Olivia

“H-hello?” I managed to squeak out, hitting ‘accept’ on the phone.

“Max?” Mom asked. “Is that you? You sound funny.”

“A-ah that’s… ah…” I hesitated a moment, before deepening my voice, trying to remember how I sounded in old recordings. “It’s me, Mom. I’m just… uh… I have a stuffed nose?”

“Are you getting sick?” she asked - and wow did the genuine concern in her voice make me feel like shit. “It’s that diet of yours, I swear - all that ramen and those frozen burritos… it can’t be good for you.”

“I’m fine, Mom,” I promised. “Just a lot of pollen in the air.”

“But you never get seasonal allergies,” Mom pointed out. “Are you really doing okay? If there’s something wrong, you can tell me you know.”

“I uh… I’m fine… really.”

“Are you sure?” she pressed. “You never called last weekend - usually we call every Sunday, but you were just silent. I’ve been worried about you.”

 “I’m fine,” I insisted, forcing myself to smile - despite knowing full well that she couldn’t even see it. “I’ve just been busy…”

“Is it a girl?” Mom asked. “Have you started dating? You know you can tell me if you have, right? Though you really shouldn’t allow her to come in the way of family talks. I’m sure she’d understand if you told her that you needed some time to-”

“It’s not a girl, Mom,” I interrupted. It was actually a lot of girls. “I’m just… dealing with a lot right now.”

“You know you can talk to me about anything, don’t you?” Mom asked. “Whatever you need, I’ll always support you - and so will your Dad. Isn’t that right, Rodger?”

I heard a muffled response coming from the other side of the phone - too distant to make out properly, but I could guess that it was Dad agreeing.

“I…” I hesitated. I wanted to say that I didn’t think they could help with this - but I wasn’t sure how to even begin explaining what all this was. Would Mom even believe me, without proof? Would she accept me, now that I was all goo - the theoretical enemy of mankind?

“I’m trans.” The words slipped out before I could stop them - an alternative to everything I couldn’t say, and yet something I wasn’t really sure I’d been ready to share. And yet I’d felt the need to say something, so… “I think I’m a girl.”

There was silence for a long moment on the other end. Then: “I… I see… I think… I think I need to go…”

“Mom-” I started, only to stop again. Because what was there to even say to that? What could I say to that?

“I mean, we’re going to need to rework your entire lifeplan… I have so much research to do… are you still into girls, honey? It’s fine if you aren’t - or if you’re into both - but we need to plan accordingly. I honestly think you’d be more fitting as the woman in a lesbian relationship - so to speak - so it might be a good idea for you to learn housecleaning and such now that you’re heading down that path…”

“Mom?” I squeaked out.

“Of course, I suppose it’s the same if you like guys, isn’t it? So the real question is if you want to try and be the breadwinner in any future relationship, I suppose… Ah, and if you are into women still, you might want to consult with Clarissa, dear - she’s got a lot more experience being a lesbian than you, so I’m sure she’ll have plenty to say.”

“Mom?” I repeated.

“Guys or girls, dear? Unless you need time to settle that question, still, in which case-”

“I-I like girls, Mom!” I all but yelled into the phone, my cheeks turning bright red. “Only girls.”

“Good - good… I have some experience with raising a lesbian, thanks to how often your friend Clarissa was over, but I’ll still need to do some research… Honestly, I’ve always been afraid to overstep with Clarissa, but I do hope you aren’t planning to go as butch as her.”

“I… I don’t think Clarissa’s butch, Mom?”

“But she’s always the one hitting on girls, isn’t she? You don’t have that kind of initiative - honestly, you should go as femme as possible and hope a nice girl takes interest in you, I think.”

“Mom! I can… I can ask girls out…”

“If you say so, Honey… Have you picked a new name yet, by the way? I’ve always been partial to Maxine, myself”

“I… I went with Olivia,” I admitted.

“Oh, but that name doesn’t even have any semblance of your old name in it,” Mom complained.

“It’s… that’s on purpose, Mom. I don’t think I want to constantly be thinking of my… my dead name…”

“Well, if you’re sure, Honey… Olivia… Darling, our daughter has gone with the name Olivia! Isn’t that exciting?”

Another muffled response came across the phone, still too faint for me to hear.

“Oh, I suppose I’d best go explain what’s going on to your Father, dear - call me back before you go to bed tonight, you hear? We can have a nice chat as a family about what this means for you.”

“I… Yeah, Mom,” I agreed, somewhat reluctantly. I knew Mom meant well, but she could be… a lot.

“Goodbye, darling!”

“Goodbye-” I started to say - but the phone had already beeped, and she was already gone. 

Tough call, huh? Chrys asked me.

“As if you didn’t already know,” I replied, rolling my eyes as I pocketed my phone. Not that my current outfit had even had pockets a moment ago - but that was the advantage of it being made of slime.

As for where the phone had been previously, and where I’d pulled it out from… Well, it was best not to question that stuff. I still didn’t know if I was digesting it and recreating it or just storing it in some sorta weird pocket dimension. I just sorta reached into a pocket - which again, hadn’t existed before I thought of it - and took it out, and it was there. Just like how it was now back wherever it went when I wasn’t using it.

Well, it’s polite to at least pretend I wasn’t listening in, right? Even though I physically can’t help it.

