The villain's chosen name was Pestilence, but everybody called her ‘Pest’. Pest used to be a pretty low threat level villain, mostly showing up in retail stores and annoying the customers and employees by bringing in a bunch of her fly buddies to swarm the place. Nobody ever got hurt, but retail workers already had enough to deal with.

Pest wasn’t taken seriously, until the villain realized she could also use her flies and locusts to swarm and destroy entire crop fields effortlessly. By the time the heroes were able to track her down and stop her, there were over a million acres ruined.

That’s how the state gave Bloom her most laborious as well as most lucrative job yet; restore over a million acres of farmland. Seemed easy enough.

Of course, it wasn’t. Bloom still needed to work on the preciseness of her technique, as her preferred method was standing in the epicenter of the area she needed to change. Typically her changes would shape the land in a circle around her; as Bloom got stronger, she would be able to make the circle larger if she needed. Defining more precise areas was not something Bloom had practiced much, so it was good to get more opportunities to grow.

Bloom had just finished restoring the last swathe of farmland for the day, and she ended up collapsing from the sheer magnitude of energy she had unleashed. By her projections, it would take Bloom another week to finish up the land restoration. 

“Pretty brave of you, doing your work without a mask on,” a deep voice said from behind her. 

Bloom spun around and stood up. She was facing an older guy in overalls, definitely one of the farmers whose lands were devastated. Bloom shrugged, not knowing what to say in response.

“Sorry for scaring you. I just wanted to give you my thanks for doing this,” the farmer continued.

“You’re welcome.” Bloom smiled, inwardly thinking about how to get away from any sort of conversation.

“You the type to take unsolicited advice?”

No. “Sure?” Bloom shrugged, rubbing the back of her neck with her hand.

“Avoid doing work alone. I know you’re super, but getting caught off guard even for a second is dangerous for girls.”

It hit Bloom that this guy was actually making sense. She could defend herself, but that assumed she knew where the danger was. Bloom liked being able to do her work alone, yet she didn’t want to invite more danger, especially after what she’d already experienced.

“You’re right.” Bloom sighed.

The farmer nodded. “You remind me a bit of my daughter.”

That piqued Bloom’s interest. “How so?”

“Well, she would go into places alone too. See, she transitioned at twenty, and I neglected to teach her to protect herself. She ended up taking a drink from some guy at a bar, and well, bad things can happen when you do that. Luckily for her, the bartender caught the guy in the act and kept her safe.”

“That’s a big relief,” Bloom said earnestly. Something else caught her attention. “Transitioned?”

“Yup. She’s transgender. Wouldn’t mind me telling you, either.”

“Huh.” Bloom said as she looked away. “Then why are you telling me about her?”

“I can tell you didn’t get the same lessons. I suppose my own radar makes me think you’re similar to her, but it’s none of my business.”

Well, it was good he wasn’t going to make her out herself. What a nice guy.

“It’s still my duty as a man to protect you ladies when I’m able.”

That was...validating but also demeaning?

Bloom had intended to stay silent and not draw attention to herself, but she was curious. “How old is your daughter now?”

“Thirty-three.” He smiled, pausing. “She’s doing much better since the bar incident, especially after her Confirmation Spell.”

Bloom raised her eyebrows. “You could afford that? Must have been very expensive.”

“It was,” the farmer confirmed. “We all saved up for a couple years to make it happen. Hell, I considered taking the package deal and seeing what it came up with for myself, but that would have delayed her by another year or so.”

“Wow.” Bloom said. The Confirmation Spell was a procedure where the patient would be transformed into their idealized self. Unfortunately, only so many mages had powersets that enabled them to cast it. Considering that anyone could benefit from it, not just transgender people, the procedure happened to be extremely high in demand, which made the price out of Bloom’s league for the time being.

“I see the look on your face,” the farmer noted, frowning. “With your skills, you could open your own private practice and bless people’s crops. Make lotsa money that way.”

Weird advice. “What, like a priest?” Bloom deflected.

“I know a couple people who do pay for a service like that. The difference is you’re genuine.” 

