Commission for  wotokay
Wotokay gets lost on a mountain and is helped along the way by a special guardian spirit!
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The weather report showed a low of 12 degrees tonight, well below freezing. Despite this, Wotokay felt it was a good day for a hike. He filled up his bag with snacks and water in case he gets lost and is ready to conquer the mountain. It was supposed to be a four-hour hike, round trip. That was 12 hours ago. It was now 7 PM and the temperature was dropping rapidly. Wotokay seems to have been walking around in circles, losing track of where he’s been already, and his GPS lost its signal hours ago.

He's down to his last bag of trail mix and bottle of water when night falls. It quickly approaches 10 PM and it’s certainly colder than 12 now. It had to have been below zero. Wotokay finally stops and tries to make camp when it begins to snow. As if he doesn’t have enough problems. He tries to quickly setup a fire before the snow gets too bad, but the wind and cold air make it hard to spark anything. Several attempts later and the storm is really beginning to pick up. The snowfall has nearly tripled, and the wind is blowing hard. It’s impossible to strike a fire under these conditions. Woto resigns to huddling up with his backpack, trying to compact himself as much as possible to conserve body heat.

A few more hours pass, and the temperature falls well below zero. Wotokay is left shivering alone on the mountain, wondering how he’s going to get back home. Wotokay is about to fall asleep when a light appears and seems to hover in the air near Wotokay. The light slowly approaches Wotokay in a slow, timid fashion. Wotokay opens his eyes and nearly jumps at seeing the light. It lights up nearly the whole area, nearly blinding Wotokay from the reflection off the snow. It gets closer and closer, and Wotokay holds a hand up to shield his eyes. Sensing something is wrong, the light flies back and then up into the air. It spirals upwards and then it seems to expand more and more, becoming brighter and larger. It then dims itself to a much more manageable level and flies back to Wotokay.

“You seem to be lost…are you okay?”

Wotokay actually jumps this time, hearing it talk. He wasn’t sure if he was actually hearing this or if he was finally going insane. “I…yes, I am…what are you?” Wotokay wasn’t sure if he was dreaming at this point, or maybe he was dead, and this was the grim reaper coming for his soul. Either way, Wotokay felt the only thing he could do was try to talk back.

“I am the guardian spirit of this mountain. I protect these lands and occasionally help those who need it. And it certainly seems like you need it. What are you doing up here so late?”

“I-I started here in the morning but got lost and couldn’t find my way back. I only just now made camp because I thought I could find my own way back!” Wotokay’s words stutter as cold as he is, his whole body is shivering hard.

“Oh, you poor thing…here let me help you warm up.” The spirit flies around Wotokay and then straight through his chest, sending a warm, tingling sensation throughout his body.

“Wait, what are you doing?”

“Just stay calm and let it happen.”

Grey fur begins crawling all over Wotokay’s skin, with darker grey and blue spots in a seemingly random pattern. It grows in thick and fluffy, making Wotokay’s clothes feel tight. As it reaches his hands, his fingernails grow longer and curl downward. His hands swell as rough, grippy paw pads grow in. “…Fur? And…my hands, what did you do?”

“Just a few adjustments to warm you up!”

Wotokay looks at his hands as his fingernails thicken and sink back into the nailbeds. He can feel new muscles growing in, and with some practice can fully retract his claws. The fur spreads down to his feet which undergo much of the same changes. Toenails growing longer, sharper, and thicker; feet swelling and then his heels rise up, making his hiking boots feel rather uncomfortable.

“Oh, you won’t need those!” The spirit wiggles and soon Wotokay’s boots disappear, freeing his larger feet.

“But I liked those boots!” Wotokay rubs his feet as they still feel a little sore from growing inside his hiking boots.

“I’ll get you new ones!”

The fur spreads up and Wotokay can feel a pressure in his pants as his tailbone extends. The spirit flies around Wotokay again and soon his winter pants disappear, again relieving pressure. Wotokay’s tail grows long and very fluffy, nearly as long as his body. It sways around until Wotokay figures out how to control it and he brings the tail close to him and hugs it. “So…fluffy…”

“Might as well get rid of the rest of these as you won’t need them!” The spirit wiggles again and soon the rest of Wotokay’s clothes disappear.

