I'm a Trans Girl Reincarnated in Another World??

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A weapon that will change the fortunes of Lady Alessa's house huh...
It's Iris, the weapon is Iris of course.
 
ScottishMongol said:
It wasn't a wolf, not quite. Its fur was dull and matted and it was terribly emaciated, and that gave it a gaunt, unhealthy appearance, but more than that its proportions seemed…off. Iris felt a sudden revulsion as she pictured it as a person that moved like a wolf. And there was something in the eyes…
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Want to say that it was a really good writing choice to focus on its movement rather than its appearance overly much. It was evocative and gross in a way that no amount of adjectives could have accomplished.

Also, I'm afraid our Girl is in danger of becoming this kind of creature if relations break down with the goddess. You can't fully trust Eldritch powers, even if they're on your side.
 
I do wonder how the wolf-human came about- a worshiper who lost the goddess' favor maybe?

Also: destiny guiding Iris to her magic sword and armor!
 
EBR said:
I do wonder how the wolf-human came about- a worshiper who lost the goddess' favor maybe?

Also: destiny guiding Iris to her magic sword and armor!
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Hello Mr. ERB,

Mr account is too young yet to send you a DM so I'll post this here (hope you guys dont mind, if you do then sorry in advance)

Just wanted to say a quick thank you - I'm quite the guy now on Alternatehistory.com and your work has inspired me a lot. I have quite a few orginal ideas, but your ,,Bring me men to match my mountains" was one of my first true encounters with well done Alternate History and convinced me there was more to this than shitty posts on reddit or nerdy discussions on obscure chat forums. You made me aware that a work of alternate History, or fiction in general, didn't have to be 89438 pages long as long as it was entertaining, unique and had a satisfying conclusion.

So yeah, that's about all. Just wanted to thank you for your contributions. I've heard you've had quite a bit of a bump IRL so I wish you good luck and stabilization on that end soon!
 
I also volunteer as tribute... Wait, that reads differently in the context of a goddess. Oh well, I guess I'll have to sacrifice myself (literally) on the altar of hot wolf girls,
truly a terrible fate!
 
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mynameisyouQQQ said:
Want to say that it was a really good writing choice to focus on its movement rather than its appearance overly much. It was evocative and gross in a way that no amount of adjectives could have accomplished.
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Thank you very much for saying so!

EBR said:
I do wonder how the wolf-human came about- a worshiper who lost the goddess' favor maybe?
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Whilryke said:
My bet is either Iris' predecessor or merely a sort of guardian of the temple, but in any case gone feral from living in the dungeon like a beast.
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Interesting guesses, I'd suggest you keep reading!
 
2.1
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    • CW: Body dysphoria, self-loathing, discussion of domestic abuse

    The goblins Alessa had mentioned didn't bother them as they returned to the surface, although Bors stopped once to disable a tripwire on one of the staircases, cursing the artifice of goblins.

    Iris had been right about the armor. It fit her like a glove, and it gave her an uncanny feeling knowing that it had been forged for her over a century ago, carefully interred in the temple armory waiting for the arrival of the goddess' avatar. It was surprisingly lightweight, and barely encumbered her movements; it had articulated joints and its weight was distributed evenly over her body, better than the chainmail, and it was obviously of a very high quality.

    Alessa had helped her put it on, swiftly and competently fastening the straps. There must have been some magic in the gear to prevent it from deteriorating while sitting in the damp dungeon for over a century.

    Iris' hand kept brushing over the hilt of the sword at her belt, but she was troubled by the fact that she still had no idea how to use it. Her burst of freak strength that she'd used to kill the monster had been a one-off incident, it seemed.

    For the first time since her death and resurrection – reincarnation, she mentally corrected herself – Iris stepped out onto the surface. The cool air felt amazing on her face, and she almost wanted to cry at how pretty the sky was. A bright yellow sun peeked out from behind picturesque white clouds. Rolling grassy plains stretched out into the distance, the grass growing waist-high in waves of green, yellow, and dun. Iris saw wildflowers, blue and red and yellow, and heard the call of songbirds. She saw a hawk circling high above. She could smell fresh grass and newly-turned earth. If this was the world she was going to live in from now on, then she was glad it was beautiful.

    The rest of Alessa's party were waiting on the surface as well.

    "Woah. That's a lot of horses," Iris said. She counted at least fourteen, and as Alessa and her companions emerged from the dungeon mouth they were approached by two other men who Alessa identified as a groom and a local guide. The groom wore a tunic of blue with white chevrons, the colors of Alessa's house, while the guide wore rough spun clothing dyed in yellow and green.

