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, dubious consent, strong language, hateful language and slurs, and incestuous activities. Reader discretion is advised.
Verde’s Doohickey 2.0: Sensational Summer Romp
July 9th – Let’s Go Mexico with Haruya ‘n’ Da Boyz! Episode 2
Part 1: Haruya ‘n’ Da Boyz Look For Trouble
Date: Thursday, July 9, 2015
Time: 12:23 CDT (Central Daylight Time)
Location: Outside Museo de Historia Mexicana, Centro, Monterrey, Mexico
Four days into their trip, Haruya and Da Boyz firmly planted their boots into Mexico with their second day at Monterrey. The capital of Nuevo León, largest city after Mexico City, and one of the more prosperous cities in the country as a result. Home to industry, culture, and 30+ degree temperatures that made the city’s lack of ready shade all the more apparent.
Haruya, Tony, Vidkun, Gemma, and Bern all braced themselves for the heat as they walked out of the Mexican History Museum, exiting into a wide expanse of stone with little shading. The human-made Santa Lucia river did something to cut back on the intense temperatures, but it was enough to warrant more than a moan from Haruya.
Haruya: “[Bleh. That was educational, but what do we have next on the itinerary? Preferably something that does not involve being under intense heat.]”
Because they were in Mexico, they were naturally speaking Mexican Spanish, as it is just easier to manage one language at a time.
Tony: “[C’mon, it’s just walking through the city. You managed pretty well on your hike yesterday…]”
Haruya: “[Yeah, and now I’m spending the second day in a row on my feet. Have you seen my legs? These thighs ain’t made for walking nowhere!]”
Gemma: “[Mayhaps we could check out another museum. I believe that MARCO is just a short walk south of here.]”
Bern: “[So, that’s the big plan? Check out museums during the day and the nightlife at night, then ditch this place tomorrow? You sure you actually planned this trip, Haruya?]”
Haruya: “[You’re not supposed to plan too much for a trip like this! And why do I gotta come up with all the ideas?]”
Vidkun: “[You are the one who organized this trip. Your responsibilities go without question.]”
Haruya: “[Yeah, yeah, blame the leader. C’mon Gemma, let’s go hit up the streets and ask about what’s happenin’.]”
Bern: “[You sure that’s how this works?]”
Haruya: “[Nope! But it sounds like a good idea!]”
With Haruya operating on her own wavelength, the rest of Da Boyz followed behind as she ventured westward through the shadeless expanse, seeing a few people passing by. Haruya tried reaching out to some of them, speaking fluent Mexican Spanish while looking sufficiently like a local, but nobody was willing to give this gaggle of dudes, and one girl, their time of day. They weren’t here to act as tour guides, and all presumably had things to do. This cycle continued as the gang worked their way from the History Museum to the Palace Museum. Another museum, but when caught between the choice to head indoors and reject the outside world… Haruya kept heading westward.
Haruya: “[L-Let’s keep looking around. Nothing wrong with just walking down the streets to get a feel for the city.]”
Bern: “[You really have no idea what to do, don’t you? It’s fine, I’ve been looking up places to go on my phone for a reason…]”
Haruya: “[C’mon, have a little faith in me! I’ll figure something out eventually!]”
Tony: “[Uh, how about we take a break somewhere and work out our plans. There looks to be a park across the street there.]”
Bern: “[Already checked. We need to go south if we want to rest somewhere shady. Come along, ‘lads.’]”
With leadership revoked, Da Boyz followed Bern another couple hundred meters south, stopping as they reached block-sized area with shade, trees, sculptures, and benches. They quickly settled onto a pair of benches and pulled out their phones, searching for things to do in parallel as they enjoyed the respite from the sun, taking swigs of their water bottles as they bounced back ideas and tried to make something of their last day. Checking out this district, this museum, or this place were all compiled into a list, maintained by Vidkun of course, as they struggled to make a decision.
Gemma: “[Truly, tis most unfortunate that we cannot just have an adventure land in within our lap. I would even take a modest objective if only to battle this lackluster direction.]”
