Followed Me Home

Once every couple of weeks or so, Milo would spend his weekend walking the trails, hiking, and camping. It was a good way to get his exercise in, and he was lucky enough to live in a town right by some woods, in the middle of a beautifully picturesque mountainous region, so it'd be a shame not to take advantage. This particular weekend, however, he struck out on the same trail as the week before with a very specific goal in mind. He was—hopefully—going to save someone.

The week before, he'd had a very unusual encounter. While setting up camp for the evening, some food roasting over a campfire, he'd been approached by a large animal. Or at least so he thought, at first. The "animal" in question was actually a werewolf! He was covered in thick, dark blue fur, with beautiful bright blue eyes, and had approached cautiously, sniffing the air and sort of pointing his nose in the direction of the fire—or more accurately, the food cooking over it.

The last full moon had been a couple of weeks ago. For a werewolf to be acting this animalistic when the sun was still up (if setting) could only mean that he'd turned unexpectedly, and become feral as a result. Milo exercised a great deal of caution around him, of course; feral werewolves were as unpredictable and dangerous as any ordinary large, wild predator, if not even moreso. But the poor fellow was just desperate for something to eat, and he had some to spare, so he fed the big wolf. Then his visitor nuzzled his hand gratefully before backing away and fleeing off back into the woods.

So now, Milo was coming prepared. His town happened to have a local alchemist, and after a long conversation with her during which she reminded him several times not to get too close to a feral wolf, she'd come up with a potion that could serve as a solution for this situation. He brought along some other items to help with this endeavor as well, and set out on the same trail as the week before in hopes that it was in that werewolf's "territory". It was possible, of course, that he was wandering aimlessly, and wouldn't be anywhere near the area, but Milo would continue hiking around this area until he found him, or until he'd tried so long that it was clearly hopeless.

Aside from his preparations—both physical and mental—Milo behaved just like he would on any other trip. He made his way out to the campsite, got a tent and fire ready, exercised all the same safety measures as usual. When the sun was fairly close to setting, he set his food cooking over the fire, and kept a watch. Would that werewolf show up or not? The answer came almost surprisingly quickly.

The werewolf poked his head out from the woods, seemed to recognize Milo as the nice man who'd fed him a week earlier, and cautiously stepped out on all fours toward him, softly whining. "Hey, buddy," Milo said gently, gesturing for him to come closer. The werewolf came up, nuzzled the back of his hand, and then whined a little more, 'pointing' in the direction of the fire much like the week before. Letting the werewolf get so close to him—well within potential biting range—was a huge risk, but it was truly awful to see another person in such a mental state. He had to do this! "Hey, you hungry? I brought some stuff just for you," he said, going to the fire and getting some meat out, setting most it before the werewolf. The blue-furred creature went right to work on it. "That's it, go on and eat up," he said softly, getting himself behind the werewolf so he could dig some things out of his pack.

The piece he hadn't offered his 'new friend', he set next to the pack. Then he dug out a syringe full of the potion the alchemist had, in an uncharacteristic show of generosity, given him free of charge. She was "fairly sure" it would still work how it was supposed to if administered this way. So he injected the potion into the piece of meat, to around half of what was in the syringe. Then he got the next item out, draping it across the pack with one hand while holding the piece of meat in the other.

By now, the big blue werewolf was about finished scarfing up his first helping. He stood up and looked around briefly before turning entirely around to face Milo, still standing on all fours. "Hey buddy, you enjoy that?" he said softly. "I've got just a liiittle more for you," he added, holding the piece full of potion out toward the wolf. He softly whined, coming closer and looking like he was ready to take it out of Milo's hand. Rather than risk an accidental biting, he quickly dropped it onto the ground and took a slight step backwards. The wolf barked appreciatively, hurrying to pick that piece of meat up and nearly swallow it whole too.

Done eating, the wolf sat (the same way a dog normally sits) and looked up at Milo expectantly for a moment, his tail wagging. Now he didn't know whether or not the human had more surprise treats for him, and was waiting to find out, which worked to Milo's advantage. He could watch and see whether the potion was going to have any effect.

The werewolf whined softly after a moment. "I guess you must still be hungry, huh?" Milo said softly. Many feral werewolves seemed to start hunting for small animals—and sometimes larger ones like humans—pretty quickly, but perhaps whoever this had been before being bitten had been such a peaceful soul that even a wild wolfish side taking over wasn't enough for him to imagine actually hurting another creature himself. The wolf barked softly, then whined again, tilting his head—looking a little confused.

Where the werewolf was sitting was between Milo and the setting sun in the distance, so all the light from the celestial body made it hard to tell..but he thought he could see a faint silvery glow appearing around the wolf. That was probably a good sign—magic effects had a certain tendency to randomly glow in different colors, after all. "Rrfh..?" The werewolf then let out a confused bark, and something more tangible started to happen.

"Rrrr-rufh..!" His muzzle started shortening. And the fur across the rest of his face began to visibly thin, too. He reached a hand/forepaw up to lightly bat the front of his nose a couple of times, seemingly trying to make sense of whatever it was that felt like. Then he shuddered slightly. There was a shift in the color of the hair coming out of his scalp starting at its roots; it paled and brightened from deep navy to sky-blue, and this change rippled down through his head and neck quickly before starting to slowly make its way downward. The fur of his neck and upper chest began visibly thinning as soon as this shift in color hit it, and his facial fur started shortening a little faster after this.

"Aah..rrfh..!" The werewolf stood up on all fours, then, slowly, onto his hind legs, still mostly hunched over. He seemed absolutely huge like this, towering over Milo even without being fully upright. He shivered again as the shift in fur color, and accompanying fur loss, accelerated its way down his torso. Immediately after this, he began visibly shrinking, his height falling downward toward the man standing across from him. "Rr-fh...!" He barked softly, then whined, as his muzzle pulled all the way in, a human nose and mouth appearing there as the fur across his face vanished away, briefly taking on the look of a beard before disappearing entirely, leaving behind completely smooth, soft-looking skin. The only fur left up there was his ears, which had taken on the sky-blue color earlier, but even now remained fully those of a werewolf.
"Aa-aa~ah..w-wha..?" For the first time, the werewolf showed signs of having a human mind, half of a questioning word coming out of his mouth. He began to stand up straighter, which briefly seemed to counter his steady loss of height. The hair from his scalp had been unkempt before, no doubt growing untrimmed during his time as a feral wolf, so it already had messy bangs and fell halfway down his face on the sides; now, as the sky-blue shade took over his entire torso and the complete loss of fur spread down his neck, that hair fell out longer, cascading down the sides of his cheeks to his shoulders and gently falling across his upper back.

"Aah...rrfh..!" At the same time, his shrinking accelerated, and began to take on a new aspect. He stood up fully straight just in time for his eye level to sink down to right across from Milo, but now he was growing visibly slimmer, his frame collapsing inward in addition to downward. The loss of fur quickly made its way down past his chest, but seemed to stop at his forearms for now, and he shivered again, slowly pulling his arms close to hug himself. "Aah, aa~aah..."

Milo quickly turned and picked up the other item he'd prepared for this trip from the top of the pack. It had been obvious enough at their first meeting that the werewolf was completely without clothing, and now that he was losing the protection of his fur, he was no doubt feeling the cool mountain air much more keenly. So Milo stepped forward and carefully pulled the sweater he'd brought down over the werewolf's torso, making him jump in surprise, uncrossing his arms.

"Aah..?" His voice came out a little higher than before; the shift in fur color made its way down his hips to his legs, and quickly spread its way out along his tail, too.

"Quick, put that on," Milo said, hoping the werewolf was far enough along to understand him.
"A-aah.." He nodded quickly, pulling his arms into the sleeves. But he hadn't stopped shrinking yet; his eye level was down to maybe Milo's neck by now, and his shoulders narrowed enough for that sweater—which fit the human standing before him now—to simply slip halfway off of his right shoulder. Well, it was still better than nothing. Besides, he was probably starting to lose fur from below his belly by now, and the overlong sweater's lower hem falling past his hips to start covering his very upper legs would afford him a tiny bit of decency.

