Missed Connections - Ch.11 - Meeting Friends (Patreon)

*** content warning: brief lewdness ***

There was just a brief moment of confusion when I first woke up. I didn't know where I was, but the large bed was very warm and comfortable. Then I felt a slight movement next to me, and my heart skipped a beat as it all came back at once.

Marianne stirred and cuddled closer against my side, I felt her naked skin pressed against my own and her arm draped across my body just beneath my chest. By that point I was wide awake, with my mind racing almost as fast as my heart. 

I came out to Marianne last night, told her about being trans, and it was ok. Better than ok. She didn't get angry or upset, she just accepted it. Accepted me. The two of us shared more wine and more conversation, then instead of going back to the hotel she invited me to stay the night with her.

The evening's events played out through my mind while my heart continued to race and a smile settled on my lips. At first I was shy and awkward, it was all very new to me, but Marianne was gentle and patient. And in the end it was wonderful and perfect and amazing. 

"Aah," Marianne sighed happily as she hugged me a little tighter. "Good morning Lexi. I hope you slept well?"

My smile got a bit wider as I replied softly, "Good morning Marianne. And yes, I had a very good ni-Ahh!"

I gasped softly as her hand shifted suddenly and she gave one of my nipples a little pinch.

With a quiet giggle she took advantage of my distraction and moved ontop of me. I was only a few centimetres shorter than her but she managed to make me feel even smaller, as I felt her entire body pressing down against mine. 

She planted a kiss on my lips and asked, "Shall we get up? Or shall we spend more time in bed?"

That felt like the kind of decision I really wasn't qualified to make, especially with her naked body atop my own, pinning me to the bed beneath her.

Before I could come up with any kind of coherent response there was a noise from elsewhere in the apartment, and Marianne glanced towards her bedroom door.

"Ah," she sighed. "That sounded like the coffee maker. Flatmates must be up. Shall we go and see?"

There was a bit of mental whiplash as my brain had to change gears from playful and frisky to meeting strangers. I felt my cheeks colouring as I replied quietly, "I think we should get dressed before doing any introductions..."

Marianne grinned and gave me another kiss, before she finally rolled off of me and got up out of bed. I didn't mean to stare but my eyes stayed on her as she stood facing me and stretched her beautiful naked body. Then she turned and opened one of her dresser drawers. 

She pulled on a nightshirt, it was white with red polka-dots and was almost dangerously short on her. It left her long beautiful legs on full display though, which was appreciated. Then she held out a pink one for me as she said, "Here you go Lexi."

"Thanks," I replied as I got up out of bed to accept it. And my cheeks went pink as I realized she was taking the opportunity to look me over.

As I pulled on the nightshirt Marianne's eyes caught something and her playful smile suddenly shifted to a frown. She crouched next to my right side and pulled up the hem of the nightshirt as she asked, "What's this?"

She was staring at the tattoo I got when I signed Eva's pact. I'd assumed it was invisible, or that only me and Eva could see it. Marianne hadn't noticed it last night, but in retrospect we were both very distracted at the time.

"Do you know what this is?" she asked as she gave me a worried look. "Do you know what it means?"

I sighed, "Yeah I do. I guess you do too?"

She continued looking worried as her finger lightly traced over the smaller glyphs, "I'm almost certain these are binding runes. And this..."

Her finger circled that squiggly shape at the bottom, "This looks like part of a demonic seal."

"I don't know what a demonic seal is," I replied quietly. "But you're more or less right. When I first met Eva she was imprisoned within the bracelet. Now she's trapped inside me, and that tattoo is what keeps her with me."

Marianne took a step back and asked, "Is she a demon?"

"She's a supernatural being," I replied, remembering how Eva described herself. "She's not evil, and she doesn't have anything to do with hell or the afterlife. Humans call her kind demons, but she's not..."

I sighed again and shook my head, "Whatever she is, she saved my life. She gave me this body, gave me a second chance, and I've sworn to help her. And more than that, she's my friend."

Marianne was quiet for a few moments as she stood there staring at me. It looked like she wasn't sure what to say or how to respond. 

Then we both realized Eva had joined us. She'd been gone since dinner, and I couldn't help feeling happy to see her sitting cross-legged on Marianne's bed.