Vidkun: “[We’re too late in the day to really schedule something, but we’re in the historical city center. I think. We should be able to find something!]”
As if on cue, the gang of five heard a man’s voice piercing through the ambient noise of a park surrounded by cars. The screaming persisted, loudly echoing throughout their surroundings, and Da Boyz all looked at each other.
Bern: “[Just leave him be. We’re a bunch of tourists, and I’m sure someone else will take care of it.]”
Gemma: “[No! We cannot know that for certain! As good Samaritans, we must make haste!]”
With his mind dead set on this goal, Gemma sprinted off to the sound of the screaming, and the rest of Da Boyz followed behind, just not as fast as the more determined boy-turned-girl. The travel took a while, the screaming man clearly moving as they shouted loudly and wildly, his words too distorted to be made out. Gemma traveled across the street as he honed in on this man’s location, following him as he erratically sprinted across the sidewalk, his movements uneven, as if he was not used to his own shape. …Or maybe he was just wearing shoes two sizes too big. It was hard to tell when he was 50 meters away.
The man stopped as he reached the end of this block, looking at a speeding bus as he fell to his knees in dismay. The passersby on the street looked at him with concern or confusion, but Gemma was the first to reach out to him, hand on his shoulder.
The man looked to be in his thirties, had a patchy beard on his face, average physique all around, wearing a collared shirt and shorts. He looked like any one of the thousands of people one would see on these streets every day a day. Tears were pouring out of his eyes, as if the shouting hadn’t revealed him to be in distress.
Gemma: “[Sir, is there anything I can do to help you?]”
Gemma asked in the kindest way she could, yet her words appeared to trigger something in this man, who flailed his arms, shooing Gemma away, before standing up again.
???: “[Sir? I’m not a sir! This isn’t me! I am not a man! This is not my body! I… I need to know who did this! How this happened!]”
From “his” manner of speech, being higher and softer while still very angry, Gemma could intuit what this “man” was talking about, yet that only made Gemma more confused. Their group didn’t bring a VD 2.0 with them by mistake did they? No, Gemma shook his head in rejection. Then… what happened to this person?
As Gemma pondered this murky question, he heard a familiar voice shout from behind him. Haruya and the rest of their group was marching forward, each looking more confused than the last.
Part 2: Haruya ‘n’ Da Boyz Find Trouble
Date: Thursday, July 9, 2015
Time: 12:47 CDT (Central Daylight Time)
Location: Ciudadano Park, Centro, Monterrey, Mexico
After taking some time to recuperate, Da Boyz gathered in another small park area wedged between busy roads, sitting on benches with various street foods in their hands. Tacos, tamales, quesadillas— tortas, simple comfort foods that could be found in no short supply around every other street corner here. Though the reason they were gathered here was none other than the “man” awkwardly sitting between Gemma and Haruya, looking as if they were on the bring of tears yet again.
Haruya: “[Lemme get this straight. So, you’re saying that, less than an hour ago, you were a woman, then you were suddenly transformed into a man?]”
The person between Gemma and Haruya nodded sincerely, staring down at the ground as an uneaten tamale sat in their hands.
Gemma: “[Could you tell us your name then, please?]”
???: “[L-Laura. My name is Laura.]”
Even saying her name, Laura seemed grossly uncomfortable with her new voice, if not disgusted by it. It was no deeper than average, but combined with the short hair on her head and facial hair poking out from her face, her appearance was unambiguously masculine.
Laura: “[I… I bet you don’t believe me. No matter how you look at me, I’m… I’m a man. I… I don’t know why she would do this.]”
Haruya: “[Who did this? Don’t hold back on us, we’re trying to help you out here.]”
Laura: “[And why should I even believe you? I can tell just from the way you look that you’re some American.]”
Vidkun: “[Look, we believe you, Laura. Not a lot of people would. So do you want to cooperate with us, or not?]”
Hearing a White boy like Vidkun give her such a clapback riled Laura up. She clenched her fist in frustration, feeling the strength in her new man arms, but relented a second later. She instead sighed, looking up at the blue sky, taking a bite from her tamale, twisting her face as she realized even her mouth felt different, before downing the bite.
