Planting Violets

It was about half past four in the afternoon when I heard the side door open and close as Jade came in from working in her studio.

Like usual she took off her work boots just inside the door, so she wouldn't track dirt or grit into the rest of the house. From the sound of it she was getting out of her work clothes there too, which meant she was done for the day.

The work clothes would end up at the bottom of the basement stairs, where they'd wait till someone did laundry. And Jade would go into her bedroom to put on something clean.

I was relaxing in my favourite spot on our sectional sofa again like usual, slouched back in the corner with soft cushions on either side. I had my phone in my right hand, I'd been catching up on my social media stuff and talking with some friends on discord. And my left hand was idly stroking the little bundle of soft grey fur curled up asleep at the top of my chest.

Sure enough Jade came through into the front room a couple minutes later, wearing a tank top and some cut-off shorts. She was barefoot like me, and she had a can of cola in her hand. She was on her way to join me on the sofa when she suddenly stopped in her tracks.

"Hey!" she pouted. "How come you never let me sleep on your boobs like that?"

My cheeks were instantly red, I was still easily flustered by those sorts of comments. Despite my blush I managed a bit of a come-back, "You never asked?"

"Well if that's all it takes then maybe I'll ask later tonight," she teased as she finally joined me on the sofa, cuddling up against my left side.

She reached over and gave the small cat a few ear scritches as she joked, "I swear one of these days she's going to decide to just stay a cat full time. Then we'll have to get her a litter box and stock up on cat food. On the other hand, at least we'll get our reading room back."

"Then we'll feel silly for going to the trouble of helping her move all her stuff here," I replied with a smile. "Not to mention all the money she'll have wasted on cute new clothes."

I gave the kitty a gentle boop on her adorable little pink nose and asked, "What do you think Sage? If you're a full-time cat you won't need to worry about college or work. Just lounge around the house all day and get pets and scritches whenever your roommates are available?"

The only answer I got came in the form of some soft purring.

Jade giggled, "I think she likes that idea."

"It sure seems that way," I grinned. Then I addressed the cat again, "Seriously though Sage, are you going to stay a cat all day today? We were going to have a BBQ tonight, then maybe go watch the fireworks at City Hall."

This was Friday July first, Canada Day, and we wanted to have some fun for our first holiday. We had a few other reasons to celebrate too. We were all best friends and roommates now, in fact all three of us were practically girlfriends, and there was Sage's recent magical transition. Not to mention this was the end of another busy and stressful week.

It started back on Sunday, when me and Jade took my little car and followed Sage back down to the city. We were there to support her when she came out to her folks, which unfortunately didn't go all that great.

We also got to see her first transformation with the magic plushy, and that was pretty awesome. It made the situation with her parents even worse though, which was the opposite of awesome. Especially when they found out it was a permanent change. That was a blessing for trans girls like Sage, but the way her parents reacted you'd think it was the end of the world.

Our friend would never again have the tall skinny awkward masc body she was born with. Instead her options were either an absolutely adorable catgirl, or the cute little bundle of fur and purrs currently pretending to be asleep at the top of my chest.

Sage tried to tough it out with her parents, she was optimistic that they'd come around after they saw how much happier she was now that she could be her true self. Except things didn't work out that way, and she texted us a few times Sunday night and during the day Monday to tell us how her parents were still acting hostile and stuff.

Then Tuesday evening she texted to say she didn't feel safe at home anymore. Me and Jade knew we couldn't leave our friend in that sort of environment, so I called my parents and asked them for help. Their place was just a couple blocks away from Sage's house, so I knew they'd be able to respond much faster. My mom and dad drove over and got Sage, then they let her stay at their place that night, in my old room.

First thing Wednesday morning me and Jade drove back down to the city, while my parents rented a van. And all five of us went back to Sage's parent's place together and loaded all our friend's stuff into the van. We brought her up here to move in with me and Jade, and our reading room became Sage's bedroom. And just like that we were all roommates as well as being best friends.

It was also an indication of how much my dad had changed in just a few short weeks, that he'd go out of his way and miss another day's work to help a trans girl he barely even knew. Obviously he knew Sage was my friend but considering he'd been reluctant to do that sort of thing for me at the start, it gave me some warm feelings knowing I could count on him like that.

Then Jade brought my attention back to the present as she cuddled a little closer against my right side. She commented, "I'm sure Sage'll turn back sooner or later. If nothing else she'll have to turn back when she gets hungry, since we don't have any cat food in the house."

