compulsion to 'please the master' in any way possible."

"Oh." That deflated him a bit, thankfully. "That sounds pretty gross."

"I was trying to make it less gross and dangerous, and mostly succeeded. Now if someone uses it, then it makes two people obey each other instead. But it decided that me changing its effects counts as 'using it', and now I have to find someone else to be the other party of the contract."

"So, like, that's me, huh?" he concluded, and Niko nodded. "What'd I have to do?"

"Well—agreeing is easy," Niko explained. "I'll ask you if you want to, and you just say yes. But after that, any time one of us tells the other to do something, they have to, so we'll need to be really careful how we talk to each other afterward. I know that's inconvenient, so if you don't want to then I can.."

"No, no—I can see you're kinda in a bind. I guess you can't dispel it or anything, or you wouldn't have asked me."
"Right. It seized control of my magic. You'll need to tell me to use it freely first thing, so I'll have access to it again."
"Okay, sure, I can do that."

"All right. If you're ready?" Niko was starting to feel that compulsion come on fairly strong. With someone right in front of her more or less willing to agree to the contract, she almost wanted to force him to do so!

"Yeah, sure," he nodded.
"Okay. Will you...'be my master and my servant, aiming to please me as I do you?'" The phrasing came out this way partially against her will.

"Uh..?" he looked a little concerned about the wording.
"I have to put it that way; stupid magical contract nonsense," she said.
"Okay. Then, uh—yes. I will."
Immediately Niko felt the compulsion lifting off of her mind, and breathed a sigh of relief. At the same time, a piece of her magic flowed out to in front of her, gathering into a brightly glowing red orb. And now that she could focus a little bit better...she realized that she'd forgotten to mention something.

"Oh—shoot!"
"Uh, what? Is that not normal?" he asked, taking a couple of small steps backwards as the orb started moving toward him. "Like, is it supposed to do that?" It wasn't like he'd be able to escape it anyway.
"Yes, but—listen. One of the things this contract originally did was make the servant transform into a body that would 'please the master', and I couldn't get rid of that part. So it's gonna..." By now the orb had made it to him, and sunk its way into his body; he was starting to gain a halo of red light all around him, and lifted his hand up in front of his face to get a better look at it.

"Whoa..uh, so this is..?" Jordan's hair started to grow longer at this point.
"Um—yeah. But, don't panic, I'm pretty sure I can fix this part once I have my magic back!" she assured him.

"S-sure." As his hair grew to shoulder-length, Jordan's beard started to thin out and disappear. "Uh, wow, this feels we~eird," he added, his voice cracking slightly.

"It'll..probably get weirder before it's over," she warned him.

He nodded, picking up some of his hair to run it through his fingers. "Uh..w-wow..." It became softer and more voluminous as it tumbled out, at the same time starting to look messy and unbrushed. Jordan shuddered as it reached about halfway down his back, then let go of the hair to pull his arms close around his body.

"Aa~ah...w-who~oaa...!" He began to shrink then, growing slimmer all over. Jordan's face—already missing all of its facial hair by now—turned round and cute; his shoulders narrowed; his arms and legs slimmed down; and his shirt loosened across his belly as the fat there began to disappear. "Aah, aa~aah..!" His voice audibly changed bit by bit, its pitch steadily rising. However, unlike Niko's transformation earlier, he didn't seem to be getting any shorter at all.

After all...she did kind of like how tall he was now. Especially if he was fit, solid and strong enough to easily pick her up...

"Aah, aa~aah..I-I...nn~nngh...!" Jorrdan's clothes began to change, too. His pants and shirt alike started rapidly pulling tighter and shrinking shorter. Soon the slight pudge of his belly was exposed, just in time for the last of it to vanish away; his shirt quickly went from hanging loosely across his now-slender shoulders to being sleeveless, with a deep dip in the middle, and so only hanging on to those shoulders by a pair of straps. His hair tumbled out as far as his hips as his body finished slimming down, leaving him a fairly androgynous, slender, cute-looking guy. However, his pants—now a pair of tight shorts—had pulled very close now against a bulge between his legs, and the way that was beginning to get smaller made it clear he wouldn't stay a guy for very much longer.

Jordan dropped his arms back to his sides, looking around briefly and then down at Niko. His cheeks were getting increasingly red. "U-um..N-niko..?" His voice was a high, soft tenor, barely male-sounding at all. "I...th-this feels super we~eird..! Wah, was it like this f-for you, to~o...?" Through a couple of little cracks, his voice completed the shift from tenor to a cute, girly mid-soprano.

