___________________ ღღ ___________________
Ellie
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[ - Thursday, September 12, 2019 - 4:55pm - ITI CS Building - ]
Thursday classes go by in a blur of algorithms and operating systems. Vee and I sit together in between classes again, doing homework and talking quietly in one of the computer science building’s lounges. I learned she hadn’t gotten much sleep last night due to being awake with all the classic newly hatched girl questions, like how is breast cup size measured, is this thing from my past a sign that I’m trans, what’s a midi skirt, can I use the women’s restroom, etc.. So once our last class of the day is over I end up keeping watch over her stuff while she snoozes in the lounge beside me.
The both of us are waiting for Dawn to get out of her last class so she can drive us to her house. I’m still not sure what exactly we’re going to do once we’re there, but I’m confident we’ll figure it out as we go.
Maddie is currently off doing who knows what in their lighthouse headspace, so I’m relatively alone with my thoughts at the moment. Of course, said thoughts are mostly focused on the Operating Systems homework I’m doing on the laptop in my lap, but in the background I’m also dwelling on the question of our allies.
Sky joining the team makes it four other human beings who know the truth about Maddie, Anialah, and I. Four people who can help us figure this shit out and hopefully learn to live with the many earth-shattering revelations that Maddie and I have had to deal with in the past nine or so days.
I check the time on my laptop again, and decide it’s close enough to five to wake Vee up. The two of us are sitting side by side on a padded bench against a wall with our backpacks stowed at our feet. Vee’s head is tilted back a bit and there’s a very slight snoring noise coming from her. Gently, I nudge her shoulder with my own, and she comes alive nearly choking on her own saliva.
“Ach, what time is it?” she asks, coughing.
“Time for us to get going if we’re gonna meet Dawn on time,” I say with an apologetic smile.
She checks her watch and groans. “Alright, well I did this to myself I guess. Let’s get going.”
“I’m sure there’ll be plenty of time to nap once we get to Dawn’s place,” I assure her.
She makes a sour face as she repacks her backpack. “I don’t want to sleep, I want to hang out with you and Dawn and learn all your treasured girly secrets.”
I grin at her as I pack my own bag. “I promise we’re not hiding any girly secrets from you, we’ll be sharing what we know and learning alongside you,” I say firmly.
She takes a deep breath, running her fingers through her short black hair, then looks at me with a serious expression. “Thanks Ellie,” she says, “I really appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome Vee,” I reply with a smile.
The both of us finish zipping up our backpacks and stand up, donning our coats and bags.
Once we’re all suited up, we head for the exit and make our way out into the brisk autumn air. It’s a short walk to the intersection where Dawn agreed to meet up, and Vee and I trudge through the gusting winds companionably.
We make it to the meeting spot on time, and sure enough I spot Dawn exiting the mathematics building at the end of a stream of other students. Dawn smiles when she sees me waving, and she makes her way towards us across the street. I glance around to see if there are any other familiar faces in the streams of people, but spot no one. Most folks are talking amongst themselves or looking at their phones.
Dawn makes it over to us, and I exchange a big hug with her as soon as she’s in arms’ reach. She looks left and right quickly, before ducking down slightly and whispering, “Is it okay if I kiss you?”
I feel my face go beet red. “Yes,” I whisper back breathlessly.
Dawn grins, never taking her eyes off my own as she leans forward those last few centimeters and gives me a quick, tender kiss on the lips.
“Fuck your lips are soft,” I whisper as we pull apart.
She grins. “How are you cuties doing?” she asks.
I feel myself smiling as I look a little up at her and respond, “Peachy keen, how about you?”
“Happy to be done with that bullshit,” she says, gesturing at the building she’d just come from.
I smile and nod at her, then turn to find Vee looking at us with a big smile on her face. “You two are adorable together,” she says.
Dawn’s face blushes brightly, and I feel my own heating back up as well.
“Thanks!” I say, feeling distinctly pleased at the compliment.
“Y-yeah, thanks,” Dawn adds, scratching the back of her head through her curly caramel hair.
The three of us stand off a bit behind the sidewalk in the grass, and Vee takes a step closer to Dawn and I.
“Forgive me for asking, but how the hell do you find the confidence to just... be yourselves?” she asks, her dark brown eyes darting from mine to Dawn’s and back.