    Alessa removed her helmet and scratched the back of her neck, sighing. She cast a disappointed look at Iris.

    "You really don't know much, do you? A knight needs a destrier, a war horse, to ride into battle, but she travels on a courser. And, of course, she needs at least one remount, as does everyone else in the party. And pack animals on top of that. There are seven of us…eight now. Can you even ride a horse?"

    "It never came up," Iris said, grimacing. Bors clapped her on the shoulder; she barely felt it through her armor.

    "That's alright, the squires can teach you," he said, grinning.

    ***

    Learning to ride meant being sore all the time, and getting blisters in weird places. She didn't make a total idiot of herself in front of Alessa; she never fell off her horse, and she certainly didn't let the horse think it was in charge.

    The squires helped her learn, as did the groom. His name was Charles; he was a sort of household retainer for Alessa's family, the same as Bors, and had red hair and a mustache. He was older than Alessa but younger than Bors, and he knew so much about horses, right down to the different moods of the party's mounts. He was also very unsubtle about the fact that he was banging their guide. His name was Zeke, and he had a thick accent that Iris could barely understand. He wore his hair in a ponytail and had wavy black tattoos under his eyes. He'd grown up in this part of the country and knew it like the back of his hand, and he had a bow that he used with unerring accuracy to take down game birds and rabbits for dinner. It made a welcome reprieve from hardtack and biscuits.

    Hardtack was more like a stale cracker than bread; Bors gave her a spare mess kit and showed her how, like the salt beef, the hardtack had to be soaked in water before it could be eaten. It produced a thick, salty stew that, while bland, was filling and inoffensive. Iris was still thankful for every bite. Bors also showed her how a few drops from the flask he carried could purify drinking water, and Zeke picked some wild herb that tasted like parsley and told her to chew on it for its medicinal properties.

    The squires didn't seem any worse for wear after coming out of the dungeon; as far as they were concerned, they'd had a grand adventure and had met a mysterious fated hero who, they were sure, was going to save the world from the next Demon King. They did camp chores, helped Charles with the horses, and tended the gear. Iris learned that they weren't siblings, but they certainly acted like it.

    Iris liked her companions, and spent most of her spare time chatting with them. She clumsily changed the topic whenever anyone tried to ask her about her past, so they quickly learned to avoid the subject. Other than that she enjoyed their company, which was good, and at least they were polite. She needed them to like her, if she was going to survive here.

    She mostly just had eyes for Alessa, though. Once out of the dungeon, Alessa kept her helmet off all the time, slung at her saddlebow. In the sunlight, her blue eyes and white-blonde hair looked prettier than ever, and now Iris could see the glances Alessa kept sending her way.

    It was with some surprise that Iris realized that the look Alessa kept giving her was one of caution. Something about Iris unnerved her, like she wasn't sure what to make of her new companion. Iris had to admit it made sense; she had come back from the dead, dropped out of another world into Alessa's life, and even now displayed strange knowledge and abilities that even Iris herself didn't fully understand

    So, she tried to talk to Alessa. She asked about her home, an estate in the country south of the city of Lantilla. That's where they were heading now that their quest was complete, although it was a fair journey. Alessa spoke of grassy uplands, sheepfolds and white limestone cliffs, a network of deep caves underfoot.

    "They tried to clear them out in the Goblin Wars two hundred years ago," she had said, "Though it was a nightmare of a campaign through the tunnels and the dark, and they say the Kingdom never really recovered. We made treaties with the goblins and built castles aboveground. My people, my family, are supposed to keep the peace, catch sheep raiders."

    Alessa had explored some of the shallower, better-mapped cave systems when she was younger. It had given her valuable experience in dungeon delving. Her parents had been the same — her mother had lost three fingers in a counter-raid against goblin sheep stealers, and her father was a quarter goblin on his mother's side.

    "Wait, what?" Iris asked, snapping back to attention – she had been trying to mentally file the new information away, building a mental picture of the world she lived in now.

    "Oh yes! That was part of the treaty. That and setting aside grazing land for the goblins. My people end up mediating lots of arguments about whose sheep belong to who and which ones crossed the border line first..."

    As she spoke, Iris found herself distracted. Alessa would enunciate words with a flourish of her hands, her soft blue eyes glinting as she described some desperate fight in the dark.

    Once Iris looked at some wildflowers — a splash of bright red against the sweeping expanse of grassland — and wondered briefly if Alessa would like them, before she turned her horse's head and rode on.

    At the end of the first day, they made camp by a river. There were stands of trees and thick bulrushes along the banks, and the party was eager to stop and bathe, to wash off the grime of the dungeon. While the others watered the horses and started stripping off their gear, Iris slipped off and found an isolated spot just upstream, hidden from view away from the others. She found that Alessa had gotten there first.

