Bigger on the Inside (Zarko)

PunkPrince

...bees.
Original poster
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  1. Speed of Light
  2. Multiple posts per day
  3. 1-3 posts per day
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  2. Advanced
  3. Prestige
Preferred Character Gender
  1. Female
  2. Transgender
Genres
Real life
"Give that back!"
"I need it!"
"I need to finish putting the sequins on this–Ow! Damn it, Kasha, you burnt me!"
"It's a hot glue gun, what'd you think was gonna happen, idiot?"

Jupiter slinked out into the hallway from one of the bedrooms, and Eva could see that they were struggling to close a bra through their shirt. She stopped them and clipped it closed. "Better?"

Jupiter nodded, flashing the woman an appreciative smile before adjusting the silicone breast forms that rested in the bra. She knew that Jupiter longed for breasts and feminine curves, and they had talked to a few people about getting Jupiter on a low dose of estrogen, but so far, no luck. Eva and Kennedy did what they could for them. Jupiter pushed back their messy blonde hair and looked up the stairs.

"Fighting over a glue gun," they explained. "Kyra was trying to use it to put sequins on a dress, and I guess..." They shrugged and slipped out the front door. It wasn't unusual for the children to call each other by their drag names.

"Damn it," Kennedy growled softly. "Nothing can ever go smoothly in this house." She sighed and turned to yell up the stairs. "Boys! Come here, and for god's sake be nicer to each other. There are glue guns all over this house, there's no reason for you to be arguing over that one. One of you can borrow mine, if it matters that much."

Ronan bounded over to them, Hugo creeping along slowly after him. Hugo continued to stare at the floor and apologized softly. "I'm sorry." He didn't look up at either of them. Kennedy sighed and gave the smaller twin's shoulder a gentle squeeze. "It's okay," she said softly. "I'm sorry for shouting, honey, I'm just stressed about today. I just want things to go well. I don't want to freak them out with fighting. How would you feel if Eva and I had been fighting the first day you came to live with us?"

Hugo gave a small smile and Kennedy returned it as she slipped out the front door onto the wooden porch.

Busy. That was the perfect word to describe the last week. Scrambling to get everything perfect for the pair of twins coming to live with them. The second pair, actually. It was the similarities to Hugo and Ronan that had drawn Eva and Kennedy to these two. The repeated rejection, over and over again.

Originally, they had gone looking for a younger child, one they could raise together. But these two...they just couldn't leave them behind, in the state they were in. It was too much of what that had seen before. What Eva and Kennedy had endured, in some sense, and what their children had spent their lives in before finding them.

***

"They're here! Hurry up, Hugo!"

Kennedy turned and quickly moved to stand beside Eva again as their son scrambled to close the door behind him. He, as usual, stayed close to Kennedy and his brother, standing between the two, looking anxious as ever. "I hope they like us," he said quietly as they watched the silver car pull into the driveway. Jupiter craned their neck to look at the pair as they climbed out of the car. Their feet shuffled slightly, resulting in the clicking of their high heeled shoes on the wooden porch.

Eva found herself praying that she wouldn't have to hear her birth name. Neither she nor Kennedy had been able to change their names legally as of yet. On everything legal, Eva was Eric and Kennedy was Keegan, and each time one of them had to hear it it felt like a slap in the face.

The social worker spoke as he reached them, apprehensiveness in his tone. "Hello, Eric," he greeted, spitting out the words in a tone normally reserved for something sick and vile. He looked back to the pair of twins. Well, this is Eric. He’s your new adoptive father. He and Keegan, both actually." He motioned to Kennedy. Eva flinched at the near forgotten name. She felt Kennedy gently squeeze her arm. She didn't have to look at the other woman to know that anger had begun to flare up in her eyes. "I believe the woman who approved you may have mentioned your..." he cleared his throat. "Hobby."

"Her name is Eva and she is their mother," Kennedy said, glaring at the social worker. "And my name is Kennedy. I believe we discussed this with you in the interview we had, and we told Marie too. Repeatedly."

"You could at least make an effort when you're standing on our front porch." That was Jupiter, blue eyes narrowing as they watched the man.

The social worker looked the teenager over disapprovingly. "You must be Kevin."

Jupiter ignored the use of their birth name and lifted their chin. They clearly had some sort of comeback to snap back with, but held their tongue, knowing that now wasn't the time to start a fight.

