The Next Chapter: 9

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The Next Chapter
Chapter 9: What're You Trying to Do?

Nancy found Jay eating lunch in OZK's dining area on Monday, and came up to sit across from her. "Heya, Jay."
"Oh, hi!" she gave a bright, cute smile.
"How're things going? With, being a girl and all?"
"Oh, fine. I think I might kinda like it?" she said. "Is that weird?"
"I don't think so, but I do come from a pretty weird family," Nancy admitted.

She leaned slightly in toward the fox-girl. "You know, it seems like Ed and L'hoxifel really hit it off. At least, since she became a wolf-girl anyway."
"Yeah!"
"Huh." Nancy sat up slightly again, noting the earnest, cheerful tone of voice, and the immediacy of that response. "So, you're not..."

"Not what?" Jay tilted her head slightly.
"Well, you know. You two have been friends for a long time, haven't you? Isn't it..weird, like, having someone else butt in on that?"
"I'm happy for Ed," she said. "Besides, we're still hanging out a lot!"

"So you're not even a little bit jealous?"

"Nnnoo? What would I be jealous of?"

Nancy shrugged. "I just thought you might be the one who wanted the first shot at her. After how cute she turned out, and all."

"Oh. I mean, yeah, Ed is super cute. But he—or she, or whatever—has always been kinda touchy about uh, touch. Anyway, I'd feel a lot weirder thinking about her that way, you know?"
"I guess that makes sense. Anyway, good to know there won't be any..significant conflict about all that," she said.

"Yeah!" Jay nodded. "Besides—this morning, a really cute guy wanted my number. He says he's a kitsune."
"Uh-huh? I am glad for you, but.." Nancy leaned in slightly again. "You do know they're practically a whole race of like, trolls, right? Maybe he's pulling a prank on you or something."
"I guess that'd just mean I should play along? Anyway, it's just like, a casual meeting or whatever. If he's not serious, it's no big deal—we've barely even met!"

"Faaaiiir enough."

"I just feel like I should look out for our members, is all," Nancy said, giving her best cheerful, winning smile. That wasn't quite how she felt on the inside, of course.

She caught up with Ed on the way to the house Tuesday afternoon—just happening to be headed the same way at around the same time, and all. "Hiiii there!"
"Uh. Hi." The wolf-girl was giving every physical-language signal she possibly could of wanting to be left alone with her thoughts. Nancy just acted oblivious to all of that.
"How're you doooiing? Getting used to being a girl?"
"I don't know if this is something I can really 'get used to'. But, I'm fine despite that," she said. "Like I told you before...I'll keep this up the rest of this week, at least."
"Sure, sure," she nodded. "Hey, it seems like L'hoxifel really likes you!"
"Yyyeah. We, actually went on a date Sunday."

"That's great. Oh, but uh."

Nancy turned her head Ed's way, whispering quietly enough to need those wolf-ears to hear. "Did you know—she used to be a guy back in high school? Used his own power to transform for some reason."
"Uhh, yeah, I knew that. She told me Sunday, before the..um...date." Ed had a cute blush on from having to mention the date again. That was at least something, anyway.

"Oh. That's good," Nancy said, quickly shifting back to a cheerful tone. "I just thought, you know, there might be some empathy there. Although it does seem like she got pretty used to it by now. I guess that could mean there's some hope for you yet!"
"I..guess?"
"Hey, but uh. She is really into anthro girls and stuff. Do yooouuu thiiink she'd still be dating you, if you changed back? Or had someone help you change to a more 'normal human' look as a girl?"
"I dunno. Not like I can read her mind or anything," Ed said, shrugging slightly. This was perfect! She was clearly feigning apathy about the answer to that question, probably especially to herself.
"Well, just a thought I had, is all. Oh, I've gotta get on to class," Nancy announced suddenly, just as they came to the house's front doors. "See ya later!" She dashed off, barely hearing the wolf-girl's response.
"Ssssure."

After interviewing the three prospects, Nancy hurried outside to catch up to the last one to leave. "Hey, Kyo."
"Huh? Oh, hi." He turned to face her; the other two who'd come in with him continued their walk, evidently having already planned to head off in a different direction. Perfect. "Did I forget something?"
"Oh—no no, nothing like that. There's just like, a little thing I realized, a second ago. The other day Jay told meee, that she was dating a guy who said he was a kitsune? I guess it'd be pretty dumb to assume that you're the same person, but some of the details do match up...so I was just curious, is all!"
"Uhhh yeah." He nervously rubbed the back of his head with his left hand. "Funny thing, right after hearing from her and Ed about OZK's whole deal, only for my roommate to just barge in on me and ask me to join with him."

"Don't feel pressured into if you don't want to," she said. "As much as we'd like to have new members, we want people who really wanna be here, too."

"Yeah, of course," he nodded. "I'm still, thinking about it."
"Well, I mean." She put a finger under her chin, smiling. "I guess it would be a pretty funny trick, overall."
"What do you mean?"

"I mean like—if you joined, had the house transform you? Maybe used a different name and some illusions sometimes to still look like a guy? You could be dating Jay while staying in the same house with her. I bet that'd be a pretty impressive deception, right?"
"I..guess?" He said, uncertainly.

"You could probably earn a third tail if you kept it up for a whole year or something," she suggested.

"That...I dunno about that," he said. "It's not that easy to earn a tail, you know."
"Oh, well, I was just speculating," Nancy admitted. "It's not like I have any experience being a kitsune. Just a little thought that occurred to me, is all." She leaned in slightly, conspiratorially, and said a little more quietly: "Hey, if you do wanna do that though—your secret's safe with me."

"Cool. Thanks." He gave her a thumbs up with a fake-looking smile. "I'll, keep that in mind. Anyway, I've got a...thing. To get to."

Nancy watched him leave, feeling like she was maybe one-for-three this week so far. At least she could take some enjoyment in flustering a fox enough for him to give out such a terrible lie.

But she had another shot once she'd walked back into the OZK house and gone through the hallway on the way to the stairs: She nearly ran into Robyn. "Whoop—sorry! Somehow almost didn't see you there," she said.
"That's okay. I think I have like..extra reflexes or something." The purple-haired girl was the one who'd prevented their collision, after all.
"Hey, so—you're a catgirl again?"
"Yyyeah. Camilla swiped my ring," she said, giving a cute little frown and sounding somewhat irritated.
"Isn't that really annoying? I guess I should've asked for the enchantment to include some security. Like, 'only the person wearing it can take it off'. That'll be the plan for the next batch."

"It's not that bad," Robyn said. "I-I mean uh..." She flushed.

"Ooooh. You like it when she does that?"

"Not. I mean. Not as much as like, staying a guy and getting a kiss. But the petting isn't, bad," she admitted. "Uh, anyway—I was just going to the bathroom, we've got a game paused, so I gotta head back."
"Okay, see you later~," Nancy said cheerfully, waving. This one needed a little more time to ripen, she figured, and then she could prod at it a little bit more...

