Careless Imagination

I know, I know..this is yet another one-off using some generated images. I swear I am working on the long-running stories too, and have a high percentage of some parts of them written, but nothing just feels quite entirely ready to me yet.

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Congratulations! You are this year's lucky winner!

A package arrived in the mail Monday: A cube-shaped cardboard box with dimensions each around 1 foot. Inside was a short slip of paper, along with the main item taking up all that space: A crystal ball, along with a little stand to help it sit on flat surfaces without rolling around. The inside of the ball seemed dark and misty, with a faintly-glowing substance slowly swirling around inside of it even when it sat perfectly still.

After a brief congratulations, the paper said: Please enjoy the Orb of Desire included in the package along with this message. It contains two (2) full charges to be used however you wish (but read the legal disclaimer on the back!). The Orb of Desire is extremely simple to use: Simply stare into it while imagining exactly the result you want, and (as long as it is within the Orb's capabilities) it will grant your desire. The Orb of Desire can grant many things; the biggest limitation will probably be your own imagination!

Kane spent some time reading the paper and examining the strange object, trying to decide what to do about this situation. After all, he hadn't entered any sort of contest of which he could be a lucky winner. He wondered whether he'd been sent the odd package by mistake, but the package was very clearly labeled with not only his address, but also his full, personal name. There was almost certainly no mistake. And—while the legal disclaimer on the back of the paper did make it pretty clear that someone wouldn't be at fault if he used the item incorrectly—he found it quite impossible to figure out exactly who that 'someone' even supposedly, legally was.

Eventually, Kane did what he usually did when he couldn't figure something out (which he would admit happened fairly often), and called his best friend, one of the smartest people he knew. Eli answered within a couple of rings. "Hey, Kane. What's up?"

"Yo. I got something super weird in the mail, and I can't figure it out. Or, like, what to do with it?" he said. "Maybe you've got some idea."
"Okaaay..what'd you get?" Eli asked.

After a few minutes' conversation explaining the item and giving the gist of the message, Eli sort of sighed into his phone. "Dude, it's probably some kind of scam. You should just throw it out."
"Whaaat? But it's like, a magic thing. I mean it totally looks magical!" he said. "You should see it, man."
"Well that's even worse! If it's magical, it might be like, a physical version of spyware or something. Picking up all the details about you, and your passwords and stuff, so someone can do a scam call. Maybe you should smash it with a hammer first, then throw it out."
"But it said it could grant wishes, though."
"Please, man, like that'd ever be true."

"What about the legal disclaimer?"
"You mean, the one that's too complicated for you to make any sense of? It's probably just literal nonsense, made to look reassuring."

"I dunnooo.."

Eli sighed again. "Look, Kane, you asked me what to do with it, and that's what I would do with it. Like, within ten seconds, if I was their so-called 'lucky winner'. But what you wanna do with it is totally up to you."

"I just think, I'd feel pretty dumb if it really could grant a wish or something, and I didn't even try it out. Like—it doesn't cost anything to try, right?"
"You can never tell with magic, man. Maybe using it sucks up your soul, or in exchange for that wish you owe some witch your firstborn son, or something."

"I can just..not have kids then? I mean, I haven't been on a date in years."
"That was an example," Eli said flatly.

"Okay, okay. I'll be careful, at least."
"I, really, don't know how you can 'be careful' with completely unknown magic stuff, but..good luck, I guess."

After the call, Kane just put the box away in a closet. He figured the orb couldn't spy on him very well from in there, after all, and he had some stuff to do. Besides, it was supposed to only have two uses! If he wanted to test it out with a wish, it had better be a good wish. He needed some time to figure out what he wanted.

It had some limitations, after all. It probably couldn't make him fabulously wealthy, or even summon up the latest game console. Ever since the whole 'unveiling' had happened, Kane had heard of loads of amazing things that magic could do, but they weren't that kind of thing. Well—for wealth, it probably could summon up some gold ingots or gemstones or something, but then he'd have a pretty hard time selling them off without his whole story for how he got them sounding stupidly fishy to the authorities. Ultimately, he went to bed that night still thinking about it.

Kane went to the gym early the next morning; Tuesdays and Thursdays were when he tried to exercise. 'Tried' was very much the operative word; no matter what he did, he seemed to get exhausted pretty quickly. The impressive gut he'd sported more or less since puberty refused to get much smaller. Honestly, when it came to having kids, he'd never even had a girlfriend. It might have been his personality to blame, but he was thought at least he'd have more shots to find someone compatible with him if he was at least sort of attractive. That, rather than any concern for his health, was why he was at the gym sweating and panting his face off in the first place.

And then he was sore all throughout work that day. It was a hectic day, and what part of his mind wasn't focused on his job was instead busy complaining about how sore and stiff he was from the morning workout. Maybe he just wasn't doing it right or something, but he'd followed the advice of dozens of online experts' videos! He'd even tried a protein shake one of them was sponsored by...and given away the rest of the box after his first sip. That stuff tasted awful!

