Chapter 30: Taken to Task

Tess woke up with a yawn, rubbing her eyes as she sat up. Through the light filtering in from her window she could tell it was early evening, meaning she had been out for a good couple of hours.

Tess nodded. “Yeah, I’ve only really got one, but Ellie said she wanted to talk, and I don’t know what she wanted to ask.”

Tess got off of the bed, leaving her room and knocking on Ellie’s door.

“Who is it?” Ellie called out.

“It’s me,” Tess said. “Fortune says she has time to answer your questions now, if you want.”

The door opened and Ellie came out. “Finally.” She said, “I’ve been itching to get at this. Where are we doing this?”

Tess motioned to her room, leading Ellie inside and shutting the door behind them.

Before we begin, I figured I should let the two of you know that we’re officially retiring the Challenge Crystal that gives Monster Breeder. It’s served its purpose, so we’re replacing it with one that’ll actually give stuff to people. As a consequence, we’re also retiring Monster Breeder, meaning Tess is going to be the only one to ever exist. That was a Class designed very early on in things, and um…we kinda forgot about it when designing other stuff. People are not meant to get some of the stuff it can potentially give you access to.

Not to mention the weird interactions with Descents and some other similar abilities like possession. It’s a mess we don’t want more than one of running around.

Anyway, go ahead and ask your questions, I’ll do my best to answer.

Tess relayed the information to Ellie, paused briefly, then proceeded. “Um…do I…get periods? I haven’t yet and I’m beginning to wonder.

“Right, uhhh…”

Ellie gave Tess an expectant look, and Tess sighed before repeating everything back to her. “That’s all I wanted to ask. What about you, Ellie?”

Ellie straightened. “Right. Basically, I need some answers to things that have been bugging me for a bit. Fortune, you mentioned that, while you approve of our relationship and were actively seeking for us to get together, it wasn’t the main reason you pushed this onto Tess. Then, you mentioned that it was basically a requirement for your Appointed to try for this, meaning when you gave that Blessing to Tess you knew you were, for all intents and purposes, turning her into a girl with it.”

She took a deep breath before continuing. “And, while I want to talk about that a bit, the real thing that’s on my mind is why the Class turns the user into a girl in the first place. You mentioned  it being a part of the design process, so why? Surely there would be other ways to eject cores. And when I was wondering about this earlier you told me you couldn’t tell me everything yet, but I think we’re past that point now. So, what’s going on?”

There was a long pause before another window popped up in front of Tess with a strange reluctance to it that Tess couldn’t quite place.

That was…entirely my fault. This isn’t really an excuse, because what I did was wrong and this doesn’t change that, but I was young at the time. I knew I wanted my future Appointed to have this Class, but I wasn’t comfortable with the possibility of the Appointed being a man knowing that I would have to Descend into a man’s body and that’s just not something I wanted. I was selfish and figured it wouldn’t be that big a deal to change someone’s sex, and it would like…double my options compared to just looking at women to be my Appointed.

So, I campaigned for that particular change under the guise of it being easiest and got it into the Class. I’m over that hang-up now, but we couldn’t exactly change the Class without spending a bunch of Worship, so I had to live with that mistake. I’m sorry, really, really sorry.

Tess let that sink in for a minute. She…didn’t know how to feel about that, not really. On the one hand, it really hadn’t been a big deal in the end, but it still felt…not cool, knowing that Fortune purposefully led her down this path. But, on the other, Fortune seemed remorseful enough, and Tess knew there, at least, wasn’t any malice in the decision.

“Well?” Ellie asked, “did she respond?”

Tess absentmindedly read off the message while she thought of how to respond, but, before she could, Ellie spoke up again.

“So, why Tess? Why not pick some other person with low stats? You say it’s because you’re close to us, but why were you even watching us? Didn’t you have better things to be doing?”

Well…Evan was going through a lot of turmoil around when his kids died, and he had just adopted you two. I honestly didn’t have too much else to be doing and was bored, so I gave him a watch because it was different from everything else I had ever really paid attention to. That’s actually kind of the norm for Appointed, the people around them just tend to get more attention from the gods.

But, in my watching, I…well, I got attached to you two. And then Fate caught me peeking and encouraged me to keep doing so, so I…did. And after that we got…here, I guess.

And no, I honestly really didn’t have much better to be doing. My influence among mortals was pretty limited because I hadn’t really given any sufficiently strong Blessings or otherwise invested enough in a person to be in a place to give mortals orders, and most of the other things I have to do boil down to making sure automated systems are working properly. Leaves me with a lot of free time, you know?

Ellie waited for Tess to read the latest message to her, then continued her questioning. “Alright, fine, but still, why do this to Tess if you knew how much stress it would cause? Why pick her when you could pick a woman or, even better, a trans woman?”

When Tess got those stats, I knew she would be hurting. And no one else was going to use Worship on someone with such low stats, regardless of how close they are to Evan. It was the only thing I could really do to help.

The two of you fit the ideal qualities I want in an Appointed, so I had resolved to make one of you my Appointed if you met my stat requirements. Tess happened to meet those requirements, so I…went with it. Honestly, I wasn’t even in the market for an Appointed or anything, it just…happened.

I thought it’d be fine since I was confident that she’d be happier in the end, but…I was being selfish. I’m sorry, really, really sorry.

And while I can’t really argue with the bit about choosing a woman, being trans actually doesn’t factor into this. There’s widely available magic to change someone’s sex, so trans people can generally rectify things whenever they want.

