Really Strange Stuff

=::= Serenity's PoV =::=

"This is so cool," I smiled as I looked at the card in my hand. My ears were perked up and my tail stood up behind me as I said, "I wish we thought to ask her sooner, instead of waiting so long."

Callie's tail was swishing around behind her as she agreed, "Tell me about it! I guess that's the advantage of knowing a real live goddess though, right?"

The three of us were sitting around the kitchen table in our sleepwear, drinking coffee and talking about the minor miracles we received overnight.

First thing this morning when I woke up I found another text from Kid Chaos, saying that all our ID and other documents had been updated overnight. I told Callie, then both of us dug out all our cards and paperwork and everything. And sure enough, it was all changed to reflect our new names. Anything that had a photo on it matched how we looked now. And anything with a gender marker showed we were both girls.

Now my best friend had her drivers license and birth certificate in one hand, mug of coffee in the other. My coffee was on the table in front of me, next to my passport and license. As I looked at my updated ID again another thought crossed my mind.

"I wonder if getting our passports magically updated means we can get back into Canada again?" I commented. "Or do you suppose Kid Chaos would have updated the border patrol records so they know about our new names and everything?"

Callie shrugged, "I guess we can ask? Either way we could always ask her to fix that for us as well, right? If she can wave a hand and change all our ID, I'm sure she can make some court records disappear."

"I just wish she warned us it'd happen last night," she added, while her ears folded back and her tail twitched. "If we'd known, we could have set up cameras and caught the magic as it happened!"

Bailey had been mostly quiet so far, just sipping her coffee and watching the two of us go on about our ID, but she finally had something to say after hearing that.

"Not a great idea Callie," she pointed out. "I mean it might have been neat to see it happen, but you're not going to be broadcasting close-ups of your drivers licence all over the internet. Same goes for all your other cards and documents."

"Oh right," my best friend grimaced. "Good point."

I rolled my eyes, then looked over at the cute redhead and teased, "We'll definitely make sure to have the cameras rolling the first time you use that fox of yours."

That was the third surprise this morning. While me and Callie were busy looking over all our updated ID, Bailey discovered a little fox plushie on the bed-side table next to her phone. It had orange-red fur, with black fur at the paws and the tips of the ears and white fur at the end of its poofy tail. And it came with a short handwritten note from Kid Chaos, which I assumed contained the activation word along with the same sorts of warnings Callie and I got with our plushies.

"Oh yeah!" Callie grinned, while her tail started swishing around and her ears perked up again. "We totally have to get that on camera!"

"Not going to happen," Bailey stated firmly. "I told you two last night I'm not going to use one of those plushies. I don't even know why she sent it, she knows I'm not trans."

Callie was grinning as she teased, "It's ok Bailey, you can tell us. You know me and Serenity are both cool with trans people. I promise, this is a safe place where you can be yourself."

The redhead gave her girlfriend a pointed look and asked, "Barely a month and a half since you turned yourself into a girl, and now you're already angling for a boyfriend huh? Is that what you're saying, Callie? Our lesbian relationship isn't doing it for you, so you're looking for a foxboy boyfriend instead?"

From the way my cohost's eyes widened and the rest of her expression sort of froze, I could tell she really hadn't thought that through at all. It took her a second to recover, and by the time she started talking there was a definite blush on her face.

"Not as such?" she grimaced. "I'm pretty sure I'm not attracted to guys? Although I admit there's been a couple times in bed I've been curious what that'd be like with a guy, but..."

She cut herself off as she seemed to realize what she was saying, and her cheeks got even brighter. Then she hurried to correct herself, "I mean, I guess what I was trying to say is I'd be just as patient and accepting with whatever sort of transformation you got as you've been for me? Like whatever sort of self-expression or presentation makes you happy is fine by me."

I managed to keep a straight face while my friend dug herself into a deeper hole. Meanwhile Bailey rolled her eyes and shook her head, then had another sip of her coffee.

"That's great Callie," she responded in a flat tone as she set her mug back down. "Like I said though, I'm not trans. I'm not going to use the plushie, I'm not turning myself into a foxboy."

