What was lost…
copyright 2011 Faeriemage
Treasure is in the eye of the beholder, and no this isn't a D&D reference.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yes, there will be some mention of role playing, gaming not sexual, in this story. It is not a story about it, but in a proper setting, with friends who support you, RPGs can serve as a place to explore who you are as a person, and what really matters to you. They're also a lot of fun.

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Monday morning rolled around and I leaped out of bed. I wanted to get the first day of school out of the way and get on with the rest of my life. I passed Brad and crew in the kitchen on my way out, and hurried onto the campus. September wasn't the depth of fall, but the trees were starting to change color, and missed having a jacket for the moment. I'd have to buy one before it got too much colder.

Maybe I'd find a suitable one in the treasures that I'd be going through. The last one I found was hanging in my closet. Remember at the beginning of this paragraph where I said suitable? It was a women's jacket. Leather. Burgundy, or whatever you call a red so deep as to be black in anything other than direct sunlight.

It almost fit me. I say almost as it was made for someone with breasts. It sort of, well, hung on the top part of my body. The shoulders and waist, however, fit me perfectly.

I really don't know what that says about me, other than I have a really slender frame.

It fit so well that I really couldn't bear to have it anywhere but in my closet. That and they'd only offered me ten dollars for it at the second hand shop. Apparently the color was too outré.

Even if it wasn't made for a man, though, I sort of wished that I had it walking across the campus that morning. It was colder than I'd expected, and the more I thought about that coat hanging in my closet, the more I realized I was a fool not to wear it to class.

After my two morning classes were over, I took the walk back to my house, and the day hadn't chosen to get any warmer.

You'd think I'd be used to cold weather, living on the plains of Colorado and all, but let me tell you, I wear coats any time it dips below sixty. I don't know why, but I always felt so…cold…in the winter.

I put on the coat, leaving it open in the front so that it wouldn't be so obvious that I didn't have the proper equipment to fill it and looked at myself in the mirror. I changed out for my second pair of sneakers, as the wite just didn't seem to fit with it, and then I changed my shirt. Somehow the two dark colors clashed. I picked a lighter shirt, a shade of green I have no real name for, and it seemed to work.

I left the house with a bounce in my step, warm for the first time that day.

I entered my math class, and sat near the front of the class. It went by quickly. I like math. I gathered my books and was making my way out of the room when I heard a voice behind me.

"I haven't seen you in the dorms."

"I have a house with some friends."

"A house full of freshman girls. Aren't you scared?"

I went bright red. "I think, look I mean, sorry. I'm a guy."

I pushed past her, wanting to die. I should have expected that the coat would enhance my already feminine appearance.

"Look, girl, there's nothing to be ashamed of. Lots of people are still a little tomboy in college. Even if you feel more like a boy than the girl that nature made you there are options."

I stopped and just stared at her. She was pretty in a vague sort of way. I'm sure that Seth would have liked her, anyway, for the types of girls that he seemed to stare at when he got the opportunity.

"Unless I lied to the school about my gender, I doubt I'd be living in a house full of other boys."

"You lied to the school…"

I wasn't about to drop my shorts, so I lifted my shirt and showed her my chest. Flat and barely manly, but male none the less.

"I'm a boy."

"Oh…wow. sorry. It's just that your voice…and that jacket…"

"It was free. Beggars and choosers and all that."

"Wow. I just made a fool of myself."

"No, I get it a lot. I should be less defensive. It's not like I'm trying to look all manly. Maybe I should shave my head."

"No, then you'd just look like Sinead O'Connor."

"Who?"

"Female rock star from the 90's…never mind. It wouldn't make you look more like a guy is all I'm saying. Maybe if you grew a mustache or something."

"Who are you?"

"Oh, sorry, I'm Sadie."

"Jake," I said and shook her hand in greeting. "Look, Sadie, I would definitely grow facial hair if I could, but I've seriously considered just pulling the one or two hairs that do grow, instead of shaving."

"Really? That little?"

"My arms should give you a clue."

I pushed up the sleeve of my coat and showed her the peach fuzz that took the place of my arm hair. Fine and blonde and almost invisible.

"No, I think you shouldn't tweeze."

"Huh?"

"If hair like that were covering your face, you'd look even more feminine."