The shivering slows but doesn’t quite stop. The fur reaches Wotokay’s neck and begins covering his face as his jaw stretches forward by a few inches to form a short, feline muzzle. His nose compresses and flattens against the end of his new muzzle and forms a pink triangle. Silky whiskers push out from either side of the new muzzle and his ears shrink and round out, sliding up to the top of his head. “Woah, I can smell everything now, this is so weird!” His hair merges in with the grey and black fur, finishing off the changes. Wotokay stops shivering altogether and continues hugging his fluffy tail.

“So, do you like it? You should be warm enough to last until the morning!”

“I…I don’t know…I’m warm but I’m so different now, how will anyone recognize me!”

“Oh, don’t worry people will just recognize you just by your voice.”

“But…what about how I look! My IDs won’t match anymore and how do I even explain what happened?”

“Just tell the truth, tell them exactly what happened~” The way the spirit said that, set off some alarms in the back of Wotokay’s mind. It almost sounded mischievous in tone.

“Um…alright! How do I get out of here?”

“Get some rest for now. When the morning comes, you will find your way home.” The spirit swirls around in the air and then disappears, leaving Wotokay alone once again in the blizzard.

“Wait, what does that mean! Hello?” Wotokay desperately looks around for the spirit but finds nothing but darkness. He curls up on the ground, looking at his new body. “Damnit…I’m stuck like this, and I don’t even know how to get home…well, I guess I might as well sleep and try again in the morning. There’s no way I can navigate in this blizzard anyways.” Wotokay soon falls asleep after tossing around a lot.

The morning comes and Wotokay slowly wakes up as the sun rises. He sits up and looks himself over, realizing that last night was not in fact a rather vivid dream, but it was real. He sits up and looks around. His bag is there, and it seems to be open. He quickly looks it over, hoping nobody stole anything from it. To his surprise, he finds his clothes and boots inside the bag. The spirit did promise to get him new boots…looks like they replaced the clothes, too! Wotokay zips up the backpack and carries it, with it feeling a bit heavier due to the clothes. “Where do I even start? My GPS is probably dead…” While looking around Wotokay finds a trail that was not there before. “Wait, I wonder where this leads? I guess I can’t possibly get more lost than I already am, and it seems to head downhill at least.” Wotokay follows the trail which does indeed lead down the mountain. After walking for a couple more hours Wotokay can see the town coming closer into view, and finally the trailhead is visible! He practically runs down to the trailhead and collapses once he makes it into the parking lot. After breathing heavily for a while, he sits up and looks around and sure enough his car is there, too!

A few people stare at Wotokay as he lies on the ground but otherwise don’t pay him much attention. Wotokay heads to his car and starts heading home, as he thinks about what happened last night. Then a realization hit him as he pulls into his driveway. He should call Reskao! It’s been nearly 2 days since they last talked and Reskao is probably worried. Wotokay rushes into the house and then plops onto the couch. He takes out his cellphone and calls up Reskao.

“Woto? What happened? It’s been like 2 days!”

“I’m sorry! I got lost in the mountains, but I managed to find my way back! I was so cold that night…”

“How did you find your way back?”

“Well…there was this spirit that helped me out…it appeared in the middle of the night when a blizzard started up and they turned me into a snow leopard!”

“A snow leopard? What? How did—” Reskao is interrupted by black fur growing on the back of his hand. Another patch of black fur appears on his other hand and his thumbs begin to shrink away. His hands swell as they grow dark, black paw pads. Reskao ends up dropping his phone and he panics, staring at his hands. “What-what’s going on?”

“Reskao? Are you okay?” Wotokay sounds concerned, he can’t really hear anything except Reskao’s distant voice, but it’s too faint to make out anything.

Reskao’s fingernails grow longer and sharper, curling down. Reskao stares at his hands which are now black paws as the fur crawls up his arms. It turns orange past his wrists and spreads up to his shoulders. Once it reaches his shoulders, they begin to cramp as they melt and shift away, moving his arms inward and dangling in front of him. “Wotokay!! I’m changing!!”

“Reskao? I can’t really hear you! Speak up!”

Reskao’s torso thins out as white fur grows in on his chest and belly, and it soon reaches his hips as they shift inward and flatten like his shoulders. Reskao begins shrinking and it becomes harder and harder to stand up. Soon, there’s a series of pops in his back and he’s forced forward, falling to four legs. Reskao barely catches himself as he lands on his paws. His pants are pushed aside as a long, fluffy tail grows in, mostly orange but tipped in white. Reskao looks back at this and he crawls closer to the phone. “Help! I’m turning into a fox!” Although in Reskao’s mind he hears himself talking normally, in reality all that is coming out is a series of yips and barks.