I smile at her. “You don’t have to apologize for asking, Vee,” I say. “I’m still mostly closeted, remember? I’m not really being myself yet, neither of us are.”
“Yeah but you two just kissed! How the hell do you have the courage to do that out in the open?” she says quietly.
I feel my blush grow brighter, and some uncomfortable feelings swell up inside of me at the thought of what other people might think if they’d seen Dawn and I kissing in the bodies we have now. But I squash those feelings hard. This is my one and only life, and gods dammit I’m gonna live it.
“It helps quell the internal transphobia and homophobia if you imagine no one’s watching,” Dawn says sheepishly. She looks at me with a serious expression. “I love you, but I’m definitely not perfect.”
I shake my head. “Of course you’re not, and neither am I. This is all still new and exciting enough that I don’t care about what other people think yet, I guess?” I direct the last part to Vee.
She nods, looking distressed. “That’s fair. I hadn’t really thought about the uh, internalized homophobia and stuff, but I guess that is what’s going on, isn’t it? This is only a big deal to me because of my parents and my church and stuff.”
In the back of my mind I feel Maddie appear inside the viewing tree and saunter up towards the eyes screen. They listen quietly to the conversation at hand.
Dawn smiles at Vee. “Don’t get down on yourself hun, we all gotta deal with our internal biases one way or another.”
I nod. “Yeah and it’s gonna take some time to deprogram, so don’t beat yourself up too much about it yet, okay?”
Vee nods her head slowly. “Thank you, both of you,” she says.
We all take a moment to stand together quietly.
How are things here? Maddie asks from their seat in a comfy red armchair.
Pretty good, I reply happily, how was the lighthouse?
They shift in the chair a little uncomfortably. It was... interesting, they respond.
Oh yeah? I ask, intrigued by their demeanor.
Yeah. Um, do you ever get the feeling that you and I aren’t the only ones in our head? they ask. And I’m not talking about Anne’s system.
I blink in the physical world, staring off into space. Uh, now that you mention it, yeah, I say, whenever I’m concentrating on my library tower headspace, I feel like I’m being watched even when you’re not around.
The storm in my lighthouse world has a mind of its own, I’m certain of it, Maddie says.
Then in the physical world the light of the intersection ahead of us changes, and I share a glance and a nod with Vee and Dawn. We join the stream of students pouring out across the crosswalk towards the parking lot.
What do you want to do about this? I ask internally.
Maddie sighs in headspace. I think we ought to make try to make contact, talk to whatever other parts of our system there are. The ones I’m sensing feel younger than us and also afraid of us, so it’s on us to set the tone for how we relate to them.
I feel my eyebrows rise as I keep pace with Dawn and Vee. Damn, you’ve been reading up on system stuff huh?
I’d given Maddie about an hour earlier in between classes to do whatever they wanted on our laptop, since I’d fronted most of the day.
Eyup, they confirm, and doing a lot of thinking about it in general.
Gotcha, I say, well I’ll look to you for guidance on that, then.
Maddie nods, and the both of us turn our attention back to the outside world. The three of us walk abreast of each other, with me in the middle, Dawn on my right and Vee on my left. We end up chatting about our classes of the day as we go.
Vee had a philosophy course on Friederich Nietzsche as her last class, and she’d had a surprise quiz today that rattled her understanding of the titular man. Apparently he’d been quite the chronically ill misogynistic bastard in life.
Dawn’s final class is her main statistics course, and she spends some time griping about the homework she’s got to complete for it this weekend. Our little group makes good time as we walk down Michigan avenue, and soon enough we’re winding our way through a dense parking lot.
Dawn’s silver honda civic awaits us in the corner spot. As soon as we reach it I open the passenger door, pull the seat forward all the way, then step back and motion Vee inside. She sidles past me and crawls into the back seat of the car while Dawn gets in the driver’s seat. Once Vee’s inside and situated I slide the passenger seat back into place and get inside myself, closing the door behind me.
“Everybody nice and cozy?” Dawn asks with a little smile as she buckles in.
“Oh super comfy cozy back here,” Vee says teasingly.
I smile. “I’m all set,” I say as I finish buckling my own seatbelt.
