★★★★★★
Giogi - Right after Stahlia kicked his ass in 1-12.
I picked myself up off the ground after I was sure she had left. Looking around to be doubly sure she had gone, I winced as I bent to pick up my knife. I almost died, I’m sure of it. Stahlia had beaten me thoroughly. I didn’t know what came over me, but I had completely lost my nerve and drawn a blade on her. Rather than turning white and fleeing, Stahlia had instead run straight towards me, easily caught the knife, and nearly broken my arm taking it away from me. At that moment I felt a wave of malice; I was certain her next move would be to stab me.
It would have been justified too. My mother always told me I was a fool whenever I brought up Stahlia at home. I wasn’t sure when it first started, but for as long as I could remember, something was different about her. The way she walked and talked was just so… special, unique. I had been jealous, I think. Jealous of a girl technically three months younger than me. I made it a point to poke at her, to try and break the façade I was sure she was putting up.
That all culminated in today, I had finally made her snap. As it turns out, she was certainly putting up a façade. The real Stahlia was a monster in the body of a little girl. Despite not having a purpose she had outmaneuvered me, a born knife-fighter, armed as I was with my weapon of choice. What’s more, it didn’t even feel like she was trying all that hard.
Who exactly are you? How did you learn to fight like that? I had thought she was just an uppity noble girl wannabe, going about with delusions of her Father’s former title. I didn’t realize that my ill feelings stemmed from jealousy until I pushed her past her breaking point with my taunting.
But that had only answered one question and given me so many more. To put it bluntly, I was confused. Confused and fascinated. Stahlia was a completely mysterious existence, I found myself wanting to know about her, to learn what caused her to adopt such a false persona. Dusting myself off, I resolved myself. “Sark, Diil, are you guys ok?” Sark groaned and sat up.
“Is she gone..?” I nodded in response to Sark and gave Diil a kick.
“Diil, get up.” Opening his eyes he glared at me.
“Giogi, the hell?! Why’d you try ta grab her like that!?” He was rightfully upset with me, I could see that now.
“Oh shut it, how the hell should I have known she was really like that?! We all knew she was weird, but I don’t remember anyone suggesting she could fight like that!” Still, this doesn’t bode well. What if she tells her dad I came at her with a knife?
“Come on, let’s get out of here and wash up… I’ll go over to the mayor’s place tomorrow and apologize. That’s probably all I can do…” Sark nodded and shot Diil a look.
“Yea, me an’ Diil will go with you. We should get all the guys to go together, but no way in hell will they believe us if we tell ‘em what happened.” Diil looked like he wanted nothing more than to refuse outright, but he nodded solemnly.
The next morning found the three of us standing outside Stahlia’s place. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest as I wrapped the gate frame. I heard Stahlia coming up on the other side of the gate and unlatching it. The moment I saw her face as the gate swung open, I reflexively bowed my head.
Apparently, she was not expecting that. “Huwah?!” Right, after the way I’ve been needling you ever since I can remember, you would hardly expect me to suddenly through myself at your feet huh.
“Stahlia, I’m sorry for my behavior!” I belted out my rehearsed line.
There was a long very awkward pause. I dared not raise my head before she responded, the cold look in her eyes as she flipped my knife around in the air was floating unbidden to the forefront of my thoughts.
“A-ah, u-u-um. Well. A-apology accepted? Yea. Yea, let’s go with that.” Strangely enough, rather than being haughty, she sounded somewhat flustered. Is this good or bad? I need to show her my sincerity somehow before her mood sours. A thought came to my mind and without thinking it through overmuch, I blurted it out.
“Stahlia, please teach me!” After a long pause, I risked a peek at her. Stahlia was standing there looking down at me with wide eyes, her mouth hanging open. I suppose that would be a shock huh… Just as I was debating turning tail and running away, a small head poked out from behind her. The head had eyes and hair that matched Stahlia’s perfectly. I knew she had a little sister, but I don’t remember ever seeing her before… she would be what, two right now?
“Sister, who, is, this?” Her speech was, frankly, adorable. She was taking great pains to pronounce all her words properly. It was clear she was putting a great deal of effort into refined speech. Did Stahlia have to work that hard to get to talking fancy like she does?
“R-right. Rosial, this is Giogi, Sark, and…” Stahlia trailed off, looking at Diil. Ah, this is my chance to improve her perception of us! I got to my feet and gave a bow; I was imitating what I had seen some of the village men do when greeting Mayor Fynn or Mrs. Rosalie.
Taking great pains to use the proper manners, I introduced the three of us. “Rosial, I am Giogi Sutvenson. These are my friends, Sark Ohbeson, and Diil Grawlson. Sark and I attend lessons at the temple with your sister.” That’s… way harder than it looks. I glanced nervously at the two girls. Rosial was wide-eyed and looking between all of us. Stahlia’s gaze had hardened a bit and she was staring at me intently. Shit! What did I say wrong?! I’m dead for sure!
