A Statue in the Woods 8: Introduction

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After getting out of the car, Tyler paused to just stare at the house for a moment. "Is something the matter?" Elise asked after starting toward the door, pausing upon realizing he hadn't moved, and then turning to face him.
"Uh...no. It's just..." The house looked perfectly ordinary. It wasn't some gothic mansion; it didn't even look particularly big. It was just...a plain, average, everyday suburban house. "I didn't expect a place where super-rich demons live to look so...normal."

"I admit, it hardly fits their tastes from back when I knew them," Elise said, turning back to look at the building herself. "They must have been living here before the veil was cast off. Blending in used to be an absolute necessity, you know, at least if one wished to live around 'enveiled' humans."

"I guess that makes sense.."
"You may be surprised by the interior, however. Come, let's not keep them waiting!" she said, eagerly starting off toward the door again.
"Yeah, sure."

He'd barely pressed the button for the doorbell when the door opened. And the person waiting behind it...well, definitely fit his idea of a 'demon'. It was a very tall woman with dark green skin, bright red eyes, big curly horns poking up through some bright, grassy-green hair, and also a long, medium-thick tail ending in a sharp spike that waved back and forth behind her. Aside from all of that, her clothes were the same kind of stylish dress as Valencia had been wearing the day before, minus any jewelry. "Hello there~!" she said cheerfully. "Welcome, please come in. It's wonderful to see you again, Shigenori, and—Tyler, was it?" she said, smoothly offering him a handshake.

"Uh, yeah." The shake was a very brisk sort Tyler would expect from a high-power CEO or something like that.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance. Azlathoth—or just 'Azla', if it's easier to remember," she said. "And—that's a lovely form you've got there, Elise."
"Thank you~," the fox-girl said.

They were guided into and through a fairly big antechamber with...a bit more of the kind of thing Tyler had expected at first: Gargoyle heads and banners on the walls, and other bits of fancy, decorative stonework. When they proceeded from this room into a wide hallway with several paintings (a mixture of landscapes and portraits, the latter featuring humans, demons, and a few people of other various races) lining its walls, then eventually took a left turn into a huge dining room, his brain started screaming at him that this space didn't fit inside that house. But then, if magic could bend space to make Elise's forest a real-world lost woods, then why couldn't it make someone's house bigger on the inside?

Another demon around Azla's height—so, probably her husband—awaited them in that dining room. "Greetings," he said. He was slightly on the thinner side build-wise, had short, spiky horns rather than curly ones; his tail was thin and ended in a kind of spherical bulb; and his skin and hair were dark red rather than green. "Tezalel, at your service." He was dressed in old-school men's formal wear, and he spoke a bit more formally than his wife, with kind of a posh accent. "Dinner should be ready soon. Until then, we were hoping to entertain with some conversation. There's much catching up to be done."

"Yeah—that'd be fine. Right?" he asked Elise, who nodded. So the four of them wound up sitting, each pair across from the other, near one end of the long dining table.

"To begin with, this is Tyler," the fox-girl said, gesturing his way to introduce him once again. "He freed me from my stone prison, so I've decided to make him my Master for the time being~."

"We're more than pleased about that," Azla said. "To think we played the 'lottery' for years and came up empty..but it really only matters that someone cured you. On the other hand, I was under the impression the curse could only be lifted by a human?"
"Uh, yeah?" Tyler said, then paused. "Oh, wait—Elise transformed me after we met. The ears and tail are, uh, part of that. Does that make me...not human?"
"Not necessarily, but..I thought..." The demon woman tapped her index finger against her chin a couple of times.
"You have the aura of a Celestial," Tezalel said. "It isn't really possible for demons such as us to miss it. Perhaps Elise accidentally awakened you by way of that transformation?"

"Oh...uh. Is that, bad?" Tyler asked.
"Not at all. Intriguing, but not all that surprising. The persons who sealed her were, themselves, the descendants of Celestials," he replied.

"It would explain why I was unable to shift those fuzzy parts back to normal," Elise said. Then she reached up and gently stroked one of Tyler's ears. "I'd apologize if you didn't obviously like them~."
"Uh, w-well..."