I smiled as I leaned my head against her shoulder, "Good point. And I'm planning to cook something really tasty for dinner tonight, but I'm only going to be serving people who have opposable thumbs."

Jade giggled softly while Sage acted like she wasn't listening. It was all friendly teasing anyways, I was confident she wouldn't stay a cat forever. Although if she ever did make that decision I'd support her and look after her and everything. In fact I made a point to actually tell her that later, in private so she'd know I wasn't just kidding around.

For now I addressed my other best friend, "So how'd it go in the studio? Any new masterpieces to show us?"

"Not yet," Jade smiled. "I'm still getting myself settled and comfortable in there. It's a lot better than working in my parents' backyard, having an actual workshop is amazing. I just need to get used to it before I can get back into the 'zone' and really start creating, you know?"

"I also need to get a job or something, so I can afford more tools," she added. "I could really go for an angle grinder, and I'd love to get an oxy-acetylene set-up."

I actually knew what both of those things were, but only because I'd spent the last couple years hanging out with her. So instead of having to ask what she was talking about I asked, "So what were you doing all afternoon, if you weren't working on the next big project?"

She shrugged, "I reorganized the shelves again, and did a bit of fuck-it welding."

"That's what I call it when I just weld shit together for the fuck of it," she added. "Sometimes that turns into something cool, other times it's just a blob. I guess it's the metalworking equivalent of random doodling, except my notepad is five kilos of scrap iron."

The three of us continued to relax together for another hour or so, before I decided it was time to start working on dinner.

I gently nudged my furry little passenger and warned her I was getting up, so she hopped off of me and onto the sofa. Then she stretched her front paws out ahead of her while her ears folded back as she yawned, and her tail stretched up behind her. For a moment I thought she was going to curl up and go right back to sleep, but instead she jumped off the sofa and wandered away in the direction of the bedrooms.

Her feline form would pass as a small adolescent cat, she'd lost the round potato shape of a kitten but hadn't yet filled in like a full-grown cat. She couldn't have weighed more than three kilos either. Her fur was light grey, with black spots over her head, sides, back, and along her tail. And the tips of her ears paws and tail faded to black. I had no idea what breed she was supposed to be, or if those colour patterns even existed in real cats.

Both Jade and I were smiling as we watched her go, then she commented "I can't believe how cute she is. And how much like a normal cat she acts when she's in that form. Nobody would believe us if we tried to tell them that was our friend Sage."

"I know," I agreed. "It almost makes me wonder what it feels like, when she's in her cat form."

"It must be pretty nice, considering how often she switches back to that shape," Jade commented.

A moment later Sage returned from her bedroom after shifting back to her catgirl form. She'd pulled on an oversized pink top that hung down to her thighs, and I assumed she also had some shorts or panties on underneath.

Her catgirl shape wasn't quite as small as her feline form, but it was every bit as cute. She was another short girl like me, in fact she was a couple centimetres shorter than myself. Her shoulder-length hair was the same light grey as her fur, but instead of black spots it had a black fringe along the bottom. She had a pair of triangular ears on the top of her head, with the same grey fur and black tips, and a long fuzzy grey tail that faded to black at the tip.

"It's very nice, thank you!" she grinned as she stood barefoot next to the end of the sofa. Then she looked at me and asked, "Can I help with anything in the kitchen Violet?"

I shook my head, "Nah. Thanks for asking though. Maybe one of you could go get the BBQ warmed up in about fifteen minutes?"

Jade volunteered, "I'll take care of it. We should actually go hang out in the backyard anyways, the weather's beautiful."

Sage agreed, and the two of them went out to the backyard while I got to work in the kitchen. I'd already done most of the prep work earlier, but there was some last-minute stuff that needed to be taken care of before the food was ready to hit the grill.

By the time I had everything ready to go the BBQ was hot and my friends were hungry. They both helped me carry stuff outside and we quickly got everything organized. Dinner was going to be snacks and finger food, we had a plate full of veggie sticks and a bowl of dip, a bowl of chips, and for the cooked food I'd prepped a bunch of little bamboo skewers with shrimps and pineapple chunks, and bunch more with seasoned pork chunks.

They'd spent the day marinating, and the last thing I did was make up some sauces to brush them with while they were cooking. Which was actually the quickest step, it only took a couple minutes before they were ready to be enjoyed.

