A Nymph in the Night

She let out a long breath and the flash of bitterness that passed across her eyes left with it.

"I don't like punching down -- not when there's so many people out there who deserve to choke on a rusty bollard. And I think far too highly of tits to ever want to stick 'em on someone who won't appreciate them properly. And so I found a loophole."

She pulled out her cellphone and started swiping through stuff while she talked.

"I was hired to cause strife in mortals by plying my nymphic charms -- to wile and seduce my way into sparking a little more discord in the world with every house call I make -- and you know what? That is exactly what I do. The trick is: it isn't you girls that I'm causing strife for. It's this dude."

She flipped the phone around and thrust it at me. There was an avatar of a Roman marble bust on the screen beside a Twitter profile approximately 40% dog whistles by volume. I skimmed the text distastefully.

Culture warrior, modern philosopher, gender realist. Will not be 'cancelled'. I grimaced. "This dude in particular?"

"Well, him and a thousand others just like him -- you know the type." She pocketed the phone again. "Wanna know what really gets under the skin of people like this? Makes them gnash their teeth and write embarrassing diatribes at 4 in the morning? Women just like you. Women full of life and happiness and vibrancy in what they are. Woman more alive than they'll ever be." She snickered darkly. "Women who'll never ever want to fuck them."

"...so you fly around performing magical HRT because it makes transphobes angry?"

"Who doesn't love making transphobes angry?"

"People like him being angry gets people like me killed."

"People like him are going to lose, Alecia. Some year soon, woman like you will outnumber them 100,000 to 1 -- you'll be everywhere, in every walk of life, and there'll be nothing they can do to stop it. There's a culture war, alright, and I wanna make sure they lose it -- one liberated cutie at a time. Management may not give a satyr's hoof which people are at each other's throats, but I do. And I'm not alone. Aaaaaand as a backup plan," she demurred, spinning around on one foot, "there's always the filing clerks."

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, sweetie, do you have any idea how much paperwork I've fucked up for people out there tonight? Census bureaus, actuaries, the DMV, Equifax. A human life leaves a pretty long paper trail these days. Little tiny discords, scattered all across the globe." She wiggled her fingers like smoke drifting through the air. "Fun fact: there's a county in Iowa that once found so many gender errors in their records in the span of a single week that they rebuilt the whole thing from scratch. $40,000 down the drain on account of: too many hot girl." She swivelled both fingers around to point at her smug little face. "My fault."

I'd probably have been in awe if a different sinking feeling had not come over me while she talked. Even if I did get to keep this body... "Oh god, I'm going to be filing name change forms forever."

"Not unless you're feeling indecisive." The incorrigible fairy flashed fangs at me. "I had a script ready to fire off as soon as you gave me your new name. So as far as the government is concerned, as of about... 40 minutes ago, you were always a girl."

"You hacked the SSA!?"

"I'm proactive."

I just stared at her -- for a moment, too dumbstruck to even remember to be upset. And then my eyes slowly drifted down to the floor again.

I wanted so badly to believe what she'd said -- not just because I couldn't bear to lose what she'd given me, but because after being so intimate and vulnerable with someone for that many hours, it hurt to think I could have misjudged her so completely. I liked her -- frankly, I was in awe of her. Was I just a patsy who'd fallen for a monkey's paw with better curves?

"If you still don't feel you can trust me right now, I won't hold it against you." Kalysta's voice sounded oddly soft -- almost apologetic. I wondered if I was reading too much into it. "Either way, I'm going to fly out that door in a few moments and you're going to fall back to sleep and when you wake up tomorrow to the weight of your breasts upon your chest, you'll get to discover for yourself what Alecia Winters' life looks like. I just hope you'll make it a gay one." She winked at me. "I've got a reputation to keep, y'know."

"I..."

I felt my response die in my throat. Surely only a fool placed their trust in a literal agent of discord.

"I promise I'll be the gayest girl you've ever banged."

Apparently I was that sort of a fool -- no, I was making the choice to be that sort of a fool for her. And I refused to regret it. I wrapped my arms around the fairy and squeezed so tight it almost hurt. "Thank you for everything."

"Thank you, Alecia," she replied, squeezing back just as tight. "For being a true sweetheart and a great lay and for, well... for being willing to believe I'm not my boss. Not everyone does, y'know." There was a strange wistfulness in her smile. I couldn't help but press my lips against it.

"But you're still leaving," I said as I pulled away from the kiss.

She nodded quietly.

"Will I... ever see you again?"

"I'm afraid not, kitten. It's a big world out there; whole lotta eggs to crack. And I'm on a quota system."

I clutched the fairy's ass possessively and squeezed, like I was trying to imprint the feel of it on my fingertips. Kalysta just smiled gently and tousled my hair.

"There'll be other asses, girl. I mean, none of 'em will be this incredible, but I think you can make it up in volume; I've got faith in you. Plus next time, you get to top."

She tapped me on the nose, then turned around and slowly sauntered over to my balcony door. I watched her leave with a strange detachment in my soul. She'd come into my life so abruptly and was leaving again just as quick -- it almost seemed like a dream. But could a dream feel more real than the reality which preceded it? I'd spent just a few short hours in her company and yet I knew it might take years to fully process what had transpired tonight.

I watched her slide the door open. The night breeze made the her hair flutter wildly.

"I'll never forget you!" I cried suddenly.

The fairy just laughed. "You better not! I'm the best thing that's ever happened to you! But in case you're ever feeling sentimental, lemme leave you with a little memento of our time together."

That familiar little smirk tugged at the corner of Kalysta's mouth as she twirled something around her finger and then tossed it at me. I stepped forward to catch it and felt it squelch softly in my grip.

"Satin-Lycra blend, infused with 100% naturally-sourced nymph cum," she chirped. "Yours to use in whatever perverse masturbatory fashion you desire. Or, y'know, to wear. I bet you'd look cute in them!"

"There's no way my dick is ever going to fit inside your panties."

"Oh, like the head of a girl's cock peeking out the top of her waistband isn't cute." She stuck out her tongue at me and I couldn't help but laugh.

This felt like a more appropriate send-off for the irrepressible gay whirlwind that she was -- something raunchy and off-the-cuff instead of mournful contemplation. I smiled from the bottom of my heart.

"Best of luck out there," I said, holding her gift against my chest.

"Girl, I make my own luck," she replied, then stepped out onto the balcony and spread her wings. "Antío!"

And then with a single bound over the railing, she was gone into the night. I watched the sky for a few minutes after she left, imagining that some speck of cloud or another might be her, but I never saw the nymph again after that. Eventually it got too cold to stay outside and I walked back into my apartment and closed the door behind me.

"What is Alecia Winters' life going to look like?" I wondered as I flopped back onto my bed and pulled the blankets up around me, still clutching Kalysta's panties in my hand.

"I guess tomorrow I get to find out. One little choice at a time."

I was asleep before I even let them go.