He went home feeling exhausted, and just lay on his couch playing games until bedtime. It wasn't until he was lying in bed, half-asleep, ruminating on how much he hated his day after exercising and how very little it seemed to have been worth it, that those thoughts collided with a memory from the day before. And just like that, he realized—he knew—exactly what he wanted that supposedly-magical orb to do for him.

He woke up the next morning with the idea still in his head. If it really could grant this wish of his, then Thursday morning at the gym would be a very different experience. He just needed to get through the day's work before he'd have time to try it out. But with the thought of maybe, hopefully winding up with a perfect body by the time he went to bed that night in his head, the work day flew by, and he was back home and done with supper before he knew it.

Kane eagerly ran to the closet and sought out the box he'd buried inside, having a momentary panic that he'd imagined its very existence. However, it was waiting right where he'd left it, in a fairly obvious spot that his eyes simply hadn't looked toward at first, so he grabbed it and went to the living room, setting up the stand and the orb on it on the coffee table in front of the couch. Then he re-read the instructions, making sure he was clear on how the orb was meant to be used. Then, setting the paper down, he got ready to do it.

"Stare into it..." Kane muttered to himself, leaning forward. "...While imagining..."

He looked deep into the swirling, cloudy mass inside. Now that he was really staring hard, he felt almost like he was being pulled into it, like the dark clouds were coming out into the room around him, obscuring all sources of light except for the faint glow within the orb itself. He pictured what he wanted: A fit, strong, attractive body. Cute girls looking at him, paying attention to him, admiring his looks. Himself easily lifting weights, running, swimming, and the whole time never getting tired. He also imagined a curvy girl with a huge bust, smiling over at him...!

After he'd concentrated for a long moment, the clouds seemed to part and disappear; the orb he'd been staring into became crystal-clear all of a sudden, the faint glow inside of it suddenly brightening into a brilliant white light erupting out from its entire surface. That glow spread up and forward out of the ball then, rapidly approaching Kane and then blinding him; he felt a distinct heat across the front of his body right when that light seemed to make physical contact. And then, slowly, his vision came back to him, the lighting of the room returning back to normal. The orb, too, looked just as it had at first: A glass ball filled with dark, swirling clouds and a faint glow.

Kane hurriedly stood up and looked down at himself. "Did it work?! Am I...? Huh." He didn't look any different—nor feel any different. Except..that heat he'd felt when the light hit him still seemed to be there, not quite as sharp as it had been initially. It was a warmth that seemed to be spreading from the area of contact out across the rest of his body. "I guess...something's happening?" He stood up, looking around; nothing seemed any different yet.

The warmth soon gave way to a tingling sensation. "H-huh..whoa, that kinda tickles," he muttered, shuddering slightly. It was there only briefly on most of him, but seemed to linger longer all across his head, including his ears, and—a bit more strangely—down between his legs. "U-uhm..?" His first evidence that something was physically changing about his own body was the sight of his deep black hair falling out into view before his eyes, and the feeling of those increasingly long locks making their way down across his cheeks and the back of his neck. "My...hair? Wha—? Urk!"

Just then, Kane's body was caught in a brief spasm. He came out of it into an involuntary stretch, arching his back slightly while reaching his arms farther and farther up into the air. It was like he'd been coiled up and stiff, and was suddenly releasing all that tension at once. "Aah—w-whooaaaah...!" This stretching somehow had a physical effect, and he could actually see his perspective rising. He was growing actually taller! This wasn't exactly what he'd asked for either, but the orb was definitely doing something! Never mind that strange tingling between his legs continuing to grow stronger, nor the feeling of hair falling down onto his shoulders and upper back.

Kane came out of the stretch with a sharp breath, then let it out slowly. "Fffffhhh. Ooh man, that was...mmh..!" All of a sudden, he felt a slight...motion? From the thing between his legs. He realized suddenly that the tingling had been...stimulating it this whole time, and now he was starting to feel the heat of a blush across his cheeks from all of that. "I-I..wha~ah.?" His voice squeaked slightly during that confused cry. But then he felt something in his ears not unlike what his entire body had gone through just a moment earlier. "Agh..w-wha...?" They were...stretching out? Growing? "I-I..wha~ah..?" It felt...nice; the more they grew, the more of them there was to keep on tingling. Kane found himself letting out a strange noise next, a soft "Mrrr~rrr~rrrh...!" in a voice whose pitch audibly rose throughout the whole thing. Then a strangely soft, high, "Aah~!" came out as he felt another motion from down below...no, definitely a tug! Like it was being pulled inward..!

"Wha, wha~at's...w-with my voi~ice?" he asked, only to hear it crack and shift even more. It was starting to sound a lot less like any guy's voice at all. "I-I...aah~!" But he couldn't worry about that too much, as he was suddenly struck by a wave of involuntary tensing all across his body. "Aah, aa~aah..!" His muscles all began to burn, and he felt a strange sort of pressure hitting him all over. The combination of those two feelings had him bending forward, so his eyes caught sight of his belly rapidly shrinking away! "Aah—oo~ooh..!" He could also feel his frame collapsing steadily inward, his shoulders narrowing and his waist trimming itself slimmer. His arms and legs were slimming down too, but also getting stronger..! "Aah, mrr~rrfh..!" With that strange noise, he saw his belly push inward one final time, taking away the last bit of pudge and leaving it completely flat. And then..!

