Susan arrived at the restaurant a couple minutes after me. She was dressed sort of semi-casual as well, with blue jeans and a burgundy jacket over a dark green blouse. She had some attractive make-up on and she looked even prettier now than she did as a Jedi.

We greeted each other with a friendly hug, then got ourselves a table. We wound up sitting across from each other in a little booth on the 'tavern' side of the restaurant. I took my jacket off and stuffed it onto the seat next to me along with my purse, Susan did the same.

She smiled as she looked me over, "It's funny how different you look without the horns."

I blushed, "I hope I still look ok? You look fantastic. I mean you were hot as a Jedi, you're even hotter now."

"Hey! I can still be a Jedi wearing jeans and a blouse." She was smiling so I knew she was just teasing. She added, "And yeah, you look good Mara. It's just a different look, was all I meant."

A waitress came by to get our drinks orders, Susan ordered some kind of fancy cocktail but I just asked for a glass of water.

As the waitress left, my date asked "You aren't drinking tonight?"

"Nah," I replied. "I'm a little leery of booze at the moment? Last time I had some, I got roofied."

Her eyes widened, "No shit? Were you ok?"

I nodded, "Yeah, it worked out I guess. I got lucky, the guy who did it was called away or something before he could take advantage."

With a grin I added, "Plus I wound up making friends with a sexy Jedi knight who got me home safe."

Susan's face went a little pale, "Crap you mean it happened at the halloween party? Oh shit! No wonder you acted so differently in the morning. Mara I'm sorry, I didn't realize!"

"It's ok," I gave her a reassuring smile, "Like I said, it worked out all right. I uh, just hope I didn't do or say anything too embarrassing Saturday night."

This time she was the one blushing slightly, "Nothing too embarrassing. You were certainly a lot more forward and relaxed, but at the time I chalked it up to the alcohol."

After a moment she frowned, "Wait do you not remember Saturday night?"

I sighed but shook my head, "Just bits and pieces, but most of it's a blank."

"Well that sucks," Susan stated. Her expression shifted to a smile as she added, "You were a lot of fun. And you did some amazing things with that tail..."

I blushed but smiled. "I hope I can be that much fun when I'm not drugged."

The waitress returned with our drinks, but neither of us had looked at the menus yet. She said she'd give us some more time, then headed off again.

Me and Susan took a few minutes at that point to figure out what we wanted, then the conversation picked up again as I asked her about the courses she was taking. I remembered she was in a nursing and sports medicine program, but I couldn't remember anything else about it.

"I'm about halfway through," she explained. "I've completed a year and a half, just started the second half of my second year. The nursing course is normally two and a half years, but the sports medicine source will tack another two semesters on for me."

The waitress came back and we gave her our orders, then I wound up telling Susan about the photography course I'd just started with my best friend. As we talked I found out Sue was twenty-one, but she'd be turning twenty-two next month.

I told her I was nineteen, but there was a brief moment of panic when I couldn't remember when my birthday was. I mean, I knew when dead-me's birthday was, but when Lily got me new ID she put a different date on it since it would have been weird for me and 'my brother' to have the same birthday.

Fortunately the date came to me before Susan had a chance to question, and I told her I'd be turning twenty on May third.

Then I asked about work and found out she wasn't working, but she didn't mention how she could afford tuition and stuff without a job. I assumed her folks were paying for it. I also found out she had a one-bedroom apartment a little ways west of here. It was a little too far to walk, but only ten or fifteen minutes by bus.

And when she asked if I was working, I told her I sold nude pictures and sex videos online.

She laughed for a moment, then went quiet and looked at me, "Wait are you serious?"

"Sure," I shrugged. "It's fun, it's not very hard work, and I can do it from home."

Susan had a bunch of questions about that, but I actually didn't have a lot of answers. I'd only been doing it for two months and I kind of just threw things together based on a couple blog posts and an article I read back in June.

When I told her that, she gave me a bit of a look. "Seriously? You read a couple things on the internet then just dove in and started doing online sex work?"

"Yeah?" I frowned. "Why, what should I have done?"

She finished her drink then asked, "How about connecting with other people in that line of work? Like reach out and talk to them? Ask if they have advice, if there's any safety tips or caveats they can share with you?"

I felt my cheeks going red again as I grimaced, "Oh. Yeah, that actually sounds like a good idea."

She almost face-palmed at that.

Before my date could make some comment or remark on my lack of preparedness, the waitress arrived with our meals.

Susan got a roast beef sandwich on crusty bread and a side salad. I had an order of 'boneless wings' which I was pretty sure was just a way to market chicken nuggets to adults. Though I guess coating them in spicy Thai sauce made them just a tiny bit more posh than dipping them in a little plastic tub of bbq sauce.

After the waitress set our food down, Susan asked for a second cocktail. The waitress nodded and took Susan's empty glass with her.

