A Summoning, Part LVI

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Part LIV
~Lovers, Part 2~

A little while after supper, Prama was back in her dorm room as usual. A text came from Logan: im here. So she went and opened the door, and was surprised to find herself looking at the cute, two-tailed fox-girl he'd turned into on Wednesday! "Uh.."
"It's an illusion—sorry," 'she' said, in Logan's regular, male voice. "I thought, nobody would get suspicious this way."

"Oh. R-right." Why hadn't she thought of something so obvious? Prama hurried to get out of the way, and Logan waited until the door was shut to drop the illusion, a brief puff of his characteristic blue smoke accompanying a return to him looking fully like himself. "Well, take whichever seat you want," she offered, and he went for the computer chair. So she hopped onto the bed, sitting in her usual way, with her legs out in a W-shape.

"So, what'd you want to talk about?" he asked.

"Well, I um. I wanted to apologize, for one thing. For..Wednesday."
"You already did, right after, didn't you?"

"I guess..I mean, I do still feel a little guilty about that, but I meant for what happened after. Or..how do I put this...my attitude?"
"You're not apologizing for introducing me to Anika, who helped me turn back," he stated as a fact both of them knew. "So—which 'after' do you mean?"
"I-I mean when I, sort of, pushed you into letting me touch your tail..." she said, her voice softening near the end of that sentence to the point where Logan probably needed the giant fox ears to hear it.

Logan's ears folded back. "Uhh, what."

"Huh?"
"For someone who brags about being a genius all the time, you're being kinda stupid right now," he said, annoyed. "You didn't push me into anything. I let you do that because I wanted you to! I mean—I was curious what it'd feel like, for one thing. And you know what, I did like it, too! It's...really weird to me that I'm that level of 'part-animal' now, but it still felt good."

"Oh. Um.." She hadn't really anticipated this response at all. Had she managed to construct a completely false memory of that evening? "B-but I.."

"Yeah?"
"I wasn't thinking about what you wanted, at all, then. I just..like I always do, tried to do anything and everything to get what I wanted. A-and you know, when Anika turned you back, I didn't like it, because it meant I couldn't have you. I was thinking about you the same way I do a stuffed animal, just a possession for me to keep around and play with when I wanna. So, I'm just awful."

"Oh please. I knew nothing about magic," he said, "remember? If you really wanted to 'keep' me as a fox-girl, all you had to do was tell me that it was irreversible. There's tons of ways you could've explained it that would've had me just shrug and be like, 'welp, guess I'm stuck like this for a while'! So—whatever you were feeling, you sure didn't act on it.

"Anyway, you know..Prama, you are cute," he continued.
"Uhhh.." Her mouth gaped open, her face flushing a bit.

"C'mon, that's not a surprise, right? You used to be a guy, and you've seen yourself in a mirror."
"S-sure, but, i-i-it's something else for you to just come out and say that."

"Well, I'm trying to make a point here."
"Uh..wh-which is?"

"Yeah, you're cute, just in general, but usually you've got this—hard expression on. If you're not super-nervous like we were when we first met, then you always look like you're trying to act confident, and putting up some kinda wall, or something. Except—when you were talking about your stuffed animals, and then asking if I'd let you feel my tail. You looked, actually soft and kinda innocent, and really cute, then...I dunno if I'm explaining it well enough."

"Errrmh..." This was a different kind of loss for words from usual for her: It wasn't that strong social anxiety Prama felt since trading her social confidence (among other things) for becoming a genius; it was that she really didn't know how to deal with someone basically saying he was attracted to her. She certainly didn't know what to say.

"Uh..yeah...that's the look," he said quietly.

"So...does that mean you like me? Want me? Even if it's just as a possession or whatever."

"I...I, guess? I—don't—know," she said, haltingly. "I have no idea what that's supposed to feel like. A-a-anyway, we've barely even met at this point! I don't know that much about you as a person, at least."

"That's fair, you know. But you liked it when I hugged you, and you wanted to feel my tail—I mean, when I'd been turned into a girl. It..really seems like it's not that hard to find ways to transform back and forth, right?"
"Uhm. Y-yeah. I mean, I'm priveleged with access to more ways to do that than many others..."

