The Story of Us

Mary and Talia walked out to get a ride from Hilde and found Freya on the carriage as well. The two appeared to be arguing.

“I already told you! I don’t care what I’m being **** to say, it isn't true.” Freya yelled.

“And I’m telling you that you need to stop lying to yourself! Fine, this isn’t going to be productive. Also, Mary is here.” Hilde said, calming down a bit.

“Umm, if we’re interrupting, we can always walk.”

“Oh, no, we can’t, I’m not walking that distance. Not in this outfit, you picked out heeled shoes, which don’t make sense for a cheerleader, but whatever. So no, we are not walking.”

“It’s fine, Mary. Hilde and I need a break from talking anyway.” Freya said while regaining her composure.

“So, where am I taking you, bosslady?”

“We’re headed to the Dragon’s Lair. I don’t know if it is faster for you to take us straight there or take us to town and take a portal, but whichever works.”

“Town for sure, the mountain looks close, but it’s big, and if I’m taking you to the cave mouth, it will take a while to get up the slope. Alright, climb aboard. I’ll have you in town in a few minutes.”

They got on the carriage and rode into town. On the way, Mary asked, “So, not to poke a sleeping bear, but what were you two fighting about? I’m specifically asking you, Hilde.”

“My sister being an obsessive little stuck-up bitch sometimes, that is wallowing in regret so she can’t actually be bothered to live her own life.” Hilde replied rather harshly.

“I. AM. HAPPY. WITH MY LIFE!” Freya shouted back at her.

“Freya… Do you really want me to ask if that is true, in front of Mary?” Hilde asked under her breath so the other two couldn’t hear.

“No. You already know I don’t.” Freya deflated.

“Then, quit yelling at me.” Hilde was sneering. “I’m not trying to be mean, but this has been a long time coming; this isn’t just because of last night, either. Maja, Slevia, and I have been trying to figure out how to talk to you about this. It just blew up last night. So I’m sorry if things are going poorly, but I think we should go have a talk with the others.”

“Fine, I don’t think it will help, but fine.”

“Look, I feel like I should tell the two of you,” Talia began, “That while you’re talking softly enough for Mary not to be able to hear you over the noise of the carriage. I can lip-read very well, now. So I picked up most of your conversation. I won’t disclose it, but something to keep in mind if you want actual privacy.”

“Thank you, Talia. We both appreciate that.” Hilde said, “We need to work this out amongst ourselves and not get you all involved. Well, here we are, the edge of town. Have fun on your date, you two.” Mary and Talia got off the carriage, which Hilde then started to drive around the outside of the town toward the area where the shopping district was. Mary glanced at Talia inquisitively. “No, I’m not telling you what they said to each other, that is for them to discuss and work out; you getting involved won’t help matters.”

“Oh, sorry, not that, just, you can lip-read now?”

“Yeah, look, you said you made me smarter than all other women. I’m not sure you get how smart that actually is. I have five PhDs and more than fifty patents now, at age eighteen. Patents that made me and everyone in my family a billionaire. Being that smart, you can get bored, and you look to find things to challenge you, skills to pick up. One of those was lip-reading. Honestly, it was more by accident than intention, but I spent a couple of days learning some specific things to help with it, and then practiced for like two weeks. Now it’s second nature. Anyway, let's get a move on.” Talia held Mary’s hand again and started towards the portals to go to the Dragon’s Lair.

Talia and Mary walked into the lobby of the auditorium and saw Smug atop a pile of treasure, appearing to sort it. Smug turned towards them and darted like a jungle cat in front of them.

“Why do I know your smells?” The lithe dragon responded in a feminine voice. “I do not recognize either of you, and I was made aware of all the contestants and the Master’s appearance, to make sure I didn’t do anything to them.”

“I’m Mary, and this is Talia. We’ve both undergone some changes. I was Mark, but… took a dip in the hot springs in the woods near the palace, not knowing I would become a woman.”

“Well, you do smell like part of the group that came through here a few days ago, and I was told to expect a pair to use the theater today. Very well, you may pass, just don’t disturb my treasure.”

“Thank you, Smug.” Mary quickly took Talia by the hand, not wanting to wait around.

“Okay, yep, the dragon is still terrifying.” Talia confirmed once they were in the auditorium proper. At which they heard a feminine chuckle from the lobby.

“And she has excellent hearing, too.” Smug’s voice sounded like she was talking to them normally and took Talia’s words as a compliment.

