The Next Chapter: 11

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The Next Chapter
Chapter 11: Shall We Talk?

Ed was not a singer.

Ed had no training or experience with music besides listening to it.

Ed understood the concepts behind how musical notation worked (thanks to Jay explaining it once or twice), but couldn't read it at all.

Despite all of this, the celestial's singing was, to the wolf-girl, an absolutely torturous experience. She was perfectly on-rhythm, with the right emotion and everything..but not. One. Single. Note. Was anywhere close to where it was supposed to be. Ed didn't know this song at all, but this fact was blatantly obvious by the fact that Polaris's voice unfailingly clashed, painfully, with the music she was singing to.

About halfway into what was probably the chorus, Polaris's face abruptly cracked and she started laughing, which mercifully made the tremendously awful singing come to an end. What began as a small giggling turned her doubling over in laughter, some tears coming out of her eyes, until she finally drew herself upright again, taking a deep breath or two while calmly going over to the computer to stop the music.

"I'm..terribly sorry to have such joviality at your expense. But—your faces! My goodness..pfheehee...!"

"Hh..hahah...!" Jay inhaled, and then giggled slightly along with the winged girl. She hopped to her feet. "B-be real with me. You...do know, that you uh, weren't singing that...very well at all, right?"
"If only by your reactions," she said, shrugging. "I am long-since aware of my being hopelessly tone-deaf, I confess. I made sure to learn several instruments that do not require a good ear for music instead. But this is the sort of caper that only works a single time with any given person, so I thought I ought to take the opportunity when I saw it."

"I guess this is why Kyo suddenly decided he had things to do," Nancy observed.

"Guess I can't fault a kitsune for not interfering with a prank," L'hoxifel added.

This more or less broke up the karaoke session of the afternoon. L'hoxifel headed off to "get started on dinner", and everyone generally headed back out to the hallway and scattered off. Ed shuffled out last, and found Polaris stopped not far outside, talking to Mary.

"If you'd only seen their faces, I wager even you would've at least given a mild chuckle."
"Maybe...oh, hey Ed." The goth girl noticed she was passing by at this point, and additionally gave a slight wave to get her attention.
"What?"
"I was curious..do you play chess?"

"Uh..I know the rules. I'm not, very good at it."

"Yeah, me either. Polaris always wins," she said, briefly pointing a thumb at the celestial (who was beaming proudly about this fact). "You busy right now, or, wanna play a game maybe?"

"I.." If she'd had something important to do today, it would've been used as an excuse to not come with Jay to the karaoke thing. "..Sure." Besides: While the amazing facilities of the OZK house had served as huge distractions, the entire reason the two of them had joined and gotten themselves turned into girls was to actually make friends at the college other than each other. Mary's emotionless demeanor and vampire-like complexion and fashion sense all creeped Ed out a little bit if she was being perfectly honest, but—given how friendly Polaris was with her—that had to just be because she didn't know Mary very well. So here was a chance to fix that.

Mary waved goodbye to Polaris, and the two of them headed to the room intended for playing board games. Upon entering, Ed discovered a small table with chairs on two opposite sides of it already set up with a chess board and all of the pieces in their proper places. The rest of the games, and most of the furniture, was all put away the same as it had been during the initial tour. She looked the goth girl's way, and Mary shrugged. "I hoped someone would say yes. You want white or black?"

"I, don't really care."

"Let's flip a coin, then." She produced a coin from the big pocket of her hoodie. "Tails you're white?"
"Sure." The coin came up tails.

After they'd each made a few moves in total silence, Ed was starting to feel a little awkward. She tried: "So...why'd you ask me to play chess in the first place?"
"Easy excuse to get someone alone and talk. I'd like to get to know who's living here, and...big gatherings can't really do that for me. I tend to just fall into the background instead."

Ed nodded. "Same..." Unless Jay shoves me forward.

"I guessed you'd be the most likely to agree to chess. Computer science major."

"...Makes sense."

"I know you've only just started, but, what're you planning to do with it?"

"Nothing...special. Something in IT just sounds stable, and working with computers is easy for me."

"Makes sense. You know, though, not having much ambition can really kill your motivation once things get tough. I know some people who dropped out of my major as soon as the math stopped being easy and 'fun' for them."

"Well..." Ed exhaled softly. "I'm still figuring things out."
"That's fair."

"I guess that means you have ambition?"

"Absolutely. I'm gonna win the Fields medal," Mary said. "Plus, math started being 'fun' for me when it stopped being easy. My advisor said that's what really makes someone a mathematician."

Ed sighed. "It seems like everyone else has big plans but me. Jay wants to be a famous composer, director, maybe performer."

"Maybe you'll find something you like better. It's what college is for. Checkmate."

"Wha—..!?" Ed had to look at the board two or three times, then go back through the last few moves in her head, before figuring out what had gone wrong. "..Oh. Yeah.."
"That was a classic opening. You want me to walk you through it?"
"...No. I think I get it," she said.
"Okay. Go again?"
"Let's swap sides."

"Alright." They didn't stand up; the swap was accomplished by just trading the white and black pieces to the opposite sides of the board.

While they were working on that, Ed asked, "Why specifically..the Fields medal? I mean, I know it's the big math prize, but—it wouldn't be enough to just do good math or whatever?"

"Maybe it would be. But—" Mary sat up slightly. "If I win the Fields medal, I go from being 'that freak who looks like a vampire' to 'that amazing genius who solved a problem people actually care about'."

Ed tilted her head slightly.

"C'mon. I'm seen myself in a mirror," Mary said. "I lean into it with my clothes 'cause it makes people freak out less. They'll assume these eyes are contacts. I mean, unless they're sensitive enough to magic to be afraid of me instead."

