Content Warning: Verde’s Doohickey 2.0: Sensational Summer Romp contains content that some readers might find disturbing, triggering or uncomfortable. This includes sexually explicit activities, strong language, and hateful language and slurs. Reader discretion is advised.
Verde’s Doohickey 2.0: Sensational Summer Romp
June 29th: Caroline and Raiyne’s Cabin Logs
Prologue: Sayonara Oransen!
Date: Monday, June 29, 2015
Time: 08:23
Location: Chicago O’Hare International Airport
The innumerous halls of O’Hare were positively buzzing with life even this early in the morning. People from all across the world were coming in and out of this global terminal. Business executives, families, tourists, or anyone trying to eke out a summer vacation before the big holiday weekend. Its expansive ceilings and scale made the building an impressive sight to behold, but few took time to remark on this as the waves of thousands shuffled along.
Among this crowd were Ken and Elly, standing on a moving walkway, rolling suitcases at their side. The two chatted on their phones, calling the Chicago office to go over things before their flight. It was just business as usual for them as they prepared for their final trip for the summer, and they navigated the halls of this airport as if it was their workplace. And after visiting it a good hundred times, it often felt like it.
They continued through the breezy security check with no problem, but as they did so, there was someone shuffling behind them. With only a carry-on bag draped over her shoulder, dressed in her professional attire, Raiyne moved through the airport, her pace notably faster than most as she quadruple checked the ticket on her phone. A 9:05 flight to Seattle–Tacoma International Airport in Washington. The closest major airport to her hometown of Rainy Woods.
Raiyne shut her sapphire eyes as she confirmed her commitment and soon reached the terminal. She tried sitting down, yet her legs kept shaking. She was worried, restless, and began to pace back and forth as she waited for time to pass, glancing over at the overpriced restaurants around her, an easy distraction. Instead, she went to the restroom.
Its design was very modern, optimized to minimize one’s contact with germs, and was, surprisingly, empty. Raiyne went to the furthest stall, settling her bags down before relieving herself, her eyes transfixed on her sex as the urine sprayed out and then reduced to a drizzle. Her mind flashed back to when she peed yesterday morning, spraying from her dick into the dirt below in a powerful stream.
As this thought crept into her mind, she aggressively shook her head, ruffling up her professionally managed hair. She cleaned herself up, tugged on her pants, and let the toilet dispose of the plastic sheathe as she walked out the stall, her eyes closed as she breathed in the artificially scented air. Her hands moved rapidly as she scrubbed them with soap and hot water, but as she went to dry them, she saw… her.
The woman who brought her into that storage shed four weeks ago, and forever changed her life.
The woman responsible for the hell Raiyne had gone through, for the relentless unrest and deep confusion that still wracked her mind.
Abigale Quinlan.
Abigale stood at the entrance of the room, dressed in her sharp black and red suit, with a smile on her face. Her footsteps echoed as she drew near and Raiyne stood her ground. Her expression soured as the distance closed, but Abigale did not seem to mind. If anything, it made her smile all the wider.
Raiyne: “Why… Why must you torment me so? First you taint my mind with memories of another life. Then you rope me into your crazed sex club! Then you force yourself on me! And when I try to run away from this perverted world you’ve thrown me into, you punish me. You made me fuck my students, made me fuck my best friend, and when I want to escape it all… you’re here to stop me. …Why? Why do you want me to suffer?”
Abigale: “Raiyne, Raiyne, Raiyne. I don’t want you to suffer. I am not the malicious Abigale Quinlan who killed your family. I want you to stop hiding. To stop running away! I pushed you in this direction for a reason. If I didn’t fuck you in those bushes behind the pool… you never would have done it with anyone, would you? Because you were afraid. You’re still afraid. Of what lies in your heart. I wanted you to come out at your own pace, but if I did that… then you’d be old and gray before you came to terms with your true self. You’re 34-years-old. You’ve lived over half your life in repression. And I’m going to free you… by any means necessary.”
As Abigale snapped her fingers, Raiyne ducked, expecting something to explode. Instead, she heard the sound of a washroom door swing open, and just from the sound of the footsteps… she could tell who it was. Caroline.
Caroline reached out a hand to Raiyne as she laid on the ground. With no hesitation, she took it and rose back up on her legs. Caroline stared at Raiyne with a sullen expression, clearly expecting an answer from her.
Raiyne: “…I’m sorry. After I went home yesterday, I did some thinking. About what I wanted, about how I wanted to live my life, and… I realized I couldn’t stand being here any longer. I had to go someplace safe, where things made sense, so I—”
Abigale: “You packed your bags and paid for a one-way ticket to Washington. Without telling any of us.”
Caroline: “I know what we did on Saturday was weird, and I know that you are stressed by everything you’ve been through this past month. …But this isn’t going to work, Raiyne. You cannot just run away from your problems. I talked to Abigale, she told me… what you’ve been through the past few days. She… even let me read some of the logs you wrote.”
Raiyne tensed as Caroline mentioned that word. She had to be honest in those logs. It was part of their design. Her recountings of her lust, or her fear, of how tormented she felt as she was thrust from twisted experience after the other. Raiyne clenched her entire body as she heard this, wanting to resist… yet there was no way out. There was no escape. She just had to grit her teeth and bear it.
Abigale: “Your repression is impressive. …But clearly my approach was not working.”
Raiyne: “…So, what? What are you going to do to me?”
Abigale: “Caroline has offered to help you, help you come to terms with who you truly are. You might not be honest with yourself… but you’re honest around her. You were each other’s only true friend growing up and, even though there was a 15 year gap in your relationship… you never stopped caring for each other, did you?”
Raiyne and Caroline exchanged glances, wanting to believe that Abigale’s words were true. As their blue eyes intersected… they realized they were. Caroline blushed at this revelation, while Raiyne turned her head, staring back at Abigale.
Raiyne: “How’s that going to work? Are you just going to… make me live in Caroline’s house, put me into her custody?”
Abigale: “No, no, my dear Sapphire. You’re at an airport and already paid for your ticket. It’d be a shame if I just let you two go back home. You wanted a trip, to escape from Oransen… and I think that’s for the best. I’ll let you two get away from this place, from your lives, and send you someplace… familiar in spirit, yet not in substance.”
Caroline: “We… We didn’t go over this Abigale! I didn’t bring anything other than my purse, I didn’t pack or—”
Abigale: “You don’t need anything but yourself, Caroline. Because I’m going to send you on an all-inclusive vacation.”
Raiyne: “T-To Rainy Woods?”
Abigale: “Oh no. Far better than that. To my Domain.”
Before anyone could ask questions, Abigale snapped her fingers. The toilet stall that Caroline came through sprang open, revealing a radiant array of sunshine that filled the entire restroom.
Abigale: “Go into the light, and all shall make sense in due time.”
Raiyne and Caroline shared hesitant gazes, yet knew they had no other choice. With hands covering their eyes, they ventured forth into this blinding light and, a moment later, their senses faded to nothingness.
Day 001: A Cabin in the Endless Woods
Date: Unknown
Time: Unknown
Location: Verde’s Domain – Other Side of the World
Before I had even opened my eyes, I smelled… damp pine needles. The scent of rural Cascadia. The scent of home.
For a moment I thought I had imagined ‘all of it.’ That I had flown to Seattle, made it to Rainy Woods, and merely forgot about the plane and car rides on account of jet lag. …Except I knew I could never be so lucky. It made sense for Abigale to grab me and send me who knows where. Once I realized that, I wanted little more than to remain bound in the blanket that covered my body. …Yet I knew that I could not just sleep away whatever nightmare she had in store for me.
I rose up… and found that I wasn’t in my parents’ house. I wasn’t in Caroline’s old house. I was in a small wooden cabin. Just from a glance, I could tell it wasn’t authentic or anything, this wasn’t some restored or barely preserved place from the 1800s. The wood was too cleanly cut and too well treated for it to count. The glass windows were too large and pristine looking for this to be more than 30 or so years old. And the design of it was just off— but that’s all besides the point.
The important thing was that I was in an armchair, my body covered with a thick blanket, in a place I had never been before. Across from me, I saw Caroline, in the same position, in an identical chair, still asleep. I normally wouldn’t wake her. Except this was not a normal situation.
Raiyne: “Caroline, get up!”
Groggily, she did, looking at this place with just as much surprise as I did before joining me in our exploration. It was an especially small single story home that was closer in design to a studio apartment than a house. The bedroom, living room, and dining room were all merged into one. There were two reclining armchairs positioned near a small wood-burning fireplace that reached up into the roof of the building. Looking forward, there was a single king-sized bed, two dressers, a modestly sized bookshelf below a 21 inch CRT TV with a built-in VHS player, a small CD radio, and a pair of wooden chairs around a small table.
On the other end of this home was the kitchen. I half expected it to be old, decrepit, and empty as part of a twisted joke, yet… it wasn’t. There was a microwave, coffee maker, gas stove, fridge, and double bowl sink with clear running water. The cabinets were filled with brandless nonperishables from cereals to crackers to dried fruits. While the fridge was filled with vegetables, fruits, meat, milk, cheese, all the basics.
As I looked over the kitchen, Caroline opened the door to the washroom. It was cramped, yes, though it had everything that one would expect. A functional toilet, sink, soap, a shower with hot water, and… even our shampoo and conditioner?
Caroline: “Okay, this is just starting to get weird.”
Raiyne: “You’re telling me. …I don’t want to leave before we know everything, but we should check our surroundings. All I can see from the windows is a bunch of trees.”
Caroline agreed with me, and outside we found ourselves in a small clearing. The house was elevated, like all good cabins are, had its own sizable deck, a picnic table, compost bin, and a shed filled with all manner of tools. From an axe to a saw table. …Though the thing that stood out to us about this place, more than anything was how it reminded us of Rainy Woods. It was not just the type of pine tree that surrounded us, it was everything. The crisp yet humid summer air, the smell of the familiar fauna we spent our childhood around. The sound of leaves and twigs crunching beneath our feet. The chirping of bugs and critters. We remember enough of what Abigale said to know this wasn’t Rainy Woods… but it sure felt like it.
There wasn’t a fence of anything, though the borders of this home were pretty clear, and from it we saw a trail. We followed it, hoping for hint of civilization. A car, a road, another home, anything. Instead, we found a river. It was a good 30 meters wide, the water went down it at a decent pace, and just from a cursory glance, I could see fish swimming down. I saw a fishing rod in the shed so, in the worst-case scenario, we could always fish for food. I thought I’d never need to cast a line again, yet maybe that was all part of whatever twisted plan Abigale had devised.
Caroline: “I think we’re alone. And I don’t think we’ll find a way out, no matter how hard we try.”
Raiyne: “What? Are you just giving up after a few minutes?”