As the rapid shrinking began to slow down, the werewolf looked around, having probably recovered enough human faculties to process confusion. He put a still-fur-covered hand up in front of his face, staring into its paw pads for a moment. Then he convulsed slightly, dropping that arm again. "Rr~rrh..rrfh..!" His voice came out even higher than earlier, and audibly shifted higher still. With his arms dropped to his sides, the sleeves of the sweater now fell out past his hands, hiding them from view. "Aah—aa~aah..!" He squirmed in place briefly, seeming to suddenly sink another few inches downward. Milo observed that the new fur color had made its way all the way down to his feet, and in fact this height loss had resulted from their sudden shift from digitigrade to humanlike.

"Rrr~rrfh..!" However, this probably wasn't what the werewolf was presently reacting to. All of the shrinking had left his face small and round, his shoulders narrow, his limbs slender and his belly slim and flat. That face was now alight with a bright red blush, and as the fur thinned and vanished its way downward along his legs, he cried out: "A-aah...mm~mmnh..." The voice that came out didn't sound like a man at all anymore, instead being high and soft—cute and feminine.

Then: "W-wah!" The werewolf convulsed again, the blush on his face deepening. "O-oh...mrrrfh..!" Rather, her face, considering that the blush had grown twice as bright all at once, and now was when her hips began visibly widening, her thighs thickening. The last of the fur disappeared from her feet now, leaving her with just wolfish ears and a tail to mark her as a werewolf. "Aah, aa~aa~AA~Aaaah...!" Well, that and the fangs that displayed as her mouth opened up to softly cry out.

She hugged herself close once again, pulling the sleeves off of her hands just enough for Milo to see the last bits of fur disappearing from those extremeties as well. "O-ooh...mm~nnnhh..!" She squirmed her upper legs forward and back across each other, her eyes fluttereing shut, seemingly in responce to the steady growth of a pair of bumps from her chest. "Aaah...rr~rrfh..! Ruffh...y-yip!" They grew larger and larger, until they had fully developed into a sizable pair of breasts, completing the werewolf's change into a small, cute, fairly curvy young woman.

"Aaah...hfffh..." She slowly blinked her eyes open, loosening her arms' grip on herself to slowly drop them to her side. "Wah...whaa...whaaat..?"

"What..haah...happened..?" she said slowly, seeming to need some effort to sound out the words. At first this question was directed generally, but now she seemed to finally, properly notice a person standing in front of her—her eyes about at the level of his upper chest—and quickly tilted her head upward to actually look Milo in the face. "Whaaat!? Wh-where...? Who..?"
Not wanting to make her do that their entire conversation, Milo quickly knelt himself down to be roughly across from her. "Shh, it's all right. Take some deep breaths. You've been through something pretty awful, I'm sure."
"Uhhm..hffh..fffh..." She took his advice to heart, her new breasts going up and down as she took some deep breaths.
"Okay..a little better now? I'd like to answer all your questions I can, but some of it might be shocking to you," he said.
"M-mnh.." She nodded slowly.

"I don't know the circumstances, but it seems like some werewolf bit you and turned you into one yourself. Then you went completely feral—your 'wolf side' taking over entirely. I gave you something to help you change back to mostly-human for now, so you could properly think again," he said. "Follow me so far?"
"Aah...uuh...y-yes," she nodded slowly. "I rerr...remember some pain, I think. Waah...wasn't I, m-male before..?"

"Yes, you were," he nodded. "We can fix that later—I know a good alchemist. She's the one who came up with this solution. The potion used the energy the wolf needed to keep you mostly-animal, and forced your body to do something else with it. Err, specifically, making you a woman. It did more than that—to help you mentally, as I understand it—but I got a little lost in the technical details in that part of the explanation. The main thing is, you should no longer be at risk of going back to being feral again."
"Aah..o-okay..." she nodded slowly. "Ssso. Do you know...who I am..?"

"Err. I'm afraid not," Milo said. "I met you as an already-feral werewolf. As I understand it, temporary memory loss can result from being feral for a while. It usually comes back given some time."
"Ooh, kay. That's, better than nothing," she said. Her speech was starting to get a little less stilted already. Then she turned her head down to look at herself, and her blush came back almost as bad as it had been before. "Uhhm." She quickly tried to pull the side of the sweater that was hanging halfway down her right arm up, only for the other side to slip off.

"Sorry—I just brought a spare of mine. Didn't have any idea you'd wind up quite that small," Milo said. "I can get you a little better clothed once we're back in civilization."
"Rrh..right. Th-thanks," she said. Both of them heard her stomach growl then, and she put a hand to her belly. "H-hungry.."
"Yeah, even as a feral wolf you seemed like you were starving." Milo stood up straight again, starting to go around her toward the fire. "I brought some stuff to cook, trail mix, water. Let's get you fed to start out with, all right?"
"Okay..."

Milo had also brought along an extra sleeping bag and some blankets. The only real issue was that his tent wasn't really large enough for two people. But when he had the bags and blankets laid out, the werewolf girl seemed content enough to enter the sleeping bag, curl up, and immediately fall asleep—he didn't even get an opportunity to offer her the one inside the tent. It was supposed to be a rainless night, so he decided to leave it at that.

In the morning, he made some breakfast with what supplies were left, and once they had both eaten, he began packing everything up. "Err...any-thing, I can hhhelp out with?" she asked, standing in turning around in place to watch him work.

"No no—don't trouble yourself there. I'm very used to this," he said. "Camp out at least once a month, you know."
"Can I, uh, at least help carry something?"
"It all fits in this one pack," he said. "And you're still only wearing a sweater and jacket. The straps would chafe like crazy."
"Alright..." She looked disappointed, with her ears lowered a little. Milo's heart broke a little bit to see her adorable face wearing that expression, but it was for her own good. Whatever strength she'd had before becoming a werewolf, as well as what becoming a werewolf had gained her, the potion's transformation seemed to have largely drained away. Even with that aside, she might not be in the best of health right now—suffering from some level of malnutrition, no doubt. It would be hard enough for her just to make the walk back.

She proved to have more stamina than he'd thought, not seeming to need any breaks beyond the ones he'd have given himself anyway. That is—he had some concern she wouldn't want to ask, so he paid attention to her movements and breathing, but she never gave off any hint of tiredness. The second time he stopped for water, feeling somewhat out of breath, she still seemed hardly winded. "Uhm.." she said softly.
"Anything wrong?" Milo asked. Maybe she was just very good at hiding it.

"I think, I remember a name at least. Elliot."
"Ah." he nodded. "See, that's good, isn't it?"
"N-no last name, though..."
"Well, at least it's a start. Nice to meet you, Elliot," he said, offering her a hand to shake. "I'm Milo."
"Milo..." She nodded, staring at his hand for a moment before seeming to remember what that meant. After pulling the sleeve up with her other hand, she shook his. Her hand was small now, with slender, delicate fingers. "Nice to meet you, too."

A little while later, as the woods thinned out and some buildings began to come into view, Elliot said, "What'll I do? Once we...get to town?"
"I thought you could stay at my place for a little while. And, you know, convalesce," Milo said.
"I—but you've already done a lot for me. I'd hate to cost you even more," she said.
"Please, don't worry about it. My sense of hospitality won't let me throw someone helpless out on the street, especially if I'm the one who brought you along."
"But—"
"Ssh, no buts! If I didn't want to help you, we wouldn't be talking right now. At least, you wouldn't be able to," he said. "Consider accepting my further help to be an expression of gratitude for that."
"Oh..all right," she said, still sounding very uncertain.
"The moment you remember enough to have an idea of who to contact, you know, from before you got bit—we can call them," he said. "If someone you actually know is willing to take you in, then I won't have any problem with you going to them. In fact, I'll drive you myself."

"Okay..."

It was already near noon by the time they got back, so Milo fixed them both some lunch. Thankfully, his house had a guest bedroom, so they didn't have to have any awkward conversations about who'd be sleeping on the couch or anything like that. He simply lent her some of his clothes, provided her some fresh sheets to change out in place of the ones that had sat unused for several months now, and—after getting the wolf-girl's assurance that she knew how to make up a bed—left her alone for a little while. No doubt she had quite a bit to process.

A while later, Milo knocked on his guest's door. "Elliot, are you in there?"
"Uh, yes."
"Decent?"
"Erm..as much as I can be, I guess. You can come in."

