Author's note: Thank you so much for the plethora of comments yesterday. They are just want I needed to feel good about this story again. Chapter Four creeped along a little better than average. Hopefully it won't disappoint.

Part 2

Barry insisted that we take the evening off and maybe attend the final after party, something to take our minds off of what we were about to embark upon, but Sam and I couldn’t do it. Instead, we went to our respective homes for one last normal night.

I managed to work off all my fake parts, and stood before a mirror, very disappointed with what I was seeing.

My hair was really short, and brown. I had it cut so the wig would look normal. The ears were gone as well as the false breasts. In short, I looked like a wimpy feminine boy. Mainly due to the thin arched eyebrows.

Sleep took a while to arrive, and I fingered the large ring Barry had given me until it did.

The next morning, I dressed in jeans and an old gaming shirt then spent the rest of the time collecting all of my props for campaigns in the past that I discarded or never used, plus my costume and pack. Loading it up in my Mini Cooper, the last gift my parents gave me before I moved out, I said adios to my old life. The next time I would see the place, I’d be completely different.

When I’d made it to the address Barry gave me to his lair — what else are you supposed to call the place where a Dragon calls home? — I was surprised to find a small staff that was more than happy to help me with all of my things.

The building was the headquarters and manufacturing facilities of Dragon Games. In other words, it was big.

A young lady, a receptionist, I believe, escorted me deep within the building and eventually underground. All the while a guy with a trolley of sorts that carried all of my things, trailed behind.

Manmade building materials gradually thinned out and ultimately ended altogether. Electric light was replaced by torches and concrete flooring transformed to hard dirt. It started to feel like I was actually Dungeon Diving. That’s when we finally made it to our destination.

Sam had already beaten me there. She stalled for a second in confusion when she looked at me, then it dawned on her.

“Oh my god, Harry?”

I nodded and waited to see how she was going to react to my male persona. It didn’t take long. “You’re so cute!”

I received a quick hug and stood back from her. She was already in costume. It was the same leather one piece that she wore over the weekend, but considering she was going to be a Ranger, it was outfitted differently, less sexy and more practical. Instead of armored knee boots, they were extended higher to mid-thigh with leather. Fake daggers were strapped to her thighs and a utility belt with several pockets was hanging around her hips.

The impractical fake shoulder armor was replaced with heavy leather and what could only be magical items were scatter throughout.

“I like the new look,” I said.

Sam smiled. “When the red dye goes then I’ll be happy.” She bounced and pointed off to a side door. “Go change. Barry said that he’ll be ready in about thirty minutes.”

Considering I didn’t have to put on all the false items, it wouldn’t take me long at all to slip into the costume.

~O~

Once I finished attaching the last belt and double checked to make sure all of my standard Dungeoning equipment was secure, I stepped back into the waiting room. Sam giggled at me a little.

“You look so much different without the ears and wig.”

“And the breasts, don’t forget about those.

She stepped closer and adjusted my cloak so it was centered. “Well, you look very cute this way.”

I rolled my eyes. Sometimes girls had a way of making a guy feel like he was six years old. “Thanks mom.”

Her attitude changed to one of embarrassment. “So, you’re sure about this? If he can do this then it’ll mean that you’ll really be a girl… of a different species.”

There wasn’t any doubt in my mind. “I’ve always wanted this. Not just the girl part, that is a big one though.”

Sam’s lips pursed and her stare intensified, so I thought I needed to explain further.

“Have you ever felt that your life is… I don’t know, less than what it should be?”

She bit the side of her lip. “How do you mean?”

I shrugged. “Average, boring, just another cog in the machine, that’s me. My parents want me to go to college, major in business, and then go out and find a job.”

My thumb ran over the hilt of my fake sword. “I mean there’s nothing wrong with that. They didn’t insist that it be business, that’s just what they preferred. So, I decided that I’d try for the job at DG and go to college part time, major in marketing or whatever and that it would segue into something that I wanted to actually do. But even that wouldn’t have been enough.”

Sam nodded. “You want to make a difference.”

“Yeah. I want to do something that very few people are qualified for, and when they need someone to take care of a problem, who are you going to call.”

“Ghostbusters,” Sam deadpanned.

I smiled. “Right.”

The one door, out of the three in the room, that I hadn’t used, opened to reveal the Ogre assistant. He grunted at us and I assumed they were ready. He grabbed the trolley and pushed it ahead of us down another passageway that eventually led to a gigantic cavern, and the damn good sized Brass Dragon that was sitting on its haunches with its forearms crossed, looking decidedly pleased.

“Whoa,” I commented. Having never seen any living thing that large, I was kind of in awe.

“You said it,” whispered Sam equally amazed as I was.

There had to be at least fifty torches lining the walls, but it still didn’t illuminate the creature properly. The elemental light flickered off of the metal scales and glittered through the intelligent reptilian eyes as he stared at us.

“Okay, I totally understand why characters have to roll to even do anything around dragons.”

“Uh-huh.”

And to think, my character killed one of those things, well not by herself, and it was a Black Dragon, those are evil. Brass Dragons are Chaotic Good, always… well, not always, but almost always.

“Greetings adventurers,” it said.

