A tense staredown ensued. Both Hunter and Dan looked at each other, each silently daring the other to talk first.

This time, Dan blinked.

"Alright," Dan slapped his hands on the armrest. "You got me. Look…I really did want all of it. To have a spell force feminize me, to have an ancient artifact solve my dysphoria in an instant. I couldn't commit," Dan admitted.

Hunter motioned for him to continue. It must have been awful to have to hold that in the entire time, especially since Hunter had more than a generous amount of complaints to give which likely made it even harder on Dan.

"Truth is….I'm really conflicted about everything. I lied about not wanting you to do it at the beginning of my plan because your reaction scared me off. Then when Claire entered the picture and I learned magic exists and that Claire could do it and even set me up with my ideal body…I never felt the pressure to take any of the other opportunities. Because I had Claire as an out for if what I wanted with you never went anywhere."

Hunter shook their head. "So what, you fixated on me anyway? Is this another really specific fantasy you have that you gotta tick the checkbox -- Ah crap." Hunter stopped talking when they noticed Dan's reaction.

It was like Dan had been hit with a hammer. He covered his face with his hands. "Stop it," Dan begged. "It's not like that. I don't want to always be the freak with the weird fantasies, alright?" Dan glared at Hunter. "Do you know how shameful this is for me? That I'm the one with the problem. Forced feminization really fucking sucks sometimes. It makes me think I'm not normal, because the very idea of wanting someone to take control of me is humiliating. That's my fucking value to society. I'm a joke, alright? And I can't stop. I keep making the fucking references, and I can’t stop." Dan was openly crying now, and Hunter immediately dropped the stern act and went to their best friend's side.

"Shit, I'm so sorry. I'm here, okay? You can trust me," Hunter reaffirmed.

"I know that!" Dan sighed and wiped a few tears away, still having a few waves of tears coming down. "That's the problem! I trust you to actually care about me. You're the only person I would trust to do this and actually care. I like you, Hunter, I like you a lot. I want to…" Dan trailed off.

"Want to…what?" Hunter gently asked.

"I want to be comforted by you. To go on dates. To be your girlfriend, okay? To have you be the one to turn me into my best self because I can’t do it alone.  I want to be your girl, the person who you got to come out of her shell. And it could only be you who had any chance of making it special. I know it was really romanticized and too idealistic and puts so much pressure on you, I just -- I’m a mess," Dan confessed.

Hunter froze.

Dan had feelings for them. How? Hunter was just as confused and messed up about gender stuff; they’d just had some literal divine intervention set them on their own journey of self discovery. Dan wasn’t the only one of the two of them to be a complete mess.

They looked into Dan's face.

That was a face that needed protecting, kissing, and cuddling. Hunter was always affectionate and soft toward Dan, even when they pretended not to be. They hung on Dan's every word and every last silly story because they enjoyed every single one, deep down.

Aw crap.

Dan’s stupid face was attractive.

Even when Hunter pretended to hate Dan, that was out of affection. Out of love. Love was really close to hate too, right? Hunter tried to appear aloof whenever Dan took things too far, but deep down they always had that desire to be around and protect Dan. They were already cuddling in the car rides together which, come to think of it, was a recent development; in the midst of all the craziness they hadn’t even realized they were cuddling in the moment.

Were those feelings enough to want to try spending their apparently very, very long life with Dan? Or at the very least see where it went and have Dan by their side? What made them worth being Dan’s partner? They were a disaster.

And Dan was a self-admitted disaster too, right?

Maybe this could work. After all, they were already disasters, so it wasn’t like they could make things worse by being together, right?

The world stood still, waiting for Hunter to make the next move.

What should they say?

They stared at Dan's face some more. 

"Hunter?" Dan asked softly. "Please say something."

One more pause.

An idea flashed in Hunter’s brain.

Maybe they didn’t have to say anything.

Hunter leaned in and planted a kiss on Dan’s lips. Dan, surprised, initially didn’t react. Hunter pulled back ever-so-slightly, and was met with Dan wearing a wet smile. Encouraged by this, Hunter went back in for a second round, which Dan eagerly met in the middle. Hunter put their arms around Dan and wrapped the two of them into an embrace.