I tittered at her and then put my hand over my mouth.

"Did you just giggle?"

"I didn't…yeah, I guess I did."

"You are such a girl."

"Hey."

"Look, either change your mannerisms, dress, and voice, or give in."

"You sound like my old DM, Julie."

"DM?"

"Yeah, Dungeon Master. Called a Game…"

"I know, it's just you had a female DM?"

"Yeah…" I looked at her questioningly.

"You looking for a new group?"

"Yes. I can't seem to find any on campus, though."

"Most of them are run in the frat houses. Yes there are still normal people who go here, but there are a lot of the geeks as well. Look, I am in an all girl group. The only rule is that you have to play a female character, so as long as…"

"How often do you game?"

"Slow down there, sister. I need to introduce you to Carla first."

The prospect of getting into a game, and not being looked down on for playing a female, was really exciting to me. I had to calm my breathing to be able to survive it at all.

"Well, I'm done with my classes for the day," I said to her.

"And so am I. If you don't mind stopping by my room with me, first."

"In a girl's dorm?"

"Look, if I've been talking to you, and seen your chest, and I still think you are a girl, then I doubt any of the others will twig to you. Anyway, there aren't any real rules against it that I'm aware of."

That really didn't make me feel any better about the whole situation, but I was willing to go with it if it would get me into a gaming session anytime in the foreseeable future.

We entered the Sanctum Sanctorum of all womanhood at the campus and I have to say that I was disappointed on some level. In my mind, to a certain degree, I'd built it up as some mystical sort of place, and in the end it was just a place.

How often in our lives is that the case.

I smiled and waved at the girls who gave us greetings. I didn't say much, afraid that somehow my voice, high as it is, would betray me. Maybe choosing that moment to break and shatter the façade.

Sadie had already stripped and changed into a lighter dress before I even realized that she was doing so. I'd just been talking to her, and she to me and she was changed. A little shocked, I sat on her roommates bed.

"Jake?"

"Um, you just changed in front of me."

She blushed, and I still sat there on the bed, staring at the floor.

"See what I mean? I know you're a guy, and it didn't even occur to me…"

"No, that's not it. I didn't even notice. Aren't I supposed to notice? Everything was so normal about it. You changed, we were talking, it was…nothing."

"Well, maybe you like…"

"Not that I've noticed that either. I live in a house full of guys after all."

"Then you're probably just oblivious is all."

I stuck my tongue out at her and she laughed at me. I giggled back. Being around her like this, I didn't mind giggling as much. Sure, it wasn't a manly mannerism as far as those things go, but I didn't really care. It's not like I wanted her to see me as manly. I really wasn't interested in her that way, or like I'd said, in anyone.

Well, I had a lot of schooling to get through, and a lack of libido would help that, right?

Of course it would, or so I kept telling myself.

We left her room and walked out of the building and across the quad. It was a different quad with a different cafeteria than the one I'd gone to, which could help explain why we'd never met before school started.

It could also be that she had just arrived shortly before school had actually started.

We entered the other building, and made are way up to the eighth floor. Unlike the other dorm, this one smelled like women lived here. Not to say that Sadie's dorm smelled like a locker room, just that this one smelled…well…like perfume.

"I like your jacket, you'll have to let me borrow it sometime."

I turned to look at the person behind me on the stairs, and realized my sight line had been a little low. She was tall. I mean really tall. Standing two steps below me, her eyes were level with mine.

"Hey, Jasmine, this is Jake," Sadie didn't look too happy to see the other woman.

"Jake? Is that somehow short for Jacqueline?"

"No, it's short for Jacob."

"You're parents were even more cruel than mine. You have my condolences."

"Don't you have somewhere to be?" Sadie said at my elbow.

"No, Sad-ie, I don't." Jasmine didn't pronounce the name like normal, you know, Saydie. She emphasized the sad, and then put a slight pause in there. I put in the hyphen, but I figured I needed to explain a little more.

"Drop it, Ok, Yaz? You almost got all of us killed last week, and I still haven't forgiven you for that. I mean, come on, throwing a fireball spell at a loup-garou who was standing in the middle of a gas station?"

"I was trying to distract him from your tasty little ass."

My mouth dropped open.

"No, she has a donkey that follows her around everywhere. Don't ask."