“Rosial, go inside please, I need to have words, alone with them for a moment.” Her voice was cold, and her gaze didn’t leave me for a second. Rosial looked at her sister with big, saucer eyes and dashed into the house. Right, I suppose you wouldn’t want your sister to witness an execution. I sent a mental apology to Sark and Diil.
“Giogi, what are you after?” Her voice was still cold, but I could see a hint of curiosity in her eyes. Maybe we still have a chance! I need to make sure I don’t mess up again. Putting even more care into my speech, I announced my intentions.
“After what happened yesterday… Well, I guess I just realized how much you’ve been holding back. I was being a real ass to you all this time, and you put up with it for so long…” Hopefully, she accepts that… I really don’t want to die here…
I felt sweat trickling down my neck; Stahlia’s gaze had hardened, and her jaw was now tightly clenched. Out of the corner of my vision I noticed her fists ball up, I tried my best not to look at them. This is how it ends…
“Alright already! Just… stop talking like that! It’s creepy.” With that exclamation, the tension drained out of her, and as a result out of us. I didn’t know what had happened but, somehow, we were saved.
Of course, the other three guys didn’t take kindly to the new arrangement, but they weren’t Stahlia. It only took me one or two scraps with them to establish the new order. In class, I found that things were going much better after Stahlia took me on as a student; she really was exceptional in her studies. Our teacher was really bad at explaining stuff, but it only took one or two conversations with Lady Stahlia for me to wrap my head around all the things I had been struggling with. Sana was something else too, it was hard to believe, but I think she might be even better than Lady Stahlia when it comes to history and letters.
After I witnessed Lady Stahlia privately asking Sana for help with our history lessons, I resolved to start treating her like my teacher too. “The master of my master” and all that. It took another couple of scraps with the other boys but, by the time I was done, Lady Sana no longer had to worry about any of the other village children calling her names or stealing her school supplies.
True to her promise, Lady Stahlia started teaching me proper knife fighting. As it turns out, she was even better with a blade than she was with her hands! Apparently, the techniques she was teaching me were called “Shadow Fighting Style” she made me swear an oath of secrecy to never ever disclose the name of my style or tell how I learned it. I thought she was joking when she said “If you talk about this, an assassin who I could never beat will make sure it’s the last thing you say.” My laughter trailed off when I noticed her expression; she was being completely serious.
Since I was learning a secret style, our training sessions were limited; she would approach me during class and tell me when and where the next one would be. She always picked out of the way spots like alleys or abandoned buildings. At first, I thought she was planning for me to disappear, but eventually, I figured out she was just being really serious about protecting the secrecy of the fighting style. Apparently, not even her parents knew about it.
Over time, more of the boys started coming to lessons with me; they had obviously noticed how much stronger I was getting when we would play knights and monsters. Before long, my entire circle of friends was learning how to fight from Lady Stahlia. She was a good teacher too. Each time someone new showed up, she put her hand on their forehead like she was checking for a fever. From whatever she was doing she would figure out if they would be better suited with a blade or a fist then teach them appropriately.
After about a month of learning proper fighting, Sark called all of us together in our old hideout. Once everyone was there, he informed us he had an announcement.
“I hereby begin the first meeting of Stahlia’s Knights. Knight-Commander Giogi, do you have any words to mark the occasion?” I stared at him blankly.
“Sark, what the hell are you on about?” He looked at me confused.
“Commander Giogi, weren’t you saying the other day how Lady Stahlia is like a warrior princess?” I did say that… but why would you go and tell everyone?! I could feel my cheeks turning red.
“I-i-I Mean y-yea, I m-might ha-have said that? But wh-what gave you the i-idea to go and do this?! And why am I the commander when it’s your idea?!” Sark grinned at me conspiratorially.
“Well, every princess needs an order of knights to protect her, right? I can’t be a knight commander when my purpose is to be a scribe, don’t worry commander Giogi, I’ll use my talents to support you in the day-to-day.” Still red, I looked around the room. To my surprise, none of the guys here seemed opposed to the idea.
“Sark, you know damn well Lady Stahlia doesn’t need us to protect her! Hell, if anything were to actually happen, she would likely be the one protectin’ us.” Besides, aren’t we a little old to be playing knights? Sark’s grin got even wider.
“Oh come now Giogi, I thought you would love the idea. After all in all the stories, it’s always the Knight-Commander who marries the princess at the end right? We all know how you feel about Lady Stahlia don’t we guys?” That comment caused all the guys in the room with us to start laughing uproariously. I could feel my face getting even redder, I probably looked like I had spent a week out in the fields.
