The Next Chapter: 13

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The Next Chapter
Chapter 13: Are You Another Wolf?

Around half an hour after Nancy's announcement, there was a knock on the door to L'hoxifel's room. She went and answered it to find Ed, wearing some gym shorts and a t-shirt that had probably fit her as a guy—which meant that now it was loose across the shoulders, and showed off just a little bit of her midriff. The wolf-girl was probably going to be a permanent tomboy (at least, while female), but this look wasn't too bad—especially accented as it was right now by a faint blush on her cheeks.

"Hey, Ed! What's up?"
"Hi. I uh...there's some.." She paused, performatively clearing her throat. "I was wondering if you wouldn't mind helping...adjust some...stuff. To, uh, fit me a little better."

"Oh, you mean your bras? Sure. Did you bring some with you?"

"N-no..." She looked slightly mortified at the idea of carrying something like that through the hallway.

"Sooo, they're still in your room."

"Y-yeah."

"Pfheehee. You realize every person living in this house has this stuff, right? There's nothing to be embarrassed about. Let's just go and I can fix them for you, okay?"

"Sure...I-I guess you're right about that..."

It didn't escape her notice on the walk over that Ed wasn't wearing one right now. Her original form's chest had been just about small enough to get away with it, but the increase that came with her height gain pushed them past that particular threshold. Well, the wolf-girl had probably also noticed this, which was no doubt the reason an adjustment was so urgently needed.

"S-so uh.."
"Yeees?"
Ed blushed adorably for a second. "About the date...you think, uh, lunch?"
"Sure!"

"I..just had breakfast, so like...maybe we could do it a little late. Around one?"
L'hoxifel smiled. "Works for me~. You have a place picked out?"

"Not...really. A few ideas, in easy walking distance. Maybe we can, figure it out on the way?"
"That sounds like fun," she said, nodding.

By now, they had reached Ed's bedroom door, which was open. So the demon-girl followed inside, and then did her (literal) magic. As might be expected, Ed's choice in undergarments was very practical and comfort-focused, with nothing lacy or frilly in sight. That, or she'd hidden away the ones that looked like that.

"Thanks. Um..."
"No problem~! Just make sure to actually put one of those on." She leaned Ed's way slightly, whispering: "It shows when you don't, you know?" Of course her fox-eared roommate could hear this whisper just fine, and audibly stifled a giggle.
"Uh—y-yeah..."

After that, L'hoxifel grabbed her laptop and headed to the "sun room" for a change of scenery. This big, second-story room with huge windows to let in a ton of natural light was intended for painting, apparently, but this chapter of OZK didn't actually have any painters yet. They just had Rob so far, and he did all his work on a computer. But she loved the view out those windows, and figured it made perfect sense for someone artistic to do their work in that room.

Later, close to lunch time, Nancy popped in. "Hey, L'hox," she said, waving.
"Hi. Guess you finished shopping with Kyo?"
"Yup! Aaaand either that fox has always shopped like a girl, or she learned awful quick. Say, she turned out really cute, huh?"
"I'd say so," the demon-girl said, smiling.

"Heheh—along with Jay and Rob, I guess you've got plenty to thank the house's enchantment for. I noticed Ed looking a little different this morning, too. Your handiwork?"
L'hoxifel nodded.

"Well, it's a good look for her. Did you do that much back in high school?"

"What, transform someone else? Once or twice, I guess."
"Oh, I meant more—changing someone to suit your preferences."

"Excuse me? Ed asked to be taller and stronger. She likes the results," L'hoxifel said. "I've been powerful enough to do this kinda thing since high school, sure, but I also comprehend things like 'asking permission'. I don't suppose you want any alterations?"

"Mmh—nah." She shrugged, smiling. "You know me—I find value in doing some things the hard way~." With that, Nancy flitted back out of the room.

Everyone's first impression of that girl was pure sunshine and sweetness, but she had the habit of occasionally letting out those subtle little venomous barbs too. L'hoxifel had occasionally felt the slightest bit of frustration from her when those didn't land, and knew to not take her too seriously when she being was like that. It always passed, and then 'nice Nancy' would be back, just as if nothing had ever happened.

