Against every expectation, the popular musician and apparent goddess didn't drive anything nicer than an old jeep. It was in decent shape, but I was taken aback slightly by the simplistic vehicle that belonged to a person that was anything but. 

Allie wasn’t immune to my tilted head and chuckled at me. “Can’t be too high visibility, Ari! Just get in!”

I ‘eep’d quietly and climbed into the passenger side seat. Surprisingly, it actually was a bit of a climb for me too. The vehicle was slightly lifted, but not to the point that I couldn’t have easily gotten in and out of it earlier in the day. Luckily though, my lithe body easily went from the ground and planted my butt in the seat. With a slight adjustment forward, I made room for the tail that was still doing its best to stick straight out in happiness. Another silly giggle slipped out as I pulled the seatbelt across myself and experienced the ‘seatbelt effect’ for the first time. 

This seemed to only get another amused groan from the woman who was now turning the ignition. “You know, kid, most times I saw a mortal get transformed into a new form, they were never this happy.”

“Well they must not have been given something they had always wanted like this! I’ve known I was trans since I started highschool, but I couldn’t do anything about it until six months ago.” Petite hands reached up and grasped at my chest, excitement still bubbling in my voice. “I didn’t think I would ever get boobs this big!

“Good grief, Ari!” She laughed. “You don’t even question this, do you?”

I just shrugged. “Why should I? I’m happy with the results!”

The laughing continued as the vehicle began rolling out of the bar’s lot. Perhaps it was a bit foolish, and perhaps I was a bit drunk on the euphoria, but I trusted that this woman wasn’t going to do anything bad to me.

“So if you were so excited to transition, why did you never do it before?”

A needle poked a hole in my bubbly mood. “I uh… mom and dad didn’t exactly approve of trans people. They tried to make me ‘be the man I was born to be!’” I mocked my father’s voice and rolled my eyes at the memory. “I cut contact with them earlier this year when I moved out.”

Though I did not look to see it, I could easily hear the frown in Allie’s voice. “As much as I wish I could set people straight, pardon the pun, I can’t do too much without upsetting the status quo. I’m sorry you had to deal with that, from one of my own descendants, no less! Do people not realize how gay ancient Greece was?”

I was quickly laughing again. “Thank you for the concern. I’ve… mostly gotten over it. The alternative history people were right though? Greece was gay?”

“Super gay!” Was the quick reply. “Do you really think that food was the only reason the Greeks made so much olive oil?”

We both laughed at that.

“I still can’t hardly believe that you were actually there.” Idly, a hand stroked at my tail. “Considering the other impossible things that have happened to me today though, I’m willing to believe just about anything.”

Our conversation stayed along similar veins for the rest of the drive until we arrived at a shopping mall not incredibly far from my home. I’d only been there a few times due to my low income and people problems, but it was a nice place with lots of stores. 

“Alright, Ari. What kind of clothes do you like? Do we want to go lots of dresses and frills or do you want to keep more casual? Don’t worry about the money. One of the benefits of being around for so long is well aged investments.” 

My dancing stride showed my pure joy. “I kinda like your aesthetic in a lot of ways, honestly? But I also want to do some dresses and more stuff like this!” I fingered at my magically fitted top. “These clothes are really comfy and they're cute too!”

“Well thank you for the compliment. I’m pretty proud of my work. There’s a place I really like shopping in one of the stores here for myself so we can definitely hit that up and there are plenty of other department stores we can go into for you.”

There were definitely several stares in my direction from other mall walkers as we browsed around. My tail and ears were on full display, twitching every which way. I was bouncing too and fro, looking at the pretty clothes all around far too much to make any effort to hide the catty features. 

To my absolute delight, we quickly discovered that I rather needed to shop in the petites sections of the stores we went into. It meant it was actually fairly easy to find things in my size even if that meant going into a juniors area occasionally. The store that Allie had mentioned ended up being a goth/punk store that I bought some tight black jeans that came pre-ripped and the cutest pink shirt that said ‘Kiss my Ace!’. I couldn’t resist it. 

It was certainly a bit embarrassing when I got pulled into a lingerie shop to get fitted for bras. The woman that measured me as a twenty-six double D and she and I both had a look of slight shock. The small band size with the large cups wasn’t available in many styles, but I did find a few that felt comfortable. Allie and I agreed to go to a big box retailer to buy some more comfortable ones later on. These first few would do for now. 

Words couldn’t describe how good it felt to go through the heights of euphoria of walking through the mall, even if both of us ended up vastly overloaded with bags by the time we got back to her jeep. Most of a wardrobe was stacked in the back seat and a number of hangers hung from hooks over the doors holding nicer dresses including an outright stunning little black dress that Allie insisted I have because ‘Every femme presenting girl needs a good LBD’.

The two of us stopped shortly after to pick up a snack at a local fast food joint. We got an order of chili-cheese fries to share and a small ice cream treat each. We sat at an outdoor table.

“So, did you enjoy yourself today? I know I promised to pay for you to kit out, but you really went wild. Have to say, I wasn’t expecting that complete abandon from a girl that only just changed.”

“Well, why not?!” I questioned defensively. “I get the body of my dreams and a goddess willing to give me a shopping spree, why wouldn't I take that opportunity?”

Through a giggle, Allie held a finger to her lips. “Oi! Don’t be talking about that! I don’t need people figuring me out. Eat your ice cream!”

I took a cheeky bite of the caramel fudge delight just to spite her. 

“Brat.”

My tongue stuck out and I then took another bite of the ice dream. After a moment’s thought though, my face softened and I stood, walked around the table, and hugged Allie. Tears sprung to my eyes. “Thank you… thank you so much… Today has been like a dream, and I just don’t want to wake up from it.”

Her arms wrapped around me in turn. “Oh honey… I can assure you that this is all very real. We are family and I’m going to take care of you now, okay? I know your parents were not what you needed, but you have people that want you and love you now. You’ll never be alone again.

Relief. That's all there was. I may have spent the first nineteen years of my life in the closet, but all of that was over.