Of course, even the smallest of Milo's clothes didn't really fit her at all. For the moment, she'd traded the sweater for a pair of boxers and a t-shirt that hung halfway off a shoulder and trailed to her upper thighs, but at least did a better job keeping itself above her chest. It also had the advantage of short sleeves that didn't constantly get in the way of her hands. She was sitting on the end of the bed with her legs crossed when he opened the door.

"How are you feeling?" he asked first, taking a small step inside the room.
"A little better, I think. I...even though I can't actually remember much, being—a girl still feels really strange. Especially how small I am now," she said. "But I can also sort of remember feeling sick with hunger, and...that's better now, at least."
"That's good. I, wanted to give you this," he said, producing an old tablet he'd just finished verifying was at least functional enough to access his wifi. "I don't want to presume what you do or don't remember, but..you know what this is? How to use it."
"Yeah, of course," she said, nodding. Her expression started out at slight annoyance that he'd think she couldn't, then shifted to slight confusion that something like this seemed so obvious.

"Great. I thought, this won't necessarily help you get any personal memories, but if there's any..general knowledge, or something like that, that you think you half-remember, you might be able to look some things up," he said, coming up and offering it to her.

"Thank you," she said, taking it and uncrossing her legs. She set it on her lap, leaning down to stare into it and poke around a little with her fingers for a moment.

"About the other thing," Milo continued once she'd started to look up again. "Like I said earlier, I do know an alchemist. I think she'd be able to make a potion to make you male again without too much trouble. I, won't know exactly how long that'll take until I call her on Monday—she complains sometimes about certain kinds of ingredients being hard to get."

"Okay..." Her ears folded down slightly during this second part of his explanation, which made him feel pretty guilty. "Um, I'd really appreciate that. It doesn't sound like it'll be cheap."
"I'll be fine. But in the meantime, I thought—maybe it'd be helpful to get you some clothes that fit, uh, how you look right now."

Elliot blushed slightly. "I..it's a little embarrassing, thinking of wearing women's clothing. But, it's only practical." She tugged up at the side of the shirt that was failing to cover her shoulder. "This just isn't comfortable...and I feel pretty awkward wearing your clothes in the first place."

"All right. Maybe we can do that tomorrow morning, after you've had a good night's sleep. I've got to go to work on weekdays, but for now—I guess you'll be okay here on your own?"
The wolf-girl nodded slowly. "I'm sure I'll be fine..."

Naturally, Elliot picked out some very tomboy-styled clothes, including insisting on a few t-shirts that were a size or two bigger than her own, so that not everything she'd be wearing would be tight. He couldn't really blame her. Also—not that Milo felt it appropriate to bring it up—even the loose-fitting tops looked good on her. She'd be pretty and cute in anything, he caught himself thinking at one point. One of the female store employees half-bullied, half-convinced Elliot to get fitted for a bra size too, and she picked several up in that size. Milo made a point not to mention them at all, even when the cashier was putting them in the bag with everything else.

They were back home in time for lunch, so Milo got something together and sat across from her in the kitchen. She stared down at the plate for a moment—which felt uncharacteristic after some fast, eager-if-not-greedy eating the day before and at breakfast. "Something wrong?" he asked.
"Um, n-no, it's just. I think I must've had some kind of job in finances. My brain keeps automatically estimating the price of all this stuff you're giving and doing for me..I couldn't stop looking at the price tags of the clothes, too."
"Seriously, don't worry about it. You must be able to tell since I own this house by myself—I get paid pretty well for my job," Milo said. "This is a drop in the bucket for me. But, hey, if once you get your memories back it turns out you're filthy rich or something, you can think about if you want to pay any of it back then."
"Uh, fair enough..." She'd looked up at his face for a moment—which at the time had been fixed to his most reassuring smile—and her cheeks had burst out in the red of a bright blush. With this quiet utterance, she went right to eating, trying to turn her face to one side. Milo couldn't help thinking how adorable that expression had been. And whenever they were facing each other, his gaze was still drawn to her brilliant blue eyes.

He shook his head slightly, starting in on his own plate of food. Elliot wanted to go back to being male, and no doubt more or less thought of herself as a man taking a temporarily female form—or something like that. It'd be inappropriate if not insulting to tell her anything like that. Not to mention obviously wrong to take advantage of her situation. He'd call the alchemist first thing tomorrow morning, and see if he could perhaps pay extra, help her rush the order on any hard-to-get ingredients.

At breakfast, he let her know the news. "So, I called that alchemist and made an order," he said. "She says it'll take around a week. Sorry—I know that long of a wait's bound to be pretty annoying."
"Um—it's fine. A-actually, I could hear the whole call," she admitted, gently poking her right ear with an index finger. "These things, can hear a lot. But somehow it's not hard to focus on what I actually want to hear and ignore the rest, most of the time."

"You'll be okay making your own lunch today, right?"
"Definitely," Elliot said, nodding. "I..haven't really remembered more than some bits and pieces of my life before..this happened, but it feels like basic, practical skills are still..all there. The only thing that'll make it weird is my tiny height, but, I'm sure I can get used to it. Uhm..." Her face lit up with just a hint of that adorable blush again.

"Something else on your mind?" he prompted her after a pause almost long enough to be awkward.

"I thought—actually—why don't I make us supper? I'm pretty sure I can handle it, and...um. I wanna say I owe you that much, buuut, I feel like I know how you'd respond to that."

"Sure, you don't owe me anything. But I'd appreciate it, if that's what you want to do," he said. After all, Elliot was in the aftershocks of some severe mental trauma, and missing most of her memories still, but she was still a physically capable person. It would only hurt her psychologically if he treated her like a complete invalid, not letting her do anything at all.

"O-okay," she said, nodding.

After work, Milo walked up to the front door, got out his keys, and then found the door opening before he could lift the keys to the lock. "Oh—hey there," he said to the wolf-girl just inside.

"I heard the car pull up, and..thought I'd save you some trouble," she said.

"Well, thanks," he said, smiling while resisting a slight urge to pat her head. Thankfully the wolf-girl was already quickly stepping out of his path by now. In larger towns, or anywhere near a city, he might have advised her to be very certain it was him before going to open the door, but their community was small enough not to have that sort of problem.

Elliot tilted her head up slightly, sniffing the air a bit, as he walked past her to put his things down. "Something wrong?"
"Um...you smell like..lots of animals?" she said.

"Oh, well, I am a vet," he said. "Sorry—did I not mention that before? We're always busy, since plenty of people keep pets. Plus there's some farms not too far from here, so I have to do 'house calls' every now and then."

"I see. Well uh..I have supper in the oven right now. It should be ready, um, soon...ish?"

"You didn't set a timer or anything?" Milo asked, his tone one of curiosity rather than accusation.
"I can usually tell it's done by if it smells and sounds right. Aaaand, if there's anything I can do better right now than I could before..."

"Makes sense," he said with a shrug. Now that he was far enough into the house to catch a whiff, he found the smell pretty appetizing himself.

Supper was pretty good after all. Milo could feel the wolf-girl's eyes on him when he took the first couple of bites, but when he kept eating without comment, she simply dug in herself, being apparently satisfied that he liked it. A bit later, he asked, "So, did you remember anything new today?"
"Some..conversations and things, I guess," Elliot said. "Most of it, I can't make any sense of without more context. I think...I'm pretty sure I lived alone, and that's why I knew how to cook. This was one of my easy go-tos, so I was pretty confident I could get it right."
"Makes sense," he said, nodding. "I know how to prep food for the wild and do simple stuff over a campfire to survive, but can't handle much more than basic recipes as far as home cooking. I'm sure you saw all the restaurant leftovers in the fridge at some point."
"Mmhmm." Her mouth was full.

"I guess you've been feeling okay physically?" he asked a little later. "Not sick to your stomach, not strangely weak or uncomforable? No pain anywhere?"
"Nope," she said. "I feel perfectly well...which even I know is super weird for running around eating gods-know-what as a wolf...thing."

"Maybe the potion helped? I have heard that werewolves tend to have unusually resilient physiology in the first place," he said, and then realized he was starting to use too much professional jargon. "Uh—sorry. That is, they can endure more than your average human."

"I guess that's one good thing about what's happened to me..."