The voice was so low pitched that I felt my bones vibrate in my body. It didn’t look like its jaws and tongue were meant for human speech either. It grated and certain letters melted together, but it was still astounding any way you heard it.

I swallowed, noting the dryness in my throat. “Barry?”

It said something next that started off as a Barristix… and then went to some odd place that my ears couldn’t really hear, but I could still feel deep inside myself.

“… but in this form you may call me Barristix.”

Sam raised her hand tentatively. “Is there a bathroom around here? I need to go throw up now.”

The assistant led her away, probably to a bucket, since there didn’t seem to be too many modern conveniences in the area. I totally understood. Even with the proof that was the Ogre the day before, it was a whole other league of weirdness made reality when you face something so beautiful, awesome, majestic, and deadly like the creature that sat before me.

“Come forward, Ar’ri.”

I almost turned around to see who Ar’ri was before I realized that it was me. When I finally closed in enough, I watched as Barristix’s eyes moved to center on a large circle in the middle of the floor. There were a number of glyphs or letters all around the boarders and then another circle enclosing them, leaving plenty of room for our baggage and probably two adult people left over.

I’d read enough sourcebooks to recognize a ritual circle when I saw one.

“Your companion approaches.”

I turned to see Sam rushing to join us, still wiping at her mouth. “Sorry.”

“Quite understandable, Samantia,” said Barristix. “Now that we are gathered, us three, each of us must ask ourselves if there is any reservation as to our goals and what must be done in order to accomplish them.”

Before either Sam or I had a chance to say anything, he went on.

“There will be battle, there will be blood, you will see and do things that will pale in comparison to anything any human mortal has ever seen… and there will be loss. Of this I can promise you. On the good side, however, when my foe comes to do battle with me, I can also promise that you will be at the forefront, having edged the odds of winning in our favor. If you step into that circle, your life will never be the same. Choose now.”

I turned my head to Sam and saw her looking at me. Lifting my hand, I held it out to her. We were both nervous, but I knew I had no more doubts that becoming Ar’ri Bauquinea was what I was meant to do. She slipped her cool hand in mine and we stepped inside the circle, careful not to disturb any of the markings on the floor.

While we waited for Barristix to do his thing, Sam leaned in. “You wouldn’t have an Altoid on you, would you?” She grimaced. “I got puke breath.”

I stifled a laugh right before a low humming began emanating from Barristix.

You know the thing I like most about D&D magic? Most of it doesn’t hurt. Well, things like Magic Missiles, Fireballs, or even Encase in Ice I’d imagine hurt a lot, but other things like Detect Alignment, or Polymorph Self just don’t do a thing, pain-wise.

It still felt weird.

It’s kind of hard to describe the way magic feels if you’ve never experienced it before. Not teaching color to a blind person kind of hard, but difficult. Think of being in a bubble of static electricity, only without the freaky hair and then mix that with a hot tub of warm chocolaty pudding. Soak, rinse and repeat.

The process seemed to make my body turn into that pudding and reform into whatever it was intended. All of that took place in the span of about minute after the feeling first started.

You may ask why we didn’t just use that nifty body changing Ring I was given the day before. The answer is that we were ordinary humans and didn’t possess an ounce of magic; neither did any of the stuff we brought with us. The whole purpose of the ritual was to imbue us with a piece of the Dragon’s real home, to suck out whatever mystical force that created and powered his magic and link it to us and our paraphernalia. It literally made us magical.

Through all of this I looked at myself. What I expected was probably what you would think would happen: I would be feminized, but that wasn’t half of it.

When I felt my body reshaping itself I noticed my skin change as well. Gone was the pale skin with scatterings of freckles and an unobtrusive mole here and there. In its place was skin so smooth I could hardly begin to think it was real. There was no hair, at all, and there didn’t seem to be any pores either. This led me to think about how Elves and Half-elves cooled down if they couldn’t sweat.

Everything started to become louder and instead of the low humming, Barristix’s voice became clearer, to the point where I could actually hear what he was saying. I still couldn’t understand it, but I could hear words being spoke in a rhythmic chant of sorts.

My leathers shifted as I filled them out. The breasts were back, but this time I could feel them being restrained behind the leathers, not to mention I really would have to rework something extra for the top portion of my outfit. I was a little bit better endowed than before. Not by much but still.

Then energy filled me and I felt decidedly different in a way that was indescribable, at least at that point.

That was when a really loud thump sounded that shook the floor and surrounding cave.

I looked up and Barristix had collapsed.

“Barry!”

I leaped forward, which was a trip and a half since it was a good ten foot leap from a standstill. I was beside him in a moment. His eyes were barely open and he looked supremely wiped out.

“Tired… sleep,” he managed to rumble out before his eyes closed and he passed out.

“Is he okay?”

I looked up from my crouch to see Sam standing near Barristix’s snout, tentatively holding her hand out like she was afraid of touching the gleaming brass scales. The thing was, she wasn’t any different. She looked exactly the same.

“He must have used a serious amount of magical energy to link us to where his mom was from. He’ll need to sleep it off, but who knows how long that will take.”

Her hand hovered about an inch off the scales and probably thinking better about the act, pulled it back. Then her eyes ticked to me and widened. “Wow, you look really different. The same, sort of, but different. How do I look?”