“Excellent,” Dawn says. She starts the engine.
“For your listening enjoyment on this ride, I present the band I just found this morning: We Are the Union,” Dawn continues, “This one’s called ‘Boys Will Be Girls’ and as you might guess it’s trans as fuck.”
“Heck yeah!” Vee says.
“Sweet,” I add.
Dawn hits play on her phone and a jaunty guitar twangs out through the speakers. I settle into my seat as my girlfriend backs out of her spot and begins the drive.
Dawn keeps the music down low, and it’s only a few minutes before Vee takes advantage of the relative quiet to say: “Can I ask you girls something?”
“Of course,” Dawn says with a smile into the rearview mirror. “What’s up?”
“How did you pick your names?” Vee asks.
Ooo and the questions begin, Maddie thinks.
I twist around to look back at her with a smile. “I picked Ellie, short for Eliza, because I already really liked it. I like the way they both sound, I love several video game characters with the names, and it just kinda feels like they fit me.”
I get all the way to drawing in a breath to continue and explain Maddie’s name when I realize that’s classified information still. Vee has a thoughtful look on her face, but she’s still staring right at me and I’m not doing a good job of hiding how off balance I am. She gives me a raised eyebrow as I turn back around in my seat.
Thankfully, Dawn chooses that moment to speak up.
“I chose Dawn because it’s related to Sky’s name,” my girlfriend says as she navigates a busy city intersection, “plus I liked the way it sounds, and the imagery it conjures up for me.”
Vee nods again. “They’re both extremely pretty names,” she says with a smile.
“Are you having thoughts about your own name?” I ask gently.
She blushes. “Ah, yes I guess I am. I really kinda um, like the name Violet. Not Violet like the flower, V-i-e-l-e-t, a mishmash of the verb ‘vie’ and the flower ‘violet’. Vielet. Maybe with ‘Alura’ as a middle name? I really like the way it sounds and the way it feels on me, but I’m afraid of what other people will think,” she says nervously.
“That’s fucking awesome, Vielet,” Dawn says as she comes to a stop at yet another intersection, “I think you should choose whatever name makes you happiest. Fuck what other people think.”
“Yeah I’m with Dawn,” I add eagerly, “Vielet Alura’s a badass name and you should absolutely go for it if you want to!”
A glance back in the backseat shows our newly hatched friend looking distinctly pleased. “Thank you both so much! I think I will take that name!” Vielet Alura says.
I smile widely at her. “Fuck yeah!” I exclaim.
“I’m so happy for you Vielet!” Dawn says excitedly.
The light ahead turns green and we surge forwards with the rest of the traffic.
“Thanks girls,” Vielet says shyly. “You can call me Vie for short, if you want.”
We spend the rest of the drive chatting about names, school, and music. I find myself really enjoying Vielet’s company, and looking forward to spending the next few hours talking with her. She’s super interested in all the trans musicians Dawn and I have been finding too, and we listen to some Against Me!, she/her/hers, and Pandemix as we cruise down the highway.
We make it to our suburb in good time, the conversation helping to pass the time quickly, and soon enough Dawn’s pulling into her parents’ driveway.
Dawn and I ease ourselves out of the car, and I reach back in to pull the seat forward so Vie can escape.
We enter the Anderson house with Dawn in the lead. Vie’s been here at least a few times before if I remember right, and she wordlessly follows our lead in taking off her shoes and backpack once inside the front hall. I move to stand by Dawn after I finish taking off my coat and help her hang it up.
There’s movement from the room to our left, and I turn to see Jay moseying into the living room.
“Hey kids,” Jay says as he waves at us, “how’s it going?”
“Hey dad,” Dawn calls pleasantly from where she’s hanging up Vie’s coat in the closet, “it’s going.”
“Well we can’t complain about that,” Jay muses.
Vielet walks up to stand beside me across the hall from Jay. Dawn’s dad turns his attention to Vie. “Welcome to our humble home,” he says, “I know you’ve been here before, but perhaps introductions are in order once again?”
Vielet laughs lightly. “Yes I suppose they are. You can call me Vielet, Mr. Jay. V-i-e-l-e-t, Vielet Alura.”
