Now that a likely mentor had presented herself, Morgana decided it was time to consult with Hōkō regarding her studies. While she waited for the oni maiden to arrive, Morgana went over the wording of Vivi's geis with the young witch-in-training. It was important to make sure that Asha wouldn't find a loophole.
"Tell me exactly what you said, Vivienne," the senior witch said. "Wording is everything. Just ask any genie."
"I just made the appropriate gestures and said 'I, Vivienne Faye, in the names of Mother Night and Lady Moon invoke upon thee this geis! For seven years' time, sexual intercourse shall be taboo to thee! Shouldst thou touch another in lust, terrible dread and agony beyond what thou canst bear shall fill thy mind, and thou shalt flee in terror. At sunrise on thy sixteenth birthday, my geis shall be lifted and thou shalt be free to delight in the pleasures of the flesh once more. So mote it be!' Was that any good?"
"Invoking Mother Night and Lady Moon was a good start," Morgana said. "Geises are always stronger with some divine power backing up your own. The bit about 'seven years time' was really smart, That way shi can't get around that 'sunrise on thy sixteenth birthday' part by time-traveling to that moment for a second or something madcap like that. I was worried that 'sexual intercourse' might be a little too specific, but you saved it when you said 'Shouldst thou touch another in lust'. That should cover all non-penetrative sex shi might try to get up to. The only thing shi can really get past the geis is masturbation, but I'm pretty sure most kids secretly get up to that anyway. Yes, yes... a very solid, ironclad geis."
"So I've trapped hir?" Vivi asked hopefully.
"In terms of wording, yes," said Morgana. "The problem is the question of whether the geis can stay attached to Asha. If shi builds up enough willpower, shi could potentially fizzle out the geis. Then there's triggers. Sometimes the presence of a specific person, place, or thing can unexpectedly snap a person out of a geis. But don't worry. Triggers are are, and a fresh geis is unlikely to be overpowered through force of will for at least a month. You might want to make a point of reapplying the geis monthly."
Vivi nodded. "Got it, Mom."
The door then opened, revealing a buff Japanese girl with black chin-length hair, whose borrowed clothing clung a little too tight to her toned muscles. She glanced around the shop in wonder, taking all the sights in.
"Ah, Hōkō Jigokumoto!" Morgana smiled. "Welcome back to my shop. You remember, my daughter and apprentice Vivienne, right?"
"Of course I remember Vivi-san," Hōkō said brightly, bowing to Morgana and Vivi. "Konnichiwa, Morgana-sensei. Konnichiwa, Vivi-san. It's an honor to be back. I've never seen so many magical trinkets crammed into one place before."
"I do have quite a collection," Morgana said proudly. "I've been hoarding things for three hundred years."
"I bet Humiya and Asuga will be so impressed that they forget to jerk off!" Hōkō marveled. "They're coming down as well, remember? To help you make that testicle growth potion."
"That's right," Morgana nodded. "Poor Abbie can't put up with only one testicle forever. Then there's that poor werehyena down in Fort Hyde, Oklahoma. Hir name's Enzi, as I recall."
"They might be a while," Hōkō said. "When I passed them, Asuga was flirting with every girl shi saw. It was driving poor Humiya insane." Hōkō shook her head and smiled. "Those two have been like that since I met them at the Exchange Program raffle. Good thing Asuga's going with Humiya, or shi might never get here. Humiya seems unusually mature and responsible for a tanuki."
That matched with the reputation of tanuki. Tanuki were renowned in Japan as playful, mischievous, and horny creatures. They were a lot like (unusually fat and well-endowed) werefoxes, only tanuki had more common sense and self-control. Most tanuki could pass up a prank or misadventure that might inconvenience them or their village, and they had a capacity for guilt that helped them know if their antics had gone too far. They actually gave Morgana a pretty good idea of what the new werefox skulk that Renata Hamilton was founding might act like.
"Anyway, I'm here to talk about my studies," Hōkō said. "Oh, do you mind if I get comfortable? I'd like to assume my true form."
"Go ahead," Morgana smiled.
Hōkō stripped naked as a precaution; there was no reason to ruin perfectly good clothes. Her muscles then bulged to even greater size while her body surged from nearly six feet tall to over eight feet tall. Hōkō's skin turned red, a pair of foot-long horns grew from her forehead, and gleaming tusks jutted up from her lower jaw. A nude oni maiden now stood before Morgana and Vivi, her red skin rippling with muscles like boulders.