    "Ah! Lady Iris, join me for a swim?" Alessa asked as she stripped off her tunic, leaving her in leggings and a length of cloth to bind her breasts. She'd let her white-blonde hair down, and it cascaded in waves down her muscular back. Iris noted that Alessa had a nice set of abs.

    "Um."

    Iris hadn't yet gotten used to the fact that this society just didn't care as much about modesty as her own. Alessa sensed her discomfort.

    "Is something wrong? If I have given offense-"

    "No, it's not you, it's…"

    Iris really wanted to wash off. It had been a long time since she'd been clean, and she wanted to get out of her old clothes, but the thought of anyone, especially Alessa, seeing her body made her want to rip her own skin off.

    She shuddered, and Alessa was at her side in a moment.

    "Please, my lady, sit."

    "I'm sorry," Iris said weakly, "It's not you, I'm just…I'm not comfortable with my body."

    She was sitting on the riverbank with her knees drawn up to her chest, and Alessa's hands were on her shoulders. That calmed her down. When was the last time she had been touched?

    "I don't know what you're going through," Alessa said soothingly, "But on my honor I will respect your modesty as a lady."

    Iris snorted.

    "Thanks. Sorry about my hair by the way, I meant to brush it."

    "Hmm. Maybe I could…brush it for you? Th-that is-"

    Iris couldn't see Alessa's face – she was looking at the pleasant vista of a sluggish green-brown river flowing between lush greenery – but she guessed that behind her Alessa was blushing.

    "I'd like that," Iris said, almost whispering.

    She heard Alessa rummage around behind her, then she felt fingers running through her hair, then-

    "Ow. Ow."

    "It's not my fault! It's so tangled! Now, don't squirm."

    "Sorry!" Iris said. I'm so gross, she shouldn't be so nice to me.

    "Hmm. You had a hard life before coming here, didn't you Iris?"

    "…yeah, I kind of did."

    "What did you do?"

    "I worked a lot and barely made rent."

    "Rent? So, you were a peasant?"

    "Basically, yeah. A serf. For the Dark Lord Bezos."

    "And what of your family?"

    Iris grimaced. Even before they'd kicked her out, her family had been…difficult to deal with. Her childhood had involved a lot of screaming, a lot of hiding and trying to avoid invoking her parents' wrath. She was distracted from her thoughts by Alessa pulling at a tangle.

    "Ow. My father was…a cruel and angry man."

    "You must be glad to be free of him. What of your mother?"

    Iris was silent for a long time. Her parents fought each other, and her mother took it out on her, constantly demeaning and criticizing her, if only I hadn't been such a fuckup—

    Iris tried to remind herself that it wasn't her fault, there was nothing she could have done to make her parents love her because it was never about her. Them finally kicking her out had been freeing, even if it had meant more to struggle for.

    "It's a sad thing, realizing your mother never loved you," Iris said after a while. Alessa didn't have a response to that.

    "I hope you enjoy meeting my family," she said finally, "I think they'll be kind to you."

    "If they're anything like you—" Iris began to say, then shut her mouth. She felt Alessa's fingers running through her hair.

    "Hm," Alessa said, "I think I'm done. You really have lovely hair, my lady."

    "Th-thank you."

    Alessa squeezed her shoulders again.

    "You're going to be okay," she whispered. Iris turned around. Her eyes met Alessa's, and they held each other's gaze for a long moment during which Iris wanted to lean in closer...

    However, she waited too long, and Alessa cast her eyes downwards first. The lady knight stood up, grabbing her clothes.

    "I'll give you some privacy, Lady Iris."

    Iris watched her leave, feeling a tangle of emotions. When it became clear that Alessa had left, she stripped out of her clothes, trying not to look at her own body as she slid into the river.
     
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    • I just love how the goblins are getting a complicated relationship with the human realms as actual people with agency, even if it can often be a pretty stormy relationship with lots of bad blood and lots of attempted and perhaps low-key ongoing pushes of the frontier. They're still tricksy tinkers and trappers raiding out from neolithic cave-complexes and Formorian fairy mounds, but with just as much sheep-stealing from the fencing-in human barons and just a little more character as peer societies that usually only like fantasy dwarves get. Goblins as they are more in the Hobbit than LotR.
     
    Plus, all the development goblins are getting implies the potential for Iris to acquire a goblin girlfriend.
     
    I wonder if Alessa's concern about Iris is mostly just concern FOR Iris, or if she's worried about the heathen connection (though that could be for her more than about her, too, I suppose).
     
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