“Okay, so let’s pretend that the very nice dragon is not here and is definitely not thinking about eating us, and watch what we can here to watch.” Mary said and got a nod of agreement from Talia.

The theater’s seating had changed, with the seats being those comfy recliners you get in newer movie theaters, even having the option to be heated. But instead of two seats, there was just one large sofa seat, with just enough room for two people to sit on it, but only while touching.

“It’s clear what Cassandra wants.” Talia smirked. “It’s fine with your size being so small, we can fit comfortably on it anyway.” And the couch’s width shrank by a few inches.

“Always assume that Cassandra and the audience are watching Talia. Always. Maybe not when you use the toilet or something. Definitely, whenever I’m around, though, that is going to be the most scrutinized.”

“Whatever, I don’t mind a bit of cuddling, just don’t get handsy or I’ll have to smack them.”

So they settled in, shoulder to shoulder. “Okay, looks like there is another tablet to control everything.” Mary picked it up off an end table next to their seats. “I’m a little surprised that Cassandra is using technology like this with the fairytale theme, it sort of clashes, but I guess it’s a familiarity and ease of use thing. Okay, let’s see. Oh well, snacks and drinks first.” A large popcorn, soda, and a pile of candy appeared on each end table, so they had their pick. “Oh, sorry, I forgot to ask if you would like butter and salt on your popcorn. I just assumed you would.”

“I do in fact want butter and salt.”

“Now let’s see how we start this thing. Really Cassandra? Really?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Look at what she named the thing.” Mary passed over the tablet.

Part of His World!

“Merida was right, we are all doomed. Doomed to horrible jokes. You’ve infected Cassandra and Allie already. Who’s next?”

“Har Har. I would have definitely come up with a better title.”

“Oh yeah, like what?”

“I haven’t actually seen it yet. You can’t expect me to come up with something clever without actually knowing the content of the film.” Mary complained. “But still, I can come up with a few, right now, that would be better than that, just having a general idea of what the film is about. Let’s see: ‘When Mark/Mary met Talia’, ‘Boy meets Girl’, ‘50 first dates’, or however many clips there actually are of us getting together, ‘The Secret life of Mark/Mary and Talia’, ‘What I Like About You’, ‘The Story of Us’, I could go on.”

“Okay, I retract my statement. Some of those were pretty good, but they were also just essentially existing movie titles.”

“Yeah, and ‘Part of His World!’ is just a song reference. Honestly, ‘Just Kiss The Girl’ would have been better than that.”

“You’re right, you’re right, but let’s not rag on the nice lady who put this together for us, okay?”

“Fine, Okay. I’ll start it.” So they settled in to watch the film, grabbing a snack and getting comfortable leaning on one another. The movie opened with a deep smooth smooth-voiced narrator. “Did she kidnap Morgan Freeman for this!?”

Talia shushed her.

The Narrator, whom Mary was convinced was Morgan Freeman, began to speak as it showed clips of Mark as a child, “As a young boy, Mark grew up in a catholic family, went to catholic schools. Had a pair of siblings and loving, doting parents. Now, by the end of high school, sometimes this boy would be madly in love with his childhood friend, but this story isn’t about those times. But it is important to know the beginnings, to learn of the journey of how he reached happily ever after.”

They watched as scenes unfolded, showcasing Mark’s early life, with Mary pointing out what she thought was a notable difference.

“Okay, so it seems like this one, I wasn’t really bullied in grade school. Oh yeah, I could see how that changed the high school I decided to go to. I wanted to get away from those guys. That makes sense. Yeah, that would change the college I went to since I only applied because my best friend from high school told me about it.”

“Hey, wait a second, that’s where I went to undergrad,” Talia exclaimed. “Oh, I’m one of the RAs giving your Freshman orientation. So I guess we met then. Oh yeah, I can already tell you are into me. Wow, okay, I can’t believe I actually asked you out, you big chicken, guess I got tired of waiting after eight months.”

“Yeah, I already noticed the biggest difference about me. I’m still going to church every week. Of my own volition. I went like twice after going to college, but I was already having issues with the church by then. Looks like after we start dating, I actually go with you to church.”

The story played out; they continued to date for four more years, when Mark finally proposed to Talia. They did have an extended engagement as Talia wanted to finish her PhD first, but shortly after, they were married.

“Huh, I mean, I can tell we have kids together, but I think Cassandra is intentionally framing things so we don’t see a version of our future kids.” Talia said.

