The date had been good. Real good. Italian. Nice restaurant. Good ambiance. Real violinist playing in the background. Lobster ravioli. Really hot woman. Tall. Dark hair, short. The sweetest brown eyes. Dark tanned skin. Smooth. And her lips? Better than the restaurant’s dessert options, that was for sure!

From the point they got to the woman’s apartment, until the morning after, everything else had been a blur. Waking up, Amelia could not remember a thing. Which was a crying shame!

One would have hoped she had remembered some choice things. Very specific things... And thinking back, maybe she did. Some of it. Mostly the good bits. Heh. But not why her head hurt, or why the light in the room felt brighter. Closer, maybe? How the perspective of things felt slightly off... a feeling a bit like vertigo, that left her a little off-balance.

What did she remember? Ugh... there had been good food. Great date. Drinking. Had to have been drinking. Several glasses of wine. But enough to get her this bad off?

Amelia stumbled towards the bathroom. “Damn tannins...” she muttered. One hand rubbed at her face.

What else? There had been... close physical contact. Hands, touching. Skin to skin. And... dancing? Singing? Had they done dancing after the restaurant? But the words of the song... it all blurred in her memory. Not dancing. Not karaoke. And the whole thing, it hadn’t been in a club, because.

Not mood light. Candles. And— oh, now she remembered the fun parts clearer. The song and dance had culminated in it. Almost like the whole thing had been some sort of ritual. Prep for the main course. Mmmmm... but hmmmm.

She walked through the bathroom door, and used the facilities. Afterwards, she was washing up hands. Amelia happened to glance up, at the mirror. What she saw made her scream.

The sound of the scream got her to the bathroom within seconds. Her date from last night. What was her name again? Susan? Sarah? Naomi?

“What? What’s wrong?” She asked.

Amelia turned to face her, and pointed. To her face. The woman did not seem all that perturbed by the change in face.

“What?” She shrugged.

Amelia stared at her. “My. Uh. My face? Isn’t there something a little different about my face now than my face at the start of our date?”

The woman laughed. “Ah right. That. That was... that was fun last night. I was surprised you agreed to it.”

“I, what?” Amelia blinked.

“That sort of change ritual. I only really do Somation spells like that with consent. For me, the magic would not work if I lacked your consent.”

Amelia’s head was spinning. Magic? Consent? Ritual? She scratched at her hair. Still the same general length as before. A short bob. Glanced at the mirror. Still brown. But... she was way taller. A lot... curvier. And, hazel eyes. Which was a HUGE. No. Wait. Her eyes before had been brown too, hadn’t they? One just doesn’t always consider the color of their own eyes in the day-to-day grind. But—

“So...” Slowly, she turned back to the woman. She finally remembered her name. “What you’re saying, Nadia, is that I agreed to this?”

The dark-skinned woman nodded and smiled. “But of course. You said...” She tapped her lip thoughtfully, trying to decide on the best way to put it. It was kind of cute. The lip tapping. But—

Focus, Amelia.

Nadia decided. “You said, you felt trapped. Needed an escape. A change of pace. Change of face... an outlet, so you could feel different. Like a new you.” She nodded to herself. Yes, that was the best way to sum up their conversation.

“I said that...” Amelia said slowly. “I don’t remember.., saying that.”

“You don’t? Oh. Well. You did. And your heart was in it. So clearly, that was your wish.” Nadia chirped.

Amelia felt a little dizzy. “I need to go sit down and... think... about this.” She shot a quick glance at the woman in the mirror. The new her? Then, holding her head, Amelia walked into the next room and settled down on the red sofa. Comfy.

She slumped forward, resting her hands on her temples. “I guess I have felt trapped lately.” What with the probation, and the Serena situation. Trying to distance herself, and give that whole situation some space. It seemed like the sort of situation where someone would try and reinvent themselves. After all, Serena had been a big part of her life for a while, and then she had pretty much ghosted her. To save her. But still... who the hell was she? Was she the same person she’d seen in the mirror when they had started to date?

Oh god. Interesting idea, but the execution. How would she sum this up for Sabine and SUPER?