I reminded her, "Kid Chaos doesn't discriminate against cis people. Most of the plushies go to trans folks because she talks them up on trans discords, but we already know she's given plushies to cis people before. So like I've been saying all along, if you use it you'll turn into a foxgirl."

She gave me a look, but before she could respond I flashed her a grin and added, "As far as I'm concerned, the only real question is how floofy your tail's going to be."

"I'm not - !" she started to protest. Then she let out an exasperated sigh, "Oh whatever. I'm not arguing with you two. I'm glad you both got your ID sorted out, now let's just finish our breakfast ok? We've all got plenty of work waiting for us as soon as we're done here."

My ears drooped and my tail tucked down under my chair as I apologized, "Sorry Bailey."

"Yeah sorry Bails," Callie apologized as well. "We got a little carried away I guess. I'll try not to tease you about that anymore. Just, if you do decide to use the plushie, promise we can get it on camera? Maybe even another livestream?"

The cute redhead sighed, "Fine. It's not much of a promise since I'm not going to use it, but in the unlikely event that I ever do use the thing then yes you can record it."

"Thank you love," my cohost grinned as her ears and tail all stood up tall again

And with that out of the way we really did let the subject drop. The three of us finished breakfast, then we all went and got dressed. And both Callie and I put our new ID and other documents away, before all three of us headed down to our home studio together.

We all had another busy day ahead of us. Between the first episode dropping in just a couple days, the second episode due in a month, and putting together outlines for the third and subsequent episodes, all of us had a ton of work on our plates.

Bailey was editing promo pieces and plotting out filming schedules and potential location shoots based on the rough script outlines Callie and I already provided her. My cohost and I were continuing to work on future script ideas, and following research leads. She was digging deeper into all the data we got from Kid Chaos, looking for more episode ideas. And I was trying to coordinate additional publicity for Saturday night's big drop.

That involved a bunch of messages and emails and even a few phone calls, to try and get other paranormal vloggers and podcasters involved in the hype. Which turned out to be a bit of an eye-opener in a way.

Normally we all kind of stuck together, we tended to know the other people doing the same thing as us and there was a certain camaraderie. Even if you weren't friends with another individual, there was usually some level of respect since we all faced the same sort of challenges and we usually all had the same passions. Otherwise why bother putting so much time and energy into that work.

Unfortunately I found out the hard way that some of the people I thought were cool were actually transmisic or queermisic jerks. Or maybe they were just jealous that Really Strange Stuff scored a few big breaks this year. And on the flip-side, some of the folks I never really vibed with before actually seemed ok. They were happy for me and Callie, and excited to see our latest scoop.

It was just getting into early afternoon when my phone started ringing yet again. There was no caller id this time, and normally I'd just let those go straight to voicemail. Not today though, considering I was trying to get the word out to as many people as possible.

So I went ahead and answered it, "Hey, Serenity here."

"Hello mija," my mom replied.

Hearing her voice and those two simple words almost broke me on the spot. My heart nearly stopped, while my blood turned to ice water and my stomach lurched. My tail puffed out as it tucked itself under my seat, while my ears folded back and my eyes widened. And my mind filled up with question after question.

Mom and I hadn't spoken on the phone in ages, why did she call right now? Why wasn't she surprised when an unfamiliar woman answered with an unfamiliar name? And why did she call me /that/? Did she know I was trans? Was she mocking me? Was it meant to be sarcastic, or some sort of joke? Except she was still talking, and if anything her voice sounded compassionate rather than cruel.

"I know it's been some time since we last talked," she said, "But with Thanksgiving coming up I've been thinking a lot about you, and I didn't want to wait until your next email. I know you and your friends are busy, but if you have time for your mother I'd love to hear all about it. Do you have some time to talk?"

"Mom?" I gulped as a dozen questions all raced each other to get to my mouth. "How... Why... What..."

She waited patiently while I stumbled through the various conflicting thoughts in my head. I finally asked, "Mom how come you're not freaking out? How do you even know it's me? You can't possibly recognize my voice."

She sounded like she was smiling as she replied, "Well I'd like to say a mother knows these things, and that I'd recognize my baby no matter what? But in this case, I saw what happened on your October show. And I saw what you said a week later on the follow-up stream."

