#imp tf

The subject is guided to a spacious room, air heavy with the floral incense masking the iron tang of blood. You find yourself brought to the center of the space, where there laid a freshly painted sigil, intricate glyphwork patterned around a five pointed star, black candles lit at each end.

A low hum overtakes the room, robed figures of various sizes lurking in the shadowed corners step into the dim light, their quiet chanting echoing throughout the room, the reverberating soundwaves infusing the sigils beneath you with an old, long practiced magic.

As if made of water, the floor beneath your feet ripples as spectral hands emerge, reaching for you, grasping and tugging at your flesh. Pulled to your knees, you can feel your body distorting. Everywhere, they touch a burning sensation follows, chased by a pleasure that enraptures your every nerve.

The hands rub you down, massaging their will into your flesh, the floor creeping closer to your face with each pass over your limbs, your body shrinking in shuddering gasps. You can feel your belly tighten, your muscles growing hard beneath your skin as they contract and shrink, and then a wash of plush chub rounds you out. Your hips buckle and expand, thighs fattening, glutes plump.

A hand trails it's way down your back, dragging your shrunken ribcage closer to your pelvis, spinal segments fusing and disappearing as your body shortens, then regrown pulled away from your rear, starting as a sensitive nub to a whip thin tail, the end splayed out into a spade.

Your skin is smooth, soft, and warm as a lovers embrace, purple hues enveloping your form as another pair of spectral hands grab at your face, cupping your cheeks in their clawed grasp, rounding out and softening your features. They slide up and tug your ears into long points, dragging them thick and receptive, twitching in response to your emotions, your needs that well within you, perking when you're excited and drooping when you are neglected release. One hand presses against your forehead as the other holds your mouth open, forcing its fingers against your tongue, massaging it into a long, sensitive point.

It pricks itself on your sharpened teeth, a taste of spiritual energy, lustful energy. As if on cue, the pressure on your forehead is accompanied by the weight of horns pushing out from your skull, parting darkened hair, and putting on display your newly demonic crown.

All at once, you are released, the chanting stops, and the candles blow out. The air is cold before overhead fluorescent lights chase the shadows from the room with a blinding flash. The room is empty, no sigils, no robed figures, the only thing accompanying you in this room is a mirror...

Impus Chthonicus: An entity reliant on devouring sexual energy. Too little regular intimacy will cause your Imp to experience mental and physical degredation, transforming into and Incubus or Succubus when neglected.

She glances around at the mess that is my lab. "... Right, I just wanted to tell you a traveling merchant came to town. They've got some odd stuff in their wagon, thought you might be able to find something useful."

"*sigh*, thanks, I'll take a look after I finish sweeping this up."

"Here, let me help."

Though I don't deserve it, I appreciate her kindness. We spend awhile kneeled down on the floor as she helps clean up my mess... "I'm sorry."

"Hey, I get it, shit gets frustrating sometimes-"

"No, I meant... This," I gesture to her body. "I should've fixed this by now. Three years, and I'm still not any closer..."

"Don't beat yourself up. I know you've been working your ass off. This is just one hell of a curse."

"I know, I just... My latest potion should've been perfect! I know the curse doesn't prevent further transformations, so I used cardiacite fragments to- Ah, sorry, I don't mean to bore you."

"No no, go ahead. Dunno what cardite-sight is but I'm kinda curious how this stuff works."

Well, some rubber ducky debugging might help. "Right, so, the curse fully transforms the victims into imps, down to the deepest level. Our bodies no longer have any trace of humanity, so simply removing the curse wasn't enough to change us back. But, with the curse's magic gone, there's nothing preventing us from transforming again. Of course my earlier attempts were..."

"Your 'human transformation' potions." We both shudder in disgust. It's a good thing I made those temporary...

"Right. And even if I somehow perfected that, it wouldn't restore YOUR body, just give you a new, random human body."

"Anything's better than being an imp."

I frown. "... Well, I found a better method. The victim's body forgets its humanity, but the heart and mind remember. And last year I found a way to use that-"

"You've been working on the same potion for A YEAR!?!"

I sigh. "Yes... I really thought this one would work. A potion looks into one's heart and turns their body into their true form. So many iterations, so much improvement, and now it's... perfect." I gesture to the glowing bottle on my desk, sitting on a corner that my tail missed. "My perfect, useless masterpiece."

"... It looks tasty. Can I try it?"

I shrug, turning back to the pile of shattered glass. "Sure. I managed to work out all the side effects. It's so perfectly pure, so incredibly concentrated, yet even after weeks of drinking 3 bottles a day not a single change. I have no idea what I did wrong. The whole idea must've been flawed from the start-"

*POOF*

I whip around to see a new figure in the room, a human towering over me and the- The lumberjack's gone. No. That IS the lumberjack!

She looks down at her hands, reaches up to touch her face. She rushes over to the mirror, smiling and laughing so much it's contagious! "I'm human! I'm me again! Holy shit you did it!"

