:=: Tanya :=:
"Are you done with that?" Tanya asked, looking to the cute redhead sitting next to her on the sofa.
Brandi was sitting crosslegged in the corner of the sofa, a plate on her lap. She didn't have much of an appetite at the best of times, but this evening she'd barely even touched her dinner.
It took her a moment to register Tanya's question, then she nodded, "Yeah, sorry. It's nice but I'm just not that hungry."
Tanya stood up and took the plate, saying "I'll put it in the fridge." She took her own plate as well, and headed into the kitchen to do the dishes and tidy up.
When she returned, she saw Brandi was still sort of staring into space with a slight frown on her face.
Tanya sat back down next to her girlfriend and slipped an arm around Brandi's shoulders, pulling her closer.
"Hey cutie, what's bothering you tonight? Do you want to talk about it?"
It was Thursday evening. Tomorrow night would be three weeks since Tanya had won their bet and used a transformation spell on her former frenemy. And since realizing she wanted to keep being Brandi, her girlfriend's mood had been almost constantly happy and up-beat.
It was surprising, and a little worrying, to see the cute redhead acting withdrawn or melancholy like this.
Brandi sighed softly, then said "I'm having second thoughts about Monday."
It was Thanksgiving weekend coming up, and Brandi had invited Tanya to accompany her to her parents' place for dinner on Monday. Her girlfriend had been looking forward to it ever since they first discussed it over a week ago.
She knew Brandi had already told her folks she'd be bringing Tanya, so it's not like it would be a shock or anything for her parents.
"Why the change of heart?" Tanya asked.
With another sigh, Brandi replied "I'm just not sure I'm ready to face them? This will be the first time since I became Brandi, and I guess I'm a little nervous about seeing them. And afraid of how things might go."
Tanya gave her a gentle squeeze, pulling her petite girlfriend a little closer. "First time for you, but remember the Goddess changed things. Your family already knows you like this, they already remember you as Brandi."
Brandi nodded slightly, "I know, but..." She hesitated. There was another sigh, much deeper this time.
Then in a quiet voice she confessed, "I got deadnamed today and it bothered me a lot more than I thought it would. It kind of shook my confidence, when it comes to seeing people who've known me a long time."
Tanya sighed as well, then frowned. "Wait, what? The Goddess changed reality for you, how could anyone know your old name?"
The redhead frowned back, "What do you mean, changed reality? She changed a few details of my life, that's all."
Tanya's mind started racing. She'd assumed that the Goddess had changed all of reality so that Brandi had been born a girl, the same way She'd done for herself and Becky. She could remember Brandi being a cute little redhead from the moment they first met last September, no-one else at college should remember Brandi's original name or form.
She looked at her girlfriend and asked, "I thought she made it so you were born as Brandi?"
"What? No." Her girlfriend shook her head, then explained "I guess she did make it so I took after my mom more, like my hair came out red, and my eyes were green, and I was a smaller kid and all that. But I was still a boy, I was still Brendan."
Tanya sat wide-eyed as she listened.
Brandi continued, "The main thing She did was, instead of being an egg till I was twenty She made it so I came out when I was still a kid. I told my folks I was a girl when I was ten. My parents supported me, and let me transition before the wrong puberty hit."
Tanya kept staring for a few more moments as she processed this news. She had no idea, but thinking back to that night, she realized the Goddess never actually said anything about changing reality. She'd just assumed it, because that's what she'd experienced herself, and that's what had happened for her friends back home.
Finally she nodded, "Ok... Sorry Brandi, I didn't know." She sighed and asked, "So, how'd you get deadnamed? Do you want to talk about it?"
"I ran into a guy I'd been friends with as a kid, back in grade-school." Brandi scowled. "He was all, Hey, didn't you used to be my old buddy Brendan? Dude, you look hot bro!" She sighed once more, "I swear he was being an asshole on purpose, but like, he was doing it in that way that he could just play it all off as a joke or whatever, if I said anything?"
"Ugh," Tanya frowned. "I'm sorry, cutie. How'd you deal with him?"
"I didn't know how to react," her girlfriend sighed again. "I was shocked, upset, and angry. But I didn't know what to say. I finally just sort of shrugged and said 'The name is Brandi.' Then I walked away."
Tanya leaned over and planted a kiss on her girlfriend's cheek. "I wish I knew how to help, Brandi... And I wish I knew how to make things better..."
Brandi smiled after the kiss. She shrugged, "It's ok I guess. I mean, it had to happen sooner or later, it's something I have to learn to deal with. It's stuff I'd have had to deal with a lot, back when I was younger. If I really had transitioned in middle-school, I mean. Like, I should really be used to it by now, you know?"
