What Little Remains Of Terpsichore Ironheart

"What're you two nerds up to?" Talia asked, leaning in the doorway of my bedroom.

"Working on an organic transmutation spell for Catherine," Vanessa said, taking measurements with a variety of magical instruments.

"The hormones are working," I assured Talia, "but as it stands, I don't feel like they're working fast enough. So... Arcane magic."

"How big are you gonna make your boobs?" Talia asked.

"Not sure yet," I said. "Part of the reason this is taking so long is that Vanessa wants to make a magic item to control the spell's parameters even after it's cast, letting me change things like how big my boobs are."

"Ideally, it'll keep working more-or-less indefinitely," Vanessa added. "Realistically, even if it doesn't, I'm quite confident that Catherine can make a new one fairly easily."

"And how often will I be allowed to hold that controller?" Talia asked.

"Never," I said blandly.

"Awww..."

"Anyhow," Vanessa said. "I'd invite you to watch, but this is going to be a very tedious and drawn-out ritual spellcasting, and the payoff of Catherine suddenly having bigger boobs is something you'll get once we're done and she comes to show you in person."

"Fair enough," Talia said, standing back up. "Oh, by the way- what's everyone's plans for Winter Break? It's coming up in six weeks, so..."

"I mean, you know we're going back to Redwater for the month," I said.

"I meant Vanessa, jackass," Talia said.

"We're all going back to House Vega's central estate to consolidate a few things, make plans, talk to some people," Vanessa said. "Envy and I are going to get married after graduation, so... Sometime this summer?"

"Nice," I said.

"I will say," Vanessa continued, "Veronica and I fought like dogs over who got to marry Envy. I won, because she doesn't want to be the Head of House Vega, and Envy's under the impression is a political marriage, but... still, that argument was fierce."

"She likes redheads, huh?" Talia asked, grinning.

"Yeah, yeah, Veronica can join us," I said, rolling my eyes at Talia, and returning my attention to the mirror I stood in front of, which would remind me, in the event I somehow forgot, that I had bright red hair.

Two and a half months wasn't that long, in the grand scheme of things. Still, Talia's druidcraft had worked, and already, I had a touch of softness about my face, plus some budding fat deposits on my chest, my hips, and my ass- which had already been disproportionately big and juicy for someone as skinny as me, but fuck it, I'm a Wizard, I don't need to buy my clothes off the rack, I can just make them.

Idly, I lifted a hand to my chest, poking one of my very, very small breasts. It was big enough to say for certain that it was there, and was, also, in the range of 'average' for elven women, but any shirt that wasn't stretchy clingy skintight would easily hide their existence, and I wasn't in the mood for half-measures.

"Soon," Vanessa promised me.

---

"Hello, Catherine," Professor Takeda said as I entered her office. "I see you've finally made use of Lady Vega's skills?"

"I have," I said, glancing down at my brand new boobs for the fifth time in the past hour. They were, all told, not too big. Big enough that it was obvious I had boobs, but not so big that they'd get in the way too much, or distract my girlfriends too much. "I'm quite happy with the results, as are my friends."

"Excellent," she said, smiling. "Would you care for a cup of tea?"

"That sounds wonderful, thank you," I said.

I sat down at her low table, and waited patiently while she poured me a cup of strange, exotic tea that smelled like cherries, pine needles, and a hint of spearmint. Once she poured herself a cup and sat down, we picked up our cups in unison, and took a small sip.

"...I'm going to have to remember this one," I said, looking down at the tea.

"Oh? You've learned the trick of flavoring food with magic?" Professor Takeda asked.

"I have, yes," I said, nodding. "Thank you for reminding me that it existed; I might not have learned it otherwise."

"Of course," she said, nodding. "Now, Catherine, what really brings you here? I can tell this is not purely a social call."

"Do you remember your old student Melody Freeman?" I asked.

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"You want to learn how to cast her magnum opus, do you?"

"Pretty much, yeah," I said, nodding. "I should clarify that I'm not asking you to directly teach me how to cast it, but rather, I'm asking you what skills I need to develop in order to teach myself how to cast it."

"You'll want to take Advanced Ectoplasm Shaping next semester," Takeda said. "You'll also want to start teaching yourself the basics of illusory intelligences- Volex should be able to help you there, in fact. If you can pass a pre-test by the end of this semester, then I'll let you skip Introduction To Illusory Intelligences, and put you in the Intermediate class."

"So, I need to improve my ectoplasm shaping, and also I need to learn to do illusory intelligence, which..." I patted the pocket where Volex's reliquary sat. "Hey, Volex, is that what you and Envy used for the guidance enchantments?"

Volex puffed into existence next to me, seated in a deferential position just behind me.

"It is, yes," Volex said. "You'll have to learn a lot if you want to make one that can control a human body and use it to do useful things."

