“Mind if I drop in for a little while?”
The orange hoopoe and the horned, blue-furred corgi were in no state to respond to Onaka’s question. That was how he planned it, of course. 
They were already cross-eyed and staring at the beautiful emerald where the tanuki’s navel ought to have been. His big paws were rubbing and dimpling the soft doughy flesh on his voluminous stomach.

The hoopoe chirped softly, and the canine whimpered a little. Drool was already sliding from Duski’s lip, and Regdeh’s beak was tilted almost entirely towards the ground. Their eyes were wide and pulsating in time to the chiming glow of Onaka’s gem – rings of purple in a sea of green. Every time it pulsed, another ring slid through their eyes.

They had been completely helpless to the sheer force of the tanuki’s will. Even if they had been expecting him to surprise them in the middle of an afternoon lunch, they wouldn’t have been able to resist him.
Their entire world and consciousness had contracted down to one small point. Not a thought in their heads.

The tanuki spirit grinned a toothy, possessive grin. They were ready.

He traced a spiral out from the centre of his stomach, smearing a long stream of deep violet paint on his fuzzy stomach. The two woozy boys followed the finger as it moved, swaying around and around with it. Their eyes drooped and fluttered, their faces scrunching in as they tried to follow, as though they were trying to solve a puzzle and the answer was in the shimmering paint.

Onaka glanced down at the table, seeing the clean plates from the meal they’d just finished. The rest of the world around them was paused, as though frozen in a sheen of green ice. They were at his mercy. And lucky for them, he was a very merciful being. He had just the thing in mind for them.

“Both of you boys look as though you’re still a little hungry,” Onaka said. “Will you let me fill you up?”
Regdeh & Duski nodded silently, their mouths already open wide. He held his finger out above them, that magical dye still dripping from it like viscous honey. Their eyes were glued to it, and they salivated, gawping and gaping at it like baby birds.

“Who gets it first?” Onaka let out a rumbling chuckle as he swayed his finger back and forth. When the finger was positioned directly over them, they tried to leap up from their seat. Duski whined and Regdeh clacked his long thin beak frantically. 

It was adorably pathetic. He could see how badly the two of them wanted it, and a new opportunity for fun presented itself.

“Mmmh, why don’t I let you two decide? Who wants it?”

“Duskiiii? You have it…” Regdeh murmured.

“N-noooo, heck, you have it…” Duski slurred with a giggle.

“No no, it’s fiiiine, I think you should have it!” Regdeh was currently angling towards the finger – it was just an inch away from the tip of his beak! His actions spoke louder than his words. But they were just so polite to each other! They kept arguing back and forth, as best as they could, eager to let the other one have the first taste of his gift. It was cute, but it was going nowhere fast. Once he’d had a fill of their zonked out, good natured argument, the tanuki took the initiative once again.

“How about this! A little compromise for you both.” Onaka brought his finger between the pair, and slowly brought it down between them.
“Come in close, now, share it between you!”

The two of them sat up from their chairs and leaned in to meet just over the table. Duski dove in and started licking along the upper knuckle of the finger, devouring the ichor like it was ice cream. Regdeh, on the other hand, leaned underneath and opened his mouth wide so he could catch the dribbling paint from the tip of the finger. They moaned with delight, luxuriating in the texture and the flavour as it poured down their throats.

The change was already evident. The violet sheen was already covering the insides of their mouths, and was encroaching outward from there. Their tongues, teeth and beak were taking on the glossy, smooth texture of a violet statue. In fact, that was exactly what was happening to them. The more they drank and licked, the faster it progressed. Onaka lifted his finger, and introduced another one to drizzle long streams of the corruptive goo into both of his boytoys’ mouths. Their heads were soon fully transformed, frozen in open mouthed bliss.

“Want some more?” Onaka asked as he increased the pace, pouring his essence into them like a tap. Their stomachs and torsos changed next, their bodies turning gorgeously translucent. As it spread down their arms and legs, Duski’s tail ceased to wag and Regdeh’s plumage ceased to flutter.

When the last vestiges of flesh and blood on their fingers and toes were turned into beautiful gemstone, a soft chime rang out. Their statuesque bodies glowed purple a moment longer, as though white-hot. As the magic faded and they ‘cooled’, the dog and the bird were set in place as beautiful emerald statues. Both of them had their hands on the table, and they were almost chin to chin, their necks craned up towards the sky with their mouths wide open.

“Mmmh.” The tanuki rumbled with delight. “You two boys might make a very nice fountain out in front of my shrine. Yes… a fountain seems about right for you both. You’ll get to be the first thing my visitors see when they come to leave a tribute for me. Isn’t that nice?”
They didn’t respond. They just smiled and stared up into the sky. Their consciousnesses were little more than a faint whisper. They were barely even individuals any more; two parts of the same whole.

He pinched the air above their heads, and lifted up. As though tugged by an invisible thread, the hoopoe and the antlered corgi were lifted up from the table, slowly extracted from the diner as if they had never been there to begin with. As far as the rest of the patrons were concerned, that was the case. Onaka had seen to that.

He wouldn’t want anyone to attempt to take away his newest piece of furniture, after all.

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An incredible story featurning myself and  Regdeh's awesome sonas, crafted by the incredible  lmann!

Please check out his work!