Caroline: “It’s not giving up. I know that Verde and Abigale don’t want to hurt us. I know they might not be the best people in the world, yet I cannot picture this as anything more than an… involuntary vacation.”
Raiyne: “So, you think she stranded us in the woods in order for us to… work out my issues?”
Caroline: “Admitting you have a problem is the first step, Raiyne.”
Raiyne: “I know. And I do have a problem. I just don’t see how stranding us here would help. We don’t have our purses, our wallets, our phones, let alone our VD 2.0s. I left mine at my house for a damn good reason.”
Caroline: “I know this might be hard, but… let’s just forget about this for now. Let’s try to enjoy our time here. We haven’t been alone like this since—”
Raiyne: “Since we were kids. …Maybe you do have a point. I just don’t want to fall into some trap or—”
Caroline: “Don’t trust Abigale, trust me.”
I smiled at Raiyne’s confidence and we walked back to the cabin together. I tried my best to take her advice, to appreciate this experience. I shut my eyes as I took in these senses and, just for a second, I felt like we were both 14 again. Going through the woods in our rural town, spending our summer days by each other’s side. They were good times, and they had not felt so close in so long.
By the time I opened my eyes, we were back at the cabin… where we found a massive box waiting at the doorstep. Attached to the box was a note, written in elegant handwriting, addressed from Abigale Quinlan.
Dear Raiyne and Abigale,
I hope you find your new home sufficient. I would have given you something bigger, but I believe you’ll soon come to appreciate the intimacy and inherent coziness of your tranquil little abode.
As I stated during our last encounter, you are currently in the Domain of Verde, Urabe, and myself. A vast wilderness, home to only harmless animals, and free from any of the bothersome insects.
In this Domain, time moves at a reduced rate, with one year passing here for every hour in the world you call home. So please do not panic as I inform you that you two shall remain here for a full 365 days.
That may sound frightening to you, as it should. However, you shall not have to fend for yourself. The home provided to you will never run out of gas, electricity, or water, and even if you took a torch to the thing, it would be restored by dawn the following day. Food, clothing, and any other desired necessities shall be provided for you every Sunday morning. Things will be replenished based on the contents of your home, but if you have anything you would like, from food to clothing or literature, you need only to ask. So long as it is within reason, we will provide.
I would also like to inform you that while you might not have access to the VD 2.0 in this world, do not think you are immune to its effects. Every day, in the midst of dusk, your sexes shall shift, cycling every four days. How this shall affect your relationship, that is for you alone to decide.
I’d wish you luck, but I already know you shall triumph.
Sincerely,
Abigale Quinlan
My heart skipped well before I reached the end. 365 days. I would be stuck here for a full year, with only Caroline by my side. I looked at her in disbelief, and she did the same to me. It was foreboding enough knowing that we were stuck here, yet knowing that it would be so long as… unnerving. We both wanted to object to this, to demand a shorter sentence to this other world yet, deep down… we both knew there was no way out of this.
Raiyne: “I’m sorry Caroline. You wouldn’t be here if not for me, if only I was able to accept that I… that I…”
Even now, I couldn’t say it. Even knowing she knew the truth, the words would not leave my mouth. Caroline would have every reason to deck me then and there. Instead… she gave me a hug.
Caroline: “If I were trapped in a place with anyone, there’s no one I’d rather be with.”
Raiyne: “Even Jade?”
Caroline: “I know we’d get on each other’s nerves sooner or later, but you’re different Raiyne. You’ve always been there for me and… now I get to be there for you.”
I tore the note off the box, making sure not to rip it, and opened the box itself. It contained a package of a dozen high-quality pens— the kind that could be sold for $5 to $10 a pop and still be worth it— and a pair of notebooks. Thick, college ruled, and with hard covers, embossed with our names. Flipping mine open, I found the paper pleasantly thick, a far cry from the thin notebook paper I dealt with most often, and on the top of every other page, I found something… concerning. The heading on every page contained a date and a day number. And the date on the first page was June 1, 1996. The same day Caroline left Rainy Woods to be with Bryce.
I knew there just had to be another twist, and looking through the cabin only confirmed my theory. The radio, the microwave, the fridge, even the books on the shelf. Nothing was from the 21st century, and even the clothes in the dressers looked two or three decades old. Even the fabric felt like it was from another era. But not worn. Just… unlike what we were both wearing.
Raiyne: “So, this is it? We’re trapped in a cabin, in a forest modeled after our hometown, trapped nineteen years in the past, and have no hope of escaping for the next year?”
Caroline: “I guess so… At least this won’t impact our lives outside of—”
Raiyne: “It’s the principle, damn it! …Why a year? If needed, I’m sure I could learn whatever she wanted me to in a day.”
Caroline: “Maybe… she wants you to learn something more than to be… open with yourself sexually. I’m not sure what though. We’ll just need to figure that out. Besides, of all the places she could put us… this place is pretty nice. Small, yet nice. We have everything we need and, like I said, I owe you one. You saved me from a lifetime of abuse, and I abandoned you when you still needed me. Please, just… let me help you.”
Caroline grabbed my hand as she said that, and as I felt her fingers intertwined with mine, I felt my entire body loosen up. This would be a challenge, this would be a long time to spend away from the life I’d spend so much time crafting for myself. But, with her by my side… I could get through this. I could do this.
Day 002: The Shift Twist
Date: Sunday, June 2, 1996
The following is an excerpt from the diary of Reyn Underwood:
I wasn’t sure what Abigale meant by “every day, in the midst of dusk, your sexes shall shift, cycling every four days.” I figured it out when I woke up. I became a man again and had little choice but to go about my day as one. The small cabin felt even smaller with my added height, and so did its kitchen. I’ll get used to it. I don’t really have any choice.
After figuring this out, theorizing that Caroline would shift to Cain the next day, we tried establishing a routine. Making breakfast, eating together at our little table, going out for a walk in the morning, and then returning home, the windows open, as we read. The collection was only a few dozen books, half of which I had already read, yet I found something to keep my mind away from my body.
There was no privacy, nowhere I could go to just relieve myself, and despite knowing damn well that it was pointless in trying to repress myself, I did. I wanted to fuck Caroline, and I felt like I was defective for it. When I know that’s nonsense. The body morph’s one’s sexuality, and Caroline is a beautiful woman. I love her. I had already had sex with her, but… that was with both of us as men. It was an experiment. It was dissonant.
She knows I want to lay with her though. She kept commenting on how handsome I was. I could feel her stare at me as we walked. And if she couldn’t feel the tension steaming off of me when we laid in bed, she’s a lot more oblivious than I thought.
Day 003: Analog Explorations
Date: Monday, June 3, 1996
The following is an excerpt from the diary of Cain Steticks:
Today, I woke up as a man. I… have to say that I enjoy being Cain, as his body is strong, tall, and muscular, capable of doing things I couldn’t do, without being too overt or different. Being someone as tall as Zoe is kind of disorientating, and Cain manages to feel manly, without being overbearing. Though, it is a bit underwhelming, being as tall as the average man, and still being half a foot shorter than Reyn. I’m used to her being the tall one, but I was hoping that things would be more… even.
Regardless, we’re still figuring out what we can do now that we’re here. Reyn was kind of moody yesterday, still guilty about putting us through this, so we didn’t investigate all that much. So today I checked out the TV and radio. We knew they worked, just not how, and… we still don’t. The TV has five different channels, with no branding or anything. Just a bunch of shows being played, no commercials, and everything operates on a skewed time slot because of it. Naturally, every show is from the 90s or earlier, and… I guess I forgot how low quality the picture of a CRT is, with the image looking awfully blurry and grainy. I thought this was just a reception thing, except Reyn said it wasn’t. That it really looked this way and I just… forgot. Putting in a VHS, things didn’t look much better,
At least the radio sounded clear. There were about eight stations, each going through hour-base programming blocks, and they were pretty much just music. Every hour the announcers declared the time and announced the next upcoming block, but aside from that, it was just a collection of similar songs together, one time an unnamed announcer just played an album verbatim. It was strange, seeing a medium like radio be stripped of so much personality and branding, as that was the only thing stopping it from being a full blast of nostalgia. I heard bands that I hadn’t thought about in years, whose music I last listened to on a cassette back in 1994. It was eerie, yet also calming in a way. A familiar comfort in an unfamiliar world.
I hoped that the modest CD collection we had would contain some of my old favorites… but I didn’t recognize them. Most of them weren’t even released in America based on their covers. Japanese, French, German, Chinese— it was music from around the world, and while the variety was nice, I wanted something more… familiar. So, I put a note in the mailbox, hoping to get something next week.
Day 004: Tilling The Soil
Date: Tuesday, June 4, 1996
The following is an excerpt from the diary of Raiyne Underwood:
It seems like the cycle works in two day intervals. I turn into a man on days two and three, Cain turns into a man on days three and four. …One of the most annoying things about this is that we can’t seem to call each other by our real names when we’re men. Cain is Cain when he is a man, and when I’m a man, I can’t even call myself Raiyne. Well, verbally that is. I’d complain, yet there’s no point. I’m going to get used to it eventually, so why bother resisting?
Despite lacking the strength of my male body, I decided that, if we are going to be here for a full year, we want our land to be a bit less ragtag than it was previously. There were weeds overgrowing, the ground was uneven, and while we had fresh vegetables, it seemed like a waste to not have a garden if we’re going to be here for this long.
We spent the bulk of the day getting down in the dirt, using whatever we had in the tool shed to turn the soil, tear away weeds, and create a proper clearing by our house. No grass, nothing but dirt, with a bag of fertilizer applied for good measure. We’d have to wait before we could get proper seeds.
It was hard work, good work, and we kept at it until sunset. Cain showered, I prepared us a quick dinner, and we spent the night watching some schmaltzy rom com we remembered catching on TV once before. Neither of us paid it much attention, though we watched it through to the end, lounging in our bed as the credits rolled.
After such a long, hard, day, I was ready to go to bed, letting another day pass by. …Cain wasn’t. She was restless in bed, and while she tried to say it was just the heat… I could see how she was moving her hand. I could smell something that I knew wasn’t just her sweat.
The night was warm, our sheets were thin, we were sleeping in very little, and after being cooped up for half a week, we just couldn’t resist anymore. I was in my body. I shouldn’t want this. But… I did. I phrased it like I was doing it as a favor to Cain, and in her arousal, she didn’t seem to care.
This marked the first time we had sex, and as I laid in bed, looking out at the dark wilderness outside… I could tell this would become a regular occurrence.
