LMS - Bonus Pt.3 - Accepted (Patreon)

=::= The Present =::=

After she finished her story, Candi sat quietly on her bed. She was looking down, staring at her fancy dagger as she slowly turned it over in her hands. She'd pulled it out of the leather bag in her closet to show me while she was telling me how she came to be here.

We were both quiet for another minute or two, until I finally broke the silence and asked "So what happened to the horse?"

She looked up at me with a sort of befuddled look on her face, then she smiled. "Abby you always ask the weirdest things."

Before I could respond she continued, "With the Beaumont crest on the saddle and all the tackle and stuff I couldn't bring her into the town. Someone would have noticed, and I'd have wound up in one kind of trouble or another. I found a meadow with a little brook and left her there while I went into town to get directions and supplies. Fortunately people there knew about both the magic academy and the sorcery school, and I got directions how to get here. I also got some food since I was starving, and got myself some more clothes, and that leather bag."

"Then I went back out to the meadow to get the horse. From there it was only a couple hours walk to the school and I didn't really need the horse for that? So I transferred my few belongings from the saddlebags to my new leather bag. Then I led her deep into the forest and took all the tackle off her, I figured with any luck nobody would find the gear out there. Then I just let her go."

I smiled, "That's nice. I hope she's ok."

Candi shrugged, "She should be fine. Someone will probably find her and claim her eventually. I could have led her into town without the tackle and sold her, but I didn't need the money and I was worried she'd wind up working on a farm. She's not a work horse, she was meant for riding."

"What's her name?" I asked.

"I called her Star," she replied. "She had a star-shaped mark on her flank."

Then her eyes narrowed as she asked, "Why are you so interested in my horse? I mean after everything I've just told you about myself and my past, that's what you're fixated on?"

"Sorry Candi," I said with a slight grimace. "I do have a lot of things I want to say, and a lot of questions I want to ask? But you looked like you needed a break from the serious stuff, so I thought we could talk about something that wasn't so serious."

Candice frowned, then she finally lay back on her bed. She left the dagger on the blankets next to her as she stared up at the ceiling. Her expression was somewhere between melancholy and embarrassed. And maybe a tiny bit ashamed.

After a few seconds she sighed, "So that's why I lied about my past, my background. You can get executed for impersonating a noble, and I don't really have any way of proving who I used to be. And more than that, I don't want people to know. I don't want them telling my father what happened to his... What happened to me. I don't want him to send my mother here to try and force me to go back home. Or worse, to try and make me who I was before. And obviously that's why I can't go home. The family I told everyone else about doesn't exist, and I won't go back to my father's castle."

I stated "There's no way anyone will ever force you to go back Candi. We won't let them. And from what you've described, I doubt it's possible for anyone to turn you back. Whatever the system is, I don't think regular people can undo what it's done."

Candi was quiet again for a few seconds. Then she shifted on her bed, turning to stare at me. She looked a little anxious as she asked, "What about the other stuff? What about the fact that I was... That I wasn't always a girl? I mean, if anyone else knew that, I'd probably be kicked out of sorcery school."

"Nobody's going to kick you out," I stated. "At least not for that. I'm sure there's a lot of stuff we could do that would get us expelled, but that's not one of them. And I seriously doubt the headmistress or the faculty care what any of us did or who we were before we enrolled here."

Candice stared at me for a few moments then asked, "What about you? Does this change anything between you and me? Do you still want to be my girlfriend, knowing what I was before?"

"It doesn't change anything," I said firmly. "You're Candice. You're my girlfriend. If it makes you feel better, I can promise you've never said or done anything to make me think you were anything other than a girl."

I added, "You don't even act like a noble? Like some of the other girls here act really stuck up because their dads are rich or powerful or whatever."

"Thanks Abby," she smiled. "I appreciate that. During those four days alone on the road I spent a lot of time sort of reinventing myself. I mean, in addition to non-stop reading entries in the System archives. And I probably sound spoiled or privileged saying this, but four days with barely anything to eat, sleeping on a blanket in the woods, and getting used to my new body all at the same time was sort of a crash-course in being humbled."

After a pause she shrugged, "I guess what I'm saying is, on my eighteenth birthday I started out the son of a wealthy powerful duke, but by the time I got here four days later I was absolutely Candice. I had some money, but I wasn't nobility anymore. Not even close."

There was another pause, then she sighed "I still had that upbringing though. That's who I was for eighteen years of my life. I haven't even been Candi for six months yet. And now that you know all that, I'm worried you'll see me differently or something."

"Not a chance," I stated. Then I asked her, "What if the situation was reversed? What if you found out I'd been a guy in my past life, before I got reincarnated as a half-sprite girl? Would that make a difference to you? Would you think about me differently?"

She frowned, but after a few seconds she shook her head. "No I guess not. I mean, I've only known you as Abby, as who you are now. But that's just a hypothetical..."