The social worker looked back to the twins. "Call me if things don't work out."

"I'm sure we'll be fine," Kennedy said coldly.

And then, the paperwork was done and the man gone off the porch. As he left, Kennedy turned to the pair. "I'm sorry about that," she said gently. "Nobody's mad at you. People like that just upset me." She paused and turned to Eva, who remained quiet and seemed slightly shaken. "Are you all right?" She directed the question to Jupiter as well.

"Fine," Jupiter said simply.

"I'm okay," Eva said. "I knew he'd do it. I just never really get used to it. But thank you." She gave her partner a small smile, and Kennedy reached up to move a piece of Eva's hair away from her face, leaning up to peck the taller woman on the cheek before turning back to the twins.

"But anyway, I think an honest introduction is in order. My name is Kennedy and this is Eva. This is Jupiter, Ronan, and Hugo."

"Hello," Jupiter greeted.

"Hi! Ronan chirped, sunny as ever. Hugo gave a small wave from where he stood, still trying to calm himself from the earlier tensions.
 
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"I've been thinking about something...since they locked me away from you," Signy said. The girls were standing together in a corner of the exercise yard at the Juvenile Hall, hoping to avoid the notice of the other kids. "We ought to have a name...for us." Elandren pondered the idea for a moment, and a smile spread across her face. Over the next few days, they cast about ideas, picked one, then tried different spellings in their alphabet and different sigil forms until they came up with a variant that looked coolest.

"Amy, Karen," a man said, calling them out of their Intro to Algebra class. Silently, they followed him and waited while their release paperwork was processed. Sitting in the back seat of the car, the girls held hands.

"We have to keep them not-hating us for as long as we can," Elandren said, failing to notice the social worker's scowl in the rear-view mirror. "It will be harder to run away in the...cold-days." We need a word for 'winter,' she thought. "We need time to--"

"This is America. Speak English," the man snapped. The girls shared a look, then remained silent for the rest of their ride. "You might wanna try being less creepy, you know. Could have something to do with why we have to keep placing you over and over again. On the other hand, maybe you two will fit right in with the Robins and Piane Family Circus. Any chance you wanna be boys when you grow up?" The girls shared a confused look, but said nothing. There wasn't any good answer for that, or any sensible reason for the question as far as the girls could tell. "Well, here we are," he said, sounding none too happy. Through the windshield, the girls could glimpse a huge, rambling house with a big open porch. "I can't believe they let these people adopt children," he muttered to himself.

At a distance, Signy and Elandren couldn't see anything especially horrible about their new family. The women and a daughter with short platinum-blond hair wore pretty dresses. A boy with a sort-of Mohawk, another in sweats, jeans, and a backwards baseball cap. All years older. Nervously, the girls climbed out of the car, eyes lowered. Closer now, Signy flicked her eyes up for a quick look, and felt a chill of fear. The dresses were really fancy, like movie stars. It occurred to her that a big house was also an expensive house. And they were arriving in filthy, salvaged clothes.

"Hello, Eric," the social worker said, his voice dripping with disgust. "Well, this is Eric. He’s your new adoptive father. He and Keegan, both actually." The girls' eyes flitted up, then side to side looking for the men he was talking to, and finding none. They did detect anger in one of the women though. Instinctively, Elandren moved to partially interpose herself between them and her sister, but without letting go of her hand.

"Her name is Eva and she is their mother," Kennedy said, glaring at the social worker. "And my name is Kennedy. I believe we discussed this with you in the interview we had, and we told Marie too. Repeatedly."

"You could at least make an effort when you're standing on our front porch." That was Jupiter, blue eyes narrowing as they watched the man.

The social worker looked the teenager over disapprovingly. "You must be Kevin."

Signy risked a closer glance at the daughter. She had a deepish voice, and with the short hair and narrow hips could have been a boy...maybe. But she had a fashion-model face Signy didn't dare look at long enough for her gaze to be noticed.

The man turned back to the Twins, drawing their attention back to him. "Call me if things don't work out," he said. Quizzical looks from the girls. 1) As if they had phones to call him with. 2) As if women with male paper-names or men who made themselves into women or whatever was going on here, was, by itself, anywhere within radar range of the worst home they'd been in.

"I'm sure we'll be fine," Kennedy said coldly. The man had one of those boxy metal clipboard-things with papers in it, which he stiffly handed over to Kennedy for signatures. Pin-drop silence descended.