Day 006: The Obvious Solution
Date: Thursday, June 6, 1996
The following is an excerpt from the diary of Caroline Steticks:
It’s weird that we don’t actually need to wash our clothes. Every time we transform, they’re with a ‘male or female equivalent’ and are as good as new. Thank goodness for that. My mom always thought I was lazy for not wanting to wash clothes by hand, though the comparison between a washing machine and a washing basin is… not even a comparison. I don’t like the idea of just leaving clothes in a bin, all covered in dirt, but if it’s taken care of by whatever forces control this world then… fair enough.
That’s just one of the things I thought about while lounging around today. It’s nice to have a day where you can just lay back, enjoy some easy listening music, and read a good book. It’s another thing to do that for another 360 days. We have each other, we talk, yet there is only so much to talk about. We don’t have jobs to discuss, other people to gossip about, or much to do other than live, eat, and enjoy… things we remember from our childhood. It’s not a sad life. It’s just an… underwhelming one. It’s missing something and… as much as I felt bad about what we did on Tuesday, I think this is what’s best for her. I never thought about Reyn like this before, but seeing her go around like that, as a man, it just seems right.
I don’t know if it’s because I was raised straight, or dissociation, yet watching him chop down a tree this afternoon to expand our yard… stirred something into me. I tried to curb it by cooking an elaborate meal for us tonight, putting my passion elsewhere. Instead, we didn’t get through the 20:00 movie before we were in bed, and I was begging Reyn for more.
Day 009: The First Delivery
Date: Sunday, June 9, 1996
The following is an excerpt from the diary of Raiyne Underwood:
We wound up filling the mailbox up with so many requests that we spent half the day unpacking and sorting. Neither of us consider ourselves to be possession-minded people— Caroline only used half of her massive house, and most of my possessions were books I hadn’t converted to ePubs. Not Kindle, because Kindle was a locked down format that can be destroyed if the publisher wills it.
We just had certain things we wanted during our stay here. Specific types of clothes, a few tools, plastic totes for us to store things in the ‘secret attic’ I found on Friday, some seeds, books, movies, CDs— listing it out, it does sound like a lot. Point is, we did it. We finally planted the garden, and now we have something else to do each morning.
By the time we were done with all of that, we decided to head to the river again. We walked to it every day, yet never actually stepped into it. We both knew from experience it would be cold, yet we did ask for swimsuits and it felt stupid to not at least try. So we did and… the water was warm. About as warm as a heated pool at a hotel. We knew that there was no point in asking why, so we just went along with it. We lounged, splashed around, and swam over to check out the other side— it was just more woods. Woods as far as the eye could see, with the only thing breaking up the image being the animals who called it home. Rabbits, small rodents, hundreds of birds, and even a few elusive deer.
It was our first time seeing one for more than a split second. A doe, drinking water by the river, taking her sweet time, not under threat from any predators or anything, just… enjoying a nice long drink. I said something erudite to Caroline when I saw this, and now I can’t seem to remember what I said. DAMN IT!
After exploring, and well before sunset, we returned home. Had dinner, watched one of the VHS tapes Caroline requested, and once it was over… we decided it was time to just abandon all pretense. Even though we were both women, we had sex that night. It was hectic, rushed, and I didn’t have any idea what I was doing, but Caroline, somehow, did, and… I didn’t know you could do all that with just your fingers.
By the time we were done, right before I drifted off to sleep, I wished her good night. While I was half-conscious, she said words she had told me before, yet they never carried the same meaning as they did then.
“I love you.”
Day 015: Men’s Clearing
Date: Saturday, June 16, 1996
The following is an excerpt from the diary of Cain Steticks:
Summers in Cascadia were never that hot, but this is something else. It had to be over 30 degrees today, and there’s only so much shady trees can do to help with that. Normally this wouldn’t be an issue. We could just hunker up inside with the AC, except this cabin doesn’t have an AC unit. We asked Abigale for one last week, and she sent us a standing fan instead, saying she didn’t want us to live in ‘luxury.’ That really pissed Reyn off… It’s not that big of a problem though. We have a freezer, we have little popsicle molds, and the water is always cold. If we’re hot, just a few seconds in a shower is enough to make us shiver, and there’s always the hose.
We knew we’d be sweaty no matter what, so we just stayed outside today. Shirtless, wearing our bathing suits, spraying ourselves with the hose whenever we felt ourselves getting hot, while jamming out to the radio. We needed something to do, so we decided to clear away our clearing even more. Chopping down trees, pulling out plants, and making our ‘yard’ even bigger. Reyn said he didn’t have a plan, though I saw her slip a note in there, and saw her double checking our tools. She wants to build something, and I can’t say I blame her. We’re stronger than we’ve ever been, need to do something, and building a shed, a garage, is a commitment.
I still remember the summer when Bryce renovated our garage. Every day after work he would be out there working until sunset, so focused he wouldn’t even say hello when I left him a lemonade. Thankfully, Reyn isn’t like that. She kept looking at me as if I were an angel when I brought out a cold drink for her. It made me feel appreciated and, even though I couldn’t quite keep pace with her, I was glad to help her as she tried to make our lives better.
…Though, I’m having trouble calling her ‘she’ at this moment. I’ve known her for all my life, yet when I’m a man, and she’s a man, and I’m forced to call her Reyn, it feels strange to call her a ‘her.’ We don’t have gendered second person pronouns in English, so it doesn’t come up around us.
Ever since I confessed my love toward them, we’ve been sexually active. It’s a fulfilling thing to do, helps alleviate the tension when sleeping, and with every night offering a different arrangement, we have plenty of room to explore. Though, something I’ve noticed is how passive… their female self is, compared to their male self. I’d ask if it is just Reyn not being used to male hormones, though… I think it’s something else. Some sort of insecurity. I don’t want to seem naggy or rude to Reyn. I just want to pinpoint what exactly is bothering them. I don’t think they even know and, the sooner we find it… the happier they will be.
Day 026: Looking Within
Date: Wednesday, June 26, 1996
The following is an excerpt from the diary of Reyn Underwood:
The plants are budding, the clearing is getting bigger, our wood pile’s getting massive, and… despite my attempts at staying productive, we’re not even a twelfth done with this stay and I’m already feeling drained. Every day, it feels like the same rigmarole. Have breakfast with Caroline, head outside to work on the yard, take a break to read and have lunch, do more work, read, have dinner, watch some TV, then have sex before going to bed. No matter the body, that is the schedule we’ve fallen into. We have so much time, and so little to do. It’s damn infuriating!
Caroline seems to be faring better than me, she’s more willing to just laze around, watch TV, and wait for the world to change, but… I need to have a goal. I need to focus on something. For all my adult life, I’ve had something hanging over my shoulder and with that sword drawn away… I don’t know how to just relax and focus on myself. I… I guess I don’t want to to an extent. There is something wrong with me and… despite this being the whole point of this imprisonment, I still am no closer to accepting whatever it is I’m supposed to.
Maybe I can’t just figure this out, apropos of nothing. Maybe building a garage isn’t the best way to find out what’s wrong with me. Maybe it’s just another way to repress and hide things I’d rather not touch.
…I ordered a book on mental health and an electronic typewriter from Abigale. It’s been years since I used one of those, but writing feels clumsy with these large male hands, and I was always a fast typist. This is not a problem I can fix outside of my mind. If I want to be at peace, I need to go inside my mind and figure out… who I want to be. Not just here but when I get out of this place, when I leave this time locked purgatory and finally return to the real world…
Day 034: Night of Fire
Date: Thursday, July 4, 1996
The following is an excerpt from the diary of Caroline Steticks:
Ever since Reyn got his hands on that typewriter, he has been churning through paper and ink at a rapid rate. He’s been writing whatever comes to mind, coming up with ideas for a story he wanted to write, to get to know himself better. I don’t quite get it, but whatever helps him. He works, he muses, and I take care of what needs to be done. …Meaning food prep. Not that I really mind.
The garden is finally producing crops, and the quality of our food has never been better. I got a cookbook from Abigale and it contains some pretty out there sounding recipes but has some unique flavors when actually made. It seems like a waste, putting this much time into cooking unique meals when I could just prepare things in bulk. However, when our days are so similar, I want there to be some spark of uniqueness, even if that is just the same combination of ingredients in a different form.
…Which is why I’m glad we were interrupted tonight.
While we were watching an old episode of Seinfeld, we heard the sound of an explosion. For a moment, we wondered if someone had come to save us, or destroy us, but as we looked out our window, we remembered what today was. Independence Day. The starry sky was lit up with a rainbow colored display of fireworks, bursting moment after moment. We looked up in splendor, our eyes glued to this sight, this display of something bright, glorious, and… explosive. We grabbed our chairs and spent the next hour staring up at this display, holding hands, and cherishing every moment.
Despite everything smelling like smoke afterwards, it was such a breath of fresh air and… it made me hopeful that we would get more things like this going forward. Something to spice up the days before we’re allowed to go home.
Day 037: Wasting Time In Style
Date: Sunday, July 7, 1996
The following is an excerpt from the diary of Raiyne Underwood:
Since I received my typewriter, I’ve been turning to writing more than I have to reading. For as much as I love the act, reading is ultimately a passive activity, where one is receptive to another person’s thoughts and ideas. The imagination of a reader is an active element, as every person pictures a character, scene, or concept in a slightly different way. Yet, their activity only exists within their mind, privately. While that can be entertaining, I feel like I need to allow my thoughts to escape, to publicize them, and, like many great authors, I have turned to fiction to express myself.
Caroline took notice of this and while she was never much of a writer— her papers in high school left much to be desired— she wanted to try her hand at writing stories. She always admired writers— she used books as a means of escaping her abusive relationship with Bryce, yet she never wrote anything longer than three thousand words. So, she ordered a book on writing, with various prompts to help her learn, and an electronic typewriter like me. She thought about asking for a computer, except we would not have the room for one. Setting it up in the shed we’re building would be an option, yet not a good one. We would need to run an extension cord to it, protect it from rain, and subject it to hot summers and cold winters.
So, we are just sticking with these portable typewriters. Ones that can be safely stored under our bed at night, and let us write faster than we ever could with a pen. The models Abigale gave us are quite efficient, and capable of acting like word processors… without spell checks. I know as an English teacher I should be better than this, yet I have been spying one error per 150 words I’ve written and I know there are more I’ve missed. …At least we can save things on floppy discs.
Day 051: Game Boys
Date: Sunday, July 21, 1996
The following is an excerpt from the diary of Cain Steticks:
Today Abigale gave us a gift we didn’t ask for. A pair of green and blue GameBoy Pockets. I never actually heard of them, but apparently they were a smaller redesign of the old white GameBoy. She said something about them being released today in Japan, so they aren’t an ‘anachronism.’ Along with the systems, she gave us twenty games and, like kids with new toys, we spent most of today trying them out, seeing what they were all like.