"Eh, no big deal," I said, shrugging. "I'm good at learning."

"However," Professor Takeda said. "If, Catherine, you wish to press Volex back into service as your Occult tutor, I have something I would ask of you."

"Go on?" I asked. I was reasonably confident that I didn't actually have to go through with her suggestion if I didn't like it, but she was a smart woman whose suggestions had all been reasonable so far, so...

"You need to start insisting on Volex's agency more," Professor Takeda said. "For this task, I want you to bargain with her, and act like her time and energy are worth enough that you need to compensate her for them."

"...Alright, Volex, what do you want?" I asked, turning to face my familiar. "Sky's the limit- I'm on familial terms with archmages and dragons."

"I'm not sure," Volex said, frowning. "I'm not a very materialistic person, honestly."

An idea popped into my head, halfway unbidden.

"How about a power crystal to install in your reliquary so you'll have a bigger magicka pool?" I asked.

"That... actually, yes, I'd love that," Volex said.

"It'll take me a month or two, so... You mind if I give it to you as a New Year's gift?"

"That works for me," Volex said. "Of course, now I have to figure out what to get for you..."

"You actually don't," I said. "Considering that this gift isn't actually a gift, and is in fact payment for services rendered."

"Rituals are important, young lady," Volex said archly.

I shrugged. "Well, if you're going to insist..."

"It's a start," Professor Takeda said. "Was there something else you wanted to ask about, Catherine?"

"Is Volex's apprenticeship to you a private matter?" I asked. "Or is that something I can ask about within the bounds of polite conversation?"

"That is up to Volex to decide," Professor Takeda said simply.

"She's very focused on me developing independent agency, more than anything," Volex said. "Which, I know, probably sounds ill-advised, but-"

"Nah, I trust you," I said with a shrug.

"...You do? But... I'm a demon."

"You're my friend. You were my grandfather's friend for two hundred years. You have consistently acted towards the benefit of myself, my friends, and my family, often without prompting. And, as far as I can tell, you love me about as much as I love you, which is quite dearly indeed." I shrugged. "So, Volex, you wanna be more autonomous? Great. Love that for you. I'll help any way I can."

"...Thank you."

"You deserve nothing less, hon."

---

"So, Talia, what do you want for New Year's?" I asked, after I got back from visiting Professor Takeda's office for the second time in two days.

"A pony," Talia said blandly.

"Where would you keep it?" Faith asked.

"She's being sarcastic," I said. "Elves aren't allowed to own horses, under Imperial law, and ponies count as horses."

"I don't know, something shiny?" Talia guessed. "I really don't give a shit. I have a million dollars now, and I still don't have anything I want to do with it."

"Alright, well, Faith?"

"I want an elven sword."

"Okay, see, that's more actionable and specific," I said, nodding. "Emily?"

"I could really use a good pair of hiking boots," Emily said. "All my shoes are dress shoes, and... well, they're not exactly made for adventuring."

"I can swing that, no problem."

"Of course," Faith continued, "now you've obliged us to get you gifts for New Year's."

"Just go to a secondhand bookstore and pick out something that looks like it's about machining, engineering, magic, or women kissing each other," I said with a shrug. "I'm easy to please. Anyhow... Talia also is a pretty voracious reader, so I bet if you got her a book on exotic animals or something, she'd like that too. Or just a stack of decent dime novels."

"Shit, you're right," Talia said. "Can I change my answer to that instead of something shiny?"

"You can have both," I said. "I've already committed myself to synthesizing a whole bunch of crystal for a project, so it's not gonna be any trouble at all to make a bit more."

"Oooh, you're synthesizing crystals?" Talia asked. "Lemme ask my alchemy professor for ideas, she did her thesis on synthetic crystals."

"Oh, that's perfect," I said.

"By the way," Faith said, pulling my attention back to my other, more recent girlfriends. "Are we done with this whole mess with the Harpies?"

"I mean, we've finished the quest that Helen handed us," I said. "The Harpies went on a big, impressive adventure, and then signed a contract saying they'd keep adventuring for five years after they graduated. Helen is no longer about to expel them, and they're on track to graduate just fine. I... think we've still got the whole mentorship thing on the books, that obliges us to spend at least an hour with them every week? But considering that we're both hitting Nicky up for sparring every few days, that's already being fulfilled. So... Yeah. Yeah, I'd say we're done."

"Thank the fucking Mother," Faith said. "I'm so sick of this shit. I just wanted to go to college, you know? It's hard enough to have all these exams to study for, without adding on 'oh by the way you're going to have to learn how to crew an airship so you can go fight pirates.' God, I hope next semester is easier than this..."

"It probably won't be," I said simply. "Anyhow, I'm gonna go talk to that alchemy professor. Later, y'all."