Josie leaned back against the tree trunk, humming idly to herself. She was in her transformed state, since she might as well be considering there were barely any drawbacks toward being that way for an extended period of time.

Sometimes, Josie just needed to get away. The moderately-urbanized town and somewhat adequate apartment didn’t always do it for her, for some reason.

As Josie relaxed in the wilderness, far enough away from civilization to be able to get some peace, her mind drifted back to where it began.

Which was a few feet away from her, the spot where they found it. Eight months ago.

***

Josie, going by Trevor at the time, was having a pretty good day. Trevor had just quit his crappy retail job, and decided to go hiking to celebrate. Even more amazingly, Trevor had convinced Lindsay to tag along, even though the latter had never hiked a day in her life.

And it showed. Lindsay was constantly tripping, as one not wearing hiking boots tended to do out in the wild. She also kept complaining about random things, such as her cell reception only being two bars. Trevor would simply roll his eyes at her, and take her hand in his whenever Lindsay started to get overwhelmed. Really, it was a gentlemanly thing to do. Obviously.

While Trevor downplayed his familiarity with the area, the truth was that he would go there whenever he needed a place to think. What kind of job would he get now? He had to contribute his fair share of rent for his and Lindsay’s apartment. Even though Lindsay had assured him to not rush, since she was pretty comfortable with her current administrative assistant job. Besides, Trevor had covered when Lindsay quit her job at the lingerie place. It was only fair. They’d been covering for each other since high school a few years ago.

The pair eventually reached Trevor’s favorite clearing, a little area that was just a little bit more lush than the surrounding environment. Though, in Trevor’s younger days, he recalled the clearing looking more homogeneous with its surroundings. Since it was about the seventh time Lindsay had complained that her feet hurt, there was an extra incentive for the pair to rest. Trevor took his spot by a tree trunk, while Lindsay sat in the middle of the clearing.

“I’m sooooo tired,” Lindsay had whined.

Trevor rolled his eyes. “What, you’re not having fun?” he joked.

Lindsay hit him with a glare. “You knew I’d hate this.”

Trevor gave his best impression of an innocent look. “I had no idea.”

“Liar.”

“Whiner.”

“Wuh -- okay...shut up!” Lindsay said while crossing her arms under her chest. 

What followed was a very tense staredown as the two stared at each other, until Trevor finally cracked and burst into laughter. Lindsay quickly followed suit, collapsing on the grass in a fit of giggles.

When Trevor’s eyes refocused, he saw that Lindsay was staring off to the side. When he called out Lindsay’s name, she snapped to attention.

“What’s up?” Trevor asked.

“I see something odd over there,” Lindsay pointed. Trevor followed her hand. Lindsay was pointing at one of the tree trunks, as if something was different. Trevor squinted, but saw nothing -- wait, what was that off to the side?

Lindsay stood up, walking over to the tree, and Trevor quickly followed behind her. As he jogged over, he got a clearer picture of what Lindsay had found: a wooden staff casually leaning against the tree trunk as if to say, “Sup.”

“It’s someone’s walking stick,” Trevor said flatly.

“Why’s it here?” Lindsay wondered while picking the staff up, giving it a little twirl.

“I dunno. Can I see?” Trevor asked, and Lindsay nodded while passing him the staff.

Trevor waved the staff around, noting that it didn't feel like just a staff. It was like it was a fraction heavier than expected. No, there was another presence inside it, something touching on a sense Trevor had no idea he even possessed.

The presence was reaching out to Trevor. This was some kind of magic, right? School had taught him to resist and not engage with unknown sources of magic, but in the moment he was too shocked to actually pay that lesson any heed. He should have dropped the staff. But he didn’t. He was too curious.

The presence jumped from the staff and enveloped Trevor. He seemed to be viewing his body from afar, but everything was hazy. He could still feel what was happening in a dim, distant way. His body shifted, his proportions changing in a strangely pleasant manner. Trevor was very aware he had a problem on his hands, but how could anything causing all these nice sensations be something to worry over?

As the changes finished their course, Trevor snapped back into reality, being brought out of the really good feelings by a hysterical Lindsay.

“Trevor, are you still in there!?” Talk to me, please!” she pleaded.