Reyn was never into video games growing up, so it was kind of funny seeing him sit down to play them. He seemed to enjoy them more than I thought, even if he didn’t seem too… impressed by them. For me, it was easier to get into them. I grew up with a Nintendo in my house and only a few games. I think it was Mario 1, Mario 3, Zelda, Tetris, Dragon Warrior, Little Mermaid, Bubble Bobble, and another one I just can’t remember. Which is a shame, as I remember cherishing those things as we didn’t really have video game stores in Rainy Woods. A couple kids had a Nintendo, and I remember three at school who had GameBoys, though they had to go out of town to buy them.
We only really had the essentials at Rainy Woods. Gas, groceries, home supplies, auto parts, a video store, a tailor, laundromat, a dentist with a nurse assistant. Everything else you had to go out of town to get. We could get everything we needed there, just not most of what we wanted.
Maybe that’s why we’re so… bored here. We have the scenery, yet if we head in any direction, there’s nothing. No other people to talk to, no shops to visit, and because of that, there isn’t much to do other than sit at home, read, write, and… play video games.
Day 063: The Boys Go Hunting
Date: Friday, August 2, 1996
The following is an excerpt from the diary of Reyn Underwood:
My writing project has ballooned into a novel at this point. I kept looking deeper and deeper and, before I knew it, I hit 80,000 words. I wrote all that, without a plan, and the end result is messy, raw, and needs some refining. It’s the longest thing I’ve ever written, longer than my trunk novel, and… I found myself bored. I was tired of looking inward for meaning. I finished working on the shed yesterday, and I wanted to do something different. So, I grabbed the bow I made a few weeks ago and tried using it. I went hunting.
We had seen plenty of rabbits, squirrels, and other small animals, and we just left them be. We had more than enough food to last us every week, plenty of meat, and knowing the effort that goes into hunting, we thought it was a waste. Except… I just wanted it. I’ve been forced to be a man for so long that I feel I need to be masculine, that I need to act a certain way. I channeled it into building something— I channeled it into fucking Cain. And I wanted to channel it into something my father always said was ‘a man’s game.’
It took me an hour to properly land an arrow on a rabbit, and when it did, it didn’t feel real until I had the thing at the house. I knew how to drain its blood, treat the remains, and extract the meat from its corpse. My mother forced me to do it when I was too young, saying I might need to do it for my husband. …If only she could see me now…
I expected to have some sort of crisis after doing this, and I didn’t. This rabbit was an innocent creature, and while some might find its death as sad… it really isn’t. Animals are born into this world to die. If I didn’t get this rabbit, something else would have, and at least Cain and I were able to use it for a delicious rabbit stew.
It was not a bad experience, though… can I keep living like this? I’m just over a sixth done with this, and I fear that my only way to remain sane is to do this. To become a woodsman who ventures out into the wild, kills an animal, and then feasts on their meat. Not only to live, but as something to do to inject meaning into my life. …Or maybe it’s just the summer heat getting to me and, once winter rolls around, I will be able to spend day after day writing on end.
Day 074: Peer Review
Date: Tuesday, August 13, 1996
The following is an excerpt from the diary of Caroline Steticks:
Today Reyn and I read through each other’s novels. Well, he wrote a novel. I just wrote a 12,000 word novella, but that’s still a lot for me! After spending all day reading it… I believe that Reyn might be a transgender man. The story was about a group of friends returning to their hometown after twenty years and seeing how things changed, how they changed, and how things… haven’t changed. I shouldn’t be surprised that she made two characters trans, one man and one woman. While Reyn understood their plights well, a lot of what the trans man character said sounded… like things she said to me.
I think this flip flopping between sexes might be giving Reyn a gender identity disorder of some kind. It probably would to a lot of people. I remember talking to Jade— oh how I miss her— about why there are so few trans people in the world. She said that if something like the VD 2.0 were available to the public, if people could switch their sex with just a few buttons, then the number would rise exponentially. I think that’s true, and despite his reluctance, I think Reyn is one of those people. He was always a bit stubborn, though this is so uncharacteristic of him that I think it must be something deeper.
As for me… I still view myself as a woman. I enjoy the thrills of being a man, but if I have to go through this for a year, I think I’ll be happy spending the rest of my life as myself.
The following is an excerpt from the diary of Reyn Underwood:
I tried to help Caroline out when she asked and helped her edit a few short stories based on her prompt book. This was her first fully original story and… it was not very good. 72% by my metric. A passing grade, though not much else. I was honest with her and said that I wanted us to do some writing bootcamp so I could help her become a better writer. That’s part of why I wanted to get into teaching. I truly think everybody should be able to be a writer, should be able to tell a story, and be given the skills to achieve this.
…I’m also undergoing ‘withdrawals’ from not teaching. I’ve focused on it for over a decade, and after being divorced from it for over 100 days, I want to do it again. I want to help students learn how to understand text, how to express their opinions, and how to do research. I just wish I had my notes and binders to help me out, as I know I’m forgetting things about how to help people like Caroline. …Though she is a case I’m not used to.
Caroline was the second best English student in our class, thanks to my tutoring, yet she did not learn everything she should have in going for her GED. I know they have a purpose but, as a teacher, I just do not have faith in people actually learning all they need to by getting a GED. They can learn a lot, and most students might forget half the things they learn a year after graduation. The important thing is that the foundation for these things are established. If someone knows something, then forgets, relearning it will be that much easier.
Day 092: School Daze
Date: Saturday, August 31, 1996
The following is an excerpt from the diary of Raiyne Underwood:
I told Cain I was going to devote the rest of the month to improving her skills and… she went from a 72% student to a 92% student. I do not like to praise myself as a teacher, as what I ultimately do is give knowledge, give advice, and allow my students to grow and learn from this. And Cain, when she focuses, can be a very fast learner. She dedicated herself to writing and produced a drastically better story with my pointers and advice. And for that, I am extremely proud of her.
However, as I have described, our student teacher relationship was… different. It became sexual, the catalyst for roleplay before bed, or breaks in the day. Sex was a toy and a reward for us, with the exact nature of the kink changing with our bodies. I was always appalled by student/teacher roleplay as a concept, yet after doing that with Tony, I guess something in me was broken. And that’s the goal of this whole twisted affair, isn’t it? To break me.
I am three months in. I feel like I’m not only failing to discover what I’m supposed to, but forgetting what I am even looking for. I wanted to be freed from this chaos before, and now… now I’m just dreaming of being back in Oransen High. That is where I should be. That is where I belong. And after this vacation, I just want to go back there. I want to go home…
Day 105: Exploding House
Date: Friday, September 13, 1996
The following is an excerpt from the diary of Caroline Steticks:
So… remember that note Abigale gave us this past Sunday? Yeah, it turns out that the literal interpretation was right. Raiyne and I were out, enjoying one last swim before the summer weather went away and the chill of autumn began. It was fun, just being ourselves, naked, not bothering with any swimsuit, and doing a bit of swimming.
…Then we heard an explosion. The silence afterwards was near deafening, and when we went back home, we found it was destroyed. We panicked. We had no clothes, no food, nothing, and knew the home would not return until dawn. She said that we would face an unfortunate event on Friday the 13th, but this was just ridiculous! We wound up staying by the river. Raiyne hunted for fish with a spear while I tried to make a fire. Eating them was a pain without any tools we could use, as even the toolbox blew up. Once it was eaten, we tried to sleep. Emphasis on tried.
There was no moon, the skies were cloudy, and when we thought things couldn’t get worse, it began raining. We knew we could not find anything if we tried to search through the dark woods, so we huddled under a tree. Unable to sleep, unable to get warm, and while we knew we would live… that did not make the eight hour wait any better. By the next morning, we had already ordered a new toolbox and made plans to bury supplies. Because if Abigale did this once, she might do this again.
Day 122: How I Became a Body Swap Erotica Author
Date: Monday, September 30, 1996
The following is an excerpt from the diary of Reyn Underwood:
Aside from the unpleasantness on the 13th, Caroline has been doing a bang-up job staying focused on her writing projects. She knows that November’s usually the month you try to write a novel in 30 days, except she wanted to see if she could make this a monthly thing and… she did! She wrote a novel in 28 days and gave it to me to read this morning.
She was hush-hush on what it was about and… it was erotica. A female-to-male body swap story involving a husband and wife that… made me cum four times while reading it. I have no idea how Caroline got so good at erotica. I’ve read most of the books she’s read since we arrived here, and this was far hotter than any of them.
Maybe it’s the more personal angle, as she followed the tried and true rule of lifting elements from her own lived experience. A woman who has swapped bodies with men would be good at writing about the sexual thrills of a woman physically being a man. It spoke to me on a deeper level and… I let her know .
She took it as a compliment, saying that a lot of it was her sexual fantasies brought to life. And hearing that… made me want to try my hand at it. Maybe then… I’ll reach the conclusion that has eluded me for four damn months now!
Day 151: PokéManiacs
Date: Tuesday, October 29, 1996
The following is an excerpt from the diary of Cain Steticks:
After two weeks of trying, Reyn and I finally did it. We got all 150 Pokémon! We now have a complete Pokédex and what was our reward for these dozens of hours of effort? For playing through these games and trading Pokémon back and forth? A block of text saying we did a good job.
Reyn was livid after we went through all that effort just for something so… uninteresting. We went through the trouble of learning how this game worked, scouring through its world for every creature, trying to figure out what evolved and how with no idea what the complete Pokédex even looked like. We tried every stone on every Pokémon, tried trading them back and forth, and when we did find something, it was exhilarating.
However, seeing our in-game clocks hit over 100 hours was not a rewarding experience, and it led to an hours-long conversation on the nature of games. How and why something so convoluted and difficult in its design could be popular. There was no way to catch every Pokémon without a friend, and if not for getting Red, Green, and Blue copies, we wouldn’t have been able to get them all without deleting a file at least once.
So many things are so obscure, such as figuring out that dragon Pokémon were even a thing, let alone where they were in the world. It’s a game that offers so little to guide the player, yet asks so much of them if they want to complete it. I don’t understand how Jade could have fallen in love with these games when she was a little kid, or how it became so big and influential when… it began with this.
I was surprised by how ugly the sprites were at first, and having gone through the game with Raiyne… I see the ugliness was baked into the very design. At least it’s over and we can move on to… something else.
Day 153: We Got Isekai’d for Halloween
Date: Thursday, October 31, 1996
The following is an excerpt from the diary of Raiyne Underwood:
I knew Abigale would have some crazy shit planned for us on Halloween. Probably some sort of transformation a la a Halloween costume. I wrote down vampires as my theory yesterday, because we’d both be women today. Instead… we wound up being transported to another world.
