Contract Trap

On the table in the middle of the room was a statue, just starting to glow ominously. It was a little taller than a person's head, cast in some pitch black stone, in the shape of a sort of rectangular-prism plinth with a detailed human figure standing atop its center. That figure would appear well-dressed at a first glance, but then the distressing detail of a collar around the figure's neck, with a chain-leash attached, would reveal itself to any careful observer. After the glow had brightened a little, it lifted itself an inch or so off of the table's surface.

Niko, who'd been sitting at the table in front of it, jolted back slightly. "What th—?"

A voice from the statue interrupted him: "In exchange for altering the contract's terms, one must taste it in full."

"Aack! No, wait—stop..!" Being an experienced mage, and an expert particularly in enchantments, artifacts, and the sort, he put some active defenses up between himself and the statue to add to all of the passive ones already built into the room. But it was no good; he'd intertwined his magic with this artifact's own in the process of 'negotiating' with it to alter its rules. He realized this after a second and started trying to sever the connection, at the same time saying, "I didn't want to—I wasn't even finished with...ugh!"

It didn't seem interested in these objections, instead continuing to push its power into him, initiating its 'contract' just the same as if he'd spoken its usual activation phrase. It felt like the harder he tried to pull his own magic apart from what was flowing in, the more that power seeped into and took it over. Pretty soon he'd be practically powerless against it.

Niko groaned, leaning over and putting his face in his hands. "Auuugh! Stupid, dumb—first rule is to not mess with anything you don't have to!" But he'd only meant to make an indestructible, horrid curse of an artifact less dangerous for anyone who stumbled across it in the future! It wasn't like he could guarantee it'd stay locked up somewhere forever, no matter how hard he tried to make it so.

He sat up, starting to feel a sharp tingling racing across his scalp, and immediately saw his bangs growing longer before his eyes. By now, the statue had stopped glowing and floating, and just looked like an inert hunk of rock on the table, but its power had entirely swallowed Niko's, and now it was using his own magic to start transforming him. His ears were tingling too, as that hair's color brightening from brown toward red, and—given the state of the last person to activate this thing—he was fairly sure he knew which way this change was going.

Niko had an idea: Maybe he could stall or cancel this with some other enchantment's power! It was unlikely, but worth a try. He quickly stood up and hurried out of the room to go look for something, mentally sifting through a list of what he knew he had. The tingling was spreading its way down his face and to the rest of his skin, making him pause in the hallway to shudder briefly, and he stopped again when he was passing a bathroom, catching sight of his face in the mirror: That hair had turned a blazing, brilliant red by now, was long enough to almost touch his shoulders, and framed a smooth-shaven, soft-looking face. Furthermore, he'd started to feel his ears stretching as their tingling got stronger, and now they were big enough for their pointed tips covered in reddish peach fuzz to poke out past that hair.

The strange thing was, seeing his face like that, the thought that popped into his head was: Wow, cute.

He quickly shook his head. Focus, dummy! It was only a brief sprint from there to where the item he hoped would help was held. As he ran, the tingling was replaced by a squeezing sensation, and his perspective began sinking downward, his stride and balance starting to change. Niko stumbled, caught himself with a hand on the wall, and then had to slow his pace as he continued to shrink. He could feel his face growing smaller and rounder, his shoulders narrowing, his arms and legs and waist all slimming down, and as he made his way into the storage room, the shelves already looked strangely tall.

He kept on shrinking as he went and rifled through a box, before finally pulling out a small metal bracelet. "Ah—he~ere!" Niko tried to ignore his voice cracking strangely, and how small and delicate his fingers looked holding that item, and simply snapped it onto his left wrist. It was an unremarkable enough item, something novice mages wore sometimes; its enchantment canceled out a large portion of one's own power so that casting even basic spells would become meaningful practice. But no sooner had he put it on than he felt a rush of his stolen power straight to that wrist, and the bracelet glowed a bright red before disintegrating into dust.