Once they broke off the kiss, Hunter spent a couple moments formulating the right words.

“Dan,” they said quietly, “I didn’t understand just how much self-hate you’d been carrying with you until now. All I can really say from where I stand, is you being yourself has always been endearing to me. Every time you open your mouth I want to smile and groan at the same time, because holy shit are you imaginative, witty, and genuine with who you are. You’re not a freak. You’re not creepy, you’re not…well you’re a little weird, but I wouldn’t want to date someone who wasn’t weird. Yes, that’s right. I want to date you.”

“Gay," Dan said reflexively. “Uh, sort of at least. Maybe gay-adjacent. Not adjacent in the way that you’re observing two lesbians kiss, but you’re adjacent somewhat in the moment and not in the moment at the same time.”

“You’re incorrigible.” Hunter smiled. “And that’s perfect, because I wouldn’t change a thing about you.”

“I would,” Dan said quietly. “There’s a lot I would change. I wish I didn’t internalize a lot of the horrible, demeaning things I’d read and watched.”

“It sounds like a lot of whatever you found…wasn’t that um…what’s the word...” Hunter paused for a moment. “Affirming, I guess?”

“It wasn’t. It made me feel bad about myself. Then society changed. Even though it’s still not a great era to be trans, you see people out there and just living their lives now. No shame about it. I got louder about being forced to change because I wish I had that so I wouldn’t have the responsibility. It’s just…I feel all turned around,” Dan admitted.

Hunter took Dan’s hand. “Hey, listen to me,” they started. “It’s late. We’ve been through a bunch of dramatic gender-related shit. We’re okay. Though I mean, gods are real, which is a bit of a loss for atheists around the world. That’s terrifying.”

“Nono, it’s more of a loss for everyone who believes in a god.” Dan had on his stupid, smug smile. “You see, god is real, but she only cares about forcefemming you. Checkmate, religion.”

“Hah, at least as far as we know.” Hunter laughed while running a hand over one of their new curves. “Could be worse, I turned out fine.”

“Very fine.” Dan tried to avoid staring at Hunter but failed. “Mmm…”

Hunter blushed. A barrier had now been broken between the two of them, with no chance of ever being repaired to what it was before.

“Look, I’m sleepy. No classes tomorrow for either of us, right? I think you’re harder on yourself than you need to, but I’m really, really tired. I’ll take the couch if that’s alright.” 

Luckily, Dan looked to be a little braver in that regard. “You could take the bed…” Dan mumbled. “With me, if you want.”

Hunter’s heart leapt. Dan had finally made a step on his own. “I’d like that.” 

Despite both of them having been through enough to want to collapse on the floor and sleep right there, the two of them got up from the chair as if they were high on caffeine, turning out the lights and rushing into bed. Hunter wrapped their arms around Dan from behind.

“Hey, Hunter…” Dan asked, clearly about to pass out.

“Yeah?” they asked softly.

“Are we dating?”

Hunter had to fight to suppress a laugh. “Of course we are,” they said with closed eyes. “That wasn’t a platonic set of kisses.”

“So we’re dating, and not in a friend way?” Dan’s voice had a little more energy in it, probably because he was being a pedantic little bastard now.

“Go the fuck to sleep,” Hunter mumbled as they nuzzled their head behind Dan’s.

***

Hunter was up early.

Because they had plans.

On the way back from the temple, they’d sent Claire a request to get a bunch of items together. They checked their messages and confirmed with glee that Claire had fulfilled her part of the plan last night.

TotallyNormalClaire: Ok that was definitely a long ass trip

hunterofnumbers: Thank you. How much extra was left?

TotallyNormalClaire: Like $200. We agreed on a hundred right

hunterofnumbers: Keep it. 

TotallyNormalClaire: Where did you get all this money lmao

hunterofnumbers: Money laundering.

TotallyNormalClaire: No but really, how did you get the funds to purchase all of this? Nobody on this campus has enough money to buy an entire wardrobe’s worth of clothes on a dime. You know what, nevermind. Did you and Dan talk?

hunterofnumbers: Yeah. We’re dating now. Hooray.