My mouth opened to compliment her in some way, but she would find out soon enough. “Uh, you look the same.”

She recoiled a little in confusion. “Really? I didn’t think I looked all that elf-like to begin with.”

I shook my head. “No, I mean you look exactly the same, like there was no change whatsoever.”

Sam sucked in a mouthful of air and pulled back the sleeves of her leather outerwear to see her still red-dyed skin. “But… What happened?”

I frowned and thought about it for a second. “I don’t know, but I can speculate.”

She looked at me, hoping for some sort of explanation other than it didn’t work.

I passed my hand over one of Barristix’s long pointy horns, feeling the rough, hard texture. “Barry’s about twenty-four years old. In dragon years, he’s still very young. They can live to be several hundred years old. He might not have had the needed power or experience to complete the entire ritual. I’m assuming that’s another reason he passed out.”

“So there’s nothing wrong with me. I still have a chance…?”

Shrugging, I stood up. “I really don’t know. I’m guessing here. If the rules he set up in D&D carry over to the real world then anything could have happened as a result of trying to press beyond his magical capabilities.”

That thought didn’t sit well with me. “We could have just as likely all blown up and brought this cavern down on top of us.”

Before Sam could say anything else, the assistant came back in leading six fat sheep by several ropes to a single iron ring imbedded in the rock face.

“What’s the sheep for?” My face turned to revulsion. “Oh, nevermind.”

“What?” Sam asked.

“Barristix is going to be really hungry when he wakes up.”

“Oh… eww.”

I pointed to our supplies and packs. “Let’s get our stuff out of here. I really don’t want to be around a hungry dragon when he wakes up.”

~O~

Gnort grunted when he dropped us off in some sort of living area. From what I remembered, Ogres spoke the same language as Giants, and the more intelligent of them actually spoke Common, which is the language spoken by almost all the different races in D&D. That didn’t explain what he was still grunting at us.

My character knows five different languages, or I should say that I know those languages since I was currently my character: Elven, Sylvan — two of the Elven culture, Infernal — Demon culture, Terran — Earth, and Common.

How did I know so much? Technically, as a Half-elf, I was a lot older than I appeared. As a human, I was nineteen. As a Half-elf, I was more like sixty-five. Elves normally mature into adulthood around a hundred and ten years. That’s the equivalent of a fifteen year old human. Ar’ri’s background had him growing up with the elves and learning leather-working and weapon-smithing before he was driven away into the regular world.

The reason I’m revealing all of this is because while I was looking around the apartment or suite, or whatever it was I was standing in, I was remembering growing up with the elves. It was kind of like a duel existence. I still remembered everything about my regular childhood just fine, but added to it were new experiences, some of which I really didn’t want to remember.

In order to make Player Characters realistic, we often create backgrounds for them and add flaws, or bad times that molded the character into someone realistic. I tended to torture Ar’ri in his youth.

The reason he was kicked out of the Elven village where he grew up was because he was too curious.

One of the duties of his village was to guard a specific Artifact, A Weapon of Sin. This particular one was a quarterstaff called Avarice. It was said to contain the essence of Greed itself within its dark wood grain.

Ar’ri snuck in, avoiding the guards that were always posted to prevent such things from happening and made the mistake of picking up the Artifact. Eventually, it was taken away from him, but as a result of holding it, even for a short time, Ar’ri was an unrepentant kleptomaniac. Like the Belt of Femininity, he was cursed and it could not be undone except through godlike intervention.

That’s why he/she was such a successful thief. It was either learn to become unseen or suffer the wrath of the people he stole from.

One normally doesn’t set out to become a thief; circumstance sometimes leaves no other choice.

“Do you think our stuff got all magic’ed up?” Sam asked.

I shrugged. “One way to find out.”

The biggest table in the room was round and about four to five feet in diameter. It would have been perfect for gaming a small group, and semi-perfect for unloading all our junk. The first thing I checked was my weapons.

~O~

“What’s that?” Sam was pointing at a stripped-down soda can with one of those plastic soda savers — those things that kind of keep all the fizz from escaping -- tops on it.

I grinned. “It was a gag item, homebrewed by a mage that died not too long ago. It’s called A Can of Whoop-ass. Supposedly, you pop the top and five fifth-level Monk’s pop out to do the holder’s bidding. Good for once every twenty-four hours.”

“You’re kidding.”

I shrugged and set it aside and picked up a ring with a single quarter-note embossed in the metal. “Here’s a good one to test whether the magic took or not.”

Sam took it and looked at the musical note, clueless. “I give up.”

“Ring of Theme Songs.” I giggled. “I gamed with some really weird people. Before going into battle you slip this on and it’s supposed to intimidate your enemies with the wearer’s theme song. I never used it.”

Sam was shaking her head hearing about the antics of teen boys. “Well, go ahead. What’s your song?”

Pulling off my Ring of Regeneration, I set it aside. PCs are only allowed one magic ring on one hand at any time. It has something to do with magical interference or something like that. Frankly I always believed the makers were simply trying to limit the amount of magic one person, that wasn’t a Wizard, could use. What’s the point in having a Wizard if rings, wands, rods, and sundry other items could do the work better, quicker, and more efficiently than they could?

