Summoning Ocellus

“So why does he keep calling you ‘kobolds’?” Ocellus asked Tixi quietly, as they followed the wizard down a long flight of stairs. Apparently, most of his tower was underground.

“It’s the accepted common term,” the wizard replied, because of course he understood draconic.

“It is,” Tixi admitted, a bit of shame coming through the link. “It means ‘cursed ore’, though. The first encounter with surfacers was when we both tried to mine the same vein of ore from different ends, and they ran into our traps before they knew anyone else was there. We prefer to emphasize our origin as the children of dragons.”

“The version of common where it had a meaning other than one of Tixi’s kind hasn’t been spoken in a thousand years,” the wizard replied. “No one but a scholar of dead languages would even remember it.” He paused. “Or a kobold, I suppose.”

Tixi sighed, but this was apparently a battle she’d long since given up fighting, and Ocellus was willing to back down for her sake.

At any rate, they’d arrived at their destination, a small room with a pair of comfortable couches on either side of a coffee table, a few magical implements and books, and a large slate on the wall. “Please make yourself comfortable,” the wizard said, sitting down in the middle of one of the couches with a heavy ‘flumph’. “Tea? Coffee?” he asked, as a plate of cookies levitated from a cabinet to take its place on the table, alongside a trio of teacups with saucers.

Tixi scrambled over the back of the couch and bounced onto the cushion. “It’s so soft!” she said.

“Do you have hot cocoa?” Ocellus asked, walking around the couch and sitting down next to Tixi. It was, in fact, remarkably soft, and showed no sign of damage from Tixi’s claws.

“I’m afraid I’m not familiar with that flavor,” the wizard said. “I’ve heard of it, but it’s a rather exotic drink in this part of the world and I’ve never partaken.”

“Tea then, please,” Ocellus said. “Four sugars, no milk.” Tixi was still bouncing up and down and looking around the room in wonder, so Ocellus poked at her with a hoof. “Tixi?”

“Oh! Um…”

“Tea with sugar is probably best for her,” Ocellus said, since all she was getting through the link was confusion and embarrassment.

The tea was strangely scented – thick and spicy – but was still a sweet treat with enough sugar. After sipping his own cup of coffee, the wizard sat back and smiled at the two of them. “I’m sure you’re wondering why I’ve brought you here today.”

“Are you going to take me as an apprentice?” Tixi asked, leaning forwards excitedly and almost spilling her tea.

The wizard frowned, and Ocellus felt Tixi’s excitement slowly fade into disappointment… but then he narrowed his eyes, and nodded. “Perhaps that’s a good way to think about it,” he said. “There are several reasons that I would like you to stay here in the tower with me, and although giving you extra training wasn’t one of them – you’ve showed great promise on your own, and I’m sure your tribe would prefer to keep you to themselves –”

“Yes!” Tixi said, nodding rapidly. Then tilted her head a bit as she parsed what she’d actually replied to. “I mean no the tribe will just replace me with another hatchling the next time mating season comes around. But yes I will stay here!”

“You would have other duties besides magical training,” the Wizard tried to explain.

“Of course!” Tixi said.

“Maybe we should listen to what they are?” Ocellus suggested. “You’re going to need to know that. Besides, he’s probably prepared a speech.”

The wizard laughed. “I’m more than happy to trade my prepared sales pitch for an eager volunteer!” he said. “But yes, your primary duties would be twofold. First, I’m going to need someone who’s familiar with caring for kobold hatchlings.”

“I can go get someone for you!” Tixi said eagerly.

“I’m afraid I rather meant that I’d like you to take on that task, with the eggs you brought me,” the wizard clarified.

“I… I can try?” Tixi said, a bit less eagerly.

“Is it hard?” Ocellus asked.

“No, but it’s important,” Tixi said, curling her tail up into her lap and grabbing hold of it with her hands. “And it’s hard to spend much time studying when you have the hatchlings to care for.”

“Maybe I could cover for you?” Ocellus suggested. “I’ve been a foalsitter before.”

“Oh of course! Thank you so much!”

The wizard nodded, eyeing Ocellus oddly. “The second reason I’d like you here is for more in-depth study, both of your own magical talents as compared to your bloodline, and seeing how the difference between you and your hatchlings changes their suitability. One of my apprentices also has some theories about altering bloodlines that he’d like to test on an intelligent subject, since the results on rats and dogs were inconclusive. It’s not likely to be a very time-intensive task, but it might involve some amount of pain.”

