Autumn Wind Pt. 02

"Who, me?" Holly grinned as her skin turned a vibrant red and subtle horns and a not-so-subtle tail sprouted from her body for a moment before disappearing.

"Would you mind helping me fall asleep again? I'd like to wake up with Samantha."

"Of course, hon." Said the AI. "But you two can't sleep for long. Most of the day's gone."

"That's okay," said Autumn between yawns, "we've got all week."

And then she fell asleep.

Chapter 22: The PHOTOSHOOT

Autumn woke slowly to the sound of Emily King's Off Center playing on the TV and the harsh streams of late-afternoon light forcing their way into the room and casting hard shadows against the walls. Her pillow moved underneath her cheek and a sleepy grin came over her face.

"Good morning, Girlfriend." Said Samantha, her fingers rubbing soothingly at Autumn's ear.

"Good afternoon." She murmured, nuzzling her nose against Samantha's boob and playfully biting at her hidden nipple. The responding squeal told Autumn she'd found her mark. There was a soft smack on her shoulder that told her it was time to get up and get moving, but it was hard to do anything when she sat up. Why?

Because the golden hour lighting made Samantha look like a goddess.

"Don't move an inch," called Autumn, already tripping over her own feet to get off the couch and to her camera. Samantha called something behind her, but she didn't pay attention. There was art to be made, and she'd just found her first muse.

Three minutes later she returned to the room, looking around and mumbling some unintelligible ramblings about shutter speeds and F-stops that Samantha found unerringly adorable.

"Should I—" but she was cut off by a faux-angry scowl and a single finger.

"I said not a fucking inch, Samantha." Then she raised her camera and Samantha heard a few clicks as Autumn took some test photos to preview exposure and depth of focus. A moment later she spoke. "Okay, that'll work. My battery's almost dead so we've gotta be quick."

"Some professional you—"

"Fucking. Inch."

Samantha sighed loudly, though she found the entire situation stimulating. Nobody had ever made her feel like a model before, but she could imagine walking down a runway with the energy Autumn was creating in this room. And it didn't help her heart rate any that Autumn looked amazing as she worked her way toward her from across the room, snapping off shot after shot while directing her eyes with a finger held away from her and a nonstop rambling of instructions.

"...And now at the TV. Stretch out that neck for me. You're on a date and you feel my damp breath along your clavicle and you want to give it to me. That's right, right there. Now smile. Think about your next birthday and how we're going to— no, not that. Stop. Think about the lights and the decorations and how happy you'll be. There it is, let the smile reach your eyes, Samantha. We're thinking back on happy moments, wistful times locked away in memories. There we go. Now look into the lens for me, sweeheart, will you? Look past the lens and past me and... wait, don't cry. Samantha?"

Autumn was mere feet away, probably within arms' reach, when she stopped her approach. Concern colored her features and entered her voice as she dropped the camera down on the strap and hurried forward, but Samantha's hand stopped her.

"It's okay." She said, wiping her face with her other hand. "You're just so..."

"Oh, no." Autumn deflated. "I'm so sorry, I was just trying to capture the light. I didn't mean to swear. I know I can get—"

"No!" Samantha shook her head. "No, you were amazing. That's all. You make me feel..." she cleared her throat. "You make me feel important. And I don't know if I deserve you."

That stopped Autumn in her tracks for a moment before her hard eyes locked onto Samantha's. There was something that passed there. Something final, before she said, "No, you probably don't." Then she took her camera strap off from around her head and tried to sit against the armchair's arm, only to settle for leaning against it. "But if there's something I know, it's that I don't deserve you. You've given me something I never could have asked for, and never would have had if not for you."

Samantha rubbed her nose and asked, "What do you mean?"

So Autumn took a deep breath and told Samantha what had happened while they were asleep. She didn't tell her about the ocean of darkness, or about the pool by the field of fireflies, but she told her about how Holly helped save her by letting her communicate with herself and be true to herself in a new way. A way that she'd desperately needed. She told Samantha that she didn't know if she was trans, but that she did think that she was female, and how thankful she was that she now had the chance to live out that life because of her.

