FSE

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Drake's leaf-shaped ear perked up as he heard snoring coming from upstairs. The white-tail deer immediately slipped up off the couch from under the blankets there and strode across the living room to the front door. On the other side was a rental truck he'd driven three days to get here.

He'd told his new housemates that he'd unload the truck in the morning, no worries. But that had been a lie.

The hart grasped the latch on the back of the rental and pulled it open. The spring-loaded sliding door rolled up with a racket.

Drake held his breath, ears perked up. Silence... then snoring again. He exhaled, his breath glimmering in the moonlight in the frosty air. And kept exhaling.

And kept exhaling.

The misty billowing breath flowed into the open back of the rental, wrapping around the boxes within like dry ice smoke filmed sideways.

The deer stopped to inhale again, then gestured with his sharp hoof-tipped hands palm up, a gentle rising motion.

As he did so, the boxes lifted, causing the truck to settle and rise on its suspension from the sudden lack of weight on the container's bed. Drake turned and walked towards the door. In his wake, a single column of boxes de-stacked and formed a row behind him, the process soon leading into a procession of cardboard floating along on mist that sparkled in the moonlight.

Drake stepped lightly to keep his hooves from clip-clopping too loudly on the floor in the entryway, making his way to the door into the basement. It was already established that he'd be making it into his little suite for his own purposes, lightening the load of rent on the rest of the denizens of the house. He never said just how he would do this, and he was happy to keep it that way.

He froze in place at the top of the stairs. Behind him there was a cluttered sound of metal sliding against itself, dulled by cardboard but still louder than he would have liked. He ducked under the row of floating boxes to get back through the doorway and walked along to the front door again. From this vantage-point he could better see the less regular shaped packages better, so as to guide them through the narrow space the regular moving boxes had no trouble with.

The deer finally made sure the last of the large, flat boxes labeled "ART" slipped on by without dragging on the walls and ducked out the door. He jumped up and grabbed the strap on the bottom of the sliding door, using his weight to drag it back down. It came down faster than it looked like it would for his slight build, and likely quicker than he'd intended. It slammed down and the latch clacked into place.

Drake winced at the sound and quickly as he dared followed the last box into the house and down to the basement. When he arrived, the packages had formed a loose spiral in the middle of the subterranean unit, over the polished poured concrete slab. One of the flat boxes unfolded on its own, turning into a broad sheet of cardboard. Its contents were also folded strips of cardboard, which interlocked with it as it spread out to fill a large portion of the floor.

Another box opened up to reveal a large cotton sheet, broad enough to coat the cardboard matting. It was spread out to do so, before settling in place. The deer closed the basement door behind him as quietly as he could, starting to walk down the stairs. The normal-shaped boxes all opened at once, the tape seeming to dissolve. From the center of the spiral outward, they smoothly tilted over to pour their contents on the fabric with a higher pitched, ringing white noise of metal on metal. Gold and silver coins, gemstones cut and uncut, small trinkets and baubles and necklaces and chains. Treasure. Wealth unimaginable.

Each of the boxes flattened themselves once they were empty, flat-stacking in the corner of the basement as the mound of precious metals and stones grew, filling most of the mat the deer had laid out.

Drake exhaled once it was all done, before walking to the edge of the pile and taking a deep breath. The mist filling the room rushed back into his lungs. His clothes came apart at the seams, as if the thread holding the panels together merely vanished, revealing his bare body to the dark chamber. He kept inhaling, his chest swelling out. And inhaling.

And inhaling.

His leaf-shaped tuft of a tail suddenly surged, a massive, muscular limb roaring into being above his definitely widening hips. The sharp hooves on each limb split out into claws, the structure of his hands and feet broadening for extra digits. His torso and neck elongated abruptly, forcing him to bend forward to avoid striking the ceiling.

He overbalanced as his arms and chest swelled even further, dropping to all fours astride the mass of treasure. His antlers unbent and fused into curved, sweeping horns above his ears as he lowered his lengthening muzzle toward the floor. His arched back bulged and flexed, before two new limbs surged to the surface and extended outward. They appeared to be another set of arms at first, but the digits at the ends kept extending longer and longer... and became connected together by leathery membranes.

Drake trembled and let out a basso groan as the changes gradually came to a halt. The dragon raised his head slightly. He'd have to spend most of his time lounging on his hoard to keep from digging his horns into the underside of the floor upstairs. And laying down was exactly what he wanted to do with such an expenditure of magical energy.

He slumped down into the mass of treasure, causing a few more cascades of coins to ring out.

Obscuring the sound of the basement door opening.

The light switch flicked on, filling the basement with electric light.

"Drake? What the fuck...?"

The dragon winced.