“S-SHAHT UP!!”
nice to know this piece of background info...
I have same opinion that you!
Poor Giogi, Stahlia is not interessed in guys.
@Aniel Nipping this in the bud. I haven't decided the love interest's gender yet(But since I already said this in a comment last chapter, Giogi is a hard no). It could go either way. At the moment, Stahlia isn't interested in guys OR gals. She's eight.
@Psycholor And here I thought girls matured faster than boys. So how is Giogi interested in Stahlia already?
Also, what if Giogi gets genderbent? Will Stahlia become interested then?
@Xyll-246 It is a combination of factors.
Firstly physically, Stahlia's body is growing slower than it should. I referenced this a bit in earlier chapters with things like teething. It hasn't been mentioned for a while but will be coming up again around ages 12-14 (puberty), along with an explanation for why.
Secondly mentally, George was straight. However, since reincarnating and no longer having adult hormones (something I made a point of mentioning in 1-4), they are presently more asexual.
thirdly comes from how I personally have decided to portray reincarnation, in particular how much the body influences the soul and vice versa. Though I don't want to go into detail on that in this comment, as that will play into some later plot points.
As far as Giogi getting genderbent, he won't, so this is a nonissue.
@Psycholor it's always creepy when authors decide to give their prepubescent reincarnated characters a s*x drive of any kind, and I always appreciate this sort of take on reincarnation with hormones actually having an appreciable impact on personality traits. It's not as though hormones have no effect on grown adults in reality, off the top of my head, too much testosterone for example will cause someone to become more aggressive and angry, so why should a character be free of biochemistry just because they find themselves in a new body?
I'm curious to see what direction you'll take Stahlia in when she goes through puberty though, I know the broad strokes of how a formerly male character experiencing female puberty, with all the new hormones and sexual awakening could be written, so it'll be interesting to see which path you choose.
@Doomedtundra I tend towards the idea that a reincarnated person can still have an intellectual appreciation for the sex(es) they were attracted to in their previous life since they certainly can remember being attracted to them, but without the hormones involved there won't be anything driving them towards such thoughts in particular, and ignoring such thoughts to think about other things is beyond trivial. Appreciating the female form would be like appreciating a well-crafted piece of art or an untouched natural scene being viewed in person. You can still think of it as beautiful but you certainly won't have the urge to f*ck it (typically, but it varies by individual so the metaphor might break down at that point)
@Psycholor Ah, that's a bit of a bummer. The part where Stahlia/George may change sexuality I mean. In my opinion, changing someone's sexuality like that is like mind control/manipulation and I find it stomach turning. Changing someone's s*x against their will can be cruel, but you're only changing the outer shell. Changing their sexuality is like changing their soul and I usually equate that to personality death.
If you wished for George/Stahlia to be able to play both teams, I'd have preferred it if George had just been bisexual. But since George only liked girls, I'd prefer it if Stahlia also only liked girls. That's just my opinion of course, but I hope you understand what I'm trying to say.
Stahlia not having a s*x drive yet is another matter of course. That part seems completely natural. There are usually already early signs of a child's sexuality though, which can sometimes manifest in things like a crush on their teacher or something. But that's another topic entirely.
@Angarato It isn't exactly mind-control or manipulation. George made the (uninformed) choice to reincarnate as a girl. and the god never directed George to do so, he did that on his own. If Stalia ends up bisexual rather than lesbian, that's a result of living inside a prepubescent female body for years before re-experiencing puberty again. That's as natural as you could get for such a fantastical hypothetical as experiencing both genders' puberties in sequence over the course of decades. As Buddhism teaches, people are impermanent. Changes can happen to them over time that fundamentally changes them in any number of ways. Becoming bisexual seems like totally fair game here considering the proposed hypothetical.
@Angarato I had told myself I was done answering comments about the love subplot. However, yours is very well structured and raises several very valid concerns, so here goes.
Ah, that's a bit of a bummer. The part where Stahlia/George may change sexuality I mean. In my opinion, changing someone's sexuality like that is like mind control/manipulation and I find it stomach turning.
I agree. Forcibly changing or trying to forcibly change someone's sexuality is disgusting.
Changing someone's s*x against their will can be cruel, but you're only changing the outer shell.
I must respectfully disagree. It IS cruel. there is no "can be" about it. Besides that, I also already changed George's s*x against his will, in chapter 1-3. Sure he "agreed" when he signed the TOS, but he never read them so he didn't agree. Very few "Gender Bender" protagonists actually agree to have their s*x changed.
Changing their sexuality is like changing their soul and I usually equate that to personality death.