TotallyNormalClaire: Omg

TotallyNormalClaire: Awesome!! 

hunterofnumbers: This isn’t weird is it

TotallyNormalClaire: It’s a little weird for me since y’know, we were together… but I’m happy for you both though, you deserve it, seriously

TotallyNormalClaire: All the stuff is in your apartment btw. Thanks for the money and for the key

hunterofnumbers: Thanks Claire. I owe you one.

TotallyNormalClaire: Np

With an evil smirk on their face, Hunter had swiftly made the trip to their apartment and back, grabbing the treasure trove of goods that Claire had picked up for them. They probably had some divine power that they could use creatively to make their life easier, but doing things the old-fashioned way worked for now. Especially considering they had barely any experience with things going the old-fashioned way in the first place. They even managed to sneak in a shower and get changed.

Upon arriving back at Dan’s apartment, they hid the chest of goodies out of sight and watched Dan sleep for a moment. Oh, sweet and innocent Dan. They sat on the side of the bed and decided to search for the forced feminization stuff Dan had been consuming. After all the hypotheticals and conversations they’d had with Dan, they’d never bothered to see any of it for themself.

There was a lot of good and a lot of not so good. It was hard to put a finger on a lot of it. Like, many stories they found treated any form of gender nonconformity as shameful and abhorrent, while still dipping into the very same tropes about gender stereotypes without any critical analysis or reflection. Forced feminization as a concept was treated as a mixed bag, especially in media published many years ago. A lot of it was about cruelty, sexual satisfaction, and punishment. All of those things could be spun in many different and interesting directions, yet distressingly reinforced shame. Though not all of the time, maybe? A couple things they skimmed over seemed inoffensive or ahead of the times, at least.

Hunter quickly checked another couple websites. Recent years had more positive media, coming out stories and more stories that critically evaluated what it meant to be transgender, and gender itself as a concept. Dan frequently talked about those, but never at length about the cruel ones beyond offhand references here and there. Hunter didn't have enough to really know the lengthy history, though their first impression from their searches was mixed.

Hunter was starting to get an idea of why Dan threw so many things at them. If Dan had grown up in a culture of shame, just having someone to talk to about all of the tantalizingly forbidden queer secrets must have been a lifesaver. No wonder why Dan for the longest time spoke about forced feminization in hushed whispers. Hunter’s own exposure to queer secrets was exclusively through Dan, and until fairly recently they just didn’t have much of an opinion beyond ‘queer people are also people’.

Hunter hadn’t thought anything of being a confidant at the time. It didn’t take a lot of effort to accept your friend for who they were. Yet apparently tons of people were bad at it. So bad that even some of the people that played with gender often failed to do a critical evaluation of the potential transgender narratives behind the imaginative and wondrous ways to change people’s sex and gender.

From what Dan implied and their own research after the fact, Artemis herself fell into that camp. In mythology as well as other, less mythological sources, Artemis as well as many others in the Greek pantheon would often transform people on a whim, either due to a perceived slight or just because they felt like it would be fun. Artemis even said as much to them directly, that she enjoyed toying with them.

Hunter glanced at Dan, who yawned and stretched his arm out as he woke up from a peaceful night’s sleep.

Maybe Artemis was onto something. In a safe and controlled manner, of course. 

“Whabtakljjh?” Dan verbally keysmashed at the first thing he saw when he woke up being Hunter in a stunning and maybe-a-little-revealing red dress, different than the more modest green one they had on before. Hunter had quickly grabbed one of the things Claire had bought for them and tried it on.

Hunter’s hair was well brushed and flowed down to their shoulders. Stubble nowhere to be found, though they made no other changes to their face. Just a few smaller steps in the name of experimenting with their style. 

“Like what you see?” Hunter teased with only a hint of anxiety.

“You’re…really leaning into the femme presentation, huh? You look lovely,” Dan choked out.

“Thank you,” Hunter blushed. “Always try everything once, right?” They followed up with a knowing smirk.

The noise Dan made in response was completely unidentifiable, Hunter’s closest approximation for the sound being a mouse being cornered by a large cat.

“Why don’t you go take a shower and I’ll get breakfast?” Hunter suggested, putting a tiny amount of sexy into their voice. Now this was fun. Not everyday fun, but definitely fun enough to do more than once.

