“Wait, fuck.” I slouched, as the realisation hit me. “How am I going to wear anything with a pair of wings? Like, even if I glamour up they’re gonna be there!” I threw my hands in the air, and my wings followed. Okay, will need a LOT of practice with these babies. Brain still hasn’t quite caught up to me having extra limbs.
“What glamour did you use that it didn’t make all your demon bits ghostly?” May shot a glance at Leonard, who tried to make himself small in that moment.
“Uhm, I could only find the makeup style glamours witches use for acne and such.” He squeaked out, and May shook her head, sighing.
“Okay, I have a lot of sorting out to do, and I think it’ll be better to do so in your space, Lily.” She grabbed my hand and started pulling me to the door. “It was… nice meeting you, Leonard.” May called back into the apartment as we left it, making our way upstairs to my place. She gasped when she saw how I was living.
“Such a big place and you’re just huddled over in this corner with all your stuff, why not fill it out more?” She let go of my hand and made her way over to my wardrobe.
“I’m used to living in small dark cramped spaces and have no clue how to fill big spaces up or with what… oh wow, thanks dad, you raised me to live in a submarine.” I awkwardly tugged on my shirt, before coughing. “Uhm, May, we still haven’t addressed the whole ‘Can’t Wear Clothes Because Of Wings’ situation.”
“Oh! Right, right. You can recall them. A bit of focus, the intention to call them back and schloop!” May was currently digging through my clothes, looking more and more deflated by the second, as if she was reading newspapers from 60 years ago. With her suggestion, I focused, and sure enough, with a tug and a weird pushing sensation, my wings retreated into me. Thankfully my tail didn’t. Call me weird but I loved having it, even if I only had it for three minutes tops.
If May wasn’t around, I would probably be doing a lot of goofy moves and poses with it for fun. Alas, she was around, and she turned to face me, holding my one girl outfit and the dress Leonard gave me. “Are these really all the girl clothes you have, Lily?” She looked sad, as if she found a small hurt bird on the side of the road and was holding it with intention to help.
“Yeah, I… just bought one set in guy mode, and well I only got the glamour today and a lot happened in the morning and you showed up when I was planning to just relax at home and maybe get more girl clothes tomorrow so… yeah.” I held my shoulder, shrugging a bit, as May put the dress back in the wardrobe and walked over to me with my outfit.
“Get dressed Lily. We’re going out and finding your style, I’m giving you a proper glamour to use, and we’re gonna do the bonding thing you missed out on.” She gently shoved it in my hands, and I nodded, off to get changed.
I was definitely glad that even with the height gain, the clothes still fit me. Although the blouse did show off my belly if I moved in a certain way. And the stockings were more over the knee than thigh high. The zone of absolute control had a poor ratio. “I’m ready grandma!” May looked me over and smiled.
“It suits you. Right! Time to glamour up. I’ll do it for you this time and give you the spell card with instructions when we get back.” She booped my nose, which resulted in me sneezing, and then having the weirdest sensation. I went to the bathroom to see myself in the mirror, see the difference. I couldn’t feel the horns when I ran my hand over my forehead, but what I could feel? The tail. I could feel it, I could move it, but it was invisible, and it was phasing through everything. Phantom limb syndrome, except the limb is actually there just intangible and invisible at the time. It was tripping me up. And not having it visible made me pout.
I really, really liked it, okay? It’s good for stimming and cuddling and poking. May awwed at me pouting though. “What’s the matter dear?”
“I’m missing my tail already.” She gave me a quick headpat and a smile.
“You’ll get to enjoy it once we get back. Come on, off we go!”
We were sitting in the tram, on our way to the mall. Yes, Malls still existed, now repurposed into the modern city center, for cultural stuff and stores. And housing. The upper floor of the mall turned the old storefronts into cheap fancy apartments. As the tram drove on, I cleared my throat to get May’s attention. “So, uhm, the visions…”
“What about them?”
“Well, they switched between my past and your past. Some fluffy stuff and some pretty dramatic stuff. Especially the last one, where your heart shattered…” I turned to her, watching her face for any sort of reaction, but she just turned, looked outside and let out a surprised noise.
“Well well, a knedlíky place. I knew Chertovice was started by Czech immigrants, but I wasn’t expecting a restaurant for potato dumplings, we should check it out on the way back, what do you say?” On the surface, she was smiling as she asked me, but wow was that an awkward attempt at dodging the question. Okay, touchy subject, leave it for later.
“Yeah, sounds nice. I think we’re almost at the mall now though.” I tilted my head to the exit, which May turned to.