"Still, you finally took on a Master after all," Azla continued. "Back when we first met, Shigenori said the practice was 'utterly ridiculous' and he'd 'never be caught dead with a master'! Hahah.."

"You needn't have brought that up," Elise said, folding her ears down slightly in embarrassment.

"It's, still a little weird for me," Tyler said. "A-anyway. So you've been adopting human kids, for years, just to try to unseal her?"
"Hardly that reason alone," Tezalel said. "It just seemed like something convenient to try, so long as we were already adopting."

"I take that to mean, you are still not rid of that curse?" Elise said.

"Uh, curse?"

Before the demons could answer him, their conversation was interrupted by a child's voice yelling "MOOOOOOOM!" Its owner, a little girl, ran into the room, followed by a...maybe thirteen-year-old boy, shuffling slowly in behind her. She ran straight up to Azlathoth; Tyler couldn't help but feel it extremely surreal to see a perfectly normal human child jumping up into the lap of a literal demon woman. But clearly this was 'normal' for them. Azla caught her into a hug like it was second nature.

The young girl continued her complaint: "Richard kidnapped Ken and is gonna cut his head an' all his limbs off!"

The teenage boy, who had black hair, eerie red eyes, and (even in this situation) a calm demeanor that made him seem even creepier, defended himself: "You very clearly said you 'didn't ever want to see him, ever again'. I saw no reason to let it go to waste."

"That was pretend! Barbie didn't wanna see him again! But he was gonna make it up to her with cake and diamonds and flowers!"

"Rich, dear, give Nancy her doll back. You can buy your own Ken for your art project," Azla said gently.
"Very well." He held out the doll in question (which he'd apparently been carrying) and Nancy hopped back to her feet to snatch it from him. "Perhaps Barbie can rescue him from a kidnapper."
"Hmph!" The girl just stormed off.

Richard finally seemed to notice Tyler and Elise's presence at this point. "Oh, excuse me..you had company?"

"We do indeed," Tezalel said. "This is our son Richard; Richard, this is Shigenori—now going by Elise—and Tyler."
"Shigenori?" He stared at Elise for a second, tilting his head slightly. "I was under the impression you were a man?"
"I was for a long time. But it's no trouble at all for a fox as old as I am to change every bit of my appearance," Elise said.

"I see..." His response sounded kind of neutral, but also slightly interested. After that he said, "Well, I'll get out of your way," and shuffled out of the room at about the same pace as before.

"Aah, kids," Azla said after he left, a kind of happy sigh in her voice. "They can be a handful, but they are the very best of investments."
"That's...not the word I expected you to go for," Tyler admitted. He decided it wasn't a good idea to tell them that that Richard kid seemed like kind of a weirdo—first of all because they had to know that already, and second because he couldn't think of a way to say it that wouldn't sound insulting.

"The two of us are specifically Mammon—greed demons," she explained for him. "It's hard for us to not think of most things in terms of money."

"Okaaay...so anyway, you said something about a curse?"
"Indeed. We are cursed to be unable to naturally have children," Tezalel said. Then he stood up, as if responding to some cue invisible to everyone else. "Pardon me. Dinner is prepared. I'll have it out in just a moment." And he headed off toward a doorless opening that..probably went to a kitchen or something.

"I'm astounded you've been unable to break that curse in all these years," Elise said.

"Oh, it's not that we can't, but we've chosen not to," Azlathoth said. "In the years since our wedding, we've studied curses quite extensively—hence why we were also hoping to take care of yours."

"So, I guess..someone cursed you at your wedding?" Tyler said.

"From one point of view, certainly," she said with a nod. "I should explain from the beginning: A very long time ago, before either of us were born, there was a certain megalomaniacal demon. He wanted to rule the entirety of Earth—just image that! When he inevitably failed, it involved some of those who'd originally supported him turning against him, and with his dying breath he cursed those 'traitors'. It was in the demons' language, but you can think of the curse as pretty much saying, 'you deprived me of what I wanted the most, so whatever it is you want the most, may you never have it'. And since it was cast with his death, it had staying power across generations. Both of us are descendants from different lines of those 'traitors'."

