A Summoning, Part LVI

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Part LIV
~Lovers, Part 2~

A little while after supper, Prama was back in her dorm room as usual. A text came from Logan: im here. So she went and opened the door, and was surprised to find herself looking at the cute, two-tailed fox-girl he'd turned into on Wednesday! "Uh.."
"It's an illusion—sorry," 'she' said, in Logan's regular, male voice. "I thought, nobody would get suspicious this way."

"Oh. R-right." Why hadn't she thought of something so obvious? Prama hurried to get out of the way, and Logan waited until the door was shut to drop the illusion, a brief puff of his characteristic blue smoke accompanying a return to him looking fully like himself. "Well, take whichever seat you want," she offered, and he went for the computer chair. So she hopped onto the bed, sitting in her usual way, with her legs out in a W-shape.

"So, what'd you want to talk about?" he asked.

"Well, I um. I wanted to apologize, for one thing. For..Wednesday."
"You already did, right after, didn't you?"

"I guess..I mean, I do still feel a little guilty about that, but I meant for what happened after. Or..how do I put this...my attitude?"
"You're not apologizing for introducing me to Anika, who helped me turn back," he stated as a fact both of them knew. "So—which 'after' do you mean?"
"I-I mean when I, sort of, pushed you into letting me touch your tail..." she said, her voice softening near the end of that sentence to the point where Logan probably needed the giant fox ears to hear it.

Logan's ears folded back. "Uhh, what."

"Huh?"
"For someone who brags about being a genius all the time, you're being kinda stupid right now," he said, annoyed. "You didn't push me into anything. I let you do that because I wanted you to! I mean—I was curious what it'd feel like, for one thing. And you know what, I did like it, too! It's...really weird to me that I'm that level of 'part-animal' now, but it still felt good."

"Oh. Um.." She hadn't really anticipated this response at all. Had she managed to construct a completely false memory of that evening? "B-but I.."

"Yeah?"
"I wasn't thinking about what you wanted, at all, then. I just..like I always do, tried to do anything and everything to get what I wanted. A-and you know, when Anika turned you back, I didn't like it, because it meant I couldn't have you. I was thinking about you the same way I do a stuffed animal, just a possession for me to keep around and play with when I wanna. So, I'm just awful."

"Oh please. I knew nothing about magic," he said, "remember? If you really wanted to 'keep' me as a fox-girl, all you had to do was tell me that it was irreversible. There's tons of ways you could've explained it that would've had me just shrug and be like, 'welp, guess I'm stuck like this for a while'! So—whatever you were feeling, you sure didn't act on it.

"Anyway, you know..Prama, you are cute," he continued.
"Uhhh.." Her mouth gaped open, her face flushing a bit.

"C'mon, that's not a surprise, right? You used to be a guy, and you've seen yourself in a mirror."
"S-sure, but, i-i-it's something else for you to just come out and say that."

"Well, I'm trying to make a point here."
"Uh..wh-which is?"

"Yeah, you're cute, just in general, but usually you've got this—hard expression on. If you're not super-nervous like we were when we first met, then you always look like you're trying to act confident, and putting up some kinda wall, or something. Except—when you were talking about your stuffed animals, and then asking if I'd let you feel my tail. You looked, actually soft and kinda innocent, and really cute, then...I dunno if I'm explaining it well enough."

"Errrmh..." This was a different kind of loss for words from usual for her: It wasn't that strong social anxiety Prama felt since trading her social confidence (among other things) for becoming a genius; it was that she really didn't know how to deal with someone basically saying he was attracted to her. She certainly didn't know what to say.

"Uh..yeah...that's the look," he said quietly.

"So...does that mean you like me? Want me? Even if it's just as a possession or whatever."

"I...I, guess? I—don't—know," she said, haltingly. "I have no idea what that's supposed to feel like. A-a-anyway, we've barely even met at this point! I don't know that much about you as a person, at least."

"That's fair, you know. But you liked it when I hugged you, and you wanted to feel my tail—I mean, when I'd been turned into a girl. It..really seems like it's not that hard to find ways to transform back and forth, right?"
"Uhm. Y-yeah. I mean, I'm priveleged with access to more ways to do that than many others..."

"Yeah, so. It wouldn't be hard for you to get me access to one of those, if like..you only like how I look as a girl. I'd rather...you know, live my life as a guy, generally, but after taking some time to think about it, I know the way I feel is really that..I wouldn't mind turning back into that for you sometimes. And, and I can't believe I feel this way, but—that's especially if you'd, y'know, pet me? Oof, that still feels wrong coming outta my mouth."

"I..w-wouldn't say that I only like you as a girl.." Prama said slowly, quietly. She softly cleared her throat, trying to shake the butterflies out of her chest. "I mean—you're really cute that way, and it's nice that you're the same height as I am, more or less, but...I'm definitely enough of a girl right now, I guess, to appreciate how—attractive you are as a man, too. Only, I—well, I have my education to get through, and a career to start. Lots of irons in the fire right now, you know? I didn't really plan on looking for anyone to—be with, for a while, or not necessarily—ever?"

"Yeah...I'm fine with taking things slow," he said. "You can't be saying that you wouldn't be able to find time to date or whatever sometimes though, right? Miss 'expert of time management'?"

"Pffheheh..I did say that, didn't I? I mean, I certainly found time for our meeting tonight, huh?"

"You sure did." He was smiling across at her...Prama understood very well the biological mechanisms that were making her feel slightly giddy with a racing heart, but that didn't make it all rushing in on her any less of a surprise.

"So...uh." Logan rolled the chair up closer to the bed. "I am curious if the way I felt from you touching my tail had anything to do with me being a girl at the time...probably not, though, right?" He brought one of his tails up into his lap.

"Not likely...you, want me to experiment?"
"Yeah, sure, if you wanna."

Prama scooted forward and gently ran her hand up and down the tail. It was just as warm and fluffy as ever..!

"Mrr~rrh." Logan's voice came out in a deep churring noise. "Y-yeah, that feels..just as nice."
"Uh..g-good...ack!" Something soft had tickled her cheek, and Prama jumped slightly before turning to find that it was his other tail. "Oh."
"Sorry—didn't mean to put it right there," he said, shrugging. It seemed he had just wanted to swap out which tail was in his lap for her to pet.

"I-it's fine...just startled me."

