Chapter 29: Chapter 24 – Power of Love

“So… what now?” We were on our way back to Katka’s house. She decided it would do us good to go the scenic route instead of just portaling over there. And considering the path we were taking now? I was somewhat inclined to agree. The birds chirping and all the critters running around gave it a great ambiance you don’t really get in forests nowadays.

Okay the ones that are being regrown are gonna take a while to have an animal population reintroduced. But I much preferred this atmosphere to the one you could find in national parks. “There’s a few artifact appraisers in Wisteria Way that could take a look at whatever Dysphoria dropped.” Katka answered my question, while crouching and giving a hare gentle pets. “And after that? Hell if I know. Hang out? Relax? You’ve had a shit week and you deserve it.”

“Well it wasn’t all bad. Met my neighbors, met my grandma, figured out what thing kept gnawing at me deep in my soul.” I counted them all on my fingers. “I mean shit, how long does it usually take people to figure out they’re trans?”

“Depends.” Leonard and Katka said in unison. It was a bit uncanny.

“But usually waking up with a gender affirming body throws your eggshell against a wall at mach 20.” Katka added, now finished mingling with the wildlife. “It did for me. Although the wings and halo were unexpected additions. Grandma definitely could have prepared me better.”

“Well, denial is a hell of a thing. Especially when powered by outside forces.” I knew this probably better than anyone. I mean, fuck. How was I gonna deal with dad? Luckily he didn’t have control over my finances or anything. And I inherited all of mom’s stuff and my grandmas’ stuff. Including their houses. But still, his shadow is gonna loom over me forever. I don’t think therapy will truly ever help me completely cope with what he did to me. But who knows, I haven’t had a proper session with Mrs. Fahrenheit yet.

I definitely needed to call her for one. As we approached Katka’s hut, there were very loud footsteps from nearby. And she groaned, a deep pained groan of recognition, flying ahead of us. I quick sprinted after her, to be met with a wolf the size of her house, and her flying over it.

“Fenrir no! What did I say about gnawing on Kyblík! Don’t make me call your parent, young man!” She was pointing at the wolf as if it was a naughty puppy. Which, reminder, it was the size of her house. And it was Fenrir. Wait. Fenrir? 

“YOU HAVE FUCKING FENRIR AS THE NEIGHBOR’S DOG SHITTING ON YOUR LAWN?!?!” I was flabbergasted, completely taken aback by this revelation. The wolf whined.

“Yes, Lily, Fenrir is the puppy that’s being a nuisance but doesn’t know better. Even though he should!” Katka made a stomping motion in the air, and Fenrir whined again. “I wasn’t kidding about calling your parent! This is the third time this month. I have to.” Fenrir howled at that, as Katka quickly flew inside Kyblík, leaving me and Fenrir to stand outside. Well, May and Leonard joined us very shortly after that. 

Leonard’s reaction was honestly kind of endearing in that moment. I swear I could see Steven Universe stars manifest in his eyes. All he said, standing there awestruck, was “Big pubby…”

“Yes, he is quite big, and he is quite a puppy at times, but what did I say about bothering people, Fenrir? Pranks are to be harmless and have everyone, even the pranked, laugh!” If you’re imagining Tom Hiddleston showing up, don’t. Imagine a redhead with an undercut wearing mom jeans and a band t-shirt. “Loki, god of pranks, it’s he/him today despite the rocker mom aesthetic. Boobs are fun!” He had turned to us for a quick introduction. “Now we’re going to go home and have a talk about your behavior young man.” He turned back to Fenrir, grabbed his paw and teleported away, leaving behind a sound of giggles.

“Does everyone’s teleporting sound different?” I asked, the scene having finished in only two minutes. Really, it took me a minute to  process what just happened. A naughty kid had his parent called on him for bothering the weird lady.

“If you’re powerful enough to have access to teleportation. Right, sorry about that. Off to Wisteria Way now I believe?” Katka had poked her head out of her house by now, and so I replied to her with a noncommittal shrug.

 

“Dream gem, usually takes a 3 months long continuous ritual to grow, and generally they’re not bigger than a pill even after that time.” The appraiser was a spider fae, wearing goggles built for her many eyes. “You have one the size of a quail’s egg. Extremely rare size.” She put the gem down and removed her goggles.

“And what are they good for?” I was in the shop alone with her, Katka had shown me the place but then she left with Leonard and May in tow for a nearby café. 