“I…” Bloom stammered. “It would feel wrong, taking advantage of people like that.”

“I don’t see why it’s a big deal,” the farmer casually said. “The state pays you to do this for us. Probably not as much as you’re worth, really. B’sides, I get paid to produce food. What’s the problem?”

“I dunno,” Bloom said honestly. “I’ll have to think about it on my drive home.” She moved to leave.

“You’re a good kid. Thank you for rescuing us.” The farmer smiled at Bloom, and saw her off with a wave.

Bloom trudged back to her car, feeling tired as hell but with a sense of satisfaction. It turned out to not be as hard to carry out a conversation as she’d thought; maybe Bloom had put too much stock in her superhero identity before. It really wasn’t a big deal.

As Bloom got in her car and sat down, she heard a small ‘crack.’ Bloom looked behind her to see she had sat on her backpack. The one with her staff that could magically transform her back and forth. Oh no.

Bloom stepped back out and quickly unzipped the backpack, and examined the staff. It was a couple feet long, barely fitting in the backpack pocket it typically resided in. She ran her finger down the wooden base, checking for anything to show a sign of it breaking. 

There was a small splinter on the side, undoubtedly caused by Bloom’s carelessness. No, this staff wasn’t allowed to break. If it did...what would happen? Would she be stuck in one form? 

Bloom gingerly placed the staff back in her backpack and put it aside in the passenger’s seat, trying to not spiral into a self-loathing session. If that staff stopped working, her life was over. She couldn’t bear the thought of losing the control she currently had over her transformations. Maybe she needed to do some research and get a better idea on what the staff actually did, first.

***

“You mean, you never actually got the staff appraised? For seven months?” Lindsay said, surprised.

“Okay...for six of those months, I thought I was a guy.” Josie rolled her eyes. “It’s not really...okay, I just didn’t want the attention.” Josie admitted. She was in her civilian form now, lying on the couch in a cute black skirt and dark green top combination. As much as Josie would like to stay in her superpowered form all the time, she actually had no idea on if there was a time limit built in to the staff, and Josie had zero desire to actually test that theory out considering a spontaneous transformation without warning sounded like a lovely way to trigger a panic attack.

It really just came down to biting the bullet and forking out the money to get the staff appraised. Normally, money would be uncomfortably tight enough for it to hurt considering the clothes shopping they’d done earlier, but between the promised compensation money from the fight a couple weeks ago and the more-generous-than-usual payment for her services to the city, Josie felt fine with splurging a little bit.

“I’ll get the damn thing appraised,” Josie acknowledged, staring at the ceiling. “Gonna suck though, talking to one of those Artificer guys.”

“Yeah, but they will be able to actually tell us what the staff can and can’t do,” Lindsay pointed out.

Josie crossed her arms and curled herself into a ball. “I’m going to have to go over my transformation.” She sighed. Lindsay got up from her chair and went over to Josie, with Lindsay putting her hand on Josie’s head.

“They have non-disclosure agreements for a reason,” Lindsay reassured her.

“Still...it’s scary.” Josie frowned, scrunching herself up more. Lindsay’s hand trailed down the back of Josie’s head, and began to lightly rub the nervous girl’s neck. Josie stretched to accommodate her, not even consciously thinking about the movements she was making. 

Lindsay was such an attentive friend; just Josie being in the same room as her made it easy to relax. She was safe to be around, clearly. Definitely only because she was safe, and not because of any warm feelings building up in Josie’s chest. Her heart beat a little faster as Lindsay moved her hand lower, rubbing the upper part of Josie’s torso. Josie let out a little sigh as she got out of the protective position she had curled herself into, lying on her stomach.

“Thank you…” Josie breathed, as Lindsay traced her finger from shoulder to shoulder.

“Always glad to make a cute girl like you happy,” Lindsay said with a fond tone in her voice.

Cute girl? That...that was even better than just being called ‘cute’. Josie blushed, and was thankful Lindsay couldn’t see her face from that angle. There Lindsay went, pushing Josie’s boundaries yet again. If only Josie could give her a hug and a -- wait.