"Mrrr~rrh..."
"Um, y-you know, I had a thought the other day. About, if you had wanted to stay a girl."
"Yeah?"
"I thought, in Japanese at least, feminine names have a tendency to end in '-ko'. So, maybe you could call yourself 'Loko'."
"I guess. It does roll off the tongue pretty well. So, whatever—I could try that out later, if there's some convenient way for me to change."
"R-right..."

---

Around halfway into the date, Jack needed to use the restroom. He got up and made his way there, pausing just briefly before turning towards the men's room. If he'd been doing this on their last date, he would've needed to remember to use the other door.

It seemed like it was going pretty well. Boreas hadn't been as physical as with "Jackie" at their earlier date, at least so far, but he was starting to get a sense for the alchemist's overall mood, and he was pretty sure he was putting her in a good one. She hadn't felt "up to" a kiss last time, but she might this time. Or...he thought to himself, as he washed his hands: She might ask him to turn into a girl for just a few minutes for some petting similar to the end of their first date. He'd..like that, too.

He turned his head up from the sink, happening to look into the mirror, and jumped slightly before quickly turning around. The bathroom was empty other than him right now, but he could have sworn he just saw a tall man standing just inside the door behind him, giving him a big grin and a thumbs-up. Jack took a moment to get some more water on his hands and lightly splash his eyes with it; he hadn't had anything unusual to drink today, and really shouldn't be "hallucination" levels of tired, either. Besides, what a weird thing to think he was seeing! He was resolved to put it out of his mind by the time he was through drying his hands.

When he came out of the men's room, he nearly bumped into another werewolf who'd been on her way out of the the door straight across from him, which led to the women's restroom. She was brown-haired, cute, and wearing a long, dark dress. "Uh—sorry!" she said, hurriedly backing up and gesturing for him to go ahead of her out of the little hallway that led to the two doors they'd come out of. "I um, guess I should've heard someone coming."

"No big deal," Jack said, heading through the open space to get fully out of her way. He didn't think this restaurant was fancy enough for a dress like that, but maybe she had someone she was trying to impress. He quietly wished whoever she was with luck; she was pretty good-looking, after all, but not really his type.

---

After their dinner, Graham invited her guest to the living room couch so they could watch a movie together. She sat right up next to the werewolf, winding her twin tails around Damon's, and they leaned against each other quietly for a while. Around a half-hour into it, she gently rubbed the wolf-girl's ears, making her softly bark and pet Graham back.

They didn't really catch too much of the movie's plot, since it wasn't long after that before the Nekomata was on her back on the couch with Damon holding onto, petting, and nuzzling her. It was just as well; she'd picked something fairly boring anyway. She thought that this would've been a bit much for a "first date", but with all of the times they'd met up at Damon's place, it hardly counted as that.

"Mrr~rrrh..." She couldn't resist letting her 'true form' out a little while later; the height gain put Damon's face in her chest. "Pffheehee."
The werewolf quickly lifted her head. "Mrrfh..uh, s-sorry."
"Hey now..'s long as you appreciate 'em," she said, gently lifting Damon slightly into the air to bring her back up to where their heads were across from each other.

Another while later, Graham was gently stroking a hand through the smaller girl's hair. "Mrroo~wh. So, you said...turning 'full werewolf' doesn't hurt anymore?"
"Rrfh..r-right. After the first coupla times...like last full moon, it felt uhm..mostly normal. But..I still uh, can't talk like that."
She rubbed Damon's ears, drawing some soft barks from her. "I hope it's not too insensitive, after what you've been through with it..but I admit, I've gotten a little curious how you look? Are you any taller?"
"Mmh..y-yeah...among other things," she said, blushing. "I guess....we don't really need to talk right now, anyway?"
"If it's okay with you~," Graham quietly purred.

"O-okay.."

Damon leaned down, pressing her nose into the catgirl's cheek, for a moment, then softly barked a couple of times. After that, the Nekomata was rewarded by the feeling of the woman in her arms growing taller, curvier, and noticeably stronger too—while, of course, also becoming fully covered in fur. When she could feel about half of Damon's muzzle across her cheek, its cold canine nose touching her ear, she was struck with an impulse, and simply followed it.

"Mrr~rrrh." Graham's present look, first gained when her tail finished splitting, had come with some snowy white fur across her arms and legs; it felt nearly effortless to let that spread in to the rest of her body. When the fur made it past her neck to her face, it seemed to cause her to grow out a feline muzzle, shorter than Damon's but just as animal-like. She pulled the werewolf close after that, inviting her to some more close hugging, petting, and nuzzling now that they were both fully fuzzy. Damon accepted this invitation readily, shivering slightly in response to a touch around the middle of her back.

Well, that was how they missed the rest of the movie.

---

Sam didn't really know much about how a date was supposed to go. To be completely honest, she didn't even fully get the point of a date when they already knew they liked each other, but Onida had just a little bit of old-fashionedness to her (presently his) personality, a certain idea of how romance was supposed to go, and Sam was happy to respect that and play along if it made him happy.

Ultimately, it didn't feel too different from the many times before when she'd hung out with, or talked with, Onida since moving in and becoming a part of the "pack". He did seem a little uncomfortable still with being a guy, or possibly with the physical reactions his body had to Sam's compliments or smiles, but she kept those coming anyway. It surely didn't qualify as a date if there wasn't any flirting or anything, right?

When it was over, Sam came up next to him, taking up the same position she'd had as they'd walked to and into the restaurant, and they walked out together into the night, making their way back toward home. "This was fun," she said after a little bit of walking. "Aaah, did you enjoy it?"
"Y-yeah...um." They were far enough from the restaurant to be hidden from its lights, but not enough to be under the proper streetlights yet. Onida gently pulled himself off of Sam's arm to get to where he could face her. "I...if you don't mind, I'd.."
"Aaah, yeah?" she said, tilting her head slightly.

"Could I, pick you up?"
"Anytime." Sam felt her face flush slightly at the idea, since it would also be a hug.

"A-all right." So Onida just went for it, lifting the much shorter girl up in his arms until their faces were across from each other. She couldn't resist pulling her arms around him in return.

"Errm." He looked slightly unsure of himself; there was no way he didn't know what they were supposed to do next, but maybe he wasn't sure if she'd be okay with it. Sam gave back an encouraging smile, letting her tail wag freely back and forth behind her. When that wasn't enough, she leaned her face slowly closer and closer to him until their noses were touching. That seemed to do it, and Onida pressed his lips into hers, initiating a kiss.