“So we are.” She helped me up once we stopped, leading me inside, all so that I would freeze on the spot once inside. Why did I freeze up now of all moments? I had no problem getting the outfit from the thrift store, and I was in guy mode at the time as well. But, then again, thrift stores were extremely casual, compared to the stores at the mall. You know how retail workers had to smile and be polite and take shit without being able to shoot back? Yeah, that whole policy got destroyed. People working in retail only worked there because they wanted to. Imagine the overzealous overhelpful pushy sales associate trying to make you buy a ton of stuff. Now make said sales associate everyone working in retail. And they get to call you an asshole if you’re being one.
Not a good environment for anxious awkward antisocial folks like me. May hummed to herself when she saw me icicled. “Hmm, do I unfreeze you by biting the bullet and buying underwear first, or do I gently melt you by taking you to the different stores.” She was tapping her finger on her chin, thinking.
“Underwear. Just focus on getting comfortable stuff. Nobody except people I allow will see it.” I stammered out, at which point May grabbed my shoulders and began nudging me towards the underwear store. Before we even set foot inside, she was already glaring at the clerks, letting out a Menacing Aura. Hell, May was old enough for the Pillar Men theme to start blasting as she stepped in. She pushed me right past the sexy ones and into the aisle for teen girls. A bit too on the nose, May. I’m only going to be a teen for another year.
Then again, cute comfortable cotton underwear with cartoon characters on them. How could I say no? I missed out on the whole being a little girl thing, and by god I was gonna get it somehow. If that meant panties that made it look as if I had a cutie mark from My Little Pony, so god damn be it!
And getting cute underwear does boost your confidence significantly, considering right afterwards we raided a number of stores, until I was carrying so many bags I was sure it seemed weird that a young girl could carry all of them with relative ease. The trouble was their size, not their weight. Thank you demon powers for the strength boost. “I don’t think we’ll be able to go buy dumplings with this pile.” I nervously laughed, as May gave me a look of understanding.
“Maybe not. Know what, you make your way home, I’ll get us some of said dumplings as takeout.”
“If that’s an option, well… Except for the school administration, which I can sort online, there’s two people I care about knowing my gender. And they run a diner together, right across from where I live.” Clark and Olivia were important to me, they really felt like family. Plus, considering Olivia’s experience with folk coming out to her, I was more than sure she’d be okay. May gave me a quick nod at that, and we made our way back.
And then I was standing in front of The Question, having left the clothes at home to sort later, taking a couple deep breaths to prepare myself. May squeezed my shoulder and I walked in. The moment Olivia saw me, she was confused for a minute, before connecting the dots. “Oh! Hey there Lily, haven’t seen you in a bit. Haven’t seen Pete all day today, for that matter, he doing okay?” I gulped audible at her question, grabbing my shoulder.
“Uhm, that’s what I’m here to talk to you about…” I dug my nails into my shoulder, I really couldn’t think of a better way to word it, even though the way I thought of hurt. “I’m… I’m Peter. We’re not separate people.” Olivia looked me up and down, slightly confused.
“Lily, sweetheart, HRT doesn’t work this fast and I’m 100 percent sure Peter wasn’t on it, I’ve helped three of my sisters take their injectable estrogen before all five of them got the implants for it.” Olivia crossed her arms, and I sighed, turning off my glamour.
“Leonard, the weird greasy dude, is my downstairs neighbor, and he performed some dumb rituals that ended up turning me into a succubus.” I waved my tail to nail the point home, I could almost hear the smack sound of Olivia and Clark’s jaws hitting the floor, since Clark also began paying attention.
“Okay. Okay. Give me a minute. Iiiii need to cope with the fact that magic is real, and so is Hell, and I’m probably going to it. Also that a dear friend is magic.” She braced herself against the counter. Thankfully the place was empty except for us, so she got to freak out in peace.
“No surprise about said friend also turning into a girl? And realising she has always been one?” I tilted my head to the side in surprise.
“Lily, I have five younger trans sisters, I’m the only cis girl when it comes to my siblings, the only cis person PERIOD, I could see your eggshell from a mile away after the first month.” Olivia pointed at me, taking a deep breath. “I just didn’t expect you to get fucking TGTF’ed in the most convoluted way possible. Morgan would lose her shit hearing this, considering I caught her reading TGTF porn before she cracked.” She made her way around the counter and gave me a hug.
“Is there any relation between your demonic form and me seeing a fucking gargoyle fly out of your building a couple days ago?” Clark called out from the kitchen.
“Uhm, yeah, Leonard awakened a number of people. The Gargoyle was a channer whose ass I kicked, and then he died when his demonic powers were removed.” I shrugged while being hugged, and Clark laughed.
