Someone from the past

As we step into the hallway and I lock the door behind us, I hear a familiar voice coming from our left say "Oh, you two must have just moved in, wel..." she trails off as I turn to look, only to finish with "Matt?"

"Ellie?"

Ellie Markoff was a good friend of mine back in high school, but we lost touch in college. To say I was surprised to see her now was an understatement, and it looked like the feeling was mutual. After a few seconds of shock she bolted forward and wrapped me in a hug, "Oh my god, it's been way too long! How have you been? How did things go at college? Computer tech, right? Who's this with you?" I laugh as I wrap my arms around her as well. Seems like Ellie hasn't changed much since high school.

Though she has grown up more. I pull back to get a better look at her. Her hair's still a dark blond, but it's not mousy anymore, and it looks like it reaches halfway down her back! Her brown eyes are glinting with enjoyment at our reunion, and while it looks like she hasn't grown much up top, her hips seems to have filled out a fair amount, giving her a pear shape. Though with her, it definitely works.

"Ok, ok, one at a time. I've been good, and college went well. 3.0 GPA. Yes, computer tech, and before you ask I have a lead on a job where I will be helping people solve computer problems by remote access," I then point at Madison, "As for this, her name is Madison, we met at Anicon a few years ago and became good friends, and now we're roommates here," as I point to the door, "We just finished moving in earlier today."

Ellie looks at the door, then back at me and makes another excited noise. "We're neighbors! I live just two apartments down!" She then pulls me back into another big hug, then pulls back and looks over at Maddie. "And as for you, Madison, any friend of Matt's is a friend of mine, welcome to the building," and pulls her into another hug, though not quite as tight as the one she gave me. After a second, she stepped back and looked at the two of us, asking "So what are you two up to?"

I look at Maddie, a slight smirk playing at my lips, before I explain "We were just going out to get some drinks to celebrate our moving in while we binge watch some Slayers. You want to join us?" Maddie gets a grin on her face as she realizes what I have in mind, her mostly yellow hair getting tinges of orange and pink on the edges

Ellie gets a thoughtful look for a second, before responding "Actually, would it be ok if I brought my roommate as well? She just got some really bad news a couple days ago, and has been really down because of it. This might be exactly what she needs to start feeling better."

I look over at Maddie, and she shrugs, so I say "Sure. Tell you what, you go get your roommate and the two of you do whatever to get ready. Maddie, would you be willing to go get the drinks, while I get the place cleaned up a little bit for company?" Maddie agrees wholeheartedly, so I unlock the door again and head inside while Maddie and Ellie go to do their own things.

I move some things around, find our glasses, and make sure there is room on the coffee table, as well as seating, for us all. Then I decide to have some fun.

I pull my phone out and pull up Maddie's profile. If my estimates are right, she should be at the store now, so I'm gonna mess with her a little. First, I make certain that Others Awareness is set to Off, then I push the 'Flash Breasts' button and hold for a few seconds, before letting go. I wait a few seconds, then hit it again for another few seconds, and let go again, before getting back to organizing.

Only a couple minutes later I get a text from Maddie
You are so mean! You made me flash the cashier!

I chuckle as I respond_ _with U mad? Her response is to send a picture of her glaring at the phone with the text Fuming! :P under it, but her hair is bright yellow with more than a little bit of pink around the ends, and her hairpin looks like it is laughing. I chuckle again, then get back to the cleaning.

I get the place good enough right about when Maddie gets back, so the two of us head down to Ellie's place and knock on the door. A few seconds later Ellie opens the door, having apparently changed into more comfortable clothes, and she calls back behind her "Come on, Tess, we talked about this."

From one side comes a young woman with short red hair, blue eyes, standing even shorter than Maddie, barely over 5', her face dotted with light freckles. She is clearly trying, and failing, to hide how upset she is at whatever news she got, but Maddie and I just smile and say hello, and lead them both over to our place.

Everyone gets themselves something to drink, and settles in around the coffee table. We all try to be cheery and playful, I even use Maddie's flash button a couple of times, but nothing seemed able to lift Tess's mood. After a little while I just looked over at her and said "Hey, Tess? Do you want to talk about it? I know we just met, but Ellie can vouch for me being able to keep secrets, and whatever it is, it might help to get it out in the open."

She looked at me with a look filled with anguish, before clearly lying by saying "It's nothing, really, I'm ok."

Ellie, whose drinks had been just a bit stronger than ours, just looked at her and called her out, saying "That's bullshit and you know it, Tess. You have been wanting that surgery for years you told me, and now it's not gonna happen." A couple seconds pass before she puts her hand over her mouth, and says "Oh shit," and Tess starts to tear up before getting up and hurrying down to our bathroom.

Maddie and I look at each other, and Ellie sighs and explains. "Tess is trans. She figured it out back when she was 15, and has been working on the transition for the last few years. She was supposed to be getting her gender reassignment surgery later this month, then two days ago she got a letter in the mail saying they aren't going to be able to do it. I told her to fight it, but she's just so torn up she's barely left her room," she then gets up and hurries down to the bathroom, calling after Tess.

I look at Maddie and tell her "Go, try to help her. I have some questions to ask," to which Maddie, her hair back to its original black, nods and hurries off after them. I pull out my phone and go into Custom Girls, then hit the question mark button

Hey, Kurumu, you available? I have a couple questions
Well that was fast, but sure! Shoot!

I think about how to ask this, before I put in Would it be possible to use the app on someone who isn't technically a woman? A few seconds later she responds with Why, do you bat for both teams, stud? ;P I start to reply with an explaination, before she chimes in again I'm just kidding, I can sense Tess. Yes, you can use the app on her, and in answer to what I suspect your next question is, yes the app can give her the body she wants, but doing it would require more gems than you can actually hold right now. So I suggest setting that as a goal for later and just having fun for now! ;) I think about that, before asking Just how many gems would it cost? Her reply takes a few minutes, before she sends I can't be completely sure, as the price could go up or down depending on a bunch of different things, but right now it would be about 300. I sit back and think about that. I could have lots of sexy, fun times, and give this person what she wants. I thank Kurumu, then head back to the bathroom myself.

Ellie and Maddie have just managed to coax Tess out of the room, and it is clear she's been crying. I look at her and simply ask the three of them to come back out to the living room with me, because I have something I want to tell, and show them. Ellie and Tess look at me confusedly, but Maddie seems to know what I have in mind and just nods. As I lead them out to the living room, I think through the best way to do this