Hunter did not get breakfast. 

Dan scrambled into the shower as Hunter got a few things ready. Hunter’s heart was pounding as they once again ruminated over the implications of what they were about to do. This would fall under the mission Artemis gave them, though really, going after Dan was more of a personal move. They didn’t even know they were capable of doing something like this, but apparently all they had to do was draw into their snark reserves they usually kept for when Dan was silly, and repurpose them into a more domineering style.

Besides, this meant something to Dan. So it could mean something for Hunter, too. After all, this was their first time being on the side of the feminizer. 

Once Hunter was confident Dan was in his own little world, Hunter made their move. They quietly creaked the bathroom door open, thankful Dan hadn’t locked it. They got lucky in that the shower curtain was opaque, so swiping Dan’s clothes ended up being effortless.

After quietly closing the door, Hunter hid the pile of clothes in Dan’s closet which Hunter was certain wouldn’t be seeing any use today. Then they grabbed the hidden chest of goodies, procured a few things that looked like they matched, and threw them onto the bed, making sure to neatly place them so Dan could get a full look as he stepped out of the shower. Hunter wasn’t that confident in outfit coordination, but figured Dan knew enough to get the idea.

Right on cue, the shower door opened a creak. “Hunter, where the hell are my -- oh,” Dan started angrily, then noticed the rather fetching ensemble placed strategically on the bed and the protest died.

“What was that again, Dan?” Hunter teased.

"You don't have to do this."

"You're right, I don't have to," Hunter said. "I want to."

"Okay, even for me that's way too much cheese," Dan groaned, resting his forehead on the bathroom door.

Hunter rolled their eyes. Of course Dan was looking for a way out "Look. I read some of the stuff that I'm sure you're familiar with. A lot of that stuff is degrading, right? Or horny. Or degrading and horny." 

A quiet confirmation. "Yeah."

Hunter mustered up the most encouraging and boastful tone they could get. "Then why don't we turn it into something good? Instead of throwing you to the floor and telling you how you're worthless, I'll make you into the person you were meant to be. I’ll give you the support and protection you wished you had.  As your partner.”

Dan let out a small whimper. "Are you telling me we need to reclaim forced feminization?"

"Yeah! So put on these panties --" Hunter grabbed some underwear, trying not to cringe at their use of the word. "-- this bra --" Hunter grabbed a handful of other clothes. "-- um, stockings, skirt, blouse…" They held out some sort of item which looked like a frilly belt with a few clips. "...and whatever the fuck this is. Get dressed. Now."

"I...alright…lucky for us I keep myself all clean-shaven." Dan gaped, definitely taken aback. Hunter supposed if they wanted to go really hard into the 'forced' part of the feminization, they wouldn't have given Dan the opportunity to protest. Giving Dan an out was necessary for both of their comfort - though since Dan didn't take the out, Hunter felt free to keep going.

Dan moved to leave the shower, and Hunter, taking the hint, turned away to give Dan some privacy.

"You're allowed to watch," Dan said.

"I thought I wasn't supposed to look at transformations," Hunter pointed out.

"You're allowed when it's me."

"Oh."

Hunter turned around.

***

Dan adjusted the last clasps of the so-called 'garter belt', looking down and not saying a word. He pulled off the look to the point that Hunter began to wonder if magic was best kept out of this. Even without magic, Dan looked incredible, wearing a set of very feminine clothes combined with quite a few unnecessary (in Hunter’s opinion) articles of lingerie underneath, all pink.. Luckily for them, the ensemble fit Dan perfectly despite Dan never getting measured.

"You're beautiful, Dan," Hunter praised, casually walking over and giving him a hug while cringing at their repeated internal use of the pronoun. That wouldn't do anymore.

"Clearly I can't keep misgendering and misnaming you. I should have done this a long time ago." Hunter shook their head, making a couple clicking noises. "I certainly don't see a boy standing in front of me." Hunter gave Dan a chance to protest, just in case.

Dan shuddered but made no move or sound.