In this world, I was in the body of an older version of Jad, still male, having never undergone a transformation, while Caroline was in the body of an older version of Maxxie. We woke up in the same bed, could tell who we truly were despite our bodies, yet when we tried to act on it… we were unable to. Our words were changed as they left our mouths. We could barely control our movements, and despite our best efforts, we were forced to act as if these bodies, these lives, were our own. From washing up to getting dressed to going to work. We lived our entire day as them, unable to break away, unable to act on our own, and forced to live as someone else.
Having been locked away in the woods for so long, we’ve almost forgotten how people truly act. We saw it on TV and in what we read, though it was… different seeing it in person. In feeling the skin of someone else, hearing their voice.After spending five months locked in the same body, switching its sex every two days, this… felt new again .
I wanted to explore this body when I landed in it, just take time to compare and contrast, yet I was forced to go about the life of this Jade from another world. This involved… drawing while livestreaming, talking to an audience of ‘supporters’ as my hands moved against my will. They illustrated a comic where a humanoid fox man had sex with a reptile woman with… breasts, despite that being a mammalian feature.
I tried to pay attention to what was going on between the words spewing out of my mouth and what was happening on the various screens yet… I couldn’t. After living in the past for so long, the terminology of 30-some-odd years in the future felt foreign to me, and so did the sleek modern computer interfaces.
Being in someone’s body can be an immersive experience, as you literally become them, while this… this felt like the opposite. It felt like I was forced into being someone else that I did not understand on a fundamental level, with nothing about what I was doing making sense. Jade was not an artist, and the words coming from my body sounded more like something Maxxie would say. I felt like a puppet being forced into ill-fitting garb and pranced about against my will, unable to do anything, while feeling everything.
Whatever emotions this version of Jade felt, I felt, and my own emotions were stifled and snuffed out. As the hours went on and on, I felt the grasp of my very identity growing fragile, and when I saw Caroline in Maxxie’s body, I could tell she was going through the same thing. So, I waited. Bearing with it, hoping that it would end before the day. Yet, that did not happen. We were trapped as passengers with these bodies… even as they had sex. Try as I might to resist… ‘Jad’ loved it, and so did I.
When I came, or ‘Jad’ came, I woke up in my body, in a cold sweat. I was back in the cabin, and never had it felt more like home. Caroline was beside me, in the same state, and while I feared what the act of… having sex with her child would do to her, she denied that ever happened. Instead, she traveled to a world where she was a male version of herself, a strong and powerful man who was married to a kind, caring, and small woman named… Bread. She was supposedly her wife, and their daughter was a younger version of Jade, only 8-years-old.
She traveled to the past, to an alternate world… while I traveled to an alternate future. I wanted to ask how and more importantly why Abigale subjected us to this. However… I also wanted to forget it.
Tonight was a cruel reminder of how much I failed. How, after five damn months, I was still no closer to understanding something deep about myself that I have been at the cusp of for… so long. This cannot continue. Before the end of November, I need to figure out what is missing in my life and… who I want to be.
Day 171: Enlightenment
Date: Monday, November 18, 1996
My birthday was always around the time rain turned to snow. It might have not been true in Oransen and Chicago, but it was damn true here.
The river was still flowing, had yet to freeze over, yet snow fell before my face. I knew it was a risk being this far away from home when winter was so near, yet I did not have a choice. This had gone on for too long, and I needed to do something drastic to see who I was. So, I took our boat and rowed down the river. Distances are hard to measure through sight alone, but from the sores on my hands, from the chill wracking through my body despite my coat, hat, and gloves, I was very far away. If I went any further, I feared that I might not make it back by nightfall, so I stopped where I could. I pulled the rowboat on land, hoping the night’s tide wouldn’t turn aggressive enough to pull it back, and walked through the woods.
The coniferous trees were still as green as ever, and despite the air being thinner, their scent was just as strong. At first, I found this scent nostalgic, yet now I found it obnoxious. Taunting. Reminding me of home, yet making me feel further away than ever before. Yet, I carried on, walking down the path looking for something, anything, to make this trip worth it.
Why was I here? I cannot say. All that I know is that I got a feeling, a premonition, that if I ventured out into the woods, cold and alone, I would find something of worth. Something to make me feel whole. So, I went in deeper, leaving behind me a shining trail of glitter to lure me back to the river. I had a good sense of direction, yet in woods like these it is easy to forget up from down.
I tried to follow a straight trail to the best of my ability, avoiding every animal scrounging up food for the long winter, pushing myself through leafless bushes that lined the forest floor. Distance, time, and destination became ethereal as I walked forward, yet I kept moving. I subconsciously shouted at myself for this mindless indulgence, for taking such a risk and while I could not convince myself to run back to the cabin… I was able to stop and rest for a moment.
I drank from my canteen, the water as cold as ice, munched away at some jerky and crackers, and regretted that I didn’t bring a lighter or match with me. It was cold. Colder than it should be for this time of year. Colder than I remembered this autumn being. And with the afternoon dwindling away, it would only get colder.
I did not want this day to be a waste… yet it appeared to be. I let out a guttural groan, my deep voice echoing through the vacant woods, and stood up to leave. I took a step, cracking a branch with my boots, and paused. I heard something ruffling in the woods, a pair of small paws brushing against the forest floor. It wound up bigger than a mere rabbit, yet too small to be a deer. I turned my head slowly, not making a sudden movement… and I saw it.
A… fox. A fox with a truly bizarre coat of fur. The main portion of its pelt was as white as snow, yet its eyes were a blinding cyan, its whiskers and legs were magenta, and its underbelly, ears, and the tips of its tail were all a bright yellow. It looks like a creature who could not exist in the natural world. Then again, I wasn’t in the natural world.
Reyn: “I’ve never seen a fox here.”
I smiled as I said that, knowing that even a wild fox would be a minor inconvenience to me. It was maybe three feet long and looked to be passive as it stared up at me, not as if it was ready to attack the giant creature invading its turf.
I prepared to turn around, leaving this fox to get back to its hunt before the winter… only for a voice to enter my ears. One that sounded like an adult woman doing a subpar impression of a young boy.
???: “You came here for a reason. You’re looking for something.”
I turned around to find the speaker, only for my eyes to land on the fox, sitting down, staring into my very soul with its bright eyes.
Reyn: “…Are you a talking fox?”
Fox: “How astute. As a teacher, I’d expect you to be at least a little genre savvy.”
As the fox spoke, it did not move their mouth. It was as if it was speaking directly to my mind.
Reyn: “Who are you? Are you here to… show me something?”
Fox: “I am a figment of your imagination. Of desire. And I am here to manifest your desire unto reality.”
Reyn: “What does that even mean?”
Fox: “It means I am here to reconcile your mess of a mind. Ever since Abigale tampered with your being, your very essence has been fraught with conflict. She transformed you that day. Into someone other than you.”
What this fox said sounded… right. That was when my life turned upside down. When I became consumed by fear and uncertainty. When the world I was in became complex, unlike ever before. I thought it was just the introduction of something fantastical into the real world. Yet… Maybe it was something more.
Reyn: “I… I understand that. What am I to do about that though? How can I make sense of who I am? It… it has been killing me inside, and I came out here in the vain hope of an answer, of a solution!”
Fox: “So you have sought it, so you shall receive. Come. I shall take you to a place where souls are unbound.”
The fox walked away. It was the only lead I had, so I followed it, my eyes locked on its magenta feet as it walked through the slowly piling mounds of snow. The walk took only a few minutes before we reached our destination. A cave.
Despite the endless wilderness around us, there were few things to break up the forests. Ponds, lakes, and caves, no matter the size, were a rarity. It was big enough for even a buck to enter without issue, so it wasn’t a problem for me. I grabbed a flashlight from my coat, preparing to light it up… only for the fox before me to start glowing. It let out a radiant white light that guided me deeper and deeper into this unknown until, finally, it paused.
The fox looked up at me once again, pointing at a flat rock. It would make for a crappy chair, especially with my flat man ass, but I sat regardless. It was cold, damp, and distracted me as the fox ruffled about in the cave, pushing away leaves with its snout as it produced… something and placed it into my hands. I could not see it, only touch and smell it and, beneath the scent of wet leaves, past the faint texture of dirt, I could tell it was a fruit. A… pomegranate. A small one.
Fox: “Eat.”
This was not the climate for pomegranates, and I had never actually eaten one myself. Yet I knew well enough to know how to peel it open, revealing the juicy red seeds within, surrounded by a protective layer of white pithy substance. It was sweet. …Overbearingly so. Abigale had sent us various snack packages, full of brandless candies and other sweets, yet nothing came close to this pomegranate. It was disgusting… yet I could not help myself, and consumed it ravenously, like it was the first food I had seen in days.
My body was left jittering. My teeth clattered. And my vision became a haze. I fell from my seat, writhing on the floor as my body struggled to process this influx of sweetness, and I remained in this precarious state until the fox planted its paw on my face.
The dark cave became radiant with colors— white, cyan, magenta, and yellow. While my body… froze. It felt as if I did not have a body, as if I was merely a set of eyes floating about, and from these eyes I saw… myself. I saw myself as Raiyne… and myself as Reyn. Their bodies consisted of a single color. The woman was cyan, faceless, yet unmistakably me from the outline of her bing. While the man was magenta, his form as recognizable to me as the woman’s. The two were unburdened by clothes and, rather than merely stand before me… they were in the midst of combat.
They grabbed, they threw, they punched, they kicked. They had strength irrespective of whatever their builds implied, and when one fell down, they immediately rose back up. From just a minute of observation, I could tell this battle had persisted for a long time. A dreadfully long time. I thought about doing something to stop the two but… what could I do?
That’s when I saw the fox again, walking before me and speaking, unnoticed by the two engrossed in combat.
Fox: “For seven months, these two have been battling, vying for dominance. If you want peace, you must choose. Who shall win?”
Reyn: “W-What do you mean? Of course I’m going to choose myself!”
Fox: “Yes, but which one of these are you? Will you pursue the life of a man, a new identity born from your expanded mind. Or will you deny that life for the calm reassurances of a woman? A choice for one is not the denial for another. Though, it does paint the color of your soul.”
Reyn: “I’m a woman, why are you even asking me this? The answer is obvious.”
Fox: “If it is so obvious, then why does this question plague your mind so much? You have waited half a year, been forced to confront the question with every waking day, with every transformation. You fled your home, choosing the comforts of your youth, of familiarity, rather than facing who you are now. So, I must ask you again. Which color will you paint your soul? The bright blue of Raiyne, or the passionate pink of Reyn? Perhaps your answer even lies in the middle, a regal and refined indigo of your own individuality. There is no correct answer. But until you choose one, you will never be free.”
Reyn: “…Why do I need to choose?”