“I trust you,” Tixi said, clearly making a conscious effort to quell her terror. “If you need to hurt me, I’m sure it’s for something important. I won’t die though, will I?”

“Not unless things go horribly wrong,” the wizard reassured her. “There is always risk with magical experimentation, but none of the previous subjects were permanently harmed.”

Tixi was slightly reassured by that. Ocellus was absolutely certain that this was a terrible idea, but even in the depths of her terror Tixi had shown no sign that she was even considering refusing. She wouldn’t appreciate her familiar interfering.

Unfortunately, the link went both ways. “You think I should refuse,” Tixi said, turning to her.

“Experimenting on living creatures is something only the most… pragmatic creatures from my world ever considered,” Ocellus said. “My mother was among them. She loved to alter her hatchlings to ‘improve’ them in various ways. Some were destroyed by it, some were driven mad. Some became the hive’s fiercest warriors, which is presumably why she kept doing it.” She met the wizard’s gaze. “One of them eventually overthrew her and became our new king.”

“I’m guessing you weren’t one of those fiercest warriors,” Tixi said, giggling.

Ocellus sighed.

“I assure you, we’ll take every precaution,” the wizard said. It was as empty a promise as he could have possibly made, but Tixi ate it right up.

“Then I won’t let you down!” she said, eagerly.

“Good,” the wizard said. “With that settled, I should get back to my –”

“Wait,” Ocellus said. Tixi glared at her, but she continued quickly. “I was wondering if you knew how to contact other planes of existence? I want to get word to my friends so that they don’t worry.”

“Word to your… friends?” the wizard asked. “Surely denizens of any outer plane would be familiar with the summoning process.”

“As far as I know I’m the first,” Ocellus said.

“I’ve been trying to summon her friend, but the second level of summoning spells still isn’t powerful enough,” Tixi explained. “It’s hard to believe that someone with as many tricks as Ocellus was accessible with the very simplest version.”

The wizard suddenly looked interested. “The improved version of the familiar ritual has a wide range of creatures it can bind… but are you saying a shape-changing creature was targetable with ‘Summon Monster One’?”

Tixi nodded.

The wizard looked confused. “It’s only supposed to be able to handle badgers and such.”

Ocellus changed into a badger.

“She wasn’t able to do anything but be a badger at first,” Tixi said, stroking Ocellus as she thought back to how they’d met. “But I was using your modified version that let you build a relationship with an individual summon. The more I summoned her, the more powers she unlocked.”

“I had a ‘dreamling’ teach me how to remain lucid during the summoning,” Ocellus explained, using the equestrian word instead of trying to translate it. “That opened up some additional options.”

“Also, she’s terrible at fighting,” Tixi added.

“YES,” Ocellus said, exasperated. “Rezzo tells me that every day. We’re getting side-tracked, though. Can you send a message for me?”

“I’m afraid I’d have to know which plane you come from, in order to even attempt to contact it,” the wizard said.

“Equestria?” Ocellus suggested. But she knew it was futile -- that was the name of a country, and not even the planet, let alone the entire plane of existence.

“Specifically, I’d need a sample of material from your plane, or a tuning fork exposed to the bedrock of your world,” the wizard explained. “Summoning spells bring over only non-physical samples, and I’m afraid the familiar ritual, while more lasting, has the same metaphysical issue.”

“Don’t worry!” Tixi said, patting Ocellus on the head. “With the wizard teaching me, I’ll be able to cast the third version of the summoning spell in no time. I’m sure that’ll be enough to fetch Smoulder!”

“Or the wizard could—” Ocellus started, but the wizard interrupted.

“Yes, yes, Tixi will be able to help you with your problem in no time, I’m sure,” he said, standing and heading for the door. “Come, let me show you to your room!”

===

“It’s cozy,” Tixi said, looking around the tiny closet underneath the lowest level of the central spiral staircase. It didn’t have a door, as such, or even a wall for that matter, but the piles of boxes of old records and rarely-used supplies were packed tightly enough to give it some amount of privacy, since humans would have to squeeze uncomfortably to get within sight. It did have an old mattress that covered the entirety of the floor space and then some, the mattress curled up at one end where there wasn’t quite room between the boxes and the outer stone wall.