My demon ghost friend gave me a sympathetic look and asked, "May I take over Lexi? I'd like to speak directly with Marianne."

I frowned as I looked at her, "What do you mean? How does that work?"

"I'll temporarily take control of your body," she explained. "It's easier than having you relay things for me."

Marianne was looking back and forth between us, obviously curious what we were discussing. She didn't interrupt though.

"Ok Eva," I nodded. 

I wasn't sure how it'd work or what it would feel like, but I trusted her. I just hoped whatever she did or what she wanted to say wasn't going to upset or scare Marianne.

The demon girl got up off the bed and took a step to me. For a moment it seemed like she was going to give me a hug or something, like she came right up to me into my personal space. She didn't stop though, but instead of bumping into me it was like she was stepping through me. 

My head spun slightly as I felt the strangest sense of disorientation. And suddenly I was standing next to myself, like I was one of a pair of identical twins. We were both dressed in the same borrowed pink nightshirt, both standing in front of a startled-looking Marianne.

"What just happened?" I asked.

The other me gave me a sympathetic smile, "As I said Lexi, I've borrowed your body. I didn't know that would displace you, but don't panic. It should be only temporary."

"Eva?" Marianne asked in surprise as she stared at the other me. "You're possessing Lexi?"

"That's correct," my twin responded. "I borrowed her body so I could speak with you directly."

I finally got my head around what was happening. Eva looked like me because she was in my body, while I was now the insubstantial ghost standing next to her. While the two of them spoke I ended up wandering around the bedroom getting a feel for what I assumed it was like for Eva.

The floor seemed solid under my feet, and I could sit on the bed. But I couldn't pick up or even move any of the bedsheets. I could reach my arm or a leg through the door or the wall, but I couldn't actually leave the room. And while I was experimenting, the other two were having a quiet conversation.

"What did you want to say?" Marianne asked. She sounded equal parts wary and uneasy, but also curious.

Eva replied softly, "I'll keep this brief. Yes, I am what humans call a demon. No, I am not evil. I don't come from the underworld or the afterlife. I have only two goals now. I look after Lexi and keep her safe, and I want to find my family. I've spent the last three millennia imprisoned in this bracelet, but my kind are very long lived and there's a good chance my lover and child are both still alive. I need to find them, I need to know they're ok. Lexi and I would appreciate your help, but I'll understand if this revelation has changed your mind."

Marianne looked thoughtful, "You're three thousand years old?"

"I was a little over three thousand years old when I was imprisoned," Eva replied. "That was in about eleven-hundred BCE. I'm over six thousand now, but almost half that time was spent in oblivion."

The ancient history student's eyes widened slightly, "So you were around during the bronze age? And your family's been around since then too?"

My demon friend nodded, "Going by your calendar, I was born around forty-two-hundred BCE."

I could almost guess what Marianne was thinking. Eva probably had first-hand knowledge of some of the stuff she was studying. I could see it play out in her expression as she went back and forth between worry about Eva being a demon and curiosity about being close to someone who lived in antiquity. 

She wavered for another second or two before making the decision, "Ok. Lexi trusts you and you've done a lot to help her. I have some misgivings, but so far you're nothing like what I've read when it comes to demons. I'm sure you know I have loads of things I'd love to talk with you about, but I know this isn't the right time. Maybe during our travels, you and I can talk again?"

"Thank you Marianne," Eva smiled. "And yes, I'm sure Lexi and I can work something out so you and I can have some time to talk."

After a sudden wave of dizziness and disorientation I found myself back in my body. I didn't stumble or anything, but it was a bit jarring to suddenly shift from sitting on the bed to standing next to it without any sense of movement. And Eva was next to me, looking like herself again.

"Woah," I blinked a few times. "That was weird."

"Are you all right?" Marianne asked in a worried voice. Eva looked concerned as well.

I nodded, "I'm fine, it was just a bit trippy."

They both watched me for another second or two, to be sure I was all right. Then at long last we emerged from her bedroom.

I followed Marianne to the kitchen, where we found one of her roommates fiddling around with the sort of complicated coffee machine I'd expect to find in a cafe.

They were tall, easily a hundred and seventy-five centimetres, with short blonde hair dyed blue at the ends. Wearing nothing but a matched set of purple lace panties and bra, their slim figure was on full display.

