Lilyth
My stay among the Kitsune quickly made me realise one thing. I was going about my new body the wrong way. Imagine working your entire life at Burger Joint A and then suddenly being moved to a place where you become an employee of Burger Joint B with a streamer hobby.
Joint B has different, better recipes, but they are still similar enough to those from A, so you can still make them. They sell, but clearly aren’t what the customers are looking for. Part of the blame is on the cloud-haired manager who never bothered to teach you the new recipes as they were in the employee manual, that they never told you fucking existed, but you instead of asking for guidance on what you are doing wrong, you go “fuck this shit”, quit place A and go full-time streamer as that's the only that works for you. That makes you eat some people.
Finally, your manager decides to find someone to onboard you, and boy, does it make a difference. You are happier, more fulfilled, and streaming looks to become a way for you to chill. Well… in my case be more effective at killing people, but they usually have it coming.
Part of the issue was the brief period I only had streaming as an option, but Lady Madness fixed that by putting me in Burger Joint B. Meaning turning me into a fucking furry was… well… a blessing in disguise.
What I was suspiciously quickly, like day one, told was that Kitsune biology was encoded in my body cells. The human/elven one wasn't, so while I could replicate it, it didn't work… quite as well as it should have, which was the reason for the unwanted passenger after my recent dalliance. Translation - my ovaries and womb were just for show, and I had the slimeling hyperfertility. I was told that would cease to be an issue once I went fully native, as Kitsune ovulated only twice a year. The bad news was that, well, this involved going into heat. Vixens got turbo horny while ovulating, as due to their limited fertility, their bodies went into “extend the species” overdrive. Turning male downstairs wouldn't help because reynards apparently had it just as bad, if not worse, due to the fact… well… They could smell pheromones released by ovulating women, and that scent had powerful effects on them. This extended to pretty much ALL women, not just Kitsune. So out of the two, I’d rather really need dick every now and then, rather than well… feel the intense desire to impregnate Ren or Aki should they be on that phase of their cycle.
I could, of course, go back to my slimy physiology, but that was out of the question. Once again… needing dick was far better than being a man-eating monster.
Leianna and Meei were the ones to explain this bit to my wives, and did so before talking with me about it.
‘Dainyir might get lucky with you again, after all,’ Ren joked after we were all on the same page.
‘Hopefully, I’ll be able to control myself,’ I said, feeling utterly embarrassed.
‘Don’t count on it, sister,’ Leianna shook her head. ‘Particularly if you had never experienced it before.’
‘Yeah,’ Meei agreed. ‘Sometimes, you can get some self-control, but usually... Well… My friend, let’s call her Neei, becomes the village bicycle when the time comes.’
Fuck.
Needless to say, contraception was a very advanced field among the Kitsune. I had my own methods dealing with that issue, but the fact that they would come very much in handy for me… was a source of intense shame for me.
‘No matter what I choose, I lose,’ I sighed when the four of us were alone.
‘I could always knock you out during that period,’ Caei said. ‘Though I don’t think that is a good idea.’
‘We can also lock you in a room if it gets too bad,’ Aki suggested.
‘That I think would be preferable,’ I said.
‘Still… we may have to accept that this will be a thing for you,’ she shook her head sadly. ‘I have seen animals in heat… it is not pretty.’
‘So did I,’ I agreed. ‘Still… if that's the price for not… repeating that…’
‘I mean… that only happened once, didn't it?’ Aki brightened up, but immediately changed her expression to concern, likely due to seeing me tense up.
‘The Incident?’ Ren asked quietly.
‘Yes,’ I confirmed. ‘I wanted to spare you this… but… back on Varlia, Persephone was trying to convince me to join her side. She would take me back to you if I agreed. Her first offer was while I was still recovering. The second… when I was starting to lose myself after beginning to hunt. As Nyx pointed out… I wasn't doing it in a particularly human fashion. So Persephone began to play up those fears and even tried to appeal to some other baser instincts. I pushed her away, she fell… and I saw her as… as prey. I managed to stop myself from killing and devouring her, but…’
I just shook my head.
‘I will do anything to prevent that from happening again,’ I finished. ‘Anything.’
Aki
My heart broke seeing the torment on Lilyth's face.
I understand now why she and Persephone didn't want to talk about it and why Lilyth decided to befriend her. After… that, I can't imagine she would have the stomach to kill her.
So now I had to make a choice, and none of the options was particularly good. Still… I loved her and… yes. She was right. I would also pay any price to avoid losing control of myself.
She is trapped between two bodies that were forced upon her. I cannot punish her for things she cannot control. Be strong, Aki.
I sat by her side and took her hand into mine.
‘Then become a Kitsune,’ I whispered to her. ‘In mind and body. As for when the time comes… we will figure it out. Maybe that harpy suitor you liked will come to Mer-Cas in the Spring.’
That did elicit a bit of a smile from her. And that was all I needed.
‘Maybe,’ she whispered back.
Still, hoping there was some solution, the next day I sought out Meei.
‘How do Kitsune partners… handle this?’ I asked.