"Aus'ii ath Maata Emya'ii ili Djem'ni?" Signy said sotto voce. They have True Names like us?

"Ashi. Aus'ii a'maat khenti Djemni khepri en a'afiiu?" Elandren replied softly. Maybe. Will they really make us transform into boys?

"Ashi. Shi'uu...re-wasai re'ii." Maybe. Until...sun-stronger days.

Their new foster parents and the daughter (?) did not look happy as far as the girls could tell from tentative glances at their faces. Then, the paperwork was done, the social worker tromped off to his car...and they were alone with their next new foster family. Elandren gave Signy's hand a squeeze. We'll get through this. We always have.

As he left, Kennedy turned to the pair. "I'm sorry about that," she said gently. "Nobody's mad at you. People like that just upset me." Then she set about checking on the moods of the others, even stretching up to stroke Eva's hair aside and give her a kiss on the cheek. Elandren felt a positive energy between them. To Signy, the gesture qualified as cute, and it made her feel a little less scared. The family introduced themselves. Then the invisible spotlight shifted to Signy and Elandren, transfixing them with its glare. With all eyes on them, the girls lowered their gaze to the ground.

"I am Elandren. This is Signy," she said, moving aside a little to fully reveal her sister, but staying shoulder-to-shoulder with her, hands clasped. "We are Djem'nii. We don't want to be 'people like that'...whatever 'that' is. We will call you by your True Names...not your paper-names...if that's what he was doing. We are quiet. We do not cause trouble. We do not need much. We will stay out of sight when you want us to. I know that...Marie said we will be...difficult. We will try not to be. If you want...you will hardly know we are here."
 
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The pair spoke softly amongst themselves as Eva and Kennedy signed the paperwork. The language wasn’t one either of them could recognize, but Kennedy supposed it was just something for the pair of them. She chose not to ask about it.

The twins introduced themselves with names different from the ones on their paperwork. Marie had mentioned that to them when they had first seen the pair. Kennedy smiled as Elandren mentioned their names.

“Thank you,” she said. “We’ll call you whatever you want to be called as well. And you’ve only just got here. You don’t have to explain yourselves. And you don’t have to stay out of sight either. We’re not running a prison.”

Eva smiled at the pair before her. the second pair of twins to be brought into their home. They reminded her so much of the way Ronan and Hugo had been when she had first met them, though in a different way. She led them into the house, followed by the others. Ronan bounced cheerfully into the house. Jupiter strode inside with their chin held high, glancing behind them once, as though to make sure the car really was gone.

Hugo slinked through the doorway and anxiously glanced over his shoulder at Elandren and Signy. He didn't say anything, just offered a timid smile before skittering off up the stairs.

"He'll be back," Kennedy said as she heard the boy's bedroom door close. "He's just anxious. Probably went to calm himself down." Hugo frequently panicked at even the slightest little tiff. He had improved somewhat in the time he had spent with them, but was still terrified of even the slightest agitation.

"We thought," Eva started, her voice soft and quiet as ever, "that before we showed you your bedroom it might be best for you to get to know us a bit. So is there anything you want to ask us, or anything you want to say?"
 
The girls followed their new family into their house, looking around, trying to take it all in. The house was an elegant old Victorian, with arches and balustrades and sweeping staircases and dark paneling richly carved in Art Nouveau swirls. Elandren felt a tingle...of...was it...recognition? It was almost as if...as if they had entered a realm of myth and magic. The two women: faerie queens, obviously. Kennedy, Earth and Fire elements, she'd be the one to draw a sword and charge. Eva, Air and Water; she would hang back and dish out spells from a crystal scepter. The boy who bounded in (Elandren couldn't recall at the moment if he was Ronan or Hugo), he would be the Knight or the Swashbuckler. The one who slipped away? Why, the stealthy Rogue, of course. The last, Jupiter, despite a distinct lack of pointy ears, was impressively convincing as a High Elf.

She met her sister's eyes and saw what she knew her sister would be seeing in hers: the first fragile sliver of hope, of a feeling of...homecoming. It was almost like they'd found a special place where their Story somehow interpenetrated into Mean World; bent it, shaped it, to bring its mythical archetypes into at least partial manifestation in tangible, physical reality. And the possibility, however remote...that their Story might be about to have more than two creator-characters. Yet they were still a million miles away from being sure these people would want a Druid and an Artificer to join their party.