The next morning, Milo made them both breakfast. "You know," he said sitting across from her, "you don't have to get up when I do. I get up pretty early for work and all.."
"I can hear you getting up. Besides, I don't wanna miss out on this," she said, gesturing to her plate with a slight smile.
"Heh, all right. As long as you're getting enough sleep."

"Mmh.

"I was able to remember some more of those conversations," she said a moment later. "I've got a clear picture of where—an office, I think. My office. Sitting behind the desk, talking about...uh. Personal finances? Costs, benefits, investments...stuff like that. I thought about it in the shower earlier, and I'm pretty sure I could recite the entire tax code for you right now."

"Uhh, I don't know if I have time for that today," Milo said, and she giggled slightly, recognizing the joke. "But—that definitely sounds like an accountant. Do you have any memory of a CPA exam?"

The wolf-girl folded her ears down slightly. "Erm...yes, actually, now that you mention it. Feels like a stressful memory."
"Well, that settles it. We've got an occupation! Now if we could just figure out where you did that job. Or, do you remember any specific names?"
"Mmmmnope," she said, shaking her head slightly.

"It's all right, I'm sure it'll come to you. Hey, how about we got out to dinner tonight?"

Elliot's face flushed slightly. "Uhm. S-sure. Any uh..any particular reason?"

"Honestly, I just want to," he said, shrugging. "I guess if you want an excuse...maybe being in a place with a lot more people will help you acclimate...or...something."

"Pfft."
"Who knows, maybe looking at the menu will remind you of a unique restaurant that's only in whatever town you're actually from," he pressed.
"That's a long shot."
"Yeah."

The next couple of days went much like the first. Elliot got up when he did, they would talk at breakfast, and she was waiting inside the door when he came home from work. He caught himself gazing into her gorgeous blue eyes more often than he could count, and she occasionally reacted to him saying something nice or offering to do something for or with her with a huge, bright blush.

He felt a little guilty about all of this: He was getting used to her being around, enjoying her presence. Her movements seemed graceful, her speech all the more charming as she steadily regained some skills, knowledge, and confidence. But he was able to enjoy Elliot's company only because of her terrible misfortune. Besides, it couldn't last; she had a home to get back to, after all.

Elliot slowly gained some memories of her time at school, or with her family. It was all little fragments, and the majority of it was her work life still, and—quite frustratingly—still none of it came with any names, nor phone numbeers, nor any other knowledge helpful for identifying where she'd previously lived.

Thursday evening, as they sat on the couch watching some show, Elliot dozed off, slowly leaning over until her head landed on his shoulder. Milo was surprised at first, only barely managing to keep himself from jumping. And then he was frozen in place, not wanting to move and wake her, yet resisting an urge to gently stroke her hair, or ears, or fluffy blue tail. He felt simultaneously proud of his restraint and profoundly disappointed when she woke up nearly an hour later, slowly blinking awake before pulling herself abruptly upright and scooting several inches away.

"Um—sorry! I must've been uh, m-m-more tired than I thought!" she said, blushing brilliantly.
"Err, it's fine," he said, feeling a little heat on his own cheeks.

"H-how long was I uh..asleep?"
"Like half an hour, I guess?" he deliberately underestimated. "It's fine, I wasn't planning on going anywhere anyway."
"Y-you seriously should've woken me up! Um, or, maybe not. I guess startling me might've been dangerous," she said a little more quietly, seemingly just thinking aloud.

"Either way, no harm done," he said gently. "If you need another nap, you could lean on the armrest over there?"
"Um..y-yeah," she said with a slight nod. He could feel a mixed emotion from her: She was relieved he hadn't suggested his shoulder, but also about equally disappointed. Honestly, so was he.

Around midmorning the next day, right when Milo was taking a brief break between patients, the alchemist called. She had the potion for Elliot ready—she could turn back into a man that very afternoon. The ingredients she needed had arrived a little sooner than expected, so she'd put a small rush on making it. That was great news—wasn't it? She noted a hint of disappointment from him which could be heard even over the phone.

But it was good news! Elliot wanted to go back to being male, and it was only right that she should. It probably would even help her recover her memories. And yet...

All at once, Milo got an idea. He asked the alchemist a question about the potion they'd used on Elliot in the first place. She seemed to immediately realize what he was thinking, and suggested a different product, which she just so happened to have in stock.

The front door opened just as he came up to it. "You're home a little late," Elliot said, her head tilted slightly.
"Yeah—I had to run an errand on the way," he said. "A rather important one, too!" He went past her to put his things down as usual, including a paper bag. "The potion I ordered for you was ready. Uh, you know, the one to—"
"Turn me back into a guy?" she said, hurrying over to him. "It's done already?"

"Yeah," he said, putting his hand in the bag to carefully retrieve a vial. "The ingredients she needed came in early, so she went ahead and made it." Then he offered it to the wolf-girl, who carefully took it into her hands, staring down briefly into the liquid.

Milo started, "Uh, obviously your clothes might not fit once that takes effect. So, you might want to go to your room for some privacy..." Then he trailed off, seeing her expression. "Something wrong?"
"Errrm. I, am, a little conflicted," she said.

"What about?"
"I-it's just..um. I do. Wanna, turn back into a guy. Being a girl still feels..weird to me, sometimes. It's even weird how much I've gotten used to, looking like this. A-and I think I might, somehow, remember things a little easier if I look and feel more like...myself. But I..um..."

She folded her ears down, looking up at him with the cutest blush Milo thought he would see in his entire life. "Th-the truth is..I think I like you? I've been...trying to think it's some kind of um, temporary infatuation just 'cause you helped me out, or if it's because you're the main person I've been around and I still don't have that many memories back with other people...b-but! The reasons I like you, I feel sure now they'd be true even if I remembered everything. You're..smart, and funny, and unbelievably kind! A-and so, uh...but it'd be weird if...um..."
"I..guess I can admit, I think I've come to like you a lot, too," Milo said quietly. "But—it wouldn't be right for me to take advantage of you, with the situation you're in. It really would be better for you to turn back into a man regardless."
"M-maybe...I-I mean, the other problem is...I'm, kinda scared," Elliot said. "If I—didn't take this, and acted on um..l-liking you. That I'd accidentally bite you, and..put you through something like what I've been through. That's..why I was so worried last night, too."

"I don't think you really need to worry about that," Milo said. "I mean—sure, you have an animal side. But I know my animals pretty well. A dog or wolf won't bite someone without a reason, right? I guess accidents do happen, though...

"I think, you should take it. Getting your memories back is the most important thing right now, and it'd be good for you to feel more comfortable, too. If, after that, you decide you want to be a girl for whatever reason, well, there's magic than can do that. Right?"

"R-right...I guess so." She still didn't look entirely certain.

"I did buy another potion, though," Milo said, "for me. I mean—I've been feeling almost as conflicted as you lately, I think."

The wolf-girl tilted her head adorably. "Um—what's it do?"

"Weeelll, if you'll go on and take yours first, then I can show you after that."
"Pfft. Always insisting I do what's 'good for me'. I guess vets are doctors after all, huh? Fine!" She pressed the vial back into Milo's hands. "I'll go change first. Don't drop it."

"It's not nearly as fragile as it looks, you know."
"Don't drop it!" she repeated on the way to her bedroom.

Elliot came back out to the living room wearing a borrowed pair of boxers and one of the oversized shirts she'd bought back at the store—holding the former up with a hand. "You...don't want to drink it in private?" Milo asked, and she shrugged.

"You already saw me turn into a girl—which is way more embarrasing, now that I think about it. So just let me have it."
"Okay."

The wolf-girl chugged the small vial in a matter of seconds, then set it down. "Is it..working?" she asked about fifteen seconds later.
"It should be, or I'm owed a refund," Milo said. "Oh—there you go. You're getting a little taller."
"I am? Oh!" Elliot looked around as her height slowly slid upward. "Aah...w-whoaa...aa~aah.." Her voice deepened slightly as her curves began to visibly shrink and flatten out; her face became just slightly more masculine-looking. "Aa~ah...o-oh, this is wee~eei~iirrd..!" It didn't take long for her bust to disappear entirely; her height settled down quite quickly as well, leaving her eye level still down around Milo's chin. "Aa...aah!" A soft, tenor tone came out as Elliot turned back into a boy, his face immediately lighting up with a bright red blush. "Mrrrfh! Mmh! Mmmhh..." His frame filled out a little bit broader, until he pretty much fit the shirt perfectly; its hem had been pulled up far enough to make the boxers visible, and they seemed to fit him properly now as well.