"Dinner was great~!" On Thursday, the demon-girl had cooked for the new members, and everyone else who'd been present for supper. Nancy was helping her clean up. "I still don't get how you got to be such a great cook."

"Like I said, it's all just practice," L'hoxifel said, but her expression didn't quite match the humility of her words.

"Psst, hey...I heard you and Ed are dating?" Nancy said much more quietly.
"A little. I mean, just one 'date' so far, really."

"But, you like her?"

"Yeah?"
"I mean do you really like her?"
"I'm not sure. We did just meet last week, you know."
"Oh, I know. I'm just curious, is all. What made you wanna go on a date in the first place?"

"Honestly? She's really cute, and I'm really hoping for a chance to pet her ears," L'hoxifel said, briefly clasping her hands together with a big, blushing grin at the mere thought of such petting. "After talking to her some, though...I think we'd still definitely be friends, if we'd met under more 'normal' circumstances. She's really smart and clever, and a deep, careful thinker. Puts up a spiky exterior, but that's 'cause she's sensitive and caring deep down. That's the impression I get, anyway."

"Heh. Given that you can read people's emotions, your impressions must be pret-ty accurate, right?"
"Maybe," the demon-girl said, grinning in a way that said that meant 'yes'.

"I bet, someone like that used to be bullied back in high school. Especially with how 'he' looked before."
"Hmm...could be a part of it, yeah. I don't see any reason to bring up unpleasant memories, if so."

"Uh-huuuh..."

"So, are you gonna ask her out again, then?"

"Oh, she asked me out—to be perfectly clear. I figured it's understandable if she needs some time to keep up with school this week. But yeah, if she doesn't make a move soon..maybe tomorrow."
"That's great. Go for it, girl!"

Later that afternoon, another opportunity knocked—or something like that. Nancy was getting a little work done in her room at the time. "Coming!" She went and opened the door to find a tall, extremely curvy woman with short, sky-blue hair, but it was really the wings that confirmed for her who she was most likely speaking to. "Oh—Polaris? Wooow—did you take a five-minute nap or something?"

"I was able to get the enchantment to act on me without sleeping," she said. "Its implementation is quite clever, but I fear a false positive may be possible on just the right sort of person."
"Weeeeell," Nancy shrugged. "I don't really know that much about magic. What I do know is, that enchantment was made by one of the most powerful and talented mages in the world—a member of the original chapter of OZK—and was carefully inspected by like, two or three more experienced experts. It's been tested out, too, before anyone moved in."
"I wouldn't question its safety at all, certainly," Polaris nodded. "But if a man with a particularly weak resistance to magic were to enter this place..."
"Look. If you find someone who'll make a false positive happen, I'm sure the ones who made and tested the enchantment would be interested to see. Maybe hear any ideas you've got about how to fix it. But they're not gonna take my word for it without any evidence," she said.
"Oh, certainly," the winged girl said with a small nod. "I only meant to mention that in passing anyway. The true reason for my visit is that I do find myself in a different physical form as a result," she said, gently gesturing at her own appearance.

"Ah, yes. Heh, well, I've got some free time if you're saying you'd like to go shopping for clothes and stuff now. I sure wouldn't want to put up with jugs like those unbound for very long, that's for sure."
"Would you believe there's a spell for that? But I would certainly appreciate it all the same."

With that, they headed to the store. Polaris had such an incredibly straightforward, readable personality that it made Nancy second-guess herself. What if it was a mask over something else? But even if so, the commitment to the mask seemed strong enough that planning around that displayed personality should still work out just fine.

"I guess it doesn't bother you at all, to live in the same house as a demon?" Nancy asked, curious.
"Please. You've seen a hint of Mary's power. If dark powers disturbed me, we would not be friends," Polaris said. "Besides, greater demons are 'human', and all celestials are made with Sol's unerring respect and care for 'humanity'."

"Do any of them, like, lose that?"
"There have been several such cases, naturally. Those who truly lost their way and began using their power for harm were either rehabilitated or slain."
"Uhh huh. So—you and Mary. Seriously just friends? Nothing more?"
"Indeed. Frankly, neither of us has the slightest romantic inclination toward anyone, least of all each other. That's actually quite fortunate in her case; the extreme emotions that may arise from such an attachment would be exceedingly dangerous."

"To her?"
"Oh, no—she'd be perfectly fine. Everyone around her, however, might not survive a significant outburst."
"I see..." Nancy made a mental note to tread carefully around the goth girl. Well, miss emotionless had seemed like a lost cause from the start anyway.

After getting undergarments sorted, Polaris started eagerly grabbing outfits to try on. She first came out of the changing room in a bright blue dress that trailed all the way down to the ankles.

"What do you think? Does this not accentuate my immaculate beauty?"

"It's a good look," Nancy admitted, "but uh..not very practical, you know?"

"I have a more sensible wardrobe picked out, worry not. But I see no reason not to indulge a little."
"Sure." Nancy was feeling especially grateful right now that this was one of her elder sister Valencia's stores.

Polaris saw fit to show off a few more of her outfits, although how long she took in the changing room in between those suggested she was at least trying most everything on for size. Eventually she came out in a kimono top and some stockings...just the top.

"What do you think of this one?"

"Uhh. You're supposed to wear a hakama with that. Where'd you even find that in the store?"

"Oh, very well, I confess—this is an illusion." With a small wave of her hand, the top disappeared, seeming to reveal "behind" it some more normal clothes: A tank top and some jean-shorts.

"I thought I might wear these out. Practical enough for your liking?"
"Yeah, sure. So, you're done shopping?"
"I believe I've selected a wardrobe sufficient to enhance my natural physical perfection by now," she said, nodding.

"Great. Let's go check out."

"Hey, how good are you with illusions, anyway? I thought that was a kitsune thing," Nancy said while they were waiting to check out.

"I am a natural at all forms of magic," Polaris said (rather predictably), but she did elaborate after that. "I became interested in illusions after meeting my roommate, however—previous roommate, that is. Kyosuke. There's a surprising variety of ways they can be implemented; many foxes use entirely different methods from each other without even realizing it. Some are certainly more effective than others—consider the difference between an illusion you can only see, versus one that you can hear or touch. Naturally I prefer the sort that are the most difficult to tell from reality."

"Of course." Now she was on to something. "So you could, like, make yourself look completely different, without doing any actual transforming? Or someone else, for that matter?"
"I certainly could."

"Make someone think they were eating or drinking something when they were just swallowing air?"
"In theory; I can't say I've attempted something like that."

"I guess static objects that aren't really there is basically trivial, then."
"So long as I know what the object is meant to look like, feel like, sound like, smell, taste like..."
"Taste? If you're faking a lamp or something, I'm sure you don't need that!"

"Ah, but if it were food or drink then I would," Polaris said.
"Yeah, that makes sense."

After the clothes, they bought a few other necessities, and then they were on their way back to the chapter house. The sun had long since set by now, but the streets were well-lit. Anyway, Nancy could defend herself just fine, and she was pretty sure that celestials were all created with the power to summon weapons out of thin air or something.

