Chapter 165: 129. Generous & Merciful

"So you're big on forgiving your enemies and stuff huh?" Kaylee asked as the three of us walked along the sidewalk together.

"I never meant to transform her in the first place," Willow responded. "I was just trying to get her to leave me alone so I could escape. And it turned out it wasn't even her fault she was trying to attack me in the first place. We found out afterwards she was probably coerced or something, right? Those council people pretty much set her up."

My small kitsune girlfriend was in the middle, I was on the left, and Willow was on the right. It was about half past nine Wednesday morning, and the three of us were on our way over to Steph's place.

Normally we would have waited till later in the day, but I had to be at the animal shelter for eleven today. Both me and Kaylee had plans for this evening too, so that wouldn't work. And Willow had work again on Thursday and Friday, so this was the best option that didn't involve waiting until the weekend.

And needless to say, everyone we passed stopped and stared at Kaylee. Almost every car that went by slowed down so the people inside could gawk at her. People at school were sort of used to seeing demi-humans since we had three of them attending classes there this year, but this was the first time I'd really noticed how much normal people overreacted when they saw someone a little different from themselves.

On the one hand it sort of helped me realize why my parents got so uptight about me giving out those enchanted plushies, and I could understand how shy or self-conscious people might get stressed out about all the staring. But on the other hand it was pretty much what we wanted all along. It meant people were seeing stuff that jolted them out of the dull haze of normalcy and gave them a glimpse of something special and different.

Basically just being out in public meant Kaylee was sprinkling a little bit of chaos everywhere she went. And the same for all the other demi-humans I'd brought to the world with my plushies.

Meanwhile the cute sorceress was still talking, "As for Kyle and Danny, they learned their lesson. And the thing with the water balloon was another council set-up. They didn't know it was harmful, they thought it was just a stupid prank."

My girlfriend's tails twitched a bit and she made a face, "Yeah I guess. But the thing with the water balloon was only part of it, Kyle and Danny were transmisic long before that happened. That sort of thing hurts everyone, including Melanie and Cass."

"You think I shouldn't have asked Cassandra to show them mercy?" Willow asked. "What about Steph, you figure we shouldn't help her either?"

Kaylee was quiet for a couple seconds as we continued walking. Then she shook her head, "Nah. I guess it's ok to help. I'm just a little surprised? Like after everything that happened with those three in particular, that you'd be so quick to help them all out."

The sorceress shrugged, "I don't know if Steph identifies as trans, but she's definitely some flavour of gender-spicy so I'm going to assume she's at least trans-adjacent. And I know from personal experience that as a closeted trans girl, or an unhatched egg, you can do and say a lot of stupid stuff while trying your best to fit in with an identity that just isn't you. So I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. She wouldn't be the first trans girl who overcompensated with macho nonsense before hatching and coming out."

She continued, "The other two are just dumb teen guys raised by redneck families. They spent three weeks getting first-hand experience with dysmorphia and discrimination, and that seemed to be enough to teach them the error of their ways. I was hanging out with them and Gord most of the day Sunday? Nobody said anything transmisic or homomisic, and they were both grateful to be back to normal. And they're still really sorry for how they acted before."

"How are things going with your parents?" I asked. Partially to change the subject away from that other stuff, but mostly because I wanted to know if things were ok for her at home.

Will sighed, "After I got home from your place last night my folks wanted to have a conversation? They didn't really talk about the magic or anything, mostly they were disappointed because I lied about some stuff back in May when I accidentally transformed myself."

"Basically I think they're freaking out about me having magic, but they don't want to talk about that?" she added. "They feel like we need to talk about something though, so that's what they're focusing on. My being 'dishonest' instead of the fact that a real live goddess blessed me with magical powers."

"Did you actually tell them that?" Kaylee asked with a smirk. "About your power coming directly from Hecate?"