He gasped in a breath and let it out in a slow "Ffffhh." Elliot's hair was still just as long, and his face nearly just as cute as before—and devoid, still, of any sort of facial hair. "Uh..wow, this feels way better. Though, I'm pretty sure I was taller before," he added, looking up at Milo with a resurgence of the earlier blush. "Uhh..oh, this part's really weird. I still kinda...like you? Even though...I guess I don't feel attracted the way a girl would to a guy..?"

"Well, uh, I'm glad you feel better at least. So—the potion I got for me," Milo said, producing it from one of his pockets. "It's pretty simple—it'll take care of that worry about you biting me."

"Uhh...how?"

"Well, as far as I understand, it's a relatively new development. It's supposed to let a person 'safely' become a werewolf, with pretty much no risk of a painful first transformation. As long as you drink it before being bitten, or between being bitten and the next full moon, that is."
"I see...uh, wait wait! You—want to be a werewolf, though?"
"I dunno," Milo shrugged, "I can't say I ever thought about it before meeting you. But from what I can tell, there are some health benefits...but, most importantly, you wouldn't have to worry about biting me. After, uh, doing it just the once, that is."

"Oh. Are you..sure you're okay with doing that, for me? I mean—once I get my memories back all the way, I might leave. I might...find out I have a wife or something."
"I feel very confident that you'd have remembered that by now. Besides, if you need to go back to where you're from, I could always move. There's always a job for a veterinarian," Milo said. "Anyway, that kind of thing could be worked out later. I thought I'd focus on the immediate problems first."

"I guess..that makes sense," Elliot nodded. "Very..like you."

"Hahah."

"So...you don't mind helping the potion work, then?" he confirmed once more.
"I guess...not. If it's what you really want."
"I do." Milo reached his free hand over to just in front of Elliot's face. "If you..wouldn't mind?"
"Um...all right. It feels really weird to bite a person, especially you, but...mmf." He gently placed his mouth around Milo's ring finger, at first just lightly nipping it. He flinched slightly as the bite went a little deeper, and the wolf-boy quickly let go and took a small step back.
"Are you okay? I-I thought I tasted blood!"

"Yes, I'm all right," Milo said, raising his hand to look. "It's only effective if it draws blood, so—as long as you don't develop a taste for it, I think we'll be fine. Now, uh, bottoms up..." He carefully opened his vial and drank from it; it had a salty, savory sort of taste to it. There was a remarkably small volume for the strength of its purported effects, but he'd seen magic do plenty of incredible things—including in the past few minutes.

"So is it..working?" Elliot asked as Milo set the empty vial down.
"Let's see.." He raised his right hand to look at the bitten finger, and got a clear view of the wound closing impossibly, unnaturally quickly. "I'd say so. Werewolf bites are supposed to always heal unusually fast, but this is even quicker than that. Besides...ah.." He trailed off, having been about to bring up the faint tingling of his ears. However, that tingling had grown quite strong quite fast, and it had spread out across his scalp and then raced down his spine, presenting as a chill that made him briefly but violently shiver.

"Oof..d-definitely, working...!" The tingling of Milo's ears was quickly joined by a sudden sensation of them stretching out, pushing their way up through his hair in a way that made a collection of short, soft hairs now covering them brush across it. The ears proved surprisingly sensitive to this motion and touch, and they could also feel the additional motion of the locks they were pushing through rapidly becoming longer and more voluminous. "Aah, mmh..!" Milo felt the growing hair tickle his forehead and cheeks before some of it landed on his shoulders; at the same time, the tingling was flowing down from his scalp to his face and around from his back to the front of his torso.

"Mmh—mrrfh!" A low bark came from his throat as he felt his ears stretching out to their full size, and at the same time the push of a new appendage sprouting its way out from his lower back, around the base of his spine: A tail to match those ears. "Mr~rfh, aah, aa~aah..!" A second bark came out in a slightly higher pitch, and then he opened his mouth to cry out a little more in response to a gentle pressure building all across his body. The tail was rapidly growing longer, thicker, and fluffier, waving its way back and forth behind him excitedly; at the same time, he could feel his hair starting to cascade its way down his upper back as it kept growing longer.

"Aa~aarfhh...!" But that pressure was the most extreme of the sensations, as he perceived it gently caressing his cheeks, massaging his shoulders and waist and arms and legs. "Aah, aa~aah..!" Milo's voice audibly changed, its pitch rising, as he felt his face grow softer and rounder, his shoulders and frame narrow, and his whole body grow slimmer, all in response to the pressure. "Rr~rrufh..!" His tail eagerly pushed itself out to its full size now, followed immediately by a sharp tingling right down between his legs. This feeling made his heart race, his cheeks burn with a sudden blush. Here it came..!

"Aah, aa~aah...o-o~oooh...!" Milo welcomed the sensation of that tingling progressing into a tugging, then a slipping. "Y-yip!" He jumped slightly at something soft touching the quite-senstive base of his tail, then realized that his hair was still growing longer, and the tips of its locks now reached that far. "Aaa~aah...!" A soft, mid-alto tone rang out from his lips as he felt his manhood tugging itself smaller still...and then...! "M-mm~mMMMmmmhh..!" It melted away, shifting Milo completely from male to female. In a matter of just a second or two, she was hit with a deeply pleasant, fuzzy feeling down there, drawing a soft, low "Oo~ooh..." from her lips.

At once, the new girl's body began growing curves to fit its new sex. "M-mrrfh..! Aah~arrfh!" She was immediately aware of a sharp tingling across her chest, followed by the strong push of a pair of breasts beginning to fill themselves out; after that, she noticed her hips pressing themselves out wider, her thighs growing thicker; all the while, her tail wagged eagerly behind her as she imagined just what Elliot's expression and reaction would be in response to all of this!

"O~ooh...mmfh.." Milo's breasts gave one last push, stretching the material of a suddenly-tight top, and then she was done: From a human man to a long-haired, curvy, werewolf woman in probably less than two minutes. Somewhere along the way, the potion's magic had adjusted her clothes, turning her pants into thighhigh socks; her underwear into a pair of tight-fitting shorts; and shrinking her shirt to fit her—although, perhaps, that had happened too soon, considering that the growth of her breasts had yanked the top up off of her midsection. "Haa~aahh...ffh.." She huffed air in and out for a moment, blinking her eyes and getting her bearings, before managing to see the blue-haired wolf-boy standing before her with the brightest blush on his adorable face. "Heheh..!" At that, she couldn't help but giggle.

"Soo...what do you think?" she said, crossing her arms under her new bust and leaning down until her face was nearly right across from hers. Her voice was around mid-range for a woman, high enough to be cute but deep enough to seem mature. "Do I look...all right, as a werewolf? To you?" She said this with a huge grin, knowing full well what the answer was.

"Uhh...y-yeah...but...whyyyy did you turn into a girl? That's not uh..n-not a normal, part, of turning into a werewolf."
"It's not!" Milo stood up straight again, enjoying the feeling of her breasts bouncing slightly from the sudden motion. "But to make turning werewolf safer, some of the power has to go somewhere...or, something like that. I don't know all the details about how the magic works. But—not to deceive you or anything—it's not like it had to change my sex. That's just...the kind of potion I got. The kind I wanted."
"Uh. Rh. Really?"
"Yeah! I mean..."

Milo took a couple of small steps forward, close enough that she could lift her hand and easily place it on Elliot's cheek. She was briefly worried he'd bat her hand off or back away, but he didn't—instead only blushing brighter. "I like you—and, you said you like me. So I just thought...for now..." She gently ran her hand up and down his cheek as she spoke. "If you want to a be a guy that badly..maybe we could date this way instead!"
"Erm..d-date?"
"You know. Do stuff as a brand new couple. If you're..okay with that?" she said, feeling her head tilt slightly. Her hand had wandered up off of the wolf-boy's cheek toward one of his ears, and at this point semi-accidentally stroked the base of that ear.
"Rrufh! Uh..um. I'd, really, really like that, actually," he admitted. "Mrrfh..."