"Afraid of you?" Jay had said something about her having some kind of 'ridiculously dangerous magic power', but Ed hadn't been sure if that was something serious or she was repeating a joke as a fact.

"I was born with an unusual power. It's—you know how in some fantasy settings, powers or curses can pass down a bloodline? It's a little like that, but not hereditary. Instead, when someone with this kind of power dies, someone else born at around the same time gets it—and it's essentially random who. There are multiple distinct 'lineages' that work like that. Mine usually isn't all that dangerous, but being of a 'lineage' is determined completely independently from the intensity of a person's magic potential. If I hadn't gotten this power, I might have awakened as a dragon or something, apparently.

"...Your move."
"Oh—right.

"So..what's your power like, exactly?"
"Shadow and fear. Inky black, indistinct limbs or humanoid shapes that cause an instinctive fight-or-flight response on sight, at least if you don't manage to resist that part. Physically tangible, and strong enough to rip steel apart like tissue paper, in my case. Kyosuke's been terrified of me ever since we first met; he won't even talk to me unless Polaris is with me. I might've given L'hoxifel a pretty bad first impression the other day, too."

The strangest thing about this series of statements was that Mary said them with an essentially monotone voice, like someone restating dry, extremely boring facts out of a textbook. "...You know, as far as you seeming weird," Ed said. "No offense, but—the way you talk is..."
"I know." Mary paused to consider the board briefly and make her move on it. "Emotions can cause a person's magic to manifest. The stronger your potential is, the easier it is for leakages to happen. In my case, negative emotions—like fear, worry, or anger—can have extreme, physically dangerous effects. I've been practicing a special kind of emotional suppression since Polaris first taught it to me, to keep that from happening. I never feel very upset about anything, which keeps my power from hurting people, but it dulls positive emotions too. Basically, I can't help it."

"There's really no other way to keep your magic from hurting people?"
Mary shrugged. "If there is, Polaris hasn't found it, after years of looking.

"I have learned to control the power itself way better since then. I can use the shadows as extra limbs or bodies to go do things for me—as long as nobody's watching. It may be that I have enough control over it to keep an emotional outburst from being dangerous, but it's not a risk I'm willing to take right now. Checkmate, by the way."

"Wha—oh." Ed glanced at the board. "I...should've seen that coming. Your exposition is distracting me too much."
"Pfft." She made a brief noise which might have been almost the start of a very slight laugh. "Switch sides again?"
"Sure."

"I guess I should be glad that hearing about my dangerous power didn't make you run screaming or anything." Was that...a joke? Ed wasn't sure.

"Well—I'm. It's just that it's one thing for someone to say they have a gun in a safe somewhere, and another for them to get it out and point it at you."
"Makes sense."

"Besides...I'm used to being a weakling, I guess. I don't like it, but it's how things are. I like it even less now that I've gotten turned into a girl, and guys are...looking at me."

"I think you're smart enough to stay out of trouble," Mary said. "Keep Jay from doing anything too stupid while you're at it."
"Y-yeah..."

"If you just wanna feel physically strong, I'm pretty sure magic could do it for you. Like, you can ask Nancy for one of those rings like Rob has."
"I'm well aware. It's just..."

Ed was silent long enough for each of them to take a couple of turns. Mary's characteristic emotionless stare was almost comforting during this pause; anyone else might give some kind of expectant look, maybe get impatient or annoyed at the unfinished sentence hanging in the air. Instead, she had time to gather her thoughts, quietly sigh, and then try to explain.

"I wanted to stick with just this body until the end of this week. Before I have to deal with the bizarre feeling of maybe changing back and forth all the time, I thought I'd try to get used to looking like this. I've been hoping it would stop feeling weird..or, like Jay, I'd start to like it somehow. And, I guess I am getting used to it a little bit, but it's still really weird. I still hate feeling small and weak like this, and always being just...'cute'. But I'm also worried it'll feel even more weird if I use the ring to turn into like a big, strong guy—that might not feel anything like how I did before. Anyway, if I was gonna use magic to look like that, I could've just joined a normal frat in the first place instead of doing all this. So...I'm still not sure whether I want to go for an 'ideal body' or to 'go back to normal'. And...I probably only get one chance to decide how I'll look as a guy with that ring. I want to really think it through."

Mary nodded slowly. "You know, early on, Polaris offered to use some illusions to help me look 'normal', so people wouldn't pick on me anymore. Bright blue eyes, tanned skin, whatever. I tried it out for one day, and hated it. It wasn't 'me'. If people are gonna start liking and respecting me, it better be the real one, and not something fake."

"So, you've been bullied too..."
"Yeah. They're lucky Polaris was created before anyone got seriously hurt. But, it's not like your choice has to be either-or, right? Just a little bit of 'customization' wouldn't feel as jarring as making big, drastic changes. Apparently Rob looks exactly like he did before except for the cat ears and purple hair, and he didn't have any trouble adjusting to that at all."

Ed thought: A little bit of extra height and some physical fitness would be far less drastic than something like having a tail. "Maybe..."

"Dinner's ready!!!" Ed sat up, her ears turning in the direction that L'hoxifel's voice was coming from. It was a yell, but faint enough that she wasn't sure human ears could actually hear it at this distance.
"Supper?" If Mary couldn't hear it, she guessed what it was from context.
"Yeah." The wolf-girl stood up. "I was probably just gonna lose this game, anyway. You totally lied about not being very good, huh?"

"I only had Polaris to compare to." She got up too. "Maybe I can show you some tricks later."

"That'd be nice, I guess..."