"He'll be back." Kennedy's words yanked them back to reality. They snapped their heads to face her, and listen carefully. "He's just anxious. Probably went to calm himself down." Signy felt a jolt of worry.

"We thought," Eva started, her voice soft and quiet as ever, "that before we showed you your bedroom it might be best for you to get to know us a bit. So is there anything you want to ask us, or anything you want to say?"

Djem'nii looked at each other nervously. What questions would be safe to ask? Signy was close to certain that none of the ones whirring around in her head, jostling for position to be the first one to jump out of her mouth would qualify.

"May we ask...what sort of things would make you hate us? So we can not do those things?" Elandren said.

"Oh," Signy said, looking up the staircase where Hugo had fled. "Could you please tell him sorry for us?" she said softly. Her British accent was a bit stronger than her sister's, though neither of them had ever been to Britain. All of her favorite shows were on BBC. Her favorite characters? The Doctor: British. Sherlock Holmes: British. Harry Potter (not so much the one from J.K. Rowling's best-selling book series, as the one from the most widely-read fanfiction thereof, Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, which featured a Harry who was a child genius raised by scientists): British. Hermione Granger (both canon and HPMoR): British. That, plus the nature of the Story and their roles in it just made it natural for the girls to speak in accents. "We don't mean to be creepy."
 
The room was silent for several seconds after Eva offered the pair a chance to ask questions. When one of them--Elandren--finally did speak, her heart practically broke. These two really did think that they were going to be sent away. They honestly thought that some insignificant slight might cause them to be thrown out, and all Eva wanted was to reassure them that they wouldn't be.

"Honey," she said gently, looking the pair directly in the face, "Nothing you could do would make us hate you. All we want is for you to be happy. Our only real rule is for you to be nice to one another and come to Kennedy or myself if you need something."

Signy was now looking up the stairs, the way Hugo had gone, and softly asked that Eva and Kennedy apologize to him for them. "You're not being creepy," Kennedy said. "There's no need for you to apologize to him. He isn't upset with you. He's always been timid, and that social worker was kind of an ass. Tense situations have always upset him. He panics when somebody talks too loud. He'll be okay once he's been alone for a bit."

"Why don't we go upstairs?" Kennedy suggested softly. "We can show you where your room is."

Kennedy led the way up the stairs, and she paused at the sight before her. One of Hugo's curly blonde wigs--part of it speckled with sequins--was moving up and down the hallway floor. Hugo stood completely still, like he was waiting for the right time to pounce. After a moment, the wig stopped moving and the boy snatched it up, a black and white spotted rat dangling from the end of it.

"Why are you like this, Ace?" he sighed, pulling the rat off the wig and sitting it on his shoulder. "I don't come into your house and take your things away when you're using them."

Eva chuckled softly at the scene before her. Hugo looked sheepishly over his shoulder and grinned before vanishing into his room again.

The group headed down the hall and Kennedy opened the door to the bedroom the twins were to share. "I'm sorry if it's not to your tastes," she apologized.

"We weren't exactly sure what you liked, so we couldn't really do much decorating," Eva added. "We can go out within the next couple days and pick out some things more to your liking, if you'd like."
 
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The girls followed Eva and Kennedy up the stairs, silently trying to process what they'd just heard. Both of their Too-Good-To-Be-True Detectors were pegged, hard. There had been plenty of times when people had said nice things to them, and not meant it. Especially beautiful people, like girls at school who would pretend to be friendly just long enough to lead them into some cruel trap.

Reaching the hall at the top of the stairs, they were confronted by a new wonder: a sparkling creature with golden fur? No, a wig with something sparkly on it, moving around under its own power. Curiosity and wonder on the girl's faces. Elandren was first to notice the tall form standing in the shadows, tensed to strike. She stuck out an arm to halt Signy and stepped out in front of her in a single, practiced motion. There was no fear in her expression, only a solemn resolve. She was already estimating how much pain and damage Hugo's lanky form might be able to dish out.

Signy knew what it meant when her sister suddenly appeared in front of her. By the same instantaneous reflex and before her sister even completed the move, she put a hand on Elandren's shoulder blade and snapped her head around to check the rear for escape routes and additional threats. A single press of her fingers: they could run.