As we both got started on our food, Susan changed the subject and asked "So I'm still curious about the whole horns and tail thing? And I guess about the whole magic thing in general. I've been trying to hold back but I have a bunch more questions and I'm dying to ask them."

I knew this part of the conversation was coming sooner or later, and honestly I was surprised and a little impressed she managed to avoid the topic as long as she did.

"Ok," I tried not to grimace too badly. "I can't promise you answers, and some stuff might be better to discuss in private? But you can ask, and we'll see where it goes."

She nodded and asked, "So obviously your 'malfunctioning costume' went away after I left on Sunday. How long were you stuck with them?"

"Uh," I thought back, then answered "They disappeared about a half hour after you left? So not that long actually."

Of course I didn't tell her that I brought them right back again, or that me and Lily had them come and go a dozen more times as she taught me how to do it and we experimented with the colour.

Susan looked thoughtful as she took a bite of her sandwich and I munched on one of my posh nugs.

The waitress returned with another drink for Susan and she had another glass of water for me. We thanked her, and Susan had a sip of her drink then asked "Can your friend do it again? Like have them appear on you again?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "Not here though. I mean for one thing it'd be uncomfortable sitting on a tail in a booth like this? But it'd attract too much attention having it happen in public. For that matter, now that halloween's over it'd attract too much attention just having them out in public."

"That makes sense," Susan replied with a frown. "I mean, I'm sure nobody would assume they were real if you were just walking around in public with them? But they'd definitely think it was odd, like they'd probably figure it was a costume and they'd wonder why you were wearing it."

I just nodded in agreement.

We both continued eating quietly for another minute or so, then she asked "Wait. When you said your friend couldn't do it here because people would see, does that mean your friend could do it here if we were in private? I mean, she doesn't have to be here to do it? How does that work? Like you call her or text her or something and she zaps you with magic?"

I blushed, "Something like that."

Susan looked thoughtful again as she had another bite of her sandwich. Finally she asked, "Could I meet your friend?"

"No," I shook my head. "She's very private, sorry."

I wasn't actually sure if Lily would be opposed to meeting Susan or not, but I figured with the other stuff going on right now it wasn't a good idea. And I remembered back in the summer, Lily said having mom and Melissa know about her was enough.

Susan accepted my answer, she didn't try to bargain or push or whatever. Instead she asked, "After dinner if we go back to your place, could you get your friend to have them appear on you again? Could I see that happen?"

I ate another nug then drank some water, and finally sighed as I looked at Susan.

"Before I answer that, I need something cleared up, ok? You said on Sunday you didn't know if you wanted to date me or study me. I'm up for the dating part, but not the studying part. I get you're curious, and I don't mind that? But I want to be up-front about things. If I start to feel like you're just focusing on that, I'm going to call it off. And maybe this is out of line, but I also don't really want horns and a tail to be the only part of me that you're into? Again, I'm not opposed to that being part of the attraction or whatever? But if that's the only reason you want to be with me, then it's not going to work."

Susan frowned, then took a deep gulp of her drink. She sighed, "I'm sorry Mara. I realize how all this must seem to you. I promise I'm not just into you for that. I'm very curious about it, and I think that's a normal reaction? I mean, having horns and a tail is pretty damn unique. And having them come and go by magic is... Well it's even more impossible. So yes I'm curious, yes I want to know more. But I promise I'm not going to try and examine you, I'm not going to try and convince you to get in an x-ray or anything like that. I do want to get to know you better, and not just because of that unique aspect of you?"

I nodded, "Ok. That makes sense. I wanted to clear it up and I think we've done that. So yeah, when we're done here we can go back to my place, and see where it goes about the other stuff."

Susan accepted that, and we both continued our meal together. We wound up changing the subject for now, and got to know each other a little better.

I found out her interest in sci-fi was pretty broad. She was a bit of a geek when it came to several different franchises. I was familiar with most of the movies and shows she mentioned, but I wasn't into it all as much as she was. And I told her about the sorts of fantasy stories I was into and some of the games I used to be into with Melissa, though neither of us played as much since we started college. Between classes and homework and my part-time job, I didn't have as much time left over for gaming.

Actually it sort of hit me, though I didn't mention it to Susan. But I realized that I probably used those games and stories for escapism, and since I became Mara I didn't feel the need to escape my life anymore. So I wasn't as interested in that stuff, I didn't need it as much. I made a mental note to ask Melissa if she felt the same.

Me and Susan talked some more as we finished eating, we discussed stuff like sci-fi versus fantasy and how advanced sci-fi technology and magic sort of blended together. She had some strong opinions about some of this stuff, but I wasn't as into it and didn't know some of the stuff she was talking about.

Still, she made it interesting and it was fun to listen to her talk about these things.

Eventually we'd both had enough to eat and Susan had the last of her drink. She paid the bill, then we grabbed our jackets and purses and headed back to my place to continue the date in private.

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