I wake from my sleep in a cold sweat. My dinner with Ruby flashes through my eyes. I go over to the mirror and study my image.
Stubble on my face, short choppy eyelashes, unkempt hair, and not a womanly garb in sight. I knew I was in for it, my work was set out for me.
The sun still has another few hours before it rises, the green moon, still waning, coats my room in light. I grab a razor and get to work. The stubble is easy, I never grew much anyway. I'm glad it's gone, a remnant of an identity I was so desperate to uphold. My hair is another battle. I grab a few more mirrors and before I know it, I'm trying to do math to figure out what the hells the angle to see the back of my head. When I was in the stables it was easier, just grab a handful and hack it off. Nobody looked at me besides the horses anyways.
My perseverance finally endures long enough to outweigh my intellect and I have it. The back of my head. Great, now what?
I didn't really think this far. What hairstyle would make me a woman? Does that even make sense? MM has a shorter hairstyle, so it's not the length. But the Queen's hair basically touches the floor. Well, I can't exactly grow my hair with a pair of scissors, now can I?
I look at what I have to work with and decide, layers, those I can do. So I hack away until I have a nice chunky haircut. I have a layer that goes down to my shoulders, and layers surrounding my head. Overall, I look pretty crazy, which is awesome. I'm grinning giddily at myself in the mirror as the sun begins to peak over the hills. Oh shit, MM is gonna expect me to be in her tower in an hour.
I quickly rip off the sleeve of my shirt. I hem the shoulders to come inwards. I have a lot of practice sewing, a stable worker is only given 1 outfit, and that's when they start working. I outgrew my clothes multiple times. I absolutely tear my pants apart and make a long ankle dress for the remains. I love how it looks, it's all patchy and blocky, I feel like it matches my hair really well. I look at my boots angrily. I'm not a fucking cobbler. Oh well, they're androgynous enough. I happily think another word Ruby taught me, after we both decided skipping my post-dinner lesson with MM and instead getting caught up on all the new lingo and ideas for my brand new, straight out of the box, still smells like baby powder, gender.
Now for makeup. Ruby was kind enough to steal some from MM for me. It all looks untouched, that damnable asshole just uses magic, she's never even bothered to learn. I have to redo it about 5 times before I feel comfortable to rush to class 25 minutes late. I burst into the tower.
"So you're finally here", MM says without even glancing up from her work. As the days have passed, she's grown almost completely disinterested in me. She groans. Really digging it in today, are we?
I glare at her, "So, why the fuck did you not tell me shit, huh?"
Startled by my sudden outburst, she looks up. Her mouth drops. "Well, well. It looks like the conversation with Ruby wasn't entirely a waste." She comes over. I freeze. She inspects me. "You don't look too bad, but you'll never be able to face the prince like that." Rage fills my body. First, she withholds every piece of critical information from me. Now, she dares to insult my first attempt at passing.
"Couldn't even try to be nice, could you? It's no wonder the rest of the girls here avoid you like the plague." I spit venomously.
Without even a pause, she fires back, "They avoid me because they're jealous of my magical talent, dumbass. Something I see you've fallen into yourself. Can't be helped I guess." She smirks and runs her hand through her hair flipping it and causing magical sparkles to rain across the room.
Oh it's so on. My eyes narrow, now that I'm actually looking at MM, rather than respecting or fearing her, I see it. The question no longer comes from a place of malice or hatred, but a place of genuine confusion. "Why the fuck do you look like you're 12?"
At first, I thought she was just short, maybe a little skinny too. But no, she actually doesn't look developed. Her face has baby fat.
She's stunned, her face turns a bright pink. "I'm not 12, these are just the beauty standards that every women attempts to achieve. I can't be blamed if I'm the only one who achieve them." She looks proud, having settled herself down with that completely illogical statement.
"So you're saying the King likes little girls?" I mock.
She falls for it, turns pink again, and retorts, "NO. I'm saying that a small frame, on a hairless body, with no wrinkles, is the peak of the current beauty standard. And I just so happen to fit exactly that." She smiles and a bright yellow star whooshes behind her as she kicks her leg up and a winks.
I can hardly believe my eyes, but I definitely can't believe my ears. "So, is this how you looked 7 years ago when you petitioned the King?"
She replies firmly, "I've always looked this way. So yes, exactly how I looked." She does a small curtsy.
Why the fuck is she trying to be cute? This is at least a 40 something year old woman, I can tell that much without even seeing her. I feel a shiver race up the back of my neck. She's trying to fucking distract me. What from? Her untouched makeup, the little magical "cutsie" gimmicks.
Over the past few days, MM and I have practiced and failed at all the basic magic that beginners learn. These are all the must have, yet very easy spells. Essentially low casting ceiling, yet extremely high skill ceiling spells. You've got the classics, Shield, Fly, Missile, Telekinesis. But what I want is Dispel. The ultimate defense against any and all magic. The only difficulty coming from how complex the spell you're trying to snap is. And if MM has being pulling this shit off in front of the King, and the rest of the damned world, I can only imagine how well guarded this spell is. Still, there's no use not trying, and if anything all I'm hoping for is to give her a fright.
I begin casting, MM's eyes widen.
*"Oh great rivers of magic and power, I request that you aid me in this hour,"
She backs up. Running into a counter and sending the beakers scattering across the desk.
"A tragic fate has been beset,A child-like persona of regret,"
She cries out, "No, please, I'm hideous, please." But I see it, the spell I'm casting is actually working. My mind is unthinking, my body simply must carry out this will, the greater forces of magic pull me. The red gemmed ring on her fore-finger is laced in unbelievably high levels of transformation magic, as well as protective magic. They're weaved into tight constricting webs, layers and layers of magic interwoven together. But I know how to break them, I must construct a Dispel of equal complexity.
Imagine a toothed blade, I will need to create one, within the river of magic. But each tooth of the blade must be an alternating type of dispel. One to cancel out the transformation, one to cancel out the protection.
"Stop this horrid effect, this evil incarnate so please, just shatter that hideous garnet.
The knife plunges. MM screams wildly.
POP, CRACK
MM falls to the ground, her ring splintering and then exploding all across the room. She looks crazy, her eyes wild with betrayal. I'm more stunned that the spell actually worked and can't see that she's going to kill me. The transformation spell has been active on her body for years, maybe even decades at this point. It won't wear off instantly even with it's source destroyed. But still, she begins to change. Her fingers are growing longer, thicker as is the rest of her body. Hair sprouts up on her arms and legs, and parts of her face. Her breasts enlarge and then begin to sag. She violently stands, bolts of electricity spray from her right hand, flames encircling her left.
Thankfully, due to MM's screams, the farm women burst into the room, Ruby leading the charge. The 4 of them are able to stop her spells from melting my face off, but my eyebrows do happen to get completely singed off. I guess it wouldn’t be my first day out without some type of wild statement.
After Ruby and the gang manage to calm down MM, by waiting until she finally stopped frantically hurling spells and collapsed on the floor crying, do I realize what I've accomplished. I've not only figured out how to cast spells, but I've stopped a pervert. All things considered, this marks the amazing start of being a woman. The universe truly has rewarded me for being true to myself.
After a half an hour of consolation, various chocolates, and a few shots of tequila, MM is finally back on her feet. Her much larger, adult feet. She looks at her fully mature, adult body, and glares at me, "I'm going to make you pay for this, Lucas."
I snap back, "It's Jessica now, bitch."