“Did you hear?”
“No way!”
“I can’t believe he did something like that...”
“He must’ve been framed!”
“Huh, can’t say I’m surprised...”
The school halls were charged with conversation. It was the only topic any of the students could think about. Even many of the teachers could barely focus on teaching due to the dramatic situation.
“Dr. Rosen got fired!?” Riri gawked as the group left through the school gates. “I heard he was missing, but...”
“Why are you shocked by that?” Sue questioned.
“What did your grandma do?” Erika asked Vivi.
“I’m not really sure. She came home the other night cackling and saying ‘get wrecked bozo’ and then told me that I’d probably be okay coming back to school today. She didn’t really tell me what happened,” Vivi frowned, her wings tightened upon themselves. “Mom seemed rather pissed about something too.”
“Oh! Lilith was behind it? Then I guess she used her charm magic to out something awful he did.”
“So none of you have actually heard what happened then?” Ichika asked. The others shook their heads. “Apparently someone leaked a bunch of stuff to the school. The bastard was apparently taking advantage of students for years,” she explained, the others’ faces twisting with disgust. “Yeah. I always thought he was a creep, but...”
“Damn, Lilith really is scary if she managed to figure that out over a single weekend,” Riri observed. “Glad she’s on our side.”
“You say that like you’re one of our group,” Carmen scoffed. “Why are you two still attending our school anyway?” She looked at Riri and the quiet Sue curiously.
“Eh, y’know,” Riri laughed.
“She’s bored, and I’d like to enjoy some time daylighting as an ordinary girl before I go back home. I don’t get a lot of time to just enjoy being a girl,” Sue sighed.
“Daylighting?” Carmen repeated confusedly.
“It’s like moonlighting, y’know, doing something in the day to hide your identity,” Ichika explained with a chuckle. “Like a pop idol secretly being a cat burglar at night.”
“I know what it means, Chi.” Carmen rolled her eyes. “I meant who talks like that?”
“I...” Sue mumbled to herself.
“Let me guess, sue me, I’m old,” Riri ribbed her.
“Wow, your jokes are worse than Chi’s,” Vivi giggled.
“My sense of humor isn’t that bad, is it?” Chi frowned.
“It can be a little dry,” Carmen noted.
“Cause it’s so cold.” Riri clicked her tongue and made a pair of finger guns as she winked at the others.
Sue sighed. “You’re almost as bad as my brother.”
“Oh, right you haven’t mentioned him much,” Vivi observed. “You said Ami accepted you, but...”
“Susano-o accepts me, he’s just annoying,” Sue stated bluntly. “He’s like her in that he’s always making bad jokes, except he’s less thoughtful and flightier. Although, they have the same compulsion to fight anyone they can.”
“Oooh, oooh!” Riri piped up. “Did we ever fight each other in my past life?”
“What? No. Our pantheons never even met as far as I remember. I was kind of distant for a long time, but I don’t think I missed anything like… that...” Sue blinked and then gripped her head. “Crap. That means you two are going to...”
“Oooooh!” Riri squealed. “Fighting him sounds like SO much fun!”
“Ugh, me and my fat mouth,” Sue groaned. “By the way, Vivi. Last time I talked to Lilith, she sounded like you were doing something in a couple days. So, what’s up?”
“Oh, my dad’s coming home,” Vivi said with a large grin, her wings stretching nice and large with excitement.
“That sounds exciting!” Riri chimed in. “What’s he like?”
“Now that you mention it, I’ve never met her dad either.” Ichika looked expectantly at Vivi, Erika, and Carmen.
Carmen chuckled. “Mr. Weaver’s great! He’s always coming back with cool stuff.”
“He’s not usually home a lot. His studies tend to keep him out of the country,” Erika remarked. “But Carmen’s right. He’s really cool. When he came back from Brazil, he had all sorts of neat stuff. Mom and Mama still cherish the coffee he brought back then. They’ve actually been trying to figure out if they can grow it themselves now that we’re dryads. I remember Mama and him talking for a while back then. They're both really into botany. She was actually just talking about how excited she is for him to come back so they can chat about whatever new flora he encounters.”
Vivi gasped. “I wish you told me sooner. I would’ve tried getting Mom to ask him to bring some plants back. Imagine playing with a bonsai!”
“Oh my gosh, that would be so fun! I can already imagine getting it to grow with all sorts of curves.”
