The Next Chapter: 24

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The Next Chapter
Chapter 24: Come to My Place?

"C'mon, open those eyes all the way up! You have something to eat yet?"
"Mrrgh."
"Well then let's get some protein. You don't wanna go jogging on an empty stomach, right?"
"Rrrfh. Thought you weren't s'posed to exercise on a full stomach...get cramps..."

"That depends on what you eat! C'mon, you told me you wanna keep those abs, riiight?"
"Urrrrrgh..."

Tokanwa showed up not long after sunrise Saturday morning to practically drag Ed out of bed. She'd been positively ecstatic to have one, maybe eventually two 'exercise buddies', and clearly maintained that enthusiasm right through the night and into the morning. As a result, Jay was pretty much wide awake—though still lying in her bed—by the time they were gone. She probably wasn't going to succeed at going back to sleep with the sunlight coming in through the windows, but that was fine; she felt well-rested enough already. It did mean that she had to decide what to do with all this extra morning-time, though.

After thinking about it for a moment, she reached over toward the nightstand to get her phone. First would be breakfast, maybe a change of clothes after that, but then...!

---

eds out jogging this morning

wanna come to my room???

Kyo hadn't gone on a date with Jay over the past week. They had talked and hung out and played DND together, certainly, but all as a part of various larger groups. Perhaps he should have pursued things a little more at some point, considering how he—at the time she—had felt after that kiss...but in a way, that was just the problem. There were nerves, but much more prominent was a certain instinct or impulse (hard to tell which) saying that this situation was dangerous. The kitsune had admitted to that redheaded hottie that at least some part of her wanted him-or-her for a 'master', but all the wisdom Kyosuke could muster said that wasn't the kind of relationship to rush into. At the same time, rush in was just what that part of the fox-yokai wanted to do..!

He had gotten up early to do some meditation and magic practice, a habit for most Saturdays, and then saw a pair of rapidly-sent texts. What happened first, on seeing those messages and knowing who had sent them, was an excited, eager emotion from his instinct-driven side, something which—if he were forced to put it into words—was probably master's calling me!, in the same way a pampered dog whose owner always gave him treats might feel it. After all, Jay was saying-without-saying that they'd have some time alone in her room...!

The kitsune did force himself to take a couple of deep breaths and really try to think rationally about it. But ultimately, he did want some petting...want some alone time with her...want to, maybe, take their relationship deeper if possible, albeit not nearly at the pace that a certain part of him wanted. That was why he sent back a one-word reply: sure

Within half an hour (since she'd wanted some 'time to get ready') he knocked on the door. "Come in~!" Jay's voice rang out. He entered to find her standing there, smiling with a slight blush, wearing a t-shirt with a yellow cartoon cat face on it and some shorts.

"Hiii!"
"Uh, hey." Kyo gently kicked the door shut behind him. "So—what'd you want? To uh, talk?"

"That's just silly," she said, crossing her arms and frowning just a little. "Why would I try to get us alone in my room just to talk? We can do that later, at a lunch date or something. I just wanna—you know, if you're okay with it?—pet you some more!"

"Oh—wow. "
"You don't wanna?" Jay was visibly trying (and failing) to not look too disappointed at that possibility.

"No, no, it's just. I'm always surprised by how bold you are with this stuff..."
"I guess I just don't think about it hard enough to get nervous?" she suggested, tilting her head a little. "Sooo um, if you wanna—I could pet you like this? Or, you could take off your ring and be a girl?"
"Uh, hmm."

Kyosuke thought about it for a moment. While he did like the idea of that curvy vixen holding him, his sense for danger said it'd be much safer if he was a girl too...at least this early on with her. So he put one hand on the other, fingers around the ring. "I'll just, yeah..." Then he slid it off, gently placing it on top of a dresser nearby.

As usual, the removal of that accessory resulted in him rapidly shrinking, his manhood disappearing away, and then the now-short vixen gaining curves...but there was a slight difference from usual. Kyo's pants slid off onto the floor before turning into a skirt; the boxers under that changed into a pair of soft, tight black panties. His shirt grew long sleeves and a collar, split apart down the middle—growing buttons that might be used to snap it back together—and in the process tore off some of its material to cling around what was her chest by this point, becoming a bra that matched the underwear.

"Err...eheh.." In short, the part of the ring's enchantment that was supposed to fix her clothes had very specifically put her in an undressed state. She was left nervously blushing up at the taller woman.

Though her cheeks reddened a little too, Jay just smiled. "You're as adorable as ever, Kyo!"
"Th-thanks. Sh-should I uh..?"
Jay leaned forward just slightly. "You can put that stuff back on if you're uncomfortable without it, buuut. I mean. It is just us two in here~.."
"Y-yeah..." Besides, you've already seen it all now! "I-I-I guess that won't be necessary." Whatever part of her brain was still working saw fit to spit out an explanation: The exact way the rings transformed one's clothes had a lot to do with the context, and the person's expectations and thoughts and so on..so, being in a bedroom and thinking about being privately pet by Jay, this kind of result practically should've been expected!