"Shoot!" He'd hoped that would at least buy him a few more minutes! As if in response to his attempt to stop it, the change briefly accelerated, squeezing Niko hard enough to briefly fix him in place and making his height plummet. "Aa~aa~aah..!" At the same time he could feel his ears pushing their way up hard, growing into a pair of huge, fluffy triangles, and a tail sprouting from the base of his spine, too..!

"Ugh...ffh..." Niko panted briefly, feeling some heat in his cheeks. He looked around the room he was in, trying to think of what else might work here. "W-wah!" A high, cute surprised cry came out when he tried to move, as he nearly tripped over his pants. He realized then that they'd fallen off of him, and his shirt was hanging awkwardly loose across a very slender frame; his underwear, however, miraculously stayed on? Or, maybe it wasn't such a miracle, he realized, as he noticed its leggings were gone and it felt awfully tight, especially..down there.

Speaking of which, he was starting to feel...kind of tingly, in that same area.

"Urrgh, no no no...s-something else..." Niko's voice came out in a soft, mature, womanly alto now, as he carefully stepped over the lost pants and went over to another shelf to pull out another item. What he decided to try next was a necklace that normally did nothing if a man wore it, but turned a female wearing it male. He hurriedly pushed it past the new huge, vulpine ears to hang it around his neck, hoping it would at least reverse that part of the effect once it happened.

That tail he'd sprouted earlier pushed its way out past the hem of his shirt now, swishing back and forth behind him. The heat in Niko's cheeks had grown stronger, and his heart was racing—was that because of the sprint earlier, or the change? Maybe both? The tingling downstairs had been steadily picking up in intensity, and he could feel the...what were surely panties, starting to fit more comfortably as there was less and less in the way. This felt...nice? He hadn't felt bad at all after the sprint, so...was his heart racing because he was...excited? Niko remembered how cute his face had looked in the mirror; he had to be even cuter now.

"Urgh..n-no, stop that..!" He shook his head again, hard enough for the bright red locks to swish around and the big animal ears to flop around. "Th-that's the...enchantment talking...!" But his voice did sound kind of nice like that...low enough to be mature, but cute too.

"Mnnfh!" The tingling progressed now into a tugging, slipping sensation; Niko's new tail had grown out into a huge, fluffy pillow nearly as long as one of his arms, and was whipping back and forth excitedly behind him. His ears lowered out to point to his sides, and he felt warm all over...! "Aah...mnn~ngh...!" His sex was changing...! He tried to reassure himself that the necklace would stop it, or at least soon reverse it, but then he realized that his neck and the skin around his left shoulder exposed by the too-big shirt could feel no such object on them. But...he'd put it on, hadn't he? Then he realized that when he'd been shaking his head, his magic had reached out and swallowed the necklace's, just like the statue had his own. So...he'd only made it stronger!

"Aa~aah...-m-mmrr~rr~RRRRRRRrrrhh...!" This realization was punctuated by the immediate shift down between Niko's legs. What had made him male his whole life disappeared, swallowed fully into his body, and a rapid shift from there up to the pit of Niko's stomach replaced it with everything that would now make her female. It felt...unimaginably nice! And it was immediately followed by a tingly, fuzzy feeling down there, drawing a soft, low "O-oo~ooh...!" from the new girl's lips.

"R-rrgh..." She tried to get a hold of herself, as that fuzzy feeling faded slightly. Her hips were starting to press outward, and her chest tingling, but she mumbled. "M-must be..s-something that c'n...rrgh..." There were plenty more items similar to the first two she'd tried, but Niko knew deep down this was a statement of denial; it was pretty much too late. Her mind was hazy from the pleasant sensations of turning into a girl, and now of starting to grow some curves; she was distracted by thinking about how cute and sexy she must look now and kind of wanting to go back and look in a mirror; and already she was starting to think about who...who to...