“Bonsai?” Riri repeated. “Wait, that means your dad was in Japan, right?” Vivi nodded. “Hey, Sue, did you ever meet him? You first met Lilith there after all, right? Was he with her?”
“Vivi’s father?” Sue seemed to think deep about the question. “Well, I guess I might’ve met him. There were a lot of people pretty shocked by our appearances, and we had a lot of meetings. But...” She scratched her cheek. “I didn’t tend to pay much attention to the men. A lot of them got all nosy and kept bugging me about my gender. Although, now that I think about it I guess I kinda remember someone with Lilith when we met.”
“Was it my dad?” Vivi asked.
“Hmm…” Sue hummed to herself. “I’m not sure. I didn’t really see them again. Lilith tended to spend most of her time with one of her priestesses. I thought she could be her girlfriend, but I was never sure. It wasn’t Palu though. She was a pink haired elf, after all.”
"A pink-haired..." Vivi mumbled to herself grabbing at her own hair.
“Lilith was dating another girl?” Erika asked. “Wow. I wonder what she was like. Still, isn’t it a little strange you...”
“Hey, I’m back,” another voice emerged. The group looked behind them to see Leah. “Thanks for waiting. The principal wanted me to pass this on to Mom.”
“Let me guess, it’s some kind of letter to thank her for not pushing charges. Well, am I right?” Riri asked.
“Seems like it,” Leah chuckled lightly. “He seemed pretty on edge the whole time.”
“Well, serves him right for covering for that piece of crap,” Carmen sneered.
“Yeah, our school doesn’t need someone like that,” Ichika stated as they continued leaving the campus. “And we’re getting something better now.”
“What do you mean?” Vivi asked.
“I know you’ve been preoccupied, but you’d probably get a kick out of this Vivi. A bunch of girls in the school came out as trans in solidarity with you and your treatment. Also a bunch of cis girls had their gay awakening because of us,” she giggled excitedly. “So, they all got together with their friends and started pushing for our school to have a GSA club.”
“That’s one of those LGBT clubs, right?” Carmen asked.
“Yep. I think we should all go sometime and hang out.”
“Wait, I know what you’re doing!” Leah laughed. “You want us all to see you flirt with your new girlfriend.”
“Christine and I aren’t dating,” Ichika said quietly.
“Yet,” Carmen noted. “I give you two less than a week before you’re a couple.
“I have faith in them,” Erika joined in. “They’ll be together in the next few days.”
The group began walking away when a hand landed upon Vivi’s shoulder. She looked over to see Sue looking at her. “Hey, mind if we chat for a moment?”
“Oh, sure.” Vivi nodded. “What’s up?”
“Um, well. I just wanted to talk about how you feel. About being trans I mean.”
“Huh? What about it?”
“I...” Sue mouthed quietly to herself. “I just haven’t had anyone to talk to about it before, until recently. There were a couple people I met back in our homeland, one of the priestesses and someone else. The priestess was rather shy about it. She felt very honored when I selected her, but… she felt so uncertain and nervous. The other was rather discomforted as well. She said her entire life had been changed by it, and she was really worried about how things were going to go when she got back home.”
“Got back home?”
“Ah, she was a visitor,” Sue clarified. "She was the one I mentioned earlier, one of Lilith’s priestesses. You might get to meet her someday."
"The pink-haired one?"
“She was the one I mentioned earlier, one of Lilith’s priestesses."
Sue chuckled. "I figured you'd caught that. Her hair was similar to yours, but she was an elf, not a succubus. She said she was far away from her family and felt really anxious about it. I didn’t get to spend much time with either of them though. Ami wanted both of us to get here once she learned of Zeus’s appearance and Lilith’s plan. She wanted to get things ready here while Lilith finished up some loose ends over there.”
“Really? Why not just wait for grandma?”
“I think she did it for me. I was getting a lot of unwanted attention from all sorts. For my legends, for my identity. She was rather flustered by the weird treatment she got too, but...” Sue trailed off. “I just… I’m starting to wonder if all of us are just destined to get treated this way. Shackled by these constant fears and doubts, you know?” Sue frowned. Vivi stared at her in awe.
“Wow. I didn’t really think gods would think that way,” Vivi observed. Sue began pouting. “Don’t get me wrong. I think it’s kind of cute honestly,” she giggled.
“Y-you think I’m cute?” Sue froze in place. Vivi stared at her in shock as Sue’s demeanor seemed to totally shift. She remembered how nice it felt when Melody and Annie would call her cute, especially when she first accepted herself.