While she'd been speaking, Tezalel had come back with a plate of food balanced in each hand...and some kind of magical reddish glow holding up two more plates, and four cups, all floating in the air around him. He got to work setting them down one at a time, and also continued his wife's explanation: "The curse didn't appear to do anything at first; some thought it had failed entirely. But it turns out that it's simply not as well directed as he might have hoped, due to being cast by someone with the concentration of a dying man. But it's lingered in our bloodlines, and every once in a while it comes out to strike, causing some inconvenience or other for certain demons. Really, most of us demons are descendants of the traitors in some way or another by now. Azla and I made the mistake, perhaps, of declaring together that we wished to have many children, and that's when the curse struck us. It was quite a theatrical affair; some even thought it was part of the ceremony."

Azlathoth said, "The thing is, though, even a curse created by something as potent as a dying wish still only has limited 'fuel'. The more 'effort' it must expend to achieve its desired effect, the more of that 'fuel' it uses up. So, we figured, rather than forcibly breaking the curse off of us, why not instead try to use up whatever it has left by forcing it to keep working? Do the rest of demonkind a favor. And in the meantime, we can have all the kids we want by finding human children who don't have anyone else to take care of them, and adopting."

"If, one day, we do succeed in having a child who is biologically ours, then we can declare the old fool's curse finally, fully, and completely broken," Tezalel finished, sitting down next to his wife again.

"So, uh...I guess that means you're. 'Trying' to have kids pretty often, then," Tyler said.
"Indeed," Azla said with a fairly big grin. "I would dare say that the curse isn't really causing us the unhappiness it was supposed to."

"All the better for it. Now then, the first course is served."

They had some more conversation throughout the dinner—which had, as it turned out, three courses: appetizer, main dish, dessert. It was mostly casual stuff, including the Tanners trying to help Elise catch up with modern day a little bit (although she'd caught on to most things already). They listed off their children at some point: Valencia—who was running her fashion business alongside another Mammon nicknamed 'Val', which had to be confusing—her younger brother who was some kind of avant-garde artist; then a girl close to graduating high school; then Rich and Nancy, who they'd met earlier; and, finally, the (currently) youngest, Frank. They hadn't had all those kids come to this dinner to avoid overwhelming Elise and her new master—and because it'd be hard for adults to talk much with so many kids around.

The subject of jobs came up, too. Tezalel offered to find Elise some 'more gainful employment' if she wasn't satisfied with the job the Rejuvenation people had come up with for her, and made a similar offer to Tyler. When he insisted that he liked his current line of work, the two demons seemed very happy to hear it, and didn't press the subject any farther. The Kitsune said she'd keep the offer in mind, but she still wanted to at least try this job out before hopping to another one.

Eventually, the dinner was finished. They exchanged various contact information, and Azla escorted them back out the hallway and the front door. "Don't be strangers—come visit again sometime soon!" she said.
Tyler said, "Uh, sure."
"Most certainly," Elise added.

Back in the car, as they drove back home, Tyler said, "Well...they seem like a pretty happy couple."
"Indeed they are~. But is something troubling you?"
"I guess it's just, out of everyone I'd imagine having a marriage stable enough to last over half a century, demons aren't the first thing to come to mind..."

"You're thinking of lust demons, maybe—it's far more difficult for Incubi and Succubi to remain so loyal for so long, so their spouses must have quite a bit of patience and understanding. For Mammon, the mere fact that married pairs get a tax break is enough to make the idea of separating feel unpalatable. Not that that is what keeps Azla and Teza together. The two of them have been in love practically since they first met."

"Love, huh..?"

"It's a wonderful thing—or so I've heard," she said.
"Yeah. People talk about how amazing it is...I've never been sure if a feeling like that is real."

"I'd be delighted to learn that it is~."

It was...surprising, at least, for the woman who'd advanced on him so hard the past couple of days, including petting him into wolf-girl form, shifting her back into a guy so they could kiss, teaching him (her?) to dance, and plenty more petting besides...to still seem so unsure. But, it was also kind of reassuring for Tyler. Like he wasn't the only one who wasn't completely certain what he was getting himself into...