With that, he leapt up at her, putting his arms around her in a hug. Milo found her reflexes to be significantly faster than expected; she caught him effortlessly, and got to enjoy the feeling of her huge new breasts squishing into the wolf-boy's chest. "Mmfh!" And then she got something much better than that, as Elliot wasted no time in pressing his lips against hers, initiating a kiss. "Mmh!" She cried out happily in a high, soft voice, holding him closely with one hand and stroking the other down his long, soft hair—just like she'd imagined doing a few times before that week! Naturally, she returned the kiss too, letting him dictate the pace. "Mmm~mmnnn~nnnh..." When he made it more passionate or intense, she ramped things up to match him; when he pulled back a little, she went along with that, too.

Perhaps werewolves could hold their breaths for longer, too? All Milo knew was that they were both completely out of breath by the time Elliot let her out of the kiss, and were left rapidly panting hot breath into each other's cheeks for perhaps an entire minute. Near the end of that, she felt Elliot's hand gently playing its way through the fur of her ears, making her shiver just a bit with delight. "Mrrfh."

"Thih...this is nice. I definitely like this," Milo said. "You..hff..always been this bold?"
"I dunno...I think I've just been holding onto that for two or three days," Elliot admitted.
"Wee~eellll, I like it." She pecked him on the cheek, then another one a little closer to his lips, then her lips landed straight on his again, and they drew together into a much briefer, but no less pleasant, second kiss. "Haffh...obviously..you like it too, huh?"
"Mmhmm."

Milo leaned in again, so that their noses barely touched. "You've got the prettiest bright blue eyes I've ever seen, Elliot~. I've wanted to say so forever, it feels like." She gently stroked a hand down through his hair.
"Oh...h-heh..y-your eyes are really beautiful too..n-now that I'm getting a really close look. Uh..th-they did turn yellow, but it's..n-nice...rrufh."

He was petting her ears back now. "Mrr~rrfh." So she slid her nose over to his cheek for some brief, mutual nuzzling...before going in for yet a third kiss!

They eventually disengaged enough to eat supper together, but the rest of the evening was full of more making out, petting, and cuddling. It was around half a week more before Elliot was able to remember enough for them to find his home, but he wound up moving in with her—saying that he liked the 'scenery' better. Besides, any town could use a good accountant, too.

---

The two images for this story were generated. Actually, the background details that the first one came with are a large part of what initially inspired this story as a whole.

A Summoning, Part LIII

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Part LIII
~Hermit~

Bill sat up slowly in bed, lifting her legs a bit to free her tail along the way and felt the weight of some long, soft tresses of deep black hair falling about halfway down her back. The strange occurrences of the day before paled in comparison to that dream, followed by waking up in a body which seemed in every possible way to match the description "young woman". Still unsure whether any of this was even real, or if that strange dream was simply continuing, she obeyed an instinctive need to stretch, first reaching up toward the ceiling and then slowly arching herself backwards. "Mrr~rrh." A low purr rumbled in her throat as she slowly realized that her present posture could be the envy of some yoga experts. Then she pulled herself around and dropped off of the bed onto her feet. This...was feeling more real by the second, as the sunlight coming in through her bedroom window took away her lingering drowsiness.

"Pffh...heheh.." She turned her head downward to get a realy good look at herself, bringing her hands around to feel. "Well, ain't this a pretty big surprise. There's really nothin' down there...those are some real nice legs, though." She seemed to have retained all of the strength she'd had as an older man, which presented as some fairly solid muscle tone here and there. "And just look at these curves..and these knockers! Whoo! Not to mention...all this haaaiir...!" At this point her right hand made it up into those locks to brush through them. This was all, definitely, very much real.

"I believe I really do like this. Pretty odd, though—I must be half a foot shorter 'r more. Not to mention this tail..." At her command, it came around in front of her, landing in the palm of a hand and sliding down across it. "Mrr~rrh. Guess I really am part kitty cat or somethin'. I oughta get a good look at all this in a mirror!"

Feeling younger and more energetic than she had at any point the previous day—or, maybe the previous three to four decades—she scampered off to the bathroom to admire herself in the mirror, giving a few quick poses and feeling up certain parts of herself again with some light giggling. This was where she realized that her eyes had turned a bright, golden yellow, and some of her teeth had grown a little longer and sharper, becoming some feline fangs. A body this nice...well, it was hard to say if she could actually attract a woman like this, but it'd certainly attract someone anyway!

"Hmm." The catgirl slowly dropped her arms back to the sides. If this was real, that was wonderful, but it also introduced a lot of complications. Nobody who know 'Bill' would ever recognize the young, beautiful feline lady in the mirror as the same person! But then it occurred to her that the nice woman who'd helped her out the day before, with buying jeans...also sported the exact same sort of kitty ears and tail as herself. How she hadn't noticed them then was beyond her, but they'd definitely been there! So...she could fill out a sick-leave form online with the university, then head to the shop and hope to run into that person, who might know something about what she should do. Or, at least, might have some chance of believing her story.

That posed another minor issue, of course: Bill certainly couldn't go outside wearing only underwear and a shirt! She turned and headed for the chest of drawers in her bedroom, thinking to just make creative use of an oversized t-shirt and a belt to at least get decent, and found another surprise. The first t-shirt she pulled out...had shrunk! It was the same design and everything, but seemed perfectly sized for her new form. Looking deeper, she found shorts and—somehow—skirts that seemed made to fit her, too! There were entire dresses in her closet! And finally turning her attention to the underwear drawer, all of the male-fit undergarments had been replaced by lingerie not unlike what she had on now..plus plenty of bras that a quick little test seemed to suggest were fitted to her new bosom. So..that was at least one complication that her new looks created, which seemed to have somehow solved itself!

She could question how or why that had happened later, though. For the moment, the catgirl went off to the computer to file her sick day, deciding at the same time that a quick shower and breakfast could also precede heading out to try and find that mystery woman who might have some idea of what she could do to keep her job and identity in the wake of this drastic change to her appearance.

---

"Heey Jack."
"Uh—whoa! Hi." It took the werewolf a second to recognize the person who'd suddenly approached him out in the campus courtyards. The body, clothes, and face were the same, but his hair was a big floof out to his shoulders, and blue, his eyes were red, and he had the ears and tail—two matching tails—of a fox. "Llllogan?"
"Yeah, it's me." He sighed. "Look, I've already been through this with my roommate, so—I'm gonna try to speedrun this part. Late yesterday afternoon, I 'awoke'" (he used his fingers for airquotes with this word) "as a kitsune. Someone who was around to see it happen helped read me in on all this...magic and veil stuff. But, man—I already knew you had furry ears and a tail. I just had no idea why."

"Wha—really? Uh, how long—?"
"Since we've met." He crossed his arms. "I've been able to see this stuff since freshman year."

"Oh wow. Uh, I can't imagine. I mean—I've been, you know, a werewolf my whole life. Dude, I'm sorry."
"No, it's fine." He dropped his arms again. "I mean—I think I get it. It's supposed to be really important to keep this veil thing up, so, it's not like you had a choice. Aaaand I guess I did a pretty good job of hiding what I knew, too. So, look—let's put this behind us, and help me feel a little less weird and awkward about it. I just—have a tail now, and I guess some kind of fox superpowers."
"Okay, uh, sure."

"C'mon, let's walk and talk. I'm hungry."
"Oh, yeah—me too, dude." Logan led the way toward the cafeteria; that was where Jack had been headed himself.

"I'm a little curious about something, though, since that is out in the open now.."
"Oh, yeah, what?"
"I swear I'm not asking this to make fun of you—I've got some, uh, follow-up questions, is all. Your hot date last week...did she turn you into a girl?"

"Uh." Being asked flat-out like that, and being a terrible liar in the first place, Jack hesitated only briefly before deciding that honesty made the most sense. "Kiiindaaa? I mean, it's more—like, there's more to it than that. Like, she's an alchemist—you, know—"
"I know what an alchemist is, yeah. Makes magic potions and stuff."
"Right. So—she had this really specific one she wanted someone to test, and agreed to pay for a dinner..or, maybe more than one, if I did it. This potion, uh..like, you know how werewolves can change between a 'human' and 'wolf' form, right?"
"Let's just assume I understand that," he said with a slight nod.

