Greatness is Never Promised

I wake up as the morning sun peaks over the distant dark and distorted hills, illuminating the stone house through all the shut curtains with a warm light tone. I yawn and sweep my legs off the soft warm bed onto the cold stone floor. Standing up I stretch my sore body, my legs and abs aching. Due to the ice skating and other various activities, nothing naughty you freak pervert.

Ruby is groggy but awake enough to jump up grasping onto my shirtless upper body, wrapping her arms around my shoulders before her hands meet on my chest. She uses the leverage to pull me back into bed attacking my face with kisses all over.

What a beautiful world. My damned existence might just be the luckiest ever.

I'm only able to fend her off with an attack of my own, starting at the base of her neck I work my way up, delicately kissing and biting until I've reached her ear where I whisper the naughty words, "I really need to pee."

She flops back onto the bed laughing and I scurry off to relieve myself. Upon my return her hair is tied up in a high messy bun and she's cooking up some eggs and ham. She looks over at me smugly, "This time it's real shit. I think you'll notice that while [Conjuration] magic is plenty amazing and can make whatever the hells you what whenever the hells you want. There's nothing quite like the real shit. Taste might be the same but I've always sworn the way it makes your body feel is not at all comparable. I think it has something to do with how magic generates the substance of food."

We devour the fresh food and damn she couldn't be anymore right. I sit back patting my full belly with a contentedness I couldn't quite achieve despite the unbelievable and varied dishes we had yesterday.

Ruby smiles at me, "I'm right, huh?"

I let out a voracious belch, "Damn right. I could get used to this. I'm telling the prince and everyone who will listen that you're not allowed to leave my side again."

"Is that a proposal??" Ruby mocks with a surprised face slowly walking her fingers up my arm where she stops by squeezing my bicep.

"I-I-I'm just trying to say, that it wasn't fair that you couldn't come with me the first time." I know she's joking but it clearly shot my nerves, I feel butterflies worming their way around through my breakfast.

"But nobody could ever get between a wedded couple. There's quite a lot of laws and precedence there, Jess." She lets her eyes go wide, curling her bottom lip, and with a final damning move she puffs her cheeks out creating the cutest pout to ever bare witness to this existence.

My face flushes red and I feel like steam just might shoot out of my ears if I don't get her to stop soon. "Ruby, I really really like you. Let's start here, will you be my girlfriend?"

She grins, "YES!!!" She immediately breaks into a shimmy until her excitement boils over into a diving tackle/hug. I manage to [Telekinesis] us from smashing into the stone floor and we float around the room spinning in unbridled joy until Ruby stops squeezing me so tight.

I gently set her down and she steals a quick smooch on the cheek.

Ruby's mood is then stunted as she throws her head back and groans, "I can't believe I forgot... no, considering everything we've been up to it tracks. MM needs your help with resetting her river."

"What could that possibly mean?"

"Eh", Ruby just shrugs, "You'll get what I mean when you go talk to her. It's more or less just her throwing a fit about getting bagged by Mother Death. I've told her a million times she should just be happy with, I don't know, being alive."

"I'm guessing there are risks?"

Ruby's smile pulls upwards and her face contorts showing her thoughts are up to no good, "Not to you... but to the weaker wizard who's needing help, yes. There are many risks. Hmm, how about I go ahead and prepare a nice lunch for everyone to celebrate MM's stupidity? I want to make something intricate."

"Oh sweet!"

We pull in for a quick kiss before I leave and start heading over to MM's stone hut. I can hear her being scolded by Ruby the Red Mage.

It's just now hitting me. Transgender and a lesbian? Just a little over two weeks ago and I thought I was a cis man. It never ceases to amaze me as to how the human brain can be so uncannily adaptive. I mean I'm quite thankful for it don't get me wrong, but I had no fucking clue what I was missing out on.

No, that's not right.

I definitely felt like I was missing out. I was beaten, berated. But more than anything I was ignored. I was someone people took for granted. Now I've spoken directly to the Queen, she even gave me advice and saw me for who I was. Her 3rd son, Prince Rythel, is going to send me a personal calling when I needs me.

Ah. How is he going to find me? That's pretty much the entire bit as to what we're doing out here. Hiding. I never really thought that far and I know for damn well that he didn't either.

Eh, I'm sure Ruby the Red Mage came up with something good for handling that. She's real smart and resourceful. Most of all, she seems pretty well put together for someone who is older than me. I've never really gotten to know an adult that wasn't basically a stunted child in a large obviously oversized coat fumbling around with long sticks to pretend like their limbs definitely fit. No sir, no ma'am, I'm most certainly 35, don't you see the mustache I worked so hard to stick onto my face. Don't come too close or you might smell the fact that it's wolf fur, I can speak from experience, this stuff has quite the stench to it. Must be from all the tongue baths.

Speaking of the wise teacher, who is often an immature brat in the ways that don't particularly seem to matter. I need to come up with a separate name for her. RTRM just doesn't quite have the same ring to it that MM does, although it's a given that she would furiously disallow a naming schema that mirrors MM. Given their beef. I also imagine that her ego is one of size, given her status and title. So she definitely wouldn't go for changing her name due to my—I bit my lip, pump my first outward, and blush—giiiiirlfrieeeend sharing a name with her. I really like calling her Rubes so I just can't have her feeling inclined to make her own name the switch.

I definitely got a good solution. I think it'll work for everyone plus it even kinda seems like I'm paying tribute to the old bag. She's gonna eat that shit up. I'll get her last name, and I'll call her Mrs. Whatever the hell. Because I want to respect her. Because she's my wise teacher. Yeah. It'll work, it'll work.