"Mmfph." It was hesitant and gentle at first, but almost as soon as Sam started participating rather than pulling back, he became much more aggressive and passionate. This she liked! Onida was a kind and considerate person, but she would never have been worthy of the title of "alpha" or such a blessing from La Lune without having the capacity to take charge. Sam felt like he was strong enough to take care of her—to take care of anything. It made her feel safe and happy; she wanted to support him any way she could. And right now, it just physically felt really good.

They came out of the kiss panting, and Sam at least wasn't able to get enough breath to speak for a long moment. Once she finally could, however, she waited a little longer—letting herself fully catch her breath. It wouldn't be any good for what she wanted to say to be misunderstood. "Onida...aaah. I think I'm in love. Aaaah, not that I really know what it's supposed to feel like, but aah. I dunno how else I could be this happy~."
"M-me too..." he said softly, stroking a hand through her hair a couple of times. Then he grabbed her into a second kiss about as long and passionate as the first.

After this one, he gently set her back on the ground, taking a small step back. Sam wobbled around a little in place, needing to put some effort into making her tail counterbalance her so she wouldn't topple over. "I'm, aaah...fffh...gonna need to....lean on you to walk...y'know?" she said.

"Th-that's fine," he said, coming around next to her to make it easier to do that. Putting an arm around her shoulders so he could catch her if she did fall over.

With that, they started out toward their home together. Sam decided that maybe a date wasn't so unnecessary after all.

---

After a dinner and a lot more talking, Fel found herself walking out of the restaurant next to Billie. The catgirl walked over to one side of the front doors on the sidewalk, keeping an arm around Fel's waist to gently but insistently bring her along, and then let go to bring herself around to in front of the werewolf. She was smiling, and blushing just slightly. "Well now..I had a great time with ya," she said.
"Uh..m-me too..." For a moment, Fel wrung her hands, not feeling certain about what to do next. Part of her wanted to...! But another part very much didn't. It wasn't that she was at all worried about Billie's reaction to it, but rather her own...

"Pfheehee~..!" The catgirl responded to this with a soft giggle, then drew herself close, effortlessly pushing Fel's arms out of the way to pull her into a hug. One of her hands reached up to rub the top of the werewolf's head.
"Aack! Uh...o-oh...mrrfh." Fel carefully returned the hug, still feeling very...uncertain. But, feeling like she knew what the other girl wanted, she brought a hand up to gently rub Billie's left ear. It was soft and warm, but the most surprising part was how much it twitched and moved between her fingers.

"Mrr~rrrh." The catgirl's response to this was some deep, satisfied purring. And then something equally soft and warm very slightly, briefly touched a spot near the base of Fel's tail.

"Y-yip!"

"Heh.." Billie let go after that, seemingly taking advantage of the slight jolt of surprise to make it easy to disengage. She stepped back enough to look Fel in the eyes. "Y'know..."
"Uh...y-yeah?"
"As much as I wanna ask you to my place~, or if I can come to yours? I get it. You're not ready for anything like that, right?"

"Um...n-no...sorr—" Her word of apology was cut off by Billie putting an index finger on Fel's lips for a second.
"Shh-shh! Don't apologize. I'm happier if you're honest with me. And I'd hate to push ya into something you're not ready for. If I really like you, I oughta think about making you happy first, right?"

"Uh...I, I guess so?"
"So, this is goodnight for now, eh? We've got each other's numbers, so I'll be after you for another date before long. Maybe let me see how you look as a young man," she suggested.

"Oh, s-sure, I guess. Maybe."
"Iiif you're all right with it. Anyhow, I'll see you later no matter what, Fel," she said.

After that, Billie stood still for a moment, still beaming, and reached her hand across to pat the wolf-girl's head a couple of times. Then she turned and walked off toward, presumably, her own car.

Fel breathed a small sigh of relief. If the catgirl had really asked for something like that...she wasn't sure how easy it would've been to say no. But she'd been right, too—Fel felt so far from ready!

She was about to head toward her own car too, but paused for a second, thinking she saw something odd about Billie's tail. Right at the very tip, it seemed maybe twice as thick as the rest? She shook her head gently and headed towards her car, thinking: It wouldn't be that unusual for the fur to frizz up or something. It was probably nothing important.

---

On Saturday morning, Zotha woke up, took a shower, and put on clothes. None of these things were technically necessary: Her power as a goddess was perfectly capable of keeping her clean, retrieving or creating clothes directly onto her person, and so on. But it was a routine that made things feel relatively normal. It helped to make her still feel human. Likewise unnecessary but habitual, she finished up by stopping in front of the bathroom mirror to brush her hair. The degree to which this was necessary (if she wasn't using her powers to fix it, at least) had increased dramatically since becoming a girl, an event which had involved growing out some extremely long hair.

This particular morning, she stopped, letting go of the brush still stuck inside her hair. "Hello?" Because this time, there was somebody else in the mirror, next to her reflection.

It was a tall, fairly handsome man, well-dressed, with dark hair and dull-colored eyes. She fixed her gaze on that man in the mirror, not turning around to look at the rest of the room, because she could sense that he wasn't in the room. He wasn't behind the mirror either, as though it had suddenly become a window—but somehow he was still in it.

"Hi there." He gave what seemed to be a gentle smile. "You must have visited the other gods' domains by now, right? Maybe even that old dragon. Did you, perhaps, notice the lack of reflective surfaces?" His voice seemed to be coming out of the mirror itself, rather than from the position he'd be in if he were where his reflection appeared in the actual room.

"Not really..." Zotha crossed her arms. Right: among the many names she'd heard the god of love went by, one of them was, in fact, "the man in the mirror". Apparently this was something of a literal description—or, at least, could be if he so chose. "I guess I should ask who I'm talking to, exactly, right now?"

"Oh, let's say Narcissus," he shrugged. "You were admiring your own lovely looks a moment ago, right? It hardly matters anyway."

"And you can just, appear in any reflection like that?"

"More or less. I'm sure you've heard before, about how seeing one's own reflection in a dream is impossible?"
"I guess that makes sense..."
"Don't get the wrong impression. La Lune has a grand, placid lake in her domain which she'll visit from time to time. And Sol brought one huge, full-length mirror up to his space station with him; keeps it in a back room with a blackout curtain draped over it most of the time. It's just that I can only visit them when they feel like seeing me."

"But, since I have a mirror here, you can visit me, I guess."

"Certainly." He paced a bit, crossing behind her in the reflection and looking around the room. "It's refreshing, really, to see you keeping up human habits. You don't know how many people would throw those away as soon as they realized they didn't need them."