"Yeah, so. It wouldn't be hard for you to get me access to one of those, if like..you only like how I look as a girl. I'd rather...you know, live my life as a guy, generally, but after taking some time to think about it, I know the way I feel is really that..I wouldn't mind turning back into that for you sometimes. And, and I can't believe I feel this way, but—that's especially if you'd, y'know, pet me? Oof, that still feels wrong coming outta my mouth."

"I..w-wouldn't say that I only like you as a girl.." Prama said slowly, quietly. She softly cleared her throat, trying to shake the butterflies out of her chest. "I mean—you're really cute that way, and it's nice that you're the same height as I am, more or less, but...I'm definitely enough of a girl right now, I guess, to appreciate how—attractive you are as a man, too. Only, I—well, I have my education to get through, and a career to start. Lots of irons in the fire right now, you know? I didn't really plan on looking for anyone to—be with, for a while, or not necessarily—ever?"

"Yeah...I'm fine with taking things slow," he said. "You can't be saying that you wouldn't be able to find time to date or whatever sometimes though, right? Miss 'expert of time management'?"

"Pffheheh..I did say that, didn't I? I mean, I certainly found time for our meeting tonight, huh?"

"You sure did." He was smiling across at her...Prama understood very well the biological mechanisms that were making her feel slightly giddy with a racing heart, but that didn't make it all rushing in on her any less of a surprise.

"So...uh." Logan rolled the chair up closer to the bed. "I am curious if the way I felt from you touching my tail had anything to do with me being a girl at the time...probably not, though, right?" He brought one of his tails up into his lap.

"Not likely...you, want me to experiment?"
"Yeah, sure, if you wanna."

Prama scooted forward and gently ran her hand up and down the tail. It was just as warm and fluffy as ever..!

"Mrr~rrh." Logan's voice came out in a deep churring noise. "Y-yeah, that feels..just as nice."
"Uh..g-good...ack!" Something soft had tickled her cheek, and Prama jumped slightly before turning to find that it was his other tail. "Oh."
"Sorry—didn't mean to put it right there," he said, shrugging. It seemed he had just wanted to swap out which tail was in his lap for her to pet.

"I-it's fine...just startled me."

"Mrrr~rrh..."
"Um, y-you know, I had a thought the other day. About, if you had wanted to stay a girl."
"Yeah?"
"I thought, in Japanese at least, feminine names have a tendency to end in '-ko'. So, maybe you could call yourself 'Loko'."
"I guess. It does roll off the tongue pretty well. So, whatever—I could try that out later, if there's some convenient way for me to change."
"R-right..."

---

Around halfway into the date, Jack needed to use the restroom. He got up and made his way there, pausing just briefly before turning towards the men's room. If he'd been doing this on their last date, he would've needed to remember to use the other door.

It seemed like it was going pretty well. Boreas hadn't been as physical as with "Jackie" at their earlier date, at least so far, but he was starting to get a sense for the alchemist's overall mood, and he was pretty sure he was putting her in a good one. She hadn't felt "up to" a kiss last time, but she might this time. Or...he thought to himself, as he washed his hands: She might ask him to turn into a girl for just a few minutes for some petting similar to the end of their first date. He'd..like that, too.

He turned his head up from the sink, happening to look into the mirror, and jumped slightly before quickly turning around. The bathroom was empty other than him right now, but he could have sworn he just saw a tall man standing just inside the door behind him, giving him a big grin and a thumbs-up. Jack took a moment to get some more water on his hands and lightly splash his eyes with it; he hadn't had anything unusual to drink today, and really shouldn't be "hallucination" levels of tired, either. Besides, what a weird thing to think he was seeing! He was resolved to put it out of his mind by the time he was through drying his hands.

When he came out of the men's room, he nearly bumped into another werewolf who'd been on her way out of the the door straight across from him, which led to the women's restroom. She was brown-haired, cute, and wearing a long, dark dress. "Uh—sorry!" she said, hurriedly backing up and gesturing for him to go ahead of her out of the little hallway that led to the two doors they'd come out of. "I um, guess I should've heard someone coming."