"M-mnnhh...aah...mrr~rrrrrh..." Her mental fortitude exhausted, the fox-girl just cried out softly, letting out some vulpine churring, as her hips and thighs filled out, and the tingling across her chest gave way to a gentle, pleasant push, expanding them out into some small breasts. "Aah..AAH!" Her voice went high and squeaky as her bust continued to push out, then descended again to a helpless "Oo~oh...mm~mnnfh.." when the feeling of some suddenly-sensitive breasts pushing into and sliding across the material of her shirt made her new girly parts erupt into more fuzzy tingles. "Mrr~rrnnh..ah...oo~ooh..." There was pretty much nothing she could do but enjoy the ride as those puppies continued growing for a moment longer, spreading out into some generous breasts that completed her new soft, curvy figure.

"Hfff...ugh..." Niko blinked her eyes open (wondering when she'd closed them exactly) and then turned around and hurried back to the bathroom to get a good look in the mirror. What awaited her was more or less expected, but no less distressing: A short, curvy redheaded fox-girl, with an adorable, brightly-blushing face, bright yellow eyes, huge fox-like ears, and a big, fluffy tail—red with a white tip.

"Aauugh! Th-this is even worse than I thought," she said, tugging at the edges of her shirt with her hands. "I can barely even feel my own magic." Normally a transformation like this would be easy for Niko to reverse, but now, thanks to that statue's contract, she needed someone else's help.

About a week back, Niko had gotten a call to help with a "cursed" statue, and what he'd found was much worse than that description suggested. The girl who'd been affected by it was extraordinarily lucky to have a friend she could actually trust—but they would be much better off not knowing the full truth. He kind of wished he didn't know how it worked, because that meant that someone had intentionally made something like this. It was purpose-built, and the worst part was that its age suggested that it had served its purpose for quite some time in the past.

Ancient enchanted artifacts such as this were like the radioactive waste of magic. In some ways they were worse, since magic itself could be coaxed into making that mundane waste a little bit less of an issue. The insidious thing was that this "Servant's Statue" didn't really have a curse at all; it was instead a channel and source for a very particular contract spell. Curses could be cured, but someone who agreed to a contract spell was most likely stuck with the results for good. And, unlike legal contracts, magic didn't particularly care if it was "signed" under duress.

That was how she'd wound up in this situation. After helping the two "renegotiate" the terms of their contract (which required the "master" to be willing, so again the one affected was very lucky), Niko had claimed it as 'payment', hoping to defang its effects once he got it home. And he'd taken every precaution he could think of before even touching it, too!

Trying to destroy or disenchant something like this would cause its magic to throw a tantrum, whose effects would be vastly worse than anything it could do while intact. So the only reasonable way to make the statue less dangerous was to change the terms of its contract. He'd spent over an hour analyzing that contract, poking and prodding it to see what kind of changes it would accept, and then taken another hour to actually make the changes it would accept, and which would make it do as little harm as possible, even in the wrong hands. And now...that new form of the contract was what the fox-girl was stuck with.

Ordinarily, the statue's magic granted the person who activated it a certain amount of power. It charged up energy over time, then dumped whatever it had built up into the next person to use it. Its immediately-previous owner had been after a very long time of disuse, and so had wound up with power on the level of maybe a three-tailed kitsune. However, that power was only usable under the orders of the "master".

Since Niko had acquired it right after that, it had little power to grant, but he hadn't realized that it would lock up the user's own, intrinsic power too. Of course it made sense for the new power to join with one's existing power, but for a mage like Niko, having her power sealed like this was somewhat scary and extremely irritating! And this effect was something Niko had been completely unable to change, along with the statue always transforming its activator into a form designed to "please the master".

She crossed her arms, sighing. "Who can I...?" Fortunately, she had removed a lot of the nastier mental effects: Almost no emotional manipulation, no compulsion to talk or not talk in any particular way, little-to-no constant urge to please the 'master', didn't even have to call them 'master' in the first place. But whoever she took on as the other member of this contract, she'd still be compelled to do whatever that person ordered her to do. Unless the order would keep her from talking. Niko had thought that both parties being forced to obey each other was at least a decent compromise, but she hadn't expected to actually be one of said parties! The worst part was that, now that the contract had begun, she'd feel an increasingly strong compulsion to choose a 'master' and convince them to agree to it...