"Yeah. It—lets a werewolf go between male and female the same way. Pretty much."

"So, you spent the date in that girl form...to, help test this potion?"

"Yeah, pretty much. Make sure it's stable and...stuff."
"Did you..enjoy the date that way?"

"Well, it wasn't any worse. I mean—she wasn't any less gorgeous. Or dominant, or...uh." He could feel a slight blush coming on when he thought about all of the physical contact...and the petting at the end!

"I guess I mean...being turned into a girl is, weird, right?"
"Yeah. Super weird. But..."
"You had to, because you were testing that potion? Or, you wanted to because she wanted you to?"
"I dunno. Maybe something like that. I'd have to say...by the end of the date, it wasn't so bad."

"You have another one coming up, right?"
"Oh, yeah, uh—this Friday, so—tomorrow," he said, needing a second to realize it was that soon already.

"Think she'll want you to be a girl for that one too?"
"I dunno? I kinda hope not."

"Have you..turned into a girl, since the date?"
"Uh. Yeah. Couple times. In my dorm room. You know, just—back and forth. I'd feel pretty dumb if she asks me whether it's still working the same and I've got no answer 'cause I never tested."

"Yeah, makes sense. Sorry for the weird questions."

"Uh, it's fine." It seemed like Logan had gotten whatever he wanted out of them anyway. "I mean—there must be a ton of stuff like that, that magic comes with, that seems super weird to you!"

"Yeah, man. I mean like—actual, literal gods that people can just, talk to?! Apparently fox people get to elect one, too..."

---

Thursday after sunset, Jess knocked on Prama's dorm room door. "It's me," she said after a second with no answer.
"Oh. Come in."

While she had officially changed roommates, Jess had 'conveniently' forgotten to return the key to her previous room—which was now Prama's alone. The little genius was fine with this, as it saved her the inconvenience of actually going to the door. So Zotha's high priestess let herself in, shutting the door behind her. Prama was sitting on her knees on the bed, arms around one of her stuffed animals, her head peeking past the top of it to see the portable console she was playing.

"What's up? News? Official business?"
"Uh, not really. I just wanted to see how you were doing."
"Well, I'm perfectly fine. No homework or studying left to do right now. Just finished a shift of alchemy." Aside from a brief glance or two toward Jess, her eyes were still glued to the game's screen.
Jess crossed the room to go sit in the computer chair. "You know, your answers get shorter and blunter when you're in a bad mood. Did you dislike last week's excursion that much?"
"Huh? No, I nearly forgot that happened. It was fun, actually."

"You want to go again?"
"I guess..but, not tonight."

She counted out fifteen seconds for her former roommate to say something else, then said, "You know I really do want to help out, right? I guess I can't blame you if you don't trust me these days."
"Don't start getting histrionic. We all get it—Zotha changed you into a nice and wonderful person, and Riana was always good, and Cameron's as clueless as ever, and Anika has no more of a backbone than before, despite her spine extending into no less than four separate tails now. So we're all alignment-good now."

"I think the intelligence you traded for has you smarter than me these days. I can't quite follow your point," Jess said. This was about half a lie, but Prama would feel better if she expressed her frustration properly instead of having someone else infer it.

The bespectacled girl sighed, pausing her game and lowering it slowly, turning her eyes Jess's way with a familiar, annoyed expression that said 'I'm onto you, but playing along anyway.' "I met someone new last Friday. Guy by the name of Logan. Anika told me this guy could awaken as a kitsune, so I thought I'd 'help him along'. The awakening turned him into a girl, and Anika helped her turn back."
"I'm following you so far," she said with a slight nod.

"She was obviously uncomfortable being a girl, and relieved to be back to normal. But I liked her that way, and felt disappointed when he'd turned back."

"Okay..?" Jess shrugged slightly.

Prama set her console down next to her. "...You remember what I wanted, back when you and Zotha were granting everyone's wishes."
"Certainly. Are you..disappointed with the results, after these past few weeks?"
"Hardly. But—maybe because of it, I can see beyond myself a little bit better than before. Only, all that's helped me do is realize that I'm fundamentally, immutably selfish.

"I wanted to feel one of Logan's tails, and I guess I bullied her into letting me do it. It was..it felt as nice as I thought it would." She ran a hand up and down the stuffed animal she was still hugging, then closed that hand around one side of it, moving her other hand to grab the other side. "When I really thought about it afterward, the reason I was disappointed she changed back, was because I thought it was a shame to lose someone—more like something—so cute and fluffy. Like she was mine in the first place to be losing." Prama's grip grew steadily tighter as she spoke, and at this point she lifted it up a couple of inches. "Ridiculous!" And in a surprising show of strength, she threw it across the room, making it hit the wall opposite the bed with a light thunk.

Jess turned her head toward the stuffed animal as it lightly landed on the floor, bouncing just once. Maybe throwing it across the room didn't require that much strength after all. Then she slowly turned back Prama's way to find her friend with her glasses off, wiping a few tears from her eyes with a sleeve. "Awwh, Prama...you're not so bad. Realizing there's something rotten about yourself is a step in the right direction! If you know what you want changed, then you can work to change it, right?"

"I have no idea how. My mind works how it works."
"I can at least try to help you. But, in the first place—what's so horrible about being selfish?"

Prama sniffed, visibly willing herself to stop crying so she could put her glasses on and glare back at Jess, hard.

"You need me. To explain that. To you?"

"I mean, obviously there is such a thing as taking it too far...but in the very first place, you said you wanted 'everyone you care about well taken care of'—wasn't that it? Caring about even a few other people, and wanting them to have better lives, is a much better form of selfishness than I had. And you're no 'spoiled-brat' type of selfish, either. You could easily get a steady supply of money and stuff from Zotha and me, but instead you want to earn everything by your own efforts, and even give something back. You even frowned at me every time I presented you with a little gift lately, just out of a sense of friendship."

Prama sighed. "That's just—I want to be self-reliant. I don't even trust you, or our wonderful goddess, to give me the things I want forever."
"You can't tell me you don't enjoy learning new things, and applying that knowledge."
"Yeah, sure. So—I do it because I like to."

"Well, there's nothing wrong with that! As long as what you 'like to do' benefits other people, or at least doesn't harm them. There's nothing wrong at all with a little bit of mutual benefit."

Jess hopped off of the chair, went and picked up the stuffed animal, then brought it back over to the bed, placing it in front of Prama. "There's no need to be so hard on yourself. Just be honest."

Prama stared her down for a long moment, then sighed. "You still have the same way with words. And I can hardly keep a pity party up with you looking at me like that. Fine, honesty."

"Now tell me: Do you like Logan? As a girl, as a boy, whichever?"
"Uh. I don't know." She blushed, but shrugged forcefully.

"You wanted to feel one of her tails. Are they less fluffy as a man?"
"Nope."

"Well, then, you can be honest with him. Tell him what you told me, apologize if you have to. We've gotten to know quite a few people with fuzzy ears and tails lately, you know—maybe he actually enjoyed it, a little tiny bit?"

Prama's blush grew a little brighter. "Er—maybe. I guess it'd be better than making things more awkward between us. I still..want his help with my business idea. Mutual benefit—right." She nodded, slowly, leaning forward to pick up the stuffed animal into a hug again. "He'd make plenty of money too, if everything works out the way I've planned it..."

Jess smiled. "That's the spirit!"

---

Valoz came to the front of her business to open it, and found a potential customer already waiting outside: A pretty, dark-haired Neko girl wearing tight jeans and a t-shirt. "Hey, come on in. We're just now opening," she said, pulling the door opening and gesturing to come inside. "Not all of our workers are ready quite yet, but I can help you out if you need anything."

The catgirl regarded Valoz with a long stare that the Mammon had grown somewhat used to over the past few weeks—since that new goddess Zotha's ascension. She was pretty sure she knew what it meant by now, but let the other party make the first move. "Er, sorry. Ain't seen nobody living with blue skin before," she said, finally heading through the offered door. "Don't mean to be rude."
"Oh, that's all right. I'm the manager here, so—I'm in my office pretty often."
"Well, in that case—don't suppose you know of a lady who works for you, by the name of Graham? Kitty ears like mine, but white? Two tails?"
"I certainly do know who you mean, but if you're looking for her specifically, I'm afraid this is a day off for her," Valoz said. Thinking about it, this girl had the aura of that freshly-empowered Nekomata's magic practically seeping off of her.