The non-working part, incidentally, was overrun with a thought best put into words as master wants to pet me!!! That was what had her shuffling closer, gently kicking the lost skirt aside before she could trip over it, and getting herself into very easy reach while looking expectantly up at the tall, redheaded, gorgeous woman in front of her.

"Awww~wwh...!" Jay, beaming, did just what Kyo wanted, and placed her hands on the smaller vixen's ears, gently running them through her fur. It felt just as good as the first time she'd done that; maybe even better...! The kitsune shuddered slightly, leaning up into it, and then let herself pounce up at Jay, the latter's reflexes thankfully being just good enough to catch her. Kyo very quickly returned the hug, pressing their bodies (and particularly their breasts) against each other.

"Hi there~." Jay grinned, blushing even brighter than before. That was something of a relief; Kyo's cheeks felt hot enough to be doing the same.

"Eeeeto...h-hi..!" After that, the petting resumed, and she let out some soft, vulpine churring, pushing her face hard into the bigger girl's cheek. Her tails curled forward to embrace Jay's tail too; this wasn't a conscious decision at all, but happened anyway. Jay nuzzled her back, quietly giggling a little before returning the same sort of soft churring sound.

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"That's it! See, we're almost home. Don't drop your pace 'till we get to the door!"

Ed wasn't sure if the werewolf girl's cheering her on as they went through a grueling morning exercise actually made her feel any better, but it certainly made her want to keep going, if only so it would all be over sooner. The slightly infuriating part was that, even though she'd been magically made 'fit', Tokanwa was so many levels beyond her; this was such a casual run for her that she seemingly never ran out of breath to keep talking!

They reached the lawn in front of the OZK house just before five other sorority members: L'hoxifel, Fritz, Hendrix, and two people Ed didn't recognize but who had to be Gio and Ivan. All of them were carrying shopping bags. "Hey Eddy~! Looking good," the demon-girl said.

The wolf-girl had stopped to catch her breath, and needed a moment to parse the compliment. "Uh...really?" She felt gross and smelly, and was totally drenched in sweat, but ultimately...it still felt good to hear it.

"Yeah!!" the blue-haired catgirl of the group pitched in. "You totally make 'buff cute' work! Toka too!" This was enough to discern that she was Gio.

"Thanks." Tokanwa clapped Ed on the shoulder. "See, your girlfriend likes that look! So you gotta keep working to keep it up, riiight?!"
"Uh..s-sure..." Ed flinched slightly at the use of the g-word, but didn't entirely disagree...or at least, didn't dislike the idea. L'hoxifel gave no objection, either.

"You wanna go out somewhere for lunch?" she asked instead. "Once I've got these gals settled?"
"Uh, s-sure. I, kinda need a shower anyway."
"Then it's a date~!" With that, she opened the door and led the way inside.

"Y-yeah. See you, Fel."

After that she hurried inside and then to her room, worrying that Tokanwa might suggest they work out more now that she was 'warmed up' right up until she got the bedroom door shut behind her. Then Ed finally breathed a small sigh of relief. Jay was at her computer chair, and spun it around to wave hello. "Hey! You have fun?"
"Let's be clear about one thing, okay—exercise. Is not. Fun. But, I got through it anyway." She looked around for a moment, feeling like something was off but not immediately placing what it was. Her eyes then caught a significant amount of black fur, and a little bit of white fur, on her roommate's bed. It was after seeing this evidence that Ed realized the thing that had seemed off at first was actually a slightly unusual smell—or more accurately, maybe, scent. Kyo's scent.

"I guess...you had a visitor, huh."
"Yep!" How was Jay not even slightly embarrassed about this?! "I kinda took advantage~. Hope you don't mind."
"Uh, well..I-I guess not. But, look—if you want to. Be with Kyosuke for a while. Uh. Well, there's plenty of other places in this house I can hang out, or do homework, or whatever. Just, you know, tell me. A-and let me know when you're done. I mean, I'm lucky I didn't walk in on you this time."

"Fair enough! You can tell me if you want some alone time, too," Jay said, grinning a little teasingly.

"...S-sure. Right now, though, I desperately need a shower."

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Please come to a meeting tonight at 7 PM, in the lounge!

Official OZK business!

We REALLY need everyone present, so let me know if you have a GOOD REASON why you can't come and I can reschedule.

Otherwise please please BE THERE!!!