"So you have zero interest in romance, ever?" she asked the winged woman.

"Well now, I didn't say that. Only that I have yet to meet anyone I'm so inclined towards," Polaris said.
"What do you think would make someone attractive to you?"
"Hmm. At the very least, it must be someone who appreciates how perfect I am. Then again, that is only natural for most people. I suppose I would also be interested in, hmm...a challenge. Yes."
"A 'challenge'?"

"If someone were infatuated with me upon a single glance—not that I would blame them—then it would give me no opportunity to demonstrate my exceptional talents. But someone difficult to impress, well, winning a person such as that over would prove how irresistibly perfect I really am."

"That sounds like the opposite of what you said the first time. Wouldn't a 'challenging' person be unimpressed by you at first?"
"Hmm, you are correct. I suppose I mean...perhaps, someone who at least understands my excellence intellectually, but must be won over emotionally.

"..Since we are on the subject, how about yourself?"
"Me? Oh, I don't think love works quite that way," Nancy said. "It's not something you look for or plan for. It ambushes you when you least expect it. The person who makes you feel that way could have any personality, any looks, any interests. Naturally, it helps if you're compatible in those ways, but it's not dependent on any of them. And I'm still waiting to be ambushed, myself."

"Interesting theory..."

Polaris didn't really seem to know what she wanted, but Nancy had a very good idea of the kind of person who would be a perfect match. Mary was clearly unimpressed by the celestial, but their friendship was deep and close (devoid of attraction as it was). Someone so vainglorious would be best paired with someone equally unimpressed, but also a little more aggressive. Someone who could and would deflate that big ego on a regular basis...

Well, she could be on the lookout for someone like that, then. In the meantime, she was already getting some ideas of how to make use of the angel-girl's self-proclaimed capabilities. It'd be no good to put on a show before it was ready, of course, but once she had the script all put together...then the fun could really begin.

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And this is it: The final part of this story that I completed before deciding to actually go back and edit and publish what I had! Here we finally get a glimpse of what Nancy's all about, and she is...not at all like her older brother. Anyway, I got lots of good results for Polaris wearing various kinds of clothes, so decided to use three of them. They don't all have the color of her wings quite right (it's supposed to be pure white, not the blue of her hair), but we can just say that's the lighting or something, I guess.

The Next Chapter: 8

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The Next Chapter
Chapter 8: How Does It Work?

Kyo met up with Jay on Thursday morning for breakfast. They'd agreed to this over texts early into the day before, since her roommate had an early class anyway, but this meeting now had an additional and (as far as he was concerned) rather important purpose. "Hey! Still looking as beautiful as before," he said, coming up to her.
"Awwh, thanks," she blushed. "You uh, look great too?"
"Hahah. I could've told you that," he said, smiling back. Maybe a little of Polaris's vanity had rubbed off on him, but Kyo knew that he did look pretty good.

They went and sat down after a bit. "So uh..I've got some..news," he said.
"Uh-huh? You seem a little nervous about it," the fox-girl observed. "Something wrong?"
"Weeelll uh, I wouldn't say wrong exactly, but. Lemme just say how it happened," he said. "You've met uh, Polaris, right? Angel dude?"
"Yeah! I gave them a tour of OZK last Sunday," she said, nodding.
"Riiight. So that guy, is actually my roommate. And he didn't tell me anything about OZK until literally yesterday afternoon, when he announced that he was planning to join you guys."

"Oh, he is? That's great! I guess I gave a pretty good tour~," she said, smiling. Kyo truly hated to spoil such a pretty, happy face, but he really needed to let her know this...

"Uh yeah. The thing is—he kinda wants me to join with him? Even dragged me along to talk to your, like, boss lady."

"Boss? Oh, you mean Nancy?" she said. "So you wanna join too?!" her question seemed happily eager, not worried or upset. Kyo had to pause in surprise at such a completely, unexpectedly positive reaction.

"Uuuhh...maybe? I mean—I was thinking. Or just like, you know. Since we went on a date and all. It wouldn't be too uh, awkward, for that to happen?"
She tilted her head a bit; he wondered if the implications of him joining just hadn't occurred to her. "I don't think so? I mean, Ed's dating someone else in the sorority, so I dunno what the problem would be. We'd be in different bedrooms and stuff, after all."

"Yyyyeah, okay, sure. But, I'd also—you know—get turned into a girl, right? And, that wouldn't bother you?"
"Nope~!"

Her response was so immediate, and so cheerful, too. Kyosuke felt like he was being tricked by a higher-ranking kitsune. This wasn't at all how he'd expected this conversation to go; in fact, if she'd found the whole idea too awkward, he'd been fully prepared to just tell Polaris and his terrifying friend that he wouldn't be coming along with them.

"Heheh..you've got a pretty funny look on your face, there," she pointed out.
"Uhh. It's just, like, wow. I'd expect you to feel at least a little weird about it," he said, shrugging.
"Well, I mean like—there's a whole thing where you can just borrow a magic ring to turn back whenever anyway, except when you're asleep. Didn't Nancy mention that part?" Jay asked.
"I...don't think she did." Maybe it was part of the 'legal details and stuff' that miss Tanner had promised to go over with the three of them 'later on'.

"Besides, I bet you'd be super cute as a girl," Jay continued.

"Oh, uh...y-you think?" It was a little strange, but Kyo's mind and body alike both responded to this like it was a compliment about his looks from a cute girl he liked. It technically was that, in some ways, but it also really wasn't.

"Yeah! I mean, there's definitely some 'cute' in your looks already anyway, and you've got some really fluffy tails too," she said.

"Uh..h-heheh." He really wasn't used to being on the back foot like this, but that didn't mean he disliked it. "It's just, uh, e-even if I was, wouldn't it be weird for us to go on another date or something?"

"I don't think so?" she said. "I mean—I was a guy literally last week, soo, it's not like I've stopped liking the looks of a cute girl."
"Oh...yeah. I guess that makes sense," Kyo said. He had to admit, he'd nearly forgotten that fact of Jay's history already. She just seemed to 'wear' a female form so naturally and well that he figured anyone could be convinced she'd been born with it.

Jay leaned slightly in, talking fairly quietly. "If I could admit something a little weird, you know..."

"Yeah?"
"A part of me really wanted to pick Ed up in a big hug and pet her when I first saw her new looks. She's really cute, after all. But, like, since she's my friend and I know Ed's always been really touchy about, uh, being touched—I didn't. But, if you turned into a cute girl, you wouldn't mind that, right?"

Wow, Kyo's heart was racing now. He'd never imagined either of things things happening before—him being a girl or being 'hugged and pet' by someone else—but the concept of Jay doing that sounded really nice. "Uh...y-yeah. I think I'd like it, even," he admitted.

"Heheh..." Jay was blushing a little bit too, at least, as she nervously leaned herself back upright again. "So—then, you should totally join us!" she said.

"Okay, y-yeah. You've convinced me.