The boy made his move. Elandren flinched, but did not budge. Horatius at the Sublician Bridge. Instead of sounds of violence, a gasp of surprise. "It's OK," she said softly, moving aside to reveal...the boy gently plucking a rat from the wig, its little appendages waving as it tried to cling to its former shelter.

"Why are you like this, Ace?" he sighed, placing it on his shoulder. "I don't come into your house and take your things away when you're using them." Both girls tilted their heads curiously. Why would a boy have such a wig? Not that there was anything wrong with it. To the contrary, it looked like the sort of thing one might find in a truly marvelous Dress-Up collection. Still, the girls had never known a boy who would not ridicule such a thing, or the collection of which it would be a part, much less own it himself, much less be unafraid to be seen with it! Eva gave a delicate chuckle, no hint of disapproval.

The boy grinned over his shoulder and disappeared into his room. The girls' eyes tracked to his door as they passed, expressions of wonder on their faces. They shared a look, an 'Are thinking what I'm thinking?' check. It was a moment of magical surprise, the sort of thing each girl strove to create for the other. Elandren, with a new feat of prestidigitation or some other trick of causing something unexpected and wonder-inducing to happen; Signy, through the creation of a whimsical contraption for her sister, or a treasure hunt, or setting up a secret hideout she could take her to and reveal by pulling off a blindfold. But this time, it hadn't been created by either of them, or even for them--it had just happened, as if magic could erupt spontaneously here whenever it chose.

Then Kennedy opened the door to their new bedroom, and Eva was talking about, of all things, "decorating," and saying other inexplicables, like an apology in case it "wasn't to their tastes," and an offer to go out and get things "more to their liking." That last bit had to be impossible, as it would likely cost money. Neither girl could picture Eva or Kennedy fishing through abandoned scrap piles and the like as a way to "pick out some things."

When the adults began talking, the girls automatically lowered their eyes. But then they stepped onto carpet, and it was time to look at their new room. They looked up, and their jaws dropped. They stared, and stared. Signy reached out a trembling hand and delicately touched the white frame of the chair closest to the door. It had a high, round back like a Tilt-A-Whirl, and looked to be an exquisitely perfect place to curl up in with a book. There was a matching chair on the other side, so both of them could curl up with books. She could feel the cool softness of its lacquered wood, and it didn't vanish. Everywhere they looked, there was beauty, and just enough Alice-in-Wonderland oddity to add an aura of magic.

Finally, they snapped out of it. There were adults in the room who would be expecting some kind of response. Still huddled together just inside the doorway, Djem'nii summoned their courage and looked up to meet the women's eyes with unbelieving expressions. Was there some trap, some terrible cost to all this, some catch or baited hook the women had in store?
 
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"We put you both in the same room for now," Eva said. "I hope that's all right. We just thought you might like to stay together, being in a new place and all. That's how Ronan and Hugo were, and they still haven't separated. I doubt they will."

"Of course not!" Ronan chirped. "Who else will I discuss costume ideas with at three in the morning?"

"Everyone else in the house," Jupiter said as they drifted up the stairs and off down the hall. "It's not like I sleep."

The twins appeared shocked at the room presented to them. Had they never had a decent bedroom to themselves before? It appeared not. Kennedy gave a small smile as eve gazed at the pair. “You don’t have to stare at me like that,” she chuckled. “It’s all yours.There are clothes for each of you in the closet if you'd like to change. A couple pairs of shoes too."

That was one of the things she had taken a lot of notice of. The holes in their shoes. She was glad they had thought to get a couple of pairs for each of the girls.

"We'll leave you to unpack and get yourself settled now," Kennedy said. "If there's anything specific you want for dinner, let one of us know. Eva's a pretty good cook, so she can whip up just about anything you'd like."

The pair disappeared down the hall together, and after several minutes, Hugo peeked into the doorway. "Um, hi," he said quietly. "Do you need any help unpacking?"
 
“You don’t have to stare at me like that,” Eva said with a chuckle. The girls immediately lowered their eyes. “It’s all yours.There are clothes for each of you in the closet if you'd like to change. A couple pairs of shoes too." The briefest glance at her face; no sign of anger.

"We'll leave you to unpack and get yourself settled now," Kennedy said. "If there's anything specific you want for dinner, let one of us know. Eva's a pretty good cook, so she can whip up just about anything you'd like." Before either girl could conjure a reply, the ladies left, and the Twins were alone. Suddenly, both girls burst into tears and threw their arms around each other, crying on each other's shoulders.