"No big deal," Jack said, heading through the open space to get fully out of her way. He didn't think this restaurant was fancy enough for a dress like that, but maybe she had someone she was trying to impress. He quietly wished whoever she was with luck; she was pretty good-looking, after all, but not really his type.

---

After their dinner, Graham invited her guest to the living room couch so they could watch a movie together. She sat right up next to the werewolf, winding her twin tails around Damon's, and they leaned against each other quietly for a while. Around a half-hour into it, she gently rubbed the wolf-girl's ears, making her softly bark and pet Graham back.

They didn't really catch too much of the movie's plot, since it wasn't long after that before the Nekomata was on her back on the couch with Damon holding onto, petting, and nuzzling her. It was just as well; she'd picked something fairly boring anyway. She thought that this would've been a bit much for a "first date", but with all of the times they'd met up at Damon's place, it hardly counted as that.

"Mrr~rrrh..." She couldn't resist letting her 'true form' out a little while later; the height gain put Damon's face in her chest. "Pffheehee."
The werewolf quickly lifted her head. "Mrrfh..uh, s-sorry."
"Hey now..'s long as you appreciate 'em," she said, gently lifting Damon slightly into the air to bring her back up to where their heads were across from each other.

Another while later, Graham was gently stroking a hand through the smaller girl's hair. "Mrroo~wh. So, you said...turning 'full werewolf' doesn't hurt anymore?"
"Rrfh..r-right. After the first coupla times...like last full moon, it felt uhm..mostly normal. But..I still uh, can't talk like that."
She rubbed Damon's ears, drawing some soft barks from her. "I hope it's not too insensitive, after what you've been through with it..but I admit, I've gotten a little curious how you look? Are you any taller?"
"Mmh..y-yeah...among other things," she said, blushing. "I guess....we don't really need to talk right now, anyway?"
"If it's okay with you~," Graham quietly purred.

"O-okay.."

Damon leaned down, pressing her nose into the catgirl's cheek, for a moment, then softly barked a couple of times. After that, the Nekomata was rewarded by the feeling of the woman in her arms growing taller, curvier, and noticeably stronger too—while, of course, also becoming fully covered in fur. When she could feel about half of Damon's muzzle across her cheek, its cold canine nose touching her ear, she was struck with an impulse, and simply followed it.

"Mrr~rrrh." Graham's present look, first gained when her tail finished splitting, had come with some snowy white fur across her arms and legs; it felt nearly effortless to let that spread in to the rest of her body. When the fur made it past her neck to her face, it seemed to cause her to grow out a feline muzzle, shorter than Damon's but just as animal-like. She pulled the werewolf close after that, inviting her to some more close hugging, petting, and nuzzling now that they were both fully fuzzy. Damon accepted this invitation readily, shivering slightly in response to a touch around the middle of her back.

Well, that was how they missed the rest of the movie.

---

Sam didn't really know much about how a date was supposed to go. To be completely honest, she didn't even fully get the point of a date when they already knew they liked each other, but Onida had just a little bit of old-fashionedness to her (presently his) personality, a certain idea of how romance was supposed to go, and Sam was happy to respect that and play along if it made him happy.

Ultimately, it didn't feel too different from the many times before when she'd hung out with, or talked with, Onida since moving in and becoming a part of the "pack". He did seem a little uncomfortable still with being a guy, or possibly with the physical reactions his body had to Sam's compliments or smiles, but she kept those coming anyway. It surely didn't qualify as a date if there wasn't any flirting or anything, right?

When it was over, Sam came up next to him, taking up the same position she'd had as they'd walked to and into the restaurant, and they walked out together into the night, making their way back toward home. "This was fun," she said after a little bit of walking. "Aaah, did you enjoy it?"
"Y-yeah...um." They were far enough from the restaurant to be hidden from its lights, but not enough to be under the proper streetlights yet. Onida gently pulled himself off of Sam's arm to get to where he could face her. "I...if you don't mind, I'd.."
"Aaah, yeah?" she said, tilting her head slightly.