"Uhm...Polaris and Mary are planning to move in this afternoon, but Nancy said those of us who are uh...getting turned into girls...should leave some time open the next morning to get clothes and stuff. A-and I've got classes in the morning tomorrow, so, I guess I'll show up tomorrow night, then?"

"Great~! I'll look forward to it," Jay said.

"Yeah..." Now he was really looking forward to it, too.

---

"You know something?" Polaris asked, busily unpacking his bags.
"I know a lot of things," Mary retorted. She'd already finished unpacking, and was sitting leaning on the headboard of her bed playing on her handheld game machine. "Be more specific."
"I didn't mean it as a—oh, never mind," he said. "I was thinking, since it may yet be a long while before I can examine the inner workings of this building's enchantment...I ought to study it as carefully as I possibly can now, from the outside."
Mary didn't say anything for a while, and then finally graced him with a soft "Uh-huh."

"It's just that, it would be quite difficult to get a close observation of something while unconscious. But I believe I can do better."
"You always do," she said. "What's the idea?"

"It's quite simple, really," he said, going over to his bed. "There are only so many ways that an enchantment can detect whether someone was asleep. Does it mean 'in bed with eyes closed'? Apparently not, since evidently Robyn was affected while napping on a couch. So it must be some sort of detection of consciousness, or conscious thought." He sat down near the foot of it. "I expect that a sufficient depth of meditation will suffice instead, and allow me to experience the enchantment's effects while fully awake and aware."

"'Kay. You gonna do that now?"

"I don't see why not. If my theory is incorrect, I shall have to think of something else, in which case I should ensure I have as much time as possible for that," he said.

"You, want me to leave, then?"
"Not at all! If anything, it would bee better to have another pair of eyes on things. You may perceive something about the enchantment that I miss," he said.

"'Kay."

Polaris was pretty good at meditation, if he said so himself. It was a necessary component for certain applications of magic, after all, such as astral projection. He didn't require a specific environment or bodily position; he could get into a proper "thinking-less" state fairly quickly as long as there wasn't something more or less trying to distract him. In this case, he simply remained seated at the edge of the bed, his legs hanging off the front of it and his feet on the floor, and focused on a spot on the wall. For sound, he took up the partially-repetitive noise from Mary's game machine as she continued playing it: Sound from the speakers, soft clicking as her fingers continually pressed the buttons. As for touch, there was the slight warmth of the late-afternoon sun coming on from the window to the left of his bed. Something like that could lull a less alert person (or just about any Neko) to sleep, he figured. With these ingredients, he only needed a brief moment to push all thoughts out of his mind, focusing on the sight, sound, and touch. Then he was able to push away those sensations themselves as well, fading them out one by one, until it was very nearly...nothing at all.

The reason certain magics required a state like this, or were benefited by it, was partially because a mind currently refusing to acknowledge thoughts from within, and physical signals from without, could much more easily feel magic—both within and without. And, in this state, Polaris could easily feel the full extent of the enchantments on the building surrounding him. Sensing its flow all about, he found that it wasn't presently encroaching upon him to effect any sort of change yet. Even a brief period of ignoring those magic-based sensations produced no apparent shift in that ambient aura, which pushed him toward the conclusion that this wasn't quite how it detected sleep, or at least not all of it.

A little more observation, and he was pretty sure he had it. The enchantment was gently but noticeably flowing around, especially around the people in the building: Himself and Mary particularly, in this room, but he could actually tell just about where the other members of OZK were from the way that flow went around them. It was almost like it was probing, feeling for something specific...and that was it!

How did it know whether to transform someone at all, in the first place? It had to tell whether the person in question was male or female. Those two types of body, while largely the same magically, had at least some differences that arose entirely from the physical form; this had to be the case, or else witches and warlocks having access to their magic only while physically the "correct" sex would make absolutely no sense. And it had to tell whether he was asleep, but there was a much easier solution than trying to detect whether someone was conscious or not. Put simply: A sleeping person's guard is down. This would be true not only physically, but also magically; there had to be, Polaris concluded, a particular way in which one's magic resistance dropped while asleep, and that was what the enchantment was "feeling" for. In which case...

Getting it to change him—or for that matter anyone else—while fully awake and alert, was only a matter of lowering one's resistance in that particular way. Polaris, of course, knew quite a bit about how to raise his resistance to external magic, and generally had much better defenses than the common person, but needing to bring it down was something new. It was all the same principle, however, and he had the reactions of the enchantment itself to guide him. He pushed or prodded things just a little bit in what seemed like the right direction, and could tell he had succeeded when the enchantment's flow, for lack of better terminology, seemed more "interested" in him than before. Within a moment or so of reaching his conclusion, Polaris was able to invite the transformative magic in, with the satisfaction of having "fooled" it into "thinking" that he really was asleep.

Once it was flowing into him, it was quite the flood. Any individual not extremely magically capable and powerful would have a hard time pushing this effect out once it had started. Polaris came up out of his meditation to the physical sensation of a faint tingling all over his skin, and the feeling of the magic flowing into him already teasing its way outward again, causing the hairs of his head to slowly grow longer while his facial and body hair were thinned and shortened away.

"Ah...! I've got it," he said. "Easy enough for...mmh..." He shuddered slightly; the inward flow from the house's enchantment had suddenly stopped, and now what felt like his own power had started pressing his form inward, making him start to shrink. "for one of my~y caliber to figure out how it all wo~orks," he finished, his voice cracking slightly as it started to change. In fact, it really did seem to be his own magic transforming him. Rather than effecting a change from outside, the house's enchantment "empowered" the affected person by flowing itself into him, then semi-forced a transformative spell out of him using the inflowed magic as the spell's power source. What a fascinatingly clever way to go about it, Polaris thought!

"Mmh..aa~aah..." He only barely noticed some soft vocalizations coming out in a steadily changing voice. On the one hand, he was busy thinking through the implications of the enchantment's implementation, and on the other...well, the feeling of his body slimming down, his face growing soft and round, and the steady tingling between his legs as what made him male shrank away, were all threatening to become..overwhelming. Of course Polaris understood the theory of a transformation like this, and had heard about them before, but the actual, physical sensation of it really was something else! His wings unconsciously spread fully out as he squirmed around a bit in place, feeling his tank top and shorts tighten against his slimming frame. His heartbeat picked up, his breath came in rather fast, and his face felt warm with a blush...how very curious!

"Aah, aa~aah...mmh. F-fascinating..." A high, soft yet mature soprano tone rang out from his lips already. The shrinking down there had turned to a steady tugging, like his body was hungry for its own...part; Polaris was happy enough to let it feed, as nice as this felt. And so, in only a second or two, the celestial's sex changed, and she couldn't help a slight gasp at a sudden wave of sensation from the new shape her "down there" had taken on. "H-heheh~..." She giggled softly, feeling her hips starting to push apart, her bottom pressing into the bed as it grew larger and rounder, and her thighs likewise growing thicker.