Just as the pressure and tensing eased off, leaving Kane's body slim and fit, he gasped. Another tug from down below...! And this one..just kept going! "W-wha~aah..I, I—mmfh..!" The thing that he was so familiar with down there, which had made him male for his whole life...it was slipping away! "Aa~aah...!" His voice sounded so high and cute...his hair had cascaded out more than halfway down his back by now. He was really...turning into a girl? "N-no, I...aa~aah..!" Why did it feel so nice!?

Before he knew it, Kane's manhood was melting away. He let out a soft, helpless "Mmm~nnnghh...!" as it vanished and was swiftly replaced with its opposite, then she pulled in a high gasp to let out a girly "Aa~aahnn...!" in response to a sudden burst of pleasant, fuzzy feelings from the brand new parts down there. "Mngh, mmfh..!" Her hips were pushing themselves out wider, her butt growing bigger and her thighs thicker...and just like her ears before, something was stretching its way rapidly out from her lower back. "AaAAAaah~...rrrfh!" It was covered in fluffy, soft hairs—fur—and had started wagging back and forth behind her nearly as soon as it had appeared. Those curves finished settling into place just as this new tail reached its full size and length, leaving her nearly completely changed...with only one thing unfinished. However, there was now an increasingly strong resurgence of that earlier tingling all across her still-flat chest.

"Mrrr~rrnh..wah, why'm I...g-girl...aaAA~AH!" Her confused question was interrupted by that tingling progressing into a forward push. Kane's nipples lifted up, growing themselves wider and taller as each one grew a small, sensitive bump up from underneath it. "Aah..o-oo~oh..!" The bumps swelled up and out, quickly growing out into a proper pair of breasts. "Aah..aa~AA~aah..!" Then they kept getting bigger and bigger, making her girly parts erupt in more fuzzy feelings, leaving the rest of her to just helplessly squirm in place as her bust kept on filling out. "Aa~ah...rrfh...mnn~nngh..!" Before she knew it, Kane was welcoming this change, and the feelings that came with it. After all—if she was going to be a girl, why not a curvy, gorgeous one? And why not enjoy it? Finally, there was one last push that must've given her an entire additional cup size at least, making her let out a high, girly "Aa~aaahhnnnNNNnnnhh...!" at one final, strong burst of those nice feelings down between her legs.

"H-ha~aah...ffh..." The new girl cried out softly, feeling satisfied and relieved all at the same time. She looked down at her new form to find her shorts and tank top holding tightly onto her curves—particularly her enormous new breasts, which seemed to be taking up so much of the top's material that it couldn't hide any of her slim belly, which was now covered in some solid abs."I-I...oooh wow. I-I'm super fit! And...a girl? F-fox girl?" she added quickly, curling the fluffy pitch-black tail up in front of her hips for a second to get a look. "I-I-I've gotta...get a good look at this!"

The new girl hurried to her bathroom to get a good look in the mirror, and found a positively gorgeous, tall, strong, curvy girl looking back. Still not entirely sure this was real, she gently lifted up her huge breasts in her hands. A blush and a bright grin spread across her face, and only now she noticed her teeth sporting some longer canines—fangs—and how the color of her eyes had changed from brown to bright red. "Heheee~eeh..!" She could...get used to this!

Dropping her hands again, the fox-girl tilted her head at the mirror. "But why though..? I thought I concentrated pretty hard on being a tall, strong guy. Wait.." It finally hit her: Other than how fit she was, and the furry ears and tail, this curvy, gorgeous body she had now was almost exactly the same as the girl he'd pictured smiling across at him while using the orb! And, just now, in the mirror, that girl had been there smiling over at her. The orb had...more or less tried its best to give her what she'd pictured!

"Oh, wooow...hahah...that's, my bad I guess. It did say to concentrate on exactly what I wanted. We~eell...at least this isn't so bad. I'm just as fit as I wanted to be, and taller too—and I'm super hot! Uhhm."

Kane slowly crossed her arms, frowning slightly and watching her ears droop a bit. "But I guueeess...this might be kinda awkward for tomorrow, though. My clothes won't really fit uh, this look, plus I'm missing something to help me carry these puppies around. Uhhmmm...what c'n I do about...hmm." She dropped her arms again, shrugged, and went back to the living room—to her phone in particular. Since this was an incredibly bizarre situation overall, and she wasn't sure what to do...Kane's first thought was to get some advice.

As things were now, though, just calling wouldn't work very well. Her voice was totally different from before! So...she brought the phone back to the bathroom to take some pictures first. Some proof would go a long way...so she hoped! Then she sent off some texts:

hey eli

remember th weird orb thign?

A moment later, after she'd walked back to the living room and sat down, there was a reply.

Yes, did you get rid of it?

nope

treid it out instead

and

At this point she sent some pictures.

it worked but i messed up my wish a little

soooo

A good minute and a half after she sent the texts, Eli responded not by texting back but by calling. Which was..pretty much what Kane had hoped for.

"Kane, are you seriously telling me that's you!?"

