Okay. Okay. Deep breaths. I can do this. It’s just a bit of fabric, nothing to be afraid of. It doesn’t have to mean anything if I don’t want it to.

“Alright. Okay. I’m in charge here, so there will be no funny business, got it?”

The dress sits on the bed, unmoved by my declaration.

My angel, Stella, pokes her head over my shoulder and looks at me quizzically.

“Are you... talking to the dress?”

“...No, I was talking to... you...?”

“...”

“...shut up.”

A softly glowing lump in the middle of the dress rises into the air, and a familiar voice whispers “Oooooooo, this is the dress speaking, I’m in charge now, *put me on already!*”

I sigh. “Stenia, come on, I can’t put it on while you’re inside it. Get out of there.”

She pops her head out through the sleeve, while her tail pokes out of the neckline.

“Didn’t seem to be a lot of ‘putting on’ happening to me, Steph.”

I blush brightly at the name, and turn my head away to study the wall intently.

“I thought I told you not to call me that in real life, it’s just for the Chaos server. I’ll... I’ll put it on in a minute, it’s just a big step, you know?”

There’s a rustle of movement from the dress, and suddenly Stenia is hugging my left arm. Stella reaches out and starts petting my hair.

Stenia smiles up at me. “It is! We’re so proud of you for trying it! Now c’mon, hurry up! I wanna see! You’re gonna look so pretty!”

I take another deep breath, and let it out slowly. Okay. Let’s do it.

I noticed before when taking the packaging off, but it hits me again just how smooth the material is as I pick the dress up and hold it out in front of me. 

I got some help from the Chaos server with sizing and stuff, but I picked it out myself. The dress is a dark red that the website called “rouge”, and is actually fair plain. There’s no decorations or patterns, just that one shade of red, and the skirt portion falls to just above my knee. I could walk past someone wearing it on the street without batting an eye. And yet, as I slip into it... I’m giddy. This is real. It’s actually happening. The skirt flutters down into place and it’s an unfamiliar sensation but at the same time it feels *so right* i almost start crying then and there. I look up at the mirror and... there I am.

I look like a girl.

I *am* a girl.

A broad grin breaks out across my face. I bring my hands to my chest, spin around and *the skirt spins wide around me*. I can’t help it, I start giggling uncontrollably.

My spirit guides float to either side of the mirror, watching with smiles of their own as I giggle like a lunatic and spin around until I get so dizzy I collapse onto the bed, gulping in air around the joyful laughter that just refuses to stop. They float down to sit on the duvet beside my head, and Stella goes back to petting my hair as the giggles slowly taper off.

“So.” Stenia gives me an amused look from where she’s sat. “I take it you like it then?”

I nod my head so fast I almost bash it into them, and another round of laughter escapes my mouth. 

“They were... they were right.” I gasp around my mirth. “Dresses go... Dresses go *spinny*” I bury my face into the mattress and squeal in delight.

Stella laughs at my antics, “Did it help at all, [̷̣̈́̃͜D̶̠̥̥̝̂̚ë̴̠̈a̷̭̲͂̈́̕ḏ̷̺̜̍n̶̡͈̣͆̈́̓̇a̷̢͗̕͜ͅm̴̦͆̈͝e̶̢̅̌]̷̯̮̫̃́?”

I take a deep breath, hold tightly to the euphoria I’m feeling, bury my face into the duvet further so they can’t see the embarrassed blush on my face and mutter “It’s, um. It’s Steph, actually. I’m a girl.”

There’s a beat of silence before they erupt into cheers. I tilt my head up enough to peek out at them, still blushing, and Stenia leaps right at me, grabbing my forehead in a big hug.

“OH MY GOD, LADIES AND OTHER LADIES, WE FINALLY GOT EM. I’m so HAPPY for you but also I’m SO OFFENDED, we’ve been telling you this for a MONTH and then you put on a dress ONCE and catch on? AAAAAAAA”

Stella drags her off and steps up to give me a hug of her own, “Well done, Steph. I knew you’d get there in the end.”

I roll over onto my back and cover my face with my hands, “How did this take me a whole month, it was so obvious.”

Stella rolls her eyes “You *knew* all along Steph, that wasn’t the problem. If you hadn’t known, putting on the dress wouldn’t have scared you. What took you a month was *accepting* it.”

Stenia and I exchange surprised blinks.

“...wow Stella, that was deep.”

She blushes brightly “Wha- it’s not that big a deal, come on. Um... oh! There’s some other people you need to tell, right?”

I gasp, she’s right! Jumping up from the bed (and launching Stella into the air before she catches herself and frowns at me), I run over to my computer and pull up the Chaos server, quickly navigating to #questioning-general as usual.

(14:37) 2FrogsInATrenchcoat - And that’s why we need more wizard frog representation in popular media.

(14:37) PowerShiba - Well said, Trench.

(14:38) TheRealStephnia - Hey everyone.

(14:38) A2BestGirl - Oh, hey Steph! Did that package you were waiting for arrive yet?

(14:38) TheRealStephnia - It did! Did I tell you guys what it was?

(14:39) PowerShiba - I don’t think so?

(14:39) TheRealStephnia - Well, it was a dress! I just tried it on, and. Um.

(14:39) TheRealStephnia - !pronouns she/her

(14:40) EggBot - User TheRealStephnia has updated her pronouns to use she/her!

(14:40) TheRealStephnia - Hi I’m Steph and I’m a girl, did you know that skirts go spinny?

(14:40) PowerShiba - Congratulations!!!!! Also, mood on the skirts.

(14:41) 2FrogsInATrenchcoat - Happy for you Steph. Please, tell me more about the legendary “spinny” technique. 

(14:42) A2BestGirl - STEPH OH MY GOD CONGRATULATIONS!!! WOOOO GIRL SPIN THAT SKIRT.

(14:42) A2BestGirl - @Moderators we need a rank up over here!

(14:43) RollerCoasterEnthusiast - !rank Trans @TheRealStephnia

(14:43) EggBot - User TheRealStephnia has recieved the Trans role!

(14:43) RollerCoasterEnthusiast - A2, for the last time, ping a specific mod rather than the entire role.

(14:44) RollerCoasterEnthusiast - Congratulations Steph!

(14:44) EggBot - User A2BestGirl has been muted for 10 minutes.

(14:45) PowerShiba - ...Well then. We should celebrate! Who feels like playing some video games?

(14:45) 2FrogsInATrenchcoat - I actually had another idea... how would you all feel about a meet-up?