As it was a spell she was casting, it would have been easy for Polaris to "customize" her looks a bit right now. Yet she felt no need to. The enchantment's effect almost seemed to have "asked" some part of her how she'd want to look (or maybe how she expected to look?) before she could have thought to answer: Naturally, she wanted to be gorgeous. Only a beautiful, curvy look would fit a person as brilliant and amazing as herself. Was it the same for anyone affected by this, even if they had no knowledge of magic whatsoever? That could certainly explain certain individuals' reluctance to take advantage of the easy offer of a means to change back...

After working on her lower body for a bit, the magic changing Polaris's body turned its attention to her chest. It erupted in a burst of tingling first, and then quickly pushed out a pair of small bumps centered on her nipples. As was to be expected, she was filling out up there, too. And she couldn't wait. Of course she ought to have the kind of bust that other girls would look upon with envy, and boys...well, men could stare if they wanted, she guessed. Polaris had never had a problem with people being so taken by his beauty that they simply had to stare, so it would be no different for her as a woman, now.

But the sensation of her chest pressing is way out, sliding across and pressing into the material of her tank top, forcing it to grow some more space to accommodate the growing bosom—that was really something else. She gasped a couple of times, and barely managed the self-control to let that air out with her mouth closed in only a soft "Mmm~mmh" each time, as her heart continued to race, and those feelings from her newly-feminine parts only continued. Maybe this had something to do with people wanting to remain female after joining OZK, or at least not minding it so much, she thought. However, from what she understood, it wasn't peculiar to this enchantment's transformation, so it probably wasn't the whole story...

She pulled in one more sharp breath at a final, generous pulse of growth, not only from her bust, but also a slight additional push from her lower curves, too. "Mmnnh...ffh." After carefully exhaling, Polaris found herself leaning partway back, her eyes closed, and so she pushed herself upright again, blinking those eyes open. Mary was still across from her, and still playing on her game, but she must have gotten a good look at some point. The celestial smirked across at her.

"Well, what do you think? Am I not the very vision of beauty?"

Mary's eyes very briefly flicked across Polaris's new form. "More like the vision of back pain. Hope you like guys staring at you."

"I hardly see that as a negative," she said, hopping down onto her feet and taking a brief look around the room. She'd lost...maybe only two or three inches of height, leaving her extremely tall for a woman. Perfect.

"I believe I've come to understand the enchantment rather well. Whoever set it up was extremely clever," Polaris said. "Did you notice anything?"
"Not really. It just looked like you transformed yourself."
"Ah, but that's the genius of it! It pushes enough power for the transformation in, then causes one's own power—overflowing as it is from that donation—to effect the change."
"That sounds...like it'd cause accidental awakenings from the overflow?"

"Perhaps, but I think there are measures intended to prevent that, as well." Polaris lifted her hands up into the air for a moment, stretching and letting her wings spread out to either side of her. "I only caught the faintest whiff of it since my magic is already very well-controlled, but it was 'trying' to vent the more chaotic parts of the power into the change. I expect that effect would be greatly pronounced on an ordinary human."

"Huh.

"Well, congrats, you're a girl now, I guess. You're not gonna try to take me shopping for clothes, are you?"
"Oh goodness no—your kind of fashion clashes far too much with my looks," Polaris said. "I'll see whether miss Tanner is busy, perhaps, since she offered to finance such 'necessities'." She started toward the door to the bedroom.

"You could just transform your own clothes to fit, the same as what you've got on did."
"Naturally—but why not take advantage to find some outfits that really accentuate my perfect beauty?"

"Yeah, sure. Have fun or whatever."
"I most certainly will~!"

---

Smug is Polaris's default emotion, probably. He named himself after the most important star he could think of. Celestials don't always, or even mostly, name themselves after literal celestial objects, but more of them (percentage-wise) do have such names than humans do.

The Next Chapter: 7

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The Next Chapter
Chapter 7: What Is That Power?

Late in the afternoon on Wednesday, L'hoxifel opened the front door to the OZK house. Slightly to her surprise, there were not two but three people waiting there. All the same, she greeted them with a friendly wave. "Hi there~! You must be Polaris? And, Mary?"
"That we are," the blue-haired celestial said. "And allow me to introduce my friend Kyosuke."
"Yo," he said, waving and giving back a big grin. He looked human, but she could feel him reeking of a fox's magic, probably hiding his ears and tail(s) with an illusion. Not that that was really her business.

"Are you interested in joining OZK too?" she asked.
"Maaaybe. Anyway, Pol dragged me along, so I hope it's not too much."

"Well, come on in," she said, gesturing to follow, then turning with the door left open to go toward the lounge.

The girl in black said nothing, being apparently too busy playing on some kind of game console; if anyone seemed to have been "dragged along", it was her. But as she led the way, L'hoxifel slowly realized that there was something odd going on. She had been able to see—and could still hear behind her—three people. So why did her more magical senses only feel two?

They made it to the lounge, where Nancy was waiting. "Hey—we've got an extra visitor," she said. "This is Polaris and Mary, and Kyosuke."

"Well," she said, hopping to her feet, "I'm pleased to meet all three of you~. Jay seemed to like you two, at least." She hurried over to offer handshakes.

"What's not to like?" the celestial said with a big grin, gladly shaking her hand. Mary just quietly grunted, so Nancy moved on to the probably-kitsune, who seemed happy enough to return the gesture.
"I've heard this is a pretty nice place. Is Jay around right now?" he asked.
"I think she has classes at the moment. Please—take a seat, if you'd like?" she said, gesturing at some of the seating surrounding them before going back to the chair she'd been in a moment ago. Looking around at the four other people present during this exchange, L'hoxifel was increasingly sure there was something odd about...

"..You're tilting your head pretty hard at Mary," Nancy said. "Something wrong?"

The goth girl turned her gaze away from the console for the very first time of this entire encounter to glance very briefly at the demon-girl. "Oh—I'm sorry. I dunno how to put it, but..I don't feel any emotion from you at all? I mean, I can technically only feel 'anger' and 'rage' and stuff, but nearly everyone has some of that going on."

"That's normal for me," Mary said. "I've been practicing for like, six years now."

"Practicing, uh..?"
"Suppressing that sort of emotion, naturally," Polaris clarified, going and taking one of the offered seats; Kyosuke had already done the same.

"That sounds..unhealthy?" L'hoxifel said, feeling like she was being left out of some sort of joke.

"It's not. Anyway, I have to, 'cause of this."

Suddenly and without warning, something like the upper half of a hulking, humanoid shadow seemed to lift itself up out of Mary's torso, its stature enough to make the room appear too small, and its very presence seeming to make the overhead lights flicker and to block out the sunlight from the windows. Then, just as soon as it had appeared, it was gone, withdrawing itself back into the seemingly unassuming human girl. L'hoxifel could feel during that moment a brief but immense pressure, the kind that she'd only perceived once or twice before from some of her very oldest relatives while they were casting some serious, dangerous magic.