“There’s no room to practice your magic, or… anything, really,” Ocellus noted.

“We passed a bunch of practice rooms upstairs,” Tixi said. “That’s where the books are anyway. I’ll need to borrow another one since mine is still back home. Oh! Maybe I’ll be able to write my own, like a real wizard? The tower has to have stocks of magic ink.”

Tixi leapt onto the bed, twisting in midair to land on her back, laughing as she bounced. “It’s so soft! Come on, try it!”

Ocellus gingerly crawled onto the mattress with her… and it was actually pretty soft. It was old and the casing was faded, but the mattress itself was still in good condition. It didn’t have anything on a cloud bed, but it was worlds better than the bunk beds at the Friendship School.

Tixi grabbed hold of her and hugged her tight. “Don’t worry so much,” she said, stroking Ocellus’ frills. “There’s so much here, even the castoffs are more than enough for me. I *will* assert my place as an apprentice, though, don’t get me wrong. The wizard said I could think of myself that way and I’m going to think it so hard that no one else can dare deny it!”

Ocellus chuckled.

“We should get started. Go see what they’re doing with the eggs, and I’ll go tell Rezzo and Ijj they can head home. Maybe they can bring me my stuff.”

“They’ll need a third,” Ocellus said. “For the disguise.”

Tixi sighed. “I really wish they could stay, but there really isn’t much for them here. Dragon-casting can’t be studied, and Rezzo is about as magical as a sewer rat.”

With that Tixi sprang to her feet, and Ocellus followed her back through the maze of boxes – not much of a squeeze for a little dragon, or a badger – and up the stairs.

===

They weren’t doing anything with the eggs. There was a playroom, full of simple toys and puzzles and games, and the three eggs were simply set out on a rug in the middle of the room. They didn’t look any different than the last time Ocellus had seen them, although there was light here, which made their iridescent sheen very pretty.

“Beautiful, aren’t they?” came a voice from behind her.

Ocellus turned to regard the human standing in the doorway, leaning nonchalantly against the frame. He was male, and wearing the same style of robes as the one who’d taken the eggs inside when they’d met the wizard in the garden. “Everything about the little dragons is beautiful,” Ocellus responded. She was speaking common to the man, but made sure to use a more literal translation of the draconic term.

“They’re cute enough, I guess,” he said, chuckling, then knelt down to be on her eye level, and held out a hand. “Marcus Orillion, at your service.”

Ocellus set her hoof in the hand, and felt the fingers close around it and squeeze it tightly. “My name’s Ocellus, Tixi’s familiar,” she said.

“So I’ve heard,” Marcus said, letting her go after jerking her hoof up and down slightly. “Is it true she agreed to be a test subject for Anastasia’s theories?”

Ocellus sighed. “Unfortunately. She would have agreed to anything in order to stay here as the wizard’s apprentice.”

“He’s taking her as an apprentice?” Marcus said, looking surprised. “I mean – clearly she’s a spellcaster if she managed to bind a familiar, but he’s usually… very selective. And very busy. I’ve never heard of him taking four apprentices at the same time before.”

“I doubt he’s going to give her much personal attention,” Ocellus admitted.

Marcus nodded thoughtfully. Then winced. “Excuse me,” he said, standing back up and shaking his leg out. “I don’t mean to loom over you but I was starting to cramp.”

“it’s fine,” Ocellus said. “I need more practice anyway.” Before he could ask what she meant by that, Ocellus demonstrated by shifting into her female human form. She was still a bit shorter, but he could easily meet her gaze. Of course he stared at her breasts instead, but that wasn’t exactly surprising.

“Uh…” Marcus said, staring with his mouth open.

“She’s really looking forward to scribing her own spellbook,” Ocellus said, keeping her tone casual. “I can’t imagine the magical ink is cheap. Will there be a problem getting hold of some?”

Marcus reached a hand towards Ocellus, and she watched with curiosity as it rose toward her breast, shaking slightly. She took hold of it and placed it against her skin. “Does it feel right?” she asked, as he gave a little squeeze. “I had a live model to study, so the texture should be accurate.”

“I… I don’t actually know,” Marcus responded, squeezing it again. “I’ve never touched one before. It’s so soft!”

