“Nervous?” Lisa had her arm through his. Clearly he was a little uncomfortable. They’d had to make a quick run to pick up some clothes, because he didn’t exactly fit in most of Sally’s anymore, if by shoulder width alone, and she’d definitely wanted something a little more form-fitting. 

“For quite a few reasons, yes,” Daniel said, chuckling slightly, and tugging a little at his tie. It had taken seventeen rewatches of a specific video on the computer to figure out how to properly tie one, but after seeing Hayden’s outfit last time, Daniel had been insistent. And he did look fantastic wearing it, Lisa thought to herself. Not that she was any less pleasant to look at. Even she had to admit it. The woman in the mirror was, by all accounts, stunning. The changes had been so minimal, too. But it had really been the little things, and that woman on the other side of the silver glass was her now. And she’d splurged on a new dress, too. One with a side split, that went well with her new knee-high boots. 

She’d been okay with her height. She remembered, in what felt like and was, for all intents and purposes, a past life, what it had been like to be close to ten feet tall, after all. But it had definitely not helped Daniel feel any better when she towered over him. That wasn’t a problem anymore, and these new boots definitely made her feel… powerful again. Not in the scary way she had once been but… well, still a little bit scary, but she didn’t mind being a little intimidating. 

“It’ll be fine, love,” she said as they approached Jenny and Hayden’s front door. “You look…” She wanted to say something eloquent, something that would properly convey how she felt whenever she cast a glance at him. “Mmmf,” she concluded, biting her lip. Daniel’s confidence was clearly boosted, evidenced by a proud grin. 

“I could say the same about you.” He nudged her. “It… It’s good to see you like this.” She knew what he meant. They’d been so caught up in everything that went into trying to build up a life in a new world, there hadn’t really been a lot of time for things like this before. Once upon a time she’d had a wardrobe, and for quite some time, she hadn’t really considered expanding the one here. They hadn’t planned on staying at first, after all. Now they could peacock a bit, though. On special occasions. “But all that aside… We still have to tell them about… everything.”

“We’ll manage,” Lisa said, raising her head high. “Together.”

“Together,” Daniel agreed. They walked up to the front door and pressed the little button, no less nervous this time than they were the first time than they had been there, although for significantly different reasons. 

After a moment, Hayden opened the door, and he went through a wide gamut of facial expressions, like an indecisive slot machine. “Oh, you’re he-- I’m sorry, I thought it was someone e-- Hold on--”

“Yeah,” Lisa said to Daniel, “this is going to be… interesting.” Daniel chuckled. 

“Daniel? Eliza? But… it can’t be… but…” Hayden looked genuinely dumbstruck, and Lisa couldn’t exactly fault him for that. She gave him an apologetic little smile. 

“May we come in? I think we’d much rather explain inside.” That, and her wonderful new boots weren’t made for walking extended distances. She should have probably thought of that before walking them in on a dinner date.

“Uh…” Hayden said. “Yes, sure, yes, of course,” he said, the conventions of politeness giving him something to hold on to when he was clearly completely at a loss. Daniel and Lisa walked past him into the cozy living room, and almost bumped into Jenny, who was holding a glass of something with bubbles. She froze when she saw the two of them, first to greet them and then out of sheer shock. She dropped the glass. When Daniel’s arm shot out and he caught it in mid-air, barely spilling, she could have kissed him for being that smooth. Sure, it would add to the surreal nature of the evening, but she also knew that nobody liked cleaning up glass. Besides, it might paint them in a good light. And seeing Jenny blush when Daniel handed her the glass back was delicious all on it’s own. 

“D-Daniel?” she asked. He grinned and nodded. Jenny looked at Lisa. “Eliza?” Lisa flashed her what she hoped was a dazzling, confident smile, although she made a mental note to address the name part first. Jenny stepped aside as Daniel and Lisa turned around, standing next to each other. Hayden joined Jenny in the gawping. 

“So… you two probably have questions,” Lisa said. Jenny plopped down on the sofa, clearly approaching something like shock. 

“You can say that again,” Hayden said, close behind her in ability to manage the revelation, and in a more literal sense. “What’s going… What are.. What… What?” Lisa decided not to push him on the fact that she knew him to be a little bit more eloquent than that. He did have a pretty good excuse. 

“So the most important thing out of the way first,” Lisa said. She entwined her fingers with Daniel’s, who held up the hand proudly. How could she not kiss him on the cheek? She didn’t even care that that probably wasn’t the most important thing to Jenny and Hayden, who had other questions. It was the most important part to her. “Your question from last time: a little more than a day.”

“What.” Jenny blinked. 

“How long we have been dating. A little over a day.” Lisa said happily. 

There is a part of human nature that is often overlooked. Humans can, historically, adapt to almost everything. That is why, even though the arc of evolution bends towards crab, it always makes a pit stop at two-legged bipeds that like domesticating animals for no other reason than to pet them (safety and reliable food sources are, contrary to what most think, just a byproduct). 

Humans can adapt to almost anything, in any environment. There is a joke among some other races throughout the universe that humans were put on earth as a way to stunt their development. If they’d been put on a planet not filled with things that tried to kill them, they would have, the joke states, conquered the galaxy centuries ago. This isn’t a very funny joke to anyone familiar with 15th Century Earth history, but most aliens aren’t. 

It is said that a human being can break a limb and keep going, walking on while the limb heals. They can survive freezing temperatures without the use of ExtraVehicular Activity suits or devices, and just sort of sweat off excess heat, requiring only water for maintenance. Humans can (and will) eat anything, and what they can’t eat, they will either use as a spice on food or, in a pinch, smoke it. 