"And so I'm going to need your help, Samantha. I'm on new footing here, and I don't really know where to go now." Her voice cracked as she finished. "Holly mentioned some of the things I'm going to have to deal with, and some of them sounded really hard and I'm not sure I can do it alone and—'

Samantha cut her off with a strong embrace that cracked a few of Autumn's vertebrae before she lessened her grasp. "I'll be here, with you and for you, Autumn. I promise."

And they held each other there for a few more moments before Samantha spoke again. "You know what we need to do first?"

"What?" Autumn tried to dry her cheek on her sweater, but her shoulder was soaked.

"We need to celebrate." Samantha stepped back and held her at arms' length. "We're going to the mall and then we're going to my favorite pub. And we're going right now."

All Autumn could do was stare.

"What?" Samantha stepped back.

"Nothing! It's just that you're a fucking giant."

Samantha laughed. "I'm not sure. Maybe you're just tiny now, Girlfriend." And she went to pat Autumn's head, only to get her hand swatted away.

"Don't you dare." She stuck her tongue out at the taller girl. "You have to be nice to me, remember?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. We'll play it by ear, okay?" All she got from Autumn was a glare. "Ugh, fine. I'll be nice tonight, okay? But the way I see it," she stepped forward and poked Autumn in the sternum jokingly, "you've got a lot to learn about being a girl and only a week off from work."

"But I don't have a lot to learn about work! I can do this just fine." She motioned to her camera on the table.

"Oh, I can tell. But also, maybe learn to tone it down if you don't want whoever it is you're... photo-ing—"

"Just say 'shooting'."

"—to jump your sexy ass on the spot."

"Fine." Autumn stuck her tongue out again, grabbed her camera and left the room.

"Wear something sexy!"

"Bite me!"

"Maybe later..." Samantha smirked as Holly shook her head next to her. The AI had been watching the exchange quietly, only visible to her. Samantha turned to her. "She's going to be okay?"

"She's going to be spectacular, if you don't fuck this up."

"Yeah," she sighed, "that sounds about right. Well, let's go to the mall. And, Holly?"

"Yes, Mistress?" the AI laid her sarcasm down thick.

"I think I have Autumn's new rule for tomorrow." And she shared it with her discretely.

Holly rubbed her hands together and cackled. "Ooh, that is going to be fun."

Samantha nodded and left to her room to get dressed and maybe try and work up the courage to tell Autumn how she really felt about her. "Can you get the car warmed up?"

"Sure thing!" Holly disappeared in a cloud of ones and zeros behind Samantha as she mentally pieced together a quick going-out outfit of dark blue jeans and a low-cut, sleeveless red blouse she could tuck in. Paired with the ensemble was a pair of wedges and a deep necklace to accentuate her height and long neck. Tonight was not a night for subtleties. It was a night for emphasis.

She returned to the living room minutes later to find Autumn wearing a white tank top and a bright, pink skirt that stopped considerably higher than her knees. White, two-inch heels were strapped to her feet and Holly had helped put her hair up in a tight purple bun. She looked absolutely stunning, and she did a horrible job of hiding her blush when she caught Samantha's hungry eye.

"Are you ready to go?"

Samantha stepped forward and fingered at the thin, white-leather strap of Autumn's purse that draped over her shoulder with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" the shorter girl shrugged self-consciously. "You made me like girly things for the day. And now I like this look."

"I didn't make you like girly things for the day. I just made you like girly things."

"Nope," Autumn grinned and reached for the door, "this is part of your payment to me. You have to remove these modifications tomorrow."

Samantha kept her stare up for several moments longer than she thought she could have before looking away with a mental sigh of resignation. "Fine. But there'll be more changes tomorrow— just you wait." And she walked through the door out into the brisk evening air.

"I'm sure there will be," Autumn whispered so that Samantha couldn't hear as they got into her car, "and I can't wait."

Samantha heard her, though, and smiled as she started the engine. Neither can I.

Chapter 23: The MALL P1

"So what exactly are we going shopping for?"

"What do you mean?" Said Samantha, tucking a loose strand of windswept hair behind her ear. A soft breeze coming in from Autumn's open window stirred through the car, disrupting little things like that and causing her collar to flap up against her neck. The weather was chilly in the shade, but for the rest of the afternoon the sun offered them plenty of warmth. It'd be chilly after the pub, but for the next few hours they were both intent upon enjoying what warmth the year had yet to offer.

