NOVEL NEXT Chapter 19: The Big Day
The day was here at last. While preparations had been put a bit sideways by the need to replace Cartridge’s bed and window, the power of Augusta’s money meant that all of that was solved in a couple days. Augusta’s money had also been part of why it was going to be so exciting. Well, Augusta’s and Plynx’s, the alien princess having plunked a few rods of gold down as her part of paying for the hotel restaurant they were renting.
It honestly struck Svetlana as being mildly overkill, as she just had a few people to invite beyond her girlfriends and parents. Augusta and Plynx wanted to spoil her, though. As did Thisbe, who had actually managed to hire a unicorn for the party. Though, in a human form and as a DJ. Which Svetlana had to admit was much more her style than any sort of pony ride or… whatever you did with a horse at a young girl’s birthday party. (A petting zoo, maybe?)
Now she was downright vibrating with excitement as everyone filed in. She and O’tmyil handed out party hats as guests filed in. She’d never been as big on birthdays before, at least after hitting the bars at 19. But this was different. She was a girl now. She was sure the presents would be better.
Plynx sat down beside Thisbe at the centre table, watching as their tall and well muscled girlfriend managed to pull off the adult-sized fairy wings she’d gotten her hands on like nobody’s business. Plynx didn’t quite understand the appeal. They reminded her of the wings of the small creatures young Issiod’rians loved to chase, but she reminded herself that humans were not as predatory as Issiod’rians. They definitely weren’t ambush predators, so were less excited by that sort of close movement.
Well, normal humans. Thisbe was a little different, and that helped Plynx feel more comfortable around her.
“She’s adorable when she’s this excited,” Thisbe said, sipping on some tomato juice.
Plynx made an ‘mhm’, watching as Svetlana took advantage of a lull in the arrivals to dance with O’tmyil for a few moments. Plynx swore she could see the love in O’tmyil’s eyes in response.
“It’s amazing how she can be so casual with O’tmyil,” Plynx mumbled, half to herself.
“Oh?” Thisbe asked.
Plynx blushed slightly, nodding. “I suppose none of you Earthlings grew up hearing about all the events she was involved in. The Fall of the First Dynasty. The Defense of Capriok. Em—well, the whole Second Dynasty. She was there at the heart of the Galactic Golden Age. The things she’s seen… I feel like a myrn beside her.”
“I… don’t know what a myrn is, but… I think I understand what you mean. I suppose I’m lucky that most of my endeavours during my life were kept quiet, governments not liking to admit they hired vampires,” Thisbe replied. “But I have gotten a similar feeling to your current one from Svetlana and Vivian when topics about my age come up. I’m sure they’d be just as overwhelmed if I told them what I was doing during the Second World War… Or why I’m still banned from Belgium.”
“That was you!?” Augusta hissed, sitting down beside them.
The vampiric girl blushed, as Plynx was left confused. Neither woman gave further explanation. Plynx had to accept being confused as the conversation shifted to discussing cities and landscapes in Europe and Africa.
Vivian was chatting with Svetlana’s parents when Noah and Ukilak came up to them, the former looking a bit nervous. Vivian gave the pair a quick wave, while Svetlana’s father seemed distracted by the vulpine girl’s ears and tail.
“Enjoying the music?” Vivian asked.
Noah nodded. “It’s nice, gentle at this stage… still amazed I was invited, after the disaster the date was.”
“Sveta’s never really been the type to hold grudges, and you’ve been friends for years,” Svetlana’s mother said. “It doesn’t surprise me at all.”
Noah was about to reply when Ukilak grabbed his arm and slid in close to him.
“Why are you staring at me?” she asked, glaring at Svetlana’s father.
“Ah! S-sorry. I had just never seen an actual shapeshifted kitsune before,” the greying man replied.
“A what-tsune?” she asked. “Is that some sort of an insult?”
“It’s just Japanese for ‘fox’,” Noah replied gently.