"Uhh, yep. I wanted to call you, but y'know, wasn't totally sure you'd believe me. My voice is totally different, too."
"I've uh..noticed. Just, what. Like, how did you 'mess up a wish' and wind up as a beastgirl?"

"I just wanted to be fit, is all! But, y'know, you're supposed to picture what you want, and I guess I pictured a cute girl a little too well."

"So, what, you want me to help you figure out how to fix this? Just wish yourself back, since that worked so well the first time!"
"No no—the thing is, I kinda like this? Girl part and all," Kane said. "It's just kindaaaa...awkward. For, like, going back to work tomorrow. And stuff."
Eli sighed over the phone again. "Then take a sick daaaay? Get an actual medical exam, because we seriously have no idea what that orb's magic even did? And get whatever you need for the new—like, you know. Stuff."
"You mean the boobs?"

"Yeah, that, and the rest of what comes with being a full-grown adult woman. I can not believe I have to explain this to you."

"I mean—you don't have to, but I do really appreciate it~!" she said. "I guess I'll go ahead and call off work, then. Citing uh...magic shenanigans?"
"You can also just, lie, you know."
"Yeah! Anyway, talk to you later~."

After the phone call, Kane looked over at the orb still sitting on the coffee table. "Hmmh." It was going to be a huge expense, not to mention a big hassle, to buy a bunch of new clothes—underwear and all—for herself, wasn't it? "Hmmmmmh." If the orb could transform a person's body, then...surely it could also change around a few measly clothes? After all, she was pretty sure her shorts and tank top had been a little bit bigger before she'd been transformed.

It was Friday afternoon when she next saw Eli in person again. This wasn't an unusual visit; they pretty much always got together at some point in the weekend to hang out, talk, and play games. The fox-girl eagerly ran off to the front door when one of her fuzzy ears picked up the sound of a car in the driveway, and she had a little bit of fun by making sure to open the door right at the exact moment when Eli's steps had stopped just in front of it so he could ring the doorbell. "Hi the~ere!" she said, enjoying the sight of him jumping slightly in surprise with his hand still half-raised toward the button.
"Uh—hi." Eli paused, looking her up and down for a second. She couldn't blame him, with how stacked she was, and honestly appreciated the attention! She was wearing slightly more than in those pictures she'd sent him: A long, loose t-shirt and some slightly less tight gym shorts that were more comfortable to move around the house in.

"Sooo..it really is you, huh," he concluded after a moment, but his face was slightly red.
"Yeah! Don't I look awesome!?"

"Sure I guess—but uh, I hope you can appreciate how weird it is for me, though."

"Mmh, I guess so. I got plenty of funny looks coming back to work today. But I love it!"

"Good for you, I guess..."

With that, they went inside, the fox-girl's huge fluffy tail wagging out behind her. She was a little disappointed that Eli managed to stay far enough behind that she couldn't 'accidentally' brush him with that tail's tip, but that only meant that he got a full view of her from behind. She turned around once they got to the living room. "I've got the snacks and stuff ready on the table," she said, pointing.
"Yeah, good. Um—wait, is that it?" he asked, gesturing toward the center of the table.
"Huh? Oh, right. Yeah, I, used up the second charge to fix my clothes and stuff," Kane said with a slight shrug. "So now it's just a clear glass ball. I figured it makes a good decoration for the table, riiight?"

"I, dunno about this...I mean, it's still an unknown magic item. Wait—if you didn't buy any clothes, did you even go to the doctor?"
"Yes I went to the doctor! I'm a hundred-percent-healthy, normal fox-girl. Uh, he said something about a kit suing a horse too, I think."
"A wh...he said what?" Eli said, his expression one of extreme confusion.

"He said a kit sued my horse," she repeated. "Or uhh, more like a horse sound. You know?"
"You mean 'neigh'." Eli looked like he was ready to pull his hair out. "You mean, that the doctor said, that you're a kitsune."

"Yeah, that was it!" she said, pointing at him. "He said he could sense it or something, 'cause he's a Neko."

"Kane, a kitsune is a magic fox person. Like, an immortal super trickster with magic powers?"
It was her turn to be confused; she headtilted a bit. "What, really?"

"The doctor. Your doctor. Did not explain this."

"Oh, I just said it was neat 'cause I didn't know what he meant, and I figured it was just some kinda medical term," she said, putting her hands out in a shrug. "Soooo, like, I guess he thought that meant I knew what he meant?"

"Well obviously, he did think you knew what he meant! Do you not comprehend how big of a deal that is?!"

"Not really? I mean...there's tons of magic people we didn't know about before, sooo, if I am one, so what?"
Eli sighed his biggest sigh yet. He took the two or three steps necessary to reach his hands up, put them directly onto Kane's shoulders, and look the fox-girl straight in the eyes. "It means you have literal superpowers. Or, at least, can have them."

Kane took a second or two to react to Eli's words, being somewhat distracted by kind of enjoying him holding onto and looking right at her like that. "Ooooh. Cool! But, like, I dunno how to use any of them, though?"
Eli let go of her so he could facepalm and sigh again. "Yeah, sure. That just means you might use them by accident at some point...but I guess we'll unpack this later. We're here to hang, right? Sooo, let's just do that."
"Okay, great! So—" she launched straight back into what she'd been ready to say before the whole orb-related interruption.