"Could I, pick you up?"
"Anytime." Sam felt her face flush slightly at the idea, since it would also be a hug.

"A-all right." So Onida just went for it, lifting the much shorter girl up in his arms until their faces were across from each other. She couldn't resist pulling her arms around him in return.

"Errm." He looked slightly unsure of himself; there was no way he didn't know what they were supposed to do next, but maybe he wasn't sure if she'd be okay with it. Sam gave back an encouraging smile, letting her tail wag freely back and forth behind her. When that wasn't enough, she leaned her face slowly closer and closer to him until their noses were touching. That seemed to do it, and Onida pressed his lips into hers, initiating a kiss.

"Mmfph." It was hesitant and gentle at first, but almost as soon as Sam started participating rather than pulling back, he became much more aggressive and passionate. This she liked! Onida was a kind and considerate person, but she would never have been worthy of the title of "alpha" or such a blessing from La Lune without having the capacity to take charge. Sam felt like he was strong enough to take care of her—to take care of anything. It made her feel safe and happy; she wanted to support him any way she could. And right now, it just physically felt really good.

They came out of the kiss panting, and Sam at least wasn't able to get enough breath to speak for a long moment. Once she finally could, however, she waited a little longer—letting herself fully catch her breath. It wouldn't be any good for what she wanted to say to be misunderstood. "Onida...aaah. I think I'm in love. Aaaah, not that I really know what it's supposed to feel like, but aah. I dunno how else I could be this happy~."
"M-me too..." he said softly, stroking a hand through her hair a couple of times. Then he grabbed her into a second kiss about as long and passionate as the first.

After this one, he gently set her back on the ground, taking a small step back. Sam wobbled around a little in place, needing to put some effort into making her tail counterbalance her so she wouldn't topple over. "I'm, aaah...fffh...gonna need to....lean on you to walk...y'know?" she said.

"Th-that's fine," he said, coming around next to her to make it easier to do that. Putting an arm around her shoulders so he could catch her if she did fall over.

With that, they started out toward their home together. Sam decided that maybe a date wasn't so unnecessary after all.

---

After a dinner and a lot more talking, Fel found herself walking out of the restaurant next to Billie. The catgirl walked over to one side of the front doors on the sidewalk, keeping an arm around Fel's waist to gently but insistently bring her along, and then let go to bring herself around to in front of the werewolf. She was smiling, and blushing just slightly. "Well now..I had a great time with ya," she said.
"Uh..m-me too..." For a moment, Fel wrung her hands, not feeling certain about what to do next. Part of her wanted to...! But another part very much didn't. It wasn't that she was at all worried about Billie's reaction to it, but rather her own...

"Pfheehee~..!" The catgirl responded to this with a soft giggle, then drew herself close, effortlessly pushing Fel's arms out of the way to pull her into a hug. One of her hands reached up to rub the top of the werewolf's head.
"Aack! Uh...o-oh...mrrfh." Fel carefully returned the hug, still feeling very...uncertain. But, feeling like she knew what the other girl wanted, she brought a hand up to gently rub Billie's left ear. It was soft and warm, but the most surprising part was how much it twitched and moved between her fingers.

"Mrr~rrrh." The catgirl's response to this was some deep, satisfied purring. And then something equally soft and warm very slightly, briefly touched a spot near the base of Fel's tail.

"Y-yip!"

"Heh.." Billie let go after that, seemingly taking advantage of the slight jolt of surprise to make it easy to disengage. She stepped back enough to look Fel in the eyes. "Y'know..."
"Uh...y-yeah?"
"As much as I wanna ask you to my place~, or if I can come to yours? I get it. You're not ready for anything like that, right?"

"Um...n-no...sorr—" Her word of apology was cut off by Billie putting an index finger on Fel's lips for a second.
"Shh-shh! Don't apologize. I'm happier if you're honest with me. And I'd hate to push ya into something you're not ready for. If I really like you, I oughta think about making you happy first, right?"