Nancy fired off these texts while lying on her bed, then slowly sat up, listening to her stomach growl. "It's almost lunchtime...I swear, if someone complains that I woke them up..." She shook her head, then went out from her room to the hallway, heading downstairs to go out and get something for herself. She had just exited the stairwell when a certain two-tailed kitsune nearly ran into her, the human being the one with the reflexes to dodge.

"Whoa there Kyo—you okay?"

"Oh! Uh. Sorry. I was—distracted," he said.

"I'd say very much so. Something going on with you?"
"Err. Nothing bad, definitely," he said, his face reddening a little bit. "You ever feel like you really want something, at the same time as being afraid of it?"

"Like a horror movie or something?"

"Uh—no. I mean, more like, relationship-wise. With someone else?"
"Oh. Well, definitely not that, for me. Not that that wouldn't be interesting, buuuut I haven't found anyone I like that much yet, myself."

She couldn't resist smiling just a little bit, having something like this handed over on a silver platter. "Mmmmight I guess this has to do with Jay?"
Kyosuke shrugged. "I don't think that's hard to guess. We sort of agreed to a date already too, even though uh.." He fidgeted a little, clearly not really wanting to finish that sentence.

"Why don't you make it a double date? I'd bet anything L'hoxifel's planning to go somewhere with Ed today."
"Hey, that's not a bad idea! Ed's level-headed and cautious, which might...uh, anyway—I'll just have to ask her. Thanks, Nancy!"
"No problem~." She watched the fox-boy run off, already looking forward to hearing how this would turn out.

---

On her way to breakfast Saturday morning, Polaris encountered a werewolf. "Oh, heya Pol," she said, giving a friendly wave. Tokanwa was dressed for a morning jog, with just enough sweat on her brow to suggest she'd just come back from such an activity.

"Greetings." Polaris had stopped in place, and the werewolf girl took the cue to do the same. She crossed her arms. "We've hardly said two words to one another since our first meeting," the celestial observed.

"Oh, yeah? I guess I just thought I'd offended you back then, asking about your wings and stuff. Are they...what...'emotionally intimate'? Like, uh, demon horns?"
"I should say not. They are easily injured, featuring similar biology to the wings of a stork or crow..." Polaris paused, remembering what this conversation was supposed to be about. "Have you not noticed any difference? Since that first meeting?"

"Difference?" Tokanwa tilted her head slightly. "Uh...I guess, yeah! It looks like you've lost some weight, huh. Maybe a little too fast to be natural. So you did some magic for that?"
"For one with the capability, there is no more efficient way to improve one's appearance than magic."

"Suuure...I guess. So if you, like, wanted to be actually ripped—you'd basically just wish yourself that way?"

"There is much more to it than merely 'wishing'," Polaris said. "Such alterations of one's form require an immense amount of power and control, especially to make the changes non-dispellable."

"But don't you miss out on, y'know, that feeling of accomplishment, doing things that way? Like—being able to look in the mirror and say to yourself, 'I earned this'?"

"I do that every day," Polaris said. "My accomplishments need not be through rote, brutish physical toil. I would further opine that the more intelligent method of self-improvement produces superior results."

"Reeeeaaallly..?"

Tokanwa leaned back slightly, her wrists on her hips. "Well, I can see you're not 'optimized' for a physical challenge right now, eh? Just kinda skinny, tryin' to look cute? So—starting from there—how much fitness can you really make with magic alone, I wonder?"

"As much as I please," Polaris said, feeling insulted. No, that wasn't quite it—she felt like she was being issued a challenge.

"I mean, I just got through a morning jog with Ed. That girl looks great—nice, solid muscle and all. L'hoxifel did that, 's my understanding, but there's still plenty of room for improvement afterward. I'll just assume you're better at it than her."

"...Tautologically so."

"But how good aaarrre you, huh? What if we met up sometime later, after you've had plenty of time to 'improve' as much as you want? Could yooouuu—beat me in a race? Swimming? Arm wrestling? Lifting? Basketball?"

"Anything."

"Weeell, I'm not actually too great at basketball," the werewolf admitted. "Let's just start with a race, huh? Some time tomorrow, maybe?"

"Very well. I accept your challenge. Let us set a time and place," Polaris said.

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I know, I haven't been posting much these past couple of months. IRL work has been especially rough, and when I have time to write, it's been on-and-off bits and pieces of various different things. There are some things that might be technichally publishable, but I still felt like I wanted to polish/edit/finish them up before they're really ready to be posted. This chapter was one such example; the last part was written quite a while after the rest, and after I'd nearly finished work on the chapter after it.

I really feel like I've been having some trouble getting a good "rhythm" for this story sometimes. Forgetting to give certain characters, or interactions that are supposed to be happening, enough "screen time". Hoping to rectify that as I go. It may result in some later chapters containing events that happened chronologically earlier in order to "catch up", but I guess that isn't always a bad thing.