"We have to make them like us!" Elandren said. "This is the best home we'll ever, ever have!"

"We'll do our best."

"Even if they only like you, like
Mrs. Chadbury. It's OK this time. You don't have to--"

"No. If they don't like you, they don't like me. She said you don't have to hide.
'We're not running a prison.' The heart of Signy is Elandren."

"The heart of Elandren is Signy,"
Elandren said softly, squeezing her sister tight.

At the sound of another voice, the girls jolted apart and turned to face Hugo. For once, it was Signy who moved to partially interpose herself. She couldn't see any malice or...hunger in his eyes though. If anything, he seemed almost as nervous as they were.

"Uh..." Signy looked abashedly down at the half-full wastebasket bag she'd dropped to embrace Elandren. It contained all the 'unpacking' they would have to do. "Not really...but...could you stay? Can we ask questions?" Both girls knew how important it was to get along with a foster family's real children, if they wanted the parents to accept them. Even if the twin boys had come here the same way Djem'nii had, they'd been here longer; they'd made it. "He's not Ezekiel," she added sotto voce, for Elandren's benefit.
 
The boy shuffled into the bedroom. “Yeah,” he said. “I can stay.” He looked over at the pair and tentatively asked, "What do you think of them? Eva and Kennedy, I mean. I think they're kind of nervous. This is the first time they've gotten a kid the traditional way. Especially without meeting them first. We were all pretty much runaways they met in the bar they worked at and then adopted us officially. And now we live here."

"That's probably the most words I've ever heard you say in one go."

Jupiter stood in the doorway, Ronan peeking curiously around them. Hugo rolled his eyes as his sibling strode confidently into the room, Ronan watching from the doorway. "At least to somebody you don't know."

A light piano song drifted up the stairs. It had to be Eva. She was the only one who played. A skill her mother had struggled to teach her when she was young, after her death Eva had promised herself she would learn. And learn she had. She could sing too, but she did so far less often, shy about her skills.
 
"They're beautiful," the girls said in unison.

"You are too," Elandren added softly with a hint of sadness in her voice, eyes flicking briefly toward Jupiter. Beauty was something she treasured, but would always be out of her reach.

"You are," Signy confirmed, daring to smile for the first time. "You could be the High Elf Princess Elethondriel!" she blurted, concocting the name on the spot. Elandren paled, surreptitiously elbowing Signy. Despite the dress, despite the lovely features accentuated with makeup, despite even the bosom under the gown, with a paper-name like 'Kevin' (and Jupiter for a True Name--largest of the planets, king of the Roman pantheon, also known as Zeus, hyper-masculine archetype) there was some sort of chance that Jupiter was a boy. And to call any boy Elandren had ever encountered a 'High Elf Princess' was just about the worst possible insult one could ever level. For that matter, calling any 'him,' even a kinda-sorta 'him' 'beautiful' probably ranked rather high on that scale. She'd already seen that Jupiter had an arsenal of thunderbolts and wasn't afraid to use them.

Signy turned to Elandren, saw the look on her face, and realized she'd said something very, very wrong. Neither girl could utter an apology, or even decide if apologizing was the right thing to do. Deer-in-the-headlights expressions was the best they could manage.
 
Ronan smiled as the pair commented on how beautiful they thought Eva and Kennedy were. “You ought to tell them that,” he said. “I’m sure they’d be flattered to hear you say it.”

Jupiter blushed slightly as Elandren said she thought they were beautiful. “Thank you!” they blurted, their cheeks reddening more at their slight outburst. Their smile widened as Signy compared them to a high elf. “I like that!” they chirped. Jupiter had always liked elves, particularly the ones from Lord of the Rings. “I’ll have to do an elf related drag number sometime.”

They turned and looked at Elandren’s face then, confused by the utterly horrified expression on the younger girl’s face. “What’s wrong?” Jupiter asked. “Are you all right?”
 
Neither girl clued in as to what 'an elf-related drag number' might be, but a tide of relief came over them when they saw that Jupiter's reaction was positive.

"It's nothing," Elandren replied. "I was afraid you might be insulted because--" Oops. Elandren realized she'd just checkmated herself. Her mind scrambled like a panicked hamster pawing helplessly on the side of its cage, but could find no way to finish her sentence without plowing straight into the minefield of are-you-a-girl-or-a-boy. Signy's eyes widened when realization struck. Oooooooooh.