“Well, I’m glad for that. I wouldn’t want to see that. I feel like it would mess with my expectations for parenting when we reach that point. Seems like it is changing to a different timeline.”

“Yeah, guess Cassandra wanted to show the timeline where you were most different, first. I didn’t see that one, but it was in line with the footage I saw where you didn’t lose your faith. Oh, OH NO.” The narrator began showing similar footage for Talia’s early life as the movie had with Mark’s, but this time, unlike with Mark’s, Talia’s early life had some really significant changes in it. OH MY, my parents were never this conservative, how did this result in us being together?”

“I have an idea, but I’ll wait and see first.”

“Oh god, she’s showing you this. I had regretted this even before you changed my past. Now I’m ashamed of this bit. Wait… What?” The screen showed Talia in her senior year of high school with a friend over at her house, and then that girl kissed Talia. Talia was surprised but didn’t freak out, but did start to push her friend away. It was her father who reacted particularly poorly, having seen the kiss. He started yelling at Talia’s friend, telling her to get out of his house, threatening to call the cops for ‘assaulting’ his daughter. Then he started to grab the girl's arm to drag her out of the house. It was what happened next that Talia was confused about. She slapped her father across the face hard. ‘DON’T YOU TALK TO MY FRIEND LIKE THAT! I MIGHT NOT LIKE GIRLS, BUT SHE IS MY FRIEND, AND YOU WILL TREAT HER WITH RESPECT! ASUKA WE ARE LEAVING!” She grabbed her friend’s hand and stormed out of the house together.

“I kind of figured it would be something like this, or a rebellious phase, because you felt too restricted.” Mary commented. “I’m guessing your father still saw this but didn’t react so poorly, right?”

“Yeah… He still yelled at her and told her to get out of his house, and scolded me for hanging out with such a ‘degenerate’ as he put it. I… I just sat there and let her leave. I never ended up making up with her. I was too afraid to try.”

It continued to show the fallout; her parents kicked her out of the house, and she went to live with her friend for the last semester of high school. Then it showed her attending the same undergrad and meeting Mark in grad school, like how they actually met, but this Talia was far more accepting, still having faith, but didn’t strictly adhere to all the dogma.

“Oh, yeah, that would do it. Your strong faith is why I didn’t pursue you. I didn’t think it would work; mine was gone after losing my dad and seeing the effects that people following strict dogma had on people I called friends. I had seen a chance for us, I could tell you were struggling with some of the same things I did about your faith, but I didn’t want to deal with that, shortly after my father died, so I didn’t bother to try.”

They continued to watch, seeing different versions of themselves and the pivotal moments that changed them. Until a few hours had passed, and the narrator spoke again. “And so they lived happily ever after, but that’s not the question here. The question is ‘Will You?’” And Credits began to roll, listing the various people in the show like Mark as Mark #15372345, Definitely Not Morgan Freeman as The Narrator, and then Cassandra, Slevia, ASTRID, Smug (M), Smug (F), and Astrid in various production roles.

“Well, that sure was interesting,” Mary said. “I think there were more differences in me that made us work than you originally thought in those. It didn’t just require you to change.”

“Yeah…” Talia was focused on something else at the moment, though, staring at the screen. She wanted not to miss anything; she activated her Perception of Time to allow her to read everything without rushing. What is Cassandra playing at here?

“Talia? What’s wrong?” Mary looked back at the screen as the credits rolled. Mary was about to ask again when Talia placed a hand over her mouth and didn’t remove it until she was certain Mary wouldn’t speak. Not taking her eyes off the credits. When they finished, Talia leaned back in thought. “Talia? Care to share?”

“Sorry, I noticed something in the credits. Why is it ASTRID, with capital letters, sometimes, and Astrid, like a normal name, others? And the thing with Smug as well. Like those were choices.”

I think I know why, but I don’t know if I should voice those thoughts. Mary wasn’t sure what to say. “I mean… could just be Cassandra being… I don’t know, very weird. Or messing with us.”

Talia gave Mary such a look of incredulity that Mary backed away a bit, afraid she was about to be scolded. As Talia glared at her in thought. There is no way she expected me to believe that. She can be thick sometimes, but she isn’t actually an idiot. Does she want me to drop it? Why? Also, some of their job titles were really weird. Talia sat went a little glassy eye as she thought, no longer actually staring at Mary but at the empty space in front of her. After a few minutes of Talia staring into space, Mary got Talia’s attention again.