No, it won’t work on you, Tess, sorry. You’ll need to get rid of Monster Breeder and all the associated Skills and I’m not sure that’s even possible. The removal items are usually made by the god of Magic, and the problem is that, unfortunately, Monster Breeder is made by Amy, and none of anything made with our Worship can mess with things made of her Worship.

I could ask her about removal, though, if you’d like. No promises she’ll do anything, but I’ll do my best to help.

Tess sighed. “Look, I’m going to level with you. It really wasn’t cool to push me to Monster Breeder without giving me all the information first, especially about what it would do to me. If we’re going to be cooperating like this, you can’t keep things from me like this. If it’s something like this that involves me, I deserve to know about it, and I want you to tell me.”

Tess nodded. “Good. Now, are you keeping anything else like this from me?”

“In that case, I forgive you. Just…remember our promise and don’t do stuff like this again. And…as for asking Amy…don’t for now. As things stand, I’m content with my lot in life, so…maybe in the future I might take you up on that, but for now it’s fine.”

She was right; Ellie was shifting from foot to foot, looking anxiously at Tess in clear curiosity.

“Oh. Right, sorry.” Tess said, “Let me get you caught up.”

After a quick explanation, Ellie sighed. “Well, I suppose I can’t be too mad if she’s fine with things. That’s all I had to ask, though…” She gave Tess a hesitant look. “but, you’re…content? Are you sure? You seemed pretty…well, stressed about it before.”

“I got used to it while I was out. At least out in the Outlands, no one really treats me differently, well, no, that’s a lie, guys tend to stare, but I can’t really blame them, I’d probably stare too. I mean, I think going to school and talking to people who I used to interact with as a guy before will probably be harder, but we’ll see.”

A sly smile crept across Tess’s face as she got an idea. “Plus, it allows me to be with you.”

Ellie froze, expression rapidly flickering between emotions but steadily growing more red. Finally, she was able to splutter out some words, “I…you…that’s not fair, ambushing me like that.”

Tess debated going for the kill and giving Ellie a quick kiss on the cheek but decided against it. As much as she wanted to see Ellie even more flustered, that was a little too forward and embarrassing for Tess. Instead, she just kept smirking. “You liked it, though, didn’t you?”

“Duh,” Ellie responded immediately, “it was just surprising. I leave you for one month and you come back all flirty. Not that it’s a bad thing or anything, just surprising.”

“Ah. Fortune said she has to get back to work, so it’s just the two of us now. Um, if you…don’t mind my asking, how did you know Fortune was so…involved with my changes? You said she talked to you about it before? When?”

“I was really stressing about how happy I was that you were a girl now, and how it was like…years of my fantasizing coming true, and I realized that she had made some comments that suggested to me she was pretty…involved with your change. And she sent me some messages saying yes, she was, but it was more complicated than that and she couldn’t tell me more yet.”

“I…see. We talked about this before, but are you still feeling bad?”

Ellie paused. “A bit. Not nearly as much, but even if you tell me it’s fine it still feels a little scummy, you know?”

Tess grabbed Ellie’s hand, giving it a little squeeze. “Something Alice and Auntie taught me is that it’s okay to be selfish sometimes. You’re not hurting anyone right now, so just let it be. You’re fine.”

“But…”

“But nothing.” Tess said firmly. “You don’t need to worry about this. It’s fine.”

Ellie sighed. “You’re right, you’re right.” She sat down on Tess’s bed, and, to Tess’s surprise, pulled Tess onto her lap, smiling slightly. “Might as well start now, eh?”

“I…uh…yeah, that’s fine.”

Ellie hugged Tess tightly. “You smell really good.” She said. “I know it sounds kind of creepy, but it’s true.”

Tess leaned back into Ellie, letting herself relax. “That’s Target of Affection for you.”

“Well, can’t say I don’t appreciate it. Anyway, while we’re talking about serious stuff, what are you going to do about Ilmir? It sounds like you’re stuck with her for the next month, which really doesn’t sound pleasant.”

Tess grimaced. “Apparently there’s some trauma in her past that we need to clear the air about. I’m not sure if that’s going to help, but Auntie and some of her and Gramps’s party members gave me advice on dealing with her. They said I have to be firm and never give ground on anything, at least while I’m in charge of her. It sounds counterproductive to me, but they’ve assured me that, in this specific situation where she has no power over me, it’ll make her respect me more.”

Ellie gave Tess a reassuring squeeze. “Well, if worst comes to worst we can just ditch her early. Aunt Eyfura is here to teach you how to use your claws, but surely you’re getting the gist of things and won’t necessarily need her anymore if things get bad, right?”

“I…guess. I’d kind of feel bad, Auntie really seems to be enjoying this, but…”

“It’s okay to be selfish sometimes.” Ellie said smugly. “It’s not worth keeping people like Ilmir in your life. Not when she’s so nasty for no good reason.”

Tess smiled, embarrassed. “Well, I guess you got me there.”

“I’m sure Aunt Eyfura will understand.” Ellie soothed. “She hasn’t seemed the happiest with Ilmir either.”

“I guess. She seems to be thinking it’s mostly her fault, though, so she wants me to be a little more lenient with Ilmir for her sake. We’ll see how things turn out tomorrow, I guess.”

“Well, until then would you like to just relax with me?”

Tess smiled, turning around and leaning up so she could give Ellie a kiss. “I’d love to.”

Fighterman481

Other than that...I don't have too much to say, really. So, um, next time we'll be confronting Ilmir, so look forward to that I guess.

And, as always, thanks for reading!