"It's not hypothetical," I stated quietly. "In my previous life I was a twenty-five year old human man. I didn't have magic, or a system, or much of anything else really. I was a boring nobody leading a boring life. Just like you I wished or dreamed about being a girl, but I was too scared to admit it to myself or anyone else. Then I got killed by a... Well, let's call it a wagon. I was run over by a big heavy merchant's wagon, and that was the end of my boring pointless life. Until I appeared here, as a half-sprite girl."

Candi stared at me with wide eyes, and of course she'd know I was telling the truth thanks to her ability. Then her lips started curling up into a smile. Finally she giggled, "Oh my Goddess Abby seriously?! Here I've been worried for months you'd find out my horrible secret, now I've finally told you I find out you've basically got the same secret?"

Her giggle felt like all the tension suddenly left our room, and I smiled. "Not exactly the same. You were nobility, I was nothing. Like a serf or pauper or something. But we're both trans girls, and now we're both sorceresses. And girlfriends."

She was still grinning as she slowly shook her head in wonder. I got up off my bed and moved to sit next to her, then pulled her into a hug. Her arms wrapped around me as well and we just sat there holding each other for a little while.

Eventually I thought of something, "Hey! Maybe you'll see your little sister here when the next year starts? Like she'll be eighteen right? And you said your folks were thinking of sending her here?"

"Oh... Yeah. Huh." Candi looked thoughtful again. "I wonder if that'll be weird. She wouldn't know me, obviously. And we'll be starting year three thanks to the headmistress moving us ahead a year. So we wouldn't really be expected to have anything to do with first year girls, and I couldn't exactly say she was my sister."

I shrugged, "We could find an excuse or something. Even just run into her in the break room or something."

My girlfriend nodded slowly, "Yeah I guess. It'll still be weird I think. Especially if I wind up feeling like I have to protect her or look out for her or something."

"That's not weird," I stated. "That sounds like a natural response, especially since I got the impression you liked her. What would be weird would be if you added her to your team, like Mia and Brianna."

Candi make a face, "Ew ok yeah that's weird!"

A moment later she grimaced, "If she does come here, my mom will probably come with her. Like to make sure she gets here safely, and to make sure she gets settled in and everything. I really don't want to run into her."

"She wouldn't recognize you though," I pointed out. "Not any more than your sister or anyone else."

Candi reminded me, "My mom's a sorceress too. I have no idea what level she is, but she'll have magic you and me haven't even heard of yet. It's possible she'd recognize me somehow. Actually now I'm wondering if maybe she already knows? Maybe she has some scrying or clairvoyance magic."

I shrugged, "If that's the case she hasn't done anything right? No angry letters, she hasn't tried to come here and haul you out. So I don't think it's something you need to worry about."

"Good point," she agreed. "Thanks Abby."

After a couple moments another thought crossed my mind and I had a new question. 

"Candi? Can I ask you something sensitive or personal? It might even be upsetting, I'm not sure."

She frowned, "Of course, you can ask me anything. Almost anything, there's still a few secrets I'm not willing to give up yet."

"Same here," I said with a smile. Then I got on with my question. "You've used that Transformation spell quite a few times to give yourself a cock. It doesn't bother you to do that, does it? I mean, I worried at first it would be weird and you said you got used to it. Now I guess I'm worrying it might bother you by reminding you of your past or something."

She pulled me a little closer and gave me a kiss, then replied softly "I was worried about that at first too. That's part of the reason I originally tried it when you weren't around. I figured if I freaked out I didn't want to add that to everything you were going through at the time. And I guess I also didn't want you to know it freaked me out, incase you wanted to know why."

After a shrug she continued, "And maybe at first it sort of did? But I quickly realized, having one didn't make Evelynn a guy. She's still a girl regardless. And that being the case, it didn't make me a guy either. I was still a girl. I am still a girl, even with a cock."

"Yes," I nodded in agreement. "Girls can have cocks too. And it's actually kind of sexy, I think?"

"Definitely sexier on girls than they are on guys," she said with a smirk. Then she gave me another kiss.

I kissed her back then asked, "So you're ok with it then?"

She shrugged, "I don't think I'd want it to become permanent, but it's fun now and then. I like that it's optional, I guess is what I'm saying."

"I'm glad it's optional," I grinned. "Otherwise I'd be losing control every time you got undressed."

"Which wouldn't be a bad thing I think?" my girlfriend teased. "It'd certainly make our mid-year break much more interesting."

I rolled my eyes but I was smiling too. "Maybe. I'm just glad it doesn't upset you to do that."

Candi giggled and gave me another kiss, "This has to be one of the weirder conversations we've had in a while, Abby. So to summarize, my horse's name was Star. Me and my cute girlfriend were both guys in our past lives. My little sister might be joining us at sorcery school next year. And having a cock doesn't make a girl any less of a girl."

I kissed her back and whispered, "Maybe we looked like guys in the past, and maybe other people thought we were guys? But I'm pretty sure both of us have always been girls. We just needed a little outside help to get us bodies that fit right."

~ The End ~