“Talia? Talia?” Mary snapped her fingers in front of Talia’s face. “Okay, what’s up? Tell me.”

“No.”

“No?” Mary’s questioning tone was clear.

“That’s right. No. I’m not telling you. I can decide if you get to know my thoughts or not. So. No.”

“Can you tell me why you won’t tell me?”

“Because you can be incredibly thick sometimes.”

“Fine… So did anything stand out to you for me to use the other words on?”

“I mean, there are plenty of things that would make it easier for us. But nothing I would actually want to suggest.”

“Can you give me an example?”

“Well, you could make it so I love you, or that we are married, or I’m more submissive, or open to suggestions from you. But I wouldn’t really want any of those. I want to try to actually have a real relationship with you, to fall in love naturally. Well, as naturally as possible, not just make it so I’m with you. And I’ve accepted, as I think most of us have, that you aren’t going to marry anyone before Allie. Which is totally fair, and I wouldn’t take that from her.”

“You would have a problem if I made you more submissive? Because I had considered that.”

“Look, Mary, please check with me before making the changes. If you wanted me to be sexually submissive, that is one thing, but I don’t generally want to be submissive, no. Let me guess, you didn’t even think about the difference between those two, did you?”

Mary glanced to the side, not meeting Talia’s eyes. “No… No, I did not.”

“Right, which is why I want you to check with me what it is you actually want to change, and I can help with the wording to get it right. As I said, with the change in my sexuality, I have thought of plenty of ways you could have just made it so I like men and women, or even make me pansexual without the 'extremely' modifier. Because I’m pretty sure that anything that passes the Harkness test and is at least mildly attractive for its species is now my type. Like…” Talia gestured toward the lobby with her head.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah.” She nodded.

“Okay, well, I promise that I will make sure to check with you beforehand so I don’t screw it up.”

“Mary, don’t worry, it isn’t actually a problem. So what? I’m attracted to more types of individuals. I’m still not planning on being with them. I am still very hesitant to do anything with the other women in your harem. The idea of monogamy being the normal state for a relationship is still here.” She said, pointing at her head. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying never but that part didn’t change. I’ll think about it. I’ve never had to really consider the situation I’m in, so maybe that will change.”

“Would you like it to? Change? Because I could do that.”

“Hmmm, I’m not sure. I’ll think about it. It would certainly make things easier, but I’m not sure, to be honest. Also, don’t go making me your big titty goth girlfriend. I’m not opposed to becoming that, but let’s be real here, there is no way something like that doesn’t come up for a vote, and I’m already going to end up goth, eventually. Can’t help that. So don’t waste it on something like that, and if you really want me to have bigger tits, just buy them with BP, overtime from the BP store, there is a permanent cup size increase for 1000 BP, though it does increase in cost by 500 BP each time you buy it for one of us. Alternatively, just upgrade Ellen’s Boon; I bet she’ll be able to use it on the rest of us somehow. Then you can have us at whatever breast size you want, at a given time. Use the words for something useful. I am actually really impressed with the age reduction, intelligence boost, and wealth choices you made. Even if it might have been possible to do slightly better, I don’t think there is a practical difference that could have been achieved, maybe make me twenty-one instead of eighteen, so the age gap isn’t so stark, and I could drink, not that I’m complaining about extra years of life. And maybe you could have made it so I was the smartest woman in the multiverse, if that is even possible with this, which I doubt, or smartest person in the world instead of the smartest woman. And does it really matter if we have twenty billion dollars or two hundred billion? I don’t think so. Not to mention, I can definitely make more, trivially easy. So use it on something we can’t get otherwise.”

“Okay, that does make finding options fairly difficult, you understand, right?”

“Yeah, I know. I am smarter than you, remember. Since you are a woman, I have to be right? Though I’m pretty sure I was smarter than you even before the change, the difference just wasn’t so stark. Now that was a lot longer than I thought it would be; we went well past lunch time, approaching dinner. So let’s head back to the suite and get some food, unless there is something in particular you want to do.”

“Hmmm, well, clothes shopping is out as neither of us can currently put anything else on. I can’t really think of anything. Honestly, I really like the sound of us going to the suite and having a nice, quiet evening for once.”

“Please don’t tempt fate like that.” So they started to make their way back to the suite, hoping nothing would happen on the way.