“Why are you helping me anyway?” I asked Saoirse once my excitement had died down a little. “Am I going to be trapped in some kind of fae bargain where I have to do everything you say for a hundred years or something?”

“What?” she asked, staring at me incredulously. “No, I’m a fox spirit not a sprite or whatever… Look, I’m helping you because, well, for one, you’re pretty awesome. Fighting for the good of others is kind of rare among spirits. Second thing is that… well I’m kinda on my own right now and I was really hoping to um, to make a friend.”

“Oh,” I said, sitting down in front of her a little sheepishly. “Sorry, I’ve just heard a lot of stories about, you know…”

“Hunter propaganda,” she grumbled, ears briefly laying back on her head in annoyance.

Funny thing about her ears actually. While mine came out the sides of my head, drooping down a little, hers came out more towards the top like a stereotypical anime fox girl.

“Look,” she continued, sitting down with me, her tail curling delicately around into her lap. “I’m not going to lie and say that spirits are all fun and good and stuff, but at least us fox spirits, we’re fine. Oh, wait no, don’t trust the japanese ones, some of them are like crazy succubi. They’ll eat your liver or something, so watch out for them. One tail means friend, more than that and you better be on your guard, trust me.”

“Okay… I only see one tail on you, so I guess you are a friend,” I said, a little jokingly.

To my surprise, her mouth fell open slightly and she leaned forward with earnest hope in her eyes. “Really? We can be friends?”

“Uh, yeah, we can be friends,” I nodded awkwardly, a little confused now.

Next thing I knew, she was picking me up and pulling me into her lap. I gave a squeal of indignation and tried to wriggle out of her clutches, but in my current form I was helpless as she— oh… scratched behind my ears. That was nice. That was really really nice. More. MORE. I DEMAND MORE SCRITCHES.

She stopped far too soon, but I didn’t pester her for more, because I was a paragon of self control.

Still holding me, she said, “Thank you! It’s so nice, I’ve got a place to stay with some other spirits but I’ve still felt really lonely.”

“How is that working?” I asked, feeling a little bad for doubting her now. If every single one of my kind was fired scattershot at a foreign world, I’d be anxious as hell.

“It’s okay, we had a wisp who managed to uh… convince the owner of a large apartment block near here to gift it to her in exchange for some minor magical abilities,” she told me with a little laugh. “She’s taking in any spirit who needs a place to stay. Unfortunately, we’re all different spirits, different factions… it’s a bit of a mess.”

“I wish I could get you into my house,” I sighed, knowing that my parents would say no for sure.

“No, no, it’s fine,” she smiled, shaking her head. “I’m more worried about teaching you glamours. As a spirit and a mage, it’s pretty important for surviving the hunters.”

“Wait… oooh,” I gasped as a thought exploded into my conscious mind. I’d be able to use the glamour to hide my identity while I was doing Gauntlette things! “Yes yes yes, teach me your ways, wise fox girl.”

“I am very wise,” she preened with a giggle. “Okay, first you need to get out of my lap and turn back into a person.

“Why?” I asked, ears drooping in disappointment.

“Because it will be easier using a form that you are more familiar with,” she told me gently, giving me soothing pats up my forehead. “Plus, you can’t tell me that you dislike your humanoid form. You seem to be very happy with it.”

“I… no, what? Okay, um, fine I’ll turn back,” I spluttered, hopping back onto the dirt with a dismissive swish of my tail in her direction. “I don’t… well, I mean… I’m only changing back because you say it will be easier.”

“Whatever works,” she giggled. “Let me know when you’re ready.”

“One question…” I mumbled, giving her a sheepish look. “How do I change back?”

That had her laughing proper, eyes fully closed with her mirth. “Oh my goodness. Okay, just remember your old body, think about it, remember what it feels like to inhabit and then sort of… shout that feeling, but in your mind.”

Closing my eyes, I tried to follow along with her instructions, envisioning my normal body, with it’s growing, aching hips and slim shoulders. I remembered what it felt like to swish my much larger tail around, my ears swivelling automatically to track nearby sources of sound.

It was odd, envisioning it and finding a strange sense of comfort there. Did I actually, legitimately enjoy being in that body? Very strange.

Regardless of whatever that internal self reflection dredged up, I pulled all of those sensations and feelings into one central idea that was my old body and I hammered that thought home with as much force as I could muster.