Jay’s face breaks out into a warm smile. “It’s wonderful to officially meet you, Vielet Alura,” he says with a slight bow. Then he turns to include Dawn and I, “Dinner will be ready in a couple minutes, Aiden and I are making mostaccioli and meatballs.”
“Sounds delicious!” Vie exclaims.
“Ooo I’m excited for that. Garlic bread too?” I ask enthusiastically.
“You know it,” Jay replies with a twinkle in his eye.
He turns around and makes his way back to the kitchen. Dawn and I follow him while Vielet uses the first floor restroom.
We all gather round the table and start discussing our respective days. Aiden’s at the stove hard at work on dinner. Jay takes a seat at the head of the table while Dawn and I stand behind our usual chairs. It’s not long before the sounds of footsteps pounding down the stairs announce Sky’s arrival to the conversation. They appear at the bottom of the stairs with an excited smile on their face.
“Hey Dawn, Ellie, Maddie, what’s up?” they ask as they enter the kitchen.
“Hi Sky, not much,” I reply with a smile.
Ooo! Tell them I say hi! Maddie thinks at me.
“Maddie says ‘hi’ as well,” I say quietly.
“Who’s Maddie?” Vielet asks quizzically as she walks into the room from the front hall.
Oh shit, Maddie and I think as one.
Sky’s eye grow wide as saucers, mirroring my own, and they sputter out, “Oh-ah, ha, no one, hey Der-”
“Sky!” Dawn exclaims with a pained smile, stepping in between them and Vie, “sorry to interrupt but let me introduce you. This is our friend Vielet Alura, she’s gonna hang out here today for a while.”
Sky’s panicked expression morphs into one of surprised glee. “Another one of you nerds is trans? Fan-fucking-tastic! It’s really good to see slash meet you Vielet!”
Vielet smiles warmly. “Thanks Sky,” she says, “it’s really good to see slash meet you too.”
Sky bounces on the balls of their feet, elated to have yet another trans friend. Dawn moves back to her chair and takes a seat. I follow suit, sitting down in my own chair while Vielet takes the seat at the east head of the table.
“We’re always happy to be a port in the storm for young trans folk,” Jay says. “Aiden and I both know how rough it is when you first come out, we went through it with me just after we started dating, then again with Sky in twenty ten.”
“You’re trans?” Vielet asks with surprise.
Jay smiles widely. “That’s correct ma’am, as trans as they come,” he says.
Vielet stares at him for a moment in stunned silence. “That’s awesome,” she says reverently.
“Jay is a role model for us all,” Aiden says with a smile as he seasons the pasta.
Jay scoffs, and gets up to help as the oven timer goes off.
Soon enough there’s food aplenty for everyone. Dawn and I set the table, Sky and Vie get drinks for all, and Jay and Aiden serve up a hearty meal. There’s piping hot garlic bread, cheesy mostaccioli and big juicy meatballs. We all dig in with gusto.
“Damn this is delicious,” Dawn says appreciatively, after a few minutes of quiet.
Vielet, Sky and I give our enthusiastic agreement.
“Aw thanks kids,” Aiden says, “it’s a new recipe.”
There’s another round of appreciative comments from everyone present, and conversation continues around the Anderdads’ wonderful cooking for the next few minutes.
Then Jay asks us about our D&D campaign, and Vielet, Dawn and I don’t shut up about it for the rest of the meal. We go into detail about our final fight with the skeleton vampire lich lord and our eventual triumph.
Everyone pitches in to help with cleaning up after dinner, and soon enough Dawn’s leading Vielet and I upstairs to the gaming den that we’ve been sleeping in for nearly a week.
We stand the air mattress up against the wall to free up the space between the couch and the TV. We end up deciding to play a fun little indie game called Crawl, where one person plays the monsters of the dungeon and the others fight to level up and survive. So we hook up Dawn’s PC tower to the TV and Dawn gets out controllers for herself, Vie and I.
The three of us sit on the couch enjoying each other’s company while trying to slit each other’s digital throats on screen. It’s a very entertaining distraction for both Maddie and myself, helping us put aside the stresses of the day and focus on one of the most important things in the world to us: our friends.
KristenOfTheCoven
Hello readers, welcome to 2023!
Thank you for sticking with us through this wonderful wild ride, your comments and support mean the world to us!