I slipped it on the middle finger of my right hand.

“There’s an activation word, let me think…” a few seconds later it came to me. “Muzak!”

If I could have thrown the thing off of my hand, I would have. Ride of the Valkyries blasted loud and deep, rattling everything in the room. I finally managed to slip it off before we went deaf, which deactivated the magic.

My ears were ringing. “Okay, not doing that anymore.”

Sam, still wearing an amused grin on her face, said, “I don’t know. In the right situation that might prove useful.”

With a shrug I went ahead and placed the ring with the other less used ones in the right rear pouch of my belt.

“Hey, Ar’ri?”

“Hmm?” I answered while I was sifting through the rest of my stuff.

“Why haven’t you…?”

Looking up at her, I saw she was feeling a little bashful about asking something. “What?”

She shrugged. “Checked yourself out?”

It was a fairly practical question. I had just transformed the body I was born with into something from mythical tales. “Uh…”

Sam gestured toward one of the bedrooms. “Go ahead. I’m not jealous or anything. If Barry can change me, then hopefully he will. I was nervous about it anyway.”

That lifted a great amount of weight off of my shoulders. I was trying my best to act like it was no big deal, but I was very eager to do just what she was suggesting.

“Are you sure?”

All I got in return was a rapid nod of her head, but it was genuine enough. I spun around and looked at the five doors, not knowing which one to pick, so I chose the closest one to the right. I took one more peek back to see if Sam was watching me, but she was already going through her pack.

I didn’t bother locking the door. It was just us two and well, I didn’t have anything embarrassing to hide anymore.

The room was circular, which was extremely odd. A double-size bed sat directly across from the door, and a small table with a digital clock and a single reading lamp set to the side. A curved dresser of drawers was to the left and the right side had several empty shelves. There were two doors, at either side of the bed. My first choice wound up being a closet. The second was a shared bathroom with the room next to mine. I took a quick peek and saw that the other room was a mirror image to mine.

The bathroom was fairly spacious. A single shower stall was tucked into the corner and a clawfoot bathtub was centered. The toilet was to the other side, and behind me were a pair of sinks and a very large mirror that I still hadn’t looked into.

Taking my time, I took off my costume, or I should say my leather armor. Whatever Barristix had done during the ritual, had toughened up the leather. It wouldn’t ever stop a sword, but it would protect me from casual grazes from bladed weapons and provide padding enough to withstand a few body blows if they weren’t too hard. Most of my defensive armor came in the form of magic and dexterity.

I closed my eyes and removed most of my clothes from memory. I’d done it enough times over the last few days that I could easily perform this minor action.

When I’d reached the moment of truth, I turned around and opened my eyes.

“Oh… wow.”

My hair returned, but much shinier and more natural than the wig I wore. There’s only so much you can do with semi-frizzy synthetic steel-blue hair. What I currently possessed look like something off of a TV commercial. The rest of my body was just as amazing. Maybe it’s because I’d only seen all of two girls semi-naked in the dark that I was overwhelmed with what I was taking in.

The skin texture I noticed during the change was prevalent throughout the rest of my body. There were no flaws and everything was perfectly symmetrical. I was more athletic than full-bodied, more B-cup than C, and more streamlined than hippy. However I was perfectly happy with the entire result. My ears were pointed; more of a teardrop point instead of the curvy Spock ears, and my irises were huge, taking up almost the entire portion of my eyes. There was very little white on the outsides. I looked like an alien or something… maybe an elf, which I guess would make sense.

I could cover the ears with my hair in public, but there was no hiding my eyes. Sunglasses would be needed, or I’d have to resort to the Polymorph ring.

Closing in on the mirror I could see my eyes glassing from the happiness that was running though me. I almost wanted to do cartwheels or maybe a cheer or two, but Sam would probably think I was weird or something.

I didn’t know how long I had dreamed of a moment like this. I mean, doesn’t everyone have a fantasy of changing their body in some way? Taller, shorter, fuller, thinner; usually everyone disliked something? Not me, not anymore. I loved every inch. It was perfect.

I heard a knock at the outer door. “Everything look okay?”

A grin was plastered on my face. “Yeah, everything’s fine. I’ll be out in a sec.

~O~

We spent the majority of the day sifting through everything we had in our packs. A lot of it could probably be tossed considering that it was meant to be used in a world that wasn’t as technologically advanced as the one we lived in. I mean how many times are you likely to use a waterskin instead of a canteen? Things like trail rations, a block of cheese, and a loaf of bread, could be substituted with MREs, not to mention that it would save a lot of room and actually be healthy instead of simply life sustaining.

Then I began to wonder what we’d actually be doing. Odds are I wouldn’t need to carry my entire pack along with me wherever I went, or dress like I just stepped off of a movie set. Some of the things I had, I’d rather not do without, or they had magic properties, my boots for one. They were Boots of Elvenkind, adding to my Silent Movement skills, not to mention they were very comfortable.

“Hey, Ar’ri?”

I looked up at Sam. She was sitting legs akimbo across from me on the floor looking a little dissatisfied.

“Yeah?”

“We need to modern-up a little.”

I nodded. “New packs, definitely.”

“Clothes.”