“Protection from nightmares. Both the creature and the bad dreams. I think I could have this set in a pretty necklace in about half an hour. If you’d like.” She pulled out a set of jeweler’s tools from underneath her counter, setting them on top of it. 

“Yeah, sounds great! I’d appreciate that. Thank you.”

“Before I start though, any metal allergies?” She was holding a couple spools of wire.

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“Not that I know of, is there a way to test it?”

“Give your hand and we can experiment.” She reached out with one of hers, and I shrugged and obliged, as she now held my wrist. The next two minutes were spent putting different pieces of metal to my skin to see if it reacted.

It surprisingly didn’t react to any of them. I was expecting silver to affect me, at least. You know, the whole being a succubus thing. But no, none of the metals harmed me. Maybe it was a Nihilim thing? Was having human blood protecting me from negatives my demonic blood could bring?  That’s a question for the experts that were eating crepes across the street. Once the appraiser was satisfied checking, she got to work, gave me a ticket and told me to show up in half an hour. Thus I crossed the street to join my group. “I didn’t expect there would be a crepe shop here.” Were my first words as I sat down.

“There isn’t. This is a galette shop. Crepes are sweet, galettes are savory. Ham and cheese and eggs versus whipped cream and nutella.” Katka replied as she was finishing up hers. “A lot of people mix them up and don’t know it.” She took a bite, obviously enjoying her cre- err, galette.

“So, Lily dear, what did the appraiser say?” May asked, this being the first time she had spoken up in a while. I was unsure whether it was the cocaine-cola or her just quietly enjoying her time surrounded by youths.

“Dream gem, she’s turning it into a necklace right now. Guess I’ll finally get a good night’s sleep.” I grabbed the menu to see the options. It was pretty much sandwich ingredients, except the bread was an extremely thin buckwheat pancake.

“Well that sounds nice.” May gave me a quick smile before she sipped her drink. Looked to be coffee from a distance. I gave her a quick nod, and waited. The conversation didn’t seem to really be going at all. Just four awkward people sitting together. Which was surprising considering the people present were The Original Butch, Baba Yaga’s Granddaughter, The Clumsiest Magical Furry Alive, and me. Okay yeah I didn’t really have a powerful trait going for me did I? I could say The Original Butch’s Granddaughter but I already used such a trait for Katka. And as I sat there, contemplating minute unimportant stuff, what possible trait I could apply to myself, one hit me right away. College student.

I’m a college student. I have finals. Well, A final, a single one. And I had spent the last week fist fighting old men, getting turned on by The Literal Devil Themself, and figuring out I was trans. And none of it working on the paper. Which was somewhat uncharacteristic of me. I always spend a day doing nothing before jumping into assignments. Especially for Professor Sappho’s class. “Fuck. Shit. Fuck. Goddammit. I can’t believe I did that.” I dragged my hands across my face and groaned.

“Did what?” May asked, obviously concerned for my well being.

“I procrastinated on my history final.” The three of them all snorted to various degrees. May just a quick chuckle, Leonard nearly did a spit take, and Katka laughed.

“Holy shit you NERD. When’s it due?” Katka had gotten her laughing under control by the time she asked.

“In three weeks, approximately. But we’re supposed to write a paper on queer communities during history, could focus on one or multiple. So that means research, and research takes time.” I pointed out, as Leonard and Katka turned to face May.

“Helloooooo Primary Source. Shit you’ll have to bullshit up actual sources to quote for it but May’s been loads of places in loads of times I have a hard time picturing.” Katka pointed to May with her thumb, which made May roll her eyes in turn.

“I’d be happy to help you, Lily, but I believe my vacation time is running out. Or rather, I should get back to work. My assistant must be properly pissed off at me by now.” May chuckled before taking another sip. “And I don’t blame her one bit. Old Czech Dudes with Conservative Millennial parents? They’re frustrating to Hell and back!”  

“How old are we talking?” Now she peaked my curiosity.

“In their 70’s, and being talked to by a woman who looks a third of their age.” Yeah I can smell the condescension coming off of such dickheads even across the ocean. Wait no, this is Wisteria Way, I could literally be down-wind from a spot with those douchebags. 

“Yeesh.” I recoiled a bit, picturing the scenario. “Right, so, I need to work on my final. Historical queer communities. I’ll figure out what to go for and start right after I get my necklace. Until then, I’ll have a ham and cheese and egg galette.” I got up to move to the counter to order the treat, and sighed, trying to figure out what to focus on. 

It was going to be a long week.