9-Tailed Dragon TF

Dmitri drew his coat tight around his body as he prepared to head back to his dorm. He didn't regret volunteering to inventory the Krai School of Magic's artifacts library. The collection was incredible, whether he looked at it from a historical perspective or a magical one. Just tonight he had recatalogued a Mongolian firewall scroll belonging to a member of Genghis Khan's court, restored a box of warding salts from Byzantium, and now he had just finished polishing a pair of silver and red vases wherein were sealed two monster bandit-lords. Pirates of the Silk Road, he liked to think of them as.

No, his only regret was volunteering for the job amid the stormiest winter in years. He had heard the wind whistling outside all evening, and was not looking forward to heading back out. But he had filled his timecard for the week, and Policy was the most dangerous force to anger in academia.

As his luck would have it, Dmitri opened the door at the precise right moment to catch a direct gust of winter wind, bowling him back into the library's workroom where he hit the edge of the table. In what felt like slow motion, he saw the shock and the wind topple the vessels he had just finished working on, plummeting them down to shatter on the floor below.

Crash.

A puff of silver smoke rose out of the red vase, then almost hopped through the air to perch upon a bookcase. It partially solidified into the form of a nine-tailed fox. She yawned.

"Well, it was about time somebody released me. That seal was dreadfully boring."

At the same time, a stream of red smoke snaked out of the silver jar, becoming a lounging dragon- notably, one of more western stock than was typical the region. He growled at his companion:

"Reiko! I knew I sensed something revolting for the past few centuries. They had the gall to store us in the same room?!"

"Gregor," the kitsune coolly responded as she stretched her claws. "Besting you would be a wonderful way to celebrate my freedom. Especially-" she glanced at the stunned human- "with an audience to admire my performance."

Dmitri got to his feet to plead to the two spirits, concerned for the archives if they settled their feud here.

"This room is full of priceless treasures! Can't you take this fight to- uh... the gymnasium?"

But he was too late to dissuade them. They each let out a roar as they charged their most powerful magical attacks, releasing the arcane energy to rip into each other...

Nothing happened.

Gregor coughed up a spark. "What trick have you played, Reiko?!"

"Human..." she asked Dmitri, ignoring Gregor's accusation. "What has become of the Cult of Reiko?"

"The.. who?" he answered, blankly.

"Ha! Your following has died!" Gregor taunted.

Reiko nodded solemnly, then smirked. "I daresay we've both lost our powerbases during our imprisonment. And with no physical forms to generate mana anymore... Well, the first of us to restart our cults shall enjoy a decisive advantage."

"Human!" she barked at a hyperventilating Dimitri. "How would you like to be a High Priest?"

Gregor butted in: "Why would the human align with you when he could have the favor of a dragon?!" He looked at Dimitri expectantly.

Panicked at the choices suddenly offered to him, the student blurted out, "I can't start any cults in the library! Policy-"

"You're no fun." Reiko scoffed. "But perhaps you aren't a total waste. You can be my Avatar instead!"

She evaporated into silver smoke, and raced at Dmitri, vanishing into his chest.

"Not if he's my Avatar!" Gregor lept from the table and coiled around him, before also phasing inside.

Dmitri grabbed onto the table for support, struggling to try and adapt an exorcism ritual into a self-exorcism. He met with no success, but apparently caught the attention of one of his possessors.

Ah, he's competent with magic, Reiko's voice echoed through his head. Good, I can do this...

He felt his magical power concentrate in his head, guided by the fox spirit in ways new to him. His nose pressed out into a short muzzle, as she began shaping his body to her ideals. His ears grew upwards and became pointed. His hair shortened into silver fur, then began to spread across his skin with a prickling sensation.

Reiko suddenly yanked the magical locus down his spine, the fur growth following, until it reached his tailbone, where pressure began to build. At the kitsune's prompting, he loosened the back of his pants to make room for his growing fox tail, which rapidly split several times as it streamed out, leaving him with a set of nine. Beautiful... she said- you should be proud to bear such a fan.

Before Dmitri could come to his own opinion, another voice objected. Your beauty can't compare to the raw power I offer! Gregor bellowed, then seized control and exploded the magical energy throughout Dmitri's body.

Dmitri felt his body swell with muscle, his clothes tightening against his body. Where he could see his skin stretch, he saw silver scales come in, replacing the fur Reiko tried to clothe him in. Speaking of his clothing, piece by piece, their seams gave way, and his garments fell away like leaves. With what control he had, he tried to ensure he didn't bump into anything fragile- a task made more difficult by his tails, which were now lengthening and becoming scaly, draconic tails.

Now stop interfering, Reiko, and allow him the honor of becoming my body! Gregor demanded. Reiko quickly drew the human's feet into paws, before focusing the magic in a private region and declaring: Apparently I still need to establish that she will be my body!

Dmitri took a sharp breath. They could feel Gregor and Reiko clash fiercely over this next change. In truth, Dmitri was not too fearful of the outcome. They hadn't come out yet, but in recent months they actually had realized they identified as a form of genderfluid. "She" was not a pronoun they really wanted to go by, but then "He" wasn't really any better. Perhaps "Ei" ?

So while Reiko and Gregor were occupied by their fight, the student had a moment to calm down- and wow, had ei been worrying over nothing! Logically, the spirits only had Dmitri's magic at their disposal. They couldn't control em with eir own magic! And now that they had both been working off of Dmitri's mana, their own spiritual forms were now open to eir manipulation.

Dmitri had been thrown off-balance long enough; it was time to return the favor. Stealthily weaving eir own copy of the spell Gregor was blocking, Dmitri allowed Reiko's alterations to eir sex to go through. You're siding with her?! the dragon protested.

"Nope." Dmitri said, as ei drew on Gregor to transform eir finger nails into sharp talons, curling eir hands into dragon claws. Ei felt Reiko try to bend eir body back towards her kitsune form, but was now able to freeze her in her tracks.

"Here's the deal," ei announced. "Gregor, we'll use your species for now, while taking Reiko's head shape, coloration, sex, and tail count. Perhaps we can change the mix now and then, but I will be maintaining control to keep these archives safe from you two."

So we are to be imprisoned in a librarian instead of a library. Reiko grumbled, before making a faintly hopeful realization. Why not just return yourself to humanity while you're at it?

"I take my job seriously," Dmitri chuckled, "but your mischievousness and Gregor's sense of adventure are leaking into me. By the time I graduate... well, it's been over a century since the world has last seen a proper bandit-god. You two wanted to start a cult? Better start planning our capers now."

Gregor and Reiko digested the proposition, then began coming to terms with their new alliance. Nothing ever united rogues so well as the promise of riches, notoriety, and power.

Meanwhile, per policy, Dmitri cleaned up eir shredded clothing and the pottery fragments, then, more carefully this time, stepped out into the storm. Ei was kept warmer than any coat by the dragonfire in eir belly, and the thrill of an interesting future.