Fox: “Many do not. There are those whose identity can flow like rain, from one stream to another, back and forth, circling, expanding, and paving new paths. Yet, despite your birth name, you cannot. You are too rigid, too proper, to embrace such fluidity. And for that, for your own mind, you must choose.”
Reyn: “Well… I cannot choose! I may be a man today, but come Wednesday, I will be a woman again! I cannot pick an identity when I am forced to be fluid! I—”
Fox: “Caroline has chosen. She maintains a congruency of her identity despite changing her sex every other day. Despite living as a man for months, she is still a woman. What are you though? A man, a woman, or something beyond? You have already freed yourself of the shackles of celibacy, learned to love the physical manifestation of love. Of affection. You have grown as a person, yet even as you and Caroline lay like lovers, you still hesitate. Because you do not want to change. You do not want the first 34 years of your life to be a mistake, where you were bound by ignorance of your very self. When you, in your heart of hearts, in your refined mind, know that to be a lie. To change requires strength, yes, but you are stronger than you know.”
…I had no more words to give.
Fox: “Walk forth. Walk forth into the vessel of your choice, and use it to take control of your mind. The fallen will not vanish forever. Rather, they will be consumed, living on as part of you. Both now and forever more.”
I was given the ability to interact with this ethereal world yet again, and stood at a crossroads. I knew what I wanted. I just needed to convince myself. I just needed to force myself to take action and bring an end to this meaningless conflict.
I moved forward… and made my choice.
My vision shifted and I regained a sense of being. I felt the warmth and weight of a body, I blinked my eyes, and I looked forward to the figure standing in my way. With a body of cyan and the form of a woman. Her faceless head looked up at me, I looked down at her, and she put her fists down, surrendering to me, recognizing my choice, respecting it. I did not know what to do from here… until the fox spoke to me yet again.
Fox: “An excellent choice. Now, consume her.”
I felt my body twitch. The flat hardened chest of a man, the broad shoulders, the beard on my face, and most especially my dick. This ethereal woman had wrapped herself around me… and was sinking into me. Her blue body became a liquid when it came in contact with my skin, and bringing my arms around her only accelerated the process.
It felt… calming. Good. Like I was just given an IV injection. Any painful sensations or thoughts cleared themselves from my mind. I did not understand what was happening, yet… I did not need to. I simply closed my eyes and relaxed. Knowing that now, somehow… everything would be okay.
When I opened my eyes, I was back in the cave. It was pitch black. The fox who guided me was gone, and with it the light it brought. I shuffled around the cave floor, blindly checking my pockets for a flashlight and turning it on when I found it.
The twists and turns of the cave made it impossible for me to tell how deep I was, where I was in the system, yet I could feel a faint breeze drifting through one direction. It guided me, luring me from this dark cavern with icy walls and floors, back into the world.
Night had fallen, and with it came a snowstorm. The snow was already ten centimeters thick, and was coming down at a rapid rate. Autumn had ended, and winter was here. The skies were completely blackened, the trail I left was obscured, and I could not remember where I left my boat. Not that I would ever dare to go against the stream in weather like this.
I was stranded. There was no way that I could wander back to the cabin after this. I listened to my mind, urging caution, telling me to hide back in the cave, where the snow would not get to me. …Yet when I turned away, I saw a light in the darkness. A light of white, yellow, cyan, and magenta.
There was nothing else it could be.
The light of the fox was faint, distant, and nearly vanished in the snow. …So I ran.
I trampled through the snow, past the branches, and around the trees, chasing this light in the vain hope it would take me home. It sent me down a winding path. With so many twists that I could not hope to find the safety of the cave again if I tried. Still, I persisted, even as I felt the last speck of warm air escape my lungs before inviting in something frigid.
I had kept in shape here, getting in better shape than I had ever been… since I was training with Kikansky in the other world. Despite this, I could not keep up with the light before me. I stopped, leaning myself against a tree as I tried to fill my lungs with some air, breathing through my coat as I regained some sanity.
Reyn: “What the HELL am I doing? I’m going to get myself KILLED at this rate!”
I didn’t know what would happen if I died. I’d probably just respawn at dawn, just like our cabin. However, that didn’t mean I wanted to freeze to death and find out. I had to find shelter, find something to defend myself from the elements. I had some food on my person, water too, but I could feel my thick fingers growing very cold. If I ran, I would use up more energy, so… I walked. Hoping the movement would keep me warm without draining my stamina.
I no longer had the light to guide me, so I progressed in the same direction, traversing across the snow as it grew thicker with each passing step. It was a stupid move. A move that should have gotten me killed, yet… it didn’t.
After what felt like hours, I saw something bright just over the horizon. The cabin, lit up bright, with even the outside light shining in the darkness.
I sprinted forward, ignoring the fatigue spraining my body as I pushed past the snow, letting every last speck of air flow out my lungs as I rushed toward the door. I slammed into it, fearing that I would tear it off its hinges. Instead, I fell onto the floor. The adrenaline had vanished before I was even halfway inside, but the moment the door opened, I heard Cain scream out in joy.
Cain: “REYN! You’re alive!”
Before I could stand, Cain hoisted me up in her arms, mustering all of her strength in order to plop me onto my bed. I still had my boots on, and snow was trailing across the house, yet she did not care. All she cared about… was that I was safe.
Cain escorted me to my chair by the fireplace, taking off my coat and boots while brewing up a cup of hot cocoa for me. I sat right before the fire, wrapped in a blanket, sipping on the sweet beverage as I felt the grip of cold loosen around my body. I was exhausted, hungry, and tired, but I had to talk to Cain. I had to tell her what… I had learned,
As much as I wanted to remain wrapped in warmth and lull myself to sleep, I had to tell Cain the truth before the day was done.
Reyn: “Cain, I finally figured it out.”
Cain: “Figured… what out?”
Reyn: “The thing I should have figured out six months ago. It should have been obvious to me when I was jerking off in the bathroom in Daisuke’s body. When I had such a… visceral reaction to first taking on this form. I… am a man.”
Cain: “…Thank god you finally figured it out.”
Reyn: “You… you’re not surprised? …How long did you know?! Did you figure this out when we were kids and never tell me?”
Cain: “What? No, no. I didn’t even know what a transgender person was back then. I figured it out when proofreading that novel you wrote three months ago.”
Reyn: “W-Why didn’t you tell me? I thought we agreed to not keep any secrets from each other!”
Cain: “Because it was important for you to figure it out for yourself… and I’m glad you finally did.”
Cain locked me into a hug, and I did the same.
For as much as I wanted to commemorate this discovery, to affirm myself as a man before Cain, I fell back into my chair the moment she let go. My body was tired. My mind was tired. And rather than do anything, rather than explore what just happened to me… I simply shut my eyes and drifted off to sleep. Knowing that, while my body will be that of a woman when I wake up, deep down… I will remain a man.
Day 181: Thankful for You
Date: Thursday, November 28, 1996
The following is an excerpt from the diary of Caroline Steticks:
After everything that happened last week and dealing with all this snow, Raiyne and I almost forgot that today was Thanksgiving. We didn’t have any plans for it, as we ate well every night and couldn’t have visitors even if we wanted them… and I did want them.
However, Abigale sent us a care package this morning, filled with… specifically the dishes our parents used to cook for thanksgiving, with their exact recipes included. It was surreal making my mother’s sweet potato casserole and it tasting just like I remembered, though that was not necessarily a bad thing. I forgot a lot of these recipes and, so long as Abigale lets me hold onto them, I plan on incorporating them in the future, in a bigger kitchen.
Even when we’re both women, this kitchen is too small for two people, and neither of us wanted to shirk the responsibilities and have the other one do it. So it was a lot of standing, sitting down for a few minutes to watch a bit of some movie from this year or the past few years, and getting up to move onto the next dish. We spent all day like that, snacking on things while they were hot, and chatting about whatever we could. It was not a bad day just… one that made me long for a way back home, back to my kitchen, and back to Jade. Instead, we’re not even halfway there.
Day 208: The Obligatory Erotic Delights
Date: Wednesday, December 25, 1996
The melancholy of Thanksgiving was mirrored in Christmas this year. We wanted to go home, see familiar faces, and just be away from here. I wanted to see Lou again, Cain wanted to see Jade again, and… we just wanted to be inside our homes. It was novel seeing classic movies like It’s a Wonderful Life on such a crappy TV as that, feeling nostalgic from the way black and white images were projected from the screen. The Christmas cake we made was delicious, as was every other festive dish we made. And sitting down with Cain, under a blanket, watching the snow fall… will always be a magical moment.
Yet, it also felt empty, it felt fake, it felt like something obligatory that I just wanted to move past, to do something else in, as have… most of the past few days. I discovered who I am yet now, 37 days later, I am unable to move on.
I did my best to suppress my discontent throughout the day, only stopping when it was about time for bed. The skies outside had grown black, the fire was burning itself out for the evening, and I was mulling around, upset about my predicament.
I was in my female form today, and while I did not loathe it like a true trans person, I was less inclined to have sex like this. It was not the fact that it is female, but the fact that it is my female body. If I were in Caroline’s body, then I would have no problem having sex with her in mine, regardless of its sex.
As night fell, I prepared for a sexless night, simply due to our cycles more than anything… only for Cain to approach me as I was sitting in bed, reading. She looked at me with a beaming smile on her handsome mug, and I kissed her.
Raiyne: “Get in bed Cain, Christmas is over.”
Cain: “Oh, I beg to differ!”
Raiyne: “What are you talking about?”
Cain then produced something from behind her back. A small white box with a bow taped onto the top. A… Christmas present.
I opened it with widened eyes, wondering what it could possibly be… and saw the VD. The predecessor to the VD2.0. A device the size of a scientific calculator with a screen that resembled one. Yet, instead of featuring dozens of buttons, there were only three, labeled 1, 2, and Go.
I knew from the memories Abigale gave me that this device was far more limited, capable of only swapping bodies, and only locally. Before I could ask how or where she got this from, Cain was taking off her shirt, revealing the abs she worked so hard to refine these past months. She was giving me her body for Christmas… and I did not hesitate to take it.
After fumbling with the VD, I was looking down at my body, sitting in bed, a book still on its lap. A look of confusion was splayed across my face for a moment… only to be replaced with a smug smirk.
I acclimated myself, looking down at my bare chest, feeling an erection bulging against my sweats, and clenching my hands. Not as big as my usual male hands, but considerably thicker, and stronger, than the hands I had a few seconds ago.
Reyn(Cain): “How on Earth did you—”
I paused, forgetting how strange it is to hear someone else’s voice when speaking. Fortunately, Caroline(Raiyne) already knew what I was going to ask.
Caroline(Raiyne): “It was on our doorstep. At first I thought it couldn’t possibly be the VD but I could tell what it was the moment I picked it up. …And that you would like it.”
