A Summoning, Part XXXI

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Part XXXI
~Hanged Man~

Onida had found herself needing outfits of a new size before, but it had always been due to her growing. Needing to do it because she was actually smaller than before was mildly surreal, but it wasn't the least bit difficult. However, once she'd more or less sorted things out and was pushing a little cart full of her choices toward the exit of the store, she paused, staring for a long moment at the men's section.

"Hmmn." Given that she could be a man...was this the right time to get something that would fit that form? Of course she had no idea what any of her sizes would even be, given that shifting between human and 'full wolf' form apparently involved a drastic shift in appearance. She'd have to go to a changing room here, go male, try to guesstimate some sizes, buy just one outfit that more or less roughly fit, and then...

"Something catch your interest?"
Onida wasn't startled to hear a woman's voice next to her. Her newly-canine ears had easily picked up the sound of some heels walking up to that spot, something she probably could've heard even with human ears. But when she turned to face the person talking to her, she still reacted somewhat poorly. "Bwuaah!" It was a sudden, instinctive small-cry-out-and-back-away not because she was surprised that someone was there, but because of how that someone looked.

Blue skin, red eyes, pointy ears, giant horns. Those were the features that registered first. The rest were: very tall (or maybe medium tall but warped by her recently-lowered perspective), somewhat curvy, black dress, mid-height heels, and a necklace with a snake-eating-its-tail charm at the end of it. "U-um..sorry, about that," she said, recovering toward politeness as quickly as she could. Oh, and a metal nametag that said "Valerie" and "Manager" on it.
"Oh no, I'm sorry," the—what?—demon?—said, putting a hand to her chest. "I assumed you'd hear my approach, didn't mean to startle ya."
"Uh.." Onida crossed her arms, taking a second to try and figure out a way to express herself without being potentially offensive. "I knew you were there, it's just...I don't mean to be rude, but you're..some sort of...demon?"

"Oh, most certainly," she said—grinning in a way that showed off several razor-sharp teeth but otherwise seemed intended as friendly and disarming. She continued at a much lower volume, somehow managing to sound conversational despite being so quiet that Onida was sure she wouldn't be able to hear from two feet away without the canine ears. "Don't go saying that too loudly, though—most people around here don't see what you do. I suppose you must be fairly new to the world of magic, by that reaction?"

"That..would be right," she said.

The demon continued at this same volume: "Maybe you won't feel inclined to trust me right away on this, but I'm perfectly harmless. I'm a Mammon—greed demon, feed on the feeling folks get from making money or otherwise earning the things they want. Including getting a good deal~. Anyway, I can tell you've got an impressive vibe coming off of you now that I'm up close, like, so anyone with a good sixth sense wouldn't go messing with ya in the first place."

"..If you say so?"

"And my real name's Valoz, Val for short. With that out of the way—you looked pretty concerned with our menswear section." She slipped back into a normal volume and, simultaneously, the mundane topic she'd started out with all in the same instant, all with a bizarre naturality. "Someone you want to buy a present for, maybe?"

"Not exactly...uh...I'm not sure how, common this is, but I have.." Onida fidgeted with her hands a little bit, speaking a little more quietly. "An, alternate form? Besides being a werewolf and all...which is equally as new as that is."

"I suppose this other appearance is..male?" Valoz said quietly, and Onida nodded.

"Hmmn. Such a thing is quite rare in general, but I've seen something like it a few times just recently, like it's a new fad around here somehow. I'm guessing you'd like to get some basics together in case you ever want to use it and have something that fits you."
"Mmhmm..."
"Well, I'd be perfectly happy to help with that~," the demonic woman said. "I'm pretty much the only one here who'll understand what's going on, unfortunately—we've got a recent hire who can help with such things too, but she's part time and, understandably, wanted weekends off."

"That's..okay, you seem professional enough," Onida said.

"I won't make many sales if I can't make folks feel comfortable," Val said cheerfully. "Honesty's a part of that too, naturally."

---

The game system Grahan bought was a hit. Well—Rachel enjoyed playing with her grandfather for a little while, but got tired of it and had homework to do anyway before too long. That left the white-haired catgirl to play some single-player games on her own for a while. Even though she kept dying and was pretty sure most "real gamers" would consider her skills well below par, she had fun and got somewhat of the hang of it.

It wound up consuming five or six hours of Saturday, so she put her foot down and timed it down to just two hours Sunday. Sure, with her retirement and the part-time job she probably could spend a majority of her unusually vast free time just playing games...but that certainly didn't feel like the healthy thing to do. Apart from that, she spent most of Sunday the way she usually did, but booted her old computer up again for part of the evening to watch a few streamers play, even going so far as to make an account and join the chat, telling some of the other people about her newfound interest in games. The particular streamers (and chats) she interacted with were welcoming, some of them immediately eager to give their personal recommendations for or against certain recently-released games, which led to disagreements and some vehement arguments...but with no hostility toward the newcomer, at least.