Sincerely,
The Coven System
___________________ ღღ ___________________
Ellie
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[ - Thursday, September 12, 2019 - 4:55pm - ITI CS Building - ]
Thursday classes go by in a blur of algorithms and operating systems. Vee and I sit together in between classes again, doing homework and talking quietly in one of the computer science building’s lounges. I learned she hadn’t gotten much sleep last night due to being awake with all the classic newly hatched girl questions, like how is breast cup size measured, is this thing from my past a sign that I’m trans, what’s a midi skirt, can I use the women’s restroom, etc.. So once our last class of the day is over I end up keeping watch over her stuff while she snoozes in the lounge beside me.
The both of us are waiting for Dawn to get out of her last class so she can drive us to her house. I’m still not sure what exactly we’re going to do once we’re there, but I’m confident we’ll figure it out as we go.
Maddie is currently off doing who knows what in their lighthouse headspace, so I’m relatively alone with my thoughts at the moment. Of course, said thoughts are mostly focused on the Operating Systems homework I’m doing on the laptop in my lap, but in the background I’m also dwelling on the question of our allies.
Sky joining the team makes it four other human beings who know the truth about Maddie, Anialah, and I. Four people who can help us figure this shit out and hopefully learn to live with the many earth-shattering revelations that Maddie and I have had to deal with in the past nine or so days.
I check the time on my laptop again, and decide it’s close enough to five to wake Vee up. The two of us are sitting side by side on a padded bench against a wall with our backpacks stowed at our feet. Vee’s head is tilted back a bit and there’s a very slight snoring noise coming from her. Gently, I nudge her shoulder with my own, and she comes alive nearly choking on her own saliva.
“Ach, what time is it?” she asks, coughing.
“Time for us to get going if we’re gonna meet Dawn on time,” I say with an apologetic smile.
She checks her watch and groans. “Alright, well I did this to myself I guess. Let’s get going.”
“I’m sure there’ll be plenty of time to nap once we get to Dawn’s place,” I assure her.
She makes a sour face as she repacks her backpack. “I don’t want to sleep, I want to hang out with you and Dawn and learn all your treasured girly secrets.”
I grin at her as I pack my own bag. “I promise we’re not hiding any girly secrets from you, we’ll be sharing what we know and learning alongside you,” I say firmly.
She takes a deep breath, running her fingers through her short black hair, then looks at me with a serious expression. “Thanks Ellie,” she says, “I really appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome Vee,” I reply with a smile.
The both of us finish zipping up our backpacks and stand up, donning our coats and bags.
Once we’re all suited up, we head for the exit and make our way out into the brisk autumn air. It’s a short walk to the intersection where Dawn agreed to meet up, and Vee and I trudge through the gusting winds companionably.
We make it to the meeting spot on time, and sure enough I spot Dawn exiting the mathematics building at the end of a stream of other students. Dawn smiles when she sees me waving, and she makes her way towards us across the street. I glance around to see if there are any other familiar faces in the streams of people, but spot no one. Most folks are talking amongst themselves or looking at their phones.
Dawn makes it over to us, and I exchange a big hug with her as soon as she’s in arms’ reach. She looks left and right quickly, before ducking down slightly and whispering, “Is it okay if I kiss you?”
I feel my face go beet red. “Yes,” I whisper back breathlessly.
Dawn grins, never taking her eyes off my own as she leans forward those last few centimeters and gives me a quick, tender kiss on the lips.
“Fuck your lips are soft,” I whisper as we pull apart.
She grins. “How are you cuties doing?” she asks.
I feel myself smiling as I look a little up at her and respond, “Peachy keen, how about you?”
“Happy to be done with that bullshit,” she says, gesturing at the building she’d just come from.
I smile and nod at her, then turn to find Vee looking at us with a big smile on her face. “You two are adorable together,” she says.
Dawn’s face blushes brightly, and I feel my own heating back up as well.
“Thanks!” I say, feeling distinctly pleased at the compliment.
“Y-yeah, thanks,” Dawn adds, scratching the back of her head through her curly caramel hair.
The three of us stand off a bit behind the sidewalk in the grass, and Vee takes a step closer to Dawn and I.
“Forgive me for asking, but how the hell do you find the confidence to just... be yourselves?” she asks, her dark brown eyes darting from mine to Dawn’s and back.
