Second date
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Victoria looked at the miserable burrito of blankets on her couch and the trans girl swaddled within as she sipped her tea. She was wracking her brain trying to consider what could make someone, well, detransition in a matter of hours. She'd been dainty before, almost half a foot shorter. The woman on her couch… She took another look. 

 

Well…

 

She was still very pretty. Honestly. She smirked. She knew in her heart of hearts that Max wouldn't agree with her, of course. Every trans girl is valid except me, the saying goes. But she was… She had a softness and kindness to the shape of her face that told her everything she needed to know about this woman. She was glad she'd trusted her. 

 

Although “take me home” would have been more feasible if she hadn't immediately zonked out and become unresponsive, so Victoria had had no real choice but to bring her to her flat. 

 

She'd put the girl on the sofa. She'd been light for her height, and V was pretty strong for hers. But the girl was freezing so she'd piled on every comforter and blanket she could get her hands on. It had stopped the shivering at least. She was tempted to take a nap but honestly, considering everything that had happened, she didn't want to leave the poor girl to wake up alone. Besides, she'd had four hours of sleep. That was enough, she lied to herself as she downed her fifth cup of tea. 

 

—-

 

She had just sat down on the sofa when three bundle of girl stirred, gently opening her eyes, only those and her nose visible as she pulled the blankets up. 

 

“Good morning,” Victoria hazarded. 

 

“Hmm mmmf”, Max answered dutifully. 

 

Victoria leaned in and gently touched Max’s forehead with the back of her hand. No longer freezing, and no fever. That was good. Max seemed taken aback but the sudden contact but quickly relaxed and unfurled her fuzzy cocoon. 

Victoria immediately noticed a few things. The first was that Max moved with a kind of awkward grace. Fluid motion interrupted by lag, almost. 

 

The second was that her arms had none of the bruises they'd had before. Maxine seemed unaware of this as she did a big stretch, not seeming to notice she was nudging Victoria with her feet. After a few seconds of decidedly catlike yawning, she settled again, her blonde hair a fluffy mess. 

 

“Thank you, Victoria.”

 

Victoria smiled at the stray on her couch. 

 

“My friends call me Ria. Or Vicky. Or V. Sometimes. Uh. How are you feeling?”

 

Maxine frowned. 

 

“Um. Good. Very good. Which is… Weird.” 

 

She looked at her arms, and her legs. Strong both, with a thick blonde layer of hair. Victoria pretended not to notice her inhaling sharply between her teeth. Dysphoria could be a bitch. 

 

“So you, eh, you wanna tell me what happened last night?”

 

Max awkwardly rubbed the back of her head. 

 

“I'm honestly not sure you'll believe me. It would be easier if Penny was here too.”

 

Horrified, Victoria realised that last bit hadn't been directed at her. She tried to scoot away carefully. 

 

“So eh… Ha ha. Is Penny like… Is this some kind of Jekyll and Hyde situation?”

 

Please say no please say no please say no 

 

“Haha, kind of!” Oh Fuck. it's not that dramatic though. I'll show you once it comes out.”

 

Victoria had shuffled off the couch and was backing away to the kitchen, hoping to find a knife, something, anything, while Max seemed to now be in conversation with an invisible person. 

 

“I don't care that you're tired! She deserves to know!”

 

Pause. Vicky found a knife in the sink. She palmed it and slowly walked back to the couch, the knife behind her back. 

 

“Yeah, well you got us into this mess.”

 

Beat. She was almost next to the couch now. She didn't know what she planned to do after but it probably involved asking her politely yet firmly to leave, at knifepoint. She had done her part as a good human being and now she would like the possibly dangerous stranger to leave, thank you very much. 

 

“I know I'm right. Now come on. Thank you.”

 

Maxine turned to Victoria, who was trembling. 

 

“I'm so sorry, it'll become clear in a second.”

 

As she spoke, black liquid out of her arm and collected in her hand. Victoria was frozen. 

 

“This is Penny. Say hi, Penny.”

 

The little blob waved at Victoria, and she fainted. 

 

—- 

 

She woke up to find that sadly, none of this had been a nightmare. The rational part of her brain noticed that Max was sitting in front of the window, eating something out of a plate with her back turned. She tried to look around quietly and saw the knife on the kitchen table. Maybe she could reach it before.

 

“Oh good, you're up! I'm so sorry for eating the leftovers from your fridge but we were both so hungry…”

 

“Please don't hurt me,” Victoria said, her voice quivering. 

 

Max plopped down on the sofa looking dejected. All of a sudden she was very small again. 

 

“I'm not… I'm not going to hurt you, Victoria. Vicky. I just… I'm trying to figure out how to tell you what happened in a way you'll believe me.”

 

She told her the story from the beginning, how this thing had found her and how it had changed her (and then it called her and took her clubbing? V wasn't clear on that part) and how apparently the creature had run out of energy or something and she'd turned back. All the while, she seemed to be playing with black tendrils that wrapped around her hand. In the sunlight, they're was an oily beauty to them.

 

“And now we're getting to figure out why I turned back into this.” She gestured at herself. 

 

“And you can hear it talk?”

 

Victoria looked out the window. She was holding up very well, even if she did say so herself. 

 

“Yeah. In my head.” She paused for a second, clearly listening. “Penny says they can talk to you too but you have to promise not to freak out.”

 

“Okay. Am I going to… Hear a voice in my head or…?”

 

We're afraid not.” An alarm bell, a big honking siren, went off in her head. That voice was wrong. She turned back to Max, whose entire head was now covered in the same purple goop. Her face was simple. Two white, catlike eyes as if painted on, and a smile quite literally from ear to ear, that was all teeth. And it spoke. 

 

Hello, Victoria. I am Penumbra.”

 

“Aaa,” Victoria said. 

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