Yes and no. It depends on how it is handled. Sexual preference CAN change. Mine has changed over the 15 or so years I've been sexually aware; I was straight as a rainbow in high school but come college I wound up flipping completely.
I wasn't "closeted straight the whole time" or Bi, I felt nothing towards girls in high school, but when my physical environment changed due to having moved into the dorms, combined with newfound freedom and all that jazz, I no longer found guys attractive at all.
The point of my anecdote is that sexuality is something that can change, given enviroment and time. I am still me, I haven't "died" and been replaced, I just like bobs and vagene instead of sausage now. The trick is to make sure that that change is *natural* and not forced just to get a certain scenario set up.
This is why I have adamantly maintained that I haven't decided on Stahlia's final preference. I am not writing a romance story. I am writing an age progression story. In truth, I have several plot points lined up, to where I have a pretty good idea of how she will wind up already. But I do not want to commit, in case that changes as I write and her personality evolves in an unexpected way.
If you wished for George/Stahlia to be able to play both teams, I'd have preferred it if George had just been bisexual.
I don't want them to play both teams. I don't want them to be gay. I don't want them to be straight. I want to let their personality evolve in as natural a manner as possible, without trying to force anything.
But since George only liked girls, I'd prefer it if Stahlia also only liked girls. That's just my opinion of course, but I hope you understand what I'm trying to say.
Your preferences are your own and perfectly valid, and I do understand. I hope my essay of a response has made my position a bit easier to understand.
Stahlia not having a s*x drive yet is another matter of course. That part seems completely natural. There are usually already early signs of a child's sexuality though, which can sometimes manifest in things like a crush on their teacher or something. But that's another topic entirely.
If Stahlia was an ordinary child, but like you said, that's another topic entirely.
@Psycholor > Very few "Gender Bender" protagonists actually agree to have their s*x changed.
In fact, the Gender Bender tag's definition requires that it's non-consensual. The only half-exception would be perverts that just want to experience s*x as a woman, but that situation often comes with the fact that when they made that decision that they weren't considering all of the consequences and implications of living life as a woman, so the pervert's reincarnation wish is balanced out by that. Such perverts' suffering can be quite entertaining, and since they didn't fully consider the predicament they put themselves in, it doesn't actually count as consent since they weren't fully informed before making the choice.
Beyond that, 'consensual' genderbending instead falls under the 'trans' and 'wish-fulfillment' tags, and in the interests of being specific when assigning tags so that they actually mean something, you should refrain from using both the genderbending and trans tags together since they are mutually exclusive. A genderbending (non-pervert) protag never wanted to be genderbent, which means he certainly isn't trans (f*ck that kafka trap egg bullshit, it's the same as some kid in 90's elementary school accusing you of being gay, damned if you confirm, damned if you deny)
I think the trans tag imho doesn't typically make for interesting subplot material because the premise reduces suffering instead of improving it, so an author would have to work extra hard to make it enjoyable. Personally, I'm biased by the trans tag due to all the politics often embedded in it, the anticipation of my disgust reaction drives me away from the tag.
@0xFFF1 agree about the trans tag, since it usually turns out to be a wish fulfillment fantasy of the author, the focus often trends towards how good and wonderful everything related to said wish fulfillment is, with very little character growth or plot development surrounding that part of the story. Add to that that the focus of such stories tends to be on the wish fulfillment aspect so much that there's very little room for anything else, and whatever plot exists as a premise stalls.
This is why I prefer unwilling gender swaps, there's so much more potential there, such stories can explore the social and physical differences between male and female so much more freely without the bias wish fulfillment so often brings to an author, while also providing several paths for the main character to take. Do they rail against their fate, doing everything in their power to change back to male? Are they ever at risk of succumbing to depression? Do they learn to accept their new selves? How do their preferences change, of they even do change? So many questions, with so many answers. Much more interesting and exciting than "yay, I've got the body I've always wanted, everything is rainbows and lollipops now and nothing ever really goes wrong because the author just wants a feel good fantasy for themselves."
To be clear, not hating on trans people, the issues I have with stories of voluntary gender change are more or less the same I have with power fantasies, give or take a few relevant points.
@Angarato
People can change so can sexuality too. There are cases when transgender goes through hormonal therapy their sexuality changes too. It is not super rare either. About 20-30% transgenders flip their sexuality. Hormones affects brains and how we think things.
@RavenWolf as I recently discovered I like to say, people aren't static, we change and adapt based on the events we experience, and no trait, from which leg you habitually stride forward with first to your sexuality, is exempt from that. The only question is what might cause a trait to change, one big- possibly traumatic- event, a minor yet persistent change in the environment, or some combination of several different stimuli.
The comment section turned into a forum
@JayFLQZA it is happening pretty much here.
But don't worry you will be habitued in no time.