Humans are either the cockroaches or the terminators of the galaxy. Your perspective depends entirely on whether or not you’re one of the many things humanity has tried to eat or smoke. 

All of this said to draw attention to the fact that Jenny’s look of complete shock melted. Sure, someone she had grown to care about and someone she had only recently started to get acquainted with had suddenly gained bodies that were a lot more affirming. But they were also happily dating now, and that was important too. Shock, getting stale, gave way to excitement. 

“I’m so happy for you two!” she said, practically bouncing. She turned to Hayden. “See, I told you him and Eliza fit perfectly together.” Hayden just nodded, taking a bit longer to adjust to the sudden changes. 

“That was the next thing,” Lisa said. “I don’t feel like Eliza really reflects who I am anymore. My name was legally changed a few days ago, and I would like to go by Lisa now. I know it’s not a big change, but it makes a big difference to me.” Strangely enough, of all the things they had to go through tonight, this was the part she’d been sort of nervous about. Not that she really had a feeling like Hayden and Jenny wouldn’t accept her choice here, but it was her more personal choice, and saying it out loud carried with it a sense of vulnerability. 

“Lisa,” Hayden mumbled. “Okay. I can do that.” He stood up and walked towards them, almost like someone approaching a wild animal. He seemed almost scared, squinting suspiciously. 

“We won’t bite, Hayden,” Daniel said, raising his eyebrows as Hayden circled him, like a cat who has been made aware of a new stuffed animal in the middle of the living room. 

“Spoilsport,” Hayden said quietly, almost mechanically, and despite the fact that it was clearly almost a reflex, Lisa noticed it still had an effect on Daniel, making him blush. “You got so tall,” Hayden whispered. “How are you so tall now?”

“I’m sure there’s a logical explanation for this,” Jenny said, sipping her drink. 

“There isn’t,” Lisa said with a wolfish grin, and now it was Jenny’s turn to go red. 

“There’s no surgeon that can do this in just a few days,” Hayden said, putting his hand on Daniel’s arm as if to feel he was really there, not really caring about personal space. “Let alone the height… the shoulders… With no recovery time…”

“She’s right, you know,” Daniel told him, locking eyes with Hayden, who froze in place, swallowed, and took a step back. “There isn’t any explanation for this that’s going to come easy to either of you.”

“You should probably sit down again,” Lisa said, and then, striding over to one of the other sofas, “Mind if I do the same?” Jenny shook her head and extended an arm as an invitation. Daniel and Lisa both sat down, and Lisa realized how they probably looked, borderline aristocratic, almost a foot taller than either Jenny and Hayden, dressed to the nines. “So I’m going to try to answer most of your questions as best as I can. Well, we will.”

“So… I mean… how?” Hayden asked, his eyes now on Lisa and it was hard not to feel a little exposed. Hayden had an intense stare.

“Magic,” Daniel said and leaned back a bit. Lisa smirked. It wasn’t nearly enough of an answer, and both of them knew it, but it was still a fun way to put it. She noticed Jenny and Hayden just staring, waiting for them to continue. 

“Magic,” Lisa confirmed. “Magic is, indeed, real.” Jenny and Hayden looked at her like she’d just told them magic was real. Fair enough. “There isn’t much of it in this world, but we’ve found enough of it to make… some changes.”

“Wait… but… that… what?” 

“Not everyone would be able to use it,” Daniel clarified. “I doubt there are any magic users in this world beyond Lisa. I haven’t seen any if there are.”

“And I would have felt any magic reserves if there were any. Sadly, your world is a bit sparse when it comes to things like this.” Lisa looked around. “Though you’ve made do with electricity and technology, I’ll tell you that.”

“You… You’re saying you’re not from this world?” Jenny said with a frown. Lisa wasn’t surprised. This was always going to be the part that the two would have the most trouble with. That’s why she’d done a bit of research, about the world and how the universe worked as understood by the people of Earth, with Daniel’s studious help.

“It’s a long story,” Daniel said, as Hayden got up. “Are you… leaving?”

“If it is a long story, I’m going to need a drink,” Hayden said. “If I didn’t see the two of you sitting there all…”

“Different?”

“Beautiful,” Jenny said with a wide smile, biting her lip. Interesting. 

“That,” Hayden said, pointing at Jenny. “If you two weren’t sitting here looking like a couple of fairytale monarchs, I wouldn’t believe a word of what you’re saying.”

A moment later, he came back in with a few glasses, and handed one to Daniel and Lisa each. Lisa raised her glass, trying to figure out where to start. She wanted to make sure to frame their tale as best she could, and she had been getting more experienced as a storyteller. 

“It’s easy,” Lisa said, looking at the two through her flute glass, “or even tempting, to think of the universe as obeying the laws of mathematics.”

Tock

Elamimax

Whew! It's over! This was such a small-scale journey and yet it's still been a hell of a ride for me. This story has been close to my heart, and I'm very happy with the voice I found telling it. 

Of course...

It's not really over, is it?

Because there's more to it. Do you want to know what happens next? 

You can read it here. 

And you can read what's already written on my Patreon, (as well as get some insight on the next project ;) ) and you get a whole bunch of added benefits! On top of that, it keeps my lights on and even lets me eat! Patrons get a ton of benefits, like access to new stories, sometimes weeks or even months in advance, as well as cheaper commission rates, exclusive discord roles, and access to private polls about future projects. 

Regardless, I hope you like this, and I'll see you all soon!