That compulsion had already started, too; right now it was a dim but persistent thought in the back of her mind. So it was best to do this now, when she could actually focus and think more or less rationally. Niko went through a mental list of people she knew, trying to decide who would be the best to ask. However, she was slightly distracted on each name, when picturing that person, with some foreign-seeming thoughts: He'll think I'm really cute. She isn't really into animal ears. He'd pull my tail. She'll just be jealous of how big my...

"Urrgh...s-stupid statue...!" Shaking her head again, the fox-girl tried to clamp down on those thoughts, and focus on who she could actually trust—and who might willingly agree to this absurd contract. One person did stand out as the right answer once she really thought about it. Only—at the same time—he was...

That is, he really liked...

Niko huffed, crossing her arms and glaring at her reflection in the mirror like it was whoever made that awful artifact. "Did it already decide for me?!" It wasn't an impossible notion, considering the original form of the contract chose whoever the activator looked at first as a 'master' and caused a transformation into what that person would like. Niko had accepted the transformation happening right away for the ability to actually choose and require both parties to agree, but hadn't considered how this could still satisfy the condition of "pleasing the master". Many artifacts had something like a 'mind' to them, but she hadn't expected this one's to be quite that sophisticated.

"Always expect the worst," she mumbled to herself, turning around to go get her phone. The sooner he came over, the sooner she'd have access to her own power again, and then she could turn back....

...If he wants me to.

…......If I really want to, I mean!

Since some of the artifacts Niko had (and would lend customers the use of) could transform people, she kept some spare clothes around in various sizes. It didn't take her long to locate a shirt and some shorts that would fit. Her ears twitched as she pulled the shorts on, picking up the buzz of her phone vibrating to notify her of Jordan's response to her text. She felt a brief urge to run and look, but forced herself to take a deep breath and walk slowly over to pick it up. Still, her heart skipped a beat when it was a response from him.

Their conversation, in full, was:

Need your help badly. Artifact screwed me over.

whoa

sounds serious

how?

I got a contract spell forced on me, and need another person to 'sign' it.

It sealed my magic until I do.

And transformed me.

so you want me to 'sign'?

what r the terms n stuff?

Short version: We'd have to obey each other's spoken orders.

Plus other things I can tell you in person

ok ill be over when im off work.

Thanks, sorry.

Niko was briefly worried that needing to wait a couple of hours for Jordan to get off work and come over to her house-slash-place of business would result in the compulsion to find a 'master' driving her crazy the entire time through. However, she actually felt that mental effect fade off instead; it was 'satisfied' that she'd found a candidate, apparently. However, she did catch herself thinking about how it might feel for him to put his hands through the fur of her ears...which he would almost definitely want to at some point.

That is: She could trust him not to screw her over, but she also knew that he was really into furry girls. His computer's desktop wallpaper, some art he hung around the rooms of his house, and some of the media he liked ensured this was no secret, and he wasn't shy about it if someone asked. He wasn't weird about it or anything; Jordan was just someone who knew what he liked, and didn't care if other people knew that too. It was just that—the way she looked right now—Niko was pretty sure that what he liked included that. And now, some kind of mental effect of the contract that she hadn't even noticed was making her kind of want him to pet her almost as much as he was going to want it.

Well...no...that didn't make any sense, actually. Niko had had a very close look at the entire contents of that statue's magic. He couldn't have missed something this big, especially not attached to its transformative effect—as it would have had to be. Was she just thinking like this because of the dull but still-present urge to 'please the master'? Yet, Jordan wasn't her 'master' according to the contract yet; she could very well pick someone else, or he could decide not to agree to the contract, so...

So...?

She struggled over this for a few minutes before deciding it was best to just distract herself instead. So Niko stood up from her chair and went to get something to snack on, and thought about picking out something to watch until Jordan's shift at work was over.