"Uh..y-yeah...it does feel really weird," she assured him. It was hard not to stare at that bump between her friend's legs getting smaller and smaller..but he was going to be positively gorgeous once it was done, an intrusive thought informed her.

"Aah...a~aah...o-ooh...aa~aa~AA~AAAAAAaahh..!" With one particularly loud, high-pitched cry, Jordan's shorts pulled completely flat between the legs. "O-oh...mnn~nngh..." Between her legs. She squirmed them back and forth, her face turning completely red, and wobbled around briefly in place. "Aah..o-oo~ooh..!" Already her hips were beginning to push out wider, her thighs growing thicker, and her bottom pushing out bigger; thankfully, the new girl's very tight shorts seemed content to let themselves out a bit to continue to fit those growing proportions.

"Aa~a-aah..w-wah..? M-my ears feel...f-funny.." she mumbled softly, still swaying in place. And then, Jorrdan suddenly let out a high, cute "Y-yip! Wha..? Rrr~rRRRUFFH!" Each sudden dog-like noise came with the sudden growth of an ear, covered in pitch-black fur, pushing its way past her hair to become a big fluffy triangle. Seeing those appear above Jordan's now-adorable, blushing face, Niko felt like she very suddenly understood the appeal of girls with furry parts.

"Aa~ah..y-yip, yip! Rrufh!" Next, a tail sprouted from her back. The motion of it spreading out into view drew the fox-girl's eyes back down that way, and she could now see the new girl sporting some very impressive curves down there. Plus, her slim, flat belly was starting to get more solid, showing off some faint abs so far. "Aah..o-oh...m-maa~aahnn...!" As the tail continued growing longer and thicker, Jordan's chest pushed itself out into the tiny tank top that her shirt had become, quickly stretching its material to its limit before it finally loosened itself up to make them fit. "Mnnh, mrr~rrrRRrfh..!" Only then, those new breasts pushed out even bigger, pulling it tight all over again. "A-aa~aah..o-ooh...wah, w-woo~ooowh..." Jorrdan's eyes fluttered shut as this cycle continued, again and again. Before long she had a tail at least as long and not quite as fluffy as Niko's wagging back and forth behind her, but still her bust continued to expand out. The fox-girl couldn't help but watch, wondering how big they were going to get...but, at the same time, feeling like she already knew.

After all—not that Niko had ever broadcasted it anywhere—he really liked tall, busty, curvy women. So...of course, that was what Jordan was becoming. The wolfy parts and barking were unexpected, but the rest was...no huge surprise, on reflection. It still looked great, though.

"Aa~aa~aaAAAaa~aah...! Mmh-mnngh..." Finally, the wolf-girl's breasts finished growing, bouncing out into place as the tiny tank top loosened itself one last time, just slightly, so they would fill it out comfortably. She huffed briefly, slowly catching her breath, and then opened her eyes, looking down a her new figure. "Uh..w-wow..." She then realized Niko was looking up at her, and pulled her hands together, wringing them briefly.

"S-so uh..this is...I mean, you're into this kinda girl?" she asked, having apparently, at some point, put together the way the contract spell chose a form to change someone into.

Niko flushed. "Errrrr..y-yeah...if you let me use my magic, I should be able to turn you back, though."

"N-no way!" she said suddenly. "Uh, I mean. I-I'm not totally sure I wanna be turned back. L-like, I've never been..fit before," she said, patting the solid abs of her belly for a second. "Never mind, like, actually hot. H-heh, I almost feel like I could get used to this. Especially with you lookin' at me like that."
"L-like what!? I-I wasn't," Niko started, but couldn't properly finish the sentence. "J-just hurry up and let me use my own magic again!"

"Uhh..erm..I can't, be ordered to do that?" Jordan said slowly. "Uh, wait, I wasn't trying to say that! Why'd I say that?"
The fox-girl facepalmed. "Ugh, right. Obviously. Remember how we can order each other around now?"
"Oh..right," Jordan nodded.
"Well, clearly it'd defeat the purpose if we could order each other to give specific orders. So—as a request—please let me use my own magic again! I won't do anything to transform you again unless you want me to."
"Oh! Uh, sure. Let's see...um, Niko, use your magic however you want to from now on to forever," she said. Jordan had definitely played enough roleplaying games to know she should word a magically-binding order carefully.

Immediately, Niko felt her power returning to normal—plus a little extra. She tested it out by holding a hand out and making a point of light appear above its palm, and then dismissed that, breathing a sigh of relief. "Phew. Thank you. It's like suddenly not being able to move your own arm, I swear!"