They did hang out after that, and it was about as fun as usual. Well, maybe a little more so; teasing Eli was its own little sort of game. He seemed a little less comfortable sitting close to Kane as a busty girl than he had when they were both guys, so she 'innocently' scooted closer when he wasn't paying attention and waited to see how long it'd take him to notice. Once or twice she reached for some food or drink at the same time as he did so their hands would make 'accidental' physical contact, which had him recoil with a slight, nervous blush and sometimes a muttered apology. Despite how smart he was, Eli never quite seemed to realize she was doing it on purpose.

It was a couple of hours of them playing together before Kane's mind really digested their conversation at the start of the evening. Eli had been exasperated by her lack of understanding that she was, in fact, a magic fox-person now. Even though she didn't have any powers that she actually knew about, she had to admit the possibility was pretty cool. Then again...why was he so upset that she hadn't understood how big of a deal it was? He usually seemed pretty cautious, if not paranoid, about magic stuff, and he could've just kept her in the dark...but instead he really wanted her to know about those supposed 'superpowers', which surely meant...something. Right?

Mulling it over a little more, she thought that perhaps it was because they were friends, and he trusted her with those powers. Even if she wasn't the brightest bulb, he knew she wouldn't use them to hurt him, unlike—say—a complete stranger giving away a mysterious magical orb as a prize. But was that all? After all, if he thought that a kitsune knowing she was magical and learning to use magic powers was a good thing, and he was really upset that she wasn't doing it...

Did that mean he was jealous? Well, no, jealousy didn't seem like the right word for it. They were having a good time together now, after all, and Kane at least knew that that was impossible with the kind of bad vibe that some serious jealousy on Eli's part would've produced. But rather: Did he wish, deep down, that it had been him who'd become a..what were the words he'd used? Right, it was: 'immortal super trickster with magic powers'? That sounded like a way of describing a kitsune that maybe someone who wished they could be one might use...didn't it?

From all of that, Kane finally thought: She didn't want to give up her new looks or anything, but it'd be nice to share the wealth a little bit. Since they were such good friends after all, she kind of wished that, if Eli wanted it, that he could get to be a kitsune too. She began to feel a bit of regret about recklessly using up the orb's second charge so soon when it could do something that was apparently so amazing; she would totally have been willing to use a wish to help Eli out with that. If he could be turned into a cute, busty fox-girl like she had, and thereby get the magical superpowers he wanted...she'd have wished for that, if only the orb still had that second charge. This line of thought distracted her enough to lose the next three rounds in a row against him.

"Man, are you even trying at this point?" He looked over at her.
"Huh? Oh, sorry. Iiiii, got distracted thinking about some stuff," she said.
"Really? What kind of stuff?"
"Uhm. You know, like, private stuff!" she insisted.
"Okaaay. I'll just assume you're coming to grips with how much being suddenly a girl is gonna complicate your life, then," he said.

"Huh? Oh, uh, sure. Something like that," Kane said with a grin and a small shrug. That was totally off base, but who was she to reject a perfectly good excuse? But now that she was looking over at him, she was really picturing how much happier he might be as a kitsune like her.

"That's not very convincing," Eli muttered under his breath—which of course she could hear—as he looked back toward the screen. "Uhh."

""Uhh' what?" she said, still looking at him. He looked around, then back at her again.
"Are you..doing that on purpose?"
"Doing...what?"
"Look around you, doofus!" he said with an emphatic wave. When she did, Kane finally noticed a cloud of black, wispy smoke-like stuff which seemed to have suddenly appeared around her, which was now in the process of surrounding the two of them. It was a rather familiar look, she thought, just like what she'd seen come out of the orb when making her wishes with it.

"Oh, wow. Uh—if I am doing that, I totally have no idea how."
"Great. I knew you should've gotten rid of that orb!" he said, gesturing to the orb (which wasn't really visible through the dark fog). "What even—aack!"

The latest noise came out of him when he looked her way again, and was joined by him putting his arm in the way of his eyes. It took Kane a second to realize that she was actually glowing, the same way that the orb had before doing its work. The first time, its light had gone into her (him at the time); the second time, it had scattered out from the orb, mostly toward her bedroom, to hit and change her clothes. But why was she glowing now? And even more strangely, why wasn't it blinding her?

"Can you not turn that off!?"
"I dunno how I turned it on!" she protested, deciding not to mention all of the similarities she'd noticed so far. They would both find out soon enough whether she was right, anyway. So she just waited a couple of seconds, and then felt...something. She exhaled hard, feeling all of a sudden like she'd put a bunch of effort into some particularly difficult physical task, and at the same time got to see the glow jump off of her body and over to Eli's, silhouetting his form briefly before disappearing altogether. After that, Kane was left huffing for air for a second or two, like she had after her workout Thursday afternoon, which had been significantly more intense than her previous form had been capable of.

