Vanille liked Hope, but she didn't like having to deal with the fact that he was a teenage boy, and with all that was happening, he was sometimes moodier and broodier than most.
It still all boiled down to the problem with all teenagers. Hormones led to anger. Anger led to hate. Hate led to suffering. And with him being a boy that naturally meant that she in fact did not understand and he wasn't just being slightly emo if he said that... though come to think of it he hadn't.
But she had an idea to make it a little easier for her to work with for tonight. The two of them were to guard for now, while everyone else slept.
She had no idea what had set him off today, but he kept scowling at things and snapping at everyone. It was probably Snow. It usually was... And she wasn't risking him being snippy all night, especially if someone were to add "tired" into the unholy mix. Hormones, some sort of cause to be annoyed, his own recent history and then feeling tired? Four times the snappy.
Tired could be dealt with, and the other three could at least be distracted from for a while.
"Hope? Would you like some tea?" She asked quietly.
The white-haired boy seemed to glare at her, but he did at least notice it and try to relax his face. Of course, his subconscious plan was to look aggressive and intimidating. What it actually looked like was a pouty boy with a slightly feminine face thinking he was tough, and so the effect was not quite what was intended.
Still, she'd learned not to giggle at it or make it so obvious she found it cute.
"...Yes please."He eventually sighed.
She quietly nodded, and prepared her plan. Special tea leaves. Tea itself would help his tiredness, but this tea... Well, it had distracting effects on recent history and whatever the problem was, since it also helped to fix that hormone issue in a way.
Hope took the offered brew a few minutes later, sniffing at it.
"...It smells odd. Like... roses or perfume or something..."
"They're called Venus Tea Leaves. They have a distinct aroma..." Vanille said, trying not to giggle.
He took a drink, and pondered it.
"...It kind of tastes like it smells on top of the tea."
"You don't like it?" She asked.
"...I'll finish it off."
Vanille rolled her eyes at this non-committal answer, but watched him drink the rest of the mug.
"So... How do you feel?" She tried a moment later.
"...What do you mean?"
"Well... That tea is meant to make you feel a little warm..." She hinted. His face seemed to twist in confusion for a second before it relaxed, turned red, and then his eyes widened in surprise.
"...W-what was in that?!" He sputtered.
She grinned.
"Oh, nothing, just the tea leaves. What were you thinking?"
"I... My chest feels kind of tight and... warm." He said, looking a little uncomfortable.
"Ah, yeah, that sounds right. The tea will do that while it turns you into a girl..."
"Oh." Hope said, accepting the explaination.
The gil dropped.
"...Did you just say..."
"Yup!"
He stared at her in horror.
"You're joking, right?"
"Nope!"
He blinked, then groaned slightly.
"Ow... What was... My stomach just felt all weird..."
Vanille could see his hair was already growing out, and scooted over to beside him.
"Oh, don't worry, Hope. This tea wears off after a week or two usually. Maybe three. At most four. Well, one time someone claimed it lasted eight but..."
The boy seemed to stare at the fire in sheer horror.
"...W-why did you..."
She leaned over and hugged him.
"I said don't worry! It wears off on its own and there's another tea that does the opposite! Well, weird thing is it does the opposite if you drank the other one first. See, a girl drinks the tea you had, no change. She drinks it then the tea I'll give you later, boy! Then if she drinks the Venus tea, girl again. You can't get stuck unless you keep drinking the tea and you're not fertile so..."
"F-fertile?!" Hope squeaked.
Ah, yes. Wrong subject to let a fourteen year old gi...boy hear of from a woman.
"Never mind, that's not something to worry about..."
"B-but why did you..."
"Oh, yeah. Well, see, you might have noticed this but you were a little moody and snippy today. And I figured that tea can be relaxing..." She said.
"Relaxing?!"
She continued, ignoring Hope.
"...and the change can help you let it all out more easy. See, the problem with you boys is you lie to everyone all the time. I'm not saying girls are perfect but... You guys just seem to want to bottle it all up until you explode. Girls let it out in bursts. Roughly once a month, in fact, but..."
Hope squeaked again.
"T...That won't happen with me will it?!"
Vanille giggled.
"Nope. That's related to fertility... And stop blushing, it's a perfectly normal word. But for now, how are the changes going?" She asked.
"How should I know?!" Hope moaned.
Vanille looked. Yep, noticable bumps on the chest, hair was longer...
"In a minute or two things are going to feel a little numb..."
Hope whimpered.
"...I bet I know what things..."
Vanille waved her hand around as if a mosquito was annoying her.
"Nah, if you check just now they're already gone."
Hope shot bolt upright, and then nervously put a hand down....
...Then blinked, groaned, and fell over into Vanille's lap. Hope twitched a little, and Vanille stroked... well, now it was her hair. Still kind of messy but a lot longer and growing below her hands, in fact.
"Okay, that was a lie, they should still have been there. You should be able to hear me but right now it's like you're half asleep, so... Just enjoy it. This is the relaxing bit. Just try not to screech too much in a minute or two.
Hope trembled a little more, shuddered, and then opened her eyes. From where she lay apart from her hair very little had changed. A slight softening of the face and cheekbones.
"...I don't like this." She said.
"Meh, whatever. I'm not making you the other tea until you let it out and tell me what's eating you. Maybe have a bit of a sniffle. We're both girls now, you've got no macho pride to uphold. Not until I make more tea..."
Hope sat up, reaching a hand towards her chest for a second then pausing.
"Oh, just prod them or something. They won't bite. But... I'm actually kind of jealous. If you grew up a girl you'd probably be pretty well equipped if you get me..."
Hope squeaked, a slightly higher pitch, and her hands flew far away from her chest.
"L-let's just get on with this! This feels really weird... "
Vanille felt pleased with herself. Hope had opened up a lot more than expected, had a good cry about a few things, let her know that yes, it was Snow who had annoyed her when she was a boy earlier in the day, and generally let off some steam.
"Well, time to change you back. Even if Hope is a girls name..."
"Hey!" Hope protested, but her current shape had little real bearing on that complaint.
"...Where the hell is it..." Vanille frowned.
"What... You... You lost it?" Hope said in concern.
Vanille found the packet of the leaves, and then turned pale.
"...Some moron's been using them!"
Hope blinked.
"...I... I need to let this wear off myself?!" She whispered.
"...Yeah. Hey, I'll explain, and this was all my fault so... " Vanille began, but she soon had no listener.
Hope promptly fainted as soon as she was told she'd be stuck for at least a week. Or two. Maybe three. Four at most...
...Well, one person had claimed eight...
When she awoke, had another little sniffle about the impending week-minimum of being a girl, freaked out about realising she needed to "go", had a very embarrassing five minutes in which Vanille at least had the common decency to be embarrassed herself, and then faced the music.
Vanille's main suspect in the tea-drinking however was innocent. Snow, it emerged, seemed to know what the tea was...
"I'd never drink either of those things again!" He had half-shouted upon being accused.
"...Again?" Hope had spotted the key word.
Vanille was glad to notice it cheered Hope up considerably to see Snow squirm and tell of the time Serah had obtained the tea... He hadn't gone into details, but everyone else was filling in plenty of blanks. Vanille personally had visions of Serah convincing her boy/girlfriend into a ladies night in the town...
However, the actual culprit became apparent shortly after.
"...Look, I just thought it was a brand of tea! How was I to know it was half of some weird gender-bender potion?!" Lighting had protested when all five of her companions had looked at her in bewilderment after her confession.