"Hahah, you do seem a little more relaxed," Jordan said. "So, now that that's done, uh..."

"..What?" The wolf-girl had stopped talking, just staring down at Niko with her tail wagging back and forth behind her. The blush from just after her transformation hadn't faded much, and she had a slightly expectant look on her face. "Wh-what's with that look?"
"Would you..? I mean, would you maybe be willing to? Pet my ears a little bit?" she asked, seeming to remember at the last moment to phrase it as a question rather than an imperative.
"Uhhm. W-well, I can't exactly reach them. Since this stupid contract spell made me so short," Niko said, crossing her arms. "I-I guess, if you picked me up then I probably could, then."

"Oh, yeah? Theeen—!"

With that, Jordan picked the small fox-girl up into her arms. Niko was immediately assaulted by the feeling of those slim, strong arms wrapped around her, and the wolf-girl's huge breasts squishing close against her own (rather sensitive) pair. It was all...a bit much! But it felt nice, and she didn't want it to stop, either. Something was...really coming over her. And it couldn't be that statue's magic, either! So it was just...?

Jordan was looking at her expectantly again.

"Uh-um..r-right..." Niko returned the wolf-girl's hug, reaching her hands up to gently touch those fluffy black ears. At the slightest touch Jordan flinched, the ears twitching, but then she smiled as the fox-girl's small fingers pressed into that fur and began gently brushing through it, properly petting those warm, soft ears.
"Rrufh! Aah, that feels amazing~..!" she said. "I...I just wanna...! Mrrr~rrfh." With no further warning, Jordan pressed her nose hard into Niko's cheek. This made her feel warm again, her heart racing as the fuzzy feeling from the tail end of her transformation began to come back in force.
"O-o~ooh...mmnngh..." She couldn't help herself, and began nuzzling the bigger girl back. Part of her tried to demand What am I doing!?, but it felt really nice after all, plus Jordan definitely liked it.

"Mrr~rrrhn..."
"Ehehee! Y-you're super cute, you know that? B-but really sexy too," Jordan said, probably just babbling in her excitement. Not that that kept Niko from enjoying the compliment.
"P-pet my ears too—if you want," she said and then quickly added, barely remembering in time.
"Heh..s-sure..!"

"Aa~ah!" They were very sensitive! Niko had touched her own ears earlier, and they hadn't seemed nearly so responsive then, but something about someone else doing it...or maybe Jordan specifically...! At any rate, she would be very weak at the knees right now if she wasn't being entirely held up in the air by the tall, strong wolf-girl. "Mmh, mmrr~rrrrh...!"
"Aa~h, so cuuute...!" Jordan gushed, then went back to softly barking and yipping.

It did not take Niko very long to want to feel the other girl's tail, too, and—knowing full well that Jordan was into this kind of thing—curled her own tail forward to brush them across each other. The wolf-girl jolted in surprise, then let out a soft, helpless "Aa~aaah...!" She didn't (probably couldn't) make her tail stop wagging, and that motion had their big wads of fluff running constantly across each other with very little extra motion on Niko's part. After that, the wolf-girl stumbled awkwardly around before finally falling backwards to land her button the couch.

Still holding one of Jordan's ears in her hand (moving the other one to the back of her head to gently stroke through her hair), Niko pulled her head back enough for their noses to almost touch. "Hmmnh?"
Jordan returned a slightly apologetic look with an extremely bright blush to her cheeks. "M-my legs were getting, kinda weak...heheh...! Uh, g-girls have it pretty good, huh?"

"Mmnh." Niko went back to nuzzling the bigger girl, gently pushing her down until she was lying flat across the couch with the fox-girl on top of her.

Much later that evening, the two of them were lying in a similar position on Niko's bed, both completely exhausted. The wolf-girl let out a soft "Mrr~rfh," already half-asleep.

The fox-girl thought: I'm gonna bury that statue in the middle of a desert somewhere. Maybe teleport it ten miles down from the bottom of the deepest hole I can get dug.

...Then, I think I'll ask if she wants to move in with me, or the other way around.

---

This is sort of a "soft sequel" to A Friend When Cursed. I started writing this not long after publishing that one, but the first draft started out when Niko acquired the statue, went through the precautions and negotiations with the statue's magic first...in short, it was very boring and I couldn't figure out a good way to continue. Pushing the transformation to the story's start, while interleaving some of that information (and cutting out unnecessary detail), really did the trick.