"Okay, well, it's off now," Eli was saying, looking around the room. The smoke and the glowing were both gone, leaving things looking pretty much normal for the moment. "So you seriously have no idea what—is something wrong with you?" he interrupted himself, noticing her panting.
"Uh...hff...don't think so. Just feel like I exerted myself or something?" she said. "I'm already mostly over it, though."
"Exerted..then it was you, wasn't it? Using magic is supposed to be physically taxing," he said.

"I don't remember trying to do anything specific, though," she said. "Definitely nothing magical."

"Okay, great, so you did magic by total accident," he concluded. "And now..I feel..weird."

"Uh, like, weird how?" Kane asked. She had no idea how she could've recreated the effects of that orb, but all signs pointed to that having happened. And since the light had gone into Eli, that meant...

"M-my ears...ugh..." he shuddered slightly once, than again a little more violently. "T-tingling...AaaAAH...!" Before Kane's eyes, Eli's beard shortened and thinned, swiftly vanishing away; the hair visible on his upper arms did much the same thing. It took five to ten seconds for her friend to look impossibly clean-shaven. "R-rrgh..!" At the same time, she caught sight of his ears rapidly growing bigger and taller, easily poking their way out past his hair. They were covered in a sort of peach fuzz of bright blue hairs which was filling itself out just as swiftly as his beard was going through the opposite process.

"Aah, aagh...r-rruufffh..!" With his mouth open, she could see his canines growing longer and sharper. The ears rose up to a triangular shape as their fur (since that is what it was) filled the rest of the way out, followed by a swift growth of snowy white fuzz from his inner ears. "Wha~at..the..?!" His voice cracked slightly; the blue coloration of his ears' fur seemed to spread out to the hair they had just pushed through, and that shift spread out to the rest of his hair from there, rapidly recoloring it all to the very same shade of blue. "Aa~ah..r-rrfhh..!" Eli shivered slightly again; the color of his eyes brightened to a golden yellow while a tail pushed its way out from his lower back, curling aside when it hit the couch behind him. It started out as a thin line of blue fur (the same shade as his hair and ears) with some white at the tip, then swiftly puffed out into a big, fluffy pillow of fur. By the time this was done, his hair had grown out enough to frame his face, with the tips of some locks touching his shoulders.

"I-I...m~mmh...K-ka~ane..!" His voice was still cracking and squeaking, its tone shifting bit by bit with each utterance. At this point he was looking over at the fox-girl, and she got a full view of his smooth face with bright blue eyes framed by that soft blue hair, his cheeks starting to redden with a blush; her immediate thought about that sight was how cute it was. "Wha, whaa~aah...aah..!" He slowly pulled his arms around himself in a hug, shivering again, and then began to shrink.

"Aah...aa~aah...m-mrr~rrh..!" Before Kane's eyes, her friend became steadily shorter and slimmer. His shirt tented out around his shoulders as they narrowed down; his arms and legs lost what little muscle tone they had as they slimmed. His already-cute face became softer and rounder in shape, rendering him increasingly adorable—especially since that blush continued to brighten as he further changed. "Mnn~nNNngh...aah, aah, aAAA~AAaa~ah..!" His hair spilled out longer and longer as he became smaller, softer, and cuter all over, until those unkempt, sea-blue tresses started to pool on the couch around him, some making him flinch slightly when they landed on the new tail near its base. "O-oo~ooh..." At the same time as all of this, his voice had steadily lost its masculinity, now beginning to settle itself into a deep, mature, womanly tone—just as Kane noticed that her friend's adam's apple was vanishing away, too.

"Mmh...m-mrrffh...." As the shrinking slowed to a halt, Kane's eyes fluttered shut, his cheeks turning their brightest yet. All of a sudden, his shirt shrank to fit his small, slim form, while his pants made a sudden motion of shrinking, shortening, and softening until they had become a pair of tight blue gym shorts that hid almost none of his now smooth, slim legs. Furthermore, those shorts were fairly tight between his legs—enough for the fox-girl to catch sight of a surprisingly small bulge down there...which was even now, visibly, getting smaller still. "Mnnh...aa~aah..!" Eli gasped, then let out that air in a high-pitched, adorable "Aa~aa~AAAAAA~Aaaahh..!" Despite how deep Eli's voice had been coming out a moment ago, it had quite a range.
But anyway, that cry coincided with one last, visible shrinking of the bulge between Eli's legs, until the shorts could pull completely flat down there. "Aa~aah..!" Another high, cute cry came from her lips now, and Kane got to see the new girl's thighs pushing out thicker, her hips widening...she was starting to get curvy! "O-oh...o~ooh.." Her voice plumbed the depths of its new range again as she shivered, seemingly with delight, and a pair of small bumps pushed themselves out from her chest, lifting that part of her shirt a bit.

"Aah..m-mrr~rrrh..." Soft, low, vulpine churring rumbled through her throat as those bumps began to lift and swell themselves up steadily more...and more...! Kane eagerly wondered just how busty her friend was going to get! "O-oo~ooh...m-mnn~nnh...nn~nn~NNNN~NNNnhh..!" At any rate, the way Eli's ears went low, her tail excitedly whipping around, as she squirmed about in her seat, joined her helpless vocalizations as evidence of just how much she was enjoying the process. "A-ah...m-mrr~rrrh..." She had to be already at least a B cup, Kane thought, silently cheering the new girl's bust on. Then Eli gasped again, and let out a high, cute "AA~AAAAAAA~Aaaahh...!" as her breasts expanded out nearly as much as their entire growth up until that point! Finally she let out a soft, low "Mm~mmhh.." as they gently bounced out into place, completing her change into a short, curvy, adorable fox-girl.

