Chapter 38 - Age is just a number
I came back after a weekend, half-spent working overtime, and the other half spent recuperating from the work week. The library was the same as I always remembered it from Tiarto’s exploits. It was much different than the library it was based on, but the bones were based in reality. The real one had no tall ceilings, no high windows, no staircase to the second floor, only three entrances that served as front door, garden, and kitchen now. The bathroom was upstairs, but the original one had none, being just an open space with books.
“Lila!” I called out in the open space, and heard some shuffling about upstairs. I wondered whether I should go up and check, but I could have just interrupted something between her and Kara. Lila stepped out of the room wearing nothing but a white button down shirt. It was something akin to just wearing underwear for her, as the muscle between her legs had no openings. I wanted to know more about her anatomy and how everything worked, but then remembered she already told me about her kind’s birds and bees.
“Hey, Jack,” Lila said. My sight gravitated to her bare legs, ending up at the hips, but I grit my teeth and restrained beast in his cage. “Your timing is perfect, if you want to try a threesome. Otherwise, we’re going to need another fifteen minutes.” She went back inside the room, and I waited in silence until the bed shuffling resumed, accompanied by soft moans of both women. I had to wonder where Tarne was in all this. The only safe place to not hear her mothers going at it would be the garden. I figured I might as well experience the safe version of plants that Tiarto had to feed and battle.
“Tarne!” I called out to lush green at the open door. “Are you in here?” Instead of her, a green vine slithered over to me, coming off the ground only to grab onto my wrist and pull. I had to remember that Garr was a peaceful plant from the start before I followed him to his flower. Tarne was inside, floating inside some sort of clear liquid, or maybe just air. She was curled up with her eyes closed in a grimace.
“Tarne?” I asked. I turned to the vine. “What’s going on Garr? Why is she in there? Don’t tell me she’s going to get younger because of your spores.” I motioned a hand over the vine to give it a mouth and push knowledge of speech into whatever memory bank it had.
“Argkj, pfe pfffllle,” he said. “What the…? I can talk? I can talk!”
“What’s wrong with Tarne?”
“Oh! Stupid girl! She stepped on my plexus! I think… I think I’m broken.”
“Broken?” I asked. “What does, broken mean?” I asked, but did not have to wait long. Tarne seemed to be getting bigger, until I realized that she was actually getting older. Her child body progressed into a teen, then literally bloomed into a woman before my very eyes. The clothes could not stand the test of time, tearing off her as her hair expanded in a plume.
“OPEN!” I yelled, then jumped to tear open a petal to be met with a gush of breathable water. If she stayed there any longer, she would grow old and die. I tore the petal open, soaking myself in the liquid, but getting Tarne out. She definitely had the female parts in the spot between her legs. I could feel beast salivate, but clothed her with a wave of my hand. I carried her out, then wanted to run away. This was not my fault, was it? Was my idea of Garroton Bloom too strong? This… This was supposed to be me. I wanted this body, this gender, that beauty. It was not me anymore. With a neck twist, I healed Garr, taking away his mouth.
When I entered the library with Tarne in my arms, I could feel eyes on me from above. It was Lila, face buried between Kara’s thighs. They had a silencing bubble around them, but I could see Kara meet my eyes right before her face contorted into an orgasm. I lay Tarne down on the couch and sat on the desk until the silencing bubble popped.
“Jack?” Lila asked, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. “Who’s that?”
“So… it seems we’ve encountered another problem,” I said.
“Lils?” Kara said, inspecting the face underneath the bunch of hair. “You might wanna sit down.” Lila teleported to Kara’s side, looked at Tarne, then fell backward to the ground in shock. Her face turned to me.
“What did you do?!” She asked.
“It wasn’t me!” I responded. “Well, at least not entirely. She broke Garroton Bloom, and he typically makes people younger or heals them. I got her out of there as fast as I could, but it looks like she’s about thirty now.” I did not want to, but I had to leave. It was best to do it without announcing it, so I made a portal behind me in the shape of me, but when I started stepping through it, Lila closed it on me, cutting my left leg off. I fell backward, but had my leg back when I landed.
“Where are you off to?” Lila asked.
“Work,” I said. “I have to go, Lila. I’m sorry. This isn’t my fault. Tarne was just playing alone in the garden while you too were together. I’m starting to think that this mess is on you. Maybe she can turn back into a child once she knows how to use creationism. She should be able to, being me, or at least sharing my properties.” Kara lowered her head.
“It’s my fault,” she said. “I was feeling horny, so I told Tarne to go play in the garden for a bit.”
“It’s not your fault, Kay,” Lila argued. “Sexuality isn’t something to hide away. If that’s what you’ve learned from your life, then it’s a bad lesson.”
“Well, look on the bright side,” I said, making the portal behind me again. “Now you get to teach your kid about sexuality at the right age.” I fell backward through the portal, exiting the space. It was a mess, one of many. And it was mainly my fault, all of this was after all, created for me.
break
I came back the next day, though dreading the blame for the kerfuffle of Tarne growing up inside Garroton Bloom. It was not me who made the garden all safe to play in. That led to Tarne playing there while Kara and Lila had sex, and in so doing altering Garr— breaking him, really. I ascended the staircase to meet the two women in my life I had no chance to meet in real life. Maybe that was the way it needed to be. Three women now, I suppose.
“Hey,” I said, coming up to who I thought was Lila. When I got closer, it hit me. That was Tarne. She looked so much like Lila that my mind went directly there. Not to mention Kara was sitting beside her. “Tarne?”
“Jack!” Tarne exclaimed and damn near tackled me with a hug. “The weirdest thing happened in the garden the other day. So I was playing with Garr, the big white flower, and I fell in—“
“I know, Tarne,” I said. “I was there. I pulled you out before you turned into an old lady.” I looked at Kara.