“My names are going on the board Livie!!!” Olivia let go of me at Clark’s remark, groaning very hard.
“Fine, but you owe me five bucks for Lily coming out. Anyways, how did the succubus thing happen? Besides the whole ritual thing.” I couldn’t quite believe those two had bet on me, but oh well, guess I could let it slide.
“I have a demonic ancestor, she’s actually been standing outside, watching this interaction.” I turned and waved to May, who waved back, getting me another confused look from Olivia.
“Lily. Lily that lady looks 27. Dermatologists must be rolling in their graves and haunting her if she’s your ancestor.”
“Why thank you dear, I do try and keep myself in good condition.” May had entered shortly after I waved at her. “We did come here to pick up some food though. I’ll have what Lily usually has.”
“Two Succubus Cocks coming up!” Clark called from the kitchen, getting to work.
“Oh? My my, what a name, I wonder how close it is to the real thing.” May chuckled, and I could see Clark shrugging as he worked.
“Wouldn’t know ma’am, I’m ace and happily married to a man, never even had a dick in my mouth.” He replied, earning an excited giggle from May.
“Oh I like you, I do have to make an appointment to visit you two sometime.” Clark put down the sandwiches with a smile, May paid for them both, I glamoured back up and we left.
The moment we were back in my apartment, May took a bite of her sandwich, making a noise of delight. “Tastes nice, but for sure nothing like the real thing, taste or mouthfeel wise.”
“A little bit TMI, grandma, a little bit TMI...” I sat down on my bed and got to munching my own. Thank fuck the cravings were gone. But, there was something I wanted to talk to May about. Something extremely touchy by the looks of things, but, maybe talking it out would help her cope.
I hoped it would... Six thousand plus years (?) of trauma from losing your children oughta be hard to cope with.
tail stims!
So upon rereading this story, something has been bothering me. I'm pretty sure either May or Katka or someone was saying something about May's bloodline being cursed or something to where all of her descendants are destined to be girls and to live with girls. Fathers and Sons become Mothers and Daughters and typically after a Mother gives birth, the Husband sort of goes away shortly after the child is born and the Mother goes to live with women.
The thing that's bothering me is, if the Husbands are pretty much destined or cursed or whatever to remove themselves or be forcefully removed from the children's lives, how the hell is Mr. Donnellan still around to cause grief for Lily? How did he overcome the curse of May's bloodline? Is this an allusion to him being more powerful/important than we previously suspected?
The previous generations had the husbands die in wars or other such things, Mr. Donnellan hadn't been involved in Lily's life until after her mom got sick, as he was her only living relative.
Plus I wouldn't call the fact May's descendants are all lesbians a curse per say. The "become mothers and daughters" line was about the trans women transitioning.
Honestly, I hadn't put that much thought into that whole thing and direction. Like, I'm the one cursed with writing something that comes off as genius in retrospect without me thinking about it at the time. Just enjoy the ride for that it is
@Katie-the-Angel-Witch Oh, okay. I wasn't trying to imply that the whole descendant's are lesbians to be a "curse" curse, I meant it more along the lines of "it just sort of happens and I really don't know any other supernatural terminology to describe supernatural-ish stuff like this other than 'curse'".
Unless the whole transitioning thing has no supernatural influence whatsoever in which case my rambling is meaningless. Also I kinda wish I had that whole writing curse to where I could just start writing with seemingly no direction and have it come off as genius. It just seemed like the way they described all the various circumstances surrounding May's descendants implied some supernatural influence on them eventually undergoing the transitions naturally.
Either way, I will take your advice and continue to enjoy the ride.
Nah they transitioned using the classic methods of HRT if available and clothing if that was the only thing they had. Lily's the first trans descendant to get the awakening and a fitting demonic form.
Also that writing curse mostly leads to a lot of swearing.
@Katie-the-Angel-Witch Ah, okay. That makes sense I guess.
@DemonLordShadowheart think of it this way. The reason all of May's male descendants are Trans? They're part Succubus, which is an all-Female race. So they would naturally be uncomfortable in a male form. And them being lesbian? Eh, personal preference, IMO
@Wolfmaster What's the term for in-universe explanation and author explanation again? Watsonian and Doylist, I know those are the terms, just forget which is which. The author explanation is: The "Commissioner" wanted it as an affirmation thing, the in-universe explanation is "f*ck if I know, does it matter for the purposes of the story why all the amab descendants are trans? Not really, it just matters that they are."
What do I look like, a white dude who writes six millions words expecting to be picked up by the first publisher he approaches?
@Katie-the-Angel-Witch not at all. You look like a purple haired witch channeling stories from a different dimension as an Oracle.