"Aah...mmh.." Eli was still hugging herself tightly at first, and her arms slowly loosened their grip only as her bright yellow eyes gradually opened. "Whuh...wha...?

"WHAAAT!?"

"Uh, so...it looks like yooouuu..turned into a fox-girl?" Kane said slowly, watching Eli pat her upper legs, then her tail, then her breasts, then her face.

"I, noticed!!!" she said, turning to face her friend. Eli was now short enough that looking straight across that way gave her a direct view of only Kane's impressive rack; her face flushed red again as she tilted it upward to try to look her in the face. "Do you have any idea, maybe, why!?"

"Well, like, obviously a magic thing happened? It looked like you kinda enjoyed it, though."
"Th-that's...not! The point!" The smaller fox-girl, not seeming to think about what she was doing, suddenly pounced over Kane's way, her knees landing on the couch as she put her hands on the taller girl's shoulders again. "Did you do this?! On purpose!?"
"Uh—maybe, and no?" Having Eli's adorable face take up most of her view made it even more difficult than usual for Kane to think straight. "I mean like..obviously it came from me, but I definitely didn't mean to?"

"Do you have any idea what happened, or how to undo it!?"
"Weeelll uh.."
"Yes!? What?" Eli's huge, blue-furred ears were twitching distractingly up and down.

"It's just like, the uh..smoky stuff and the light, and the whoosh after that, was a lot like how the orb worked? But it like, came from me instead apparently? So, I guess I did the orb's thing somehow?"
"The orb. That is supposed to grant people's wishes? I didn't wish for this!" Eli said.

"Yoooouu...I guess you didn't. But like, you didn't wanna be a kitsune or anything at all?"

"A kit—maybe? I mean, I'm not gonna pretend it didn't cross my mind how nice it'd be to have magic powers and not have to worry about growing old, but what does that have to do with me turning into a girl!?"

Kane tilted her head. Eli must have read something from that expression that especially disturbed her; her ears drooped, she let go of the bigger girl's shoulders, and rocked backwards so that her butt and feet were both on the couch. "I kinda thought..that was part of the deal?" Kane said finally, which only seemed to confirm her friend's suspicions.

"You thought, that being a kitsune, requires a person to be female," she repeated, emphasizing her words in a way that suggested the thought to be unfathomably nonsensical.

"Well, yeah, that's like...how it worked for me? Like, I didn't even know what a kitsune is until you told me."

Eli exhaled a sort of half-sigh, pulling her arms around her knees to nearly complete a full fetal position. "That, is, true. But I wasn't...I mean I didn't...! Why would what you thought even..no, wait, it was you doing the magic, so...!"

Kane decided to come as clean as possible: "I uuhhh...did kinda catch myself semi-sort of-wishing thaaat, like, if it was what you wanted, that I could've used the orb to help you be a kitsune too?"

"And...you pictured 'kitsune' to mean specifically 'fox-girl'."

"Uh-huh," she nodded, deciding that the fact she was sensing no rage from Eli's general direction was a good sign. "As in like, a busty, cute girl like I am?"

"So..you accidentally, used your power, somehow imitating what the orb normally does, and that transformed me into...what you were picturing," the small fox-girl concluded.

"I guess so?"
"Which..probably means you have no idea how to undo it."
"Nnnope! But, like, if you are a kitsune now, shouldn't you be able to do that too?"
"Not with one tail!' Eli said. "Kitsune aren't just super-powerful at birth! They start out with basically almost nothing, and have to earn tails to get more powerful!"
"Okaaay...but like, I'm sure you could do that? Or we could uh..like, find someone who can transform people for a fee or something, I guess?"
"Y-yeah..." Eli let go of her knees, letting her legs stretch out a little bit—not quite enough for her feet to touch Kane. "I guess so. That's a...sensible solution.."

Now Eli looked slightly disappointed. Even more than any other time she'd seen her friend with an unhappy expression, Kane really wanted to fix that. What came to her as a solution was kind of sideways and strange, and probably really stupid, but she did it anyway. "Uh, you know, Eli...you totally didn't seem like you hated what it felt like, to like, turn into a girl? I mean—I know what that's like."
"W-well.." The smaller girl's face lit up with a blush again. "It wasn't...it certainly wasn't an, entirely unpleasant experience..."

"And I'd say you turned out amazing, you know? I mean, you're curvy and busty and super cute," Kane said, feeling a slight grin and the heat of a blush hitting her own face too.

"Y-yeah...I'm sure I'm at least conventionally attractive..." Eli looked down at her new appearance again for a moment.