Oh, that wasn’t good. Trevor had better give a sophisticated lowdown on how everything was fine. 

“Huh?” Trevor uttered magnificently. Oh, that was weird. His voice cracked?

He stared at Lindsay’s face. She was trembling, her eyes wide. What had gotten her all worked up?

“Trevor? Please...say something only you would say,” Lindsay begged.

“Damn, still whining about the trip?” Trevor joked, and then realized something was very not right about his voice. His hand shot up to his throat, in the process brushing up against something that was definitely not there before. “What happened--” As he was talking, Trevor got a glimpse of his hand and his knees went weak. He tumbled onto the grass, dropping the staff that he apparently held onto the entire time.

“Shit. Oh my god. Shit. Uh, I need to call one of the magical crisis lines. Uh, fuck.“ Lindsay babbled while getting out her phone.

Trevor rolled over and sat up, staring upward at Lindsay. “Lindsay, wait. I’m not hurt,” He reached his palm out to her, only to go cross eyed as he stared at his hand. “I’m not hurt, and my hand is a lot tinier than I remember it being,” Trevor said slowly.

Lindsay stared at her friend, tears in her eyes. She had a look of realization on her face, and she knelt on the ground, gaze not leaving. Trevor shifted uncomfortably. “What?” he asked.

“You’re...not panicking? I would if...this happened to me,” Lindsay asked, her eyes refusing to blink.

“Should I be freaking out?” Trevor asked uncertainly. He paused for a moment, somewhat appreciating the newfound smoothness and sudden reduction in the size of his body. His clothes were suddenly ill-fitting as a result.

A stray thought made him chuckle; even with clothes that didn’t fit, he would still be better off on the hike than Lindsay was.

“Why are you giggling?” Lindsay frowned, and put her hand in his. “This is serious. You don’t just suddenly become a girl and laugh it off!” 

Well, that broke the ice. Trevor already knew what had happened; he’d have to be really blind to not immediately notice that his physical body changed like this. Yet not acknowledging what had happened appeared to be the best path here. Definitely. 

“Haha, suddenly girl.” Trevor laughed harder, causing Lindsay to put her other hand on her face to cover up a range of mixed emotions Trevor couldn’t identify. Lindsay didn’t say anything in response to that witty joke, electing to silently let Trevor laugh himself out.

“Okay, okay. I’m good now,” Trevor reassured his best friend, while also focusing on just how different his voice sounded. “Damn, this voice sounds hot. At least, when I hear it. What about you?”

Lindsay was curling her lip funny and staring into space. “Do you actually like this?” she asked.

Did Trevor actually like this? Ew, no. No way. What, was Lindsay crazy? As far as hot takes went, that was a wildly unexpected one from Lindsay.

“No!” Trevor stammered indignantly. “I just...don’t know how to react. I turned into a completely different person. I’m actually trying not to have a panic attack right now and--”

Trevor’s rambling was cut short by Lindsay wrapping him into a hug. The two laid in the grass together for a few moments, neither of them saying anything. Trevor’s thoughts strayed a little bit in the meantime, and he forced himself to abandon them. Thoughts about how nice this all felt were only going to lead him down a dark path.

In fact, it felt a little too nice. This body felt like it was brimming with energy, in a way that Trevor’s other one would only feel like on his best days. He sat up, causing Lindsay to look at him from the ground expectantly. Trevor flexed a few of his digits and focused on the energy and tried to draw it out. 

A vine started to grow from his fingertips, one that looked to be pure, manifested magical energy. Trevor reached out to touch one of the leaves attached with his other hand, surprised at how real it felt. He rubbed the leaf, amazed at the realistic, cool texture. 

“What’s that?” Lindsay asked, startling Trevor. With a blink, the vine had dissipated into wisps of magic.

“This body has superpowers,” Trevor said, staring at his palm. Was it really his palm? Or just some bit of flesh that he was borrowing? What a twisted and confusing concept.

“The staff did that? Wait, you made that vine!?” Lindsay said excitedly, but keeping her voice low so as to not startle Trevor again. Trevor nodded affirmatively.

“That’s amazing!” Lindsay exclaimed, perhaps a bit louder than she had intended. “But...we still need to fix what happened to your body.”

“Let me see the staff,” Trevor said, standing up and scanning the area.