Laura: “[It began with my friend Sandra. She has been avoiding me for the past day, not responding to my texts, not going work, so I went to look for her. I figured she would be in the plaza, and she was, but when I tried approaching her, she… used something on me, turning me into ‘this.’]”
Exaggerated shaky hand movements conveyed Laura’s disgust more than words could, and she seemed all the more hurt now that she told the truth.
Bern: “[So, where did Sandra go? What does she look like?]”
Laura: “[I don’t know. I… I couldn’t run properly in this body, and I lost track of her. She… She is a short woman, my age, a little on the heavier side, has long black hair, and was in a light blue dress.]”
Hearing this story made it all too easy to reach a conclusion, and Tony was the first to bring it up, whispering into Vidkun’s ear.
Tony: “[We, uh, didn’t bring a VD 2.0 with us, did we?]”
Vidkun: “[No. And we can test that theory by checking her ID.]”
Bern, sitting besides the couple, asked the question on Vidkun’s behalf.
Bern: “[Might we see your ID, Miss?]”
Laura nodded as she shifted through her shorts, looking at her plain black male wallet with confusion, as if she had never seen it before now, before producing an ID that Bern grabbed. She looked at it and, within a second, it was clear that something was amiss. Her ID said Laura, was marked female, and had the image of a girl who bared a striking resemblance to the Laura before her. If she was victim of a TransSex transformation… then why wouldn’t reality change with her body.
Bern: “[It’s not what we think it is. I don’t think reality changed. Just her body… and hair… and clothes.]”
Gemma: “[Curious, curiouser, and maximally curious! It would require someone of an exceptionally ill repute to engage in such practices. Gender may be all fun and games for some, but for the excessive majority of people, it is something deeply personal and rigid. And you did nothing to upset this Sandra, did you? Twas not a conclusion to a lovers quarrel, was it?]”
Laura: “[N-No, of course not! I’ve known Sandra since high school and I would never do something to upset her.]”
Haruya: “[Hmm… perhaps this was all planned? I would not put it past ‘you know who,’ guys. And if they want us to solve a mystery… then we’ll solve it! Scrub the city, and find the answer to this mystery! Who’s with me?]”
???: “[How bold of you to assume this is something Verde planned for you.]”
Before the rest of Da Boyz could answer, they heard a vaguely familiar voice break into the conversation. They all turned at once, looking at who could possibly be joining them, and saw… Urabe Yukito Dusk of all people.
Urabe’s male form stood before them, dressed in a dark blue suit with a turquoise dress shirt. Black hair obscured her eyes and handsome face, giving her a mysterious, slightly shaggy appearance. And while her stature, capping out at 179 centimeters, was not tall, it worked with her lean build, giving her the appearance of someone composed, if not powerful.
Urabe Yukito, or just Yukito as the Posse had taken to calling this form, moseyed on over, looking like a serious businessman, if not a detective, and looked down at Laura. Yukito gently brushing a hand over her face as she looked at the man before her, squinting as she pegged Yukito as White. In reality, she was French-Japanese, but different races read differently in different cultures.
Yukito: “[Yes, this is a full body transformation, but not a reality transformation, as you lot are enjoying. If that’s the case, it’s a good thing I came here when I did.]”
Haruya: “[Uh, pardon my Spanish, Yukito, but—]”
Vidkun: “[Where the FUCK did you come from, dude? You’re supposed to be in Oransen with Verde, aren’t you?]”
Yukito: “[No, I believe I am where I ought to be. It would be too reckless to leave a fourth of the Posse without supervision.]”
Bern: “[Without supervision? Really? What am I to you then?]”
Yukito: “[A responsible adult, but even those can prove to be too reckless. Need I remind you of what happened to Ken and Elly earlier this month? Abigale is currently conducting research on how to fix their fine mess, and I’m here to prevent another one. I thought my presence was just an extra precaution, but now I see we have a TF user in our midst. What a pain in the ass…]”
Tony: “[Uh, but how…] How did you follow us? Did you drive behind us and keep a low profile? Did you catch a plane here, knowing it was our destination?”