“We’re really not different, are we?” Vivi giggled. “You’re just a sweet girl who’s been denied that, aren’t you? I kinda tried to forget how much it hurt as a kid. Wanting to be seen a certain way, secretly wanting to be called cute and pretty, only to feel disappointed when I got called handsome. But I guess you have it kind of worse, huh?”
Sue frowned. “How so?”
“You’re a goddess. You’re expected to be all powerful and elegant, so no one really feels like they can treat you like that, right? So many put all those expectations on you, and if the people where you’re from are like the people here, I imagine they still cling to old legends about who you used to be and act like that’s who you still are, huh?” Sue went silent, her eyes drifting to the side, a certain saddening weight clinging to them. “Gosh, you’re really cute though. Especially when you get all pouty like that.”
“Y-you’re just teasing me, aren’t you?” Sue pouted even harder.
“Maybe I am. But, you enjoy it, don’t you?”
Sue giggled. “Yeah… I guess I do. Thank you, Vivi,” Sue smiled simply and gracefully. “Ami tries to support me, but she doesn’t always get it. She overlooks small stuff like that. She tries hard to validate and comfort me, but doesn’t think about the small things I never really got. It’s nice to finally be seen this way.”
“Of course! What’s the point if we don’t get to be happy,” Vivi giggled. Her eyes then widened. “Huh.”
“What?”
“I guess I figured out what you meant. It’s easy for all of us to feel like there’s no end to the pain. Your friends’ fears of being left behind by their family or left alone by others. Or how you get denied the things everyone else gets to enjoy because of your position. Or even me, with the harassment I’ve been getting recently at school. Even if they pass, there’s the fear that someone or something will just replace that pain. That someone will dig it back just to hurt us.”
“Yeah,” Sue frowned. “I guess being trans just means we have to suffer then, huh?”
Vivi giggled. “I don’t think so. I see why you might think that. But I have supportive friends and family. Grandma stood by me and found a way to get Rosen fired even. So, I think there’s hope for us. And… y’know, I think maybe, if someone stands out there, proud and happy, standing against the hate that grabs at us, then maybe the rest of us can have hope too. Those of us who changed and still get hurt, and even those who weren’t so lucky. Maybe I can be like that for others.”
“Vivi?”
“Rosen tried to hurt me and deny who I am. But he failed, because of Grandma, but also because of my classmates and teachers who refused to accept his crap. People see me for who I am. For being Vivi. For being a Prism Girl. Maybe… Maybe I can be that someone.”
Sue stared at the young teenage girl in awe. “You really do deserve that power Vivi,” she finally said. “You’re such an amazing young woman,” she chuckled. “I may not be the goddess you herald. But you’ll have my support, my sister.”
Vivi stared at the goddess in awe and then smiled back. “I’ll support you too.”
* * *
“Miss you! ;n;” read a message from Erika. Vivi smiled as she answered.
“Sorry to skip class, but I really want to be there.”
“I know. Your dad still doesn’t know, right?”
“Yeah :< Mom hasn’t told him, and I really want to be there when he lands.”
“Bet he’s gonna be surprised by how cute you’ve gotten.”
“I hope so.”
“?”
“Just… afraid that he might get weird or upset like Mom did at first.”
“I’m sure it’ll be okay <3 Plus while she wasn’t great at first, your mom has your back now, right?”
“Yeah. Still, guess I’m just nervous. >.<” She took a deep breath as she began to type another line. "I've also been thinking about something Sue said about," she typed, readying to press send.
“Vivi,” Mary interrupted her. “Come on, sweetie. It’s almost time.”
“Oh? Did he land already?” she asked, deleting the message, choosing to set the thought aside for the moment.
“Yeah. He just texted.” Mary smiled. “He should be off the plane already.”
“Okay!” Vivi chirped as she texted a quick goodbye to Erika, who gave her a hearty ‘Good luck <3<3<3’ back.
“So, you excited?” Leah asked gleefully. “You get to show off to Dad.”
“Y-yeah… still a little nervous though.” Her head wings lowered, shyly covering her ears and cheeks as her tail wrapped around her forearm.
“I’m sure he’ll be fine about it,” Leah reassured her. “He was fine with me being pan.” Mary sighed. “What’s wrong Mom?”
“Still a little annoyed to find out you both felt like you needed to hide that stuff and that you felt more comfortable with your father. I mean… it was for good reason, I guess,” she said bitterly as she recalled her response to Vivi, her tail coiling around the tight grip of her hand, “but it still kind of hurts.”