"GaAAAaah!" Kyosuke jerked forcefully away from this sight, completely dropping his illusion to reveal some black vulpine ears and two tails. "Warn a guy before you do that, will ya!? Gonna give me a heart attack!" Even Nancy flinched; only Polaris seemed basically unaffected by this display.

"Huh. I thought I was doing a pretty good job toning it down," she said with a slight shrug, dropping onto a chair and returning her focus to the game as if nothing of note had happened.

Nancy quietly cleared her throat. "Aaaaaaanyway, I've heard a little bit about you two already, but I'd appreciate if you could tell me a little bit about yourselves? As well as your reason for wanting to join OZK. We're not being exceptionally picky about new members necessarily, but I at least like to feel like I know a little bit about everyone who joins. We are all meant to be friends here, after all~."

L'hoxifel quietly went over to a seat off to one side, taking some deep breaths to get herself over the shock of Mary's brief display of power. She'd always thought of herself as a pretty powerful and capable magic-user for her age, but clearly some people were just born different. When she glanced the kitsune's way, she found the illusions that made him look fully human back in place again.

Mary spoke up first: "I'm studying math. My roommate this year sucks, and Polaris says he'll room with me instead."

"Ah, Mary does have quite an interest in playing video games, as well—which we saw on the tour this place is rather well-equipped for?" Polaris added.
"True enough. The original chapter of OZK had a large population of gamers, and some of the planning for this building consisted of imitating their house's amenities," Nancy said.

The demon-girl sat up a bit. "My roommate's into that stuff too, and her boyfriend." She realized after saying this that there were two ways that second phrase could be interpreted, both of which were technically true.

"My area of study is magic," Polaris said. "I was created with a fair bit of expertise in it already, but have found ever more fascinating things to study. If I may be so bold as to tell the truth, this abode's enchantments are what attracted me to it at the first, and I would be exceedingly happy to get a detailed look at their makings at some point."
Nancy nodded. "Our sorority has deeper connections to the magic world than most GLOs for sure. You might be very interested to meet a few of our alumni in the field. And if you do join, well, maybe I'll see if I can get permission to let you peek at what's handling the enchantments on the building."

"All very exciting prospects," Polaris said, rubbing his palms together like a supervillain.

"Is it my turn? Great," Kyosuke said, sitting up. "I'm pulling a double major in magic and theater, which is so much work that I'm a third-year sophomore. I guess you probably already noticed I'm a kitsune; I wanna use my illusions for special effects on the stage. Any stage—concerts, plays, movies, whatever." He lifted his left hand palm-up, and used some illusions to make a glowing red rose seemingly bloom itself up from his palm. "I'm developing a visual style all my own with 'em, so I can offer stuff you just can't get without a touch of magic." The flower erupted into some brief, miniature fireworks.

Nancy leaned in just a little bit to watch this display. "Very interesting. Come to think of it, we must have passed each other a few times before, huh?"

"I..guess so? You're a theater major?"
"Not entirely—like yourself—but I've been around some of the productions," she said. "So, what's your interest in joining OZK?"

"Weeell. Polaris is kinda leaving me without a roommate, and he made this place sound really nice to live in. I also met a couple of your newest members the other day, and they seem pretty cool too," he said.

---

After a day fairly packed with classes, Ed met Jay at the entrance to the campus dining hall. "Hey."
"Hiii!" She waved cheerfully, then followed the wolf-girl inside.

She waited until they were in line to ask the fox-girl: "So..what's it like dating a guy?"

"Huh? It was fun, I guess? I mean, I might as well ask you what it's like to date a girl."
"..Huh." Ed hadn't really considered that. It was true: Neither of them had really gotten any dates back in high school. "I mean, though—are you..do you feel attracted to him?"
"Sure. He's cute, and I am a girl now," she said. "Kyo flirted with me just a little bit, y'know, compliments and stuff..and I do think I like how that made me feel. But we mostly just, like, talked! He's got some really cool ideas about using magic for like, visual performance. And he didn't say Monday, but he's actually double-majoring!"

"That..sounds like a lot of work."
"I guess? He seemed pretty relaxed about it, though."

They picked out their meals, and continued on to a booth to sit at. Ed had started to notice, since Monday, some of the guys in the cafeteria looking at the two of them. Almost definitely admiring their looks. She wasn't..sure how she felt about it, and Jay seemed completely oblivious to it. It was maybe lucky that the first guy to actually approach one of them was, apparently, relatively nice. She'd feel more comfortable about it if she weren't so small and weak...not that she'd been strong as a guy, but there seemed to be less need for that, too. On the other hand, it meant Ed was attractive to other people, for maybe the first time in her life..which rubbed those worries up against her kind of enjoying that prospect.

"What'd you do while we were out at supper, huh?" Jay said. "Anything fuunn with L'hoxifel?"
"H-huh?" As usual, her friend knew exactly how to completely derail Ed's train of thought. "No, I ate in my room, and did homework." It was like Jay could unconsciously sense when Ed was bothered about something, and then knew what to say to make her think about something else, all without even realizing it. "I think she was..busy with something else last night; I didn't see her around."
"Whaaat? You're not gonna see her if you just hide in our room all night! You should ask her out again."

"M-maybe.." Ed didn't really like to admit it, but she liked the way the demon-girl had been looking at her that afternoon, in the coffee shop. Maybe she'd just been staring at the wolf-girl's ears for part of that time, but her focus had definitely been toward her face, or the rest of her body, at others...and she was slowly warming up to the idea of allowing a little touch or two, if only to find out what that felt like on the receiving end. Not that she'd admit any of that to Jay.

"Pfft. Your tail's wagging," Jay pointed out, giggling.
"I-it is not," Ed said, putting some effort into forcing it to be still, but feeling the heat on her cheeks stick around all the same.

"Hey, it's nothing to be ashamed of. I'm really happy if you've found someone you like," Jay said. "We should both be looking, right? And lots of people marry in the college years~."
"I...that is seriously way too far ahead. You, don't like Kyo that much, do you?"
"I admit I don't know him anywhere near well enough to guess," she said. "I'm just saying, though. If you like her, there's no good reason to be shy!"

A couple of minutes later, Ed said, "So..I guess you're enjoying going uh..all-in on being a girl, huh?"
"Yep! I mean, it was really weird at first, and there's still some times it's weird. But there's something I kinda like about the feel of skirts and dresses and fluttery stuff, I dunno. Besides..." Jay smiled. "I feel like I look good, you know?"
"I..get that part, sure. But the same kind of magic could make us look good as guys, too. For me, I..almost forgot to put on a bra this morning. And wearing one is still, weird and distracting. Besides...other things, feeling weird too."

"Well, around this weekend, we can both ask for some rings like the one Rob got," Jay said. "Then I can find out if I like how I feel as a buff guy or something, you know, better or worse than this. But I really like having a totally different singing voice to play with, so I'd definitely wanna keep going back and forth sometimes even if I like that better. And you—well, you could be a guy all the time, except when you sleep. Problem solved, right?"
"Yeah...I guess you're right."