Seeing the demon-girl at karaoke had dredged up some thoughts that had been stewing in the back of Ed's mind for a while now, and seeing her at supper brought them back even stronger. She'd even been kind of avoiding L'hoxifel because of them...but that was stupid. At that earlier meeting, she'd said Ed was 'looking great' and 'had a lovely voice', and those compliments had been sincere. And they felt nice, the same way that her saying things like that had felt back on Sunday. But...

The doubt wouldn't go away. The idea of turning 'back to normal' soon, or even mostly so, made it feel all the more pressing. Mary had said she wanted people to like the 'real' her instead of an illusion; that wasn't exactly what Ed was dealing with, but it still felt like something in the same area. This...was going to keep bothering her until they actually talked about it.

Once the meal was over, Ed started stacking some of the plates. "I'll, help clean up?" she offered.
"Oh, really? Thanks~," L'hoxifel said. There was no reason why she needed to be doing it in the first place, since she was the one who'd cooked, but it almost seemed to be an instinct of hers to start cleaning up the instant the meal was over. It didn't take very long for everyone else to clear out, leaving the two of them alone.

"How'd..you first learn to cook?" Ed asked. She had something serious to talk about, but just bringing it up out of nowhere was too awkward.

"My mom taught me. I'd just started middle school—so, uh, I was still a guy at the time—and she said 'every young man should know how to fend for himself!' She's actually a 'gluttony' type demon, so making good food comes super naturally to her."

"Does it, really work that way? Like, is it easier for a 'rage' demon to make people angry?"
"A little. At least in that I can tell when an attempt is working. And you can bet succubi and incubi find attracting people easy," L'hoxifel said. "Not to downplay my mom's skills, though; there's no real shortcut to getting good at cooking. I mean...unless, like, a fae decides to inject the skill into your brain, but they'd only do that in an unfair trade, or as part of some weird prank or something. Anyway—it's basically just a ton of practice."

They worked on the dishes for a couple of minutes before the demon-girl said, "Hey, Ed."
"Huh?"
"Something's really bothering you, right? I can kinda tell—just from your expressions, you know?"
"Oh. W-well, uh."

This was a perfect opportunity to bring it up, but Ed mentally tripped over a last-second realization, hesitating briefly as a result. "It's...I don't know if it's really fair," she said.

"What do you mean?"
"I mean—we've kinda barely met, and only been on one date, but..."
"But?"

"D-do you only like me because I fit your definition of..cute? Because of these?" she said, pulling on one of her ears. "Or...?"

"Ah. Well..." L'hoxifel put a finger to her chin. "I'm not gonna lie—I became more interested in you in the first place 'cause of your looks. I do have a thing for a fuzzy wolf-girl, and you do look great to me. But, you know, if you met someone you thought was super attractive, and went on a date with them, and then found out there was nothing else to them that you liked besides the body...well, what would you do?"

"I guess..probably, not ask her out again," Ed admitted.

"So—there's definitely more to you than a pretty face and some fluffy ears, as far as I'm concerned," L'hoxifel said. "Whether you stay a girl or not...I think you're a sweet, considerate person. And way smarter and more creative than you might realize."

"U-uhm..." While the wolf-girl felt a little defensive toward comments about her physical appearance or voice, it was something else entirely to have her personality complimented. Her heart picked up its pace a little bit, and her face felt kind of warm.

"Aaaand, I think I'd like expressions like that one on you either way," the demon-girl continued, smiling across at her. "Heheh, your tail's even wagging a little bit."
"Uh..hmph." Ed tried to make it stop, but that seemed to require conscious effort.

"My turn for an unfair question: Do you really hate being a girl that much? Or, like, having fur?"

"I...uh...n-not really. I mean, not necessarily that exactly," Ed said. "I've..started to get used to it, even the fur somehow. I-I guess, I'm actually a little curious what it'd feel like for someone else to run a hand through it...even though, I usually d-don't like being touched at all. B-but I...well, I really don't like, out in public—guys, strangers looking at me. It's—this, conflicted feeling where, it's nice that I'm attractive, but being so small and weak makes me feel vulnerable, and a little scared..."

"Hmmn. I guess I've never really had that problem," L'hoxifel said. "Back then...I tried to make myself as physically harmless as possible, knowing full well that I have enough power magic-wise to defend myself no matter what. Hey—what if, I just helped you be a little taller and stronger, then?"

"Uhm...how...are you gonna do that?"

L'hoxifel tilted her head slightly, her expression suggesting that the answer was trivially obvious: "Magic?"

"O-oh. Right." She had been able to transform 'himself' into 'herself' all the way back in high school, after all.

"Let's finish up here, and—maybe I can do a little work on you in my room after?" she suggested. "Cammy's out with Rob, probably for a while yet."
"O-okay.." It didn't help the excitement and embarrassment Ed was feeling to realize she was being invited into a girl's room, alone. But it made sense—that wasn't something to do in a public space, right?

A short while later, she followed L'hoxifel into her room, gently kicking the door shut behind her. The demon-girl turned around to face her, placing a hand under he chin briefly. "Hmmn..."
"Y-yeah?"
"Can I..feel your ears just a little bit? Before we make any changes?"
"Uh..s-sure, I guess..."

"Heheh, great~."

With that, L'hoxifel pulled slightly closer, reaching across and placing her hands across the top of Ed's ears. The wolf-girl flinched, finding the fuzzy appendages unusually sensitive to this touch. But—it wasn't bad. She didn't pull away, and when those hands gently rubbed their way around the fur, her heart started racing and a slight burst of pleasant, fuzzy sensation hit her down below. "Mmh—mmnngh....!"

"Awwh, wow...they're so soft and warm! You've been taking good care of all you fur and hair, huh?"
"Y-yeah...mngh..rr-ruffh...!" She couldn't help letting out a small bark when one of the demon-girl's fingers accidentally(?) touched some of the fluff of her inner ear.