The three of us sat together on a wood bench we had overlooking the lush green backyard, munching on food and talking about whatever while we enjoyed the beautiful weather.

"This is really nice," Jade commented after she finished another shrimp skewer.

I grinned, "I'm glad you like it. They're a bit of work to prepare, but they really are tasty."

She rolled her eyes, "I don't just mean the food, silly girl. Although it is delicious, and thank you for doing all this work for us Violet. I mean the whole thing though? The food, the backyard, the house, and being here with my two best friends."

"I guess what I'm trying to say is thank you," she added in a more serious tone. "Thanks for everything Vi. You're amazing."

Sage nodded in agreement, "She's right. You're an amazing friend Violet. Your parents are pretty cool too. I'll never forget how you all came to my rescue. And ditto everything else Jade said. It's a great house, a great backyard, and great food. And you're both great friends."

I could feel myself starting to get a bit emotional as I smiled, "You're both welcome. I'm happy you're here, and lucky to have you two as friends. I know last week I said I felt guilty about being so lucky, but now I'm just happy. It feels like this is the start of something special, for all of us."

Jade raised her can of cola in a toast, "I'll drink to that."

"Yeah!" Sage grinned and lifted up her bottle of spring water.

I did the same with my soda, and we all tapped our cans and bottle together then had a drink, followed by some grins and giggles as we defused the emotions with some silliness. Then we focused on the food again, but it wasn't long before we'd all eaten our fill.

Everyone chipped in and helped clean up, the leftovers were put away and the dishes washed. Afterwards we ended up in the backyard again, nibbling on some chips and sipping our drinks as we talked more about everything and nothing.

We talked a bit about school in September, me and Jade still had our plans to attend the local college while Sage was less certain. Ideally she'd come with us and take a biology or botany course, but money was a factor since she wouldn't have her family's help. She wasn't uptight about it though, we had another month or two to solve that problem. And we were all feeling pretty optimistic that together we'd figure things out one way or another.

We also talked about summer plans, both Sage and Jade would start looking for part-time work soon. And I'd already begun visiting the conservation area almost daily. My 'nymph work' didn't pay anything, at least not in monetary terms, but strengthening the bond between me and the land and trees and everything paid off in other ways. I was doing that here too of course, and I already had a strong bond with the little patch of land I now called home.

Eventually it started getting dark out, and Jade asked "Are we still going over to City Hall to watch the fireworks?"

"Sure," I nodded, "I'm up for that."

Sage agreed, "Me too. It's not that far right?"

I shook my head, "Less than ten minutes walk."

It actually took us more like fifteen or twenty minutes, but that's because we all needed to put on shoes first, and in Sage's case she needed some pants too. Then we took turns using the washroom before we finally set out.

We still got there in time to find a good place to watch from. We were standing with Jade in the middle, I was on the right and Sage on the left. And as we waited for the fireworks to start, our pretty green-haired friend wrapped her arms around the both of us and pulled us into side hugs with her.

"I never would have guessed that I'd end up the tallest out of the three of us, you know?" she said with a grin. Then she lowered her voice and teased, "Even though it's totally unfair you both got bigger boobs than me!"

"Definitely not complaining though!" she quickly added. "I hope you two are happy as well? I really love hanging out with both you cuties."

Hopefully it was dark enough that nobody would see how I was blushing, but I slipped my left arm around her waist. And I felt Sage's right arm against mine as she did the same thing.

I let my head lean against Jade's shoulder as I replied, "I'm so happy I still have to pinch myself every now and then to be sure I'm not dreaming."

"Same," Sage agreed. "I can't even complain about how things went with my parents, since it meant I get to live with my two best friends instead."

The fireworks started a moment later, and Jade held us both a little closer. I didn't mind, and I squeezed her a bit tighter as well. Then I felt Sage's tail against my leg, and realized she'd wrapped it around behind Jade's legs so the tip could coil around my left thigh. It was like she was giving me a furry hug, and it put another happy smile on my face.

Between the noise of the fireworks going off above us and all the oohs and ahhs and murmurs of the crowd, I almost missed it when Jade sort of whispered to herself "I love you two."

"Yeah," I whispered back, "I love you both too."

"Same," Sage added softly.

We all gave each other another gentle squeeze, and all three of us had wide happy smiles on our faces as we stood there together enjoying the fireworks in the sky, and in our hearts.

~ The End ~