I smile at her. “You don’t have to apologize for asking, Vee,” I say. “I’m still mostly closeted, remember? I’m not really being myself yet, neither of us are.”
“Yeah but you two just kissed! How the hell do you have the courage to do that out in the open?” she says quietly.
I feel my blush grow brighter, and some uncomfortable feelings swell up inside of me at the thought of what other people might think if they’d seen Dawn and I kissing in the bodies we have now. But I squash those feelings hard. This is my one and only life, and gods dammit I’m gonna live it.
“It helps quell the internal transphobia and homophobia if you imagine no one’s watching,” Dawn says sheepishly. She looks at me with a serious expression. “I love you, but I’m definitely not perfect.”
I shake my head. “Of course you’re not, and neither am I. This is all still new and exciting enough that I don’t care about what other people think yet, I guess?” I direct the last part to Vee.
She nods, looking distressed. “That’s fair. I hadn’t really thought about the uh, internalized homophobia and stuff, but I guess that is what’s going on, isn’t it? This is only a big deal to me because of my parents and my church and stuff.”
In the back of my mind I feel Maddie appear inside the viewing tree and saunter up towards the eyes screen. They listen quietly to the conversation at hand.
Dawn smiles at Vee. “Don’t get down on yourself hun, we all gotta deal with our internal biases one way or another.”
I nod. “Yeah and it’s gonna take some time to deprogram, so don’t beat yourself up too much about it yet, okay?”
Vee nods her head slowly. “Thank you, both of you,” she says.
We all take a moment to stand together quietly.
How are things here? Maddie asks from their seat in a comfy red armchair.
Pretty good, I reply happily, how was the lighthouse?
They shift in the chair a little uncomfortably. It was... interesting, they respond.
Oh yeah? I ask, intrigued by their demeanor.
Yeah. Um, do you ever get the feeling that you and I aren’t the only ones in our head? they ask. And I’m not talking about Anne’s system.
I blink in the physical world, staring off into space. Uh, now that you mention it, yeah, I say, whenever I’m concentrating on my library tower headspace, I feel like I’m being watched even when you’re not around.
The storm in my lighthouse world has a mind of its own, I’m certain of it, Maddie says.
Then in the physical world the light of the intersection ahead of us changes, and I share a glance and a nod with Vee and Dawn. We join the stream of students pouring out across the crosswalk towards the parking lot.
What do you want to do about this? I ask internally.
Maddie sighs in headspace. I think we ought to make try to make contact, talk to whatever other parts of our system there are. The ones I’m sensing feel younger than us and also afraid of us, so it’s on us to set the tone for how we relate to them.
I feel my eyebrows rise as I keep pace with Dawn and Vee. Damn, you’ve been reading up on system stuff huh?
I’d given Maddie about an hour earlier in between classes to do whatever they wanted on our laptop, since I’d fronted most of the day.
Eyup, they confirm, and doing a lot of thinking about it in general.
Gotcha, I say, well I’ll look to you for guidance on that, then.
Maddie nods, and the both of us turn our attention back to the outside world. The three of us walk abreast of each other, with me in the middle, Dawn on my right and Vee on my left. We end up chatting about our classes of the day as we go.
Vee had a philosophy course on Friederich Nietzsche as her last class, and she’d had a surprise quiz today that rattled her understanding of the titular man. Apparently he’d been quite the chronically ill misogynistic bastard in life.
Dawn’s final class is her main statistics course, and she spends some time griping about the homework she’s got to complete for it this weekend. Our little group makes good time as we walk down Michigan avenue, and soon enough we’re winding our way through a dense parking lot.
Dawn’s silver honda civic awaits us in the corner spot. As soon as we reach it I open the passenger door, pull the seat forward all the way, then step back and motion Vee inside. She sidles past me and crawls into the back seat of the car while Dawn gets in the driver’s seat. Once Vee’s inside and situated I slide the passenger seat back into place and get inside myself, closing the door behind me.
“Everybody nice and cozy?” Dawn asks with a little smile as she buckles in.
“Oh super comfy cozy back here,” Vee says teasingly.
I smile. “I’m all set,” I say as I finish buckling my own seatbelt.