The dark-haired Neko looked only briefly disappointed, before visibly getting an idea. "Oh, well—I suppose you might be able to help me all the same," she said. "Erh, how do I put this—I came in here yesterday to buy some jeans. This pair to be specific, actually," she said, gesturing to what she was wearing. "They fit me fine yesterday, and now they still fit me. Even though I seem to be some twenty or thirty years younger than I was..and of the opposite, ehh, persuasion?"

"I see...and I guess your tail must be an equally new addition?" Valoz said, and received a quick nod in response. There was a slight tendency for powerful foxes and cats to want to make 'more' of themselves out of unsuspecting humans...really, she wasn't certain if it was intentional or some kind of sneaky instinct one wasn't even aware of. Demons certainly didn't do this kind of thing! Whatever the case...this wasn't a problem she had to solve herself. "I can point you the right way, then. It might be tricky to change you back—that fur of yours is especially here to stay, I'm afraid—but there are some folks whose job it is to help people in situations like yours." While she spoke, she smoothly produced one of her own business cards and a pen, then scribbled an address and phone number onto a part intentionally left blank, pointing to it with a finger as she held it in front of the catgirl.

"I see...well, I can't say I'm disappointed if all this is here to stay," the Neko said with a bright grin. She gently took the offered card, staring at the part Valoz had written for a moment. "It'd just be awful inconvenient if I lost my job or liscense or such to it."
"Right, that's exactly the sort of thing they can help you with. It'll be best if you go to them as soon as you can," Valoz said. "Afterward, though—I hope you'll consider our store for any new clothes you need. We have a wide variety of options that support the presence of tails, horns, wings, and so on, which not every store knows how to accommodate."
"Ah, well, sure will. I appreciate it, miss Valoz," the catgirl said with a nod, turning and heading out.

The Mammon wasn't one to be disappointed by a lack of instant profit. At the very least, that now-young woman might feel a small pang of gratitude from the people who pointed her the same way...and, perhaps she had some unconscious understanding that it was Graham who had helped awaken her. If she regarded the new form as entirely a blessing, then surely she'd be back later, even if she didn't need any new clothes.

---

"So..I guess this must be the right place." Logan looked around at the group of people who, with his addition, threatened to overcrowd the little meeting room in the library. Anika was there 'wearing' the same very convincing illusion as their first meeting, plus two other kitsune, a tall guy with dark green hair and creepy lizard eyes, and a short girl with white hair and conspicuous feathered wings.

"That's right. Everyone, this is Logan," 'Andrew' said, gesturing. "Recently-awakened kitsune."
"Aww, you got to start with two? I just earned my second one a couple of weeks ago!" said the one obviously-female kitsune present.

"Some people just have more potential than others," the dark-haired one said gently. "Think about it this way: He didn't earn his first one until just now. Hey, I'm Steph," he added, offering Logan a hand to shake. "I hear you were stuck half-under the veil, too. Must've been a little rough."
"Yeah...you could put it that way," he said, taking the handshake. "Anyway—I just wanna be clear about this: I don't really get the appeal of messing with people, but Andrew helped me out, so I'm repaying the favor. When uh..I first 'awoke' or whatever, it turned me into a girl for some reason, and he helped me turn back."

"I know how that is," the green-haired guy said. "I'm Thomas, this is Stella," he added, gesturing to the girl with the wings, who gave an honest-to-goodness curtsy Logan's way. "Hey, why does that happen, anyway?" he went on to ask her.

"There can be a number of different reasons," the winged girl said. "In your case and mine, it's likely due to lady Zotha's involvement more than anything else. But more generally, it could have to do with one's subconscious, personal desires, or ancestry. Perhaps your kitsune descendants are all on your mother's side?" she suggested to Logan, tilting her head slightly.

"Uh, how would that even work? Like, my X chromosome specifically is part fox or something? Complete with encoding for light blue hair and red eyes?"

"The creation of one's soul involves those of both parents," Stella said, with the air of an experienced expert on the subject. "In that way, one's soul contains information about one's ancestry for quite a long way back—similar to one's DNA. Actually, it's more robust, since transformative magic can always alter DNA. However, any individual person can only be one thing at a time—there are no 'half-demons', or 'half-kitsune', or such."

"Uh, so—you're a 'celestial', right?" Logan asked. "Like, an angel person?" Stella nodded. "But, no halo?"
"Oh, I can have a halo if I want," she said, gesturing gently above her head to make a golden ring of glowing light appear there. "It's an easy enough illusion to make." The halo disappeared again.

"So, what if a celestial and a demon had a kid?"

"The child would most likely be either a human or demon."

"Wait, so, never another celestial?" Thomas asked.

"Oh, no," she said, shaking her head lightly. "Well, there are a few kinds of people who are 'celestial' in nature, with strong talents for that kind of magic—but 'true' celestials such as myself, with wings and intrinsic armaments, cannot be born. We are only created directly by Sol. Even two of my kind would only ever have a human child—or, in very rare cases, the child could awaken into something else in the womb or during birth, I suppose."

"Uh, okay, this is all really fascinating, but we're getting off track," Steph said. "So Andrew explained what we're trying to do, right Logan?"
"Basically—swap two buildings by changing their signs, and making portals that go between them. I assume this is perfectly safe?"
"Yeah. That was my condition for helping," Thomas said. "After the mess that rain caused..."

"The rain...wait, you mean on April fool's day?" Logan asked. "Was that you guys?"

"Just us three," Steph clarified, gesturing to herself and the two fox-people who weren't Logan. "And we only made it rain. The Ruler was the one with the bright idea to have the rain transform people with weak magic resistances."

"You're talking about the 'ruler of foxes', right? Like, the god?"

Steph nodded, "That's the one."
"She thought it'd 'help' Zotha," Anika added. "Or just wanted to give her some extra messes to clean up."

"Suuure, okay.

"Anyway—how, exactly, am I supposed to help with this? I've barely figured out how to do basic illusions at this point."
"Oh, that part is simple," Steph said. "Once we're all together on the day of the prank, and as long as you're willing, I just do a channeling spell so everyone present can donate magic to Andrew to help fuel the effect. It'll involve a lot of sitting around, and probably be slightly tiring having your power spent for a while like that. The method I'm using will stop pulling from you before it'd risk doing any harm. For a newbie like you, 'stretching' your power a little bit like that might even help you get a better feel for it."

"That's great, I guess. At least it'll help Andrew out, anyway."
"Right," 'Andrew' said, nodding. "A little more progress toward that tail."

"So—originally, this meeting was to decide on a day," Thomas said. "Now that the introduction's done, I guess we can still do that?"
"Yeah, of course," Steph said. "Everyone free tomorrow, early to mid-morning? Or at least, got a class you can survive skipping?"

After some brief discussion, they had a time and place hammered out. Steph seemed to have done his research, or just been lucky, to pick a Friday, since everyone could seemingly make it then. He and Andrew had scouted out an ideal location too, somewhere behind the two buildings to be 'swapped'.

On their way out, Logan decided to satisfy a small bit of curiosity he'd felt since meeting everyone. "So, uh, Thomas..."
"Yeah?" The green-haired guy was very tall, enough that even though Logan was back to his original height, he still had to tilt his head down to look the kitsune in the eyes.

"I'm, still really new to this stuff, so I dunno if it's offensive to ask, but...what are you, exactly?"
"Oh, Andrew didn't say? I'm a dragon," he said with a slight shrug. "Earth dragon, specifically. Guess it'd be more obvious if I wasn't practicing maintaining a 'human' form right now. Y'know, without the wings or tail. Or horns."
"Oooooh. Okay." Prama had told Logan that dragons were very rare, and he had the impression they were also extraordinarily, scarily powerful. "Cool. See ya."

---

So, both images of Bill's catgirl form were generated. I was impressed at how relatively easy it was to take an "almost there" image I had for the standing one in this part, which had a couple of details wrong, and just...have it fix those details.