Victoria

“You have a girlfriend!?” Victoria exclaimed.

Amused, Shae explained, “Yeah, she’s one of my teammates, and we just grew closer to each other over time.
|
“I had told her about my body situation and she remained patient with me while I figured myself out. We started dating after that.
|
“And she was just taking a shower is all. It looked like it was afternoon on Earth, but it’s still morning here.”

“Uh, okay. She sounds cool? And looks just… holy shit.”

“'Holy shit' is right,” she agreed.

“Is nudity more common here? She didn't seem fazed at all.”

“A bit. People don’t care about it as much as they do on Earth. At least in this country, anyway. This was just in our room, though, not somewhere public.
|
“And like how this room has its own bathroom, there’s still privacy for people who want it. Bathhouses are a thing here, though, but if you go to one, be prepared to witness naked old people.”

Victoria scrunched her nose at that.

A bathhouse, though… I’ve always wanted to try one.

Something felt strange suddenly. Victoria and Shae both watched in fascination as her skin turned a pastel green color with swirling lavender lines all over her skin. Sensing something on her head, she reached up and felt little flowers in her hair.

“Sh-Shae!? What just…!?”

“You transformed. I told you about it, but it’s understandable that it’s still shocking. You should feel a sort of thought-sensation in the back of your mind. That’s your Status. Focus on it to see it.”

Victoria did indeed feel that sensation in her mind. Doing as Shae instructed, words appeared.

—

The mana within your body has stabilized, and you now have access to the Flow of magic!

Your Flow has gained 1 base point.

You have gained the [Verdant Body] Skill.

—

She looked at the words, then her body. The sensation of viewing her Status was more of a strange thought showing up in her head than actually seeing the words.

—

Victoria Naomi Lavandula

Level: 1

Points: 1

Body: 6
Dexterity: 8
Flow: 2

Health: 20
Stamina: 22
Mana: 11

Skills:
NEW! [Verdant Body]: Level 1

(Next Skill unlocks at Level 250.)

Resistances:
NEW! [Mental] 0.1%

—

Victoria breathed, “I can’t believe this! It even has my name! My real one!”

Shae said, “Yep, and if you ever want to change it, it just takes a thought, and it will be done. Speaking of, want to change our last name? Assuming you still use Williams.”

“I don’t. It’s Lavandula.”

“I don’t think I’ve heard that one before. Can I use it, too?”

“I’d like that. It’s the botanical name for lavender.”

She chuckled. “And you just got lavender-colored tattoos.”

“I already love them.”

The woman from before, now dressed, interrupted them. She gave Shae a kiss, said something to Victoria and waved to her, then left.

“What did she say? What language is that? Wait, didn’t you say her name was Xena earlier?”

“She said it’s nice to finally meet you, congratulations on gaining magic and leaving that horrible place, and that she’ll be downstairs. The language is Tiirve, and there’s no magic to make learning it faster, I’m afraid.”

“Oh…”

“You’ll pick it up surprisingly quickly. That’s what happens when you have no choice but to learn the local language and not speak anything else. You’ll pick it up even faster than I did since I can translate and explain things for you.
|
“And that is her name, but if it were in English, it might not be spelled the same.”

“Can you show me an example of the writing here?”

“Sure.” She grabbed a piece of paper and a stick off the table. The stick was shaped like a pen and looked to be made of stone.

Seeing Victoria looking, Shae explained, “It’s a pen, but it doesn’t use ink. It’s got a tiny little fire mana crystal in the tip that burns the paper. I think I heard somewhere that the paper is also treated so the burns don’t go through all the way.
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“That’s why paper here is pretty thick, but it’s not expensive, because plant mages can just grow stuff using their mana. You’d think the thickness would mean books are super heavy, but stats make it a non-issue.
|
“Anyway, to start with, I’ll write my name. These two vertical lines close to each other are S. Then the circle between them that slightly overlaps the lines is a modifier, changing it from S to SH.
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“In English, I spelled my name with AY, and now use AE, but it’s still pronounced the same. In Tiirve, that sound requires just one character, which looks kind of like a sickle facing left.
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“So, this is my name written out; just two letters.”

She then wrote Victoria’s name and the Tiirve alphabet, but said they would get to more of it later. The slight scent of burning paper was similar to incense.

She asked, “Anyway, would you mind sharing your Status? If you focus on wanting to know more about something, it’ll pop up.”

Victoria did so, with [Verdant Body] and [Mental Resistance] being of particular interest to Shae.

—

[Verdant Body]: Your body is one with plant mana, allowing you to use plant magic.

[Mental Resistance]: Your poor, lesbian brain couldn’t handle going from zero to horny so quickly. This resistance will help you out next time.
|
This resistance skill allows you to handle change as it comes, in whatever form it may take.

—

Hearing the description of her resistance skill, Shae doubled over in laughter. It took her several minutes to calm down, while Victoria just sat embarrassedly in one of the chairs.

“I didn’t know you could get a resistance that way!” Shae exclaimed, still laughing.

Once she could finally answer questions, Shae explained that it was likely the entire situation of reuniting, going to a new world, seeing Zena, gaining magic, and dysphoria all combined with each other to get her the skill, and that that aspect of the Status is based on the subconscious.

Victoria asked worriedly, “The resistance skill won’t erase my gender will it?”

Shae waved her hands in denial, “No no, it won’t. I made sure. For trans people, the [Mental Resistance] skill basically makes it easier for you to function, but it won't change your gender or anything. What happened to me was because of my Skill, not the resistance."

Victoria exhaled in relief. “Good. That’s seriously terrifying to think about. It’s actually weird seeing you so okay, knowing what you went through.”