I giggled. “Yeah, I’ll need a whole new wardrobe.” After thinking about what that would entail, I frowned. “Think Barry will let me have an advance or at least buy my Platinum and Gold Pieces?”

She smiled sardonically. “Well you are his Champion. That means he has to provide room, board, and essentials for you to do your job properly.”

With a single nod I added, “Clothing would definitely be an essential.”

“Well reasoned; we’ll make a proper girl out of you yet.”

I looked down at my new breasts, swelled underneath the leathers. “I think Barry beat you to that one already.”

~O~

Eventually one the people that escorted us down to the cavern showed up and took us to what I thought was a personnel office. We filled out employment forms for quite a while. The most obvious problem I ran into was what to do about my name and social security number.

That’s when I found out the answer to something that had been on my mind since I’d arrived at the DG headquarters.

The older lady who had been doling out the forms was wearing a familiar ring.

I pointed it out. “It that one of…” Stopping myself before I spilled the beans about magic to someone that shouldn’t know, I paused and then realized that I was walking around with my ears and eyes uncovered. They already knew.

She was an older lady, maybe in her late forties smartly dressed in a gray business suit, but she was one of the lucky ones that aged gracefully. Very few wrinkles adorned her full face.

“It’s a Ring of Polymorph Self.” She smiled after her conformation. “Either these or Glamour Charms are standard issue at DG.”

Hope for her to explain that one was probably written on my face. Thankfully, she obliged.

“This entire wing of the complex is staffed strictly by those in the know, specifically those that crossed over when Mary Bybax fled Qrynn.” It was obvious, from the look on her face, that she felt saddened when she spoke of Barry’s mother. “You have no need to hide yourself once you get past the lobby; however, some of us prefer to keep the human guise in place.”

I was somewhat surprised to know that there were more mythical creatures on Earth. “How many… what are you…” I looked down with embarrassment at my rude question. “Sorry.”

She patted my hand. “Nonsense, curiosity is an admirable trait. I am, or was, I should say, a Gnome. I’ve reverted to my former self only a handful of times since we crossed. I like being tall, you see.”

I giggled.

“There are one hundred and fifty-three of us left out of the original two hundred and ten. Varieties of races are represented, but almost all are civilians and non-combatants. This is one of the reasons you were recruited. Our military elite made the supreme sacrifice for our safety, and very very few made it through with us.”

She took a cleansing breath. “Enough of the sad times. You’re here for a purpose and I am to aid you.”

Leaning backward, toward her desk, she retrieved an envelope for me. Looking to Sam she said, “Once you’ve completed your transformation you’ll receive the same.”

I looked inside and there was a new Social Security card under my new name using the same number as before.

“Won’t the government notice something like that?”

She patted my hand again. “Not really, no. And even if they do notice, as long as the IRS gets their share, they don’t really care. But that is why we have magic, my dear, just to make sure.”

I nodded in understanding. “Um, what about other things, ID and stuff?”

We were led to a room where I had my pictured digitally taken with one of those really bad Department of Public Safety cameras that always seem to capture the worst possible photo imaginable. That was for my DG security ID. She provided a Glamour Charm that gave the illusion I was a normal rounded-ear, blue-eyed, brown-haired girl which was used for a Drivers License and Passport ID. The surprise addition was a credit card which was linked to my expense account for necessities.

I grinned wide at our necessities equals clothes conclusion Sam and I came up with earlier.

Once we were finished with the boring stuff, Ms. Gants — sorry, that was the lady’s name — gave us the lowdown on what we would be doing for the near future.

“Mr. Bybax will be incapacitated until two days hence, recuperating from the ritual. In the meantime, you are to go forth into your fair city,” she said with an ironic flair, “and purchase the necessities for daily living. We have mundane upgrades to your adventuring gear on premise, so do not concern yourself with items of that nature. In other words, children, have fun.”

~O~

I adjusted the glamour to show my blue hair, since, having lived with it my entire life, I was really tired of brown. In fact, the only thing I used it for was my eyes, and once I got some decent sunglasses I was turning it off altogether

Look it up ladies and gentlemen, cosmetic surgery to your ears is the new tattoo in terms of body decoration. Teens were going out in droves to have their ears clipped and sewn back together to look like elven ears. Theirs were more pointy than mine, but the premise was the same. I could brush it off as something trendy.

The Polymorph Self ring wound up being tucked away for future use. I’d just got a new body; there was no way I was giving it up so easily.

~O~

The entire time we were out, I was itching to see what Ms. Gants meant by updated adventuring gear. I had several items that were mundane. Everything I had wasn’t all flashy magic. In fact, the only offensive weapon I had that contained any type of magic was my sword. I reserved magic to necessary things in order to further my occupation and safeguard my life, so it was mostly stuff to aid sneaking around and protective magic.

One of the things about the rules that I wasn’t fond of was that you were only allowed a certain amount of magical items at any one time. Well, you could own them, but you couldn’t use them. For instance, only one ring per hand, one necklace, one belt, etcetera. So I had to get inventive in order to cover my butt. Thus the navel piercing, so I could hang my Scarab of Protection somewhere other than around my neck where my Cloak of Blending was occupying that particular area.

