//POV Lars, around the same time//

Sunday is peddling-day, and as such I go to the usual spot for said activity. I am kinda amazed I haven’t been asked to leave, but then again I’m not doing anything illegal. At least, it’s technically not illegal and thus technically legal. While fitting, I don’t think it’d be appropriate to use the ‘technically X, best kind of X’ meme…

The regular schedule seems to have worked, or maybe I’m just getting better known, either way each sunday seems to have more and more people. Today… maybe not an increase, with the gray weather and all, but I suspect a few of my wares will be sold out by the time I go home.

I’ve been working on finding new products, like a stone which makes a small hologram when supplied mana (can be custom made), as well as improved or just different versions of existing products like the mind stones. I’ve easily sold a couple hundred of them by now, but it seems like demand is trailing off.

Speaking of demand, while I am improving the supply I have, I’m slowly increasing prices since it rises faster than I make things. In general, anyway. Either way, now that I’m starting to have a ‘brand’ it’s easier to sell more expensive stuff. I do have ‘trial’ prices for new products until I get a feel for what people are willing to pay.

So far there’s only one product where I’ve had to lower the price. I’m pretty honest about it too, using the fact that prices will slowly increase to incite more purchases. No idea if it works on the whole, but it’s great for that little extra push to get a sale.

What’s Leda doing, anyway? Hunting, maybe? Or she could just be surveying her ‘royal domain’. It feels like she might be practicing aerobatics and playing in the air, she likes that. She really likes our races too, so maybe I’ll do another one after this. Among all the games her favorite is definitely air tag, or maybe it’s because I don’t really stand a chance.

Air tag being tag, but in the air. I mean, duh. We play with, uhh, expanded rules, though. With only two players the ‘prey’ flies at speeds where they can actually be tagged, but in return we use all sorts of magic to sabotage each other.

Where I have a good theoretical and growing intuitional understanding of flying and air flow, she has an innate gift for understanding it and I often find myself played with or tossed around by her air magic. I’m getting better, but damn, natural talent is a tough enemy. Well, it’s all in good fun, and eventually she lets me tag her so that we can switch.

I switch off my mental autopilot as someone actually approached me in interest. A gaggle of teenage girls, of which two are kemos. Kinda stupid name, being that it’s short for kemonomimi or ‘animal ears’. I mean, it’s the mimi(ears) that are the trademark of the look. Doesn’t sound as good, I suppose.

Kemo means possible repeat customer (or refund/undo, but there’s been pleasantly few of those), a guess which turns out to be correct, as the kemos are here to recruit their friends. The kemo community must be trading information, given that requests have gone from ‘is it possible to have animal ears?’ to ‘I want panther style ears, but matching my hair color’.

“So, do you have any new options?”

I rub the pine needles serving as a beard in my current ‘woodkin’ form. “Hmm, no new aspects, but I’ve gotten better at mixing colors-slash-patterns with various ear shapes, so you could have tiger-striped bunny ears, for example.”

“Eeeee! That means you can have shiba inu ears matching your hair!” One of the kemos exclaim to their soon to be indoctrinated friend. Well, I don’t actually think they’re a cult, but it does kinda sound like it. I know at least one news website have latched on to that.

I begin reverting to my human baseline form. “Golden-copper shiba inu ears, hm? I don’t actually have shiba inu ears specifically, but I think I can do that. They’re perky, somewhat thicker with dense but short fur and rounded tips.”

I turn human and change my hair to match the redhead’s and change my ears based on those of a husky, but slightly smaller and rounded. “Something like this, perhaps?”

“Awww.” “Ahahah!” “Umm…” “Pfft!”

“Did I mess up?” I say to the rather… mixed reception.

“I like it!” The redhead states, but I can’t help but wonder if that’s pity in her eyes. Either way, I revert to stop them from ‘litERalLY dYiNG’ of laughter.

“Anything else?” I ask, glancing up at the sky. Leda is pretty far up, even with my eyes she’s just a little dot in the distance.

Following the recent trend, the remaining non-kemo girls know pretty much exactly what they wanted, though for them I use the assistant puppet to show how it looks. When they’ve all decided one of the girls who already have kemo ears wants more.