Elandren sucked in a deep breath and let it out raggedly. "Because...'Jupiter' is King of the Gods...and I was afraid you wouldn't want to be called an elf princess. But she meant it as a compliment, she really, really did!" Mission: Protect Signy. Elandren took a diagonal step away from Signy and closer to Jupiter. Be the more convenient target for wrath. "She even gave you a Story-name--" AAAAAAAAAUUUUUGH! she thought. "Nobody else gets Story names," she said in a tiny whisper.
 
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Jupiter raised an eyebrow as Elandren began to stutter. Out of all the reasons someone might have to think they might be offended by the compliment, their name was a pretty uncommon one. “Oh, don’t worry about that,” they said. “I’m flattered, really. The only thing better than being called an elf princess might be being called an elf queen.”

“Trust me, I’m really as far from a king as you can get,” they said reassuringly. “I just really like space and Jupiter is my favorite planet. I feel like it sounds kind of androgynous, even if Jupiter is King of the Gods. I’m about as far from a boy as you can get.” They shrugged. “Not quite a girl, but definitely not a boy.”

Jupiter had never felt like a boy. They had made several attempts to act like one when they were younger, to appease their aunt and uncle and do what was expected of them, but it had always felt like they were faking. And they were.

“And I like that name you gave me. I might start using it.”
 
"I'm glad you like it," Signy said. "Thank you for not being mad at us. 'Not quite a girl, but definitely not a boy,'" she repeated to herself. For a moment, she tried to imagine what it would feel like to be 'not quite a girl,' but came up empty. "Like a Schrodinger wave superposition, but not trapped in a box? I like space. I hope we find life on Enceladus or Europa. I would love that so much! Oh--if it's OK to ask...how would you like us to refer to you? I mean, 'she, her, hers?' Or something else? We could come up with Schrodinger words if you want..."
 
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“Why would I be mad?” Jupiter asked. “Elves are cool. I feel like my life goal is to eventually be one of the elves from Lord of the Rings. I used to have some pointed tips to put on my ears to make them look like elf ears. I made them and then I lost them. I’ll have to make new ones sometime. They’re probably somewhere in our disaster of a basement underneath all the costumes and sequins and junk.”

The basement had pretty much been a disaster for the entirety of the time they had lived there. The amount of drag and materials that were down there unorganized was monstrous.

“You can use she and her for me if you really want to,” Jupiter said. “I usually use they, them, and theirs for the most part. I only really use she when I’m performing or with friends I know through performing.” They shrugged. “But I don’t mind.”

Ronan looked over towards the pair from where he stood. “Is there anything you want to know about us?” he asked. “Any questions?”
 
The girls blinked in surprise at Jupiter's words, then tensed and gave nervous sidelong glances toward the boys. To their astonishment, no meanness or mockery came from that quarter. Instead, as far as the girls could tell, there was acceptance on such a deep level that no thought or act of will was necessary to make it happen. Signy spun to Elandren and took her by the shoulders.

"They said they want to become Elethondriel! Real! The Story could be safe here!" she said. "We could give them all Story names!" Djem'nii looked at each other, a desperate longing in their eyes. Until that moment, they had never realized just how much they wished they could share their Story, to include others in it instead of hiding it from them.

"Maybe. We have to be careful. Not yet. Careful. Need them to like us first," Elandren said. This is America. Speak English! the social worker said in her mind. "We'll use what you want," she said to Jupiter. "We won't be like that man." She turned to the boys, who were waiting patiently for any questions they might have. "We'll use what you want too. You said you were all adopted? If it's OK to ask...what did you do...what can we do, so the Ladies will want to keep us?"
 
Ronan furrowed his brow, slightly confused by the strange language the pair spoke amongst themselves. He didn’t know any other languages—at least not fluently, nor did his siblings. One of Eva’s drag sister’s drag daughters was fluent in Thai—he had heard it when she spoke to her grandmother—but he knew that this was definitely not that. He chose not to press it. Whatever they were saying was clearly meant to be between the two of them, anyway. It wasn’t his business.