"Ah Marianne!" the roommate exclaimed with a happy smile. That was followed by a string of rapidly-spoken French which I was not able to keep up with. 

I'd had a couple years of French lessons back in school, but I only just barely passed and very little of it stuck. I picked up enough to know the flatmate was complaining about the coffee maker and I was pretty sure there was a 'good morning' in there too at some point.

"Anglais Bleu, s'il vous plaît!" Marianne responded. "We have a guest! Bleu, this is Lexi from Canada, she is here on vacation. And Lexi, this is Bleu. They are one of my flatmates, from Lyon."

The tall enby smiled as they looked me up and down, "Bonjour Lexi, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

They spoke with a much thicker accent than Marianne, but at least it was English. Before I could respond they looked to my friend and smirked, "She's cute Marianne, lucky you found her first!"

I ended up just standing in the doorway trying not to blush too brightly while Marianne moved into the kitchen past her roommate to deal with the coffee machine. And despite asking Bleu to speak English, Marianne ended up chattering in French for a few moments. 

I wasn't sure if she was addressing the machine or her flatmate, but when she finished the enby responded in more French. From their tone and the few words I caught, I was pretty sure Bleu was protesting that they were studying mathematics and not engineering, which is why they couldn't make the coffee machine go.

"Sorry Lexi," Marianne apologized as she finished messing with the machine. "Bleu and I are from France, our other roommate Suzi is Belgian, so we all tend to speak French to each other."

Bleu added with a grin, "Suzi also uses Dutch, but mostly when she's cussing."

"Speaking of, where is she this morning?" Marianne asked. "Still in bed?"

"Non," the enby shook their head. "She went home last night with a cute English boy."

There was some more friendly banter back and forth between the two flatmates while the coffee machine finally started doing its thing. They mostly stuck with English, but every now and then they'd slip back into French, and I did my best to keep up. I kept quiet though, and couldn't help feeling a bit out of place as they talked.

Eventually Marianne coaxed three mugs of latte from the complex machine, then we ended up in the living room. Bleu sat crosslegged in a big chair in the corner, while me and Marianne were together on the sofa.

After a sip of her drink, the brunette looked to me and asked "I don't imagine you have much packing to do? Do you need to get anything else? Or is there anything else you want to do while you're in London?"

"I don't think so?" I shrugged. "I don't have much stuff, so packing probably won't take me more than ten minutes."

"I think I'm supposed to check out tomorrow, so that's probably the only thing I need to worry about today?" I added. "I'll extend my hotel room one more day so I'm not out on the street tomorrow night."

Marianne grinned, "Nonsense! You should stay here tomorrow night. For that matter you could check out today and stay here tonight too if you wished?"

That put a wide smile on Bleu's face, while I blushed again. "I don't know about tonight, I don't want to crowd you? But tomorrow night might be a good idea, so we don't have to figure out where to meet up Tuesday morning. I think we need to be at the airport by eight?"

"You're going back home on Tuesday?" Bleu asked me. Then they frowned and looked at Marianne, "Are you going to the airport also?"

The brunette nodded, "Oui. Lexi and I are going to visit some Greek islands. I was going to talk with you and Suzi about it later today."

That led to another brief bilingual discussion between the two roommates. Enough of the conversation was in English that I could follow the gist of it. Bleu wasn't upset or unhappy, but they were surprised and maybe concerned that their friend was dropping everything to go travelling with someone she only just met. Though the enby seemed to think I was pretty enough to justify Marianne's impulsive decision.

By the time they finished talking to each other I felt a little out of place again, and just quietly drained the last of my latte. 

I set the mug down and suggested, "I should probably get dressed and get back to the hotel. I could use a shower, and I should sort out the last few details before Tuesday."

"All right Lexi," Marianne leaned closer and pulled me into a hug. "The only thing I can think to suggest is to get some Euros tomorrow, if you don't already have some."

I returned the hug and agreed, "I'll do that. And I'll be in touch. Text you tonight, or tomorrow for sure."

She and Bleu continued their conversation en Franglish while I went back to the bedroom and quickly got dressed. I noticed Eva was gone again, but I figured she'd vanished once more to give us some privacy.

Marianne got up to see me out. We exchanged another hug as well as a few kisses before I finally made my way out onto the street. Then I needed to rely on my phone's map app to point me in the direction of the hotel.