Eventually her phone buzzed again, and on seeing that it was a text from Jordan saying that he was on his way, the fox-girl hopped to her feet and took five or six rapid steps toward the door. Then...she slowed herself down, eventually stopping around halfway there, and took a deep breath. "Ugh...he's not here yet. Why'd I want to...? Oh, right...compulsion.." She was at least pretty sure this was part of the compulsion to hurry up and get a 'master'. At the same time, when Niko tried to figure out which part of her thought process said mental effect had hijacked, she remembered only thinking of showing off her cute, curvy new form to him. Realizing that brought on some warmth to her cheeks...and she quickly shook her head hard again. Nope—nope! I just want really my magic back, and out of this stupid, tiny form!

Hearing a car pulling into the driveway, Niko clamped down on another brief spike of excitement, and then made herself take some slow, deliberate steps to the front door. Then she waited until Jordan knocked to open it.

"Uh, so...hi," she said, craning her head up. A brief thought of wow he's tall! flashed through her mind before the realization that actually, she was just short now. Really, Jordan was a little on the short side for a guy, with black hair and clear blue eyes. He worked an IT job sitting in front of a computer, and wasn't a very active person in general, so he was a bit overweight, and usually wore loose-fitting shirts to partially hide that fact. But he had a handsome enough face, at least, which lit up with a slight blush at this moment.

"Uh—wow! You uh.." He was checking her out! "...didn't mention what kind of transformation, huh?"
"It's r-really annoying," she said. "Please don't be too weird about it...come in." With that, she got out of the way, and hurried back through the foyer to the living room.
"Um, sure," he said, closing the door behind him before following.

"So, like—what kinda artifact was this, anyway? A hot vixen maker?"

Niko sighed loudly, although she could feel her face burning with a brighter blush on being called 'hot'. "It's called the 'Servant's Statue'. It was originally designed to force people to be slaves against their will, with a constant compulsion to 'please the master' in any way possible."

"Oh." That deflated him a bit, thankfully. "That sounds pretty gross."

"I was trying to make it less gross and dangerous, and mostly succeeded. Now if someone uses it, then it makes two people obey each other instead. But it decided that me changing its effects counts as 'using it', and now I have to find someone else to be the other party of the contract."

"So, like, that's me, huh?" he concluded, and Niko nodded. "What'd I have to do?"

"Well—agreeing is easy," Niko explained. "I'll ask you if you want to, and you just say yes. But after that, any time one of us tells the other to do something, they have to, so we'll need to be really careful how we talk to each other afterward. I know that's inconvenient, so if you don't want to then I can.."

"No, no—I can see you're kinda in a bind. I guess you can't dispel it or anything, or you wouldn't have asked me."
"Right. It seized control of my magic. You'll need to tell me to use it freely first thing, so I'll have access to it again."
"Okay, sure, I can do that."

"All right. If you're ready?" Niko was starting to feel that compulsion come on fairly strong. With someone right in front of her more or less willing to agree to the contract, she almost wanted to force him to do so!

"Yeah, sure," he nodded.
"Okay. Will you...'be my master and my servant, aiming to please me as I do you?'" The phrasing came out this way partially against her will.

"Uh..?" he looked a little concerned about the wording.
"I have to put it that way; stupid magical contract nonsense," she said.
"Okay. Then, uh—yes. I will."
Immediately Niko felt the compulsion lifting off of her mind, and breathed a sigh of relief. At the same time, a piece of her magic flowed out to in front of her, gathering into a brightly glowing red orb. And now that she could focus a little bit better...she realized that she'd forgotten to mention something.

"Oh—shoot!"
"Uh, what? Is that not normal?" he asked, taking a couple of small steps backwards as the orb started moving toward him. "Like, is it supposed to do that?" It wasn't like he'd be able to escape it anyway.
"Yes, but—listen. One of the things this contract originally did was make the servant transform into a body that would 'please the master', and I couldn't get rid of that part. So it's gonna..." By now the orb had made it to him, and sunk its way into his body; he was starting to gain a halo of red light all around him, and lifted his hand up in front of his face to get a better look at it.