‘Not okay with Lilyth “cheating”, eh?’ she sighed. ‘I wish I could give you an answer that would give you peace of mind, but there isn't one. For us, this is a fact of life. We just accept that every few months there are periods during which women… aren't themselves. It is not like the three of you won’t be able to control her… urges to some extent, but… we kind of view our relationships as semi-open. Basically, you never talk about certain things that happened. Kinda like taking a shit.’
‘I am not happy about it.’
‘Neither is she. This is also for her protection. Do you think I am proud of the fact that whenever my time comes, every halfway decent-looking dude can get a ride? The first few heats I had? I had trouble looking at myself in the mirror afterwards.’
Oh.
‘I thought…’
‘...That I enjoy being a wild animal? No. Just like our men tend to grow disgusted by their ability to tell exactly when we are in heat. Believe me, maintaining control is equally hard for them. I have seen faithful and caring husbands just… lose it when a vixen in heat was passing them by. So, a culture of silence developed. We don't mention what happens during the heat, and they don't mention what happens when they sense it. It is only considered cheating when both partners are of sound mind, which is why what Qaric did, while not quite a taboo, is still highly looked down upon among our people. Affected women still maintain full control of themselves, but even slightly meddling with that is… not something we approve of. ‘
I nodded.
‘Thanks for the explanation,’ I nodded. ‘It will take me a while to process that.’
‘Not denying it will be hard. But if you want to stay with her, that's the price.’
If it helps her with her other issues…
‘I guess it will be something we all will have to get through somehow.’
‘That’s the spirit!’ Meei smiled, but then grew serious. ‘A word of advice, though. Do not try to restrain Lilyth in any way or lock her in a room. We tried that. These days it is considered a form of torture.’
‘It is that bad?
‘Words cannot describe it. You will have to see it for yourself.’
Lilyth
All in all, the longer I interacted with my people, the more I realised they were still… human enough for me not to have to worry about losing the parts of myself I cared about. The differences, though… well… the sunlight naps you already know about.
Another very important part of Kitsune's day was playhunting. Kinda like the thing you do for your cats and dogs. I thought it was stupid until Leianna threw me a ball. It was very bouncy. I had to catch it. My ball! Mine!
After I brought it up, I realised why Leianna invited my wives to that part of my onboarding. The devilish spark in Aki’s eyes told me everything. While my dignity would never recover, that was a very fun half an hour of my life, and I genuinely felt much better.
There were other, less humiliating, ways of achieving the same thing, of course. Climbing trees, exploring various nooks and crannies, basically anything that would simulate actual hunting.
The way the troupe usually handled it was through the pre-breakfast morning tag sessions, something all five of us began to attend. The food tasted so much better after these.
Active mental stimulation was also very important: solving puzzles, playing tricks on each other, pushing objects off tables, various riddles and guessing games. Once again, we were invited to take part in those, which made me realise that my friends were also being trained in taking care of my needs.
Other than that also went through the best foods; fur brushing techniques, something Aki fell in love with, and damn did it feel good; and a thousand other small things Leianna would be expanding on in the coming weeks and months.
And the more we did, the more I felt at peace with my body. Finally, after a week with the Kitsune, I felt more like I was in my own flesh than at any previous point in the past, almost five months now.
And with that realisation, a change came upon me. My body tingled and shifted, and then… solidified.
What the fuck?
Everything felt different. I touched my face and felt… actual cheekbones underneath my skin.
Wait. I had skin.
My heart beat faster at the realisation.
Hang on…
Blinking away the tears of joy, I brought up my hand before my eyes. It wasn't pale anymore, but light pink.
I used the [Form Claws] ability and saw that it still worked, but no matter how much I tried to do any other shapeshifting, it just didn't happen. I couldn't even go back to the elf form.
I scratched the back of my other hand with one of the claws and immediately winced from pain.
What the FUCK?
A trickle of red blood started flowing from the wound, the edges of which turned slightly blue and began to knit themselves together.
This is different.
The wound disappeared moments later, the small trail of blood the only reminder it was ever there.
Huh.
Something was telling me it would be better not to test the limits of my regenerative abilities. With my shapeshifting mostly gone, I couldn’t count on those still being as effective as they were.
I will retrain her to be able to contribute to your fights without being your battering ram, Nyx’s words from the night of the first explosion suddenly echoed in my mind.
I reformed my fingers and touched my arm. There definitely were bones and muscle there.
What the fuck was happening?
My stomach rumbled.
Uhhh…
What did Nyx say after we met Lelianna?
And before you ask, as someone who designed that body… It being made of slime matters less than you think it does. Basically, as you know, the way your body behaves is mostly based on your subconscious. Meaning, well… you need to stop thinking of yourself as a slimeling. Treat the composition as an asset rather than the defining trait. To make things simple: You decide what your body is. If you want your fur to be real, it will be as real as it gets, meaning if you think of yourself as a Kitsune, that's what you will be. The building blocks are there.
The real meaning of those words began to hit me.
The building blocks are there.
Treat the composition as an asset rather than the defining trait.
It will be as real as it gets.
Turns out, I did end up fulfilling Aki’s request for me to become a Kitsune in both mind and body.
I was a flesh-and-blood being again.
Ohh… Fuck.
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