Yukito looked around, her expression plain, before responding, switching over to Mandarin Chinese.
Yukito: “[I was the car. I merged with it.]”
Haruya took the cue and switched over to Chinese, fumbling over her words slightly as she switched over to another language
Haruya: “[Wut’s dat s’posta— The hell does that mean? My car doesn’t have any fancy computers in it or nuthin’. It’s a 2006 Honda! It’s just got a CD player and radio, that’s it. That’s all a car needs, none of that back camera nonsense.]”
Yukito: “[Let’s just say that if there is a hole, it can be penetrated. And cars are full of holes.]”
Da Boyz were even more confused on how Yukito got here. Well, except for Gemma. Gemma looked like he knew exactly what Yukito meant.
Yukito: “[TransSex Transformations are meant to be limited to the VD 2.0 in this Scenario, and while they do not ordinarily leave reality unaltered, there are settings that can be used to achieve this effect. Accordingly, there are two plausible scenarios. Either the VD 2.0 stolen from Ken and Elly has wound up in Mexico, or we have an Irregular within this Scenario. Perhaps Verde selectively withheld information again. If so… I will need to formulate an appropriate punishment for her.]”
Bern: “[So, what? We’ve got a Monterrey mystery to solve?]”
Yukito: “[Sure sounds like it.]”
As their Chinese conversation continued, Laura perked up from her seat on the bench, still speaking her mother tongue of Mexican Spanish.
Laura: “[I, uh, I don’t understand what you’re saying, and I’m getting very concerned. Are… Are you going to help me?]”
On cue, everybody switched back to Spanish, and Yukito took the reigns as leader, adopting a warm smile as she looked on at the TF victim before her.
Yukito: “[Of course, Laura. I promise to help you get back to normal. You have my word. Now then, we’re going to need to split up. Gemma, Bern, and Haruya, you look like you could pass as locals, put on your best affect and try to suss out information through whatever means necessary.]”
Gemma: “[Understood. Detective Stone accepts her assignment, SIR!]”
Haruya: “[So, what, I gotta be a nuisance?]”
Bern: “[No, you fish out of water. Follow my lead and I’ll give you some pointers.]”
Turning around, Yukito doled out orders to the other half of their motley crew.
Yukito: “[Tony, Vidkun, I don’t think a gringo and Black guy are the best pick for playing detective in a place like this. Do what you would like. Laura, legally, you do not exist, and we cannot allow you to get in any trouble. It’s best that you stay with one of us, and I think Haruya would be the most sociable fit.]”
Laura: “[…I’m sorry. Legally, I what?]”
Yukito: “[As for me, I think it is necessary to use my android capabilities to suss out a solution. A bit cheap, but necessary.]”
Laura: “[A-Android?]”
Tony: “[He, uh, he’s just really big into the operating system. You know, for phones and stuff.]”
After covering for her unintentional— or maybe intentional— blunder, Tony shot Yukito a look telling her to get out of here and, with a nod, she did. The entire crew of Da Boyz dissipated with their own objectives, but a singular mission. Find this irregular and stop them before they can transform anyone else. It was not a mission any of them expected to be partaking in even an hour ago… but that was not going to stop them.
Part 3: Haruya ‘n’ Da Boyz Thrift For Trouble
Date: Thursday, July 9, 2015
Time: 14:52 CDT (Central Daylight Time)
Location: Barrio Antiguo, Monterrey, Mexico
To the East of the main plaza where they found Vidkun and Tony were in the middle of milling about, minding their own business, in Barrio Antiguo. A historic neighborhood in the city with narrow streets, large overhead banners that made foot traffic comfortable, and a deluge of quirky shops that sold everything from necessities to nonsense. The neighborhood looked to be missing a sense of liveliness, with its plainly colored buildings and the metal bars on everything, but it was nothing that intimidated either. They had seen too much of Chicago to be spooked by this, and with Yukito at their beck and call, they felt secure enough to barge into a storefront and check it out, eager to spend their per diems on something fun.