After a moment, his mind went back to a different concern. "So, uh..does being a 'Celestial' mean I have any, special powers ooorr, weaknesses, or anything?"

"Any Celestial is able to effortlessly cast 'holy' magic, which is especially effective against demons and other unnatural threats," Elise said. "And since you have the traits of a wolf, you must be more specifically an Ookami. I've never actually met one before, so I'm uncertain what abilities that entails. There are tales of Ookami being capable of incredible physical feats; making plants grow near-instantly; healing the wounded even from the point of near-death...but there is no telling which of those stories is actually true, if any."

"Okay, but uh, when you say 'effective'..."
The Kitsune nodded. "Demons such as my—shall I say 'our'?—friends back there can easily sense Celestials for the same reason prey can sense a predator. You've no need to worry about injuring them accidentally, but if we encounter any lesser demons—which are not people, are never friendly, and do not belong in this realm—that power would be a great help in getting rid of them."

"Okay, that's..good. But there's, like, no way to tell what I can or can't actually do?"

"I'm uncertain. As a fox, the powers I possess came naturally to me, or even instinctively. I suppose there must be some way to test or train one's magical abilities when they aren't so obvious. Ah—perhaps my recent employers would have some idea? They must have accidentally awakened some of those who they made young again—especially considering that the power they rely on is evidently known to be 'chaotic' and 'unpredictable'."
"Okay, cool. I guess I can, reach out some time?"

"I'd be delighted to see what my Master can do," Elise said with a sweet, winning smile.

Once they were inside the house, she followed him as far in as the living room before asking: "Say, Master—are you finished with your work for the day?"
"Huh?" He turned around to face her. "Oh, yeah, I'm pretty nearly caught up. Should be okay to take a break the rest of the night."

"Wonderful~." With that, the Kitsune hopped up at him to hug him, and he caught her into his arms more or less by reflex. There wasn't much time to think about that before she'd pushed her lips onto him for a long, passionate kiss. He paused only a couple of seconds out of surprise before joining in on it, and both of them were left somewhat breathless by the end. Then, Elise reached her arms up and gently rubbed Tyler's ears, causing a rush of tingling to spread down from them all across his body...

"R-rrfh..!" He began shrinking pretty quickly, even as he leaned in to start nuzzling her face, and began petting her ears back. "Mm~mh, aah—aa~aaAAaa~aah..!" Tyler's voice rapidly shifted higher and higher in pitch, as he shrank down more and more...Elise's weight soon left his arms as the balls of her feet landed on the floor.

His body had grown slim and soft, his voice high and cute like the first time he'd turned into a wolf-girl; at the same time, his shirt had kept on pulling itself tight against his upper body, while his pants split apart into a skirt fluttering around his upper thighs and a pair of tight leggings pulling close against some now-slender legs...not to mention his underwear shifting into a pair of tight, feminine boyshorts. It was only a couple of seconds from this point to him turning the rest of the way into a girl, letting out a soft, high "R~rrfh..!" in the process, followed quickly by a girly "Mm~mmnngh..!" as the fuzzy feelings down there started up.

Of course, Ty's chest and hips sprang to life right about then, giving her body some curves; her breasts pressed into Elise's small bust as they grew out, expanding out to just a bit bigger than they'd been her first time as a girl. All the while she was letting out some soft, cute barks and yips, while Elise quietly churred in response.

After a little bit more petting, Elise let go and gracefully pulled back a few steps—probably just far enough to get a really good look at her 'master' now. "Well? Did I surprise you?" she asked.

"Uh, y-yeah..heheh..!" Ty felt around her body a little bit; her hair seemed to have gotten pretty messy from Elise's hands running all over it. But..this wasn't bad. They were close to the same height now, and the cute fox-girl being right across from her instead of below was a pleasant change for the moment. "N-not bad, though.."

"I'm glad if you enjoyed it~," Elise said. "Perhaps we could dance for a little while?"
"S-sure!" Being around the same height would make that easier too, probably...

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Having a shared universe is fun. Although part of me does wonder whether anyone reading this actually finds this connection interesting. And the other "Val" is a considerably more obscure connection you might not get without a direct link to something relevant.