Ronan was quiet at Elandren’s question, as were the others. He supposed they all weren’t quite sure what to say. "We didn't do anything," Jupiter said. "I don't think they were even really looking to adopt kids when they took us in. The only reason they really found us at all was because we all happened to be sneaking into the same bar at the same time. I was performing in drag shows that they were hosting, so we were already friends. My aunt and uncle caught me sneaking out at night and they were pissed--they were really religious, I think Hugo and Ronan's foster family was too--" the boys nodded in agreement. "And they eventually just said 'Fuck it, your families suck, so we'll be your better family.' And that was that. My aunt and uncle gave their rights up willingly and I haven't seen them since."

Ronan and Hugo nodded. "Pretty much," Hugo said. "They took us in first. Ronan and I, I mean. I was dressed up. Ronan was performing but I wasn't because I was nervous. I tripped because I was in heels and wasn't really used to walking in them yet. Kennedy grabbed me to stop me from falling and I had makeup all over my bruises to cover them and it rubbed off on her hand. They let us stay with them for the night and then they fought our foster parents for us." He shrugged. "I'm pretty sure our entire family met in that bar. I'm pretty sure Eva and Kennedy met each other there.

None of them had really done anything to convince Eva and Kennedy to take them. They had just seemed to be in the right place at the right time with two kind people looking out for them.
 
"So...these drag shows are important then?" Signy asked. "Would we need to dress up as boys?" It would be like playing a part in a play...right? "What if I'm rubbish as a boy? The boys I've known...would be mean to people at drag shows, I think. Because it doesn't sound like you're talking about the sort of drag show that would involve ridiculous-looking cars. Would we have to pretend to be mean? Like, be villains? I suppose I wouldn't mind being a villain, as long as everyone knows I'm not actually being mean. Or would we be boys like you? Except if we were boys like you, we'd just dress like girls? Would we need to sing and dance? We...we don't really know how to sing and dance." At that point, Signy realized she'd managed to do rather more babbling than usual without Elandren stepping in to say something more sensible. She turned, and saw her sister wearing a worried expression, her hand touching the skin of her birth defect.
 
"They're important," Jupiter said, "But you wouldn't have to dress up any way you don't want to. I'm sure you'll get to come along to the shows if you'd like. You could just go as you are. Nobody would care. And if you did decide you wanted to do drag, you could still dress up however you want. There are drag kings, one of Eva's drag sisters has a drag son--his name is Tommy, he's cool--but there are also girls who dress up and perform as drag queens. Some people do really androgynous drag. Mine is really genderfuck sometimes."

"And if you decided you wanted to dress up," added Ronan, "you wouldn't even have to perform if you don't want to. Hugo doesn't perform all that much because he's anxious but he still goes out in drag. Some drag queens sing, some dance, some lip sync, Eva's drag sister Cherie does gory special effects stuff and stuff with fire sometimes." He shrugged and looked over to Elandren. "Hey, are you okay?" he asked.
 
Elandren bowed her head and dropped her hand to her side. Signy went to her and put her hands on her shoulders. "It'll be better this time," she said, fervently hoping it would be so.

"There! See? You're such a pretty little thing," Mrs. Chadbury said. After bringing the girls home and giving them a chance to shower, she'd taken Signy and fussed over her for what seemed like forever. Now, she looked like an antique doll. Or a princess. Or a doll of a princess. The most beautiful dress she'd ever seen, much less worn, hair in spin curls with ribbons, white tights, Mary Janes, and white silk gloves that went all the way up her arms.

"Thank you so much ma'am! It's
wonderful! Elandren! Your turn!" Mrs. Chadbury's face fell.

"Well. I'm sorry, but there's just not much that can be done for your sister. It's a
beauty contest, after all. Now, we have a lot to work on, dear. Poise and posture and your curtsy, and of course your singing voice. But if you stay with it and work hard, you could sing at the Bolshoi someday!" Mrs. Chadbury gestured toward a picture of a young woman in a lovely, flowing gown standing on an amazing stage, spotlight shining down on her--a younger Mrs. Chadbury, Signy noticed.
"I'll help you make a Dryad-form costume. You can be Elandren of the Whispering Forest, real. You can do your magic." Her mental gears were already spinning. Grass, picked fresh and crushed, seemed likely to work for face paint. Since they had new clothes in their closets, Elandren's current dress could be sacrificed. Leaves, or maybe leaf shapes cut from their trash bag, if they could find a way to color it. Given a chance to go outside on a search, a tree branch could be found to serve as a staff, and with any luck, feathers or other useful bits. She turned back to the boys. "How much time do we have before the next show?"
 
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