You should have seen the look on my DM’s face when I told him that. Apparently, the boys at DG didn’t take into account the piercing sect of society when they made those rules. He wound up giving me a few experience points for resourcefulness. However that also meant that I had to go have someone stick a needle through my perfectly new skin.

That wasn’t a pleasant experience.

What really sucked was when I had to take out the brand new piercing and replace it with the Scarab. On the plus side, I found out my Ring of Regeneration worked perfectly well. Sam was kind of grossed out the entire time.

Heh.

There was one semi-unexpected event that occurred during my whirlwind attack of the local retail establishments.

“He is not,” I said right before I bit into my soy-burger. Yeah, meat held little attraction to me since the change. I could eat meat; it just didn’t taste as good as it once did.

Sam grinned knowingly. “Take a look for yourself.”

I sipped at my drink while I casually looked around the food court and ended up eying a guy with a Macy’s name badge eying me right back. Except it wasn’t one of those weird, she has blue hair kind of looks. No, this was definitely one of those whoa, babe alert kind of stares.

If I was into guys, I probably would have flirted. It was almost too bad that I wasn’t. It would have been fun. Instead of leading him on, I gave him the not-interested press of my lips and took another bite of my burger.

“Ohhh, that was cold,” Sam said as she was trying to hold back a giggle.

Eventually we ducked out into the parking lot and headed toward the Cooper.

“Excuse me!”

I turned around right before we got to the car. It was the Macy’s guy.

“Sorry, dude, I’m a lesbian.”

He stopped and blinked at me, obviously taken aback at my refusal of his hotness, then he chuckled once and wiped at his upper lip. “That’s not exactly the reason why I stopped you.”

Color me all kinds of embarrassed. Sam grinned at me and then hopped into the passenger side of the Cooper.

“Sorry,” I said.

“Look, you’re exceptionally hot and all, but I’m more interested in the items you took from the store without paying for.”

My eyes widened behind the sunglasses. “Oh crap.”

Like I said before, Ar’ri Bauquinea was a cursed unrepentant thief. It didn’t exactly mean that I was, but something of the curse obviously carried over, much like the curse from the Belt of Femininity did as well.

“Uh…” I set my bags down and started patting at the pockets of my jeans. “I’m sorry. Crap. I know it’s going to sound like total bullshit, but I do this without realizing it. Where did I put it?”

He gave me an odd look and pointed at the Macy’s bag.

With a single nod I popped the back of the Cooper, took the bag and upended it. I was in for another shock.

“Holy crap,” the guy said in shock. “All I saw was the watch. You’ve got half the jewelry counter here.”

Cringing, I apologized again. “Sorry. Really, I don’t know when I’m doing this. Here.”

Taking the bag, I loaded it back up with just the items I inadvertently stole from Macy’s and then handed it to him.

“Can we forget this ever happened?” Lowering my sunglasses I gave him the best pleading eyes that I could.

The guy was frozen in his tracks. His jaw stared working, but nothing comprehensible was coming out, just a lot of uh’s, um’s, and er’s. He swallowed, hard and then licked his lips.

“It’d probably be best if you didn’t shop there anymore. You’re kind of unforgettable.”

I grinned, showing nearly all of my teeth. “Really?”

“Uh-huh.” His shoulders turned to Jello and his face transformed into a decidedly aw shucks look.

I don’t know what made me do it, but I leaned in and gave him a quick hug. “Thanks, James, you’re the best. I won’t forget about you.”

He sighed. “You know my name.”

Stepping back, I grinned and tapped his name badge.

“Oh… yeah, right.” His face was reddening with a flush. “Well, drive safe…”

“Ar’ri.”

“Ar’ri… that’s a beautiful name.”

“Thank again, James.”

I jumped into the car and started up the motor, while Sam was trying to breathe properly amidst the giggling. “You stole his wallet.”

“What?” I looked in my left hand and sure enough, a fat billfold was currently being held by me. Rolling down my window, I backed up a little and held it out to James. “Sorry, I did it again.”

He took it without even thinking. “It’s okay.”

By the time I made it out of the parking lot, Sam had herself under control, for the most part. “Did you forget something?”

I had my bags, and I gave the wallet back. “I don’t think so.”

“You took your glamour off, remember?”

Oh crap, my eyes.

“You just elfstruck the poor boy.”

Humans had a problem when elves consciously turned on the charm. Even as a Half-elf, my eyes were the same as any of the full-blooded. Being elfstruck meant that for the next fortnight no other girl would hold a candle to me and he’d have some of the most realistic erotic dreams starring none other than moi. Eventually, he’d be okay, but in the meantime, I could have taken him for everything he owned. That’s one of the reasons that Elves and Humans really don’t get along all that well. It’s also the way Half-elves are made.

Of course Sam started giggling again.

~O~

We split apart that afternoon to deal with our mundane lives. Gone was my male self, the side that rarely received any respect in any form, the one that was ignored, for the most part.

I bagged all of my boy clothes and the girl clothes that didn’t fit anymore. Granted, I didn’t have very many girls’ things, having only recently been allowed to dress as I wished. I’d collected a few things over the years, but they were worn and far out of style. All of that went to the clothes reclamation dumpsters that littered the city streets for the underprivileged. That took two trips; the Cooper wasn’t meant to be used to haul things.