“It’s okay Mom,” Vivi said warmly. “We’re all better now!”
“Yeah, you came around.” Leah grinned satisfactorily.
“You two...” Mary sighed with a smile. “Alright, he should be coming through any moment now,” she stated as they approached the exit for the TSA.
“Any idea what he’s wearing?” Leah asked.
“No, he didn’t say,” Mary sighed. “But knowing him it’s probably that jacket.”
“I hope he shows up soon,” Vivi mumbled to herself as she scanned the emerging crowd as a handful of other thoughts danced with ideas, the anticipation of a question played at the back of her mind. Eventually she looked along the far wall, noticing a familiar hooded figure emerge from the corner.. She recognized that green and orange jacket anywhere. Everyone in her family received one when she was a kid when they prepared to move back to the states. And naturally, that meant only one person could be wearing it.
“Dad!” she exclaimed as she ran and tackled the… thin figure? Her father was never particularly big or muscular. He had always been thin, but… this was more than that. She looked up, a blush quickly snatching its way upon her face as her eyes widened with awe. This person... Sue's and Lilith's comments got her thinking, but... Before she could get any further on that thought, a firm but gentle hand began to pat her head, her head wings fluttering in place excitedly. She shivered with glee as her lower wings wrapped around the pair.
“Vivi!” Mary called out. “You found him! How was your trip, Daniel?” She asked before glancing at Vivi who seemed to be tearing up. “Vivi?”
“Is something wrong sis?” Leah asked.
Mary looked suspiciously at her husband readying to tell him off for scaring Vivi when a couple thoughts crossed her mind. First, how would her husband even know Vivi was their daughter? Vivi had asked her not to mention her changes so she could tell him about it in person. Second was that the person seemed a little unusual, even from behind. They seemed shorter and maybe a bit more slender. “Daniel?” She reached out to the hooded person. They turned to face her, causing her and Leah to stare at them, gobsmacked.
“Hi, dear.” The hoodie lowered, revealing a beautiful smiling woman with familiar long pink hair and pointed ears. “I hope you’ve been holding up well.”
“W-wait, hold on. You...” Mary struggled to even form a sentence, much less any specific thoughts.
“A-are you, really...?” Leah finally tried to ask.
The woman smiled. “Yep, I’m your other mother.” Her smile was as vibrant as it was proud, both because of her identity and her rhyming prowess.
“I…” Mary sighed, “...guess I can’t really dispute that. Only you’d make that kind of jokey reveal with that serene of a smile.”
“Come on Mary. I remember that it was my jokes that you fell in love with.”
“I never...”
“Oh, please. I remember when we talked with Darla. Remember when she questioned why you fell in love with me, and you said my humor.”
“It certainly wasn’t for your modesty,” Mary retorted. Her partner simply giggled with a toothy grin.
“Well, since you mentioned it.” She began unzipping her jacket, revealing her long white dress, a proud pair of breasts eagerly making them and their bountiful cleavage known. Mary only stared, a bright blush claiming her face. “No denying it now, is there dear?”
“N-no denying what!?”
“Mmm,” the woman hummed as she approached Mary, bracing her arm below her breasts and using her other hand to hold her head, her fingers forming a lopsided ‘L.’ She looked knowingly at Mary clearly aware of where her gaze fell. “Couldn’t be your… ‘proclivities’ for women.”
“D-Dani!” Mary yelped. She blinked and then frowned. “I… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to...” she whimpered.
“Gosh, you’re super adorable when you get all embarrassed like this,” the woman laughed. “It’s Cheryl now. Although, I wouldn’t mind being your ‘Cherry Berry.’” Mary’s blush intensified. “Oooh, I’ve always wanted to get that kind of reaction out of you. Guess I know which form you prefer.”
“N-not in front of the kids!” Mary objected, evidently flustered. “Still, I’m sorry for-” She was silenced by a kiss.
“No more apologies.” Cheryl grinned as she stared lovingly into her wife’s eye. Mary couldn’t help but shiver a little as she sank into her wife’s embrace, her concerns melting away in the pink haired delight’s warmth.
“Uh…” Vivi spoke up, surprising Cheryl while Mary couldn’t remove her gaze from her busty wife. “H-hi. I-I’m Vivi. I’m uh… your other daughter.”
