It was getting late, and the plan had been set, tomorrow the train would pass through the city, and we were getting on it, one way or another. That was what we had decided. My whole body tingled, was it excitement? Or was I afraid? Honestly, I don’t even know. A weapon so powerful the church feared it. No matter how many times I heard those words, they didn’t lose their bite. I repeated them over and over in my head. And then, there was Deadman Jack, if he was after it, it had to be special. 

I had been searching for him for years, with Miki by my side I set off from my comfy little home in the fifth circle. All my riches, gone now, I didn’t have my parents to support me. Their wealth was sequestered by the church, of course a witch can’t inherit anything. Well except debt that is, not a financial debt, but the burden I carried chasing this pirate. Was he really going to be there? I know the answer now of course, I know all the answers, even to questions I didn’t know I had. Yet then, that night before the big heist, I was still the lost little girl. No, not lost, I had a direction, and better yet I had a family taking me there!

I was so lost in thought, I didn’t even notice Josie came into the room. “Hey Reli, you doing okay?” 

I jumped from where I sat at the foot of a bed with an embarrassing squeak, “Josie!”

“Hey, sorry, didn’t mean to frighten you,” she chuckled, “just wanted to make sure you’re doing okay.”

“Yeah, I’m a-okay!” I shot her a thumbs up and the biggest widest fakest smile I could pull off.

She laughed, “Oh, that’s good. I was really worried about you. Shana told me that Michael was hurt in our battle with those inquisitors. Are you sure everythings okay?”

“Oh, that...” I deflated a little, “yeah, she’ll be fine. She just needs time to recharge her eros, is all.”

“Ah, I see, so then she is sleeping now?”

“Yeah, I guess you can say that.” I answered. Familiars didn’t actually sleep, at least not normally. It was actually because they could keep yourself safe when you had to camp out in the wastes, in fact. Though the semantics didn’t matter, and I got the point she was trying to make, so I said yes.

“I was hoping I could apologize to her, properly, about...well you know.” She sat down on the bed, hugging her knee to her chest.

“You already did though,” I sat back down next to her, and leaned my head on her shoulder, “I think she knows how you feel. I’m certain she’s forgiven you.” 

“Yeah, you think so?” 

“I know it!” 

She chuckled again, and brushed back a strand of hair from my face. “Honestly, you’re so adorable, Reli.” 

My cheeks turned red, and I looked away, “hey, you are too Josie.” 

“Aw, you really think so?” 

“Of course I do!” I wrapped my arms around her, pressing my face to her chest, “You’re one of the prettiest girls I know!” 

She ran her hand along my arm, stroking my skin gently, and smiled softly. Her pink lips shining as she brought them closer to my face, “You’re so precious, I really do love you, Reli.”

I gulped, then smiled and responded, “I love you too, Josie,” she kissed my nose, my face obtaining a new shade of bright red. Alone with her, in that basement room of an old gun shop, I could feel my heart begin to race all over again. Feelings that had been building inside me ever since the train ride were welling up into an uncontainable force that I needed to release. 

I was always the timid one, the gentle one, the follower not the leader, but at that moment, I decided I was going to do what I wanted. In a moment of courage, and excitement, I jumped over on top of Josie, pinning her down under my small body, and kissed her lips. She held my head, and I pressed down harder, deeper, pouring all the passion my little heart could muster into our kiss. I lifted my head away, a silky strand of spittle connecting our mouths. 

“Josie,” I started, “you know how witches and their familiars well... they... do things to become closer.”

“I, yeah I’ve heard stories about that,” she answered, looking up at me with both happiness and shock in her eyes. 

“I, I want to be closer to you!” I blurted out, my face the reddest it could ever be. 

She smiled at me, her gaze soft and loving, her eyes sparkling with joy, “I want to be closer to you too.” 

My heart was practically beating a hole through my chest as if it was trying to escape, my mouth got wet, then dry, and wet again. I was shaking, happily, ready to take the next step, to make the next move. Even with Miki I was not what you would have called the ‘top’ and I was nervous about leading. Yet I steeled myself and moved my hand slowly to her inner thigh. I remembered the way Miki had caressed my body, when we consummated, and I tried to do the same to Josie. 

She squirmed and moaned softly as I slowly ran my hand over her leg, rubbing gently, then a bit harder. I kissed her neck, sucking and licking from the nape to the lobe of her ear, as she made soft gasps of pleasure. I tried to not let my kisses get too sloppy, though I felt my mouth salivate more and more the more excited I got. Each stroke of my hand against her exposed thigh, and every kiss I gave her, elicited an excited squeal of delight from my partner. My own body tingled, as I stroked her, I could only imagine how much more pleasure she was feeling. I ran my hand along her belly, feeling her abs as I pressed down into her, and reached through the opening of her dress, making my hands way to her erect nipples. 

Her chest felt small, no, flat, but that didn’t matter, I loved the way she moaned as I ran my fingers over them. Pinching slightly, pulling, stroking, and rubbing. She Smiled at me, her eyes calling me to play with her more. We kissed, as I continued to caress her chest. 

Then, I brought my hand back down, and reached underneath the skirt of her dress. She rose up slightly, and tried to say something, when I felt something unusual in my hand.

I felt a...well, you know...she had...more than I was expecting... Actually, it started to make sense. Why Delun kept calling her ‘he’ and ‘man’ and why she was so flat, despite being in her late twenties. She...was not like other girls... and I felt so stupid.

I jumped back, taken off guard by the sudden revelation. “Josie,” I said gasping, “you’re a man?” 

“I am a woman,” Josie answered, her eyes wet like big pools of blue, staring forlorn at me as she pulled away slightly, “can you accept me as such still?”

I bit my lip, not knowing what to say. My body was still red hot, blood rushing leaving my mind in a jumbled mess of emotion. I thought hard, as Josie sat beneath me, her face growing sullen awaiting my reply. I was confused, yeah that’s for sure, but the more I thought about it, the more it didn’t matter. Josie was Josie. I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and pulled our faces closer, “yes!” I said, locking lips once more with my lover. No matter what her body was like, she was the woman I fell in love with all the same.