She prepared for bed that night a little on the early side with the plan of going for a walk, making breakfast, and then heading out to get in some hours at the store the following morning. She also took a moment to carefully examine her tail for the first time since becoming a young Neko, aside from washing it. Running her hand down to where it split near the end...it was hard for her to be entirely certain, but Graham at least had a strong impression that the split had crawled up a half an inch or so from where it had been originally. Even though she only had the barest idea of what the tail splitting all the way to its base would really mean, this discovery still gave her a brief hit of excitement and anticipation, like some part of her instinctively knew that it was important. And, she thought, if what she'd been doing was making it split, then she should probably keep on doing it.

---

"You don't have to come every day you can, you know."

Prama was back at the alchemy shop again Sunday—her hair already shortened and herself fully dressed for work. "Well, you work every day, don't you? The sign in the window says 'open'."
Boreas shrugged. "I'm an old man...old woman who don't know anything else, or much of anyone. Used to have connections with the Merrow pack, but ever since their last alpha died..." she shook her head. "Anyway, you're young. Got friends and family to be with, fun things to do?"
"I have a few social obligations, sure. Tonight Zotha's inner circle—formerly Jess's—has a dinner meeting to go over some news and stuff. But the sooner I master alchemy, the better."
The werewolf shook her head, but shrugged. "Well, you're here anyway, and there's always something to be done. Maybe you could.."

She trailed off, one of her ears twitching, and nodded to Prama—a signal there was someone at the door. The shop didn't need a bell in the door, of course, because the owner could pretty much hear someone walking up to it most of the time. The bespectacled girl stayed in the back, close enough to listen in since she didn't have a job to do quite yet.

"Yooo..!" A male voice.
"Can I help you with something?"
The customer whistled. "I'll say! Heheh, maan. When they said there was a gorgeous girl running the shop now, they weren't kiddin', woo!"
"I'm the owner, and the same owner who's been here for the past several decades," Boreas said, her voice flat but obviously impatient.

"Heyy, I like mature ladies too!"

"If you're not here to commission or buy something, leave."
"Aww, no need to get your tail in a knot. I'll uh...taaake...how much is this?"
"Can you not read."
"Oh! Hahah, sure sure. Here you go! Keep the change, it's worth seeing such a pretty face for!"

Prama deduced that the following sound was Boreas rapidly leaning over the counter to roughly grab the man's sleeve and force some money into his hand, accompanied by a bassline of deep growling. "I sell potions here, nothing else."

"Uh, point taken! Hahah..leggo of my arm, please?" The customer sounded genuinely worried for his own safety, and this request was followed by a soft canine whine that seemed to be coming from him.

Boreas let go. "As long as I'm understood."

"Sure, sure! Crystal clear! Ohh moon, you're even cuter when you're feisty, though!" He hurried out the door before she could respond to that comment. Boreas sighed softly after he left, and went through to the back again.

She muttered: "Young pups these days..."

"Being a young woman was bound to have some disadvantages," Prama said.
Boreas shrugged. "Haven't run this place on my own for years without knowing how to handle unsavory visitors. I made a sale I wouldn't have, he'll remember to respect my territory after that, and I'll forget him by tomorrow."
"Well—if you say so. I guess I respect the pragmatism, at least."
"Let's get to work."

---

Anika came back after the meeting at the worship center, and Steph wanted all the news she could get from it. Knowing full well her roommate wouldn't stop pestering her otherwise, she spilled any and all beans that didn't seem likely to be anyone's personal secrets.

...

"That's where that dragon came from after all? No wonder I hadn't heard of a dragon being around this area before then...gaawh, almost gave me a heart attack!"

…

"A celestial!? There's a new celestial who's interested in being a student here?"
"Well uh..I think she just said she wanted to be 'a student', I dunno if that's here or somewhere else..."
"We've gotta find her if she's here, first thing tomorrow!" Steph was leaning up eagerly with a wide, fang-exposing grin, her tail wagging—all of which was equally adorable and worrying. "What's she look like?"
"Uhhmm..I haven't seen her, but Zotha said, short, white hair, blue eyes, uhh...wings?"
"Well of course wings, but those might be hidden from view. Many celestials have similar worries to foxes, after all, especially brand new ones—about people making assumptions about their personality."

"Is there, some reason we need to find her, though?"