Her head popped back up to face Kane again. "Wait—you've totally been flirting with me all night, haven't you?"
"Flirting?" Kane's face got a little bit hotter. "I mean, like, I dunno about that...I just thought it was kinda fun to tease you a little bit.."
"Teasing me, riiight. Like scooting right up close to me when I'm not looking," Eli said, turning herself to face forward on the couch before emphatically pulling partway to her feet to hop over next to Kane—close enough for their hips to nearly touch. "And making sure our hands touch sometimes. A-and messing with your hair and your boobs when you know I'm looking while pretending that you don't know. Hmph." She was making a serious effort—despite their close proximity—to look up past Kane's bust at her face, giving a clear view of some fully red cheeks. "Well—I can tease you, too!"

Eli pounced again, somehow managing to go from sitting next to Kane to sitting on her knees on the couch facing her, so that their faces were nearly right across from each other. "Really, Kane, if y-you like me that much, you should just say something! N-no need to beat around the bush, with how long we've been friends, right?" Her ears were going low (and so were Kane's); her tail had started wagging (and Kane could feel hers doing the same).
"I guess that's right? I mean, you're the smart one, sooo...like.." Kane grinned slightly again, greatly enjoying the adorable, false pout on the other fox-girl's face. "Do you like me? Huh?"
"I..y-yeah!" Eli pounced again, this time throwing her arms around Kane's body instead of just holding her shoulders. This naturally had the effect of squishing her soft, plush breasts right into Kane's even bigger, more solid pair, not to mention bringing their faces extremely close—with maybe an inch or two of room between their noses. "S-so there..!'

Kane's arms wrapped around the smaller girl automatically; her tail went from wagging to quickly curling itself forward in search of the base of Eli's tail. Her hands reached up to feel the soft, warm fur of the small fox-girl's huge blue ears, and she flinched slightly, letting out a soft, high "Yip!" at the sensation of some small, slim fingers brushing their way into her own ears.
"A-aa~ah...mmh..!" Eli jolted, then squirmed, at the feeling of a tail on her tail and then hands on her ears; she leaned forward, pressing her nose hard into the bigger girl's cheek, and Kane eagerly returned this gesture, the two of them beginning to nuzzle each other alongside the petting.

"Mmh...mrr~rrfh..!" Kane hadn't felt this fuzzy sensation in her new, girly parts much at all since the initial transformation; if anything, what she was feeling from Eli's sudden closeness, hugging, and petting was even stronger than that had been.
"O-o~ooh..." The short, curvy girl's voice going all deep and sexy made it even worse. Kane found herself falling back onto the couch until her head landed on the armrest, letting Eli spread herself out on top of her. "Mmh, mm~mmmnn~nnh...!"

"Rrrfh...h-heeehee...!" Kane could now use one hand to stroke the other girl from the top of her head down to her neck, and then all the way down her back, before the fingers finally reached the base of her tail.

"Aa-aah~!" Touching that again made Eli flinch, her voice coming out high and cute, then shiver with delight. Kane was squirming and shuddering just a little bit too, very much enjoying the sensations of a curvy girl's body on top of her own, and really getting into this whole mutual petting thing.

They must have stayed like that for at least half an hour. Well, Kane had no idea how long it was, and Eli probably didn't either, but it felt like a very long, wonderful time. And it was Eli who slowly, gently tamped things down; Kane was still too dazed from enjoyment to do much of anything besides softly churr or cry out and continue gently petting and stroking the other girl, up until finally realizing that Eli had stopped and was trying to pull her head just a little bit away.

"H-haa~aah...hffh..." She didn't mind this at all; it gave her a clear view of Eli's adorable face once again, this time lit with the brightest, reddest blush ever.
"Waah..w-wow...mmh...I-I may be forced t-to..r-rethink..wanting to be a guy again...hfffh.."

"Pffheeehee! Th-that's what you have to say? L-like, wow, I just got to have the best feelings I've had in my life with a gorgeous girl who's also my best friend, sooo like...! I'm pret-ty sure I'm gonna stay a girl too!" Kane said. "Thooo~oough...if you wouldn't mind swapping teams some time, I bet you'd be a cute fox-boy too. And kissing sounds fun.."
"Th-that's getting way ahead of..! I mean..it's silly to even assume we can find a way for me to do that.."
"I'm sure we can figure it out~," Kane said, moving her hand down from Eli's ear to gently stroke her cheek.

"Aah~..!" The response to this touch was about as breathy and high-pitched and cute as Kane could've hoped.

"We can get more tails or whatever later, riight?"

"I...hff...I guess...y-yeah...mrr~rrrh...fhh, for now..l-let's..m~mmh..." Eli's face sank back down onto the bigger girl's, nose-to-cheek again.

"Ooh..? You want more, after all that!?"
"Y-yes...hff...p-please...Kane...mmh..!"

"Pffheehee...! Well, like, you're lucky I do too! Plus I've never had this much stamina before...! C'mere, cutie~..!"
"Aa~aah...o-oo~ooh...c-cute...!"

"Cuu~ute!"

"Yh...you too...K-kane...mrr~rrrh.."

Suffice to say that they eventually wore themselves out, and awoke the next morning still lying on the couch like that. Her own name was the last actual word the big fox-girl remembered Eli saying that night, despite there being at least another full hour before the two of them dropped off.