"I know this is gonna annoy you, but that's really cute~," L'hoxifel said, letting go of one ear and moving the hand on the other one around through Ed's hair to her cheek.

This touch...! Was something different entirely. Ed's skin wasn't any more sensitive than usual, of course, but that hand on her cheek made her face burn with a blush, and her tail (which had already been wagging a little bit before) went whipping back and forth excitedly behind her. "U-uhm..."
"Heheh! I think...you might just like me. R-right?" Ed finally noticed that L'hoxifel was actually blushing almost as much as it felt like she was.

"Y-yeah...g-guess so..."

"I'm glad. I think I like you too," she admitted.

Finally, she let go of Ed's cheek, crossing her arms briefly (though still smiling and blushing)."So, uh—I'll make whatever changes you want. Shouldn't be too hard. What do you want?"
"Just...taller, and stronger. Uh..f-for now, at least."

"Any preference on how much taller?"

"I...really, I'd be happy if I was just as tall as I was as a guy," Ed said.
"Okay~, easy enough. Let's see...it's easiest to convey this effect through touch. If you don't mind."
"N-no, that's okay..."

L'hoxifel raised her hand up toward Ed's forehead, a bright purplish glow gathering near the palm of that hand, and then placed it there. The wolf-girl felt a rush of warmth spreading from the point of contact out to the rest of her body, especially downward, and by the time the demon-girl had let go of her forehead, she could feel the warmth settling into a strangely comforting burning and tensing sensation, just about everywhere one would expect to have muscle tone.

"Aah..mmnh..." She shuddered slightly as something raced down her spine, and then found herself leaning back slightly, half-involuntarily stretching. Her perspective rose rapidly upward, and at the same time...there was a feeling of her hips and thighs pushing out slightly. "Mmh—mrrrr~rfh...!" a soft bark came from her lips as the tensing and stretching eased off, and a brief burst of fuzzy sensation hit her between the legs alongside a slight forward push from her chest. With that, the strange feelings stopped, and Ed took a moment to look down at her new appearance.

"Well..what do you think?" L'hoxifel asked. She was...definitely taller; her shirt had been pulled up off of some visible, solid abs by the growth. However, it had also been pulled up a little bit more by a noticeable increase in her bust size, which accompanied her lower body's curves also being somewhat more pronounced. Ed slowly tilted her head back upward—to face the demon-girl, whose eye level was around her chin now. She was blushing and smiling up toward Ed, which made her feel...slightly giddy.

"A-ahahah..d-did you have to make my boobs bigger, too?"
"I didn't do that part on purpose. But it's natural for taller girls to be a little bit curvier," L'hoxifel said. "I can shrink them if you really want me to."
"Uh..n-no, I guess not. Though, I'll have to get a whole new set of bras or whatever..."
"Ed, clothes are way easier to transform than human bodies. I can fix them later, if you want. I mean—if you decide to stay looking like that."

"Uhm...I might." This did feel right; she felt stronger for sure, and could picture going around campus like this without worrying about guys looking at her. It'd be nice to be able to actually reach things, too! Although...right this second, she felt the most concerned about the person who was looking at her right now.

"B-but uh..what do you think? Ab-about this look?" she asked.
"I think you look gorgeous like that," L'hoxifel said, her face lighting up with another bright blush. "Plus, I could just picture you picking me up in your big strong arms~."

"Oh...mmm-mngh.." Ed's tail started wagging again. She noticed that her ears had sunk low, pointing out to either side of her head, too. "Y...you want me to? Uh, p-pick you up? Now?"
"I wouldn't complain if you did~. Fair warning, though, I'd go straight for your ears."

"I-I guess that's, only fair..."

Ed took a small step forward and tried reaching her arms out and gently lifting the demon-girl into a hug. She seemed strangely lightweight—probably just because of the all the new muscle tone. But more importantly, L'hoxifel responded by returning the hug, pulling herself close enough for their breasts to squish against each other. This was...definitely a new kind of feeling. It didn't take long to decide she liked it—especially with the other girl's face just a few inches in front of her.

"Mn~nh..rrfh..!" As threatened, L'hoxifel started petting Ed's ears after that. This was a...very nice addition to the feeling of the demon-girl's soft body pressed against her own. "Aah..y-yip!" After a couple of canine-like sounds, she couldn't resist leaning forward, pressing her nose hard into the other girl's cheek, and...nuzzling it? This wasn't something Ed would ever have thought to do, but her mind was mostly just along for the ride at this point.

"Awww~wwh..! That's so cuuute!" she softly half-squealed. For once, Ed didn't feel like she minded this word too much. One of her hands around L'hoxifel's waist was enough to hold her in place, so her other hand wandered, running through the demon-girl's hair a bit. "H-heheh...!" She seemed to like this well enough, too.

After a moment or so of this, something slid across the base of Ed's tail. "Y-yip!" Like her ears, that tail's fur seemed unusually sensitive right now, especially since this sensation was such a surprise. But it didn't take her long to figure out what it was. She turned her head to one side just enough to free her lips and be heard saying, "Uh—um...y-your tail?"

"Yeah..sorry~. My curiosity got the better of me, heheh~..."
"I-it's fine..j-just, surprised..."

They resumed for a little longer, L'hoxifel's tail twisting partway around Ed's and slowly sliding across it. Ed had thought the fuzzy feelings she could have as a girl were terribly strange, and maybe even uncomfortable..but right now, she definitely just liked them. This excitement was..kind of addictive, even. But finally, L'hoxifel released her ears and unwound their tails, and very gently pushed off—a cue which Ed correctly read, and so set her down again.