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"So—you're really gonna try exercising?"
"Yeah...I figure like..going walking, or jogging, or something..like, just once. Probably won't kill me." Ed had put on a freshly-resized sports bra and changed to a tighter top more suited to the task. "You know, uh.."
"It wouldn't kill me either? I guess not." Jay shrugged. "I totally should do something to work off all the sugar I eat, huh?"
"I-I wasn't gonna say it like that," Ed said. "It'd just be, less awkward if I didn't have to do this alone, is all."
"Fair enough. Maybe I'll join you next time, if this turns into a Thing. I mean, if I can even keep up with that new physique of yours!"

"You could get a 'fit' male form able to handle it, I guess...I mean, you said something about that before, right?"
"Hmm. That's not too bad an idea, actually. It's about time I ask for a ring anyway. You want me to pick you one up too?"

"I'm not sure they're given out that freely. I'll...ask for one when I'm ready to," Ed said.

"Okay. Have fun, don't forget to drink lots of water!"

"Uh...sure." Fun???

Ed had noticed a difference in her stamina even before being transformed to be more fit, and it seemed that said change had exaggerated the effect even more. She walked for a while, water bottle in hand, before looking around and wondering when this was supposed to start feeling hard. Then she shrugged, and tried to go a little faster, then a little faster than that, until it felt like she was actually putting some effort in.

This was still very strange. Ed had seen people jogging like this before, and given up after about ten seconds of trying it himself. But—other than the fact that the tight sports bra didn't completely prevent her chest from awkwardly bouncing—this didn't feel too bad at all. Maybe it even felt a little bit good?

She stopped eventually, catching her breath and taking a (large) sip of water. Another jogger approached, coming the opposite way on the same sidewalk, and slowed to a halt in front of her. It was a woman maybe half a foot taller than Ed, with some extremely solid muscle tone that put Ed's own "cheated" fitness to shame, and—coincidentally—she also looked to be part wolf, with snowy white fur and hair and gleaming yellow eyes. She had on a black baseball cap with (apparently) holes cut into it for her ears to poke through.

"Heeyy. I didn't think there were any other wolves 'round campus," she said, smiling. "You've never used this route before, have you?"
"Uh..n-no. I mean—this is pretty much my first time jogging at all," Ed said.
"What, really? Could've fooled me with those abs. Huh..." The stranger paused, leaning slightly forward, and...sniffed two or three times. The inhalation through her nose was audible, probably even for human ears, and the flaring of her nose was visible despite the couple of feet of distance between them. "Ahh...'scuse me," she said, seeming to notice Ed's visible confusion at this behavior. "You're not a werewolf, are ya?"
"Nnno. Just, um, I guess a human transformed to be part wolf? And also, slightly more fit."

"Hah, no no—that's my bad," she said, placing a hand on her own chest. "Making assumptions and all. I bet we still got plenty in common anyways. Name's Tokanwa," she said, putting out her left hand to shake. Ed almost returned with her right before realizing and swapping to take the hand in her own left.

"Um—Ed. Edward."

Tokanwa had no apparent reaction to the male name, just nodding and maintaining her same cheerful expression. "Nice to meet ya, Ed. Hey, if you're that new to running, maybe I can give a few tips? I'w's 'bout to turn around soon anyways."
"That, uh..sure."

"Great! If you've caught your breath already, then, let's get going."

They jogged on for a minute or two, the werewolf clearly matching her pace to Ed's with minimal effort. "Your form's not bad," she said at that point. "Maybe relax your shoulders a li'l more. Swap what hand you're carrying the bottle in if that arm gets tired."

A little later, Ed felt compelled to stop for a rest. "You're doing great!" Tokanwa said between some slightly heavier breaths of her own. "Hey, you are a college student, right? I mean, after that first assumption.."
"Y-yeah...hfffh...freshman..comp-sci..."
"Hahah! Take some deep breaths, I'll yap for a minute instead. I'm a super-Junior studying biology, anatomy, medicine—that kinda thing. There's a ton of exciting developments in the field, mostly stuff people thought was solved until the veil got lifted."