The change was instant, one moment I was a little fox, the next I was a little fox girl. My clothes came back too, complete with my phone, which had been in my pocket when I changed.

“Alright, I think I’m ready,” I told the girl opposite me while I stretched my limbs out experimentally. Everything seemed normal.

“So… well, glamours are pretty much the same thing really, except you change something about that mental image,” she explained, closing her eyes and demonstrating what she meant. The fur on her ears and tail rippled, changing into a soft, woodland green colour. Her hair followed suit, and her face shifted just slightly, becoming a little more angular.

“Spirits like you and I are not powerful enough to do much more than what I just did, changing little features or the colour of our hair, that kind of thing,” she went on to tell me, pointing to her fur and face. “Glamours are also different from illusions in that they are real and physical for as long as it is all physically attached to you. It will get you out of a lot of sticky situations where a hunter might be looking out for illusions.”

“Okay,” I nodded thoughtfully. “Alright, I think I have an idea.”

I decided to make myself more angry-pretty than cute-pretty like I was now. Well, I was a little like that already, but I wanted to go full ice queen for my vigilante persona. Intimidate them a little.

Other than my face though, my biggest problem was my fur colour. I’d done some research, looking on reddit and twitter, and apparently my colouration was pretty rare, with most foxkin sporting fairly natural colours. Purple, as one might expect, was not a natural colour and very rare. So to fix that little problem, I decided to go with black fur that had a slight bronze tint to it. I couldn’t resist adding a little sparkle.

Image in mind, I prepared the full mental package and then forced it out and into reality. The effect was once again instant, no spinny magical girl transformation like you’d expect in fiction.

Pushing aside my disappointment over the lack of a flashy dance number, I opened my eyes and raised an eyebrow at my new friend. “Did it work?”

“Definitely,” she grinned, looking me over eagerly. “The face is quite intimidating! From what I understand of lesbian culture on earth, you might find yourself dealing with a fan club.”

“W-what?” I asked incredulously.

“You know, because lesbians are all about those hot scary villains who will step on them or whatever,” she explained, giving me a funny look. “Don’t tell me you… oh nevermind.”

We sat there in awkward silence as the weirdness of the situation marinated between us. Was that really something that lesbians liked? Hot evil women? Gosh, I had a lot to learn about my new sexuality.

A thought occurred to me in that silence, so I tentatively asked, “Are you a lesbian?”

She gave me a sort of wan smile in reply. “No, I’m not. I’m sort of… I don’t know. There’s been a lot of overlap between earth and spirit culture over the years, what with lost objects finding their way into our realm but… ah. It’s hard to explain. We do things differently, let’s just say that.”

“Right,” I nodded, completely and utterly confused.

“I’ll explain it one day,” she laughed shyly.

“Oh, speaking of one day, do you have a phone? I can give you my number or social or something so we can talk,” I said excitedly, pulling my phone out and— oh. That was a lot of missed calls from Mum. Well, that could wait for later.

“Yeah, I do have a phone actually, had one back in the spirit realm,” she said happily, pulling out what appeared to be a samsung phone of some kind but with an organic wooden case that had butterflies carved into it. I was kinda jealous of that case actually. Dang. Spirit culture was so strange, a mishmash of current and old stuff, from their buildings to their phones to their politics.

We exchanged numbers, and I helped her sign up for discord and twitter, the two platforms I spent the most time on. A lot had changed about the world, but at the same time… a lot hadn’t. I mean, I’d just met a long lost cousin from my fae ancestral past, sure, but now we were exchanging phone numbers and socials. World had gone crazy.

Unfortunately, I had to get back home and Saoirse had to pretend to be her own mother so she could enroll with a school. It was funny really, because she was young and hadn’t thought to lie about her age when she got her fake ID and stuff. I not so subtly hinted that she should try and get into my school. More friends would never hurt.

Once we’d parted ways, I headed for home and what was sure to be a conversation where Mum apologised for everything that had happened. Then, she’d go on to forget all about it and nothing would change. Yay.

QuietValerie

Gosh, I'm so glad I can make a living doing this. Going to have to use most of my paycheck to buy new stuff for my apartment though Q.Q. My current roommates are moving out and most of the shit around the place was theirs. Won't even have plates!