“Reskao, are you dog sitting for someone or something? I hear barking!”

“Barking…wha-I don’t hear barking!” Reskao was still yipping and barking, even though to Reskao it seemed he was speaking normally. Reskao’s jaw stretches forward, making it harder to talk normally, his nose rounding out and flattening against his muzzle. His teeth grow sharper, and tongue lengthens to fill his muzzle. Finally, his ears grow out and slide to the top of his head. Reskao stares at the phone as the changes finish, wondering what to even do. “Wotokay, can you hear me?”

“Yes! Reskao, I can hear you now, what happened? I heard barking!” Even though Reskao was still yipping and barking, Wotokay could now clearly understand him as if he were speaking English normally.

“I think that barking was me…I’m a fox now!”

“You’re a fox? But how! You’re not just pulling my leg because of the story I told you, are you?”

“No, I swear, here…” Reskao fumbles with his phone, bapping at it trying to start a video call. After smacking the phone around and tapping random buttons on the screen he manages to start a video call. Wotokay can see a fox staring at the phone, and then it starts talking!

“See, I told you I’m a fox now!”

“But…how did that even happen!”

“I don’t know! I just started changing as soon as you started talking about that spirit thing!”

“Huh…that’s odd…you didn’t see anything when you changed, did you?

“No, nothing! Can you come get me please?”

“Okay! I’ll come home as soon as I can, I just need to get the next flight out of here!”

Wotokay hangs up and quickly books a flight back to Texas. He checks his IDs and, somehow, they show a snow leopard on them! At least that’s not a concern. He quickly packs his things and the next day rushes to the airport. Wotokay worries the whole time back about Reskao, with him not being able to do anything for himself. The flight lands and Wotokay impatiently waits for his bags at baggage claim, then gets his regular car from the airport’s parking lot and rushes home. He opens the door and finds Reskao laying on the floor. He rushes over to Reskao and picks him up and holds him. “Reskao, I’m sorry…I came back as fast as I could!”

“It’s okay…I’m just glad to see you again…”

“Here, let me get you some food and water!” Wotokay gently sets Reskao down on the couch and heads into the kitchen. He gets a bowl and fills it with water and sets it down, then starts rummaging around the kitchen looking for something to make. He finds a steak in the fridge; this would be perfect! Wotokay cooks up the steak to a nice medium rare and then cuts it up into small chunks. He dumps the chunks onto a plate and sets it down next to the bowl. Reskao can smell the steak being cooked and his nose twitches, then he bounds to his feet and runs into the kitchen, still stumbling some as he hasn’t quite adjusted to walking on four legs yet.

Reskao starts attacking the steak, eating like he hasn’t eaten in days, then starts gulping up the water. Water spills everywhere as Reskao messily learns how to drink with a muzzle. Wotokay can’t help but chuckle seeing this. After getting some food and water, Reskao seems much happier now and more energetic. He runs over to the couch and hops up onto it, scrambling a bit as he nearly misses. Wotokay heads over and sits down on the couch next to him and puts Reskao in his lap, then starts petting him.

“I’m so sorry this happened…I promise I’ll take good care of you!”

“It’s okay! I, well, I guess this is what I always wanted to happen…just kinda happened at a bad time!”

“Yeah…I wish I had known that would happen so I could wait until I got back home!”

Reskao simply nuzzles Wotokay in response, and Wotokay responds with petting Reskao and giving him ear scritches. Reskao ultimately remains as Wotokay’s pet, and both of them are more than happy with this arrangement. Reskao had always wanted to be a pet fox, and now he not only can be a pet fox but be a pet fox for his best friend! For Wotokay, he’d always wanted a pet, but they could never settle on what to get. Now that Reskao was Wotokay’s pet, Wotokay decided to sell the house and get a camper van and make money doing odd jobs along the road.

Along the way, Wotokay stops at a truck stop to get gas and someone asks about the fox, and Wotokay regales him the story of how he ended up as a snow leopard. While Wotokay was talking, the man he was talking to wound up as a Great Dane! The confused dog starts barking, though Wotokay can understand exactly what he’s saying, and tries to reassure the man. Something in Wotokay’s mind clicks and he realizes that talking about the spirit is what’s changing both Reskao and the man at the truck stop. Wotokay helps to find a good home for the man he met at the truck stop and comes up with a good lie to cover for the spirit, so he doesn’t accidentally transform anyone else.