"I've been given the impression that you're a little unstable, and dangerous," Zotha said.
"Oh, I am extremely unstable and dangerous," he said, maintaining a gentle sort of smile. "But today, I am in quite a good mood."

"Should I not have a mirror around, then?"

"A reflection can't hurt you, Zotha. Look." He stopped partially behind her, on the opposite side from the one he'd started on, and placed a hand on her reflection's shoulder. "You feel that? Of course not." Indeed, it didn't feel like there was anything touching her. Then he let go, dropping his arms back to his side. "You'd be foolish to let me physically enter your domain, certainly. But I can't do anything except talk from here. And, wave at you, I suppose." He did wave, briefly, moving back to fully on one side of her reflection.

"That's a relief, if it's true at least," she said. "I guess you just wanted to meet the new blood, since you're feeling good today?"

"I will admit to being interested in seeing you. We've already been doing a lot of good work together, after all," he said.
"We have," she said, half a question.
"Oh, certainly. The kind of change you bring on, and the results it brings, are very good at bringing together extremely compatible people who would either have no interest in each other otherwise, or might never even meet. And aside from that romantic love, there was that little miracle of the love between siblings allowing them to recognize each other despite every possible obstacle. There's obviously someone you love, as well."

Zotha remembered several of the people she'd changed, and what she knew of what was going on with them now. "I guess I can see that...but how do you mean, 'compatible'?"
"There's no such thing as soulmates—anyway, not as far as I can tell. But since it is my area, I'm pretty good at seeing whether any pair of persons are likely to hit it off. Usually what kind of relationship they'll wind up in, too. It's not perfect—I'd have never guessed you and Jerod, for one. But you fixed that, the results of your actions helping her to become someone different, to change at a level deeper than any magic could force. Anyway—that makes me the ultimate matchmaker, for better or for worse."

"Hmm. Your answer sounded like a 'no'," Zotha said.

"I see we have a sharp one on our hands. Well, that's because it was. As I said before, the other gods only let me talk to them when they want me to. And I have a message I'd like to relay now, rather than later."

"I guess it must be pretty important, then."
"Yes, very much so," he said, nodding. His smile looked a little more mischievous for a moment. "I think they've been afraid to tell you about it so far, but we have a little...problem. It predates you by about a week, although the full extent of it wasn't comprehended immediately. If the other gods, especially the ones who weren't happy you ascended, have seemed unusually nice to you, it's because they've been distracted by that problem. Bigger fish to fry, and all that."
"I've had some hints of that," she admitted. "But I figured displaying a little bit of trust wouldn't hurt. I can wait until they're ready to tell me about it."

"They don't want you two to collide. I think it's a ridiculous fear, honestly, but all right. Just tell them: No need to worry. I have it taken care of."

"You...have it taken care of." Zotha crossed her arms again, frowning. "This problem so huge that a new god showing up who some of them don't like, could be practically ignored by comparison. You've just, fixed it, all by yourself?"
"Yes," he said with a small nod.

"You know if I do tell them that, they're gonna want to know how," she said.
"By working within my own aspect, of course. If you like the world you're living in, you probably won't want to destroy it. But if the person you love lives there, you would feel compelled to preserve it instead. Simple enough. I had some false starts at first, so of course I didn't report anything for a while, but I'm absolutely certain I got it right this time."

For as much as she wanted to respect the wishes of the other gods as far as knowing about this entire situation, Zotha couldn't help drawing some obvious conclusions from what "Narcissus" was saying. The problem was a person, and he'd made that person fall in love with someone else. Or, helped along a relationship with someone highly "compatible", or whatever it actually was that he could do. She didn't share his confidence that this would be enough to fix everything, but thankfully, defending him wasn't going to be her job.

"So you just want me to pass that along?"
"If you don't mind," he said, spreading his arms out in front of him briefly.

"I can do that."

"Thank you. I'll leave you alone, then."

With that, just as suddenly as he had been in the mirror, he was gone. It occurred to Zotha after this that Jess probably should have heard some part of that conversation, or at least noticed she'd been taking longer in the bathroom than usual, but had given no indication of either. A brief mental conversation confirmed that Jess was still out there and fine, but also hadn't noticed anything unusual at all. However the god of love's "mirror-appearance" trick worked, apparently it had some measures built in to make it extra private. That was probably convenient most of the time, but in this case it just meant she had to tell Jess what was going on before heading out to ask to see Sol again...

---

It's a nice coincidence that "LV" is half of the letters of the word "love", given what I was going for with these two parts. Anyway, this couple of parts are taking place on April 23 and 24, which are concurrent with Kael's first meeting Brian. The last section of this part might qualify as a partial retcon: Kael's power does favor turning guys into girls through touch for some reason, but several of the earlier ones seeming to be extra attracted to him might at least partially be due to a certain someone's interference.

A Summoning, Part LV

It's been a while, I know. Real life got very busy for me for a while. But I do at least have some work to show for all that absence, starting with this pair of parts of Summoning.

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---

Part LV
~Lovers, Part 1~

After seeing Rachel off to school, Graham went to the mirror to give one last look—maybe a light hair-brushing—before heading off to work. Looking one's best at a job was the kind of responsibility that old Graham took very seriously, but of course the Nekomata was even more interested in making sure she'd look good late that afternoon, with Damon...

In the middle of such thoughts she paused, the brush still stuck in hair, flinching just slightly. Looking left and right at the reflection of her bedroom in the mirror, then turning around to examine the room itself, she couldn't find what she'd thought had been there, just in the edges of her peripheral vision in the mirror. Well, she shrugged to herself, it must have been nothing. Her new 'senses' would have felt someone coming into the house long before they could've reached her room, anyway.

A couple of hours later, Graham felt someone familiar, but also rather different from before, walking into the store. After wandering briefly around, that person caught sight of her and came eagerly running up to her. "Oh, hey there," she said, waving to the black-haired catgirl who felt—but didn't look—familiar. "Something I can help ya with?"

"Well, I can't rightly say," she said, grinning, and evidently not at all out of breath from the brief dash over. "I feel a little like ya already helped me out enough." Her voice was very deep, and that made it feel somehow similar to how she'd sounded as an older man despite a lack of any real, direct similarity. "We met a coupla days ago—I'd say you looked a little older then, too. I got your name then, but don't think I ever gave ya mine. It's Billie, now," she said, offering Graham a hand to shake.
"Nice to see you again," the Nekomata said, smiling back. "I guess you're..happy enough with the results, then?" There was no use pretending she wasn't responsible when 'Billie' seemed so grateful, after all.