"Whoa..uh, so this is..?" Jordan's hair started to grow longer at this point.
"Um—yeah. But, don't panic, I'm pretty sure I can fix this part once I have my magic back!" she assured him.

"S-sure." As his hair grew to shoulder-length, Jordan's beard started to thin out and disappear. "Uh, wow, this feels we~eird," he added, his voice cracking slightly.

"It'll..probably get weirder before it's over," she warned him.

He nodded, picking up some of his hair to run it through his fingers. "Uh..w-wow..." It became softer and more voluminous as it tumbled out, at the same time starting to look messy and unbrushed. Jordan shuddered as it reached about halfway down his back, then let go of the hair to pull his arms close around his body.

"Aa~ah...w-who~oaa...!" He began to shrink then, growing slimmer all over. Jordan's face—already missing all of its facial hair by now—turned round and cute; his shoulders narrowed; his arms and legs slimmed down; and his shirt loosened across his belly as the fat there began to disappear. "Aah, aa~aah..!" His voice audibly changed bit by bit, its pitch steadily rising. However, unlike Niko's transformation earlier, he didn't seem to be getting any shorter at all.

After all...she did kind of like how tall he was now. Especially if he was fit, solid and strong enough to easily pick her up...

"Aah, aa~aah..I-I...nn~nngh...!" Jorrdan's clothes began to change, too. His pants and shirt alike started rapidly pulling tighter and shrinking shorter. Soon the slight pudge of his belly was exposed, just in time for the last of it to vanish away; his shirt quickly went from hanging loosely across his now-slender shoulders to being sleeveless, with a deep dip in the middle, and so only hanging on to those shoulders by a pair of straps. His hair tumbled out as far as his hips as his body finished slimming down, leaving him a fairly androgynous, slender, cute-looking guy. However, his pants—now a pair of tight shorts—had pulled very close now against a bulge between his legs, and the way that was beginning to get smaller made it clear he wouldn't stay a guy for very much longer.

Jordan dropped his arms back to his sides, looking around briefly and then down at Niko. His cheeks were getting increasingly red. "U-um..N-niko..?" His voice was a high, soft tenor, barely male-sounding at all. "I...th-this feels super we~eird..! Wah, was it like this f-for you, to~o...?" Through a couple of little cracks, his voice completed the shift from tenor to a cute, girly mid-soprano.

"Uh..y-yeah...it does feel really weird," she assured him. It was hard not to stare at that bump between her friend's legs getting smaller and smaller..but he was going to be positively gorgeous once it was done, an intrusive thought informed her.

"Aah...a~aah...o-ooh...aa~aa~AA~AAAAAAaahh..!" With one particularly loud, high-pitched cry, Jordan's shorts pulled completely flat between the legs. "O-oh...mnn~nngh..." Between her legs. She squirmed them back and forth, her face turning completely red, and wobbled around briefly in place. "Aah..o-oo~ooh..!" Already her hips were beginning to push out wider, her thighs growing thicker, and her bottom pushing out bigger; thankfully, the new girl's very tight shorts seemed content to let themselves out a bit to continue to fit those growing proportions.

"Aa~a-aah..w-wah..? M-my ears feel...f-funny.." she mumbled softly, still swaying in place. And then, Jorrdan suddenly let out a high, cute "Y-yip! Wha..? Rrr~rRRRUFFH!" Each sudden dog-like noise came with the sudden growth of an ear, covered in pitch-black fur, pushing its way past her hair to become a big fluffy triangle. Seeing those appear above Jordan's now-adorable, blushing face, Niko felt like she very suddenly understood the appeal of girls with furry parts.