"Wha…"

"The game, Jake."

"Oh…you guys really get into it, huh."

"Yeah, we try to come 'in costume' as it were. you know, dressed like our characters would. Since it is a modern setting, it is better than wearing cloaks and things," Jasmine said.

"I don't know. Cloaks could be cool."

"You've obviously never worn the 'and things' before. I hate corsets and bodices."

I blushed as I thought about some of the things my characters had worn over the years. I know it's impractical, but my warrior queen had to wear a chainmail bikini on Julie's orders. I'd played it for all it was worth and hated every minute of it. That was only thinking about what my character had worn.

If I'd had to actually wear that…I shook my head to dispel the image.

"I see you've had the same sorts of GMs as we've had in the past."

"Julie was great and all, but she thought she was punishing me by making one of my characters wear a chainmail bikini."

"Ouch. Those are uncomfortable."

Sadie and I looked at Jasmine. I think my eyes might have been bugging out of my head.

"They pinch in all the wrong places."

I blushed bright red, and turned away from her.

"Jake, sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you."

"Don't worry about it Jasmine."

"Well, see you at the game, Sadie?"

"You can bet on it. We still have a loup-garou to take down."

Jasmine pushed by us on the stairs and then Sadie and I continued on our mountain climbing expedition.

"So, that doesn't sound like D&D."

"Nope, it's not. That's not a problem is it?"

"No, it's not a problem."

A new system. This could be interesting.

We finished climbing the unending stairs and exited onto the eighth floor.

We knocked on Carla's door, and waited. Then waited. And waited some more. I think I heard a crash, and then a giggle or two. There was a man's voice, and some more crashing sounds. The door opened and Liam tried to push out past me.

"Liam?"

"Jake? What are you doing here?"

"Hi, Liam. Jake's here to talk to Carla about getting into the game."

"Hello, Sadie, didn't see you there. When are you going to stop by our place? I don't think Jake here would mind seeing you again."

"It's not like…" I began.

"Wait, Jake lives…" Sadie started at the same time.

Liam, and the elusive Carla both began to laugh.

"So, how did you guys get the school to allow a girl to stay in your house."

"Girl? Jake's a guy, Carla, promise."

"Wait…"

"Yeah, Carla, Jacob is a boy."

"Could have fooled me, and I usually have an eye for those things."

"Sure you're not just saying that, Carla," Liam replied.

"Hush, you, or our athletics sessions will have to cease."

"You wouldn't do that to yourself, would you really?"

"Of course not. I love you too much for that. No, I just like to threaten is all."

"I've got to run," Liam said with a laugh, "you ladies behave yourselves now, won't you?"

I punched him in the arm as he made his way out of the room. Carla and Sadie laughed at me and it wasn't long before I joined in.

"Are you sure you're not a girl, Jake?"

"I'm sure. Need me to strip to prove it?"

Carla got a gleam in her eye, but Sadie interrupted her before Carla could respond.

"He's male, Carla. Down girl."

"Sorry, you know I only have eyes for Liam."

"This week, sure. You move too fast, girl."

"So, Jake, what can I do for you."

"Jake would like to join in our game."

"What, really?" Carla stared at Sadie for a moment, "you know you'd be playing a girl, and have to come dressed, well, in costume?"

"I didn't know the in costume part when Sadie initially broached the idea, but it doesn't seem like a problem. I mean, what I'm wearing now has everyone confused."

Carla giggled at that and smiled.

"You have a point there, Jake. You know, Jake really doesn't seem like it fits you."

"Blame my mom. It's my name."

"You should have a more gender ambiguous name. Really. It would be more funny. You know, like if your name was Jodie, or Kelly, or Sam even."

"Sam is gender ambiguous?"

"You didn't watch 'Who's the Boss' reruns did you? Stargate SG-1 maybe?"

"I'll take your word for it."

"How can you be here and never watch Stargate?" Sadie asked me.

"I prefer fantasy, usually, to science fiction."

"Well, all of the girls in the group are playing characters with the same name as they have. Well, close to it. I like the feel it gives the game."

"You just like the blurring of sureality with reality after you've had a couple of beers."

"Guilty. It's just that Jake really won't do."

"Can't I just pick another name?"

"you could, but then what meaning would the name really have to you."