"Sure am."

She put a hand through her hair for a moment. "My goodness, I really hadn't imagined myself as a pretty girl, but things've been looking more and more up since I first met ya. I did swear to myself I'd find me a woman too, and that was a little tougher like this, I'd tell ya—but I think I've got me a candidate now! Heheh..."

"Oh? Well, that was awfully quick. Good luck with that," Graham said. "Just don't get so eager that you scare her off."

"Ahh, sure, sure," Billie nodded. "Welp, I gotta get back to work. Thanks again!" She gave a brief wave, then dashed off.

Graham watched her leave, thinking: And here I thought I was full of energy after being made young again.

---

"Hmmmnhh..." Onida had gone to the trouble of buying clothes for this male form. It seemed oddly like a waste to have it and not use it for anything, after all. And then she'd suggested a date with Sam as a way to use it. But now, looking at himself in the mirror, he still wondered whether this was remotely a good idea.

Sam wouldn't mind, if he turned back into a woman and they both went out like that. Sam wouldn't mind being 'the man', either. But...this was what they'd agreed on. The male appearance in the mirror, which was a little strange to him still, certainly looked good in some business-casual wear. Anyway...he certainly felt something nice from imagining actually picking the cute wolf-girl up in his arms at the end, and..maybe kissing..!?

Onida jumped slightly, and then Sam poked her head through the bedroom door and gently asked, "Having second thoughts?" One could be mistaken for thinking these two events happened in the other order—they were near-simultaneous, after all—but the tall, broad-shouldered, white-haired werewolf had jumped because he thought he saw his own reflection wink at him.

He quickly turned around to face Sam and respond. "Uh, no—I mean, I'm nervous, but I still want to do it this way. Maybe...we can do it differently at another time, you know..." Right, nerves. He must've just imagined it. Reflections did not wink, nor otherwise move, independently of the viewer.

"Alright." Sam opened the door the rest of the way, concluding that Onida was basically clothed and ready to go anyway, and looked him up and down briefly. "For what it's worth, aaaah..you look really good in that. Or, aah, you know. Just in general."

"Um. Th-thanks. You—you do too," Onida said, smiling slightly. The wolf-girl had decided to be a little adventurous wardrobe-wise tonight, and wear an actual dress: A deep purple strapless kind whose skirt trailed to a little past the knees. She drew the line at still not wearing any heels, however, which Onida more than understood.

"Heheh." Sam just cutely giggled back, her face lighting up with a slight blush. "So, you're ready?"
"Yyyes," she said, nodding. "Let's go on out."

They nearly ran into Onida's sibling on the way out the door. A familiar pickup truck was waiting in the driveway for her. Damon would've been fine on her own anyway, but her staying over with Graham was even better than that. Onida hadn't realized it, but at some point she'd come to trust the catgirl quite a bit with her brother. It was obvious they liked each other; she made Damon happy just by being near. And Damon seemed to have started recovering the rest of her memories—the rest of her very self—better and faster right around the time they'd first met. It might've been a coincidence, really, but...either way, it was fine.

And now Graham was a 'Nekomata', which Sam had explained for the other two werewolves in a little more detail. The amount of power she had would be terrifying to someone who thought they'd crossed her, or knew her to have bad intentions...but, if anything, it was even more reassuring for her to be with Damon while the two of them were out on their date. If it wasn't enough how very capable the werewolf Damon was of hurting an intruder, then Graham as she now was could probably render them into a fine mist...but also, probably wouldn't actually do that. She would make sure that things ended a lot more peacefully, even in such a worst-case scenario. So, overall, Onida felt that he had absolutely nothing to worry about. He could just focus on Sam...

They had picked a place within reasonable walking distance, so the two of them struck out toward it on the sidewalk. After the first few steps, Sam tried bringing an arm up around Onida's waist, making him jump slightly at the hand suddenly there. "Aaah—too much?" she asked, taking the hand off of him.
"Er—no, just..um. Surprised. It's fine, really. I mean I...really, I should..." Rather than continuing to try to explain it, he gently placed his arm over the shorter girl's shoulder.
"Pffheheh...aaah, man, I feel kinda giddy," Sam said, returing her arm to his back. "I guess that's normal enough?"

"S-sure...not that I'd really know..."

They didn't say anything else for nearly the entire rest of the walk. There wasn't anything to say, and just being together felt like it could be enough. After a while, Sam did lean her head on Onida's shoulder, and he felt a brief rush from that, a temptation to pat her head or something...but that kind of thing should come after the dinner, he thought. This was good enough for now.

Not far from the restaurant, Onida noticed a car going the other way. It belonged to his boss, Felix, but there was a woman inside...maybe Zotha had 'gifted' him a female form in the process of helping him out? Today Felix had seemed a little off all day, like he was tired or nervous, and nearly every time Onida had seen him in the morning, he'd been leaning his head in a hand like he was nursing a massive headache. None of this was really any of Onida's business, but Sam briefly followed his gaze and looked up at him with a slight headtilt.
"Uh—thought I recognized a coworker," he said. "In that car? Nothing important."
"'Kay."

---

Logan was the last to arrive at the small nook between a couple of buildings. It seemed that 'Andrew' and Steph had acquired folding chairs and a card table with some drinks and disposable cups on it; everyone but Thomas the dragon was currently sitting on the chairs. "Heey, Logan!" Steph greeted their late-comer, waving. "Glad you could make it. We've got to get started pretty soon."
"Yeah, sorry. My roommate was pestering me all through breakfast," he said, shrugging. Julian was the very definition of a morning person, but tended to seem outright narcoleptic by mid-afternoon. He'd always suspected it was a 'cat-person' thing, but maybe it was just a 'Julian' thing after all. He went and took a seat while the three-tailed kitsune gave some instructions one last time.

Logan was in charge of keeping the group unseen and unheard. People usually didn't go to this little corner area, but if there was a risk of someone bumping into the invisible group, he'd have to do something, maybe including making just himself visible to them, to get them to go away. If he started to feel tired from doing that while contributing his energy Anika's way, then the two-tailed girl would take over that job for a while to give him a break. In the meantime, she was doing the relatively lightweight work of swapping the apparent names of the two buildings.