“I know! It’s probably a human’s best feature,” Ocellus said. “I mean, aside from their hands.” She placed her hand against his, and flexed her fingers against his wrist and palm.

Marcus pulled his hand back, and himself together. “Are you attempting to seduce me? I was warned that you might be a succubus.”

Ocellus laughed brightly. “I’m mostly teasing you,” she said, stepping forwards and tracing a finger along his stubbly cheek. “But this is very important to Tixi, and I want to make sure it goes as well as possible. How badly do you think it’s likely to go?”

“Badly,” Marcus responded, taking hold of her hand and holding it in place, lightly. “Anastasia is a cold bitch, Lucien isn’t interested in anything but illusions and mind control, and as for Rellenore himself… he’s generally absorbed in his own research, and seems to begrudge spending any time teaching us at all. The staff are all constructs that can’t be reasoned with. If she’s not officially an apprentice, she might not even be able to get food.”

“But I bet you could smooth all that over,” she said, spreading her fingers to stroke in a semicircle across his cheek.

Marcus nodded. “I could certainly secure library access, and get her as much magical ink as she needs. We technically have a limit but I’ve never come close to using it. And in return you’d… um…”

Ocellus smiled, and said, “I’d be very grateful?”

“That sounds like the kind of thing you say if you aren’t intending to do anything with me but still want me to do favors for you,” Marcus said.

Ocellus sighed, and turned back into herself. “I’m going to mark that off as a failure,” she said, her tone suddenly much less flirty. “I don’t like the idea of extorting favors with sex, but I thought sex appeal might be enough. Did I come on too strong?”

“You were naked,” Marcus replied, folding his arms.

“I never learned how to shapeshift clothing,” Ocellus admitted. “Few of the intelligent creatures of Equestria wear clothes on a regular basis, so it was never a priority.”

“So if you aren’t willing to actually have sex, what are you offering for my help?” Marcus asked.

“Oh, I’d be willing to have sex I guess,” Ocellus said. “It’d just have to be transactional.” She paused. “And Tixi would have to watch. She feels everything I feel through the familiar bond, and if she can’t see what’s causing it she imagines things and gets really jealous. I could also probably do other favors – I doubt the little dragon hatchlings are going to take up *all* my time.”

Marcus chuckled. “If they’re anything like human babies, you might be surprised.” He sighed. “I suppose it doesn’t cost anything to help you. I’ll just let you and Tixi owe me a favor for now – I don’t like the idea of trading for sex either, really.”

Ocellus nodded.

“But if you’re ever in the mood… I probably wouldn’t say no?” he added, nervously. “I’ve never – it’s just, I’m kind of, um.”

A virgin, Ocellus thought. Prime target for seduction, since their resistance was unnaturally low, but avoiding actual sex for as long as possible was recommended for an efficient harvest. Her skin crawled as she found herself making that observation.

“You know what?” Ocellus said, “I think I have a trade we can make on the side. I’d like to have a male human shape to shift into, and being intimate with someone is the best way of learning a new form.”

Marcus looked at her oddly.

“What?”

“Does that mean you were intimate with a badger?” he asked.

“No.” She glowered. “The second best way is to dissect a cadaver,” she added. “That wasn’t a threat. I want this badly enough to sleep with you, not to murder you.”

“And what do I get out of it?” Marcus asked.

“Sex,” Ocellus said. “It’s the normal sort of transaction people make when they want to have sex. You get sex, and I get sex.”

“Okay then,” the apprentice said, after a few moments of thought, looking a bit nervous and excited. “Now?”

“Well, as soon as Tixi gets back from sending the other little dragons off,” Ocellus said. “I wasn’t kidding about needing to let her watch.”

===

It didn’t take long to find Tixi. They managed to reach the front door just as she was coming in. She looked at Ocellus and Marcus, and grinned. “Oh! You’re making friends?”

“Mmm hmm,” Ocellus replied. “This is Marcus, another of the wizard’s apprentices, who offered to help you get settled in.”

“Right,” Marcus said. “Let’s go up to my room?”

He was obviously a bit eager, almost running up the stairs, and Ocellus and Tixi had to hustle to keep up.

“Oh, is this the library?” Tixi asked, as they passed a doorway on the stairs with a giant book engraved on it. “I need to find a spellbook to study.”

