Me and Amber were both on our second vodka cooler as we talked some more. We left the serious stuff behind for now and were talking about our favourite isekai and reincarnation stories. She was into the original Japanese stuff, mangas and anime and all that, but back when me and Melissa used to read it we both stuck with Western authors' interpretation of the genre.
It was kind of funny though, like how much we both had in common. We were basically both into a lot of the same stuff, but Amber was into what I thought of as the posh version. I liked Chinese take-out, she liked fancy Sushi restaurants. I used to read Western isekai and reincarnation stories, she was into Japanese isekai and reincarnation mangas. She was even teaching herself how to read Japanese so she didn't need the translated versions.
And we both started out thinking we were awkward shy quiet guys, who ended up being trans girls.
And on that point, I decided to bring the conversation back around to the other stuff, the reason I'd actually invited her here in the first place.
"So like I was saying earlier, if you wanted, if it was something you were interested in, Lily could actually magic you into your ideal body."
Amber sighed and her expression grew serious, "Right. For a price, you said. And what about my family? What about college? How's all that work?"
"She can't do anything about your family," I replied. "You'd have to come up with some excuse or explanation, without telling them the truth. And I have no idea what to do about college. I'm hoping Susan and Melissa will come back soon, Melissa can probably answer most of your questions. She's a lot smarter than me, and she knows all this stuff way better."
"Melissa?" she gave me a funny look. "The bimbo's the smart one?"
I nodded, "Yeah. That's just an act she puts on, to pick up guys."
Amber had another gulp of her cooler then asked, "About that, how come your girlfriend is out there picking up guys all the time? Isn't that a bit uh, odd? Are you all in an open relationship or something?"
"Something like that," I replied quietly. "You'll have to ask them when they get back, I don't want to speak for them about that sort of thing."
"Wait 'them'? Does Susan do that too?"
I tried not to face-palm, and just said "Let's just drop it till they're back, ok?"
"Ok," she nodded.
After another gulp of her cooler she asked, "So what about this price you mentioned. It's not the usual demon-takes-your-soul thing, is it?"
"Nope," I shook my head. "She won't want your soul. I'm not going to say anything else though, I'm really hoping Melissa and Sue will be back soon so we can talk with them too. And I guess the next step after that would be for you to meet Lily. She'll explain the whole thing and give you all the terms and stuff."
That got her looking nervous again. "You want me to meet the demon?"
I shrugged, "You don't have to. There's nothing to be scared of though, she uses my body so she just looks like me."
Before Amber could respond to that, the apartment door opened and my girlfriends came inside. Susan didn't say a word, she just went straight to my bedroom and closed the door behind her.
Melissa came over to me and Amber and explained, "Sue asked me to apologize for her. Amber, she's not upset with you or anything like that. You either, Mara. It was just, seeing Amber opened up a bunch of painful memories and stuff for her. About losing her dad and everything? It was a rough part of her life and she wasn't expecting to have it all come back up just now."
Both me and Amber sighed. I replied, "Thanks Melissa. And thanks for looking after Susan. Is she going to be ok?"
"Yeah," Melissa replied. "It might be awkward but I was thinking, if you want to go speak with her I'll stay here and keep Amber company?"
I nodded as I stood up, "Thanks Melissa. And sorry Amber. I'm going to check on Sue, hopefully I won't be long."
She just nodded, and drained her second cooler.
The whole afternoon was going very not according to plan at all, but somehow it hadn't exactly fallen apart completely. Not yet at least. Before I went into the bedroom I added to Melissa, "I've told Amber about Lily, and about me. She knows Lily could help her, but I haven't told her any other details, or anything else yet."
"Ok Mara," Melissa nodded. I was sure she understood what I meant, that I didn't tell Amber about the succubus stuff and all that.
While I went to the bedroom, Melissa sat down on the sofa next to Amber. I knocked gently on the door then let myself in, and closed the door again behind me.
Susan was laying on the bed, curled up on her side hugging a pillow.
I sat on the edge of the bed next to her and asked, "Hey Sue? How are you doing? Melissa told me what was going on, I'm sorry you got blindsided by all that. I had no idea you and Amber knew each other."
She sighed, "Thanks Mara. I know you didn't know, it's ok. I'm not upset with you. Or with Ethan. It's just... It really threw me. Seeing him again after all these years, it was like, I don't know. That whole time of my life was just the worst Mara, and seeing him kind of sent me right back there, mentally."
I reached over and gently rubbed her back, and asked "Are you going to be ok with Amber here? Like if she stays for dinner or whatever? I don't want you to feel like you have to hide in here the rest of the afternoon or evening."
Susan sighed again then shrugged, "Give me another hour or so. I'll see if I feel like joining you all in a bit."
"Ok," I replied quietly. "I'll check in on you in a little while, and see how you're doing. Ok?"
"Thanks Mara."
Before I left she turned to face me and asked, "Can I ask Lily something? Did she know? Lily did you know ahead of time that I already knew Ethan?"