Tanya was quiet as she thought about that. She hadn't had to think about that sort of thing. Not even her parents could deadname her, because nobody knew she hadn't always been Tanya. Almost no-one remembered who she'd originally been.
She finally said "I guess... I'm still sorry though, cutie. I get how upsetting and painful that can be."
They were both quiet for a while after that, cuddling together on the sofa.
"Hey, Tanya?" Brandi asked after a few more minutes. "Why did you think the Goddess changed reality for me? You said thought She made it so I has been born as Brandi. Where'd you get that idea from?"
Tanya felt herself starting to blush now, "Oh... Yeah ok. I guess we should talk about this."
Brandi frowned, twisting to look up at her. "Talk about what?"
"Uh... So I thought she'd changed reality for you, because that's what she did for me." Tanya replied, feeling her cheeks growing brighter. "At the end of that first forty-eight hours, when I was telling you what sorts of reactions I was expecting from you after I'd changed you, I was um... Going from my own experiences..."
"What?!" Brandi's eyes were wide as she was staring up at her. "Wait, no. What?! Are you telling me you're trans too? You had a magical transition like me?" She frowned, "Is that how you recognized I was an egg?"
Tanya knew her cheeks were bright red now. She shook her head, "Actually no... I wasn't trans, I was a cis guy... And I had all the cis guy reactions I told you about."
"What?!" Brandi pulled away now, turning so she could properly look at Tanya. "What happened?"
Tanya sighed, then took a deep breath and started to explain. "This was about three years ago... Beginning of December, in fact. I was..." She paused and sighed. "I really hate thinking about this stuff Brandi, so I'm going to make this short."
She took another breath and continued, "I looked a bit like you used to? A couple inches shorter, twenty pounds heavier. And... I wasn't a nice person. I was a real asshole, to be honest, and it got me cursed... At the time I was twenty-two, I was in my third year at university. And then suddenly I wasn't. I was a sixteen-year-old girl. It was like, not only did I get my sex swapped but my whole life had been rewound six years."
Brandi was staring, eyes wide. She seemed more surprised at the age change than anything else. "Wait what? You were twenty-two, three years ago?! How did you deal with all that? That's... Did you have to go back to high-school?"
Tanya sighed. "I didn't deal with it. At all. I was a wreck, I was in shock, depressed, I cried so much... I could barely eat. I... I even had some self-destructive thoughts."
She shook her head a little. Even after three years, the memories of that first day still hurt. Technically she didn't really become Tanya till the day after, but that in-between day where her body was changed but her mind wasn't, had been the worst day of her life.
She sighed yet again, looking down at the floor as those painful memories replayed in her mind.
After a minute or so, she continued. "So, the curse couldn't be reversed, and I was basically stuck. Or, well what I know now, the Goddess probably could have undone it but She didn't. I don't blame her, I deserved what I got."
Finally she just shrugged. "Anyways, my body couldn't be fixed so instead, my mind and everything else was changed. She changed my mind so I was comfortable and happy with my new body... Made it so I liked being a girl, and was ok with been a teen again. And She changed reality so my parents and everyone thought that's how it was. That I was always a girl."
After a pause, Tanya smiled and confirmed "And yeah. I was back in high-school again, back in grade eleven. Like I said, that was three years ago. I graduated high-school a second time, then wound up coming here to college. Met you last September when we were both freshmen, and you know the rest."
"Wow..." Brandi said softly. She frowned, looking thoughtful.
"What's on your mind?" Tanya asked, feeling slightly nervous. She didn't think this stuff would change Brandi's opinion of her, but she couldn't help feeling a little anxious.
After a minute or so, her girlfriend finally shrugged. "I was just thinking to myself, wondering why She didn't do that for me. But then I realized, I'm ok with it like this. Like... I feel like I'm still the same me. More genuine though."
After a moment Brandi added "Oh! I don't mean to imply you're not genuine! What I meant was, I'm a more genuine me, than I was before our bet. That me was an act, that me was just living out all my dad's dreams."
Tanya smiled, "I get it, cutie." She leaned in and kissed her. "I'm glad you're happy with how things turned out. And I'm sorry I didn't think to ask what She did for you. I just assumed, based on what She'd done for me."
Brandi moved closer again, relaxing against her. Soon they were cuddling on the sofa, Brandi nestled up close, her head resting against Tanya's chest.
Tanya smiled happily, relaxing with her arms around her petite girlfriend.
After ten or fifteen minutes of quiet cuddling, Brandi commented "I really am happy with how things turned out, you know? Like I've said before, losing that game was the best thing that ever happened to me."