What bugged Ed a little bit about that solution, even though she insisted to herself that it really shouldn't, was: If she turned back into a guy most of the time, would L'hoxifel really look at 'him' in quite that same way?

---

Rob walked into the OZK house, his catlike ears picking up on some conversation roughly off in the direction of the lounge. But he wasn't nearly as interested in that as the sound of activity over in the game room, so (after a brief stop by his own room to put away some things) that was where he went instead.

"Hey, babe," Camilla greeted him as he came in, her eyes still on the screen for a moment. "How're things?"
"Pretty good. The guys are starting to get used to me having a tail. And—you know—it does kinda help with balance on the court and stuff."

"Sweet. Maybe I should ask L'hoxie to give me a tail, too," she said, half-joking.

"Uh, I guess Nancy's interviewing some new people over in the lounge," he said.

"How'd—oh, never mind," she said. The question had been how he could know that, with the answer obviously being his big kitty ears. She finally reached a reasonable point to stop, and hopped to her feet, the two of them coming together for a close embrace and kiss.

It was a great kiss; Camilla had always been amazing at them. Rob still wasn't sure he believed her when she said she'd had no practice in high school. Near the end of it, however, she had her hand around his, and gently, with her thumb and index finger, slipped his ring off. "Mmphf!"

The transformation into a catgirl while he was asleep had seemed fairly gentle and gradual. But "returning" to that form was swift and kind of jarring. No sooner was the ring off of his finger than Rob's height shot downward—or kind of upward, with his arms around Camilla keeping his torso up there and his feet being lifted off the ground. "Mm~mm~mmh..!" And his voice completely changed in around one second. She let him out of the kiss with a loud smack just as he felt his clothes tightening around his shrinking frame, his manhood tugging rapidly inward..and with a soft, high "Aa~ah!", Rob became "Robyn" once again.

Camilla's hands were already on her ears, even as her curves settled into place and that strange, fuzzy feeling down between her legs took over where the kind of thing a boy could feel had left off. "Aammh..! Mrrm...mrr~rrrh....!" She found herself helplessly purring and nuzzling the taller girl as her bust pressed out into Camilla's, her eyes fluttering shut and her tail flicking around excitedly behind her. They stayed this way, Robyn's girlfriend petting her ears and stroking a hand down through her extremely long hair—this touch making her shiver as it went most of the way down her back—for a minute or two before she was finally let free, gently set down on the floor.

This was the fifth time so far that Camilla had done something like this—and since she had Robyn's ring now, the catgirl would remain a girl until she decided otherwise. At least her clothes changed to fit, she guessed.

"Y-you're really enjoying yourself with that, huh?"

"Whaat, you mean you don't like it?" Camilla said, reaching a hand over to gently rub the top of her head.

"Mew~...hrmph." Not long after they'd first met, the wolf-girl named Ed had talked about how weird being a girl felt. Robyn hadn't thought it was that strange at the time, but the more Camilla made him change into her, the more she kind of understood. But at the same time...it was nice sort of strange. Camilla seemed able to make both "him" and "her" feel some very nice things more or less at will, ever since Rob(yn) had turned part-cat.

"Sooo, you wanna play some games?" she offered.
"Uh—sure," Robyn nodded. And she thought: Even if the rest of it were less pleasant, living under the same roof as Camilla would've been worth it to her.

The Next Chapter: 6

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The Next Chapter
Chapter 6: Who's That Vixen?

A girl—a gorgeous girl, a beautiful woman, who he'd never seen before. Kyosuke certainly wasn't expecting to see that when he went to the campus dining hall for lunch on Monday. But see that he did: A tall, voluptuous redhead, with brilliant red hair and fur—the latter adorning some vulpine ears and a big, fluffy tail!

Of course it was too much to expect that he'd seen every woman, or even every fox-girl, living on campus, but he pretty much had to have lunch at this same time every Monday this semester, so surely their schedules should've collided some time before now. And he didn't think he could've missed someone that attractive, especially with that big, brightly-colored tail. Yet there she was! He hurried right over to her, catching up as she stopped to pick up a tray.

"Hellooo there," he said, sliding up next to her. Kyosuke had pitch-black hair and red eyes; he was a little on the short side for a guy (still a few inches taller than the girl though), with a characteristic boyish handsomeness. He had the slight cheat of presently using illusions to hide his foxlike ears and tails from sight, so he just looked like a good-looking guy rather than a kitsune. "I don't think I've seen you around before?"
"Oh? Uh, hi!" she said, giving back a friendly smile. "I am a freshman, so, I guess that makes sense. I'm Jay," she said, offering him the hand that wasn't carrying her tray for him to shake—so he did.
"Kyosuke. Most people give up after the first syllable, though," he joked, and she giggled slightly in response. "I don't suppose I could join you for lunch, maybe?"
"I wouldn't mind," she said. "My roommate might, but she'll get over it."

"Hah, all right then. Lead the way, Jay," he said.

It was impossible to be sure, but Kyo had the immediate sense that he was talking to a 'mundane' fox-girl rather than a fellow kitsune. That was fine by him; it was just that his heritage influenced his tastes in girls enough to really appreciate a big fluffy tail. She led the way to a booth off on a far side of the room, where a short, brunette wolf-girl in shorts and a tank top—presumably her roommate—was waiting.
"Hey, Ed!" Jay greeted her. "This is Kyo—we met in line. You mind if he joins us for lunch?"
"I guess not," she said, sighing slightly. So he sat down with them.

"So...'Ed', huh?"
"What're you gonna say, 'unusual name for a girl'?" she said, anticipating him. "Both of us were recently transformed. Last week we were guys."
"Oooh, interesting. How'd that happen?"
"We joined a sorority," Jay said cheerfully.

"That..sounds more like a 'why' than a 'how'," Kyo admitted.

"The house is enchanted to transform people," Ed explained further.

"Wow, that's...I feel like I would've heard of that at some point. I guess this is a new thing?"

"Apparently.

"Anyway, I'm a comp-sci major. Jay's in music. You?"
"Oh, me? I'm majoring in magic," he said, and savored the brief look of confusion-then-"oh yeah, that's right" in both girls' faces.

"I thought they were kidding when I saw that in the catalog," the wolf-girl said. "Apparently the program's really selective, though?"

"Yes, for now. Experience and-or specific kinds of potential needed. The profs are constantly talking about how to do away with those requirements, you know," Kyo said. "There's only so much you can do, though. Lots of people only have a specific kind of potential to work with, and if there's no one who can teach your kind of magic, it'd be useless to study others."
"That seems like a really closed-minded way to think about it," Ed observed. "Apparently there's a whole theory to this stuff, so...even if someone can't do magic, they could still study it."
"I dunno," Jay said, "that sounds kinda like taking a 'music appreciation' major. What would you even do with that?"

"No, no—Ed's onto something," Kyo said. "If you really knew your stuff, you could probably teach someone how to use a kind of magic that you can't. I'll bring it up with some of them later, maybe."