The arctic fox girl gave an ‘oh’ and nodded at the explanation, before Noah suggested she go check out the buffet again. Once she was out of earshot he turned to the others with an apologetic smile.
“Sorry, northern fox girls like her are… skittish. They’re not very used to humans and human culture, even if they find us interesting. So, she gets worried about being insulted easily. If you earn her trust she’s very sweet, though,” he explained.
“Sounds like one of my girlfriends,” Vivian replied with a grin.
“And my husband,” Svetlana’s mother added.
“Dear,” the man in question protested.
“Don’t worry, dear. I appreciate that you don’t shed as much as a fox or a lynx,” she countered with a smile.
A few more guests filed in, Svetlana enjoyed the reaction from a few who hadn’t seen her new look yet. She was about to head over to her table for dinner when another guest arrived. Or, another person, at least, as she realised it was Agent Lee.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, crossing her arms.
“I have an invitation,” the man replied, producing a card that matched the ones she’d sent out.
“And it’s not signed, because I didn’t send it,” she countered.
“The larger issue was laws around forging signatures… I also brought a present, however,” Lee said, producing what seemed to be a wrapped box.
“What is it?” Svetlana asked, raising an eyebrow.
“It is in poor taste to ask so directly.”
“It’s in poor taste to crash someone’s birthday party.”
“Fair,” he replied flatly. “Updated ID for your new name and gender identity. Birth certificate, health card, driver’s licence, SIN number, etc.”
Svetlana blinked. That was actually something she wanted.
“I will hand it over once I have been given cake,” Agent Lee continued.
She weighed the options before nodding. “An acceptable trade. Augusta seems to have gone more overboard than I was going to go for the party, so there’s going to be leftovers…. as long as no more agents show up.”
“They have pizzas in a room upstairs,” Lee replied.
“Ah… uh, good,” Svetlana said, as Lee headed off to find a table.
Dancing, drinks, a cake buffet. The party had been going very well after the main dinner ended. Apart from Agent Lee’s gift, the one she’d been given that had excited her the most had probably been the spa gift cards her mother had given, Svetlana having forgotten that she could embrace spas far more now. She was also surprised just how excited she was to get socks now, but Cartridge and Geordi had found her some very good ones.
She’d also gotten some excellent birthday kisses from her girlfriends as they each took turns dancing with her. She found herself smiling whenever she noticed some of them dancing together throughout the evening.
Ok, so they were always dancing with Vivian, but she was pretty sure that was mostly down to Thisbe, Plynx, and O’tmyil not being used to leading. Thisbe definitely seemed to get along with both of the other two, even if the more alien girls had an odd relationship still.
Svetlana, however, found herself a little distracted from dancing after her mother got her hands on some vodka and started challenging people to drinking contests. Svetlana did her best to talk people out of it, for the sake of their livers. In the end, it was down to O’tmyil to triumph, cheating through the power of not actually having a metabolism once again. Svetlana and her father helped to take her mother up to a room in the hotel, before the birthday girl went back downstairs.
She grabbed a bit more cake, and snacked on it as she wandered about making small talk with folks.
Svetlana then did a double take as she saw Zyn talking happily to a solidly built woman in a suit who seemed lost in thought. What had caused the double take was Svetlana not remembering the woman coming in while she’d been at the door earlier. Well, that and Svetlana swearing she recognised her, but not being sure where from.
And then she noticed that Zyn had the gender bender blaster in her hands, and it slid into place.
“Zyn, may I ask why you zapped Noah?” she asked, leaning in next to the short feline princess.
Zyn turned to her with a large and innocent smile. “Heartwright-nurse was doing talking about how he is now the only one in your high school friends group that is a boy, and we-three remembered how Geordi-friend mentioned the trans peoples often being friends not knowing. So thought maybe Heartwright-nurse would like being girl?”
Svetlana let out a sigh. “Zyn, you can’t just zap people on that little… though, I guess this is an improvement from what you all got up to before… how are you feeling, Noah?”