After an hour of sifting around, they happened across a shop far on the nonsense end of the spectrum, one full of all sort of knickknacks, oddities, and stuff that was pretty clearly bootlegs. A shelf of toys that were brazenly unlicensed. Ceramic Dragon Ball figure. Quality woven bags that cost a fraction of what they would back in America for suspicious reasons. A row of nylon jackets that looked like they were sourced from some military organization, but it was anyone’s guess who, especially with engravings that spanned three languages.
Vinyl, books, CDs, and DVDs were scattered in loose clusters. There was an entire row of burned PS2 games behind the counter, along with jewelry that looked to either be ridiculously overpriced or underpriced. There was even a bottle of Robocop bubble bath that, from the sell by date alone, looked like it would give a man an IUD if they used it for five seconds.
It was simultaneously a dumping ground and a treasure trove, all in one insane, tightly wound, package where it was not clear if some things were blatant disregards for copyright, or everything was. Still, it was a rarity, an oddity, and the mere sight was enough to capture Vidkun’s utter imagination, leading him to shout at the middle-aged man at the counter, fiddling with something on his phone.
Vidkun: “[Hey, buddy, the hell kind of store is this even supposed to be?]”
Tony: “[Vid, don’t be rude to the guy!]”
The middle-aged man grumbled, putting his phone away and making an audible snorting noise, causing his thick mustache to shake.
Store Owner: “[What’s it look like to you, kid? It’s my store, I buy things, and I sell them.]”
Vidkun: “[Most stores don’t just have a bunch of junk though. What’s your hook, your gimmick, so I know if you’re legit or not.]”
Store Owner: “[I got kids, I sell the sort of things they like. Business is normally pretty good, gotta say.]”
The fact that the shelves were jam-packed with stuff, and it was hard to find anything, indicated that, no, business was not very good.
Vidkun: “[So, it’s just a bunch of crap you think young dudes would like?]”
Store Owner: “[Yeah, if you wanna be a dick about it.]”
The curtness of the store owner caused Tony to flinch, while Vidkun was perusing the offerings, filling up a woven bag like it was a grocery basket.
Tony: “[Uh, Vid, are you sure that you should be—]”
Vidkun: “[Tony, I am getting this stuff ‘because’ it’s weird. When the hell am I going to go to a store with ‘authentic’ bootlegs like this again? Now get yourself a jacket or something, I’m buying.]”
Tony sighed at Vid’s reaction, rolling his eyes as of course he was going to act this way. With permission to shop like a rich dad at a souvenir shop, Tony began looking for whatever looked neat, while Vidkun focused mostly on the video game stuff, looking through the collection, comparing it to his own. It was pretty slim beyond what looked to be hacks burned on DVDs, but there was one thing that immediately stood out to him. A PolyStation, complete with the PolyStation branding, right next to a stack of bootleg Famicom games, and some… notable ones. Baby Mario, Final Fantasy VII, Pokémon Yellow, Kart Fighter, 927 Games In One— hell, right next to it was a clearly fake Pokémon game for Game Boy Advance, complete in a semi-official looking box, just incompetent enough to be an obvious fake.
Vidkun immediately stuffed this box in his bag and went up to the counter, emptying out his haul before the store owner. The guy looked at the collection, various distorted looking oddities and a bootleg console that everybody knew was nothing but a Famicom clone, and stared at the White kid before him. He made an audible snort yet again before looking down at Vidkun.
Store Owner: “[Kid, you know this ain’t a PlayStation, right?]”
Vidkun: “[I know. I have all the PlayStations back home. But I have never seen an actual POLY-Station, and I want a POLY-Station. Finding one this overt is a rarity in America. Same with these little figures, these game carts. These are all novelties where I’m from, and it’s not like you’re starved for stuff.]”
The middle-aged store owner chuckled at the enthusiastic White kid before him, speaking fluent conversational Spanish.
Store Owner: “[You like rare stuff, huh? Well, I have something out in back that I think is pretty rare. According to the internet at least. Lemme go grab it.]”
The store owner walked out to the cluttered mess that was behind the store while Tony shuffled forward, wearing one of those nylon jackets— it fit him perfectly— and throwing one on Vidkun.