"Aa~ah..y-yip, yip! Rrufh!" Next, a tail sprouted from her back. The motion of it spreading out into view drew the fox-girl's eyes back down that way, and she could now see the new girl sporting some very impressive curves down there. Plus, her slim, flat belly was starting to get more solid, showing off some faint abs so far. "Aah..o-oh...m-maa~aahnn...!" As the tail continued growing longer and thicker, Jordan's chest pushed itself out into the tiny tank top that her shirt had become, quickly stretching its material to its limit before it finally loosened itself up to make them fit. "Mnnh, mrr~rrrRRrfh..!" Only then, those new breasts pushed out even bigger, pulling it tight all over again. "A-aa~aah..o-ooh...wah, w-woo~ooowh..." Jorrdan's eyes fluttered shut as this cycle continued, again and again. Before long she had a tail at least as long and not quite as fluffy as Niko's wagging back and forth behind her, but still her bust continued to expand out. The fox-girl couldn't help but watch, wondering how big they were going to get...but, at the same time, feeling like she already knew.

After all—not that Niko had ever broadcasted it anywhere—he really liked tall, busty, curvy women. So...of course, that was what Jordan was becoming. The wolfy parts and barking were unexpected, but the rest was...no huge surprise, on reflection. It still looked great, though.

"Aa~aa~aaAAAaa~aah...! Mmh-mnngh..." Finally, the wolf-girl's breasts finished growing, bouncing out into place as the tiny tank top loosened itself one last time, just slightly, so they would fill it out comfortably. She huffed briefly, slowly catching her breath, and then opened her eyes, looking down a her new figure. "Uh..w-wow..." She then realized Niko was looking up at her, and pulled her hands together, wringing them briefly.

"S-so uh..this is...I mean, you're into this kinda girl?" she asked, having apparently, at some point, put together the way the contract spell chose a form to change someone into.

Niko flushed. "Errrrr..y-yeah...if you let me use my magic, I should be able to turn you back, though."

"N-no way!" she said suddenly. "Uh, I mean. I-I'm not totally sure I wanna be turned back. L-like, I've never been..fit before," she said, patting the solid abs of her belly for a second. "Never mind, like, actually hot. H-heh, I almost feel like I could get used to this. Especially with you lookin' at me like that."
"L-like what!? I-I wasn't," Niko started, but couldn't properly finish the sentence. "J-just hurry up and let me use my own magic again!"

"Uhh..erm..I can't, be ordered to do that?" Jordan said slowly. "Uh, wait, I wasn't trying to say that! Why'd I say that?"
The fox-girl facepalmed. "Ugh, right. Obviously. Remember how we can order each other around now?"
"Oh..right," Jordan nodded.
"Well, clearly it'd defeat the purpose if we could order each other to give specific orders. So—as a request—please let me use my own magic again! I won't do anything to transform you again unless you want me to."
"Oh! Uh, sure. Let's see...um, Niko, use your magic however you want to from now on to forever," she said. Jordan had definitely played enough roleplaying games to know she should word a magically-binding order carefully.

Immediately, Niko felt her power returning to normal—plus a little extra. She tested it out by holding a hand out and making a point of light appear above its palm, and then dismissed that, breathing a sigh of relief. "Phew. Thank you. It's like suddenly not being able to move your own arm, I swear!"

"Hahah, you do seem a little more relaxed," Jordan said. "So, now that that's done, uh..."

"..What?" The wolf-girl had stopped talking, just staring down at Niko with her tail wagging back and forth behind her. The blush from just after her transformation hadn't faded much, and she had a slightly expectant look on her face. "Wh-what's with that look?"
"Would you..? I mean, would you maybe be willing to? Pet my ears a little bit?" she asked, seeming to remember at the last moment to phrase it as a question rather than an imperative.
"Uhhm. W-well, I can't exactly reach them. Since this stupid contract spell made me so short," Niko said, crossing her arms. "I-I guess, if you picked me up then I probably could, then."

"Oh, yeah? Theeen—!"