The sorceress sighed again, "Yeah. When the whole thing blew up Monday night after Steph and her mom outed me I told my folks how it happened. Not all the details, but I covered the basics."

"Did they ask about the rest of us?" I asked. "And has this changed their minds about letting you move in with us?"

Willow shook her head, "I didn't say anything about the club, and the only thing I said about all of you was that you knew about my magic and you're all ok with it. They probably suspect something though? Like the fact that someone your age could afford to buy her own house is pretty unusual."

"Anyways this is the place," she added as she stopped and gestured towards a low-rise building on our left. "Steph and her mom live in there."

It was an older five-storey building, about ten minutes walk from our place. When we got inside the foyer Willow texted Steph, and she buzzed us up. There was an elevator, which was kind of slow and felt a little rickety. Steph's place was on the third floor, and Willow knew which number it was but she hadn't actually been there before so it took us a few moments to find it.

The sorceress knocked at the door, and after a few seconds we heard someone approaching. There was the sound of a security chain being undone, then the door opened up and we found ourselves face to face with Steph Ford.

She looked pretty much like she did the last time I saw her, back on the day it happened. She had long straight jet black hair just like Willow, the same purple eyes, fair skin, and she was petite and slender. She'd easily pass as Will's smaller sibling. There were only a couple differences.

The most obvious ones were the black feline ears sticking up on top of her head, and the long black feline tail swaying back and forth behind her. And now that she was in clothes that actually fit her, the other difference was easy to spot too. Unlike Willow, who's body was undeniably femme, Steph's was somewhere between androgynous and masc.

Her small slender body, long hair, pretty face, and the pitch of her voice would make it easy for people to mistake her for a girl though. And she was dressing femme now too, she was currently in a cute top and leggings.

Steph greeted us with a shy smile, "Hello Willow. And..."

Her voice trailed off and for the next second or two she was staring at Kaylee. Then she blushed and apologized to my girlfriend, "Sorry I don't think we've met? I'm pretty sure I'd remember a tiny three-tailed foxgirl."

"Sorry I don't know your name either," she added as she looked to me.

Willow did the introductions, then Steph led us into the small living-room so we could sit down. Me and Kaylee and Will all sat together on the sofa, while our host sat on a large footstool next to the TV.

"Thank you all for coming," Steph said. "Um, I guess Willow's told you about my um, situation?"

That now-familiar calm confidence settled over me, so I knew my other self was present. Then I heard myself respond, "Willow told us you needed our help, but perhaps before we get to that you could explain what happened? We know the curse became permanent, but I'm curious how. When we last met you seemed rather adamant that you wouldn't come like this."

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The catgirl blushed again, "It was the fourth day of the curse. Things between me and my mom had been really bad for the last couple years, ever since my dad walked out on us? So after a few days of being small and weak and vulnerable I was feeling really emotional and stuff. And my mom was being really patient and kind, helping me deal with all this stuff. And over those first couple days the two of us just kind of got closer again?"

"Then that day something else got me really upset," she continued quietly, "And I ended up sitting on the sofa there with my mom. I was kind of crying and she was hugging me. Then she started..."

Steph's voice got quieter and her cheeks grew brighter as she admitted, "Mom started petting my head and rubbing my ears and it felt really nice, and I stopped crying. Then she said the curse had a silver lining, because it brought the two of us back together. I said she was right and I thanked her for taking care of me and everything? Then she um, she accidentally called me a good girl. As soon as she said it I started purring, and that's when I knew I wasn't going to change back."

"My mom apologized," she added a moment later. "Like she knew I wasn't really a girl even though I kind of look like one and sound like a girl and everything?"

She seemed more embarrassed as she continued, "I told her it was ok, and admitted it kind of felt nice when she said it. Then I asked what she'd have named me if I was born a girl? She said I'd have been called Stephanie Isabel Ford, so I told her it was ok if she called me Steph. And um, yeah. A few days later the week was up and I didn't change back."