With four more months left on my apartment’s lease, I couldn’t just abandon it without paying a hefty penalty and losing my deposit. I was still money conscious and I also didn’t want my credit report screwed with; I was using the same Social Security number after all.

So, I wound up clipping tags and hanging some of my new clothes, choosing to use my apartment as a secondary living area for the remainder of the lease. But I did box away any sign that I was once a boy.

It was when I stopped off in the kitchen to grab some dinner that I noticed the blinking light on my answering machine. I stopped and stared at it for a few seconds. It hadn’t even been a full day as my new self and it already looked like my old life was peeking back in.

After pressing the playback button, I sat and listened to the two messages.

“Dude! How’d the weekend go? Any guys pick you up? Hahaha.” It was one of the guys that I played D&D with, Fred. “Lookit, Tom is pullin’ out, you have to talk to him, man. That’ll knock us down to three people and you can’t have a decent RPG with only three… BEEP!”

I shook my head.

The next message, I wasn’t really expecting.

“Harry, it’s your mother.”

My eyes widened at that announcement.

“I don’t really like the way we left everything when you moved out. Your father has been moping around feeling sorry for himself and I regret what I said. You’re right, it is your life, but you can’t expect the people that have been a guiding influence in your wellbeing for nineteen years to suddenly wash their hands on your decisions. That’s not what being a parent is about.”

I heard her sigh. “Please call me. We’re going out to Brennans for dinner tonight. I’d really like it if you’d join us. Same time as always. Bye, honey.”

Looking over at the clock on the microwave, I saw that it was already five, and their traditional time for dinner at the steak place was five-thirty. It was exactly how long it would take to drive there.

~O~

I pulled into the parking lot five minutes late. There was a light out. Being stuck in traffic for ten minutes felt like an hour. Looking at myself in the mirror, I tasked the glamour charm to make my eyes and ears human looking. Everything else stayed the same. They never looked well upon the time I spent gaming, so I didn’t want to freak them out even more with the thought that I’d gone and had surgery to look like an elf.

It was funny when she’d pointed out that they couldn’t just turn their decision making off like one would a faucet. I came to that same conclusion a couple of months earlier, but my pride kept me from calling them and attempting reconciliation. We didn’t end on an awful note. I mean, kids move out eventually, it’s what they do. Ours was just a little more tense than normal, I suppose.

I made sure my blue blouse was straight and that there wasn’t any dust on my skinny jeans from the packing. Ammunition, they didn’t need. Then I made my way into the restaurant.

The host took one look at my blue hair and I don’t know if he wanted to bar me from the dining area or take me home. The look on his face was very conflicted. I decided to put him out of his misery.

“I’m joining a table,” I said as I breezed by him and headed toward where my parents traditionally sat.

It was my father that caught sight of me first. He had just popped an appetizer into his mouth, and then promptly choked. Maybe he didn’t like my three inch pumps, or it could have been the breasts… well, any number of things really.

Without waiting for Mom to notice me, I sat down beside her and watched as her attention moved from Dad finally swallowing to me and my new appearance. It was times like these when I was glad they were both in perfect health, because the way my mother’s face went white, I would swear that she was having a heart attack.

“Hi, Mom, Dad.” I crossed my legs and grabbed a cheese stick. “Thanks for the invite.”

They didn’t get a chance to say anything before the waiter showed up. Again, I was the object of a nice long gaze. Smiling brightly at him, I ordered an iced tea and a trip to the salad bar.

Mom started in, or tried to before I cut her off. “I’m gonna go get a salad. I’ll be right back and you can interrogate me then, okay?”

A few eyes followed me to the salad bar, probably because of the hair. Brennans didn’t really attract the punk crowd too much, so I was an oddity.

My plate was loaded up. The soy burger I’d eaten earlier didn’t really fill the void in my stomach and they had really fresh items on the bar. Why not take advantage of it?

When I returned to the table, Mom’s face was red and Dad looked clueless. “So, go ahead and tell me that I made a bad decision and I look nothing like a girl.”

Dad wiped his hand over his mouth, which was a signal that he was still thinking things over, but Mom had a few words.

“How did you… your hair… and…” I didn’t say they were intelligent words.

“I got the internship at DG. Well, I really got a paying job with them. I impressed the owner so much at the con that he offered me a real job right on the spot.” See how I stressed the word owner?

“Looking like that?” Dad asked with a little bit more than his usual amount of disbelief.

I shook my head. “Of course not. I had my pointed ears on and I was dressed in brown leather and five inch high knee boots.” Turning to my mom, I added, “If you wanted to put me off wanting to be a girl you should have mentioned how bad your feet hurt after wearing those things all day. I might have listened.”

“Harry…” she started off.

“I’m going by Ar’ri now, if you don’t mind.”

“What is that… French?” asked Dad, trying to get a shot in. He was kind of a racist where other countries were involved, France in particular, for some reason. The color of a person’s skin or sexual orientation didn’t matter, but if they spoke a different language then all bets were off.

“Uh, no. Sylvan.”

His brows bunched in confusion. I’d let him stew on that one for a bit and try to figure out what country I’d adopted the name from. I didn’t have the heart to tell it was High-Elvish.