He'd wondered whether it would end up just being boring for their group, sitting well out of sight of the 'victims' and their confusion at the swapped buildings. But Steph was a couple of steps ahead of that thought, using some of his power to make one of the walls they were next to work like a screen showing the view of a few "cameras" that would catch people going through the doors from both sides. Logan had the thought that using kitsune power like that would make a person really good at stealth and/or security, given the lack of a visible camera for the person you were trying to catch to avoid. But then, literal invisibility would be a pretty obvious counter to that advantage. How did people having access to powers like these not result in tons of valuables constantly 'going missing' from the mundane world, anyway?

Once Steph had chanted out the spell for channeling magic, a faint line of light appeared going from each willing participant into Andrew. Each light was in a different, characteristic color: Stella's was pure white, Steph's was gold-colored, Logan's was the same shade of blue as his hair (of course), and Thomas's was actually not faint but rather a thick, blinding, grassy green light that felt like it'd hurt one's eyes to look at for long. Soon Andrew had a kind of halo of light around him that seemed to be formed of a mixture of those colors. Then he took a deep breath, looking hard into the wall Steph was projecting illusions onto to help concentrate, and set up the link.

The four-tailed kitsune visibly strained for a moment, and the 'Andrew' illusion flickered out, revealing the long-haired, curvy girl Logan had originally met, all four of her tails out in full view. She took a few more deep breaths, seeming to get a little more stable, before looking around at everyone and visually realizing that the illusion was gone. "Uh..."
"Yeeeaah, maybe we should've mentioned this sooner," Steph said, mostly in Thomas and Stella's direction. "Soo, that curse we're trying to get rid of.."

"I already knew that," the dragon said.

"I had guessed as much, given Lady Zotha's involvement," the angel-girl added.

"Yeah—Prama introduced her to me as 'Anika'," Logan said.

"Uhm...so, like, I'm the only one who didn't know?" the remaining kitsune in the group said. "How did I not know!? I was in that weird cult before Zotha was!"
"I did..go to a lot of effort..to hide it," Anika said.

"Aaaaaanyway," Steph said, clearly wanting to change the subject. He waved at the illusion on the wall. "Look, our first 'customer' is coming."

The other kitsune, and Stella, laughed at the first several people going back and forth through the portals several times, looking at the signage that said which building was which, trying to make sense of what was happening, becoming more and more confused, before finally giving up and going over to the other building's entrance to reach their actual destination. Even Thomas chuckled a couple of times, especially when one fairly old chemistry professor seemed to grow increasingly angry for several minutes, climaxing at turning entirely livid and attempting to lift a heavy trash can in hopes of throwing it through a window. An English grad student had to hurry over and carefully talk him down.

Logan felt like he was the only one not particularly entertained by all this. He couldn't quite see how it was so funny. Maybe he had just a little too much empathy for what they were going through: Their basic understanding of how the world worked, all of the assumptions that they lived their lives under, were being undermined—maybe even assaulted. He knew exactly what it was like to be shocked and confused at a sudden shift in the laws of reality around him. And he knew what it was like to just eventually give up, get used to it, and grow numb to how incredibly strange everything was. To wish that someone, anyone, would just explain what was really happening...

He eventually turned away from the 'screen' and toward the entrance to the alleyway, deciding to focus on his 'job' instead. He reminded himself that he was participating in this not because he ever thought he'd enjoy it, but because Anika had helped him out. Maybe the experience would help him understand what it meant to be a kitsune or something...but he really didn't want to ever do something like this again.

During a lull where nobody was trying to get in or out of the buildings for a bit, the group chatted some. Only Anika kept quiet; the way she chugged her way through two entire bottles of water suggested the physical strain of using everyone's power was starting to get to her.

"So, so, Logan," the two-tailed girl said. "You were out of the veil thing for two whole years?"

"Yeah. Almost three before this happened," he said, pointing at one of his ears.
"But you didn't tell, like, anyone?"

"That's right."

"Oof. I mean—I like. 'Awoke' as a kitsune when I was a teenager, and that yanked me right out of the veil. My parents are totally human, still under it and stuff. But I basically went bawling to the first person I halfway knew that suddenly had a tail too, and got it kinda explained for me right away. I totally can't imagine just keeping it a secret for that long!"
"Indeed...if anything, that seems quite an impressive feat of deception," Stella said. "Or at least discretion. I would expect the Ruler of Foxes to be suitably impressed to award you another tail, if she looks closely enough at you to comprehend the full extent of the achievement."

"Yeah, like, if this isn't enough to get someone something," the two-tailed fox agreed.

"I'm uh..not sure I want one of the world's literal gods looking right at me," he said nervously.

"I know what you mean," Steph said. "First time I met Zotha was terrifying. But honestly, you've got nothing to worry about with the Ruler. She just wants to help her own kind, after all."

At this, Anika grunted slightly, and then spoke up, slowly. "I've seen..how she 'helped'...Zotha. Re, mem, ber?"

"Eeeeh, that was a one-off," Steph said. "She was nice enough awarding me my third!"

After a couple of hours, Anika was obviously running on empty. Logan himself could actually feel a little bit of strain from his continual contribution plus the illusion he'd been keeping up the whole time. She held on until a group of students went inside the English building's entrance to find themselves inside the other one, then released it just as they were all confusedly turning around; there was an uproar of laughter from everyone but Logan as the group found themselves outside the wrong building and briefly argued with each other about who had led who the wrong way, and then Steph waved his hand to dismiss the view from the wall as well.

"Great work, everyone!" Steph said, standing up to applaud; Anika was slumped over onto her arm on the table, looking fully unconsicous. "Make sure to eat a good lunch—you've spent way more magic than you might think, and in a different way from usual for sure."
"Yeah..I haven't felt this kind of 'spent' since becoming a dragon," Thomas admitted. "Closest thing was after fighting that lesser demon, maybe?"

"I'll treat you to some steak~," Stella said, gently rubbing one of his horns. The horn probably didn't have sensation the way someone's skin would, but the way he blushed from the gesture made it obvous enough that he knew she was doing it.

"Uh, d-don't spend too much.."

As the others began to filter out, Steph went and sat down next to Anika again, gently rubbing one of her ears. "What do you think? Earned that fifth tail yet?" he said softly.
"Mmmnnh. Hope so," she half-mumbled. "Even...hffh...if not...progress, is progress."
"Yeah, that's the spirit!"
"Mrrr~rrh..." She lifted her head just barely enough to look at Steph, her face lit up with a bright, blushing smile.