"Like what?"
"Well, this, for one thing," she said, holding out her left arm for a moment. In a brief ripple of movement, she grew white fur like that of her ears and tail from the hand up to the forearm; the palm of her hand shifted to more resemble a pink paw-pad, and her nails shifted into sharp claws. "DNA is supposed to tell your body how to look and all. But how's it know about this stuff?" She dropped the arm back to her side, the hand becoming fully human again and the fur shifting back to bare skin. "There's tons of traits for beastfolk, demons, yokai and other stuff that have to be coded for, and apparently only get activated by magic. It oughta be possible to tell—like from a human's DNA—what pattern their fur would have if they became a werewolf. Never mind the fact that magic can alter DNA too, of course. Like, proper transformation stuff."

"Yeah...obviously," Ed nodded.

"The funny thing is that it always seems to minimize. You turn a girl into a guy, it's just the sex chromosomes that change most of the time. So usually the result is someone who kinda still 'looks like the same person', y'know? Unless the caster does something special, or like too much wild magic gets involved."

"..Oh, whoops! I been yapping a li'l too much now. You'll lose your runner's high if you take too long of a break."
"Um, that's okay—that's really interesting," Ed said. "I..think I should turn around anyway. I have a...um, an appointment. To get to."
"Sure, sure. I'll stick with you a while longer then, if you don't mind!"

When Ed needed to take another break, she waited until her breath was mostly caught to say, "Hey...fhh..do you, live in the dorms?"
"Nah. I'm renting an apartment back that way," she said, pointing backwards with her thumb. "Got sick of the shared living space after the first year or so; don't really fit in with any of the sororities. As..you can maybe imagine."

"I, hff...know the feeling. But with, uh..fraternities instead, I guess." She stood up slightly straighter. "I uh..that transformation I mentioned, was also.."
"Ah. Neat. But—just to get into a sorority?" Tokanwa asked, tilting her head slightly. "Or—was it some kinda accident? Or, somethin' you wanted done anyway?"

"It uh...well, this might sound pretty stupid. But, there's a new sorority on campus, and my roommate and I really wanted out of the dorms. And, their house is enchanted to..uh...transform people, so that guys can join too. On...that condition."
"Innnteresting. They get any takers for that besides you an' your roomie?"
"Y-yeah...two others so far. Both a little...weird, honestly. I guess I don't have much room to talk, though," Ed admitted. "Plus one girl's boyfriend was kind of roped into joining, too. They're still recruiting now; something about needing, at least ten members so the college will officially recognize them."

"Hah. You don't think they'd mind if I took a li'l look around the joint, then?"
"That's, what I was getting at, actually. It's a really nice house, and Nancy—who started this whole thing—is so rich and eager to get members that there's no fees for joining or anything. At least..not yet, anyway."
Tokanwa rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Heh. Almost sounds too good to be true. It would be nice to save money on rent, though. Well—I'm sure a quick look around couldn't hurt, at least. You got your breath caught?"

"Yeah."

They stopped near the front doors to the house, Tokanwa leaning back slightly to take a good look at the exterior. She whistled. "Looks pretty nice on the outside. 'Bout a year ago, I remember seeing an abandoned volleyball court on this lot—weeds and grass all grown over what used to be sand."

Ed nodded. "Let's go in.

"..Apparently they did some magic thing to make the building slightly bigger on the inside. It's kinda hard to tell," she said while the werewolf looked around just inside.

"That kinda thing don't come cheap. I guess you're not kidding about that Nancy being rich."

Not long after coming inside, they happened across Polaris, who seemed to be on her way out. "Greetings, Ed. You brought a visitor?" she said, the slightest hint of surprise in her voice at this possibility.
"Uh, yeah.." Ed trailed off, since Tokanwa had hurried closer and was now leaning in to get a better look at the winged girl.

"Whooaaa, those wings're real, right? An honest-to-goodness celestial?"
"Oh, most certainly," she said, spreading them out to their full span. "I suppose you must be enamored by my positively immaculate appearance?"

"Mmh, nah. You look a li'l overweight to me." Ed could not stifle a slight snort at the shocked and mortified expression this response brought to Polaris's face. "Heeyy, it's no big deal—a little diet and exercise can go a long way. But, look—there are no mammals with six appendages. Literally none! Yet somehow specific kinds-a humans can have that many anyway. Do you know what the biological mechanism is that'd keep any kids you have from also having wings?"