“It was—“
“Not my fault,” I interrupted. “It’s just not. Don’t put this on me.” Kara grimaced.
“I was going to say that it was Lila’s fault,” Kara said. “She’s upstairs beating herself up about it, and Tarne is saying she doesn’t want to be a child again.”
“I mean, just look at these!” Tarne exclaimed, cupping her breasts. “They’re so fun! Heavy, though. Not to mention…” Tarne said, then smiled in a blush. “There’s that.” I followed her hand pointing at her crotch. I felt beast rattle his cage, but shackled him down and put a bucket on his head.
“I keep telling you to not talk about it in public,” Kara said. “It’s not something for polite conversation.”
“But it is a natural thing,” I said, then felt both their looks on me. Kara’s felt like angry daggers, and Tarne’s felt like an excited dog.
“It is!” Tarne said. “That’s what mom told me. She has it in a different place though. It’s kinda funny.”
“It’s because she’s from another place,” I said. “Another world.”
“Another world?” Tarne asked, with a look of surprised wonder in her eyes.
“Yup,” I said. “You’re more like me and Kara, except I’m a guy.” Looking at Tarne, who I was once, now grown up and looking as I wanted to look like in my reality felt a bit depressing. I could have been this, if I did not care about the second mind that took over while I was not in the library. Maybe there was a way to make it that my mind was always in the library as I went about things in my reality.
“I should go check on Lila,” I said. Kara stood up and barred the way with an arm. “Huh?”
“I— I think we should just let her figure out her own feelings for now,” she said. “She missed out on raising Tarne, and that has to hurt. I can’t let you suggest forcing Tarne back into a child’s body for her sake. For now, I think it’s better that you leave, Jack. Ok?” I met Kara’s eyes in silence for a moment. She wanted Tarne back as a child, too. I could see it in her eyes. Being suddenly saddled with an adult child was not something she wanted. The freedom she shared with Lila became obstructed even more by the curious adult Tarne.
“Ok,” I said. “I’ll come by tomorrow. Tell Lila I stopped by, ok?” Kara nodded. The whole issue of Rahin making the library non-existent felt like a fraction compared to Tarne suddenly becoming a woman, but the earlier threat was still very much in play. I hoped every morning that the library would still be there, but I had no idea what would happen day to day.
break
One thing led to another, and I ended up not stopping by the next day. I hoped they did not wait for me. I was glad that Tarne would at least have Kara to instruct her with all the feminine basics of human things. I was not sure Kara was actually human like me, just assumed. How would one go about asking that? James was a human, but not originally. I wrote everything through a filter of my own humanity, which sometimes may have been altering the reality of other… well, realities, to fit mine. It was an easy thought to ignore, but floated at the top of my thinking pool.
I entered the library, this time from the attic ballroom. It was empty and silent, though I was sure it would be used the second Tarne remembered it existed. I was about to float down through the floor, but first altered my form to put full weight on the floor. To no surprise, the wood gave off a creaking sound underneath my feet. Wood was so unforgiving about sound, but ever sturdy. Most often it was the metal jammed into the grain that made the sound, not the wood itself.
I walked to the extract-able staircase where the pull cord ladder once was, and found Tarne waiting for me at the base.
“Hey, Jack,” Tarne said, with a smile. I could feel beast drip desire at the sight of her new form, but I shook him back into his cage, as she started ascending the ladder. “OH, right! There is a dance floor up there. It’s such a weird place to put it that I forgot all about it. Wanna dance?”
“I’ll pass,” I said, thinking back to the dancing exercise I wanted to do at home. Dancing with someone was a lot different. “So… How are you adjusting to the new form?” I felt stupid phrasing it like that.
“There are some fun things to do with it,” Tarne said. “Moms aren’t really happy about it. Lila especially. Can you talk to her?”
“I don’t know what I could say, honestly,” I said. “I mean, I could take the blame, but some small part of her will always think that she’s the one to blame just because she wanted some alone time with Kara.” Tarne took a quick step forward and grabbed my hand. Her head got near my ear to whisper.
“How does that work, anyway?” She said. “They’re both girls, not even the same type of human. I— uh… I asked them, but they don’t want to explain it to me.” I felt beast rattle around in his cage, and held out my hand to him. He stopped in surprise, then extended an arm to me while turning into a cloak. I was at peace with desire. I could wear beast over my mind for topics like these, but would intervene if he tried anything.
“Let’s go somewhere quiet,” I said, holding out a hand to Tarne. When she grabbed hold, I teleported us to the basement room where the seed of thought originated. I created an interactive thought board and a desk-chair from my school days. Lila sat down, ready to learn the ways of desire as observed by me.
“Here is the basic sexual interaction between a man and a woman,” I said, playing a clip of two people talking. “Compliments, the courting ritual, progressing to physical interaction of skin contact, then kissing, progressing into interacting sexual organs as you can see here.” The clip had no audio, as that would no doubt excite too much. Tarne put her hand up.
“Yes?”
“This makes me feel warm and embarrassed,” Tarne said. I nodded.
“Yes,” I said. “And, here is the interaction of two women.” I played another clip going through the same things of courting to the bedroom, but instead of the male organ entering, it was fingers and tongue.”
“That’s— what they do?” Tarne asked. “Then why didn’t they say so?”
“That feeling of embarrassment,” I said. “Depending on how someone was brought up, that overpowering restraint of sexuality keeps them enjoying it in secret. That will be all for now, Tarne. I have to get to work. See you later.”
“Bye, Jack,” she said. “And thank you.” I patted the beast cloak on my shoulder and put him back into the cage. With that, I vanished.
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