Tony: “[These things are surprisingly comfortable. I’m not sure how you’d go about washing them though.]”
Vidkun: “[We’ve got Babs. She’ll know.]”
With the jacket on his shoulders, Vidkun put it on properly, moving around his arms in every direction to make sure it fit, and finding it to be surprisingly comfortable with quality knitting along the seams. This was not some cheap crap that would break after being worn for a few days, this looked like it was built to last, and it breathed pretty well. Plus, the dark gray color gave it a strict utilitarian look without being, distinctly, tied to any military.
Just as the jackets were donned and compared, finding Tony’s to be slightly darker and less baggy, the store owner came back with a box bearing a strange swirling logo surrounded by colorful quadrangles resembling a box, along with a logo that looked like “POFX.” Vidkun had no idea what this was… until he looked at the corner and saw what looked like a mid-tower 90s PC… with a six button controller plugged in. He immediately realized what this was. A rare console that never left Japan, was a notorious failure, yet beloved by weird freaks in the gaming world. Created by NEC as a successor to their PC-Engine, aka the TurboGrafx-16, it was a goldarn PC-FX!
Vidkun: “[How THE FUCK did you get a PC-FX?]”
Store Owner: “[That’s what it’s called? I thought it said it was a POFX. And I got this thing a decade ago. It just came in with a shipment I got from my guy.]”
Vidkun: “[…How much for it?]”
The store owner shrugged and brought his hand to his face, covering his mouth and rustling his stache again.
Store Owner: “[A hundred American dollars. With the PolyStation, bag, and jackets… Two-hundred.]”
Not skipping a beat, Vidkun plucked the cash out of his wallet and pushed it forward like it was nothing. The owner shrugged, counting the cash and verifying it was real, smirking at the fact that he finally sold something that was eating up space for so long. Shoving the cash under the desk, he stared blankly as Vidkun crammed everything he could in his bag and everything else in his backpack, looking like a packrat by the time everything was stuffed away.
Vidkun: “[Thank you, good sir. You just made my vacation.]”
Like a rat that just snagged a fat chunk of cheese, Vidkun skedaddled out of the shop, with Tony following behind, the two hauling their butts to build some distance before Vidkun stopped, a smile on his usually serious face.
Tony: “[This is, like, super rare or something, isn’t it?]”
Vidkun: “[It’s no PSX recorder, but these things are rare, and now… I’ve got one! With a haul like this, we don’t want to be walking around. We should take a cab back to the hotel just to drop it off. Not like we can do anything to help that Laura girl.]”
Tony: “[I hope they’re making progress. I feel like I should be doing something about this whole affair, but it’s hard when I don’t know the culture, the city, or where to even begin. It’s not like a clue is going to run past us like this.]”
As Vidkun and Tony reached the next street corner, they saw… precisely that.
They saw a pudgy middle-aged man chasing after a tall, strong woman. The man was bald, dressed simply, and clearly not aging with the most grace, while the woman looked like she could whoop most men she came across with her bulky biceps, or crush them with her meaty legs. She was wearing only shorts and a tank top, her long hair tied in a simple braid that bounced against her back. Both the man and the woman were running through the street, looking odd in and of themselves, but what really captured their attention was the words the man was shouting as he chased after this woman.
Middle-Aged Dude: “[Give me my body back, you fucking asshole!]”
The woman ran forward despite these pleas, with the man slogging behind, having little to no chance to chase after her. Witnesses to this scene, Tony shot Vidkun a smirk while Vidkun just offered a shrug.
Vidkun: “[You ASKED for this. Now run, track star.]”
Tony: “[Sometimes I feel like Verde has turned my entire life into a big psyop…]”
With no bags on his person and nothing holding him back, Tony broke out into a sprint. He swiftly outpaced the woman in a pudgy man’s body and began closing the distance between him and the body thief. Though he had snagged a muscular frame, he lacked the raw speed Tony had at his disposal, allowing him to swerve around the corners and grab the thief by the arm. The sudden interruption nearly caused the body thief to collapse on the street, but he instead fell against a parked car.