“Excellent,” Dawn says. She starts the engine.
“For your listening enjoyment on this ride, I present the band I just found this morning: We Are the Union,” Dawn continues, “This one’s called ‘Boys Will Be Girls’ and as you might guess it’s trans as fuck.”
“Heck yeah!” Vee says.
“Sweet,” I add.
Dawn hits play on her phone and a jaunty guitar twangs out through the speakers. I settle into my seat as my girlfriend backs out of her spot and begins the drive.
Dawn keeps the music down low, and it’s only a few minutes before Vee takes advantage of the relative quiet to say: “Can I ask you girls something?”
“Of course,” Dawn says with a smile into the rearview mirror. “What’s up?”
“How did you pick your names?” Vee asks.
Ooo and the questions begin, Maddie thinks.
I twist around to look back at her with a smile. “I picked Ellie, short for Eliza, because I already really liked it. I like the way they both sound, I love several video game characters with the names, and it just kinda feels like they fit me.”
I get all the way to drawing in a breath to continue and explain Maddie’s name when I realize that’s classified information still. Vee has a thoughtful look on her face, but she’s still staring right at me and I’m not doing a good job of hiding how off balance I am. She gives me a raised eyebrow as I turn back around in my seat.
Thankfully, Dawn chooses that moment to speak up.
“I chose Dawn because it’s related to Sky’s name,” my girlfriend says as she navigates a busy city intersection, “plus I liked the way it sounds, and the imagery it conjures up for me.”
Vee nods again. “They’re both extremely pretty names,” she says with a smile.
“Are you having thoughts about your own name?” I ask gently.
She blushes. “Ah, yes I guess I am. I really kinda um, like the name Violet. Not Violet like the flower, V-i-e-l-e-t, a mishmash of the verb ‘vie’ and the flower ‘violet’. Vielet. Maybe with ‘Alura’ as a middle name? I really like the way it sounds and the way it feels on me, but I’m afraid of what other people will think,” she says nervously.
“That’s fucking awesome, Vielet,” Dawn says as she comes to a stop at yet another intersection, “I think you should choose whatever name makes you happiest. Fuck what other people think.”
“Yeah I’m with Dawn,” I add eagerly, “Vielet Alura’s a badass name and you should absolutely go for it if you want to!”
A glance back in the backseat shows our newly hatched friend looking distinctly pleased. “Thank you both so much! I think I will take that name!” Vielet Alura says.
I smile widely at her. “Fuck yeah!” I exclaim.
“I’m so happy for you Vielet!” Dawn says excitedly.
The light ahead turns green and we surge forwards with the rest of the traffic.
“Thanks girls,” Vielet says shyly. “You can call me Vie for short, if you want.”
We spend the rest of the drive chatting about names, school, and music. I find myself really enjoying Vielet’s company, and looking forward to spending the next few hours talking with her. She’s super interested in all the trans musicians Dawn and I have been finding too, and we listen to some Against Me!, she/her/hers, and Pandemix as we cruise down the highway.
We make it to our suburb in good time, the conversation helping to pass the time quickly, and soon enough Dawn’s pulling into her parents’ driveway.
Dawn and I ease ourselves out of the car, and I reach back in to pull the seat forward so Vie can escape.
We enter the Anderson house with Dawn in the lead. Vie’s been here at least a few times before if I remember right, and she wordlessly follows our lead in taking off her shoes and backpack once inside the front hall. I move to stand by Dawn after I finish taking off my coat and help her hang it up.
There’s movement from the room to our left, and I turn to see Jay moseying into the living room.
“Hey kids,” Jay says as he waves at us, “how’s it going?”
“Hey dad,” Dawn calls pleasantly from where she’s hanging up Vie’s coat in the closet, “it’s going.”
“Well we can’t complain about that,” Jay muses.
Vielet walks up to stand beside me across the hall from Jay. Dawn’s dad turns his attention to Vie. “Welcome to our humble home,” he says, “I know you’ve been here before, but perhaps introductions are in order once again?”
Vielet laughs lightly. “Yes I suppose they are. You can call me Vielet, Mr. Jay. V-i-e-l-e-t, Vielet Alura.”