The demon-girl's face looked beet red, with very little of its usual purple. "I think...I like this new look of yours an awful lot~," she said. "Hey—let's go on a second date! Tomorrow?"
"Um..s-sure," Ed said, before making a brief mental confirmation that there was no possible conflict.

"Great! I've uh, gotta kick you out for now though—uhm. C-cammy's gonna be back fairly soon, I think."

"Right, uh, o-of course." Ed was pretty sure that L'hoxifel was having some very similar thoughts to her own: A strong desire to do that a second time, clashing against a fear that it might go a little too far if they did just now. So she hurriedly turned around and went for the door, stumbling slightly once or twice along the way. Strange: Her legs should be stronger now, not weaker...right?

L'hoxifel noticed this, and called after her through the bedroom doorway: "Be careful, silly! Heheh~!"

The Next Chapter: 10

 First / Previous / Next / Latest

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The Next Chapter
Chapter 10: Care to Sing?

Kyosuke had his stuff packed early into Friday afternoon, and Polaris (now a tall, busty woman) showed up to help lug it all over not long after. She made a show of picking up the heaviest items not with her hands, but with some lifting-and-carrying type magic that had those items float along in the air behind her. That was fine with the kitsune; it meant he didn't have to carry them.

It had been agreed that he'd room with Robert—Camilla's boyfriend—who (from what Kyo understood) been suckered into joining the sorority by the kind of simple-yet-clever scheme that any fox might be envious of. There were plenty of completely unoccupied rooms in the OZK house, but both Kyo and Rob were used to rooming with someone else, open to meeting a new person, and—of course—would be among the originally-male members transformed by the house. Also, the room was right across the hall from where Polaris and that monster were now living.

The Celestial set everything down on Kyosuke's side of the room. "Well? Any further assistance required?"
"No, this should be fine. I'll just start getting my stuff unpacked and settled."
"Excellent. I shall be off, then." With that, she headed out, leaving Kyo to his work. He quietly hummed to himself as he worked to get everything in just the right place.

Around halfway into the process he paused, his ears twitching. Off in the distance, faintly...was that Jay's voice singing? This house had pretty good magical sound-dampening, but it was mostly focused on keeping bedrooms and bathrooms private; more public areas had their walls and doors much less aggressively muted. Still, it was more than enough to prevent someone merely singing or humming to themselves from being heard (even by fox ears) at this kind of distance. Curious what was going on, Kyo paused his work to go track her down.

She was singing along to some kind of backing track, which had the sound quality of being played through some high-end speakers. Kyosuke identified the genre as some kind of synth-pop as she moved into what was very obviously the chorus. More importantly, however, Jay's singing was incredible. Her voice was beautiful, melodious, and powerful, and she sang with a confidence and energy that perfectly fit the song. He couldn't know whether she was hitting all of the "right" notes, but all of it sounded perfectly consonant and on-rhythm with the music behind her.

Finally, the kitsune located the source of all that sound: The little "theater room" of OZK's house. It had a big screen and some seating, so he'd assumed that it was just for watching movies or videos, but upon walking inside, he found that its acoustics were actually quite good for this performance of Jay's. He also wasn't the only one listening. Ed, Nancy, and L'hoxifel were seated in various spots near the front of the room. At about the time of Kyo's arrival, the song reached a climactic part with a long series of notes and words coming out rapid-fire. While his English was very good most of the time, he couldn't parse half of what these words were; Jay, however, seemed to hit every single one without stumbling over a consonant or missing a beat. After that was one final chorus (with a key change, of course), and then the song came to an end.

"Haahh...phew." Jay bent over slightly, panting. The three seated audience members gave their applause, and Kyosuke joined them, noting that the fox-girl had been singing at that volume with no microphone.

"Amazing! How are you already so good at singing in a brand new voice?!" Nancy said.

"Is the rap section supposed to go that fast?" the demon-girl asked.

"Yeah, it is," Ed answered for Jay, who was just now starting to catch her breath.

"Aahahah...I've just been singing since, like, middle school. Turns out the technique and stuff carries over even if your voice is totally different," The fox-girl said, shrugging. "Aaaand, I might've listened to Ursa's whole album on repeat one too many times."

Jay had mentioned being a huge fan of an "Ursa Major" during their date back on Tuesday, and talked excitedly about her and her music until Kyo managed to very tactfully change the subject. Evidently this was one of her songs, and he had to admit it did seem fairly catchy. At this point, Jay noticed his presence, and waved. "Oh, hey Kyo! You get all moved in already?"
"Mostly." Seeing that this had brought the attention of everyone else in the room his way, he shrugged, taking a few steps farther into the room. "I was just unpacking, and heard a siren song that compelled me to come. You do have a really beautiful voice."

"Awwwh, heheh~," she giggled. "We were just doing some karaoke, is all—Nancy's idea. You wanna join us?"

"I guess the rest of unpacking could wait," he said. "If the rest of you wouldn't mind?" A brief chorus of affirmation followed, so he came up toward the front. There wasn't exactly a "stage", but the room's acoustics seemed designed to make the whole area in front of the screen—where the speakers and Jay were—easy to hear throughout the whole room. There was a computer off to one side, maybe belonging to someone already in the room, that they'd used to play the song for Jay. After some brief encouragement from all present, Kyo went and found a song he knew on that.

He wasn't the best singer, by his own estimation, but he could carry an easy tune like this one. The only thing that his audience were likely to find odd was the language. Well, he couldn't really help the fact that every song he knew well enough to sing confidently was in Japanese, and they seemed fairly likely to be cool about it anyway. Indeed, once he'd given his performance, including using some of his illusions to illustrate certain parts of the lyrics, he got a full round of applause, and couldn't resist giving a couple of bows.

