I cock an eye and wave at the mess coating me. “A Bean Nighe? Really?”
Tess shrugs.
“Your clothes are clean,” Jenny snickers.
“My clothes are self-cleaning, I am not.”
“Oh Lenora,” croons Jenny, “I think Lizzy wants you to wash her.”
My mouth freezes. Okay… not what I was thinking, but now I do like the idea. I nibble my lower lip and cast a hopeful gaze at Lenora.
“You should wear this,” Lenora says, dangling a bellybutton stud with a heart-shaped lemon citrine and a tiny loop for stringing more gems. I pinch it like she’s handing me a vial of pee, then trigger Examine:
?Shroudspawn Drop Acquired!?
Item: Citrine Loop Stud of the Illuminated Gambler
(Uncommon Trinket — Navel Slot)
Base Effect (Passive):
- Emits a soft golden glow, equal to a small torch. Light radius scales with wearer’s personal energy reserves. ? Grants +1 Luck while equipped, subtly improving loot quality and drop rates.
Energy Interaction:
- Both effects draw on the wearer’s biochemistry, regulated by nanobot tuning.
- Greater reserves amplify brightness and prosperity; depleted reserves reduce both.
- If reserves fall below minimum threshold, backlash occurs:
– Light collapses, leaving the wearer blind and disoriented for several seconds.
– Fortune buff inverts to Misfortune, increasing failure rates, broken gear, and worthless drops.
- This item allows you to borrow Luck Tokens from the House. All debts accrue interest.
Maddox’s Disclaimer of Fiscal Probability
Beware: fortune taken on credit remains a debt, and all debts are subject to collection — including, but not limited to, the seizure of assets, privileges, or appendages deemed necessary to ensure repayment.
“A Shroudspawn’s shadow fell, and in its place bloomed a shard of sunlight. Fortune favors those who can bear the burn.”
I stare at my bellybutton. No piercings—not even in my ears. Dad drilled into me that piercings snag bowstrings, so they were off-limits. Earlier, the Inanna AI lowered my corset neckline, and now it makes sense—it wants my navel on display to show off the new jewel. My gaze drifts lower, and I gulp. Frack, I’m just glad Inanna didn’t aim six inches south…
“It’s useful and pretty,” urges Lenora.
“Can I put it in my ear?”
Tess shakes her head.
Frankie smirks. “Could’ve landed further south,” she deadpans, then waggles her eyebrows like a vaudeville comic.
Jenny bursts into sparkles, roaring with laughter far too loudly for the joke. The corners of my mouth twitch. “Thank goodness for small mercies,” I sigh, then shudder. What if Inanna is listening? Who am I kidding? She’s always peeping over our shoulders.
I turn the stud over, studying the short bar and threaded nut. The longer I stare, the thicker it seems to get. “How do I put it in?”
“Just shove it through your skin,” Frankie suggests.
My head shakes all on its own. “There’s got to be a better way. Something professional. Sterile.”
I glance hopefully to Lenora, our doctor—but my hope shatters as she holds up a planet-sized shard of steel between her fingers.
Cotton fills my mouth. The world tilts and spins.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“There she goes,” Frankie chimes.
“ Goddess help us if we face off against a porcupine,” snickers Jenny.
All I can think as the world fades is: thank goodness Tess has super speed.
****
I wake with a sore belly and a bright yellow jewel glowing in my navel. It dangles, centered in the shallow recess of my belly button, and the flesh around it glows with absorbed light. I concentrate on the narrow steel bar passing through me. The new holes ache, but the bar… I can feel it—not pain, but as if something leaks out of me into the metal. With a few minutes of practice, I figure out how to pinch off the dribble of energy, and the gem dims and goes dark. Unfortunately, holding back the power feels like pinching shut during diarrhea. Shite. I’ve got a freaking lighthouse in my middle. Forget hiding.
Something else has changed. We’ve moved. The ceiling twinkles in the dim light; a stream gurgles to my right. Soft grass fills my alcove and spreads as far as I can see, and the air is fresh. The clean and polished pieces of my Corset of Compelled Charisma are draped over the low rock outcrops to either side, and my skin is clean… all of it. Every inch of my 5’4” frame glows faint pink, skin scoured a micron short of bloody.
I should blush; everything I’ve been taught screams you should be mortified. Instead, a marble of pride warms me. My friends took me somewhere safe, cleansed me, and installed the pretty stud—all without being asked. Only my deceased dad cared that much for me. I lean back, admiring their work, not just my clean skin, but the defined muscles and washboard abs—thank you, Frankie. The panic and relief in their faces after miles of running, and beyond, the gift of understanding myself within and without. Blessings heaped on blessings, asking nothing in return, and what have I done in repayment? Only what they asked. I’m the child, taking more from my new family than I contribute. It’s time for me to grow up, to give more than I take, but what can I do? An idea sparks to life.