Jay’s face breaks out into a warm smile. “It’s wonderful to officially meet you, Vielet Alura,” he says with a slight bow. Then he turns to include Dawn and I, “Dinner will be ready in a couple minutes, Aiden and I are making mostaccioli and meatballs.”
“Sounds delicious!” Vie exclaims.
“Ooo I’m excited for that. Garlic bread too?” I ask enthusiastically.
“You know it,” Jay replies with a twinkle in his eye.
He turns around and makes his way back to the kitchen. Dawn and I follow him while Vielet uses the first floor restroom.
We all gather round the table and start discussing our respective days. Aiden’s at the stove hard at work on dinner. Jay takes a seat at the head of the table while Dawn and I stand behind our usual chairs. It’s not long before the sounds of footsteps pounding down the stairs announce Sky’s arrival to the conversation. They appear at the bottom of the stairs with an excited smile on their face.
“Hey Dawn, Ellie, Maddie, what’s up?” they ask as they enter the kitchen.
“Hi Sky, not much,” I reply with a smile.
Ooo! Tell them I say hi! Maddie thinks at me.
“Maddie says ‘hi’ as well,” I say quietly.
“Who’s Maddie?” Vielet asks quizzically as she walks into the room from the front hall.
Oh shit, Maddie and I think as one.
Sky’s eye grow wide as saucers, mirroring my own, and they sputter out, “Oh-ah, ha, no one, hey Der-”
“Sky!” Dawn exclaims with a pained smile, stepping in between them and Vie, “sorry to interrupt but let me introduce you. This is our friend Vielet Alura, she’s gonna hang out here today for a while.”
Sky’s panicked expression morphs into one of surprised glee. “Another one of you nerds is trans? Fan-fucking-tastic! It’s really good to see slash meet you Vielet!”
Vielet smiles warmly. “Thanks Sky,” she says, “it’s really good to see slash meet you too.”
Sky bounces on the balls of their feet, elated to have yet another trans friend. Dawn moves back to her chair and takes a seat. I follow suit, sitting down in my own chair while Vielet takes the seat at the east head of the table.
“We’re always happy to be a port in the storm for young trans folk,” Jay says. “Aiden and I both know how rough it is when you first come out, we went through it with me just after we started dating, then again with Sky in twenty ten.”
“You’re trans?” Vielet asks with surprise.
Jay smiles widely. “That’s correct ma’am, as trans as they come,” he says.
Vielet stares at him for a moment in stunned silence. “That’s awesome,” she says reverently.
“Jay is a role model for us all,” Aiden says with a smile as he seasons the pasta.
Jay scoffs, and gets up to help as the oven timer goes off.
Soon enough there’s food aplenty for everyone. Dawn and I set the table, Sky and Vie get drinks for all, and Jay and Aiden serve up a hearty meal. There’s piping hot garlic bread, cheesy mostaccioli and big juicy meatballs. We all dig in with gusto.
“Damn this is delicious,” Dawn says appreciatively, after a few minutes of quiet.
Vielet, Sky and I give our enthusiastic agreement.
“Aw thanks kids,” Aiden says, “it’s a new recipe.”
There’s another round of appreciative comments from everyone present, and conversation continues around the Anderdads’ wonderful cooking for the next few minutes.
Then Jay asks us about our D&D campaign, and Vielet, Dawn and I don’t shut up about it for the rest of the meal. We go into detail about our final fight with the skeleton vampire lich lord and our eventual triumph.
Everyone pitches in to help with cleaning up after dinner, and soon enough Dawn’s leading Vielet and I upstairs to the gaming den that we’ve been sleeping in for nearly a week.
We stand the air mattress up against the wall to free up the space between the couch and the TV. We end up deciding to play a fun little indie game called Crawl, where one person plays the monsters of the dungeon and the others fight to level up and survive. So we hook up Dawn’s PC tower to the TV and Dawn gets out controllers for herself, Vie and I.
The three of us sit on the couch enjoying each other’s company while trying to slit each other’s digital throats on screen. It’s a very entertaining distraction for both Maddie and myself, helping us put aside the stresses of the day and focus on one of the most important things in the world to us: our friends.
KristenOfTheCoven
Hello readers, welcome to 2023!
Thank you for sticking with us through this wonderful wild ride, your comments and support mean the world to us!
Sincerely,
The Coven System