Josie re-focused her mind, she couldn’t get distracted. Lindsay had gone quiet, obviously waiting for Josie to continue the conversation.

“So I’m going to get the staff appraised. I can’t put it off any longer,” Josie reiterated.

Lindsay let out a sigh, which was a bit weird even for her. “Ah. I see.”

That was out of character for her, Josie expected her to be more enthusiastic. Josie turned on her side, facing Lindsay, and looked at her quizzically.

“What’s up?”

Lindsay pursed her lips for a moment, then continued. “Well, how about I go with you? I don’t think you should do this alone.”

Josie cocked her head. “And give the artificer person more information about my life? Probably not a good idea.”

“I could just throw one of my Halloween costumes on. Isn’t there some kind of thing that makes me not have to identify myself?”

Josie groaned. Lindsay was completely right, but she didn’t want to cause trouble for Lindsay. “Yeah. Aliases are respected, though you have to register.”

“I don’t have to do shit if I’m just a plus-one.” Lindsay grinned. “I’m not the one making the appointment.” 

“I…” Josie tried to find a way to object, but Lindsay’s logic had thoroughly defeated her again. “You know what, fuck it, let’s do it.”

***

Josie and Lindsay sat in the waiting room, Josie fuming, and Lindsay bouncing in her chair. Josie was transformed and in her Bloom outfit, but really, Bloom was just a more focused version of herself. She was still Josie inside, and had to mentally remind herself to give both her identities proper respect. If she didn’t, she would just become driven by envy and forget who she was.

Lindsay, on the other hand, had no such problems. She was dressed in a ridiculous black and purple witch costume, though she also had slipped on a domino mask at the last second, after making Josie stop during the drive to the Artificer clinic. Lindsay absolutely reveled in her made-up persona; she was practicing her cackle and sultry voice during the drive, both of which gave Josie a mix of feelings she couldn’t identify.

“Bloom?” an attendant wearing a mask asked, to which Josie and Lindsay stood up. As the pair walked back into the artificer lab, the attendant made sure to ask Lindsay who she was.

“Darque Witch,” Lindsay said, causing Josie to stifle a groan and the attendant to raise an eyebrow. Lindsay was very insistent on the ‘darque’ being a core part of her name, making sure to emphasize the ‘k’ sound. But when the attendant wrote ‘Dark Witch’, Lindsay made an audible grumble but neglected to push the issue.

After what turned into a half hour of waiting inside a small office, a knock on the door made Josie stand unnecessarily to attention. The door opened to reveal a very nondescript white man with black hair wearing a smile on his face.

Josie stared at the guy. He wasn’t in any sort of costume at all.

“I get that a lot.” He laughed. “Let’s just say I don’t look like this most of the time. Call me Phil, let’s get to the fun stuff.” Phil motioned for the two to follow him, and they obliged. 

When Phil opened the doors to his workshop, it wasn’t what Josie expected. Wires hung down from the ceiling, powering various electronic devices. A few magical apparatuses were littered throughout the room, though Josie only figured they were magical in nature because they glowed funny. Glancing to the side, Josie saw that Lindsay was similarly surprised, though her eyes were only slightly wider than normal. Really, it looked more technical than magical, but it didn’t really matter as long as Phil did his job.

“Get the staff you mentioned in your call out, and place it here.” Phil motioned to a metal table in the middle of the room. The table had a glowing crystal sitting in the corner, currently giving off a white light. Josie carefully moved her backpack over and took the staff out, wincing when she saw the splinter she had caused. Upon setting the staff fully on the table, the crystal in the corner turned green.

“Well, it’s magical all right, cool,” Phil said flatly. “Now, could you describe what the staff does? I’d like to know where to start.”

Josie took a deep breath and decided to give an abridged description. “It’s a staff that transforms the user.”

“Into what?” Phil asked, looking more interested. “And is it permanent?”

Josie reluctantly gestured to herself. “It turned me into how I look right now. And no, I can change back and forth by holding the staff and concentrating.”

Phil nodded. “Classic transformation magic, gotcha. Anything else you can think of?”