"I... I did it! It worked! I did it!!!"

The lumberjack lifts me up and hugs me, and we laugh together in celebration! Even if it only works on some people, this is a HUGE development! It WORKS! With more testing I'm sure I can make it work on everyone! So strange, though; I can't imagine why it worked on her but not me-

"Finally out of that awful body!" She returns to the mirror, running a hand over her head. "They're gone! No more ugly horns! No more horrible snaking tail! And I'm not the size of a damn garden gnome anymore! Finally, finally I..." She catches sight of my glare in the mirror. "Oh... Sorry, I uh... I probably shouldn't be celebrating until you're back to human too..."

"It's less the celebration and more that you're basically trash talking how I look."

"Oh. Well, you don't REALLY look like that though, right? Not deep down. That's just the body you're stuck in for now."

"Well this IS how I look right now, so I'd appreciate it if you'd stop calling me ugly."

"... Uh, okay. Sorry. A-and thank you! Oh my god, this is incredible..."

While she goes back to inspecting her restored body, I go back to pondering what could be complicating the potion. Maybe each person needs a different ratio of salts? But such a severe difference in effectiveness can't be explained by a mere mismeasurement-

"HOLY SHIT MY DICK IS GONE!"

"What!?"

"When you said it'd bring out my 'true form' I didn't realize it'd go this far! Ha ha, best potion EVER!"

First in line is one of the town guard, standing at attention, rigid and still except for her rapid breathing. He puts his hand on her head, and slowly, she starts to relax. Her hands unclench, her knees bend, her posture starts to slump- or is that her shrinking?

She shrinks down, smaller and smaller, until the Demon Lord has to lean over her to keep his hand on her head. Her oversized uniform falls to the ground, revealing her reddening skin and sprouting wings.

Finally, it stops, and a little red imp stands before the Demon Lord. He rubs her head, whispers something to her, and then, in a flash of purple fire, a collar appears in his hand. She sticks out her neck, and he collars her with a *click*, making the crowd of imps behind him erupt into cheers! With a final pat, he sends her away. "You next."

One by one, the humans in front of me disappear, replaced with happy little devils. Until finally...

"You next."

I hesitate. Face to face with the Demon Lord, no one in between us, one step away from a life of indulgent sin...

His smile doesn't falter. His red eyes see right through me. He reaches out, and in a whisper only I can hear, he says, "Come to me, little one. I promise it will be worth it."

I step forward, and squeeze my eyes shut.

His hand lands on my head. He rubs over my hair, back and forth, easing away my tension. I was scared of the Demon Lord. Who wasn't? We were all told to be. Told tales of chaos, of destruction, of the downfall of humanity. And he will, certainly, destroy this kingdom. But we've all lived lives of order and peace. Lived in the iron fist of a human. That man, King... Huh, that's funny. I can't remember his name.

Other things slip from my mind too. My fear, of course. My shame. My duty, my restraint. There's no room for those things in such a small body. And oh, how small I feel... The palm on my head feels bigger and heavier with each second, pressing me down, yet making me feel so free, my worries and farm clothes slipping away. The last of the weight on my shoulders falls away, the last of my humanity.

"You're a good little imp, aren't you~" the Demon Lord whispers. "You long for comfort, for affection. That is what you'll have." He pets down my head. "That is what you ARE. You are a toy of cuddly comfort, to be held and hugged by anyone with a passing urge to." He cups my cheek, and tilts my head up to meet his kind, uncompromising gaze. "You don't have to be anything more than that."

In a flash of flame, a collar appears in his hand.

I lean forward, close my eyes, and feel it wrap my neck and seal with a *click*. There's a name tag on it... 'Cuddle Toy'.

With one last headpat, the Demon Lord sends me off to join the other newborn imps. Tail wagging, I race on all fours toward the first imp I see, the winged red one! I tackle her in a hug, and we tumble to the ground. I hug and nuzzle her, and she giggles once the surprise has worn off, hands landing on my sides-

Ah! Ahaha, hahahaha! She's tickling me! I see, she's a silly prankster, who makes everyone laugh by any means necessary! I try to nuzzle through the laughter as she attacks my sides!

-

It's been a week since the Demon Lord conquered our village. Some humans wanted to stay human, but even after some of us imps joined the Demon Lord on his conquest, our village is still mostly imps now. I pass by the enchanted hoe, floating in the air and working the field with oddly-familiar motions, on my way to my usual spot in the village center.

There's lots of imps passing through; jesters and performers doing juggling and fire-eating acts, mindless faceless drones making deliveries, trouble-makers stealing stuff and trouble-seekers punishing them for it. It's a good day.

I set my blanket on the ground and dump a load of pillows on it, then sit down and wait. Lots of imps passing by stop to give me a hug, and some stay awhile to cuddle me in the pillow-pile. Sometimes even one of those shy humans will give me a few headpats! Their hands are so nice and big~ It's almost a shame there's fewer of them every day.