Hunter broke off the hug and stepped backward, keeping their eyes trained on Dan. "You're a woman now, understood?" Hunter ordered. "And we're going to change your name, because you need a proper name for a lady, don't you think?" Hunter took a moment to think of a fitting name. They were tempted to go with something like Dana, but while a name feminization worked for other people, and despite Dan’s early comments about it, Hunter knew the real way to go was something more dramatic.

"Lorelei, or Lori, for short. A beautiful name for a beautiful lady. A symbol of achievement and victory," Hunter recalled a few notes they took on names they found, “And I certainly consider us coming out the other side, a victory.”

In response, Dan let out a whimper and started shaking. Hunter, momentarily taken aback, wrapped up their partner in a second embrace, asking, "Are you alright?"

It took a moment for Dan to respond.

"I'm alright, I swear. I love the name Lorelei. It fits me." Lori smiled, bouncing her head back and forth a little bit. "I get to be Lori now! Fuck yeah." She excitedly pumped her fist up in the air.

"Of course you do. You earned it by being incredible. This is your moment. You deserve to be a girl. You always have." Hunter swelled with pride. The gambit had worked and Lori had finally, after all of this time, freed herself the shackles preventing her living as her authentic self. Maybe some people really did need a push.

"Hunter...." Lori wiped a few tears away from her face, looking down at the ensemble Hunter picked out for her. "I want to feel silly, in all this. Especially because…I don’t know, I was expecting to feel like a dude in stuff that doesn’t belong to me. But I don't. I feel like me. I feel right."

"I'm proud of you," Hunter said, a small quiver in their voice betraying their own emotions. Lori was finally letting herself be happy.

"Okay, so far this forced feminization setup is pretty great," Lori gave Hunter a thumbs up. "I mean, I was expecting you to use magic to just do it all in one, but I think I like this better! You're really giving me all the attention and love; you're a natural, Hunter."

That was cute. Lori thought they were all done. Hunter was well aware they were going out on a limb and exploring way beyond wherever they thought they could go.

Why stop now?

Hunter formed a devious smile.

"Quite a mouth on you…" Hunter mused.

"Oh?" Lori gave Hunter a defiant look, daring them to continue. How insolent.

"I think it could use an enhancement." Hunter let out a devilish chuckle, and snapped their fingers. A line of red materialized on Lori's lips.

Lori must have noticed the change, because she licked her lips and stared at Hunter in shock. Hunter couldn't help but feel a bit of amazement too at what they were capable of.

"Like it?" Hunter grinned, giving Lori a chance to protest if she didn't like it.

Instead, she moaned, "Yeah."

"Good girl." 

Lori shivered even more at hearing the famous two-word weakness that most trans woman possessed. Hunter saw her reaction as a license to go even further.

"One more thing, Lori…this is payback for every time I sat there listening to you wall yourself off from giving yourself the transition you clearly and unequivocally deserve. You’re not getting out of this one.” Hunter took a deep breath. “And you know what, to show how serious I am about this, I am not going by ‘Hunter’, right now.. Call me Diana, while we’re doing this."

Before Lori could act surprised, Diana pounced.

***

Diana stroked their girlfriend's hair as the two of them took a quick break. Diana was kissing the back of Lori's neck, whispering all sorts of niceties and validating phrases.

"Hey, Diana…" Lori mumbled.

"Yes, sweetie?" Diana smiled. They could get used to the whole 'multiple names' thing. 

"You can be meaner to me, if you want," Lori said.

"I thought there was a whole thing about degradation and shame being bad."

"A lot of the time," Lori admitted. "But sometimes it's also really hot."

"Oh…" Diana thought for a moment, not really understanding but deciding to roll with it. "Um, you have a tiny penis?"

Neither one of them said anything for a moment, until Lori erupted into a fit of laughter. "Really? That's what you go with?"

"I remember you saying you'd let people do that to you one time!" Diana protested.

"Yeah, but that’s so low effort! Sheesh, I thought you read up on all that stuff. I'm gonna have to teach you how to do it properly sometime." 

***

Diana had Lori pinned against the wall. Diana was the taller of the two again, having shrunk Lori by a couple inches, among other new enhancements.

Lori had curves now, exaggerated to an extent since apparently that was something she liked too. They'd probably dial things back down later, but for now it seemed quite fun to make Lori stacked, and she was obviously enjoying it too.