I'd spent years researching magic and the paranormal. In just the past seven or eight months I'd interviewed demi-humans, met a werewolf, been threatened by a man in black, transformed into a catgirl, and met both a goddess and a demon. But the thing that finally had me questioning my grip on reality was hearing my mother say she actually watched our show.

"Honestly Serenity," mom continued as her tone shifted from amused to maybe a little disappointed, "I've been waiting for you to call me, or at least I thought you'd say something in your emails? But no, you even used your old name when you last wrote your papi and me."

It took me another couple seconds to find my voice again. Then I probably sounded a little stunned as I asked, "You watch our show? Since when? I thought you said you weren't interested in all that crazy mumbo-jumbo?"

"I'm not," she replied in a matter-of-fact tone. Then she admitted, "Or at least, not at first. Your show has been doing a good job to change my mind though."

Then she stated, "I'm interested in you Serenity! You're my child, of course I want to see your work! Your papi and I watched all your shows, since the very beginning."

That sent another little shock through me and I gulped, "Dad watches the show too? Did he see the October live-stream? Does he know...?"

"Of course he watches!" she replied. "And yes mija, he knows."

I took a deep breath then asked nervously, "Is he... Are you both ok with me? I mean, you heard what I said, about being trans. And you know what I look like now..."

My voice trailed off as I cringed in my seat and hugged my puffed up tail against my chest. Meanwhile mom seemed to hesitate, which only made me fear the worst.

After a second my mother replied in a compassionate tone, "It was a surprise at first. That week between the two shows left us with a lot of questions. We were so worried about you! But then you said you were happy, that this was something you wanted. And that set our minds at ease."

"Your papi and I are still a little surprised," she added. "And we still worry about you. I know you're all grown up, but you'll always be my baby."

Mom sounded a little sad as she sighed, "Now I know you're my baby girl, and I'm glad you're happy Serenity. But I'm also sad, for all the suffering you went through before. And for all the things we never got the chance to do together as mother and daughter, while you were growing up."

"Mom I..." my voice trailed off again as I had to wipe my eyes. I really wasn't prepared for my mother to be so supportive and validating. I blinked a few times then smiled, "Thanks mom. I'm sorry I tried to keep this from you. I guess I was scared, of what you and dad would think of me? I thought it'd be easier to just pretend nothing happened..."

This time her voice was stern when she responded, "Well now you know better, young lady! Your papi and I will always be here for you. We love you, and we're proud of you!"

"Thank you mom," I mumbled into the phone as I wiped my eyes again.

She asked, "Please tell me you're being careful though? Now that we know these magic and supernatural things are real, I can't help but worry about you even more."

That made me smile, and even threatened to bring out some more happy tears. I shook my head though as I told her, "We do our best to stay safe mom. And um, I can't say too much right now? But we have someone special on our side, I think they're looking out for us."

"More special than your mother?" she asked, in a teasing tone like she was trying to hide some genuine worry with humour.

I smiled again as I shrugged, "Maybe not that special? But I'm pretty sure they can protect us from anything that comes up."

Then after a little sniff I finally realized that I was still sitting at my desk in our basement studio. Bailey and Callie were practically on either side of me, and odds were they both heard everything. Fortunately neither was reacting, instead they remained focused on their computers and pretended they weren't listening in.

And unfortunately, as much as I really did want to keep talking with my mother I was just too busy to take an hour off for a long chat with her. So I apologized, "I'm sorry Mom, I'd love to talk more but this really isn't a good time. Maybe we can talk again next week?"

"Alright mija," mom sighed. "I know you're busy..."

She started staying her goodbyes, while both Callie and Bailey glared at me.

"Sere take some time and talk to your mom already!" my cute calico cohost insisted.

Our cute redheaded editor glared at me and nodded in agreement.

I cringed again, but spoke up before my mother could disconnect. "Wait mom don't go! Turns out it's just about lunchtime here? I can take an hour or so off, so we can talk properly."

"Why don't you get yourself a drink or something?" I suggested as I got up from my desk and started making my way upstairs. "Then I'll tell you everything that's been going on with me."