Other-me nodded slowly, "All right Steph, thank you for sharing that. Willow told us you wanted help with your ID, and with some other details?"

"Yes please," the catgirl replied. "I don't know if it's possible, but I know both you and Willow have magic since she cursed me and you teleported me home from the ravine that day."

Not-me asked, "What exactly would you like us to do for you?"

Steph blushed again, "I was hoping maybe I could get all my ID updated, with my new name and picture and stuff? And change it to show I'm a girl instead of a boy? And um, I was also hoping maybe someone with magic could finish changing my body into a girl too?"

"I asked Willow about that Monday night," she added quietly. "But she said she wasn't sure she could do it without making other mistakes. So I guess I'm hoping one of you could help me out?"

I had a feeling my girlfriend would have loved to have a go at changing Steph's body, but she hadn't actually learned transformation magic yet. We actually meant to be working on that this morning, except we came here to help Steph instead.

Then other-me asked, "Do you have any specific requests for what you want done with your body? Do you want to keep the feline ears and tail? Do you want to continue looking like Willow's smaller twin sister? I'm not promising you'll get every single thing you want, but for now pretend you could have absolutely anything. What exactly do you want your new body to be, how do you want to look?"

I recognized some of that from stuff I'd said to Kathie Winters back in January. And it was similar to what I'd told Kirstie way back in September. Only now I realized it probably wasn't really me talking to either of them. It was her, Cassandra, taking over and talking through me. And she did all that stuff without me even realizing it.

Hearing it again now made me think she was going to make some sort of deal with Steph that'd result in the catgirl agreeing to worship us. Or there'd be some other chaotic outcome, one way or another.

"Um..." the catgirl hesitated. She was obviously embarrassed, or maybe she was just nervous about talking to some relative strangers about personal stuff like that.

After a second or two not-me turned towards Willow, "Perhaps I should have asked you this first. Do you mind the fact that Steph looks like your twin? I expect that's going to cause some confusion when the two of you return to school in September. Especially if you're in some of the same classes."

"You can't exactly confuse us for each other," Willow replied with a shrug. "She's got the ears and the tail, so people can tell us apart. So no, I don't care if she wants to keep looking like me. As long as there's some easy way for folks to know who's who, that is."

The sorceress added, "As for the weirdness of it all, people already know I was 'mysteriously turned into a girl'. If anyone asks we can just say the same wild magic hit Steph too. Which come to think of it, is pretty much the truth."

With that out of the way my other self turned to focus on Steph again, but the catgirl was blushing and seemed reluctant or hesitant to give us any sort of detailed request.

Not-me finally offered, "If you're not comfortable voicing your requests or desires out loud I could read your mind instead? I can find out exactly what you want, or what you desire. Even if you're not sure yourself, or not comfortable admitting it to yourself."

Steph's blush got even brighter as she half-whispered, "You can do that?"

"I can," other-me replied.

Then she had another idea, "Or how does this sound? Tonight before bed, why don't you pray to Chaos for everything you desire? That way you don't have to worry about being embarrassed in front of the three of us here. Pray to Chaos and it will all be taken care of overnight while you sleep."

The catgirl stared at us for a couple seconds before finally asking, "What do you mean? Who is Chaos? How will praying to them help?"

Inside I was grimacing, while on the outside the other me calmly smiled and replied "That would be me, I am the Goddess of Chaos. Pray to me tonight, and I will answer your prayers while you're asleep."

"You're a Goddess?" Steph gulped as she stared wide-eyed at us.

We nodded once but stayed silent.

Meanwhile Kaylee's tails swished around as she proudly stated, "She sure is! She's pure divine chaos, but she's generous and merciful too."

The catgirl looked at her for a moment before she turned to stare at us for another second or two. Then she finally nodded, "Ok then um, Cassandra. I'll pray tonight, like you said."

"And thank you," she added. "Thanks very much!"

Not-me smiled, "You're welcome."