Autumn fiddled with the radio and the glove compartment, pulling out one of a half-dozen lollipops from within. "I mean, Holly can just make all of my clothes, right? So why go shopping for them?"

Samantha pursed her lips and nodded thoughtfully as she made a turn onto the freeway. "That's true. But clothes are important to a lot of women, as is makeup and all sorts of the little intricacies we tend to love. We're not going clothes shopping just so you'll have clothes to wear. We're going shopping for the experience.

"And when you go into work, you'll have conversations with people. Especially if you're shooting another red carpet or something like that. You'll talk about clothes and about makeup and if you have no experience and simply rely upon an AI to do all the work for you, you're going to raise some eyebrows."

"Point taken." Autumn said with a small sigh. "I've got a lot to catch up on."

"Maybe." Samantha offered a reassuring smile before sparing a casual glance at her outfit. "Maybe not. You've certainly got the fashion part down, if not the specifics."

"Thanks. I'm starting to worry about all of this, honestly."

"Well, don't."

The sternness in Samantha's voice caught Autumn off guard.

"Ethan, you are a wonderful man, but it didn't take an AI for me to realize what your problem was." Her voice softened as she looked over to the girl in her passenger seat. "No, it's not like I thought you were painting your nails and looking for guys on the weekend, but I could just... tell. You weren't happy. There was something missing from your life, you even said so in your letters. And then when I saw you, 'Ethan' wasn't the name I felt when I looked at you." She shrugged self-consciously. "It was 'Autumn'."

Autumn blinked. "Oh, my God. My name. You came up with my name?"

"...Kinda? Yeah. But even Holly said it felt right."

A voice from the backseat piped up. "As an AI who's literally only days old I don't think I can be held responsible for my opinions."

Autumn laughed. She wasn't mad, though. How could she be? Autumn... The name felt... right. But not like it came from outside, like how she liked pink and girly fashions right now. It felt like her.

"Well, thank you. I love it. It's perfect." Autumn smiled and carefully leaned over to plant a little kiss on her cheek, laughing when she blushed and shooed her away. "But, come to think of it..."

"Uh-oh. What now?" Samantha grumbled, turning off the freeway to wait at a light. They were almost to the mall.

"You have been making some considerable changes to me without my knowledge, and—"

"Uh-huh!" Samantha shook her head. "You agreed to the terms last night."

"I did," she held up a finger to stall any more arguments, "but I don't think you've been following those terms." She waited for Samantha to say something, but she kept quiet. "I lost the wars, that's true, which meant that you could give me either a change that I wasn't aware of, or you could give me a long-term change that I was made aware of. See what I'm getting at, here?"

"That sounds right to me." Said Holly, who peeked her head up from the backseat. She still looked like the waitress, Maria.

I've got to come up with a different way for her to look, thought Autumn.

Samantha shrugged. "What's the big deal? Your first change was that you'd turn more and more feminine every time I orgasmed—"

"Ooh, that was clever."

"Thank you."

"But because I didn't know about it, it shouldn't have been long-term. Except it was."

Samantha started to speak, but was cut off.

"Not only that, but you also get to make a new rule for me every day, which seem to be long-term, even though you haven't told me what your 'rules' are. Holly, does that sound like Samantha honored the terms of our deal to you?"

"No, it doesn't."

Samantha didn't like where this was going.

"So I think that it's about time you paid up." Autumn grinned mischievously, reaching into the glove compartment and grabbing another lollipop as Samantha pulled into a parking space.

The taller girl looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "What do you mean, 'pay up'?"

Autumn looked to Holly, who said, "As the impartial judge of your game of War, I hereby rule that you must tell Autumn the changes you made to her, and that she gets to make two changes of her own—"

Autumn pumped her fists in the air while Samantha's jaw dropped. "No fucking way!"

"—but only short-term ones." She held up a finger. "And we're in public, so be careful."

Samantha was about to say something when she paused. The last day had been incredible for her, but for Autumn it had been literally life-changing. What Autumn had said about being worried came back to her, and Samantha made a decision. If she could offer Autumn a little distraction and some fun, maybe she'd worry less.