Reyn(Cain): “You’ve got that right! We’ve been so damn bored I’ll take anything to add some spice to our lives… So, what do you say, Raiyne?”
Caroline(Raiyne): “Well, Cain, I say you get that toned ass of yours in bed and… fuck me!”
We threw our clothes off as quickly as possible, not caring where they would end up, so long as we were where we wanted. Lying in bed, on top of the covers, as naked as the day we were born. It was still cold, cold enough that I could see Caroline(Raiyne)’s nipples perking and feel mine doing the same, but we wouldn’t even need fire with how hot we were about to make things.
I leaned down to give Caroline(Raiyne) a kiss, only for her to strike first, throwing her arms over me as she spun us around. We tossed and turned, our lips merged into one as our bodies grew hotter. Her breasts squished against my chest, our nipples clashed, and though I had yet to enter her, I could tell she was already moist.
It was nothing we hadn’t done dozens of times since we found ourselves stranded here, yet the details deviated in every way they could. The texture of my skin versus my lover’s, the change in size, and simply being able to feel something familiar… from the other perspective. I immediately understood why I had become such a creature of lust when I swapped bodies previously. Because every sensation feels new, feels different, and in those differences, you achieve something enthralling.
I was at full mast, practically frothing with excitement as I sent my hands and mouth over Caroline(Raiyne). Her mouth, her neck, her back, her ass, none were safe from me, and I let her know it. Without entering her, I thrust my penis against her, frotting her. She moaned in anticipation, practically begging me to stick it in… before taking the initiative.
Despite being stronger than her, Caroline(Raiyne) was taller than me, and managed to roll me onto my back easily. She planted her hands down near my shoulders, looking into my blue eyes with hers, and then down at my penis, standing tall. With a gulp, she stood up straight, aligning herself with my penis, before sliding into it. She sputtered and moaned as she fit it inside her, coming to terms with what lurked within me, before looking down at me with a smile.
Caroline(Raiyne): “You’re my man… so let me make you feel like one!”
With a playful wink, Caroline(Raiyne) began to bob herself up and down, work her hips, and took me on the best damn ride she possibly could. A guttural grunt escaped my mouth as she smacked herself forward, churning my cock within her, and stroked herself up and down. It took my damn breath away… yet I couldn’t have her upstage me. She did all this for me, so I had to do something for her… and with her breasts bouncing before me, I knew the best approach.
Without warning, I brought my hands to her breasts, caressing them, drifting my thumbs to her nipples, and watching her face as her expression shifted in accordance to my fingers. She was as overwhelmed as I thought she would be, and seeing her try to maintain composure through it all… made me smile.
Reyn(Cain): “Keep it up, you’re doing great!”
Caroline(Raiyne) smiled at that remark, and did her best to up the ante, accelerating her pace, bobbing her breasts to adjust my hands, and tossing her hands over me, just to make it a bit hotter. This was enough to push me over the edge and, after only a few minutes, I reached my limit.
I unloaded myself into Caroline(Raiyne). As the intense surge wafted through me, I looked at her face, she looked at mine, we smiled.
Reyn(Cain): “I love you.”
Caroline(Raiyne): “And I love you. We’ll get through these long, cold winters together.”
Reyn(Cain): “Yeah. With you by my side, I can get through anything. …So, you wanna go again?”
Caroline(Raiyne): “Of course! With this body, I feel like I could keep going and going!”
Reyn(Cain): “That’s what I like to hear!”
With the snow still pouring down outside and the night still young, we grabbed each other, changed positions… and went at it for the remainder of the night.
Day 214: New Year Karaoke
Date: Tuesday, December 31, 1996
As the clock struck 23:50, Reyn and Caroline were still partying it as hard as they could in their densely packed shoebox cabin. There was two feet of snow outside, no reason to go out, and an attic kitted out like a damn wine cellar. Halfway through their second bottle, to say they were drunk as shit would be the understatement of the year, but they didn’t discourage them. With a karaoke machine plugged into the TV, they triumphantly finished a duet of Islands in the Stream and were laughing like a pair of buzzed out hyenas.
Their clothes were stained with sweat, cum, and wine— mostly wine, because neither could hold a cup for shit. But just looking at them, there wasn’t a doubt that they were having the time of their goldarn lives! They were a pair of singing, drunken fools, and they were damn proud of it!
Fresh off of their latest song, they hooted and hollered, thanking an audience of stuffed animals sitting on their bed before looking at each other. With Reyn sweating like a hog on a hot summer’s day and Caroline with a face so pink it looked like she’d be strawberry flavored.
Caroline: “And that is the power of love!”
Reyn: “The power of love, the greatest power of them all, fuck you, fuck your guns, and fuck your damn Gundams!”
Caroline: “Ye-ah! So, we gonna… we gonna do another round for these people or what?”
Reyn: “It’s not midnight, so I think we gotta, don’tcha?”
Caroline: “Uh… yeah! Let’s… let’s find another duet on this thing and… whaddis?”
Caroline pressed down on the list of duet songs on their 90s karaoke machine and saw what appeared to be a ‘secret’ track. One that, unlike every other song in the list, was written in Japanese characters. It read “じょじょゆじょじょ” or “Joujouyuujoujou.” A curious title that piqued the interest of the two, who immediately selected it, having no idea what this song would be.
Reyn: “You think this is going to be fast or slow?”
Caroline: “Either way, let’s rock it, bay-bee! Woo!”
Reyn & Caroline: “Hey hey, let’s go! It’s the ending theme now! So let’s try our very best!”
As the upbeat and highly energetic music played, Reyn and Caroline danced with a level of precision and poise that went against their drunken stupor. I guess you could call this the power of music, love, or wine!
Reyn & Caroline: “I can do it now, with the love of my life!”
Caroline: “Joy!”
Reyn: “Together we learned what true love is!”
Caroline: “Cool!”
Reyn: “Now I’m happy and we’re hers and his!”
Caroline: “That’s my man!”
Reyn: “Truly this is a fated paradise!”
Caroline: “Oh?”
Reyn: “This is great, now ain’t that true?”
Caroline: “Yeah!”
Reyn: “‘Cos I’m all alone with you!”
Caroline: “Love, love, love!”
Reyn: “With a life like this, what could be the price?”
The jovial tone of the song then shifted to something more synthetic and unnerving, with Caroline speaking even faster and Reyn adopting a deeper, more unnerving tone.
Caroline: “Ha ha! Yeah right, you think it’s super freaking cool?”
Reyn: “No news, no job, nothing we really got to do…”
Caroline: “No chores, no bills, and there’s not even any school!”
Reyn: “It sounds heavenly, so why am I feeling blue?”
The tone shifted yet again, this time veering on something more serious and daunting… while still retaining a degree of irreverence.
Reyn: “Sad!”
Caroline: “What? But we have each other, love!”
Reyn: “Low!”
Caroline: “Do you really need someone else?”
Reyn: “Lost!”
Caroline: “You just need sunshine and a shove!”
Reyn: “I love you, my dear, but we’ve been trapped here for two-hundred-and-fourteen days!”
As Reyn screamed that last line, the music went back to its usual jovial tone, as if the bitter shift never happened.
Caroline: “Why is that though?”
Reyn: “Only one-fifty-one more!”
Caroline: “Was all this necessary?”
Reyn: “Life has become such a bore!”
Caroline: “Why a whole year?”
Reyn: “You know it sounds snappier.”
Caroline: “I guess it can’t be helped.”
Reyn: “Yep!”
Reyn & Caroline: “So let’s try our very best!”
Caroline: “What on Earth was this?”
Reyn: “An experiment!”
Caroline: “Are you sure about that?”
Reyn: “If not then what else can it be?”
Caroline: “I guess so.”
Reyn: “So just grab my hand because…”
Reyn & Caroline: “With the power of love… We can make it through!”
Reyn & Caroline: “Books, music, movies and a couple of games! With these we will strive to somehow maybe remain sane! Love you, love me, love you, love me! So let’s try our very best! Let’s do it like we’re gonna die!”
As the song ended its first half, entering an instrumental bridge, the TV before the two drunken songbirds began to distort, the picture shifting to reveal… Verde Dusk. Reyn and Caroline were too busy grooving along to the music to notice, but when they heard her voice come from the TV, they immediately turned around.
Verde: “Hey guys, are you okay down there? Or did you find the secret escape?”
Immediately sobered by this revelation, the two began to continue the song as it entered the second half, following the lyrics that, for some reason, were still appearing on screen despite Verde’s apparent hijacking.
Caroline: “Verde!”
Reyn: “Oh please, let us out of here!”
Caroline: “Help!”
Reyn: “This song just hides our true fear!”
Caroline: “Save us please!”
Reyn: “We’re both cooped up and going insane!”
Caroline: “True!”
Reyn: “I miss people and my job too.”
Caroline: “Same!”
Reyn: “So just do whatever you can do!”
Caroline: “Let us out!”
Reyn: “Every day we spend here brings us pain!”
The song once again took on a different tone, sounding more deranged and uneven. However, the lyrics did not appear on Caroline or Reyn’s screen and were instead sung by Verde and Abigale, who joined her wife on screen.
Verde: “Hey Abigale, you gotta check this out!”
Abigale: “Oh? How bizarre. I guess they found some way to break the seal?”
Verde: “They seem fixed to me, do you have any doubt?”
Abigale: “No, but if they could finish the song, that would be ideal.”
Just as abrupt as the shift was, things went back to normal a moment later, for Reyn and Caroline’s reaction.
Reyn: “Whoa!”
Caroline: “Are you for real? We’re almost done?”
Reyn: “Shock!”
Caroline: “It’s been great, so let’s have some fun!”
Reyn: “Go!”
Caroline: “C’mon, flex those chords and sing with me!”
Reyn: “I am so happy, I can finally go home and have some time alone.”
Caroline: “Huh, what? “
Reyn: “Come on!”
Caroline: “Don’t you love me?”
Reyn: “I know you feel this way too!”
Caroline: “You don’t have to say it though!”
Reyn: “I do it ‘cos I love you!”
Caroline: “That makes no sense!”
Reyn: “It’s called privacy, girl!”
Caroline: “I guess it can’t be helped.”
Reyn: Yeah!”
Reyn & Caroline: “So let’s try our very best!”
Caroline: “I will miss this place!”
Reyn: “Our special cabin!”
Caroline: “We made love how often?”
Reyn: “Three-hundred-seventy, give or take!”
Caroline: “Are you sure?”
Reyn: “My numbers are never fake!”
Caroline: “That’s more than once a day!”
Reyn & Caroline: “Now ain’t that something!”
Reyn & Caroline: “Writing, walking, and then of course fucking! With these we definitely managed to remain sane! Love you, love me! We gave our very best! So now get us the fuck outta here!”