"Thank you, thank you—I'll be here all week, hahah! I suppose it's someone else's turn for now, though?"

"Yeah! Ed was gonna be up next after me," Jay said without reservation. The wolf-girl growled softly, looking off to one side with her face flushing slightly. "Whaat, you thought you were off the hook? You're the only one who hasn't sung anything yet! C'mon." The fox-girl grabbed her hand and pulled her up off of her seat and to the "stage"; Kyo quietly moved himself out of the way and to an unoccupied seat before they got there.

"I don't really...know any songs. And my voice sucks anyway. I-I mean..I'm not used to how it sounds at all..."

"Well, you're not gonna get any more used it staying quiet," Jay said. "Besides, you complained about 'Love-spell, Hate-spell' being stuck in your head literally last week."

"That's because I don't like it."

"But you know it, riight? C'mon, I found a version with the words up on the screen," Jay said, gesturing at the computer. "Just give it a shot, okay?"
"Ugh, fiiiine."

This was presumably another of Ursa Major's songs, but its style was markedly different from the one Jay had sung to. It was a little slower in tempo, with more of a rock style, featuring guitars much more prominently. Despite her protests, the wolf-girl wasn't any worse a singer than Kyosuke figured himself to be. If anything, she kind of got into the song around the halfway point, and seemed to be actually having fun by the end of it. She also didn't seem to need to look at the screen much for the lyrics. Almost as soon as the song was over, she apparently noticed the happy look on her own face, and quickly forced it back to the sour expression she'd had on before.

"There~! That wasn't so bad, was it?" Jay said. "You didn't even mess up any of the notes."

"Wh-whatever! I'm not gonna do it again," she said, hurrying back to the seats.

"Your voice is lovely, Ed," L'hoxifel chimed in, and the wolf-girl responded to that with a bright blush and some embarrassed mumbling.

"Pardon the intrusion, but! Is this a display of talents I'm encountering!?"
The kistune muttered under his breath, "Uh-oh." Even if he didn't already know the sound of his former roommate's new voice, her manner of speech was unmistakable. Besides which, she was striding her way into the center of the room already.

"I simply must partake in this myself! Singing as perfect as mine deserves to be heard by all and sundry."
Kyosuke was pretty sure that the Celestial knew she was completely tone-deaf. He knew Polaris to occasionally slip from being honestly vain about her own, genuinely incredible abilities into being ironically, humorously vain about those talents she completely lacked. The only problem was that she tended to commit to this bit just a little too hard, and in this case, that would mean inflicting that voice on at least five other people.

Already the group (especially Jay) were happily encouraging Polaris to join them and pick out a song to sing. Kyo wondered: Should he warn them? As someone who wanted to get along with these girls, he probably should, but as a kitsune, it was also practically his duty to let a funny situation like this play itself out. He decided to give them all a subtle hint and leave it at that. He stood up, making a small show of looking at his phone in his right hand.

"Oh, man, it's been that long? Sorry, I've really gotta finish unpacking and get some homework done. It's been fun—we should do it again some time!" he said, waving goodbye while hurrying out of the room.

"Okay! Join us for supper later," L'hoxifel called after him. "I'll let you know when it's ready."
"Thanks!"

Kyo was walking backwards, then sideways, during this brief exchange. So it was only thanks to his keen hearing and quick reflexes that he didn't slam sideways into Mary, and instead went awkwardly stumbling around her to one side. "Whoop—uh. Sorry!" Once past her, he took off at a sprint.
"It's fine, really. You don't—hmn." His ears picked up her response, but he'd already turned a corner to get out of sight by the time she'd finished saying it.

Jay had mentioned how amazing a chef L'hoxifel was, and even Polaris had sworn that she would be "extracting her secrets" at some point. Kyo naturally interpreted these as kind overstatements, but getting to eat a supper made by the demon-girl for himself, he concluded that they were both completely sincere and serious. What was this girl doing in a creative writing major when she could be a five-star Michelin chef?! The kitsune resolved to at least try and get someone close to her—her friend Camilla, or Ed maybe—to suggest such a career, if only to find out the reason she wasn't already going after one.

Everyone was present for the dinner except for Rob and Camilla, who were apparently on a date or something, making for a very lively gathering. Kyo quickly got a feel for the dynamics among the group: Nancy liked to be the center of attention maybe even more than Polaris did; Mary, as expected, leaned back and quietly watched everyone with those eerie black eyes of hers. Jay liked or pretended to like everyone, and was having fun just hanging out with them; and Ed was quietly contemplating something, deeply enough that she wasn't always paying attention to the conversation. The kitsune himself just cheerfully people-watched, responding pleasantly when addressed but otherwise keeping fairly quiet.

It was past sunset when Kyosuke finally met his roommate. He was chipping away at some homework when the door opened, and Rob—a tall, handsome purple-haired guy with fuzzy ears and a catlike tail—walked in. He set his work down and stood up, hurrying over to greet him. "Hey! Kyosuke."
"Rob," he responded, shaking the hand gently. "I guess we're roommates now."
"Yep. I mean, unless you don't like it. There's lots of empty space for either of us to move into."
"Nah, I already agreed to it," he said, shrugging. "It's weird being on my own. Too quiet."
"Hah, I get that."

After some more general introductions, Rob said, "Hey, so—you've always had like, animal ears, right?"
"Yeah?"
"I got a question. How do you..how do headphones work with these things?" he said, pointing to his own ears.

