V
When Raven appeared at school the following week, she looked different. Her eyes were larger; her snout more slender; her fur a lighter grey.
"Raven," said Lumpikith, "are you a girl?"
Raven blushed. "Um... yeah."
Freydis said, "You changed your mind?"
"No, um," said Raven, "my parents... found another T-Gurl Bracelet. So I kind of HAD to use it...."
Fluffdusti slid a box across the table. "I thought this might happen," she said. "Here's two more T-Gurl Bracelets, and three T-Boi...."
Raven looked thoughtful. "I think," he said, "that I'll keep this a secret from my parents for now...."
"So you're not going to use it?"
"Not yet," Raven replied. "I want to think about it some more."
But when Raven got home that day, his mother and father had a big surprise for him. "Look!" they exclaimed. "A T-Gurl Bracelet! We managed to buy it at a junk store of all places! Now you can become a real girl!"
"That's... great," Raven replied weakly. "Just what I wanted...."
Raven blinked. "What do you mean?"
"If you don't like being a girl," said Fluffdusti, "then you can use a T-Boi Bracelet and become a boy again."
"I can? Will that work?"
"Of course!" Fluffdusti smirked. "Do you think I haven't tried it myself?"
Raven was stunned. "You have?"
"You bet! Lumpikith too. In fact, Lumpi changes gender every other month...."
Lumpikith laughed. "I DID say that sometimes I'm a girl, sometimes I'm a boy...."
Fluffdusti threw up her hands. "What? I thought it was your entire goal to find one of these T-Gurl Bracelets?"
"That," said Raven, "was mostly mom and dad's idea. I liked wearing girl's clothes, and I didn't want to be a wolfkin warrior, and they just assumed... I never actually said...."
"Then you DON'T want to be a girl?"
Raven shrugged. "Maybe? Probably? But what if I try it and I don't like it?"
Fluffdusti laughed. "You DID hear me say my dad had hundreds of these yes?"
Raven stared at the bracelet long and hard.
"How long does it take?" he asked. "Is it instant?"
"Not exactly," replied Fluffdusti. "You wear it, and it won't come off. You transform slowly over the next 24 hours. After that, the symbol reflected in the demon's eyes becomes a formless blob. At that point it's basically junk. You can remove it and throw it away."
"What are you waiting for?" asked Freydis. "Put it on!"
"I'm not exactly sure," said Raven, "if I WANT to be a girl...."
Raven stared at the silver bracelet. "Is this really it?" he asked.
Fluffdusti nodded. "It looks exactly like a Bracelet of Power, which can double your strength and endurance. That's how they trick ya. But look at the demon's eyes under a magnifying glass. What do you see?"
Raven examined the intricate design. "There's... a female symbol?"
"That's the clue. This one's actually a T-Gurl Bracelet, see?"
"So if I put this on..." said Raven.
"You'll become a girl," replied Fluffdusti.
Raven stared at Fluffdusti. "I'm sorry - what?"
"It's a cursed item," said Fluffdusti. "Wyrmhaven Deep is a very popular dungeon. People sell cursed items to my dad. He runs a shop - Dustbunni's Cursed Items Junk Shop. It's also a pawn shop, and a dungeon lost and found. Any cursed item found in Wyrmhaven Deep, dad's got dozens of 'em."
"Seriously?" asked Raven. "A bracelet that can make me a girl?"
"Sure. I can bring one tomorrow if you like."
Raven swallowed. "Um... I guess?"
"I don't really get all this," said Freydis, "but I'm fine with you guys as you are."
"Thanks," Raven replied. "But I do have a long-term goal...."
"Oh?"
"Yes. In the deepest part of the dungeon, there's a magic item that can transform me into a girl. If I become a great mage and an adventurer, one day I might find one...."
"Are you talkin about the T-Gurl Bracelet?" asked Fluffdusti. "My dad has hundreds of those things...."
"That makes sense," said Lumpikith. "I jive with that. I'm enby myself."
Raven looked mystified. "What does that mean?"
"Short for N.B., non-binary."
This did not clear Raven's confusion. Lumpikith said, "It means I'm not a boy nor a girl. I'm kind of in-between. Or rather, sometimes I'm a girl and sometimes I'm a boy. It really depends on the person, but I don't fit the mold, so to speak."
Raven blinked. "Then... maybe I'm enby too?"
Lumpikith laughed. "You only just realized?"
"The other reason we moved," said Raven, "was that I was bullied at my old school."
"Because of the girl's clothes?" asked Shrillikina. Raven nodded.
"But you decided to live as a girl...."
"It doesn't work like that in wolfkin society," Raven said. "People know you by your smell. No matter how you look, you're a boy in a dress."
"You told me the first day that you were a boy!" exclaimed Freydis.
"But you didn't know," said Raven, "until I told you. That was my choice."
"Why did your family move to Grymwald?" asked Lumpikith.
Raven glanced up. He was eating lunch with his friends - four goblins, and Freydis Cook, a human. "I wished to become a sorceress...."
"Wolfkin aren't known for their magic," noted Lumpikith.
"Yes," replied Raven. "But I'm not suited to physical combat like most wolfkin. Now that I have two tails, I'm much better at magic. I'll become the best wolfkin sorceress ever!"
"A boy... sorceress?"
Raven shifted uncomfortably. "Maybe?"