She met the smaller girl's eye and stuck her tongue out. She doesn't have to know I'm enjoying this. "Lay it on me, Girlfriend."

Autumn met her stuck-out tongue with a glare that Samantha quickly decided was her favorite thing in the world. "First, I want to know the changes you made to me."

Samantha bit her lip and racked her brain. "Your tits are larger, and your lips are more sensitive..." Autumn nodded as she continued, "your obviously a woman now. Which, by the way, shouldn't count against me since you ended up liking it."

"Nope, keep going."

"Ugh. Your name is Autumn and you like pink little girly things." She fingered the hem of Autumn's skirt as she said it. "Aaand... I think that's it."

Autumn glared again, and Samantha decided that it was in fact her favorite thing in the world. "What about the rules you're making for the rest of the week?"

It was Holly who spoke up. "Those haven't happened yet, so she doesn't have to share anything."

"Fine." Autumn resigned herself to her turbulent future and opened the door, stepping out of the car. A little breeze came by and she was suddenly made distinctly aware that she was wearing a skirt as it flitted up her thighs and gave a passing car a glimpse of her toned legs and the curve of her ass.

Samantha smiled as she watched Autumn wrestle with her clothing, balancing in her heels as she reached back in for her bag. God, you're adorable, Ethan. She didn't think the name out of disrespect toward Autumn at all, but rather because she found herself talking to him in her head. He was a very good friend, after all, and though he hadn't gone anywhere, Autumn was also not exactly him. She loved the girl in front of her, and loved the memory of friendship and of who she used to be as well, and she thought that was okay.

"Need any help there, Marilyn?"

Autumn walked over and looked up at her with another glare before they started walking toward the large building in front of them. The mall wasn't the largest either of them had ever seen, but it was respectable. A small cedar on a raised display marked the entrance a family entered through the main doors behind it. As they approached Autumn asked, "So, Holly, do I need to tell Samantha what her changes are going to be for the night?"

Before Holly could respond Samantha thought quickly to her, "Tell her no!"

"Nope." The AI responded without missing a beat.

Autumn whirled on Samantha, making her skirt flit up again. "Ha!" she laughed, "You scared, yet?"

"Not one bit." Samantha stuck her tongue out as Holly discretely asked her why she'd made the request. "Tonight's her night, Holly. I want it to be special, and 'special' is in the little things."

"Well, you should be. It's a doozy." Autumn smiled and turned to face the doors before she froze. Standing in the reflection coming off of the glassy surface was a girl in her twenties dressed in a pink skirt that showed off the little tear drops just above her knees. Short, white heels had the short girl standing taller and added more definition to the muscles on her thighs and the curve of her ass. A simple white tank teased at the large breasts hidden beneath, though its high neck hid any cleavage. Her short purple hair was held back in a bun, as if trying its hardest not to conceal her face. Perfect makeup accentuated her features, drawing attention to her plump, full lips and her cute nose.

Autumn saw all this at once and her heart jumped in her chest. That was her there, standing in the reflection. That. Was. Her. That drop dead gorgeous girl wasn't somebody else. Those lips weren't somebody else's. That thigh muscle that flexed as she approached the reflection in a daze belonged to her, as did the way her hips swayed to make up for walking in heals.

"That's me." She whispered as a second reflection approached behind and wrapped its arms around her.

"That's you."

"I'm beautiful."

"You are."

Autumn felt a tear come to her eye and her heart started racing. This was so right. She was supposed to be here like this with Samantha. But then when she looked at those doors again, she no longer saw her reflection. She saw that she was about to make her first foray into public as herself and it began to scare the shit out of her. It was the first time the world would see her for who she was, and when she realized that her stomach jumped into her throat. She turned around, starting to protest but Samantha cut her off, her finger on her lips and a loving smile on her lips.

"I know. It's a big first step, Autumn. But it's not a step you're taking alone, okay? I'm right here." And then she held her, and Autumn didn't feel afraid anymore.

A moment later, Autumn nodded. "Okay, I'm ready." She felt a kiss on the top of her head and then she turned around to face the door, eyeing her reflection once again. "You know what?"

"What?" Samantha grinned, leaning on one hip as she waited patiently.

"I look fucking good." And then Autumn grabbed the door handle and opened it, holding it for Samantha, who laughed.