She’s not the first, and we’ve created an informal ‘level’ system to describe someone’s ‘kemo-ness’. Honestly, I find the money some of these young people (gee old man, they’re just a few years younger than me) are spending this much money on mostly cosmetic shapeshifting, but I suppose it’s more environmentally sustainable than buying tons of cosmetics-cosmetics and clothes.

Level

Description

0

Human

0.5

Slightly animal-like ears (pointed tips, ‘fuzzy’ fur)

1 ‘kemo’

Proper kemo (animal) ears (changing existing ears, not extras)

1.5

Above plus some animal traits for face (eyes, some fur, shape, etc.)

2

Above plus furred(or scaly), animal-like face

2.5 ‘half-kemo’

Above plus furred forearms and possibly shins

3

Above plus most of body with at least thin fur

4 ‘full kemo’

Above, but physiological changes to body shape, like digitigrade feet (think minotaur/faun/werewolf)

X ‘monstrous’

Major full-body changes and then some (think lamia/naga, drider, or centaur)

Very few get level 0.5, and so far the highest anyone has gone is half-kemo. Still, that’s a major cosmetic change with a minor function. There’s quite a few who, like this girl, has gone from 0 to 1 to 1.5, though.

Well, informal is the keyword with the ‘level system’, which is mostly a result of chatting with some very eager kemos after I demolished that shapeshifting competition. I didn’t actually enter, since I thought that’d be unfair. Others agreed with that and instead press ganged me to become a judge and give ‘expert’ advice.

Someone got a pink bow from somewhere and made up a ‘princess price’ to give me. It was probably an attempt to embarrass me, but I think it the result was pretty nice. Not that it suited me, especially not stuck on the middle joint of the lower right wing. People had a grand time watching me try to remove it without magic, though.

Oh well.

Huh, it seems like Leda is doing a dead dive. I thought she didn’t like that. Ahh, she levelled out a bit. Whatever, focus on the customers. I go over the changes each of them want, then go over the prices. The kemo prices are based on the baseline shapeshifting prices, with a discount for ‘upgrades’ to encourage repeat customers and making it easier to ‘get started’.

The idea is that if they want to get change ‘AB’, they can either buy A and then B, or both at the same time. Now, unless they are completely distinct changes (like getting ears and, I dunno, scaled feet) buying AB as one change is cheaper than A and then B. Therefore I am making the choice easier (cheaper/less risky) by making B cheaper if you already have A.

This applies no matter where they got change A from, partially because I can’t bother tracking everyone, and partially to attract more customers. Will it draw more customers? Will it earn me more money? I dunno, I’m not a business person, but it seems like a decent thing to do which should at the very least not harm my business.

The changes are minor enough, so I can do them right here. As usual I make them stand inside a simple ‘box’ of mana barriers that I set up next to me. It should stop outsiders from sensing the magic I use so that they can’t copy it. It probably doesn’t make a difference with shapeshifting, but it’s a good habit for certain other things.

The transaction is completed smoothly, making me glad for easy electronic payments. After that, the rest of the session goes without incident, with the occasional customer slowly depleting my stocks. Eventually I decide to pack up, and as usual there are a couple people who decides that that’s the perfect time to buy something. I get their money, and then I head home.

Nothing of particular note happens the next few days, until my loyal slave/cultivation test subject, Jasper, calls from his practice. Apparently his aikido instructor has taken interest what we've done, in particular Jasper’s new abilities and subsequent improvements.

The phone is handed to said sensei, or perhaps put on speakers, given the sounds in background, and we introduce ourselves. Getting down to business he's interested in the magical forest and the Water Temple. Specifically, in using them to push his cultivation one final bit and then advance.

“Okay, that sounds interesting. I can take you to both, in that order, for those purposes, on two conditions. One, I get to observe.” Dramatic pause and a grin they can't see. “Two: Fight Me.”

“Nani? Uhh, what you mean?”

“I want to gauge my power, as well as the differences as you advance. Given your status as ‘sensei’ I assume you are pretty decent and, more importantly, can trash me without hurting me. Uhh, too much.”

“So you want sparring to test strength and see how strong cultivator is?”

“Yep, something like that.”

“Is good deal, I also want see how strong is wolfman. I say yes.”