"Lily?" I asked, "Do you want to take over and talk with Susan?"
A moment later I slipped into the back seat as Lily emerged. She replied softly, "No Susan I didn't know that you and Amber had that history together. If I did, I would have warned you in advance."
Lily hesitated, "I know it's not easy right now Susan, but do please try and remember Amber's name and pronouns."
It surprised me to hear Lily say that. I was glad she said it, but it still surprised me. I kind of wanted to say something every time Susan used the wrong name and pronouns but I held back because I knew Sue was upset and her mind was somewhere else.
Sue frowned slightly, then just nodded. "Ok Lily."
I was back in control again while Susan went back to hugging her pillow, and I quietly exited the bedroom to rejoin Amber and Melissa in the living-room.
I saw Melissa had a cooler now, and she'd got Amber another. Amber was on one side of the sofa and Melissa on the other, so for now I sat across from them on the recliner. The two looked like they'd been talking but the conversation was in a quiet spot. Amber looked sort of uneasy as she had a gulp of her third drink.
When she set the bottle down she looked across at me and said, "So you're a half-demon, and she's half-succubus. And you're both trans. That's... I don't even have words."
Her expression shifted to a frown as she asked, "I know Susan's not trans. Is she a succubus? Or part-demon? Or something else?"
I shook my head, "That's something only she can discuss with you."
"Right," Amber nodded.
She was quiet for a few moments, then asked "So getting back to the stuff I actually came here to talk with you about, how'd you handle all the legal stuff? Changing your name, updating your records, that kind of thing?"
I blushed, "Uh, Lily did it for me with magic. Since I died and stuff? I wasn't changing records from dead-me to new-me, she had to create everything for me from scratch."
Melissa smirked but said "I can help you with that Amber."
She went on to explain, "The legal name-change stuff is pretty easy, it's just paperwork and some fees. And it takes a month or two, but we're pretty lucky here? Like we don't have to go to court or talk to a judge. Just mail in your application and they mail you back a new birth certificate and a name-change certificate. That'll get you an updated drivers license and health card, and that'll get you everything else. With college, you'd just take those new documents in to the admin office and they'll be able to change all your records for you. Same with your bank and pretty much everything else? It's time-consuming and you have to talk to a bunch of people but it's not that hard."
I frowned, "Did you do all that stuff Melissa?"
"Some of it," she replied. "Lily cheated for me with a few things, she changed my birth certificate and drivers license and stuff like that, but I had to do the legwork and update everything else. Mostly it meant I wasn't stuck with my dead-name on all my documentation for two or three months after my magic transition, which would have been really awkward."
Melissa added, "Amber, if Lily helps you with the transition stuff she'll probably help you with the ID like she did me."
Amber had another gulp of her drink and asked, "About that whole magic transition thing... How do you explain that to people? I mean... It's magic right? Do you just tell folks that?"
"No," Melissa replied. "I don't know what your situation will be like, so what worked for me might not work for you? In my case, the change was pretty extreme and impossible, but I did it between high-school and college? So coming to college as the new me, nobody knew the old-me so there weren't a bunch of questions. For my family, I told them I was trans, told them I was transitioning, and I told them I was on a new experimental program but I had to sign an NDA so I couldn't talk about it. And it didn't happen overnight, it took two and a half weeks. The changes were slow at first, but sped up towards the end."
Amber looked thoughtful, "So... Ok supposing my new look isn't too impossibly different, I could probably use the same excuse? And just say it's a new thing and I'm not allowed to talk about it. And I could maybe get away with claiming I started to transition months ago but kept it hidden. People would buy that, I think?"
Melissa smiled and nodded, "Yeah that should work. Especially if you don't immediately start flaunting it? I mean, if you kept dressing the same for a while, or just made gradual changes to your wardrobe. As opposed to showing up one day in a micro-mini skirt and high heels and a crop-top, you know?"
Amber blushed and grimaced, "Yeah that's never going to happen."
"I figured," Melissa giggled. "Anyways you know what I mean. Family will be hardest because they'll probably know you didn't really start transitioning months ago? They'll know it's recent. And you're lucky that they're supportive, but they'll probably be worried and curious if you tell them it's a secret experimental process. On the other hand, telling them it's demonic magic might be worse."
"Yeah, I really don't know how to handle that." Amber frowned for a few seconds as she thought about that. Her frown deepened and she sighed, "Of course all that's based on me agreeing to whatever your demon friend asks in terms of payment... And I can't help thinking the price might be too high."
Me and Melissa exchanged a glance, and I replied "That's something you have to talk with her about. Neither of us can say for sure what she'll want, what the terms and details will be."
Melissa added, "We can guess, based on what she did for me? But yeah, it's better if you just talk with Lily directly and get it straight from her."
"And I'd rather hold off on that for now," I said. "I was thinking of ordering Chinese food in for dinner tonight, if that works for you? But I want to check in on Susan again first."
Trashlyn· Aug 15, 2021
Aster_Vulpes· Aug 15, 2021
