=::= Talia's PoV =::=

  "Hey Talia," my friend, roommate, and as of three days ago my girlfriend greeted me as soon as I emerged from my former coach's office.

  My ears and tail had all been drooping while I was with Mr. Gordon, but as soon as I saw her my ears perked up and my tail started slowly wagging. Meanwhile Rachel's ears were folded back and her tail hung low as it swished from side to side in unease, while she wore an anxious expression on her face.

  "Hey cutie!" I grinned at her. "What brings you into the athletics hall?"

  The cute genius foxgirl gestured at the door behind me, "I came to see how it went? And to ask how you're doing. Is everything ok?"

  I shrugged as I moved to her side, then wrapped an arm around her shoulders and guided her towards the exit. Once we were a few paces away from the office I replied, "It's fine Rachel. I'm fine."

  "Obviously I'm off the team," I continued. "No surprise there, we knew that had to happen. Mr. Gordon didn't give me too much grief about it. I mostly got the impression the guy was just disappointed about having to repce his best middle linebacker without any warning."

  Then I lowered my voice as I added, "Some of the other guys on the team were sympathetic or understanding, but a few of them were jerks. There were even a few inappropriate sexual comments, but that stopped after the coach threatened two of the guys with suspensions."

  My girlfriend gave me a worried look as we exited the hall, "You don't think they're going to follow through on that sort of thing, do you? You're not in danger are you?"

  "Nah," I shook my head. "I'm sure it's all just talk."

  "Anyways how about you, how'd your day go? Did any of your teachers give you a hard time?" I asked as the two of us set off across the campus towards the bus stop.

  "It was ok," she shrugged. "My robotics prof deadnamed me and misgendered me a few times, same with a couple of my cssmates. I also got asked out at least a half dozen times, but obviously I declined them all."

  Her cheeks coloured as she added, "Although one of them was pretty tempting. There's a girl in my electronics engineering css I always liked? Bit of a tomboy, but really smart and cute. She wanted to meet up for drinks ter this week."

  "Aww," I pretended to pout as I gave her a gentle squeeze. "You should have said yes! Maybe the three of us could get together?"

  Sure enough that got Rachel blushing even brighter, while I giggled happily. And I definitely didn't miss the fact that her tail started wagging at the thought.

  Three days had passed since the foxgirlification incident, and this being Monday it meant we were both back at college again. Except in addition to our normal schedule we'd both had to reintroduce ourselves to our various profs and cssmates and friends. That was after we checked in with the administrative office, to let them know about our new status. And new names, and new appearances.

  True to her word my clever girlfriend came up with repcement ID for the two of us before the weekend was out. She also managed to forge the realistic-looking documents we showed the college secretary, so we could get our records updated and new student IDs issued.

  It was one of those oddball things. Our situation was rare enough to make it a big deal for the folks we had to interact with, but it wasn't actually all that unique. Between the capes, the vilins, and the unregistered metahumans, it honestly wasn't that unusual for innocent civilians to get caught up in the crazy stuff every so often

  It helped that our story was basically the truth, my roomie and I were at home Friday evening when there was a funny noise and everything went orange. Then next thing we knew we were a couple small cute foxgirls. The only lie was that we cimed not to know what caused the transformation.

  If it happened on-campus or in the dorms then the college would have investigated, but since it was in our private apartment it was none of their business. And if we'd actually been victims then we'd have probably reported it to MaR-AID, also known as the Metahuman and Reted Anomaly Investigation Department. They were like a branch of the cops who looked into these sorts of things. And they'd have been contacted regardless if we'd tried to update our ID the normal way.

  Fortunately we were able to avoid all that, and the whole thing was just chalked up to a rare but not unheard of random event. Maybe a passing vilin put the zap on us for kicks. Maybe a budding metahuman did it by mistake. Maybe it was a freak natural event, like cosmic rays or alien particles or whatever else the b-coat-types bmed these things on.

