After the last race the whole crew was feeling pretty tired, and my Mom was expecting my home soon, so we all decided to call it in. Maddi took Liz, having dogs of her own already, and Amanda came with her, arranging an impromptu sleepover. They invited me and my medallion, but I wasn't feeiling it, and so I took it home, agreeing to meet up the following day at noon.
As I got up to leave the other two still-human girls pulled me into a hug, sighing and cooing over me, giggling and muttering reassuring platitudes. Moments later I was off home, my mind grumbling over their sincereity, grasping the medallion.
"Maddi's Mom rang," My mother explained, standing at the doorway. I had been so deep in thought I had let my legs take me home, and I han't even noticed the journey was over, and had nearly collided with her. "She explained what happened, about your new little toy."
I gripped the medallion, my mind recalling the conversation some years ago about messing aroiund with eldritch, umbral, or otherwise arcane forces, and her glare told me everything. I was standing there, wearing nothing but some sandals and bathing suit, obviouly having changed, obviously having done the one thing I was always told to never do.
"Oops," I bleated
"Go wait in your room," she sighed, taking the medallion "We'll discuss this with your sister. Your father is gonna have a field day."
My room seemed much larger than I left it, my mind still adjusting to the sensation of being this small again. It still felt familliair though, thankfully, and as I went to grab something comfortable from my wardrobe I finally managed to catch myself in the mirror, triggering something strange deep inside me.
The new me was cute; small and slender, with puffed cheeks and a smattering of freckles, big blue eyes shining out from my ginger locks. It was odd, something I had missed during the melee of changes. Maddi had explicitly asked for a female version of _me_, but what what I was looking at wassnt remotely like [i]the old me[/i]. Ontop of that, as I stared back at myself, taking in my new shape, I couldn't help but feel oddly okay with what I was looking at, both comfortable and excited, utterly satisfied by the reflection in a way my old reflection never could.
I booted up my PC, watching myself move as I waited for it to load, amused by my masculine ministrations. Seconds later I was looking at the four of us again, my desktop wallpaper, at the way we used to be, at the way I used to be, but that person, that me, felt unmistably off. I didn't recognise them, it was like looking at a strangher pretend to be me, and it left me feeling oddly hostile. I quickly switched the wallpaper to a generic theme, booting up the extrnal hardrive with all the old photos, ready to purge it. Before I could my doorswung open, my mother standing there with my sister in tow, glaring.
"Now is not the time for video games," she barked, I shot up and away from it, standing in the corner, "We have a lot to discuss before your dad gets home."
My older sister was now much older than me, much taller too. She sat with me on the lip of my bed, holding my hand while my mother leaned on the doorway. After a moment of silent contemplation my mother finally spoke up.
"Its good we found out this way." She said, her tone wobbling.
"Found out what? What way?" I asked, bringing silence onto the room again.
"We aren't angry," my sister bleeted, squeezing my hand, "but we have to know everything." I noddded, shooting them both a quizical look. "How long have you liked young girls?"
My heart sunk.
"I don't," I squeaked, "this isn't a sex thing!"
They looked at each other, their faces unconvinced.
"We're not angry hun," the older lady reassured, "this is a step in the right direction, we can get you help."
"Its not a sex thing," I bellowed, biting back tears, "its just, its complicated."
I was suddenly hyper aware of the tiny little girl in a bathing suit on my bed, the adorable girl with wild red hair and freckles. My shame was impossible to hide, and my mother's gaze impossible to hide from.
"If its not a sex thing then..."
"Mom," my sister snapped, silencing her with a glare. She turned a friendlier face onto me, squeezing my hand again. "Tommy?" she then asked. I cringed.
"I'm not..." I tried to say, huffing myself to a standstill, "I was just... I mean we were all just..."
"Tommy, Tommy, Tommy," my sister said, furstrating my futher, pushing my over the edge. "We aren't here to judge, we are here to help."
"Stephanie," I blurted, tears rolling down my face as I broke into a hot-faced cry, "my new name is Stephanie, Stephanie with a P H and an I E."
Once again I brough silence on the room, this one more gormless, but also much less hostile. My tears were hot and ugly, my blubbering loud and obnoxious, and while I thought it might be the thing that soothed them in their eyes there seemed to be something else going on; the flickering and darking of intense thought. It was like watching the cogs of an old clock, realization spreading accross their face, seeing something I was blind too. They shared an intense look, and a moment later my sister burst into laughter, patting my back.
"You never were good at picking names were you? Had to steal mine."
It took me a few seconds, but then I fell into my own hands laughing. In my excited state I had plucked the first name I could think of, and - obviously - the first name I could think of was Loise Stephanie Wallace, my sister.
"What is it you named you computer?" She asked, stiffling her giggle.
"He, er, they named it Chair," Mom chimed in, her grisled look melting. "And he named the chair Compy Chair."
I was glowing red at their chides, but at least my tears were fading, and theeir laughter was infectious.
"Its wordplay," I responded, cracking a smile, "like..."
"Like comfy chair and computer chair, we know." Louise said. "Its wordplay but its not every good."
I jostled her back, tears still wet on my face, but she didnt let go, hugging me into her giggle, which made me giggle, which made mom giggle, the room descendinginto stories about my apparently aweful abillity to name things. Mom eventually sat on Compy, claiming it wasnt that comfy, and over time she drifted closer, meanwhile my sister's arm never left my side.
"What about D&D, are you good at naming things there?" Mom asked, picking up one of my figurines.
"Oh they are," Louise chimed in, "that is Eowyn Longstrider, daughter of the High King. Over there is Adrianne the barbarian, and over there is Lucille the Dry-knee, and over there is the one I made, which the called Ranila Nobeard, of house Longbeard."
They both gave each other an impressive look, but I had to roll my head and come clean.
"I didn't name them," I explained, "there is a personailty test thing that I use, it names them for me."
"Okay, I have to know what I am," Louise said, gesturing to my mother, "turn the computer on, show us."
But, after she wiggled my mouse, the machine flicked back into life, and I was once again facing my old self. I hadn't saved the changes, and the desktop reverted back. Louise felt my cringe, looking between me and the monitor, confused. I simply looked away, my cheeks redenning once again.
"Well it asks what race you are, but none of them are white." Mom joked, adjusting her glasses. She then noticed my shame too, despite the fact I had turned back to trying to hide it.
Befire she could say anything we all heard the familliar crunch of gravel, my father returning home from work. They both bolted to their feet, muttering to each other before turning to me.
"We will go and explauin things," Mom said, patting my shoulder. "Go get yourself some clothes from your sister's room, we'll call you down shortly.