Tony: “[I take it that’s not your body, is it?]”
Smirking at his bad attempt at a one-liner, Tony grabbed the body thief’s arms and pressed him against the street. He did not want to hurt him, but he was not going to just let this guy run away right after getting caught.
Naturally, the body thief in the body of the tall woman, aged somewhere in its late 20s, was not complicit. He thrashed about, trying to get Tony off of him while sputtering a string of obscenities. His tone was gruff, aggressive, and sounded unbecoming with his lighter voice.
Body Thief: “[Get the fuck off me, you clump of shit! The hell’s a Black guy doing here anyway?]”
Tony: “[I’m here on vacation. How about you? Do you just fancy stealing people’s bodies, buddy?]”
Body Thief: “[I didn’t steal shit! I was just walking down the street, minding my own business, and bam! I’m a fucking chick!]”
Tony: “[Then why run away from her like that? Wouldn’t you want to go back to normal?]”
Body Thief: “[Do I look fucking stupid to you? …Don’t answer that. Sure, I lost my dick, but I’m at least 20 years younger. I might not know shit about being a woman, but that opportunity’s too good to pass by.]”
Vidkun: “[The psychology of some people is truly fascinating…]”
While Tony kept the body of the tall woman planted on the ground, chest first, Vidkun and the body of the pudgy man walked nearby. With Vidkun still carrying his woven bag of stuff.
Vidkun: “[Let’s start with names. Tony, this is Monica, Monica, this is Tony. My name is Vidkun, and who are you, mister body thief?]”
Body Thief: “[Like I just told your friend here, I didn’t steal shit!]”
Vidkun: “[Okay, then what’s your name, mister happy accident?]”
Body Thief: “[…Salvador. Happy?]”
Tony: “[So, Salvador, Monica, you both just suddenly swapped bodies?]”
Monica was the first to answer. She spoke as if she was straining her voice to speak in a comfortable resonance, but that was far from uncommon for first-time body swappers.
Monica: “[I… I don’t know what happened. I was just going for a run after work, passing by this guy, and the next thing I knew… I was in his body.]”
Tony: “[Uh, forgive me for asking, but there’s no reason you would want to become a guy— at least a guy like Sal here— right?]”
Salvador: “[The fuck’s that supposed to mean?]”
Monica: “[N-No, of course not. I… I put pride in my body, and this, with this… hair.]”
Patting her belly and rubbing her scalp, Monica looked disgusted with her current situation, making it hard to believe she was responsible. Tony and Vidkun looked at each other as they considered these facts and nodded, Vidkun pulling out his phone and dialing Yukito.
Vidkun: “[Yukito, we have another instance of transformation. It was a body swap between two locals in Barrio Antiguo.]”
Yukito: “[What? We’ve got a serial transformer going around? And here I was hoping that this was an isolated fluke. I’ll be there soon.]”
Vidkun: “[How’s your search going?]”
Yukito: “[Terrible. The security system here is primitive compared to Chicago. Normally, I could hack every camera nearby and have a thousand eyes. Here, it’s more like having three-hundred eyes. I’ll send you my location. .]”
Putting his phone away, Vidkun looked over Tony, Monica, and Salvador, all standing around, all looking confused in their own way. Vidkun groaned, wishing that he had a VD2.0 on him so he could fix this problem and get on with his day.
Vidkun: “[Some vacation this turned out to be…]”
Part 4: Haruya ‘n’ Da Boyz Hit The Bar
Date: Thursday, July 9, 2015
Time: 15:22 CDT (Central Daylight Time)
Location: Centro, Monterrey, Mexico
After almost two hours of bouncing across the Centro district of Monterrey with no leads, Bern and Gemma were standing in a narrow street. It was a place wedged between a store with windows covered by a crude mashup of anime characters, a store that was just a bunch of cardboard boxes on the floor, and an outdoor bar that looked as seedy as a bag of trail mix.
Bern: “[Are you sure this is a good idea?]”
Gemma: “[Most certainly no, but I do not see you positing any alternative avenues.]”