She nodded. “Anyway, I totally forgot about breakfast and now I’m starving. You up for meeting my friends?”

“Uh…”

“You don’t have to do it right now, but I do have to eat.”

“I’ll go with you. Otherworldly food sounds good.”

“Alright, I’ll introduce you to this fruit rice stuff. It’s amazing and possibly my favorite thing. Too bad they don’t have any of those special eggs here, though…”

“What makes the eggs special?”

Shae looked at her. “…I’ll tell you later.”

“What does that mean?” Victoria questioned, but Shae insisted on not revealing it yet.

———

Shae

The sisters joined the group of five who were already eating downstairs. Shae introduced everyone, then acted as a translator, answering questions from both sides. Melo was mostly talking with Broch, explaining the city and what he could do for a living from now on.

Victoria liked the fruit rice as much as Shae did, and it felt nice for both of them to have another new thing in common with each other.

When they were done eating, Shae asked, “Tria, I need your help with something.”

“Okay, what is it?”

“My sister is an artist, but has no art supplies. Do you know where to get something? At least a sketchbook and a piece of charcoal.”

“Yes, of course! But why doesn’t she have any?”

“Our cruel parents took everything away.”

Shae hadn’t directly heard from Victoria what had happened exactly yet, but this much was obvious to her.

Victoria asked, {Shae, what did you say? Why is she looking at me like that?}

{I just told her you’re an artist without any art supplies.}

{What? Why did you tell her that?}

{Because we’re going to buy you some, silly!}

{Really? What do they have here?}

{Well, Tria draws and paints all the time, so at least that much is possible.} Spotting the currently-closed sketchbook on the table, Shae asked Tria, “Oh, could I show her that? She wants to see what’s here.”

Zena got out of her seat so Tria could sit there. The sketchbook was placed in front of Shae. Victoria would ask about the drawings, and Shae would translate Tria’s answers.

They were both getting really it, even with the language barrier, and Shae had to basically drag them away so that they could buy things.

Ugh, I was so excited earlier that I haven’t showered yet. Well, I got myself cleaned up last night, at least.

As they walked, Victoria gawked and excitedly asked questions like the tourist she was.

I’m sure I looked exactly like that when I arrived. I first set foot in Marlonn, what, eight months ago now? I should visit Leanor¹The old lady who took care of Shae in chapters 2, 3 and 4. sometime.

Victoria paused her excited chattering. {Shae! I was so distracted that I somehow forgot! My transition!}

{Sorry, I was distracted, too, and forgot to mention it, but the flesh mage who’s going to do it isn’t currently in Marlonn. Last time we met, she promised she would come as soon as she received a letter from me. I already sent it, but I don’t know when she’ll get here exactly.
|
{I know it sucks, but think of it this way; within a few months, you’ll have it done, and then you’ll never have to worry about it again.}

{What do you mean?}

{In this world, transitioning doesn't require constant management. After it’s finished, you never have to take any medication or anything to maintain it.}

{Really? That’s awesome! But how does flesh magic work like that? Wouldn’t that mean a flesh mage could just go around transforming people?}

{Well, sort of. Flesh magic—any magic, actually—performed on you without your consent counts as an injury. And that can be healed away with the body’s natural healing as well as healing magic.
|
{And flesh magic in particular is apparently incredibly taxing when used to transform a person’s body in a specific way.
|
{Also, flesh magic is unique in that, because the body hasn’t lost anything, injuries caused by it can still be healed even after a long time has passed.}

{Okay. It’s good that it’s not easy to just randomly change people. How will I look when it’s done, though? Similar to you?}

Shae smiled, {However you want, except for your flowery bits. Those will remain. But if you want to grow a tail or an extra arm or something, you’re out of luck.}

{I like my flowery bits, so they’re fine! And… Oh my goddess, I need a sketchbook now! I need to draw my transition!}

“Tria! Emergency art, stat!”

“I don’t get it, but okay!” the confused light mage exclaimed.

As they continued walking—a bit more quickly now—to where Tria got her art supplies, Victoria asked, {So why this specific flesh mage? Why not a different one?}

{She’s the flesh mage who saved my life when I first arrived in this world, for one thing. Many months later, her schedule was finally free, so she immediately found me so she could change my body to whatever specifications I wanted, but I declined.
|
{Still, she wanted to make up for all the problems I had back then, so she’s doing your reshaping for free, which is super expensive.}

{You declined it?}

{Yeah. This is me now, Shae with an E. Your sister or whatever. Last name, Live-in Dracula.}

{Lavandula. That feels bittersweet, knowing it was basically forced upon you—at least at first—but that you were also able to have gender stuff in common with me because of it.}

Shae shrugged. {No point in worrying about it now. Anyway, looks like we’re here.}

The three girls spent over two hours just talking about art through Shae. Victoria gradually learned the repeated terms, and was forming a rudimentary grasp on Tiirve, with art as her starting point.

They walked through several different stores, and by the end of it, both Victoria and Tria had a cloth bag full of supplies. Tria’s was smaller, as she already had plenty.

givemeyourbones

givemeyourbones

Here’s a bit of lore that didn’t make it in because I thought it didn’t make sense for Shae to have learned about the origins of the alphabet:

The parallel lines for S represent a river flowing, and the S sound is a Tiirve onomatopoeia for how it sounds as it flows.

The circle represents a bridge going across the river, and the onomatopoeia changes to SH because the sound would be louder when on the bridge.

The A character being in a shape similar to a sickle would’ve actually come from the shape of a sickle. And the reason this character represents that sound is because that’s what the Tiirve onomatopoeia would’ve been a long time ago when the language was still developing.