Also, magic? Had the woman said Magic? Not mutant? That was another topic to talk about.

Nadia settled down on the sofa next to her, and rested a comforting hand on her knee. “You okay? I guess it might be sort of a shock...” She was frowning thoughtfully.

“Yeah...” Amelia said, meeting her eyes. “Yeah. I can live with this. I think. And I guess that I did want... a change. If I’m thinking about what my psychologist and I have been talking about.”

Nadia patted her knee, and smiled at her. “Good.” She said, and wryly added. “Because I don’t think I can reverse it.”

That... that was sort of a punch to the gut. But alright.

“So. Questions, I got em.”

“Shoot.” Nadia said.

Amelia smiled at her. “Consent? Why does that matter?”

“For me. It matters for me. Magic is...” she glanced away. “Some of it is really charged by how you think. How you feel. What you believe. Or at least, that’s me.”

“What you believe?” Amelia asked.

Nadia nodded.

“That’s some Dresden files grade stuff.” Amelia chuckled to herself.

“Some what?” Nadia arched an eyebrow.

“Oh.” Amelia said, taken aback. “Quick answer, book about an urban wizard who believes that. Stuff like that. About how you think matters when you’re casting spells.”

“Okay. Cool.” Nadia said. Wow, no further questions about the nerdage. She was kind of easygoing.

“So. Another question. The face... was this just... something I picked, or....?” Amelia eyed her. Nadia smirked.

“That was. Whew. A little bit of me? It’s kind of my... type?” She laughed. “Is that bad?”

“And I wasn’t before?”

“Oh. You were. Are. But. This is also good~”

“Yeah?”

“Cute brunette.” Nadia said. “A little taller.”

“A little curvier?” Amelia asked.

Nadia coughed into her fist. “Some of that influenced my magic on a subconscious level. The curviness. But... some of the change came from you, too. In the ritual.”

“I helped?”

“Yep.” Nadia said.

“But I don’t. I can’t.” Amelia tilted her head at the woman. “I don’t really— magic isn’t really my bag, baby.” She tried for an Austin Powers grade smile to go with the impression. It missed its mark.

Nadia moved a little away from her on the sofa. “You aren’t? But you said...”

“I said, what exactly?” Amelia said. And then tried a leeeetle misdirection to shift away from whatever had caused Nadia to act cagey. “Also.” She said. “My clothes. Don’t really fit all that much, do they?” She pulled at her shirt, which was... tighter, in several key areas. And showed some belly.

She supposed that made sense. If her height had changed, and she’d grown assets. An entire new wardrobe would have to go with this. Ffff. Expensive.

Her attempt at distracting Nadia from the faux pas, whatever it was she had done, flopped. Nadia actually looked a little nervous. And as they continued talking, the woman grew more and more distressed.

“Guess I’ll have to get some new clothes. Replace some things. And—“

“Enchant them?” Nadia said, voice terse.

“Huh?”

“When we first met. You said you had enchanted your coat. To be bulletproof. And when I was interested, you showed me.” Nadia met her eyes. “So, I thought.” She raised one hand, and did a little flicking gesture. ”Metation?”

Amelia repeated the word, curious.

“Warding and altering magic that can “charm” or even "hex" a space, person, or object that alters it without changing its essential nature.” Nadia rattled off the description of the spell ability, all scientific-like, then arched an eyebrow at her and repeated. “Again, metation.”

“Nonono. Mutation.” Amelia held up both hands. “The word you are looking for. Is mutation.”

Nadia swore. “The other mystics are going to love this...”

Amelia arched an eyebrow. “Mystics?”

“Shit.” Nadia cursed.

“So magic is real,” Amelia said slowly.

“Shit.” Nadia cursed again. Harder.

“Magic is real, and you used it to change my face.”

“Shit,” Nadia said dully, without life.

“We,” Amelia corrected herself. “We used it. Together. Like a ritual, we two girls. Just us two. Two consenting adults.”

“Isn’t supposed to work that way,” Nadia grumbled. “You’re not supposed to— the others are going to kill me. The ritual... It’s just—“ She worried her lower lip. The other woman was cute, piecing it all together. Like some sort of detecting detective. But also , she was infuriating. And she was so dead.

