Jeff couldn't believe it. He stared at his father incredulously.
"You're going to turn me into a girl?! Is this payback for accidentally starting you as a girl gen-uh, Djinn?"
Yohannon beamed at Jeff's catch, while Mike shook his head.
"No, no, you don't understand, Jeff. I'm not turning you into anything, neither is Yohannon - it's just that you're a Peri, and Peri's are always female, by definition, so so are you!"
"That doesn't make any sense!"
Yohannon here interrupted in a professorial tone.
"Strictly speaking, Jeff, the change has already happened. If you were to look at your cells under a powerful microscope, you'd find you now have two X chromosomes."
Jeff's jaw nearly hit the floor.
"But-But I-"
"To be fair, among our people, the fact that Perian are female is...not quite what it is to say that a human is a woman, or a man, or anything else. Where to begin..."
Yohannon sat down in the chair Jeff had vacated, and motioned for Jeff to sit as well.
"Mike, while I'm explaining this, would you go take care of the particulars?"
"Right, of course."
Mike pulled Jeff back up into another quick hug and kissed the top of his head. Jeff blushed considerably.
"Daaaad..."
"Haha, it's my sovereign right as your dad to embarrass you with affection. Now, I'm off to get you a trust fund set up and arrange reality so your mortal life is acceptably comfortable. Nothing too major, I'm just arranging for a 'windfall' so I can credibly retire. We'll deal with the rest together as a family. Be back soon!"
And with that, Mike vanished in a puff of smoke.
Yohannon cracked his knuckles as Jeff sat down, utterly perplexed.
"This...has been...kind of a heavy day..."
"Yes, I noticed. You know, I maintain a human identity as a therapist specializing in, er, supernaturals I suppose you'd say, referral only. If you'd like to make some time to talk out your emotions about this later, I'd be happy to help."
"Oh...uh...sure. But first - am I really turning into a girl??"
"Well, now, that's an interesting question. Are all persons with XX chromosomes women? Even among humans, on a strictly genetic basis, about 1% of the global population is intersex. That's over 70 million people who don't really fit a nice neat male/female divide, by default. So, I'd say, if you feel like you're a young man, you're a young man."
Jeff relaxed a bit at that as he took his seat, and Yohannon continued.
"And that doesn't even touch on the fact that - well, good heavens, Jeff. We're Djinn! You're a Peri, Djinnfolk - we're all shapeshifters, lad!"
Suddenly and without warning Yohannon was replaced with a tall, leggy blonde with size E tits and big DSLs, but the voice that came out was still that of the little old man.
"We can be any shape we want!"
The leggy blonde suddenly had the head of a male lion, cow hooves, and moose antlers.
"ANY shape, much less gender!"
Jeff had been staring in rapt fascination, and Yohannon returned to his...their? ...little old man shape.
"It's true that Perian find it harder to change shape and need more practice than Djinn, but 'changing shape is harder for you than it is for a Djinn' is like saying you're at a higher elevation than the bottom of the Marinas Trench; the bar is extremely low. You should still find shapechanging to be amazingly simple after just a bit of practice."
Jeff stared down at his hands.
"So...I can change my shape? If I learn how?"
"Of course. I can help teach you, but of course that's principally your father's job, I'm just your...godfather, I suppose, or honorary uncle. Or, rather, honorary great-uncle, since I'm the one who's provided all this tutelage to Mike."
"Right...so, uh, Uncle Yohannon?"
The elder Djinn beamed happily.
"Yes?"
"So, if Djinn don't think much of physical sex and gender, why did mine...change? Why did you and Dad say Perian are always women?"
"Aaaah, now we get into the interesting metaphysical bits. Perian are different from most Djinnfolk in that you have a true corporeal form - that is, while your father and I 'default' to sort of whirling vortices of magic, you default to a body that is, for the most part, human looking. And, specifically, looking like...well, like the body type which in your culture is largely coded 'feminine.' Prominent breasts, a vagina and womb, etc."
Jeff nodded along, a little stunned.
"...wait, so...two things."
"The 'for the most part' refers to the fact that your default form will have a lovely pair of feathered wings in the back."
"...one thing, but also that sounds really cool."
"Indeed!"
"So...that's my true form. So why do I look like this, now?"
"Because you neither know how to transform yourself yet, nor has anyone transformed you - your body is locked into its old shape by good old ontological inertia."
"Huh. So...if I were to learn to change something, I'd turn into...into a hot chick with wings?"
Yohannon chuckled.
"Indeed you would. I could show you how to do that now, if you like."
Jeff grinned, suddenly remembering through the fog of his rather rough day how much he loved the idea of transforming himself and others.
"That...actually sounds super cool. Ok, let's do it!"
"Of course. In fact, why don't I get you started - a minor change should dislodge the ontological inertia; what hair color would you like this 'hot girl' body to have?"
Jeff grinned.
"Blonde, definitely."
His hair suddenly burst out into long, lucious blonde locks, and Jeff felt a tingling all over his body.
"Whoa! It's starting!"