“Later?” Ocellus suggested, looking back and forth nervously between Tixi and Marcus, who was about to leave her line of sight.

Tixi pushed on the door, but it didn’t budge. “Hmm, I don’t seem to be keyed to it yet anyway. What has you in such a rush?”

Marcus had vanished by that point, but after a few seconds came back around the curve of the stairs. “Is something wrong?” he asked.

“The library’s locked,” Tixi said, but followed Ocellus at a sedate pace as she climbed the stairs towards the eager apprentice.

Marcus, it turned out, had half a floor to himself as his suite. The door from the stairwell opened onto a sitting room which was cluttered with loose papers and precarious piles of dogeared books, and other doors led to additional space. The door in the middle was evidently his bedroom, as he made a beeline for it, leaping nimbly from clear space to clear space among the clutter and somehow avoiding to knock any of the piles over. Ocellus and Tixi followed suit, neither having any trouble bypassing such a rudimentary trap gauntlet.

Still, by the time they passed through the doorway, Marcus was somehow already naked and erect. He snagged Ocellus off the floor and pulled her to his chest, his penis thrusting up between her legs to slide ineffectively along her unbroken chitin.

“Oh!” Tixi said, closing the door behind her and finding a stool to perch on, staring intently at the pair as they failed to have sex.

“Slow down!” Ocellus said, placing a hoof on Marcus’ chest and prying herself out of his grip, wings spreading and suspending her in midair.

Marcus breathed heavily, and finally nodded, sitting down on the edge of his bed.

Ocellus shifted into her human form and knelt in front of him, letting her fingers run over his fuzzy scrotum. “Just relax. I’ll take care of you,” she said, her other hand wrapping around his penis and squeezing, feeling the specifics of its construction – not so different from a stallions, except in shape. She kissed the tip, and gave it a lick, squirming her tongue across the slit at the end.

She was so focused on her exploration that she didn’t notice him move until it was too late. He grabbed her shoulders, threw her back onto the surprisingly soft and fluffy carpet, and landed atop her, resting his weight on her chest, each hand on a breast, while he forced his way between her legs and thrust his only slightly dampened cock into her crotch with bruising force, as he didn’t quite hit his mark. Ocellus had the presence of mind to quickly make herself wet before a second thrust sank into her with all the grace of a farmer digging a hole for a fence post, and after three more thrusts, he was done, squirting inside her and then collapsing on top of her, moaning.

“Are you okay?” Tixi asked, helping drag Marcus off Ocellus while she gasped for breath.

Ocellus coughed, and shifted into a form without breasts, which only helped mitigate the pain a little. “What the fuck, Marcus?”

“Sorry, I couldn’t wait,” he said. “Do you have any idea how –”

“How did it feel when you shoved your way inside?” Ocellus asked. “Nice and moist, right? Slippery?”

“Oh yeah, it was amazing,” he said, dreamily.

Ocellus put a hoof on his chest. “If I wasn’t a shapeshifter, and you didn’t even let me finish *sucking your dick*, it wouldn’t have been like that. Foreplay isn’t just a tease, you idiot!”

He blinked at her and took hold of her hoof. “I can’t…” he croaked, gasping for air but unable to take a breath while she pressed down on his ribs.

“You also don’t rest your weight on the woman’s breasts,” she said, letting up on the pressure and letting him gasp for air. “What were you even thinking?”

“That was a lot like how little dragons mate,” Tixi noted. “It’s efficient.”

“I can’t get pregnant, so efficiency isn’t exactly a concern,” Ocellus replied. “This was supposed to be fun.”

“I had a lot of fun,” Marcus said, a silly grin on his face.

“I’m glad,” Ocellus said, then sighed, and lifted one of his hands with her hooves. “Now you owe me an examination. It was *going* to be sexy but now it’s just going to be clinical. Try not to squirm too much.”

And that’s how Anastasia found them, when she barged into the room following a glowing wisp, which circled around Tixi’s head and then vanished.

“Please tell me you weren’t fucking my research subject,” she said, glaring at Marcus.

“He was fucking me,” Ocellus answered. “I’m her familiar.”

“Ah, the succubus,” she said. “That’s fine, then. Let me know if you need to dispose of his body. Tixi, come with me, I need to get some baseline measurements.”