"Much better!" Hōkō grinned. "So, what's out arrangement, Morgana-sensei? Am I being apprenticed to you?"
"I'm afraid that I already have Vivi and Dani as apprentices," Morgana explained. "I'd love to teach you as well, but instructing the two of them AND running the shop adds up to a full-time job... more than one full-time job, really."
"I... see..." Hōkō sighed defeatedly, her brawny shoulders slumping. "Could I at least borrow some books or...?"
"But!" Morgana interrupted with a smile. "But I know another witch in town who would be willing to teach you."
"Really?" Hōkō asked excitedly.
"Her name's Erzulie Lachouette," said Morgana. "She's living in the local Motel 6 with her girlfriend. She's an African-American woman with her hair done up in dreadlocks. Her clothes are a chaotic, colorful patchwork of whatever she can piece together on the road, but she ALWAYS wears sandals on her feet and a white headscarf around her dreadlocks."
"And she can help me hone my magic?" Hōkō asked.
"I think so," Morgana said. "She practices a rather different magical system than you, of course."
"There's more than one?" Hōkō asked, arching an eyebrow questioningly.
"You're kidding, right?" Vivi asked, her eyes going wide.
"You didn't know?!" Morgana gasped. "Maybe a cosmopolitan magical education is just what you need. You see, you practice the oni variant of Shugendō, the magical system practiced throughout Japan. Erzulie, on the other hand, practices Voodoo, a magical system originating in West African that spread throughout the Caribbean and Louisiana with the slave trade. It's very heavy on communion with the spirits (sometimes to the point of inviting them into your body) and using sympathetic magic via a harnessing another person's spiritual essence (voodoo dolls and zombie slaves being two infamous forms). It's pretty different from the magic your sorcerers do, but there's something to be said for a well-rounded magical education."
"What's your magical tradition, Morgana-sensei?" asked Hōkō.
"Me?" Morgana smiled. "My mother trained me as an eclectic witch, and my travels have only made me more and more eclectic over the years."
"Eclectic?" Hōkō repeated.
"My education mashed up all sorts of witchcraft traditions," Morgana explained. "I mostly use Hermetic and Orphic magic (both from Greece), Druidry (from the Celts), and Wicca (from the Anglo-Saxons). Oh, and I mean REAL Wicca, not the distorted version that Gerald Gardner spread among his fellow mortals. He briefly talked with some real witches and misremembered a lot, you see."
"Poser," Vivi snickered, shaking her head and smiling.
"Gerald Gardner?" Hōkō mumbled in confusion.
"Forget him," Morgana said. "He has nothing to do with authentic witchcraft. Oh, there's something you have the right to know about Erzulie. Her girlfriend is Victoria Vordenburg, a prominent 'monster' hunter."
Hōkō bit her lip. "Oh? And... and what do the two of them... think about oni?"
"From the remarks Erzulie made, she sounds more intrigued and curious about them than anything else," Morgana answered. "Tori didn't really say anything one way or the other. In any case, Tori follows a code that forbids her from killing a magical that hasn't committed any crimes. For all her faults, she isn't a psychopath. I think you'll be fine. You can go introduce yourself to Erzulie right now and see if you two are a good fit for each other if you like."
"I'll do that," Hōkō nodded resolutely, turning back into a regular (if buff) Japanese teenage girl and throwing her tight-fitting clothes back on.
"Do you want me to take you shopping for bigger clothes first?" asked Vivi. "You look like your muscles are straining against that shirt."
"Thanks, but it's not urgent," Hōkō smiled. "You can do that for Humiya and Asuga. Their fat bellies completely refuse to stay inside their shirts! Flirty Asuga loves the result, but Humiya's mortified. Shi's oddly modest for a tanuki. Weird."
"If you're sure," Vivi shrugged. "Bye!"
"Bye, Vivi-san!" Hōkō called as she slipped out of the shop to go find Erzulie. "Bye, Morgana-sensei!"
Morgana hoped she'd made the right decision, but she saw no reason an oni couldn't learn Voodoo. Morgana herself collected witchcraft traditions like some people collected coins or stamps, hence the beautiful chaos that was her shop. Speaking of which, Morgana still had business to take care of. There were still tanuki cocks to milk, warriors to turn into breeders, and a werehyena who wanted to be a herm around the clock. Morgana glanced at her PMA, trying to order the remainder of the day.