"Uh...I, I guess so?"
"So, this is goodnight for now, eh? We've got each other's numbers, so I'll be after you for another date before long. Maybe let me see how you look as a young man," she suggested.

"Oh, s-sure, I guess. Maybe."
"Iiif you're all right with it. Anyhow, I'll see you later no matter what, Fel," she said.

After that, Billie stood still for a moment, still beaming, and reached her hand across to pat the wolf-girl's head a couple of times. Then she turned and walked off toward, presumably, her own car.

Fel breathed a small sigh of relief. If the catgirl had really asked for something like that...she wasn't sure how easy it would've been to say no. But she'd been right, too—Fel felt so far from ready!

She was about to head toward her own car too, but paused for a second, thinking she saw something odd about Billie's tail. Right at the very tip, it seemed maybe twice as thick as the rest? She shook her head gently and headed towards her car, thinking: It wouldn't be that unusual for the fur to frizz up or something. It was probably nothing important.

---

On Saturday morning, Zotha woke up, took a shower, and put on clothes. None of these things were technically necessary: Her power as a goddess was perfectly capable of keeping her clean, retrieving or creating clothes directly onto her person, and so on. But it was a routine that made things feel relatively normal. It helped to make her still feel human. Likewise unnecessary but habitual, she finished up by stopping in front of the bathroom mirror to brush her hair. The degree to which this was necessary (if she wasn't using her powers to fix it, at least) had increased dramatically since becoming a girl, an event which had involved growing out some extremely long hair.

This particular morning, she stopped, letting go of the brush still stuck inside her hair. "Hello?" Because this time, there was somebody else in the mirror, next to her reflection.

It was a tall, fairly handsome man, well-dressed, with dark hair and dull-colored eyes. She fixed her gaze on that man in the mirror, not turning around to look at the rest of the room, because she could sense that he wasn't in the room. He wasn't behind the mirror either, as though it had suddenly become a window—but somehow he was still in it.

"Hi there." He gave what seemed to be a gentle smile. "You must have visited the other gods' domains by now, right? Maybe even that old dragon. Did you, perhaps, notice the lack of reflective surfaces?" His voice seemed to be coming out of the mirror itself, rather than from the position he'd be in if he were where his reflection appeared in the actual room.

"Not really..." Zotha crossed her arms. Right: among the many names she'd heard the god of love went by, one of them was, in fact, "the man in the mirror". Apparently this was something of a literal description—or, at least, could be if he so chose. "I guess I should ask who I'm talking to, exactly, right now?"

"Oh, let's say Narcissus," he shrugged. "You were admiring your own lovely looks a moment ago, right? It hardly matters anyway."

"And you can just, appear in any reflection like that?"

"More or less. I'm sure you've heard before, about how seeing one's own reflection in a dream is impossible?"
"I guess that makes sense..."
"Don't get the wrong impression. La Lune has a grand, placid lake in her domain which she'll visit from time to time. And Sol brought one huge, full-length mirror up to his space station with him; keeps it in a back room with a blackout curtain draped over it most of the time. It's just that I can only visit them when they feel like seeing me."

"But, since I have a mirror here, you can visit me, I guess."

"Certainly." He paced a bit, crossing behind her in the reflection and looking around the room. "It's refreshing, really, to see you keeping up human habits. You don't know how many people would throw those away as soon as they realized they didn't need them."

"I've been given the impression that you're a little unstable, and dangerous," Zotha said.
"Oh, I am extremely unstable and dangerous," he said, maintaining a gentle sort of smile. "But today, I am in quite a good mood."

"Should I not have a mirror around, then?"

"A reflection can't hurt you, Zotha. Look." He stopped partially behind her, on the opposite side from the one he'd started on, and placed a hand on her reflection's shoulder. "You feel that? Of course not." Indeed, it didn't feel like there was anything touching her. Then he let go, dropping his arms back to his side. "You'd be foolish to let me physically enter your domain, certainly. But I can't do anything except talk from here. And, wave at you, I suppose." He did wave, briefly, moving back to fully on one side of her reflection.