"They make earbuds that go right in, for one thing," Kyo said. "'Human' buds can be stuffed in there too, but it's pretty uncomfortable. Me, though—" he pointed to a pair of big, classic-style headphones propped on his desk next to his laptop. "I just use the cheap stuff. If you turn them upward toward your ears, and focus on listening to what's coming out—y'know, which points your ears at them—it works great."
"Huh. I guess that makes sense. But...I'm used to totally blocking the world out when I'm doing art, is all. I can't figure out a way to stop...hearing stuff."

"I've known some people who were new to animal ears," Kyo said. "They all start out that way, but after a bit, your brain gets used to hearing tons of extra little noises, and learns to filter out what you're not actually interested in hearing. It's always taken me conscious effort to really hear everything my ears can pick up. Oh, but they do make noise-canceling stuff for fuzzy ears; it's just, kinda expensive. For the best kind, they have to actually get your measurements so it'll fit right. Or—they've started selling this noise-canceling enchantment stuff, but since it's so new, it's super expensive."

"Wow, cool," Rob nodded. "Ugh, I guess I just need to 'practice' until my brain gets used to these, then, huh?"
"Sorry, but—I'm sure, as someone who plays sports, you know: 'No easy path to success'. Even in a little thing like this."

A little later, when both of them were sitting at their desks, Rob turned his chair around the kitsune's way. Kyo paused his music in time to hear him say, "So, uh..."
"What's up?"
"I guess you..I mean, there's no way you don't know what you signed up for, right? I mean, after you go to sleep tonight..."

"The house's enchantment will change me into a woman, I know," Kyo said, nodding. "It's done that for you as well, hasn't it?"

"Yyyeah. Kind of by accident. I'm a guy right now, just 'cause I'm wearing this thing," he said, poking a ring on his left hand.

Kyo leaned in slightly toward it. "Huh. Quite an ingenious little enchantment. Very complex, to my senses."

"Sure, but...I just mean. You're..cool...with that?"

"Absolutely. I've become somewhat curious since this opportunity presented itself to me. Some of my kitsune relatives have told me that being transformed by outside magic can help make it easier to learn to transform ourselves, which is something I want to master at some point. And..there is a stronger reason, too."

"Stronger...?"

"Exactly. Let me ask you something...Camilla likes that female form of yours, right?"
"Uh..." Rob blushed. "Y-yeah?"

"I understand things happened in the sequence: You were transformed, then brought to live here. But if instead she had asked you to move into the house with her and get transformed, because she perhaps thought she'd like the results in the first place...do you think you would've done so?"

"Hhhhuh." Robert's expression changed for a moment; he was seriously contemplating something that had not occurred to him before. Some kitsune had a "favorite expression" that they liked to cause other people to make; this one was Kyo's.

"I guess...yeah. I would. Totally. Camilla and me are..pretty serious, you know. Even if the house itself wasn't so great, being close to her, uh, is worth it. It's annoying when she steals my ring to make me turn into a catgirl for her, but...like, if she asked me to take it off instead, I probably would..."

"Hah, well, there you go. I"m in a situation a little like that. While we've barely met, and so are nowhere near as serious as you and Camilla—Jay made it very clear that she'd be interested to see how I look as a woman. So, in view of the other reasons I already had for joining, my decision felt rather obvious."

"That make sense," Rob said. "Oh, but uh...Jay seems, really high-energy to me. I guess it's just your taste—I feel like I'd be exhausted even just dating someone like that a couple times."

"We're hardly very far into the courtship," Kyo said, shrugging. "I'll wait and see how it goes. I admit I find that energy very charming so far, though."

Another while later, Rob stood up, got some things from his dresser drawers, and started toward the bathroom. "I'm...going to bed," he said. "So uh—gonna go change, in there."
"Understandable," the kitsune said, nodding. She came back out in some full-body pajamas, setting down the outfit her male form had had on on her way to the bed. The kitsune decided he was getting pretty sleepy himself a little later, and changed for bed too. He usually wore just boxers and an old shirt, and had no problem with magic reconfiguring that into something that would fit post-change.

Kyo tended to take a little while to get to sleep, once he was lying down with the lights out. His thoughts would run away with him, and he sometimes had to resort to actual meditation to make his brain shut up. Tonight, his thoughts eventually went back to the conversation with Jay a couple of mornings ago. She thought he'd be 'super cute' as a girl..and had openly brought up the idea of picking a female Kyo up in a big hug and petting her. He was definitely excited by the idea, and sincerely hoped to wind up with the kind of body that Jay would enjoy doing that with. It was a very strange thing to consider, he realized, but a world full of magic tended to create a great many bizarre possibilities...

"...Mrrfh." Kyo stirred partially up out of sleep, thoughts like those still the last thing he could remember. He only knew that he had been asleep because a brief squint through his eyes revealed a subtle difference in the moonlight coming through the closed window blinds, which proved it was later into the night than his temporal memory could account for.

Polaris had said a thing or two about how the OZK house's enchantment worked. Kyosuke's magical senses weren't as finely honed as the Celestial's, but at this moment, he could feel the magic pushing in at him, and at the same time physically restraining his movement. He could tell right away that he wasn't powerful enough to resist it; instead, he invited it in. It took effect very quickly, making him shudder as a tingling proceeded from the tips of his ears and tails inward to the rest of his body, flooding all the way across it. The change being made to his fur was subtle: A mild softening, a slight increase in length and fluffiness. His skin, too, was softened a bit, along with the more obvious shift of a swift loss of body and facial hair. The tingling remained on his scalp while the rest faded off for now, growing his hair out longer while making similar changes to its volume and feel as it had to his fur.