Maybe there was a little bit of wish fulfillment in there. Lori wanted to have that exaggerated figure, even though it was a bit of a stereotype. 

Was it so bad to bring a fantasy to life between consenting adults? To write it down, to consume the fantasy. To even enjoy it, despite society’s imposed rules screaming at them that it was shameful, an embarrassment, to enjoy said fantasy.

Fuck that. 

Diana grabbed the back of Lori’s neck. If they were going to be the one controlling Lori’s story, her narrative, then they were going to make it one the two of them could feel good about, society be damned.

Right before Diana could undress Lori, the smaller girl piped up.

"Hey, Artemis didn't have you make a Vow of Chastity, right?" Lori asked.

"No…although I suppose I could've brought something like that for this morning, too…"

Lori blushed. "Not like that! Though there's an idea…" She shook her head, still pinned against the wall. "Okay, so we're probably okay to fuck. Artemis famously swore off sex with men and sometimes demanded her followers make similar vows. At least according to some legends."

"Well, that's lucky since there's no men here. At least right now," Diana chuckled.

"It's a bit ambiguous whether Artemis abstained from sex or just used it as an excuse to be a really horny lesbian instead of being expected to marry a man, but either way, great rep, yeah?"

Diana almost lost their grip on Lori, which may have been the point as the girl attempted to break free, forcing Diana to reassert their grip on their girlfriend, and bring the two of them to the ground.

***

"No, no, no. Hold your eye open when applying the mascara, a couple swipes each way," Lori lectured as Diana attempted to decorate Lori's face.

"I know I avoided it earlier, why can't we just do more magic to put the makeup on? It's so much easier." Diana whined. They had zero idea of what they were doing.

"Where's the fun in that?" Lori protested. "Some things you gotta live through the authentic and really annoying experience a few times to really get the idea."

"Well, at least stop twitching, you're making my job way harder than it has to be," Diana lectured, trying not to laugh. "Besides, I've got dozens of other ways to make you twitch." They ran a hand up Lori's leg, causing her to let out a moan. Diana dropped the brush in the commotion, which smeared mascara on Lori's cheek.

The two disasters broke down in laughter.

***

"You're just gonna leave me like this?" Lori asked, her hands cuffed to the bedframe.

Diana made a show of looking between the door and the bed. "Yeah."

They took a break, grabbed some food and then returned to the bedroom. 

"Seriously?" Lori protested, struggling with the cuffs as Diana took a large bite of an apple. "I haven't had breakfast yet, that's just cruel."

"You said I should be meaner," Diana smirked between a couple mouthfuls.

"Not like this, though."

"Then how else am I gonna put you in your place, cutie?" Diana asked coyly, eating the last couple bites.

"You could try calling me a disgusting little bitch--" Lori started, but Diana cut her off.

"Ah ah ah!" Diana wagged their finger while discarding the apple core, moving up to the foot of the bed and splaying their hands out on the corners. "I'm in control here."

Lori tugged at the cuffs, lurching forward toward her partner ineffectually. She made a show of whimpering and gave Diana the puppy dog eyes. 

That gave Diana a brilliant idea. 

"You want release? Beg for it."

***

The morning was over.

Diana and Lori's lovemaking session was not. 

Though if either of them were quizzed, they would insist the lovemaking would never end. For the rest of the day at least, they would be correct.

The two of them were in the middle of a break, though. Diana kept finding new ways to caress Lori, and Lori kept finding brand new parts of her body to be caressed.

No wonder lesbians had a reputation for being useless. For the moment, at least, Diana felt fine with throwing themself into the lesbian ring.

"Gods, I'm going to want to do this again, for sure." Lori snuggled herself up against Diana.

"Really? What, have me turn you back and do all this again?" Diana giggled. They should have seen this coming. With Lori's imagination, there would never be an end to this.

Which was just what Diana wanted, too.

"Hey, Lori…"

"Did you figure out how to do recursive feminization?" Lori asked with a laugh, fully aware she was talking nonsense.

"Shut up. But also, you were right." Diana kissed the back of Lori's neck.

"'Bout what?"

"You ARE very force femmable."