With that, Jordan picked the small fox-girl up into her arms. Niko was immediately assaulted by the feeling of those slim, strong arms wrapped around her, and the wolf-girl's huge breasts squishing close against her own (rather sensitive) pair. It was all...a bit much! But it felt nice, and she didn't want it to stop, either. Something was...really coming over her. And it couldn't be that statue's magic, either! So it was just...?

Jordan was looking at her expectantly again.

"Uh-um..r-right..." Niko returned the wolf-girl's hug, reaching her hands up to gently touch those fluffy black ears. At the slightest touch Jordan flinched, the ears twitching, but then she smiled as the fox-girl's small fingers pressed into that fur and began gently brushing through it, properly petting those warm, soft ears.
"Rrufh! Aah, that feels amazing~..!" she said. "I...I just wanna...! Mrrr~rrfh." With no further warning, Jordan pressed her nose hard into Niko's cheek. This made her feel warm again, her heart racing as the fuzzy feeling from the tail end of her transformation began to come back in force.
"O-o~ooh...mmnngh..." She couldn't help herself, and began nuzzling the bigger girl back. Part of her tried to demand What am I doing!?, but it felt really nice after all, plus Jordan definitely liked it.

"Mrr~rrrhn..."
"Ehehee! Y-you're super cute, you know that? B-but really sexy too," Jordan said, probably just babbling in her excitement. Not that that kept Niko from enjoying the compliment.
"P-pet my ears too—if you want," she said and then quickly added, barely remembering in time.
"Heh..s-sure..!"

"Aa~ah!" They were very sensitive! Niko had touched her own ears earlier, and they hadn't seemed nearly so responsive then, but something about someone else doing it...or maybe Jordan specifically...! At any rate, she would be very weak at the knees right now if she wasn't being entirely held up in the air by the tall, strong wolf-girl. "Mmh, mmrr~rrrrh...!"
"Aa~h, so cuuute...!" Jordan gushed, then went back to softly barking and yipping.

It did not take Niko very long to want to feel the other girl's tail, too, and—knowing full well that Jordan was into this kind of thing—curled her own tail forward to brush them across each other. The wolf-girl jolted in surprise, then let out a soft, helpless "Aa~aaah...!" She didn't (probably couldn't) make her tail stop wagging, and that motion had their big wads of fluff running constantly across each other with very little extra motion on Niko's part. After that, the wolf-girl stumbled awkwardly around before finally falling backwards to land her button the couch.

Still holding one of Jordan's ears in her hand (moving the other one to the back of her head to gently stroke through her hair), Niko pulled her head back enough for their noses to almost touch. "Hmmnh?"
Jordan returned a slightly apologetic look with an extremely bright blush to her cheeks. "M-my legs were getting, kinda weak...heheh...! Uh, g-girls have it pretty good, huh?"

"Mmnh." Niko went back to nuzzling the bigger girl, gently pushing her down until she was lying flat across the couch with the fox-girl on top of her.

Much later that evening, the two of them were lying in a similar position on Niko's bed, both completely exhausted. The wolf-girl let out a soft "Mrr~rfh," already half-asleep.

The fox-girl thought: I'm gonna bury that statue in the middle of a desert somewhere. Maybe teleport it ten miles down from the bottom of the deepest hole I can get dug.

...Then, I think I'll ask if she wants to move in with me, or the other way around.

---

This is sort of a "soft sequel" to A Friend When Cursed. I started writing this not long after publishing that one, but the first draft started out when Niko acquired the statue, went through the precautions and negotiations with the statue's magic first...in short, it was very boring and I couldn't figure out a good way to continue. Pushing the transformation to the story's start, while interleaving some of that information (and cutting out unnecessary detail), really did the trick.

Careless Imagination

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

---

Congratulations! You are this year's lucky winner!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"I dunnooo.."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

hey eli

remember th weird orb thign?

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

Yes, did you get rid of it?

nope

treid it out instead

and

At this point she sent some pictures.

it worked but i messed up my wish a little

soooo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Good for you, I guess..."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"WHAAAT!?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Cuu~ute!"

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

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