  The bottom line was it was best to lie and leave it a mystery, cim we were both surprised but making the most of our new situation. If we'd told the truth then Rachel would have been tested, and I was positive she'd be identified as an unregistered meta. Then at best they'd haul her off and put her in a special education program. After that she'd be all but forced to work for the capes, they'd expect her to constantly invent new gadgets and equipment to keep them a step or two ahead of the vilins.

  And I knew she'd hate that. Most capes were basically just super-powered jocks, and from what I'd heard they treated their b techs the same way some jerks in college treated nerds. So the two of us stuck to our story, kept Rachel's foxgirlification ray secret, and so far it seemed like it worked.

  Soon enough we were on the bus, and we managed to get a pair of seats not far from the back doors. Our floofy tails made sitting down a bit of an adventure, especially with unfamiliar chairs. I was already getting into the habit of wrapping my tail around one of my hips though, and it looked like Rachel was doing the same.

  "I guess we'll need to get our transit cards updated," I commented as I tucked mine back in my new purse. "Same with our bank cards and credit cards."

  Fortunately none of those things had photos on them, but obviously our accounts were all in our old names. And the old names were printed on the bank and credit cards. Transit passes were mostly generic, but I knew our details came up on the screen when we tapped them. Which meant there was a chance we might get questioned or even refused if a driver ever looked at the screen when we used them.

  Rachel gave me a look, then shrugged. "Pretty sure you can update your transit pass details online. The other stuff's more involved, but we can talk about that once we're back home."

  "Sure," I nodded as I slipped my arm around her waist again.

  She seemed content to let me hug her, and even rested her head against my shoulder. Meanwhile everyone else on the bus had to stare at us at least for a little while. I was pretty much used to that already too. Like after our date Friday night, then going out shopping for new clothes and stuff on Saturday. And of course spending the day at college today. Everywhere we went, people had to stare at the small sexy foxgirls.

  Eventually my girlfriend broke the silence between us, "So you're off the football team, I guess that means your schorship is gone too? What are you going to do?"

  "Yeah I guess," I shrugged. "This school year's already covered so it's not like I'll be kicked out immediately. I'll still be here to write my exams and stuff next month. Then I have all summer long to figure out what I'm going to do, in terms of next year's tuition."

  I added, "I'll still be doing sports either way. I already talked to Ms. Howard about getting on the girls soccer team? She was sceptical due to my small size, but she agreed to give me a chance. The next team practice is Wednesday afternoon, she said I could join in for that and show her my stuff. She said if I can impress her then she'll put me on the team."

  Rachel looked a little uncertain as she asked quietly, "How do you think you'll manage? I don't want to seem negative, but like you said you're a lot smaller than you used to be."

  "Sure," I replied confidently. "Obviously I don't have the mass and strength anymore, but what I've lost there I've gained in speed. I'm a lot lighter on my feet now, and I'm positive my tail makes me more agile? I probably won't be as good at defence, and definitely couldn't cut it as a goal keeper. But maybe my speed will make me a good striker or winger."

  I could tell almost all of that went over my girlfriend's head, she wouldn't have the foggiest idea what the different positions were or what they did on the field. So I smiled, "Don't sweat it Rache. I'm sure it'll be fine."

  She nodded slowly, but it looked like she had another question. Whatever it was she kept it to herself this time, or maybe she just didn't want to discuss it on the bus. Which was fine, we were almost at our stop anyways. In fact just a few minutes ter the two of us were cutting across the parking lot outside our apartment.

  "So are you really still ciming to be a cis guy?" she asked the moment the two of us were inside. "Despite the new name, new pronouns, the fact that you spent more money than I did on a femme wardrobe and make-up when we went shopping on the weekend, and now you're trying out for girls sports teams?"

  I rolled my eyes and flicked my tail at her, "What's it matter Rachel? Like I keep telling you, what's done is done. I accidentally foxgirlificated myself, you said it can't be reversed, so there's nothing left to do but to make the most of it. Right?"

  She gave me an exasperated look, while I did my best not to smile or let my tail wag while she was watching.

  Honestly I'd already come to terms with the fact that I was trans. It happened on Friday when we were out on our date, and ended up talking about the different problems we both had with women. My shell cracked while I was telling her about Victoria comparing going out with me to dating a girl. Then my egg was completely shattered when Rachel expined how dysphoria manifested differently for different people.