“Um…” For some reason Josie found this part more difficult. “It gave me my powers…”

“Damn.” Phil whistled. “I’d ask you where you found it, but that’s not important for what my job is. I’ll start by analyzing the nature of the transformative magic and see if that leads me into how it gives you superpowers.”

“How long is this going to take?” Lindsay piped up, putting her hands on her hips and using her sultry voice.

“Few minutes for the transformation magic, longer for the superpowers. It’s easy when I know what tools I gotta use,” Phil muttered while grabbing a few items from one of the shelves in the room. He put on a set of gloves and placed a tablet on the table, then ran a small crystal along the staff. Josie was expecting the crystal to glow a bunch of weird colors, but nothing like that happened. Josie presumed that Phil was scanning the staff and getting readings.

The much less interesting part was when Phil turned to his tablet and just scrolled on there for a while with a neutral expression, but he would occasionally let an eyebrow raise slip by.

After twenty minutes of boredom, Phil cleared his throat.

“So, this staff...it’s actually really cool. The core of it is, it’s a togglable Confirmation Spell, with a few bonuses thrown in, supposing the wearer is capable of tapping into it.”

Josie opened her mouth, but closed it. She was switching back and forth between an idealized version of herself all along? If she was still in denial about being transgender, this would have shattered through her defenses. Heck, was it possible for her to shatter a second time? Bloom was who she saw herself as, all along. It really wasn’t going to change anything, as Josie was working on becoming herself full time regardless. Only then did Josie realize she had been staring into space for more than a few seconds, and Phil was probably expecting questions.

Luckily, Lindsay had that covered. “What kind of bonuses?” she asked.

“It enhances latent powers within the individual. So if you are on the cusp of having powers but not quite there yet, the staff gives a power boost. Considering you have to have enough of a power inside you to activate it, the staff is an effective power amplifier as long as you meet the requirements,” Phil explained.

Josie wordlessly moved to the nearest chair and sat down, resting her head on the side. She’d always had powers inside of her, but they had never manifested? The staff hadn’t given her superpowers, it had simply enabled her to really use what was already  part of her. That was wild.

“What about limitations? Say, any time restrictions? Power restrictions?” Lindsay continued to ask the questions Josie was thinking of. Lindsay really was a lifesaver.

“No time limit. Essentially, you touch the staff and you’re good. Distance isn’t an issue. Your body would burn out before the staff burned out of power. That’s really how it works. Also, it can only affect one person at a time, of course.”

Josie put her head up, snapping to attention. No time limit...that made things easier. There was still one question she had on her mind. 

“What happens if the staff is damaged? Or destroyed?”

Phil took a deep breath. “The spell dissipates. You’re locked in the state you’re in at the time.”

That was about everything Josie needed to know. She had a skeleton of a plan in her head for what she needed to do, but the execution was something she needed to consider. Josie stood up.

“Thank you, Phil, for your time.”

“Of course.” He nodded. “I’ll email you a summary of what the staff can do within twenty-four hours.”

Josie was in a whirl of emotions as her and Lindsay exited the building. The obvious choice was to forget about the staff and just stay as her transformed state for the rest of her life. She could even cancel the HRT appointment that was still a week out and forget about it. 

What of her legal identity? How much would Josie have to pay to ensure she could still be recognized as a citizen? Speaking of being recognized, she could even get identified as Bloom and have to deal with the same uncertainty that everyone with powers faced; what about threats? It wasn’t like Bloom was a major name or anything, but the fear was there. It was completely her own fault considering she thought her transformed state was the costume. In reality, Josie was being more true to herself than she ever realized, and now she would have to clean up after her mistakes.

“Proud of you for doing this,” Lindsay said as the two got in the car. Lindsay had dropped the sultry tone, though her voice was just as pleasant to listen to.

“Thanks Lindsay.” Josie smiled. “By the way, your costume is really hot.”

Lindsay turned away from Josie, and Josie herself wasn’t sure why she’d said that. Josie was just telling the truth, Lindsay was hot. Even when she wasn’t wearing the costume. Oh.

So Lindsay was actually really hot.