And then...Kyo could feel his own power began pulling him inward. "Aah...!" It was a startling, sharp feeling that made him jolt and cry out briefly. He found himself picturing Jay in front of him, shorter than him, and then his perspective rapidly sinking, bringing her up higher and higher. And he really was shrinking at that rate, not only shorter but smaller in nearly every way he could think of. "Aa~ah..mmh, mm~mmh..!" His face grew smaller and rounder; his arms and legs slimmed down; his frame collapsed inward, narrowing his shoulders down; and even his voice was 'shrinking' in the sense of growing higher-pitched, like the sound of a smaller creature. "Mrr, rr~rrh..!" The sensation of this shift, along with the mental image of Jay's pretty face coming up to his eye-line and then rising even farther, made him squirm around, softly crying out, and caused quite a lot of excitement down between his legs. But he knew that wouldn't be there very long; it, too, shrank smaller and smaller even as the rest of him did!

"Mnngh...rr~rrfh..!" Kyo's voice settled quickly into a mid-range alto tone as the shrinking slowed toward a halt. In the mental image of standing before the voluptuous fox-girl, he could picture her impressive bust coming up into his view; his heart raced at the thought of her reaching out then, to pick him up and hold on tight, rubbing his ears..!

Or rather—that would be—her ears. Kyo's manhood began slipping inward as the rest of the shrinking slowed to a halt. "Mmh—mmMMMmmh—rruufh..!" He thrashed around a little bit, enjoying the ride, until it fully melted away, coming inside her body to reform into some fully female parts. This was accompanied by a rush of pleasant, fuzzy feelings down there that made her let out a high, cute "Aa~ah!" Then there was the sensation of her hips pushing their way out, her shorts very suddenly pulling tight—including becoming flat right between her legs. Now she could really picture Jay holding on to her, maybe the feeling of some fingers on her ears...! Or maybe even her tails? "Mrrr~rrhh...!" The very thought of that had her churring excitedly and happily, so...just wait until she could feel the real thing...!

"Mnnf...aah, rr~rrRUFFH...!" The kitsune welcomed the sensation of her chest pushing out into some new, small breasts too, They'd press nicely against Jay's enormous pair, maybe especially if they were a little bit bigger than this...? And so they pushed out again, and then yet a third time, each one coming with a wave of more fuzzy sensation down between her legs..! "Aa~ah...mrrr~rrnh..." Finally, the new vixen let out a soft, low "Ooo~oooh...!" as one final, more slow-and-steady push expanded her bust out to what would be its full size, completing her change and letting her feel one last, especially strong burst of girlish pleasure.

"Hfffh...fffh...mnn~nnh..." Kyosuke wondered whether every magically-induced change of sex was like this? Or at least anyone's first time. Probably not quite so pleasant, she reasoned; someone who'd been welcoming it like her would probably enjoy it the most. She slowly caught her breath, gently prodding around at her new form (and discovering that her shirt had split itself apart down the middle in the process), before finally realizing that she actually felt very physically exhausted by the expenditure of 'her own' magic, boosted as it had been by the house's enchantment, to transform her like this. So she took a couple of deep breaths to calm down, closed her eyes...and, for once, fell back to sleep immediately.

"Mrr~rrnh." She did dream of Jay, however, and woke up still thinking about the gorgeous redheaded fox-girl. Her ears twitched as she stirred toward fully awake, listening to the sound of the shower running—Rob, it seemed, was already up. Then she slowly sat up, got herself down off the bed, and looked around. The bedroom seemed so much bigger from down here...! Other people might feel disoriented or vulnerable from such a loss of height, but Kyosuke just felt excited. She went over to examine herself in the room's mirror, and immediately liked what she saw.

A cute, fairly curvy woman grinned back at her from the mirror, still blushing a bit from those thoughts of Jay. her jet black hair fell down to about waist-length; her two tails swished back and forth excitedly behind her. These restructured bedclothes didn't leave much of her figure to the imagination, showing off her somewhat larger-than-average bust, her slim, flat waist, and some pretty nice hips and legs. As expected, she was quite good-looking as a girl.

She was...also feeling kind of hungry. Maybe even very hungry. There had been a few warnings that the house's magic tended to make people hungry right after, which made sense given how it worked; Polaris hadn't been, but her magical efficiency was freakishly high. Kyo wondered briefly whether there was a man or a woman taking a shower in their shared bathroom right now, but shrugged—she wasn't really that interested in Rob in the first place. So instead of worrying about that, she tossed off her top to put on an (admittedly ill-fitting) t-shirt in its stead, then scampered off to the kitchen for breakfast, figuring this was decent enough to get away with. Besides, she could always fix it later.

Minor Announcement - Image Updates

As you probably are aware, I've been using generated images for a while now, and the images I'm able to make now are much better than the ones I could make originally. A few days ago, I tried a small experiment, and (maybe unfortunately) found it to be a huge success.

I took the images from Honeymoon Suite, and tried using image-to-image to re-generate them using newer methods. The results were very good. Take the first image from that story as an example. Here is the original version:

And here is what I got from re-generating it:

To me, at least, this looks so much better that I can't stand not to share it. In fact, I'd really like to present this better version in the story itself now. And, having done this experiment, I basically went and redid every image of each story that was made using the old method, and essentially feel the same way about all of the results. However, I don't like to see old works made unavailable or deleted, including my own, even if it's something I don't necessarily think is good anymore. So, my plan is to make things look like they do below (demonstrated using another image from the same story): The new images will be visible right away, and below them will be a button you can click to view the old ones.

(old image)

Anyway, I just wanted to put this announcement up so that you'll know what's happening if you read a story that used one of these older-method images at some point after this change has been made. I plan to gradually edit the new images over some days (as there are a lot of them to do). Hopefully this decision won't bother anyone too much.

Also, yes, I do still really want to finish that particular story...

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.

---

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.