"That's a relief, if it's true at least," she said. "I guess you just wanted to meet the new blood, since you're feeling good today?"

"I will admit to being interested in seeing you. We've already been doing a lot of good work together, after all," he said.
"We have," she said, half a question.
"Oh, certainly. The kind of change you bring on, and the results it brings, are very good at bringing together extremely compatible people who would either have no interest in each other otherwise, or might never even meet. And there's obviously someone you love, as well."

Zotha remembered several of the people she'd changed, and what she knew of what was going on with them now. "I guess I can see that...but how do you mean, 'compatible'?"
"There's no such thing as soulmates—anyway, not as far as I can tell. But since it is my area, I'm pretty good at seeing whether any pair of persons are likely to hit it off. Usually what kind of relationship they'll wind up in, too. It's not perfect—I'd have never guessed you and Jerod, for one. But you fixed that, the results of your actions helping her to become someone different, to change at a level deeper than any magic could force. Anyway—that makes me the ultimate matchmaker, for better or for worse."

"Hmm. Your answer sounded like a 'no'," Zotha said.

"I see we have a sharp one on our hands. Well, that's because it was. As I said before, the other gods only let me talk to them when they want me to. And I have a message I'd like to relay now, rather than later."

"I guess it must be pretty important, then."
"Yes, very much so," he said, nodding. His smile looked a little more mischievous for a moment. "I think they've been afraid to tell you about it so far, but we have a little...problem. It predates you by about a week, although the full extent of it wasn't comprehended immediately. If the other gods, especially the ones who weren't happy you ascended, have seemed unusually nice to you, it's because they've been distracted by that problem. Bigger fish to fry, and all that."
"I've had some hints of that," she admitted. "But I figured displaying a little bit of trust wouldn't hurt. I can wait until they're ready to tell me about it."

"They don't want you two to collide. I think it's a ridiculous fear, honestly, but all right. Just tell them: No need to worry. I have it taken care of."

"You...have it taken care of." Zotha crossed her arms again, frowning. "This problem so huge that a new god showing up who some of them don't like, could be practically ignored by comparison. You've just, fixed it, all by yourself?"
"Yes," he said with a small nod.

"You know if I do tell them that, they're gonna want to know how," she said.
"By working within my own aspect, of course. If you like the world you're living in, you probably won't want to destroy it. But if the person you love lives there, you would feel compelled to preserve it instead. Simple enough. I had some false starts at first, so of course I didn't report anything for a while, but I'm absolutely certain I got it right this time."

For as much as she wanted to respect the wishes of the other gods as far as knowing about this entire situation, Zotha couldn't help drawing some obvious conclusions from what "Narcissus" was saying. The problem was a person, and he'd made that person fall in love with someone else. Or, helped along a relationship with someone highly "compatible", or whatever it actually was that he could do. She didn't share his confidence that this would be enough to fix everything, but thankfully, defending him wasn't going to be her job.

"So you just want me to pass that along?"
"If you don't mind," he said, spreading his arms out in front of him briefly.

"I can do that."

"Thank you. I'll leave you alone, then."

With that, just as suddenly as he had been in the mirror, he was gone. It occurred to Zotha after this that Jess probably should have heard some part of that conversation, or at least noticed she'd been taking longer in the bathroom than usual, but had given no indication of either. A brief mental conversation confirmed that Jess was still out there and fine, but also hadn't noticed anything unusual at all. However the god of love's "mirror-appearance" trick worked, apparently it had some measures built in to make it extra private. That was probably convenient most of the time, but in this case it just meant she had to tell Jess what was going on before heading out to ask to see Sol again...

---

It's a nice coincidence that "LV" is half of the letters of the word "love", given what I was going for with these two parts. Anyway, this couple of parts are taking place on April 23 and 24, which are concurrent with Kael's first meeting Brian. The last section of this part might qualify as a partial retcon: Kael's power does favor turning guys into girls through touch for some reason, but several of the earlier ones seeming to be extra attracted to him might at least partially be due to a certain someone's interference.