"Are you kidding, man?! Think like a fox for a second. A person who literally just popped into existence a few days ago, with basic common sense and general knowledge but no actual experience living in the real world?"
"Oh. You think she'd be a good target for pranks, right?"
"Duh!"

"As long as we don't go overboard, I guess? I mean, since I'm 'associated' with Zotha, we really don't wanna make Sol or whatever mad, right?"
"He'll have to deal with the Ruler if he wants to punish us! But don't worry, I don't plan on hurting her anyway. No, no, it'd be much better to bring a celestial over to our side—the one that actually appreciates a good joke sometimes."

---

It was halfway into the afternoon, a while after lunch, that Onida came to the living room couch. Almost as soon as she did, Sam popped her head out from her bedroom and came up to her with a familiar, expectant expression. "What, you want me to pet you again?"
"Yeah~! And aah, maybe I could return the favor this time? If that's okay with you?"
Onida's cheeks burned a little at this proposal, but she accepted anyway. "...S-sure, I guess." Or maybe she did that for the same reason as her blush.

"Waah!" She hadn't expected Sam to tackle down at her in a hug, however.
"Heheh, sorry..instincts getting the better of me, I guess."
"Certainly something getting the better of you. Here..." Onida gently rubbed her fluffy, black-furred ears, drawing some adorable yips and barks from the wolf-girl and, soon enough, some nuzzling of her cheek. The new werewolf then found herself with a strong urge to nuzzle back.

Already she was hugging Sam back, but she pulled a little tighter, slowly pressing her nose into the smooth, warm cheek and rubbing it back and forth. A low rumble came from her throat, a soft, deep "Rrfh..!" which was followed by several other, similar expressions. These grew a little louder and more frequent as she felt the other girl's tail sliding across her own, her slim, delicate hands running gently across Onida's bright silver ears.

Before she knew it she was in a daze of sensory overload, a deep sensitivity that every inch of her fur apparently possessed forcing her conscious self under her wild, wolfish side and just making her continue nuzzling, petting and barking or murring for a long moment—as long as it continued. Onida only pulled out of the haze because Sam gently toned things down, keeping her slim tail lying across the top of other girl's but no longer in motion, and moving her hands down from those ears to instead stroke them one at a time through her long, brilliant hair.

"Mnnh..rrfh...ah.." She slowly came out of it and caught her breath, then pulled her face back away from Sam's enough to see her bright pink eyes and cute, blushing, smiling face. "Uh..."
"Heheh, you really liked that, huh~?"
"I g-guess so." She carefully ran a hand down through Sam's hair, then brought it around to press gently against her cheek—making her blush a little brighter. "So, does this make me one of those..what, 'furries', or something?"
"Heeheheh! It just makes you a werewolf, I guess. And maaybe says you're fond enough of me to let your guard down?" Sam said. "If so, the feeling's mutual. Rr~rfh." She leaned in to nuzzle Onida's cheek much more gently than before, and this gesture was also immediately returned.

"Hmmnh..this is still pretty weird, though, right? I'm not off-base for thinking so?"
"Yeah, it's..a little weird, sure. Even for me! I can't even imagine, for someone who didn't even know werewolves were real two weeks ago. Getting blessed by La Lune herself, and now leading a pack."
"I suppose so."
"I, aah, never really thought of myself as the 'pack joining' sort. But here feels...right."

"I'll agree with that. As long as we can all be happy here."
"Mmh...yeah."

After a moment, something seemed to occur to Sam. She pulled herself back enough to look in Onida's eyes once again. "We need to do something for Damon. Aah, I mean—she still needs help just in general, of course, but there's something...with how strong you are now, I think it wouldn't be anywhere near as hard for us to manage as it would with just me."
"Well...sure. What is it?"

"Like it or not, her full wolf form will come out next full moon. If she's not...more 'in balance' or 'in control' by then, it might be almost as painful as the first time. We need to help her transform willingly at least once before then, but...if her wolf side's still, you know, hostile? Someone might have to hold her down."
"Oh.."
"We don't have to do it today or anything. Just...sometime soonish, might be better."
"You think it would help her remember things a little more easily?"
"Probably? I'm not really, aah, any kinda expert on how lycanthropy-induced amnesia works, but..."

"We could try tomorrow. If you can help explain what it is, and she feels ready."
"Uh—okay! Tomorrow, then.

"Rrfh." Sam barked soft and high—cute, again. Onida gently pulled her into a close hug once more, just gently running her hand through that hair or down her back a few times. She returned the affectionate gesture, and went back to nuzzling the silver-haired girl's cheek gently once again. The two of them remained in more or less the same position until the hunger of an approaching suppertime came around to interrupt them.