“What? You can’t even go into low power mode to prevent listening?”

I mean, I could but I’d still be passively hearing everything, even if I wasn’t fully processing it.

“As expected of the corporate spy that lives inside my head, I guess…”

Technically, I live in a sorta metaphysical space next to your heart, but I’m guessing that doesn’t help any?

“Not one bit,” I replied. Still, I was smiling. It felt nice to get into familiar, friendly banter - a pleasant relief after feeling like my heart was taking a literal beating during that conversation with my mom.

“So, I guess I should get back to the others, huh?” I muttered. Red had been kind enough to let me borrow her room for a bit while I talked on the phone, but now that I was done I was starting to wonder if I’d maybe made a mistake by leaving Red Heart alone with Rachel.

Before you do, I wanted to ask you something, Chrys said. What do you intend to do with Red Heart?

“What do you mean?” I asked. “We already talked about that, didn’t we? She’s going to help us take down and corrupt the other magical girls before they can call a meeting.”

I mean, sure - but what about after that? Chrys pressed. Are you planning to just hole up with three corrupted magical girls and hope nobody notices?

“What are you saying?” I asked, getting a little nervous.

I’m saying that taking care of these magical girls is only a temporary solution. Eventually, it’s going to come out that the magical girls in this area have stopped doing their work. More magical girls will be sent to investigate. The truth will come out.

“Then… what if we have them keep doing their work?” I suggested. “Keep fighting the ooze?”

That might work for a while, Chrys admitted, but there’s still the matter of the publicity you’ve been gathering… not to mention the question of whether they’ll be able to keep using their magic for long after you free them.

“Wh-what do you mean?” I asked. “I told you, we aren’t taking their crystals.”

It’s not about whether or not they have crystals - it’s about where their power comes from. Repressed lust, remember? If Red can’t keep her lusts bottled up, she’ll lose her source of magic power.

“Then… then can’t she just switch to tribute? Like me?”

In theory, maybe - but I’ve got no idea in hell how to make the switch. We crystals aren’t programmed with that particular bit of magical know-how, and I don’t think anyone on your world will know better. Maybe if you altered their bodies to be more like you, and the ooze, it would work? Or you could let them siphon power off of you - make yourself their warlock patron, so to speak.

“Me? Uh, I’m not sure if you’ve noticed Chrys, but it’s been all I can do to keep these girls from kicking my butt. There’s no way I’m strong enough to actually empower  them!”

Not yet you aren’t, Chrys agreed, but I’m not sure there’s a cap on the level of power you can absorb. If enough people start lusting after you,  and you grow strong enough to feed over larger distances… Well, maybe it’s not just a pipe dream for you to be the leader of your own magical girl squad one day.

“My own… magical girl squad…?” I asked. What would I call them? What would our theme be? And most importantly of all - what sort of outfits would we even be wearing!? If we were all powered by lust - or, well, I guess they were powered by people lusting after me actually, so maybe they should be chaste so as to make me stand out more? In which case I’d be the only one wearing lewd… 

“No way!” I shouted.

Really? Chrys asked. I thought you’d be into the idea.

“That’s… I mean… This is just future talk, anyway! There’s no way I’m strong enough to do anything of that sort right now, and if I try to get that strong the other magical girls will definitely find out about me!”

Yup, Chrys confirmed. Which is why you’re going to need to make a choice - rely on the magical girls to do their jobs, and keep their own lusts at bay, win over their crystals and get them to keep repressing the girls’ lusts even after you corrupt them, or figure out a way to grow strong enough that you can power up the magical girls all on your own.

“And do you any actual ideas on how I can get that strong?” I asked. “Because short of flooding the internet with news of my presence, I’ve got nothing.”

That’s exactly what we’re going to do, Chrys declared. Through a massive magical battle with you and the other girls! We’ll make you look like a threat worthy of being careful around - someone the other magical girls won’t dare to attack right away! And while they hesitate, you’ll be growing stronger.

“Wait a second! Shouldn’t we be going about this more stealthily?”

Go big or go kablooey, Olivia! If those magical girls get their hands on us, we’re finished - especially now that we’ve revealed we can corrupt them, there’s no way they’ll let us live. They’ll dismantle us both completely.

“But surely if we can get the truth out about magical girls, about what the crystals are doing-”

Do you think the crystals will let them process the truth? Chrys asked. Even if you can reveal it, the crystals will make absolutely sure those girls see you as the true enemy. They’ll come for you eventually, one way or another. The only question is what you intend to do about it.

“That’s…” I hesitated. “I don’t know?”

Then I suggest you think on it… after your little slumber party, that is. You can’t think through your future when you’re tired, after all!

“Yeah… I guess…” But how was I supposed to sleep after a conversation like that?

~~~Author's Notes

Well, I finally finished chapter 31.... which means my day off officially starts Now. No more writing until Thursday morning! (At which point I hope to get you another chapter of My Own Villainess! I already have the start of volume 2's first chapter plotted out. c: )

I'll be honest, though - I'm less than confident in my ability to get the voices right in this chapter... I'm a bit sleep deprived, you see, and sorta splitting writing duty with my headmate Katrice besides... so let me know what you think, I guess? Worse comes to worst I edit it a bit Thurs/Fri