  The only reason I hadn't owned up to it yet was I was actually having fun pretending to be completely dense and clueless. My new girlfriend looked so incredibly cute when she was trying not to explode or facepalm over how oblivious I seemed to be.

  And pying dense was something I actually had a lot of practice doing. Folks who saw my AMAB body tended to assume I was just a meathead jock, but I was actually a fair bit smarter than I let on. Nowhere near Rachel's level obviously, but if I'd paid attention and really applied myself I could have been an A student. Except I found all that stuff boring, so I just did the bare minimum and focused on sports instead. Although that was probably going to have to change.

  "All right fine," my girlfriend finally sighed. "So does 'little miss cis guy making the most of the situation' want to do anything special for dinner tonight? And are you going to need help studying or anything? Exams are only a few weeks away, how do you figure your grades are looking?"

  I smiled as my tail swished around, "Dinner can be whatever. I can make us some sandwiches if you like?"

  "And yeah I really need to start studying," I sighed as my tail and ears drooped. My tone got a little darker as I continued, "I'm still hoping to make it as a professional athlete, but sports are one area where there's no such thing as pay equality. Women just don't make anywhere near as much as men do in pro sports, and it really pisses me off that nobody seems to care."

  "Like if you had a guy and a girl doing the same job in STEM but the guy made ten times as much money, that'd be a wsuit or something right? So why the heck is that sort of thing considered normal and acceptable in sports?!" I grumbled angrily, while my ears folded back and my tail twitched behind me in irritation.

  Rachel's eyebrows crept up as she asked, "Is this a recent revetion?"

  "Of course not," I grumbled. "I've been mad about the inequality for years. It's totally unfair and I hate that women athletes are treated as an afterthought!"

  After another few seconds I sighed, while my ears and tail drooped again. "Anyways sorry about that. How about I make us something to eat, then maybe you can help me figure out a study schedule?"

  "Ok Talia," my girlfriend nodded. "I'll be in my room, let me know when dinner's ready."

  Less than ten minutes ter I was at her bedroom door to let her know about dinner, but got distracted before I could say anything. She was sitting at her desk, with the foxgirlification ray partially disassembled in front of her.

  "What are you doing with that thing?" I asked as I wandered in. I wound up standing by her desk, watching as she tinkered with the electronics inside. "You're not pnning on using it again are you?"

  My girlfriend shook her head, "Nope. I'm actually disabling it, to make sure nobody else can accidentally foxificate themselves. Basically making it safe."

  "That's a good idea," I responded. "Could you imagine how much trouble that'd cause, if it fell into the wrong hands? That's like, supervilin stuff right there."

  Rachel's ears and tail drooped as she sighed, "I know Talia. But I'm no vilin, and that's exactly why I'm deactivating this. I'll keep it as a souvenir, but like I said all along it was only ever intended to work once, on me."

  "Yeah I get it," I nodded. Then my tail started swishing back and forth as I smiled, "And I know you're not a vilin, but with gadgets like that you could sure act like one. Ever thought about doing rolepy?"

  She gave me a curious look, "You mean like cospy? I heard that's one thing capes and vilins actually agree on, they both hate people pretending to be one or the other."

  My smile became a grin as I shook my head, "Not out in public. I mean, rolepy in the bedroom. Like sexy funtimes rolepy. You pretend to be a vilin and I'll py the overconfident cape trying to bring you to justice. Then you defeat me with your amazing inventions, and we end up in bed."

  By the time I was finished talking her face was bright red and her ears folded back, but her tail was slowly swishing from side to side.

  "I uh, no. I've never thought about that before," she mumbled. "But um, maybe I'm thinking about it now?"

  I giggled, "Cool! Anyways I actually came to let you know dinner's ready. Want me to bring it in here for you? Or will you come join me in the living-room?"

  Rachel opted to eat with me, but instead of watching TV I continued embarrassing her with descriptions of more fun kinky rolepy scenes we could try out. If she was interested.

  And she definitely seemed interested.

  PurpleCatGirl