A little later, about when Ed was taking a sip of her soda, Jay said, "So—are you gonna tell me how the date went yet?" The wolf-girl visibly resisted spitting her drink out, and managed to avoid choking on it too. Maybe Kyo was wrong about Jay's potential for practical jokes, although this did seem accidental.

"It's—there's really nothing to tell. We just..talked for a while."

"But it went well, right?"
"I...I guess."

"L'hoxifel seemed really happy~," Jay observed.

"Huh. Now, that's a demon name, if I've ever heard one," Kyo noted.

"Uh-huh! L'hoxifel is a thumb..uh, something."
"Thumos," Ed said. "In the sorority."
"And you're dating her?"
Ed's face flushed red. "I—we went on one date. Yesterday."

"How long have you known each other?"

"We met late last week," Jay said helpfully. "She gave us a tour of OZK's house."
"Wow, you work fast," Kyo said, grinning. Ed just looked away, folding her ears back in annoyance. Okay, this one was fun to tease, he decided.

For now, he changed the subject slightly. "I suppose you two are, 'human'? That is, only transformed to those part-animal forms?"

"Yep," Jay said.
"The enchantment specifically does things like...that, to avoid 'awakening' people," Ed added.

"Ah. Well—I'm a born and bred kitsune, myself. Two tails, even! I just like to hide it out in public most of the time," he said, dropping the illusion on his ears just long enough for the two of them to get a brief look. "I guess having two at my age isn't that unusual, but my grandma said back in her day you didn't expect your second tail before age a-hundred," he said. "Although—she said that while awarding me my second one, so who knows." He shrugged.

"Do kitsune have a lot of nepotism?" Ed asked.

Was that an English word? "Huh? Nep-what?" Kyo hadn't heard it before.
"Giving your own family an unfair advantage," she clarified. "Like, a powerful one giving his sons or daughters tails much more easily than he would some stranger."

"Hmm, I guess? It's always good to have the favor of someone with lots of tails. But there are limits and rules. Always a stronger fox around to punish you if you grant or gain tails you really can't honestly say were earned," Kyo said. "And at the top, there's the Ruler, and she'll always set things straight 'cause she has to, or else."

Ed had started on her food before the two of them arrived, so she finished a little earlier, and had to get up and run off to class. This left Kyo alone with the redheaded fox-girl. They had some more pleasant conversation, until the kitsune became aware it was about time he had to leave.

"Excuse me if it's too much, but—could I get your number or something?" he asked Jay. "I'd really hate for this to be the only time we meet."
"Oh? Sure! You're fun," she said, smiling beautifully.

"A fox like me can imagine no higher compliment," he said.

---

"Well now, Mary..what do you think?" After leaving the OZK house, the strange pair continued on along the street as if they had elsewhere to be.

"I think it was pretty unrealistic to think some rando freshman would have any idea how the place is enchanted."
"Oh, certainly. On the briefest of reflections, it's quite clear that whatever material components are maintaining both enchantments on that abode would be securely under lock and key. Treated as, at the least, some rather fragile structural components the damaging of which would cause disaster."

"You didn't seem to have that reflection before we came knocking on the door," she observed.
"Even so, I improvised well."
"You went with my improv," she corrected.

"Err—regardless, that isn't quite what I meant. What did you think of the building itself? All of the interior which our kind guide did show us on that tour?"

"It's pretty nice, I guess. I care more about the people than the amenities, though." Mary pulled her phone from the pocket of her hoodie, browsing around on it a little while continuing to walk and talk. "Who even knows what kind of person 'Nancy' is, if she's the one who financed all that stuff?"

"I would suggest: Someone powerful enough to be worth meeting," he said. "For my part, I think that place to be a far more fitting dwelling for a person of my caliber than the quarters I've been staying in so far."

"Uh-huh...what about your roommate? His grades are gonna tank without you around to crib off of."
"I don't see any reason why I can't take him with me. Evidently they are recruiting."

"Uh-huuh. You're kinda leaving the elephant in the room, though?"

"What elephant?" He stopped walking, looking around. "For that matter, what room?"

"I mean what that enchantment you're so interested in will do to you if you join," Mary said, continuing to walk and seeming to entirely ignore his confusion. The celestial caught up quickly enough.

"Oh, that? Hardly worth mentioning. Plenty of my kind try out forms other than the one Sol gave us before very long, if only briefly. If anything, I'm overdue! Besides, I'm certain that I would make the most beautiful of women, sufficient to be the envy of all others."

"Don't expect me to feel that," Mary said.
"What? No, of course, I meant—other other women," he clarified unhelpfully.

"Aaand Kyo?"

"Oh, kitsune love transforming," he said dismissively. "Perhaps he'll even enjoy the practice of figuring out an illusory male form or something."

Mary sighed, putting her phone away. "I guess that settles it, then."
"Settles what?"

"If you and Kyo are joining, then so am I. Three people I can stand beats my catty new roommate any day."

"You mean to say you haven't made peace with her?" he said, surprised. "It's been weeks."
"She hasn't made peace with me. She's lucky I can control myself."
"Ooh, that bad?"

"Yep. Anyway—it's Nancy Tanner. Her family's ultra rich but somehow stays outta the news, mostly. Here's what I could find out..."

---

In Camilla's experience, Nancy had essentially two modes: "on" and "off". She was "on" most of the time, energetically running around, working on things, talking to people. But then she'd apparently spend so much time and energy doing that as to become entirely exhausted, and turn "off". That meant slowly slinking to the nearest comfortable seating (or her bed if her own bedroom was closest) and flopping down onto it, face-up, to silently stare into her phone.

She happened to come into the OZK lounge late Monday afternoon to find Nancy presently "off", lying across one of its many couches. "Hey, Nan," she said, continuing on toward a chair herself.
"Mmh."

From experience, it would be a little while before anything coherent would come out of that mouth. Camilla hadn't come for a conversation anyway; she just had some grinding to do in a game. So she got to work on that, and both of them were silent (apart from the game's noise, which didn't seem to bother Nancy a bit).

After a while, she said, "So, what do you think? Are we gonna get to keep this place?"

"Mmh. Most likely. Still plenty of time. Need...only four now. And two new prospectives already."

"Oh? When'd that happen?"
"Yesterday. Couple of people came to visit, Jay gave 'em a tour."
"Are they nice?"
"Dunno. Haven't met 'em. Jay liked 'em."
"Yooouuu...haven't met them? How'd they know a tour was available?"
"Jay told them." Nancy slowly turned her head to one side to look Camilla's way. "She assumed they had met me, and just seemed so incredibly happy to have done a good job showing them around that I couldn't bear to tell her otherwise."

"Weeellll theeenn...what'd Jay say about these two?"
"Apparently...it's a celestial who's totally full of himself, and a goth chick who claims to have apocalyptic powers."

"..'Kay?"
"Nevertheless, Jay liked them."
"She...might just be the kind of person who likes everyone. Unless they're actively in the process of punching her in the face."

"Oh, I've realized that. Obviously I'll meet the two of them myself, before offering to let them join. But they do, at least, sound, interesting," she said, turning her head upward again.