"I could alter your form, but, well... You see, I'm not quite at 100%. Or even really 1%. I'm running so low on essence that it's taking all I have just to stay in a specific form and sentient. Our bodies are much easier to alter than yours, so I can change myself all I want, see?" Tex says before scrunching up her face and filling her cheeks with air. She feigns straining for a second before her ears explode outward into giant elephant ears, similar to yours. She then grabs her nose as pulls at with exaggerated effort, causing it to cartoonishly expand out into a trunk. She then sticks her arms out straight before dramatically flourishing them in front of her face, her changes disappearing as they pass over them, and takes a bow.
"I know -- astonishing, magnificent, and enchanting. You're too kind. However, to change you, especially back to fully human form, I need essence, and a lot of it. Technically, even our friend the elephant was probably holding more than I am now. It is only through skill and experience that I'm not currently devolving back into a flesh hungry beast."
"So, what? We have to find a lot of people for you to eat?" you ask.
"Human, were you even listening? I don't eat people or even bits of people without their consent. Besides, it's best that I lay low for awhile, and staying in this form has certain... advantages." she says cryptically.
Getting a bit weary of the theatrics, you fire off a series of questions. "Wait, lay low? Why? Who or what are you hiding from? And if you aren't going to get more essence, then can't you not change me? And if you aren't going to, then who can?"
"Well, it's a bit of a long story," she says while looking from you, "but almost all of those questions have the same answer, unfortunately. You see, I'm not the only advanced being among my kind, and I'm not particularly popular among them, largely because of how I interact with humans. Things got especially bad during the last feeding cycle and right before it ended, I was fed to that elephant. At the height of my strength, you could probably refer to me as a deity by what I'm capable of, so normally, such a low creature isn't even worth my attention. However, when someone of equal stature to me is involved, well... I was reduced and then humiliated."
She then dejectedly curls her knees to her chest. "Even though all of that was so long ago, we don't have memories as short as you humans, and I'm very vulnerable in my current state. I'll need to be careful for the next cycle or two if I want to avoid detection. Luckily, with how little essence I currently possess, I'm virtually undetectable to any higher beings."
"Oh, uh, okay," is all you reply. Still unsure exactly how you feel about this creature that you just met after vomiting it up a few minutes ago, you don't know whether to offer sympathy, advice, or otherwise. Instead, you hesitantly say, "But, what exactly does that mean for me?"
"Oh, of course, we can't not talk about you, human. Maybe you missed the part where I said that I was effectively a demigod? But no, we have to talk about you, who didn't even give me the courtesy of offering your name after I so graciously introduced myself."
"Oh, it's-" you start to say before she covers her ears and exclaims "Too late! The disservice has already been done, Human. We've already established too much rapport. I couldn't call you by anything else. It just wouldn't feel right. But don't worry, think of it as a... pet name." she said, smirking with the last words.
You didn't like the sound of that but also didn't want to get distracted from the matter at hand. "I'm sorry, but to be fair, I had just gone through several shocking experiences; manners weren't exactly at the forefront of my mind. You said you had one answer to all of my questions. How does that affect me returning to normal?"
She looks at you flatly for a moment before answering, "Well, like I said there are other beings as strong as I am, or can be, I guess. Remember how I told you that after we advance to sentience, we no longer have to eat for sustenance? Well, because of that, many of these beings might not decide to eat you if you can approach them."
"That's not a huge boost of confidence," you reply.
"I never said it was going to be easy," she snapped, glaring back at you. "I don't know of any that would help you out of the kindness of their hearts, but with the right circumstances, they may be persuaded or bartered with."
"Okay, how difficult are we talking?" you ask.
"Well, that's just it. Because consumption and reproduction are so closely linked in our species, even when we are no longer 'hungry' we can still engage in the act for pleasure akin to eroticism."
"Oh, weird." you respond without thinking.
"Oh, come ooon," Tex says exasperatedly, "I've seen what all you humans do with your various orifices, much less when you're alone. Pots and kettles and whatnot. Anyway, over millennia of boredom, some of us develop specific... tastes. I guess you'd call them kinks. And those that do find that they can get a lot more satisfaction by playing with their food instead of consuming it outright, so to say. What's more, sentience isn't our highest level of advancement. There are those that can ignore some of the normal exchanges that essence requires. Some can alter the shape of other beings without using any outside form essence, but instead changing the nature of the form itself. Others can freely exchange mass essence as if it was just our latex flesh, and these are just scratching the surface. I've heard stories of evolved that can bind essence together so that it functions in tandem even when separate."
"I'm sorry, what does that mean?" you interrupt.
Tex looks at you bemusedly before answering with a hint of condescension, "Imagine parts of you in two different places, but still working like you're connected. Anyway, there's too many potential quirks and loci to cover all of them right now. The skinny of it is this: we find the right being and are smart about how you interact with them, we may be able to get you closer to what you want. Lucky for you, we have all that extra mass essence you stole from our friend back there to use as a bargaining chip. And even more importantly, you have me, who out of the infinite kindness of her heart will guide you, at great personal peril, I might add, as a thanks for freeing me from that beast."
"Okay, I guess I'm following all of this, and some hope is better than nothing. Where do we start?"
"Let me see," Tex says as she closes her eyes. "We can sense the essence around us, and we higher order beings can interpret it even better, so if I concentrate, I can see that the nearest latex being is... Oh."
"Oh? What do you mean 'oh'?", you ask moments before a new visitor joins you in the clearing.