“Alright,” Tixi said, getting to her feet and following her out. “Can you let me into the library afterwards?” She asked as they headed towards the suite’s outer door. “I need a new spellbook.”

“Of course,” Anastasia said. “Your magical abilities are the primary focus of my research, so –” the conversation cut off as she shut the door behind her, leaving Ocellus and Marcus alone.

“Oh god, she saw me naked,” Marcus groaned, covering his face.

Ocellus was busy examining the muscles and fat of his abdomen, kneading at his belly curiously. “She didn’t seem to care.”

“You’re not actually going to kill me, are you?” he asked.

“I’d like to think we can still be friends,” Ocellus responded. “You didn’t do anything I hadn’t agreed to, you just got the timing wrong and made it hurt.” She ran a hoof along the line where his hips attached to his torso, then prodded at his thigh. “I’m tempted to give you some further lessons, for the sake of anyone else you try to sleep with.”

“I… wouldn’t mind that,” Marcus said. “The friends or the lessons.”

“Will you pay attention to the lessons?” she asked.

“I think so?” he said, as she nuzzled under his knee, and gave a lick at the joint, since her hooves weren’t doing a very good job of exploring it. “Ahh!” he squirmed, kicking his leg in midair. “Stop, that tickles!”

===

Even if Marcus expected the lessons to involve another conjugal visit, he did an admirable job of hiding his disappointment when what actually showed up on his doorstep a few days later was a thick hand-written booklet, “Ocellus’ Practical Guide to Mutually Enjoyable Sex.”

The illustrations were quite detailed.

===

The little dragon eggs hatched about a week later, just as Ocellus was starting to think that she was prepared for them. The wizard – Rellenore, apparently, although she’d only ever heard him called that once, by Marcus – had taken detailed notes on raising ‘kobolds’, and the library golem had silently handed her the loosely bound stack of pages when she’d asked for information. She’d turned the nursery into her study-nest to organize and absorb the information, which meant spending very little time with Tixi who mostly haunted the library. The empathic bond meant that they were still comfortably connected, even when they were studying in entirely different rooms.

That peace was broken by a sudden ‘crack’, as one of the eggs broke open, and a tiny, ravenous dragon emerged. After a second of panic, Ocellus shifted into her little dragon shape, and dangled her tail for the hatchling, who latched onto it just as the papers had described. It was a little more painful than she expected, even if the tiny newborn teeth had no hope of actually piercing her scales.

By the time she’d retrieved the crushed meat paste from the cupboard, and coaxed her passenger to try eating actual food instead of her tail, another egg had hatched, and the hatchling was trying to get its teeth around the remaining egg. Ocellus dove across the room and smeared meat paste on its nose, confusing it long enough for her to whisk it away to sit with its sibling.

All three had hatched and were stuffed full and sleeping by the time Tixi led the wizard and his apprentices into the nursery to see them.

“Okay, they are pretty damned cute,” Marcus remarked. “You’d better not hurt them,” he added to Anastasia, who was looking them over carefully.

“That is literally the opposite of my intention,” she replied absentmindedly, taking out a notebook and a ruled ribbon and getting their measurements.

“Did it work?” Tixi asked the wizard. “Are they all going to be wizards?”

“It’s still a bit too early to make that determination,” the wizard replied. “If you’d indulge me, I’d like to give them names? Since they’re the first kobolds I’ll be raising in my own tower.”

“Of course!” Tixi said, admiration and pride flowing through the link.

The wizard pointed at each in turn. “Ek,” he said to the first, a drab purple with lighter purple belly-scales. “Dui,” he said to the second, who was a very light creamy green all over. “Tini,” he said to the third, brilliantly striped in orange and slightly darker and yellower orange.

“One, two, and three?” Ocellus asked, a bit of annoyance coming through.

“I’m afraid my imagination isn’t my best quality,” the wizard replied, confidently, “but I used a language that no one they meet should speak. It’s perfectly normal for names to have some original etymology like that.”

“Ek and Tini are good dragon names,” Tixi said. “Dui is a bit weird though. Duji? Duni? Duxi?”

“Duxi is a word in the same language,” the wizard said, a bit uncertainly.

“’Miserable’,” Ocellus translated, then shrugged. “I suppose it’ll be more incentive to make sure she doesn’t live up to it.”