"That is Sol's will, not a 'biological mechanism'," Polaris said, sounding slightly offended.

"I mean—yeah—but there's gotta be some practical way that will is carried out, doesn't there?"

She sort of cut herself off at this point, standing fully upright again. "—Sorry, I can get kinda carried away about this stuff. I'm Tokanwa," she said, offering a hand to shake.
"..Polaris." The celestial spoke her name a little icily, but graciously shook the hand. "Now, I've some business to be off to. If you're so impressed by a preponderance of appendages, you should meet L'hoxifel—the resident demon here, at the moment. Surely seven is even more unusual than six, after all."
"Oh, totally! Plus sometimes horns, and skin pigments that oughta be impossible. And like, what part of a demon's DNA decides if they have headwings?"

By this point the werewolf was basically just talking to herself, as Polaris had walked past and now—from behind her—gestured very slightly, inquisitively, in Tokanwa's direction. Ed just gave a helpless shrug; her initial impression had just been of a nice fitness buff who was a little interested in studying biology, and not something quite like this. There was still some hope that she wasn't always like this, and would calm down soon.

As Polaris shut the door behind her, Jay came running up to the entryway. "Ed, hi! I knew that was your voice I heard! Who's this?" she said without much of a pause between sentences.

"Uh—this is Tokanwa. She's...a werewolf, I guess? Might be interested in joining, maybe."
"Oh, neat! Nice to meet you, Toka!" She'd stopped not three feet away from Tokanwa, who regarded her with a slight head-tilt.
"Um, this is my roommate, Jayden," Ed clarified for her.

"Pffhahah! They do say opposites attract, huh? And, you were a guy too?"

"Yep!" the fox-girl nodded.

Tokanwa mumbled "could've fooled me", but not softly enough that Ed couldn't hear it.

Jay probably heard too, but plowed straight ahead: "Are you gonna give her a tour? I can help! But first—I wanted to show you something." She'd turned to face Ed at this point, and quickly produced an unassuming-looking metal ring, holding it up over her head and between her thumb and fingers like it was a winning lotto ticket. "Look!"

"Oh." Ed thought that Jay did seem more excited than usual at the moment. "You—asked for a ring, I guess. Have you...used it yet?"
"Yeah!" she nodded. "Check this out—"

Upon shoving the ring onto her right ring finger, Jay immediately shifted: Growing taller, losing her curves, and gaining a slightly broader, more masculine frame. Neither Jay's furry bits nor her-then-his hair changed at all, and the guy he wound up as was pretty much the same height he'd been before first turning into a girl, a little bit on the skinny side, and had flowing bright-red hair and a very pretty, smooth-shaven face. At the same time, the girly outfit Jay had been wearing (fortunately) shifted into a t-shirt and some long cargo shorts.

"Cool, huh?" he grinned, sounding exactly as he had before first transforming too.
"Uh...yeah, sure," Ed said, feeling a slight uptick in her heart rate accompanied by a faint warmth in her cheeks. Guys weren't supposed to look that pretty, she thought, but at the same time...well, it did suit him. "I guess, you decided to keep the fur, then?"
"Uh-huh!" he nodded.

Tokanwa, who'd been watching this from the sidelines, finally interjected: "Hey, where'd you get an enchantment like that?"

Jay answered, "Any guy who joins OZK can get one to turn back to being a guy whenever. It just has to come off at night 'cause otherwise the house would transform me again."

The werewolf put a finger to her chin. "Uh-huuh...is that offer, exclusive to guys who join?" she asked.

"You'd have to ask Nancy, but, probably not?" Ed guessed. "Anyway...maybe Jay can show you around the house if you want? I still have that uh..appointment, coming up, and really need a shower first."
"Sure, no problem."

Ed thought, on her way to her room, that those two would either cancel or amplify each other...and either way, she'd like to be well out of range before it happened.

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It can be a fun type of character who's mostly normal, but if you get them talking about their very special interest then they just go off into their own world about it and can temporarily forget all sense of propriety, and maybe even seem to have a totally different personality. The "Mystery" quadrilogy of the Atelier games has like six such characters.