From the background I hear a muffled “Seriously?” and some illegible discussion. They do however have a prefect arbitrator, and after Jasper takes back his phone he explains that the others also “want to join”.

“More beatings? I can handle that. Maybe dish out some, too, if they’re not good enough.” I say jokingly. “Seriously though, I’m not bringing anyone else to the Water Temple. You remember our deal? As for bringing more people to the magical forest… How many are interested?”

I hear a lot of interest in the background. “You mean just cultivators or magicians too?”

Hmm… “Both, in separate counts, please?”

This time the interest is a bit more orderly. “Aside from sensei and me, four cultivators and six magicians.”

“Err, is that your entire class?”

“Hahah. Yeah.”

“Ooookaaaay… That’s me plus twelve others… I think I could do that, but if there isn’t any special interest in going there at the same time it would likely be better to do two groups. And of course, each will pay they own price.”

“What’s the price?”

“Same as before, with added taxi fare. Fight me, let me observe what you do, and a token payment of two hundred kroner or knowledge to match.”

More discussion is had, and it is decided that we do two groups, and that everyone (including Jasper and the instructor, what generous people) just bring the money and I’ll decide over there how much any knowledge they can offer is worth.

I have to repeat the full explanation after their cheers die out, at which point I have just earned myself more slaves/test subjects. And I get to test my fighting strength against several different opponents. Two rounds for each, first without and then with magic/mystic techniques.

I might have more rounds with the instructor or others who are willing, but either way some rules are needed. So homework for everyone is to think of rules that might be needed/useful, and we’ll come to an agreement then. I already have some ideas for live-combat games, including some core rules, which should be safe(-ish, see also: american concussions/football) with precautions.

The day after is the weekly e-meeting with the space agency (I don’t think that’s the proper term, but whatever). Their magicians have started to catch up on the necessary abilities to the point where they can make proper artifice without needing me to perform all but the simplest enchantments, and next week we’ll do some vacuum tests.

Before the week is up I need to do some more sales, so I pick thursday because the sun is out of its hidey hole. Well, in the cooling october air it isn’t like people go outside to sunbathe, but it doesn’t change the fact that most people prefer sunny weather over rainy weather for gong outside.

Things go as usual. Sell some stuff, someone wants some form of shapeshifting, two more kemos want an upgrade, one all the way to L2.5. A brave pioneer! Well, unless you count shapeshifters. A bit less risky for us since we can change to ‘normal’ on demand.

I barely note that Leda is out flying until her joy turns into shock and then fear, after which she plummets towards the ground. Towards me. At that point I split my attention between her and the potential customers, until it becomes very clear that she’s coming for me, and she has not thought of the landing.

I politely ask them to wait a moment, turning to look at Leda. I am not the first one, but after I turn almost most people nearby do as well. Shit, she’s gonna crash if she doesn’t slow down. I make a pushing motion with my hands, knowing that she can see it, but with no result.

Fuck.

Mind bond! I form the beginning of the magic, making a painfully obvious display to anyone watching (I’m not sure if I prefer people’s attention on me or Leda right now) and point to my head. It takes a moment, during which she slows down slightly in uncertainty, then she senses what I’m doing and connects.

｢{Terrified, shocked, confused}Slowdownslowdownslowsdownoryou will die! You’re going too fast! Slow down, slow down or you won’t stop in time!｣

She takes a moment to register what I mean, then spread her wings wide. Less than an eyeblink later, her frankly ridiculous mana fans out and covers the entire area. Oh, she seems to remember my teachings to spread force magic around as to not break anything.

Force magic? Wait, she’ll- BRACE! Time seems to slow down, or perhaps my mind is just speeding up, as the force of slowing down her multi-ton slams into a thankfully large area.

With my body not only being magically stronger, but also protected by a reflexively thrown up mana barrier and held steady by a ‘net’ of force magic I still feel heavy under the force, and I extend my protection as best as I can to others as my eyes slowly sweep over the crowd.

My mana reaches the people I was just talking to, still looking up at Leda but now off balance, falling comically slowly. I cover each of them in a simple bubble, then dump mana into it to protect against Leda’s magic. There’s the sound of wood breaking as my mana reaches the next person.

Then the roar stops and time resumes.