Mom looked like she had a bad taste in her mouth, then she avoided calling me anything at all. “You look very different. Your skin… have you had plastic surgery?”

I shook my head as I crunched down on a crouton. “Nope. It’s all natural.”

“That hair is not natural.”

As far as she was concerned, I was just dressed up like a girl and all she had to comment on was that my skin looked different and her displeasure at the color of my hair. Maybe I was making progress after all.

I skirted as close to the truth as I could. “It’s amazing what they are doing with hair color and extensions nowadays.” Well, it was.

The low light of the restaurant prevented her from getting a detailed look, which was one of the reasons that I decided to accept their invitation.

She pointed, unobtrusively at my chest. “And those?”

I just shrugged.

The next few minutes went by with nothing said. Dad sped up his consumption of cheese sticks while Mom emptied her wineglass faster than normal.

“Well, you look nice,” Mom said to her plate. “Except for the hair.”

I giggled. “Thanks, Mom.” They were parents after all. I’d take what I could get. Dad just grunted. That made me think of Barry’s assistant, and I wondered if grunting was just a guy thing.

“What are you doing at that place you’re working?”

After setting my fork down, I sipped at my tea and swiveled a little to face my dad. “The place I’m working is called Dragon Games. It’s a major employer of the community. I’m in… Special Projects, heading up the division that will be, uh, fighting the competition.”

Meh, close enough.

He didn’t sound too convinced. “You don’t sound too sure about that. You aren’t lying about your position are you?”

I sighed, annoyed that he thought I was a liar. “If you want me to get into specifics about a business that you hate, producing a product that you once said rotted my mind, then I will. I was attempting to put the position into terms that you’d understand and not in tech-speak which I know you hate. You know, kind of like when I really hate when you talk in technical terms about the Bank?”

Dad was a regional manager of one of the bigger banks in the nation. He oversaw forty branches the last time I’d checked.

“Harrison,” Mom warned.

Dad just nodded. “You’re right. Look… Arri.” He ran my name together so it sounded more like my guy name, but at least it was progress. “I told your mother that I wasn’t going to fight with you tonight.”

“I appreciate that. Thank you.”

He gave me a nod. “You’ve got to see how this is from our side.”

“Yeah, I get that.” I really did. “Your son looks like he up and changed into your daughter overnight. That’s got to be a little nerve-wracking.”

He snorted.

“The thing is, Dad, I’ve been like this for a while. From my view, which you’ve got to see, it’s been a very slow process. It’s not every day that a son tells his parents that his whole life has been one big masquerade. I was scared to death that you’d disown me or hate me. So, exactly when was I supposed to bring this topic up?”

Mom took my hand in hers. “Honey, when have we ever shown we’ve hated you over anything? We might not agree with some of the decisions you’ve made in your life, but that’s… well, that’s life. Everyone out there isn’t going to smile and nod with you.”

“I know, Mom.”

Dad looked like he wanted to take my other hand, but was confused about the whole son-turning-into-daughter protocol. “We’re scared for our child.”

I took the option out of his inaction and set my hand on his. “I get that, Dad. That’s why I’m here.”

~O~

The night ended with my mother petting my hair, encouraging me to go back to brown, but we were on much better terms regarding my independence. Again, I would take what I could get.

All that was left on the agenda would be telling my friends. I wasn’t really looking forward to that. Guys were guys. Unless confronted with the reality that their worldview wasn’t simply what went on in their living rooms every night, they were likely to react in a stereotypically male fashion.

They were the type that woo-hoo’ed girls kissing and lesbian porn, but were squicked out if confronted by the same from the other side of the gender spectrum. The thought of one of their own switching sides had probably never occurred to them. I wasn’t too hopeful that they’d take it as well as my parents.

Nighttime had come since I’d entered the restaurant and I was starting to get emotionally and physically tired after such a demanding day. I wanted nothing more than to soak for a little while in the tub and then crawl into bed.

When I stepped out of the Cooper, I looked around like I always do, for safety’s sake.

My night vision had drastically changed.

Half-elves have something called Infravision. In low light they see heat sources somewhat like those infra-red scopes you’ve seen in the movies. I could see regularly for a bit, on the drive home, but the darker it got, the more my vision changed.

One other thing to note: Remember Barry anointing my character sheet with the Shadowdancer class? Well, one of their abilities is Darkvision. Picture the world, at night, in black and white. Quite disturbing. Now, layer that with the Infravision and it was like my eyes were spazzing out trying to keep up. It was all inherent to being Half-elf and being a Shadowdancer, meaning that I couldn’t just turn it off. It was definitely something that I would have to get used to.

The reason I’m telling you all of this is because of the crouched heat spot near my door on the second floor of the apartment.

I very rarely receive visitors, except when I’m hosting game night every fourth week of the month. And of course, there I was without any sort of weapon.

So, I took the easy way out and confronted the squatter from a nice safe distance.

“Who’s up there?”

A green and red body popped up with a white face, and when I say white, I mean exactly that. I could barely make out any distinguishing features among the heat source I was seeing.

“Harry, that you?”

Oh. “Hey, Fred. I just saw someone up here and it freaked me out.”

Well it looked like I would be doing the whole girl-exposé thing for my friends a little earlier than I thought. It was going to be a long night.

TBC...