“Is that a good idea?” Lindsay said while following suit.

“You’re right. Maybe I’ll get turned into a girl again! Man, wouldn’t something like that really suck?” Trevor grumbled, and then paused. “Sorry.” 

“You’re fine. I get your point.” Lindsay shrugged, while nodding to where Trevor had dropped the staff.

Trevor absentmindedly picked it up. What if this was permanent? Would he just be completely forced to adapt to living life as a girl? That would be so terrible, so awful, a fate worse than death...he would have to rely on Lindsay very heavily. Get some new clothes, figure out a girl’s name, have to adapt to having new pronouns as obviously the only choice in that situation would be to artificially change his own gender identity. It would be such a hassle, but maybe in the end he would be happier with the result?

Trevor figured that energy had flowed into him when he picked up the staff, so maybe he could push that energy back into it? Worth a try. He concentrated, and tapped into the same energy he used to create the vine. As he pushed it out, he felt the changes beginning again.

Another haze. This time, it wasn’t an entirely good sensation. The power was rapidly drained from Trevor as his body changed in ways that didn’t feel quite as good as when they had transformed in the first place. Probably due to the superhero energy leaving him. And that was the only reason.

When Trevor came to, he noted with a tiny bit of satisfaction-slash-acceptance that his body was back to where it was for the rest of his uninteresting life. He sighed in what he would describe as relief. He’d really dodged a bullet there.

“Well, that was easy,” Trevor murmured.

Lindsay was standing there, watching him. “Are you um, disappointed?” she said hesitantly.

Trevor looked directly at her with his mouth open. “What, no! No way!” 

“‘Kay, gotcha.” Lindsay held her hands up in defense. “I think we should head back, and I’m not saying that just because my feet still hurt.”

“Yeah, I’ve kinda had enough too,” Trevor agreed. He stared at the staff that he’d managed to not drop this time. He could feel the energy, trapped inside. If he left the staff here, who would be the next person to find it? Some supervillain? It was best if he held onto it for safekeeping. There was no way in hell he would ever use the thing again, but at this point, it was better him than somebody else.

***

Josie smirked. She had used the staff later that same night. For research purposes. Clearly.

She sat alone in the clearing for a while, reflecting on the turns her life had taken in the past several months for the first time. Being suddenly changed like that, experimenting with superpowers and crafting a new identity, and then finding out that there wasn’t a new identity being created after all; it was one that Josie always had inside of herself that she’d never expressed.

It wasn’t like Josie had complete clarity on what she needed to do. A lot of her plans were still up in the air. After all, someone had to have left the staff there for somebody to find. What would that mean for being transformed? Phil said only one person could use it at a time. The staff clearly wasn’t accidentally left there; anybody transformed and with superpowers would have kept better track of it. The way it leaned against that tree trunk, that was deliberate.

What would happen to Josie? If she grew too old and too weak to use her powers one day, would she just cast the staff aside or give it to somebody else? Assuming the staff would even have survived that long. She’d already caused damage to it. Plus, the thought of her transformation being yanked away from her was already enough to cause a flitter of panic inside Josie. That wasn’t allowed to happen. 

Was it selfish to just say, “The superpowers die with me,” and snap the staff in two while transformed? Heck, if she ever retired and stopped doing things with her powers, was it justified to let the potential sit there for what could be a few decades, until somebody found it after she died?

Josie rubbed her temples. There was no obligation to do anything with her powers. That much was clear. A lot of what she was thinking about was way down the line, but worth considering now before she did something irreversible. 

Her thoughts turned to Lindsay. Even though Lindsay had never gone hiking again for some reason after that day, Lindsay had always been there for Josie. Josie wouldn’t be able to even imagine what life would be like without her.

Tears began to leak out of Josie’s eyes. She really had bonded with Lindsay. More than what typical friends would have. Lindsay was so positive and supportive, and also going out of her way to do things like help her try on bras and comfort her… 

Realization dawned. It all came together. Josie knew what was going on now. Both she and Lindsay were attracted to each other. How could she not see it before? The kiss on the cheek especially…

Josie smiled and stood up, her mind beginning to draw up plans. She had more clarity than she ever had before. Lindsay had made her intentions as clear as day; it was up to Josie now.