The song came to a brilliant and epic crescendo as it all wrapped up, and the duet singing promptly threw their wine cups onto the floor, which was already stained red with all the wine they were spilling earlier. They looked at the TV, their blue eyes both sparkling in anticipation, all before… a mass of tentacles emerged from the TV, grabbing Reyn and Caroline and sending them to a slimy hell. It was a place of madness and eroticism that Caroline tried to forget after she met Verde all those months ago. …But nobody can ever forget transdimensional tentacle hell!
Epilogue: The Journey’s End – Manhood Achieved
Date: Monday, June 29, 2015
Time: 11:37
Location: Jade and Caroline’s House
A few hours after returning to their own world, Caroline and Reyn were sitting in the living room in Caroline’s home. They had just finished regaling what happened to them to an audience of Verde, Abigale, Jade, and Maxxie. Fatigue painted both the faces of Caroline and Reyn, and as they sat on a couch together, their bodies close, it was clear how relieved they were to leave the cabin behind and return home. Verde and Abigale were nodding along throughout the story, yet Jade and Maxxie wore more… perplexed expressions.
Jade: “So, I understood most of that, but… why do you want to live as a man, Reyn? I’ve known you for four years and while you were always formal in how you presented yourself, I never pegged you as being trans.”
Reyn: “Well, I’m not really trans in the same way you are, Jade. Honestly, I wouldn’t be too upset if I had to live the rest of my life as Raiyne. There’s nothing I hated about being a woman, and I’m sure that I’ll swap bodies with one before the end of the week. For the past 35 years—”
Abigale: “You’re technically still 34-years-old by the way. You cannot age in our Domain unless we enable it in the settings.”
Reyn: “…For much of my life, I’ve been repressing my identity. My romantic feelings, my sexuality, and even my ability to make mistakes, be impulsive, and… live life how I wanted. I was afraid of ruining my life, and after getting halfway through my thirties, I wanted that to change. I was just too afraid to commit, too afraid to accept this part of myself. One that was perverted, one that wanted to love, and one that… did not want to be constrained by the gender thrust upon me. It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that I preferred this body. Being stronger, taller, and having a more commanding presence. I’ve tried to embody these things before and with this body… they come to me more easily. It feels as if something I had to work for has become my new normal.”
Maxxie: “You don’t really need to explain why you wanna be a hot guy, ya know. We’ve all got eyes. And I’m sure Caroline likes what she sees, and feels.”
Caroline: “I had nothing to do with Reyn’s decision here. We went through the same thing, we transformed at the same rate, and no matter what he chose, I would love him just the same. Whether he wanted to be a woman, a man, both, or something in between, I love him. I always have. It was just a… different type of love than what we have now.”
Verde: “Yeah yeah, another OTP has been determined, big whoop. So, Reyn, Caroline, what sort of plans do you two have?”
Reyn: “What do you mean plans? We’re going to need a couple days to acclimate ourselves back to our homes, to the modern world, after you and Abigale decided to send us back to the 90s for some arbitrary—”
Verde: “I’m talking about the wedding!”
The couch tilted on its back legs as Reyn and Caroline recoiled from Verde’s remark.
Reyn & Caroline: “W-What?!”
Verde: “Look, you two have had sex more times in the past year than the average American couple does in their lifetime. You’ve known each other for basically all your lives. Caroline’s got more space than she knows what to do with, and is a goldarn millionaire. Reyn’s got a steady job with a good pension and no debt. There’s no way, in Heaven or Hell, that you two haven’t talked about getting hitched!”
Caroline: “…We actually never talked about that.”
Reyn: “And even if we did, the first thing we’d do is try moving in together, see how that works.”
Maxxie: “Uh, didn’t you two already live together for seven months?”
Reyn: “We almost went insane doing that. We even recited that song for you.”
Jade: “I’m pretty sure any couple, even the most loving, would go stir crazy if they were alone for seven months like that…”
Caroline: “Hmm… you do have a point Jade.”
Abigale: “If you would like to propose and get it over with, I do have a ring prepared for you.”
With a snap of her fingers, Abigale caused a ring box to appear in Reyn’s lap.
Reyn: “W-What? We never decided on anything like that—”
Maxxie: “Oh hell yeah! Jade can be the bridesmaid, I can be the best man, this will be great!”
Reyn: “I never agreed to any damn wedding!”
Caroline: “M-Me neither. …Though, why would Jade be my bridesmaid?
Verde: “We’re not gonna shove you into anything, but if you want to have a big fancy destination wedding with the whole damn Swap Posse… just give me a call and I can work my magic!”
Reyn: “Why are you all so obsessed with us getting married?”
Abigale: “We are simply giving you options and incentives. You can freely deny if you want, sell the two rings in the box—”
Caroline: “Pardon my interruption, but two rings? I thought the man was supposed to give the woman an engagement ring…”
Abigale: “That is the traditional approach, though with same-sex couples that dynamic does not quite work, and in the modern climate any matter is acceptable, including no rings at all. I merely wanted to give you a pair of twin sapphire rings for—”
Reyn: “Of course you gave me sapphire rings!”
Jade: “Uh, Verde, Abigale, I think you should just let my mother and Reyn have some time to digest. You did put them through a lot, and I think they could both use some alone time.”
Verde: “Yeah, yeah, you have a point. Abigale, let’s finish up our plans for July. ‘Cos trust me, we’ve got some wild shit in store for you!”
Maxxie: “Are you finally gonna give me a bigger dick?”
Abigale: “Yes, among other improvements.”
Maxxie: “Hell yeah!
Abigale: “…Albeit with some caveats.”
Maxxie: “Oh, heavens no!”
Verde: “Alright, you got one spoiler, but not a single one more! C’mon Sweetie, let’s get the fuck outta here!”
With an exaggerated swagger, Verde strutted out the house, with Abigale trailing a few steps behind her.
Maxxie: “Jade and I prolly should bounce too. We’ve got lunch plans, and swap plans, scheduled for today. If you need help with anything, give us a holler, and if you forgot how smartphones work… I guess we’ll see ya when we see ya!”
Maxxie sprung from her seat and grabbed Jade before she could react, dragging her out of her home as she muttered “goodbye” to her mother.
This left Caroline and Reyn alone once again, and not a second after everyone else left the house, they had wrapped each other in a hug.
Caroline: “There really is no place like home… but… do you want to make—”
Reyn: “Not now Caroline. Let’s just enjoy what we have and then we’ll decide if we want to move in, get engaged, get married, all that stuff. I know we might seem a bit too ‘old’ to wait, but the last thing I want to do is rush into something without thinking.”
Caroline: “…Do you promise this won’t take almost twenty years?”
Reyn: “It’ll take two, tops.”
Caroline: “Why do I get the feeling you’ll decide in two months?”
Reyn: “Heh. Maybe I will, but until then… I think we need some space. I might be Reyn now, though… I need to figure out who Reyn is in the real world.”
Caroline: “If you need anything, you know where to find me.”
Reyn: “I know. After all, you promised.”
Caroline: “And, unlike last time… I will not abandon you.”
Reyn and Caroline leaned in closer for a kiss, pecking each other on the lips, before drifting apart on the couch. Reyn stood up, waving goodbye to Caroline as he left the door, heading out to his car.
Despite reality having changed, and his default form now being Reyn, his car seat was still fitted for Raiyne, meaning he had to adjust things. He futzed with the mirrors, moved the seat back to accommodate his extra 6 centimeters of height, and after putting his keys in the ignition, he took a moment to look at his reflection in the rear-view mirror.
While body swapping would keep him hopping from form to form day-by-day, this was his new base. His new default, and the face he would see most days for the rest of his life. The face of a handsome bearded man with shaggy yet stylish hair. He smiled as he reassured himself of this fact, backed out of the driveway to Jade’s home, and drove down the streets of Oransen.
Eager to truly begin his life as a man.
Eager to get back to the world he knew… and the wonders it held.
Fortsetzung Folgt In…
Verde’s Doohickey 2.0: Sensational Summer Romp
Act 3: Worldly Wonders
Verde’s Doohickey 2.0 Main Page
Act 1: SwitchY Swap
May 16th: Prom Pomf Pomf Preview
May 29th: Enter Verde’s Doohickey 2.0
May 30th: Let’s Get Swappin’
May 31st: Flare Family Fiasco
June 1st: Graduation Day
June 2nd: The Kurokawa ‘Sisters’
June 3rd: My Day As Zoe Xing
June 4th: Love in Seoul
June 5th: Sister Mother and Sister Daughter
June 6th: Back 2.0 Basics
June 7th: Assembling the Posse
June 8th: Anita Neukar in… Vivi Gaimz
June 9th: Mother Daughter Heart-2.0-Heart
June 10th: Daisuke and Paz in… Wacked Up Wednesday
June 11th: VAG Swap
June 12th: Terra’s Tomorrow
June 13th: Haruki’s Birthday Bash
Act 2: CHAOTIC CHANGES
June 14th: Jade and the Kuro Abigale Quinlans
June 15th: Aku_Mako’s E3 2015 Rundown – Day Zero
June 16th: Transform Sex Power
June 17th: Erotic Blitz
June 18th: An Evening At The Local Water Park
June 19th: Date Night Cubed
June 20th: Chicago Diamond Symphonia
June 21st: The Father’s Day Resurrection Special
June 22nd: Nazz and Liang Do Flare Industries
June 23rd: The Kurokawa Family Visits the Museum of Science and Industry
June 24th: Whatever Happened to… Yuccot Kikansky?
June 25th: A World Where The Gamers Won
June 26th: Bond Xing
June 27th: SSS – Sizzling Sexual Summer
June 28th: Lesbians 2.0 Gay Boys
June 29th: Caroline and Raiyne’s Cabin Logs
ACT 3: WORLDLY WONDERS
July 1st: We Lost the Remote in Tokyo!
July 2nd: Maid Café Mishaps
July 3rd: Pier Parties and Peaceful Palavers
July 4th: The Freedom To Get High At Burger Queen!
July 5th: From Nippon With Love
July 6th: Let’s Go Mexico with Haruya ‘n’ Da Boyz! Episode 1
July 7th: Jade & Caroline’s Austrian Adventure Episode 1
July 8th: Max’s Buff Quest Episode 1
July 9th: Let’s Go Mexico with Haruya ‘n’ Da Boyz! Episode 2
July 10th: Jade & Caroline’s Austrian Adventure Episode 2
July 11th: Max’s Buff Quest Episode 2
July 12th: Let’s Go Mexico with Haruya ‘n’ Da Boyz! Episode 3
July 13th: Jade & Caroline’s Austrian Adventure Episode 3
July 14th: Max’s Buff Quest Episode 3
July 15th: Utage Three-Point-Oh!