The Demon Lord left a big purple crystal for the leftover humans. When one touches it, they turn into an imp! It's probably not as nice as having the Demon Lord do it personally, but he's busy bringing his gifts to everyone in his soon-to-be kingdom!

I lean back against a tree, panting for breath as I stare down at my orange hands. Not just my hands, but my arms, my legs, all my skin is a bright, fiery orange. This is really happening. What am I-

"So," the bard says, panting even harder than me. "Now that we've made our daring escape, could I trouble you for the tale of your transformation?"

Their smile is too wide after an exhausting run like that, and I'm very much not comfortable with them poking into my business... but they DID just save me from whatever the town guards would've done to me, so I do unfortunately owe them. "Okay... So, I was reading this book on demonology, and I... may have mumbled one of the incantations... and apparently I channeled demonic energy without doing any of the proper preparations. Not sure what that spell was supposed to do, but-"

The bard's quill pauses. "So sorry, but could you start from the beginning? What lead you to seek out this tome of demons?"

"Oh. Um. W-well, I'm an adventurer-"

"Ah, a hero! That explains your heavy pack and your clothes. You should've lead with that, my friend!"

"Right. Well, I was planning to head south, and you know how demons like to gather around those parts, so..."

"Mmm, studying up on your foes. But your quest for knowledge has gone terribly awry..." Their grin only widens as they scribble their quill.

"Yes. Knowledge."

"And what now? Your humanity is tainted with demonic influence, your flesh made monstrous for all to see! How does that make you feel?"

"Um..." I shift in place, scrambling for a normal-sounding answer. "... bad."

"... Bad. Hm. Well, we can workshop that later. What will you do next? It's rather cold in the south this time of year, so if you're still going that way I'll have to look into new clothes-"

"Wait, you're not coming with me are you?"

"But of course! Your tale is just beginning, and what kind of storyteller would I be if I only knew the first page? And I'm sure pleasant company will be in short supply, venturing about with such a monstrous appearance."

"... Rude. But true. And I guess I'll need someone to go into town and shop for me and stuff... Hey, do you happen to know any legends around the southern regions?"

"You mean, things an adventurer may wish to explore~? Naturally! Though I'm sure the story of the demon-cursed adventurer will put them all to shame one day! Your hideous new looks are already dramatic enough, but I wonder; might there be more to this inadvertent spell..?"

I hope for two things: That my new skin hides my blush, and that the answer to their question is yes.

Day 1 complete. Cause: Lovers. Partner: Fool. Change: Looks 1 - Skin.

-

Nothing. I pour over the demonology book, but no matter where I look there's nothing like what's happened to me, nothing about what to expect, and of course nothing on how to reverse it. Apparently channeling unfiltered demonic energy is pretty unpredictable, who would've guessed. Maybe I got off lucky, unharmed as I am.

But what am I going to do with myself? I can't live in society like this! So much of my life, so many possibilities, gone! Sure I got a little too curious, but I never thought it would go this far! Now I'm stuck as-

Wait, calm down. There's no reason to expect this to be permanent. It's only been a day. I'll just give it some time, bathe regularly, and maybe all this orange will just wash off. Maybe I should take another bath already, my head's so itchy this morning-

"AAAHHHHHHH!!!"

"Hero?!" The excited voice of the bard and the scribbling of their quill meets my sensitive ears. My tent flap is thrown open. "Such a ruckus! What has happened- Oh my!"

My fingers trace along my ears, feeling their long and unnatural pointedness. "The spell... It's... still going..."

"Indeed indeed, what a spectacle! Such evil ears, and such horrific horns!"

"Horns?" I reach to the top of my head. "Oh my god. Oh my god, my life is over! I'll never be a human again!" I flop onto my bedroll, bawling my eyes out.

"Mmm... And so the poor hero despaired at their curse, adventurous spirit crushed by the loss of their humanity. Will this be the end of their adventures, or will-"

"Would you SHUT UP!!"

"Ah, I didn't think you could hear my mumblings. I suppose nothing escapes those sharp ears now, hm? Between that and your ever-more-devilish appearance, you'd make quite the trickster!"

Their comments mix some confusing feelings into my mood. "Stop it..."

"And those horns! Rather small, almost cute, but their sharp points hint at a sinister, or perhaps mischievous side..."

Why can't I just feel sad like a normal person! It was simpler when it was just sadness!

"I'd better practice my illustration, I can't afford to miss when your tail grows in!"

"Hey! You should go into town and... buy food and supplies and stuff! That's why I let you follow me!"

"True enough, both our packs are rather light after our unexpected early departure. I'll go shopping, then. Save any core character developments for when I'm baaack~"

I listen as their footsteps leave the tent, then the camp, getting farther and farther away until I can't hear them anymore. My hands drift to my horns... This curse better not stop halfway; I've already lost my chance to be a human, I can't miss my chance to be a demon too.