"Then call me Jackie. Stan already does that, but usually adds a boy to the end of it."

"Stan?"

"My boss."

"you have a job? Already?"

"I'm in antiques. Well, sort of. More I'm kind of in reclamation."

"You're a garbage man?"

"No, but it feels that way sometimes. We place bids at blind auctions for items left behind by people in storage lockers."

"You can make money doing that?" Sadie asked.

"A total of five thousand in the last two weekends."

"This won't interfere with playing Saturday night will it?"

"No, I'm usually done by eleven. Or at least I have been the last two weeks."

"Ok, then, Jackie, welcome to the game. Any preference on what type of character you play?"

"I don't really…"

"He isn't familiar with the world, Carla. I've told him nothing."

"Yeah, all I caught was that there was magic, and a werewolf and a donkey."

Carla laughed at this, and I smiled.

"Ok, let's introduce you a bit to the Dresdenverse."

I'm sure that most of you don't really care about the particulars of what we went over, and the rest of you can go pick up a copy of either the Dresden Files source book or one of the novels.

Short version is that we would be playing with magic, vampires, were wolves, and ghosts in a modern setting. I was hooked.

I couldn't wait 'til Saturday for my first session with the girls, and hoped that it would be as fun as it seemed.

I made my way home after a couple of hours with Carla and Sadie and found Liam lounging on the couch.

"Hey, Jake. Dude. You know that's the most exclusive RP group on campus, right?"

"Really? They seem fine with me joining."

"Yeah, well, they would."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know what it means. You're kinda girly. They only let girls join."

"Don't tell me they turned you down?"

"Ok, yeah. They did. I couldn't handle playing a girl, let alone the fact I would have to come dressed as one."

"You're a wimp, you know that, Liam."

"Look who's talking," Seth said from the doorway.

I giggled and then covered my mouth and blushed.

They laughed at me, and I simply smiled. They were good guys over all.

"So, how is Liam a wimp now?"

"Jake has been allowed to play with the Game Grrlz."

"What!? You're joking, right?"

"Has everyone heard of this group except for me?"

"Jake, the Game Grrlz are, well, they're all girls. All of them. How did you…"

"By being himself, apparently."

"Yeah, I met Sadie in my math class."

"Dayum. You might be the undoing of a three year institution here."

"What are you talking about?"

"Carla has been running the group for the past three years, ever since she first came here. There hasn't been a man allowed in the group to date. Well, until you."

"Why not?"

"Because of all the fraternity gaming groups…well the two frat gaming groups if you want to be specific. They are male only. It takes poling the entire female population to get the three current player that are in the group."

"We had three girls in my group at home in rural Colorado. Our DM was female."

"See, you have no understanding. There just aren't that many girl gamers, dude." Liam said.

I figured he had to be wrong, but I was in no position to really argue.

"Look, guys, I have to play a girl, and dress as a girl to get into the game. How is that changing anything?"

"He's got a point."

"Of course he does."

I snorted at them, and that set them laughing for some reason.

I went into my room and hung my jacket up on the inside of the door. It didn't make me feel any different to have it off. I couldn't help but smile at it hanging there for some reason. I was happy that I'd worn it, even with all the confusion it had caused.

The rest of the week when perfectly smoothly. I talked to Sadie a couple of more times when my class with her rolled around again, and then it was Saturday morning and I was out at today's storage lot.

One of the units struck me as a little interesting. There was no name on the lease and after the initial payment, there had been no payment after that. It could be nothing, but it costs less to pay to have your trash hauled away, than to put it in a locker like this. The storage company was out five hundred dollars for the unit, as it was one of their more expensive ones, and I doubted that anyone else would be likely to bid for it.

I was wrong on that.

Everyone else seemed to be as intrigued as I did.

"Jackie-boy, let one of them have it."

"No, Stan. I've got a good feeling on this, Seven thousand."

"Eight,"

"Nine."

"Fifteen thousand," I said trying to shock people out of continuing.

"Twenty!"

Shit, I wanted to win this now. My hear was pounding. My palms were sweating. There was a thrill to the unknown.

"Twenty-one."

"Twenty-two."

I'd never seen a bit go this high before. I let it run on its own for a bit.

I'd thought to bring fifty thousand with me today. I wanted to bid for at least two lots, and have money just in case.