Standing, I find my friends reclined around a low fire as dinner simmers in a pot. I place a hand on my hip and strut up to Frankie and Lenora. “I’m supposed to teach both of you how to be women. May I touch you?”
Frankie shrugs.
Lenora nods.
Jenny and Tess share a knowing giggle.
Four hours later—after stretches, stumbles, and more moaning than a wrestling match—the two former men sleep blissfully in my arms, cuddled on either side.
Tess and Jenny offer silent golf claps. Jenny winks. Tess mouths “well done.” Comfortable satisfaction burns inside me, a sun at my core, warming more than my body. The gem in my middle pulses in rhythm with the peace in my soul. Half the night gone, my friends smiling, I’m exhausted from hours of service. My eyes flutter closed.
?System Update?
Intimacy +1
Family Relations +1
Dexterity +1
“Huh,” I muse.
Tess settles beside Lenora and disappears into the folds of our shared tartan blanket. I don’t know where Jenny found the enormous tartan thing—ten yards of Highland wool—or how she manages to tuck it away each morning. Right now, I’m just grateful to be in the middle, wrapped in warmth, safe from the squeeze of the fold on one side or the chill draft on the other.
For a moment, it feels safe. Too safe.
Tess’s hand finds mine and our fingers lace across Lenora’s chest.
“Looking at your stats before bed?”
“Just the changes.”
“You’re doing great.”
“Am I? The Sidhe's Seraphim—”
“Will be fine. We’re living at near machine speed—”
“How can you know? It feels like weeks, maybe months have passed. We’re playing in a VR fantasy while our ship disintegrates. Why? How will fighting that Shroudspawn help us?”
Tess squeezes my fingers, her thumb stroking my knuckles while I continue my whispering rant.
“Shooting magic arrows won’t get us past ship security. How will thousands of sit-ups, miles of jogging, and hours of parkour save lives? Why spend an hour every night for three weeks learning the tango, then another week square dancing? Yes, it’s fun, but… what’s the point? Why are we wasting time?”
Tess’s fingers pause for several beats. Then, softly: “Did you ever watch The Karate Kid?”
“Yes?”
“Wax-on, wax-off.”
I huff. “I got a +1 to my dexterity. Whoopee. My fake body is faster, my imaginary fingers more accurate, and whatever else that stat means.”
Tess tilts her head. “Where does the reformation chamber get the data to build your body?”
I roll and lay my head on Lenora’s chest, meeting Tess’s eyes. “I don’t know. I thought I’d wake up in my real body, not some biological robot.”
“That is your real body.”
“But… no… I laid down in the pod on Earth, and woke up in VR…”
Tess squeezes my hand while I process.
“What happened to my body?”
“Lenora might know, but does it matter? A person is more than meat and bones stuffed into a skin suit. Everything that is you—your mind, soul, genetics, spirit, and whatever else makes you you—still exists inside your Soul Core.”
A chill runs down my spine. “Shite… Okay, but that still doesn’t answer my question. Why does all this matter? Who cares if I can tango, vault walls, give a sensual massage, or get my physical stats buffed to godly levels? I’m not teaching a real body.”
Tess smiles.
“Am I?”
“Lizzy, how long did it take you to learn to walk when we woke on the ship?”
“I… I didn’t have to learn.”
“And the running leap to save Frankie’s core? Did you learn that on Earth?”
“No…”
“Did Jenny still have her teenage curves?”
“The ship was falling apart—”
“I won’t tell her you didn’t notice, but she looked exactly like she did when she laid down in the VR.”
“How?”
“Your nanobots start with a perfect version of your genetic code, but there’s a zillion paths they can take from that blueprint. What you earn in the VR is what you get in the real.”
Our eyes lock for several long moments. A laundry list of questions floods my mind. “Everything?”
“You don’t get to keep your outfit.”
“I was thinking of my muscles.”
“You do have nice abs.”
“Thanks. Are you telling me the body the reformation pod builds for me when we go to fix the ship will be this one?”
“Yes.”
“My gift?”
“Yes and no.”
I quirk an eye.
“Jenny’s abilities are full of flash and sparkle here—”
“She loves glitter.”
“But in the real world, her ability to influence emotions and dissolve certain materials works. The flashy stuff goes away.”
“What about my Arcbolt?”
Tess shrugs. “We’ll find out on our next trip to the real. What I do know is this: your skill and control here affect what you can do in the real.”
Lenora’s hand traces up my back, strokes my shoulder, then tucks my head to her chest. “Can I show you my newest trick?”
“You have healing hands,” I whisper into her warmth.
“Jenny taught me this one.” He kisses my forehead. “Sleep.”
I relax, and with a smile my eyes flutter closed.
My dreams fill with monsters, numbers, stats, and endless grinding. And then—hands shaking me…