Amelia continued, thoughtfully. “So what does that make you? Witch? Wicca? Druid? And what does that make me? I did it, too. The magic, and—“ Amelia covered her mouth as the realization hit her. “Does that make me a witch, too?! Oh, sweet Joss Whedon...”

Was she an unofficial magic user? Had this made her magic? Was there a coven? Ceremonies? Rites to go through, to make the unofficial official? Was there a special magic school she could go to? An entire magical world with socio-political, maybe even geo-political, issues, underlying her own? Magic Hitler, Douchebag lion, capital G god ram twins begging to be amused. A magic wardrobe, magic grandfather clock, magic buttons to hop between worlds? The possibilities were numerous. The possibilities were endless. And Nadia was talking right now, wasn’t she? While Amelia’s imagination foamed at the mouth. Let’s tune back in, shall we?

“—tants can’t. They just can’t. Dissonant energies. Magic and mutation. Gets in the way. Unless—“

“The ritual itself mingled life energies. You were the driver, it was the vehicle, and I gave you the gas,” Amelia played at connect-the-dots. “That might get around the—“

“— the bio-magical, bio-mutable, feedback loop.” Nadia finished weakly. She looked at Amelia with a bit of wonder, like how was she so smart? Wasn’t supposed to be, wasn’t allowed to be, that wasn’t in the script? “Life-energy harmonics and soul co-mingling are real advanced shit. How the fuck did you—?”

“It’s a good thing you’re hot,” Amelia told her. “Because you are such a nerd. I eat my Wheaties, girl.”

“You— you what?”

“Read a lot of fantasy, dingbat!” Amelia laughed and shook her head. “Thought we established that. I’m a nerd, too... got the idea for the enchanted duster. Half my damned power. From an urban fantasy series about a wizard for gods sake...” She continued on in a lecturing tone, index finger raised. “Life is magic, Padawan. From a baby’s laugh, all the way down.” Conspiratorially, she added. “In fact, I think there was an entire Pixar movie about that...” Under her breath.

“Uh...”

“It’s typical fantasy tropes. Not anything special. I’m not citing the deep magic or anything. Any idiot can donate blood. Or sacrifice themselves to protect a loved one. Giving energy has to be the same, I figure. We just stumbled into it like me playing Skyrim and pressing a random selection to tell a wizard to swallow a soul gem, and that’ll solve their complex, convoluted conundrum. It’s just—“

Nadia put a finger over Amelia’s lips, and shushed her quietly.

“That’s great, but—“ She began.

“That’s great, but—“ Nadia began. She finished with : “You should probably go.”

Hurt. Amelia was... hurt. “Huh?” She said. And staaaared at the other woman.

“Leave...” She said weakly. It looked like it pained her, too. “For both our sakes. Now?”

Like, right now? “But.”

“I could explain, but... that might not be the best idea. There are some things I can’t—“

“Was. Was the date bad? Did I... do something wrong?” Amelia asked.

“No. No. God no.” Nadia replied quickly. “Stop that sad puppy face. It’s adorable. Too much. But-“

“Then why are you kicking me out...?”

Nadia blew her hair out of her eyes and looked away with a sigh. “It’s just. Above both our heads. Not really my call... just.”

“Fine.” Amelia said tersely. “Not even a number?” She asked, after standing up, taking a few steps away, then looking back.

Nadia kept silent. Her hands clenched in her lap.

Amelia left.

—

A few hours later, she came back. She was not just going to let it end like that. Kind of stalker-ish, sure. But they were two consenting adults and she would leave if turned away. There had just been something strange about the whole thing.

She got there. The landlord was outside the apartment door. From what she could see, the whole apartment was now empty. As if by magic. Nadia was gone.

She asked about it. The landlord could not tell her much. Just that she had suddenly moved out, and when he had checked on her... the apartment had been left as-is.

Amelia thanked the landlord, and left the building. One word echoed in her mind. Mystics... she would learn more.

But first—

“SHIT!!!!”

She had to call Sabine. This whole face thing was going to be— something, that was for sure. Fuuuuuuuu—