"Going for thirty-seven thousand…"

"Forty."

Right at the last minute, I'd made my plea. It was unheard of for a lot with this little payment history to go for such a price. I hoped that I was right.

"Sold for Forty thousand dollars."

Stan was shaking his head sadly at me, but I just smiled up at the guy.

"I feel good about this one, Stan. Really good."

"More than forty thousand good?"

Everything started to fade out. I'd just spent half of the money that I'd saved for school on a single lot.

Stan helped me to the ground after putting his lock on the door.

"Shit, I was too late."

"Edgar?"

"Yeah, I wanted to bid on this. I knew the former owner. He's been promising me a piece of this collection for years. Apparently he died intestate. No will."

"What are you saying?"

"Open it up and I'll tell you what I'm saying."

We opened it up, and it was different than any of the other lockers I'd yet seen. It was a massive fifty by fifty area. Inside, on dark wood shelves with specialized lighting, there was row after row of red glassware. Each piece had a provenance sheet behind it.

"So it's red glass."

Stan snorted at me, and Edgar just smiled.

"No, Jackie, this is Ruby Gold or Cranberry glass. Depends on where it was made, really, but the cause is the same. That is made with gold. And the really old pieces in here, we'll they're almost priceless."

"What are we talking?"

"Well, to the right investor, we're looking at between a hundred and two hundred thousand dollars."

"For glass?"

"No, for sets. Original sets. A lot of these sets will go for one to five thousand at auction. A little less in my shop. Consider that we have full complements? Dishes, glasses, bowls…some of those would got for a lot more."

"But a hundred thousand?"

"Jackie-boy," Stan said, "There are more than a hundred sets, not pieces, sets, in here."

After the cost of the unit Stan and I would be splitting at least sixty thousand dollars. I'd almost doubled what I'd put into the locker in the first place.

"The kid's better than you, Stan."

"The kid's lucky."

"Come on, Stan. You know it was more than luck."

"No, it wasn't. You better be careful, Jackie. I want no part in you destroying your life with reckless gambles."

I watched Stan walk away, leaving me there with Edgar. The victory of a moment before seemed hollow. I liked Stan, even if I'd only known him for a couple of weeks.

"So, looks like I'm just dealing with you now."

"Yeah. What do I do?"

"Well, usually, with Stan, I offered him sixty percent of the sale price of the goods."

"Edgar. You know that this is worth more than Stan ever brought you."

"And you are a new player to the game."

"Tell you what, Edgar, you charge me a flat fee for everything over fifty thousand that I bring you. Say twenty five thousand. I'm risking my own money on these auctions, and you are putting nothing up. Below fifty, we go with a fifty percent split. Usually I'll be putting up a lot less of my money for those."

"Wait, you want to offer me a better deal on everything I sell less than fifty thousand dollars?"

"It's incentive, Edgar. I know you want to get the best price you can on most goods, and if you cheat me on the higher priced ones, I leave."

"Sounds fair to me. So, I get twenty-five thousand off the proceeds of selling all of these items, or we go with lots of smaller units…"

"You sell them in the largest sets they fit into, and we go from there."

"Ok, but I want to tell you that I will not charge a fee on anything I buy personally."

"What do you mean?"

"I wanted this collection for myself, Jackie."

"Ok…"

"I want to offer you a hundred and twenty for the lot."

"I would have taken a hundred. Sold, Edgar."

"Pleasure doing business with you, young man."

Between my scores for the last two weeks, and today, I'd made a profit of eighty five thousand dollars. That was almost a third of the way to my goal. Then I could focus on school to the exclusion of everything else.

I went home and showered, and then put away my money. I really needed to find a better place to keep it. Maybe I'd get a bank account.

Then it was football in the park with my roommates. One girl and a lot of guys. I even made a touchdown, but we ended up losing this time.

I went back home, took another shower, and then I had to decide what I would be wearing tonight. I knew the jacket would be part of it, but for the rest?

I had nothing fancy, and all of my clothing was distinctly male.

And it was beginning to hang off me. I'd lost close to five pounds in the last three weeks and I was down to 112. Skin and bones comes to mind. I just hoped I wouldn't lose much more weight, since I didn't think I had much more I could safely loose.