Starting to feel like he wasn't supposed to be seeing this, Logan hurriedly turned and left. He had...places to be anyway. Right.

Did kitsune always like being pet that much? Or did it have to be someone special doing it? He had a feeling it was the latter, and thought briefly about Prama. Either way, they'd be meeting up later today...

---

"Uh, yeah, so..the potion's still working the same as ever. You..want me to show you?"

"Sure," Boreas nodded.

Jack took a moment to take hold of his pants, then shifted forms to the redheaded 'Jackie'. The alchemist stared down at her for just long enough to make her start blushing, then nodded.

"It does look the same," she said. "I'm sure you've got 'nough sense to tell me if anything felt off. You can change back now."
"Oh, uh—if that's okay, yeah." She quickly shifted back to being male, and breathed a small sigh of relief.

"I did make you stay a woman last time, but I'm sure you're more comfortable like that."
"Yeeeah."

"So let's go on our date like this, then."

They went back to Jack's car again. After sitting down in the passenger seat and shutting the door, Boreas said, "You got a place picked out?"
"I do, yeah! Um, I thought you might like some variety, so—I mean unless you really want to go back to the same one?"
"Nah. Variety's good," she said. "Let's get going."

"Yeah!"

---

From a bench just outside the restaurant's door, Billie watched for a good several minutes before recognizing the driver of a car pulling into its parking place. She hopped to her feet and hurried over. "Hey there! I was gettin' concerned I'd scared you off," she said.

"Uh, no—sorry. If I, if...well, I'd at least tell you." Fel was wringing her hands a little, and didn't seem entirely comfortable in the dark, sparkly ankle-length dress she was wearing. "Some things just..came up at work, and piled up on me at home, and so I'm just—late. So..sorry."
The catgirl gave her a look of false suspicion for a moment, then giggled. "Naaah, don't you worry 'bout that. Clocks lose their use when folks get together for a good time, you hear?" Seeing that the wolf-girl looked genuinely relieved, she pressed her luck a little bit, stepping closer to pat Fel's head. "I just meant to say I'm glad to see you at all~."

"Uh—um." Her face flushed and she stammered, about as expected. But it was best not to push any farther for now.

"C'mon, let's mosey on inside, then," she said, stepping back again, turning around, and heading for the entrance. Her ears picked up the other girl's footsteps following her after only a brief hesitation.

"Say, you didn't wind up too sick from last night, did you?"
"Uh, no. I mean I—I had some trouble sleeping, and woke up with a bad headache but..it definitely could've been worse," Fel said.

"Woof. Guess we've both learned our lesson, then: None of the strong stuff for you tonight."
"R-right."

They got inside, requested a table for two, and were promptly sat down across from each other in a booth way off in a corner of the restaurant. Fel visibly struggled with finding the right way to slide into her seat in the dress for a moment or two.

"You know, you look downright gorgeous in that," Billie said. "Feel like I'm pretty underdressed for the occasion." She'd at least changed out of her work clothes that afternoon, but only into a loose, casual top and short skirt.

"Um, n—no, you..you look great in that too," Fel said. "Um, it's, if anything maybe what I wore is too much..."
"Heheh..." Billie just chuckled lightly, watching the wolf-girl pick at her dress with her hands a bit.

Then she leaned forward a little bit. "So—tell me 'bout yourself. I know so far that you're a werewolf and a real cutie, and that's nearly it."

"Uh...w-well...there isn't that much to say. I'm actually...mostly a pretty boring person. I work an office job..middle management. I have boring hobbies like reading books, watching TV. Um..oh! I..keep a dream journal. I guess that's at least slightly interesting," she added quickly under her breath.

"Ooh? Did ya dream of me last night?"

"Err." Fel blushed brightly again. "I...didn't actually dream at all, last night. Too little, s-sleep in the first place, I think."

"Aww, well, I'm make sure you have sweeter dreams tonight~," Billie said a little bit flirtatiously. "How'd you get started on that hobby, hmmn?"

"I thought, I was having a lot of weird dreams, and wanted to..understand them. Try to, understand myself, and hopefully...improve myself somehow that way? But the thing is—some of those 'weird dreams', were actually me half-remembering what I was doing on some full moons. But not..all of them. Like there was, was this one recurring dream where I was standing in front of this giant pit..."

---

Damon realized, as she stepped past her sister (currently "brother") and out of the front door, that this was the first time, since becoming a werewolf and everything, that she'd left the house without the rest of her 'pack'. But she didn't feel particularly uncomfortable about that, at least not with Graham's truck waiting right there for her. She hurried over and hopped in the passenger seat, swinging the small backpack she'd brought with her around to place in front of her legs. "Hi!"
"Hey there, pretty lady~," the Nekomata said cheerfully. "Shall we head off?"
"Yeah, sure!"

Once they were on the road, Damon said, "Um, thanks for inviting me over."
"I should thank you for agreeing to come," Graham said. "I've got something going in the oven for us for supper."
"You..don't thank Rachel will mind?" This concern had only really occurred to the wolf-girl this afternoon.

"She went to study with a friend for the night, actually. She even wanted to make extra sure I'd be all right with it. So—it'll be just the two of us, for tonight~," she said, her voice going into a sort of deep purr.
"Oh. H-heheh...!"

Damon followed the catgirl into the latter's house, looking around as they made their way through to the dining room. Noting her interest, Graham said, "Well, what do you think?"
"Um...don't take this the wrong way. I mean—it's not like it's a bad thing, but. It looks like a place where an older person lives?" Damon said. "I mean. There's lots of books, that huge bookshelf over there. And tons of other knickknacks and stuff all over. A big collection."

"Heheh. Well, that's true enough. I've read nearly every one of those books, you know? And each item has some memories attached—though, not all of 'em good. I can tell you about some of it some time, if it won't bore you."
"You must've had some actual, real adventures when you were, um, young the first time? Travelled around, gotten to know a lot of people?"
"I suppose I did..." Graham said, her tone suggesting a mild feeling that she might have been underappreciating that.

They arrived in the dining room, and she pulled out a chair and gestured for the werewolf to go sit in. Then she kept talking as she continued into the kitchen: "You know, I wouldn't mind taking you around places, if it's something you'd be interested in. I suppose it'd mean a long time off from work for you, though."

"Well—um—I've never really thought about it," Damon said. "I guess I've always been happy with my games in my room, and Onida and I were pretty much just paying the bills..taking time off to travel wasn't something we could afford, I guess. And it never really, came up."