“Those two don’t rhyme dear,” Cheryl giggled. “I’m glad you woke up like I did.” She smiled gracefully, causing Vivi's head wings to flutter happily once again.
“You… uh… seem like you knew. But how?” Vivi asked.
“Well, when I changed, I found that I could feel other people’s emotions. And the glee you felt when you saw me and hugged me was all I needed to recognize you,” Cheryl explained.
“Really?”
“Really really. It’s some pretty strong magic. It’s actually why I couldn’t come home before now,” she said bitterly. “But we can talk about that more later. For now, I’m just happy I finally get to see my baby girl getting all giddy.”
“Mama...” Vivi whimpered. She looked at her mother with a gentle smile. “Welcome home!”
“You too, sweetie. I’m glad we both made it.”
“Gosh.” Leah chuckled to herself. “Kinda wish you were like that too, huh, Mom?” She flashed a grin to Mary, prodding her ever so slightly.
“I do,” Mary admitted. “But, I’m confused. When we talked on the phone earlier, you… well… sounded like you did before. Not all… y’know,” she motioned to her wife.
“S-sorry about that.” Cheryl blushed. “I... uh... Sue helped me use a spell to mask my voice. I didn't mean to deceive you, but I wasn’t really sure how you’d respond. And it wasn’t something I just wanted to do over the phone, y’know? You’re my wife. You deserved a direct answer. At least, that’s what I thought.”
“Oh, Cherry.” Mary couldn’t help but smile at her wife’s thoughtfulness. “Vivi really does take after you. She wanted to do the same.” Vivi beamed at Cheryl, her wings excitedly flaring outward.
“Aww, sweetie,” Cheryl gave a bright smile as she hugged her daughter.
“Still,” Mary continued. “I wish I knew… But admittedly, I’ve had to do my own bit of growing on the subject, so maybe it was better you waited. I would’ve been devastated if I hurt you.”
“Mary… I… To be honest, I was actually afraid you’d reject me. I kept putting it off because I didn’t want to think of a world where we weren’t together anymore.” Cheryl gave a bitter frown. “I know I’m a bit of a sap, but you’re the love of my life. Imagining my life without you… It’s so dark.”
“Cheryl...”
“But… We’re okay now… right?” Cherry asked her with a pleading gaze.
Mary chuckled to herself. That pleading look, it was cute and charming and… a deeper hunger began to stir. She couldn’t resist licking her lips before moving in, scooping her wife up into a hug, her tail greedily wrapping around her leg. “Something tells me we might be better off than before.”
“M-Mary...”
“Yes, my little Cherry?” She stared hungrily into her wife’s eyes. Cheryl seemed a little taken aback, but managed an excited smile as her eyes lingered upon her wife, a feeling filling the pair’s hearts only comparable to when they first got married or held their children in their arms.
“Ehem! Mothers,” Leah cleared her throat, summoning the others to attention. “I don’t really want to break up your little reunion, but people are starting to stare.”
“R-right, right,” Cheryl said while laughing, doing her best to regain her composure, while Mary backed away, clearly flustered both by feelings of shame and disappointment. “I’m pretty tired anyway. So, let’s go home.”
"Um, by the way," Leah asked as they headed towards the escalator. "What do we call you two now?"
"Um..." Mary hummed uncertainly.
"Heehee," Cheryl giggled, her ears wiggling excitedly. "I've been waiting for this." She winked and smiled. "You can call me your Melf."
"ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!" Leah rejected, drawing attention to them. She cringed as the four rushed onto the escalator.
"Oh, come on. Lilith liked it."
"I think it's rather endearing, actually," Mary chuckled. "But what about me?"
"Hmm..." Cheryl considered the question thoughtfully. "How about Mommybus."
"Are you two trying to just be lewd!?" Leah gawked. "Mom, come on. You can't seriously..."
"Alright... Fine, I like it," Mary said with a devilish smile.
"Are you serious? Vivi, come on. You're with me right?"
"Melf and Mommybus are fun," Vivi giggled, her eyes glowing with a gentle pink light.
"Viv... seriously!?"
"Oh, fine..." Vivi pouted. "How about Mama," she said pointing to Cheryl, "and Mom can stay as Mom?"
"Won't that get a bit confusing?" Cheryl asked. "How about Melmel? Or Melfy?"
"Mama is fine!" Leah declared.
"Oh, very well..." Cheryl surrendered.
"Don't worry, Melfy, I'll mix it up!" Vivi giggled.
"Viiiiiv!" Leah groaned.