Noah gave a shrug and a confused noise. “It’s… weird? Not bad, though. I—part of me likes it? I think? Maybe? But, not all of me… does that—that doesn’t make sense, does it?”
“Uh,” Svetlana started. “I can’t say I get it, but I think I know someone who could help. Give me a minute.”
With that, she headed over to the table where Cartridge and Geordi had been seated. Arriving, she didn’t see anyone, and briefly worried that those two had already left for somewhere more private. She started to look around for someone to ask when she heard a moan and saw the table shake slightly. Looking down, she saw a foot sticking out from under the purple tablecloth.
She crouched down and lifted up the tablecloth, to reveal the pair, who both looked up at her. The angle was a bit awkward, as Geordi was nibbling on Cartridge’s earlobe, but Svetlana ignored that.
“Sorry to interrupt, but, I think Noah is having a not-so-binary gender moment, and I don’t know how to help with that,” she said.
Geordi nodded, mumbling something before they let go of Cartridge’s ear. “Gotcha. Uno momento.”
The pair both crawled out from under the table, brushing a bit of dust off of their clothes.
Geordi then nodded and set off, announcing: “Doctor Cattarelli iz in zee house und ready to see zee patient.”
Svetlana and Cartridge followed them, Svetlana finding herself struggling not to pay attention to a slight issue with Cartridge’s suit.
“You could do up a few more buttons, you know,” she half whispered.
“Actually I couldn’t,” Cartridge replied with a grin. “I did try, but, well, that button’s missing now. The girls are too powerful to be contained.”
“I—I walked into that one,” Svetlana sighed, as they headed over to where Noah and Zyn were.
Well, now Noah, Zyn, and Ukilak. Considering how jumpy she apparently was about many things, the fox girl seemed remarkably calm about the matter at hand. Svetlana supposed being a cross-species shapeshifter made a little gender bending less offputting.
Svetlana was ready to make some effort to contribute to the conversation, when a voice with a soft French accent whispered in her ear.
“Let us go upstairs so that I may give you my birthday gift,” Augusta said.
Turning, and seeing the look in her girlfriend’s eyes, Svetlana didn’t need to hear the offer twice. She followed Augusta to the elevator, the pair kissing on the elevator ride up to the top floor, but not going any further due to the camera. In a bid of exceptional maturity, Svetlana made a face at the camera before Augusta pulled her out into the hallway.
Augusta had rented the best room in the hotel, because of course she had. The view was rather nice, looking out over the historic city center, and the distant Toronto skyline lighting up the horizon. Not that Svetlana paid much attention to that view as the blonde dropped her dress away to reveal one of the spicier lingerie options they’d looked at earlier in the week.
Having already seen it did nothing to lessen the joy Svetlana felt at seeing it on Augusta.
“I have some for you to wear, but, maybe we should move straight to the fun, non?” Augusta said, leaning in to kiss Svetlana. “I have done quite a bit of research and would like to try to apply what I have learned.”
“Ooh,” Svetlana managed, as Augusta kissed the base of her neck. “That sounds… good.”
Vivian raised an eyebrow as O’tmyil turned flush. That didn’t usually happen until a bit later in the process. A fair bit later, since they’d only just arrived at the door to her apartment.
“Everything alright there, blue?” Vivian asked as she unlocked and opened her door.
“Yes,” O’tmyil replied, walking into the apartment with a dreamy face. “It seems Miss Augus—mmm… Augusta is a quick learner.”
“Oh? I’ve got competition for your attention tonight then, do I?” Vivian asked, raising an eyebrow as she closed the door behind them.
“I did not mean to imply tha—mm,” O’tmyil started, before Vivian slipped in to kiss her.
“You should know,” Vivian said, once she broke the kiss. “When it comes to girls’ attention, I have been known to get competitive.”
She followed that up with more than a kiss.