"That's a shame. Don't get me wrong—the adventures you can have in books—or as I've learned recently, games—are amazing. But there's some things where you just can't beat the real experience of seeing them for yourself." The Nekomata walked back into the dining room carrying two cups, some plates and silverware, and a couple of dishes with their meal on them. None of it was in her actual hands; instead it all floated around her by use of her magic. "Here we are~. Dinner's served!" After carefully setting it all down, she hurried to the other side of the table.

---

After a couple of slightly awkward, false starts, Jack got his date to really start talking by bringing up the subject of old times: Her adventures with other werewolves when she was younger. And through the course of that, a particular name came up.

"Hold up—did you say Lucent?"
"Yep," she nodded.
"You mean Lucent Merrow, right? Alpha of the last great pack? That Lucent?"

"Oh. Sure," she shrugged.

"Man, I had no idea you knew someone as famous as that. And he was really like that when he was younger?"

"He was like that 'till the day he died, I'd say." She took a swig of her drink. "Suppose he got better at hiding it with age, but any time the two of us were together...

"Don't get the wrong idea. I reckon he was a pretty good alpha. I can barely imagine keeping that many folks in line."

"You seem to be pretty good at controlling your territory, though. I mean, like, your alchemy shop?"
"Sure, but I can kick anyone out I don't like. Packs aren't like that—whoever you let, in you're stuck with unless everyone wants 'em out. Besides, you have to worry about making folks happy. For my business, all I have to worry about is making sure the potions are paid for."

"I guess that makes sense.

"..About that 'last' thing, though. You think there really won't ever be a pack that big again?" Jack wondered.
"Who knows. Seems like modern day is pretty different from back then. Maybe big packs—the sort Lucent managed—aren't really needed anymore. Different sorts of folks mingle a lot more these days, too. I reckon anyone wanting to form a pack that big will need to be willing to have foxes and cats and demons, and some normal humans as members, too."

"They wouldn't just get bitten to join or something?"

"There's plenty of reasons to stay human. Not that I'd really know," Boreas said.
"Yeeaaah, me either." Both of them were born werewolves. He wondered briefly whether he might have felt differently about things if he'd been born human, like Logan was.

---

Just about when the subject of Fel's dreams had been truly exhausted, a waiter showed up to get the pair's drink orders, neatly wrapping that conversation up. "Um, so—what do you..do?" Fel asked afterward. "For a job, I mean."

"Oh, me? Just like around a third of this town, the university employs me. I'm a groundskeeper on campus," Billie said.

"Meaning...you must work with your hands a lot?"

"Sure do. And tell you what, I got no less fit from bein' made young again," she added, flexing her right arm briefly. Fel saw that the limb was slim, but couldn't make out any actual biceps; nonetheless, their couple of hugs the night before were enough to convince her this claim was truthful.

Their drinks arrived at this point. Fel took a sip of hers, while Billie chugged maybe a third of her glass like she was at a frat party. "Billie..?"
"Mmhm?"
"I just can't help but feel like...maybe this is a little too blunt, but. You seem really...uh, eager. Forward? I-is that the right word?"
"Sure. Aawh, you could say 'desperate' without insulting me," Billie said. "Sure, I'll admit to that. It's down to at least a few things. For one, you ain't exactly saying no. And when I can get that shy, blushing look outta ya..it's downright adorable!"

"Oh..uh.." Being called that made it feel like Fel's heart was in her throat.

"Heehee~...!" The catgirl just giggled softly, then slowly sat up, visibly composing herself a bit.

"That ain't all, though. See, before I got made young again, I realized somethin' awful. You got many friends, Fel?"

"Well..sure. I mean—some, at least. Mostly..coworkers."
"Family?"
She shrugged. "My parents are still around, I call or visit them sometimes. And, other relatives..scattered around. No siblings."

"Mm-hmm," she nodded. "As for me, I haven't got much of anyone. Family's buried or don't care to talk to me. I have friendly coworkers too, drinking buddies, neighbors...plenty of folks I can have fun with. It's easy for me to get along with other people, is what I'm sayin'. But I don't feel like I'm all that close to any of 'em. So I thought—if I had me a woman. Someone I was living with, and all. Maybe that'd be someone I could really talk to, get to know very well."

"Uhhm...don't take this the wrong way, but—it sounds more like you just want a friend," Fel said.

"Ain't lovers supposed to be friends, too?" the catgirl said, tilting her head. Despite her declared age and usual confidence, the werewolf felt like this question and expression seemed intensely naive.

"Well..'supposed to be' and 'are', are two different things."
"Ehh, sure, sure. But anyhow, I figured if I ran into the right lady, with the same sorta goal—we could make it work," she said. "Only that was more of a pipe dream, at the time—being then a balding old man."
"Uh—man," Fel repeated, half a question.
"Hmn?" Billie tilted her head. "Didn't I mention that part?"
"Nnnooo.."
"Well, I don't see no reason to be coy about it. What made me young again, also sprouted these kitty ears," she said, pointing at one of them, "and swapped me to the other team. You really couldn't tell?"

"Well, I admit there were definitely clues...in retrospect," Fel said. "But then—if you're a girl now, are you still dead set on uh..a woman?"
Billie shrugged. "I hadn't thought about it too hard, actually. Maybe a handsome fella would do nicely for me, too. But I'm darn sure I like you, for now."

"Uhhm, it's just...since we're admitting to these kinda things now...when I found out I was a werewolf, last week. Was the...first time I looked like this," Fel said, gesturing vaguely downward. "Before that..and a lot of other times since then, like at work, I'm a guy."
"Oooh?" Billie's response was about equal parts surprising and expected. She leaned forward with interest, her tail winding around through the air behind her. "You mean to say you can change yourself whenever you like?"
"Uh..y-yeah..?"
"That's amazing! I'll bet you're a real handsome young man, too," she said, grinning from ear to ear. "No way you'd be any less attractive than you are as a lady, at least."

"Uh, w-well, I d-d-don't know about that..."

Fel was more or less rescued by the arrival of their waiter to get their food orders. Billie had leaned forward so much that she had the slight impression that the catgirl had been about to pounce across the table at her, and now she simply sat up straight again and gave the man her order, just as if they'd been having a perfectly normal, casual conversation. The werewolf took several deep breaths during this, focusing hard on deciding what to order herself...and not on the fact that a part of her had responded to the sight of the beautiful catgirl grinning across at her like that with a desire to be the one doing the pouncing.

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.