Bern: “[What is there to suggest? We have been looking for about two hours and haven’t found anything. I just don’t think there’s a half-decent chance that we’ll get anything by going in here.]”
Gemma: “[That still means there is a chance, does it not?]”
With a reply like that, all Bern could do was glare and groan at Gemma. With her taking the lead, they walked closer to smell of tequila and grease. They found a whole in the wall containing a barkeep and his merchandise with six stools, cammed onto a counter. Calling it a bar was generous, as while there was a roof, the place didn’t even have a door, let alone four walls.
At the bar, there were four middle-aged men, possibly retired, all yucking it up among themselves like a bunch of barflies. Bern stepped forward to greet these guys, hoping she looked old enough to get a response, only for Gemma to grab her shoulder and step forward. Knowing how mature Gemma could be, Bern shrugged and supported the nearest wall, watching things play out.
Gemma: “[Heya fellas, how’s life treating you?]”
Seconds in, Bern regretted her decision. She felt like stopping her, but Gemma was not this socially inept, so she continued supporting the wall. At least for now.
The barflies turned to look at Gemma, their eyes widening as they saw a hot young woman looking at them with a smile.
Barfly A: “[Hey girlie, what brings you here? Looking for a drink? I’ll buy you one if you take a seat next to me.]”
Barfly B: “[Same here!]”
Barfly C: “[Shit, I’ll get you whatever you want if you sit on my lap. Bwahaha!]”
Gemma: “[Omigosh, you’re, like, so nice. But I’m not here to drink. I need some distinguished gentlemen to help me out with something.]”
Barfly D: “[Eh? What is it?]”
Barfly B: “[Yeah, we don’t do things for free, if ya catch my drift.]”
Gemma: “[You see, I’m, like, trying to find someone. A lady who stole something from a friend of mine, and I’m totes NOT familiar enough with the city to find people. But if you handsome fellas can help me, I’m sure I’ll be able to find her before nightfall. And I promise to offer a little, uh, what’s the word? Quid pro quo? If you catch what I’m throwing down.]”
Hearing Gemma’s attempt at a valley girl accent, in Spanish, Bern could not help but facepalm, muttering into her hand.
Bern: “[He means sex, doesn’t he…]”
Barfly A: “[Eh, interesting offer. José, you were a cop for a while, what do ya know about finding people?]”
Barfly C: “[Enough to help this girlie here. But I’m not doing it without an advance. Sit on uncle’s lap, girlie. I’ll let you drink my beer! Bwahaha!]”
Bern clenched her knuckles as she heard this play out, but Gemma still walked forward, plopping on a seat between these four older men and drinking a sip from one of their glasses. From the disgusted look on his face, Gemma immediately regretted his actions.
Gemma: “[That’s a little strong to me. Now, I’m looking for a woman nam—]”
Right as Gemma was about to make his pitch and talk about Sandra, he froze. His eyes blinked rapidly, his movements became sluggish, and as he seemed to regain his senses, he brushed his hand through his hair, puffing out his chest, and looking at one of them men around him with what could best be described as “bedroom eyes.”
Bern rolled her eyes as she saw this, thinking that it was some seduction technique that Gemma was using, already rehearsing a lecture in her mind. She tried to look away, staring at the streets instead… only to see that Gemma was kissing one of these men, literally throwing himself onto one of them as they gawked at the sight. Her brow furrowed and her feet clashed against the ground as she stomped over to the bar.
Bern: “[Gemma, the fuck are you doing?]”
Despite her call, Gemma did not respond, he continued fawning over one of the middle-aged men, while two of them got out of their seats, staring at Bern like she was some common thug.
Barfly A: “[Sorry, but it looks like your little girlfriend likes herself an older man. I’d suggest you leave her with us.]”
Barfly D: “[Yeah, a girlie like her has to explore, try every flavor, before she can decide her favorite. Besides, aren’t ‘you’ a little old for her yourself?]”
Bern: “[She’s my cousin, dickwad.]”
The barflies did not even flinch at that remark.
Barfly A: “[Oh yeah, and she’s my niece. Whatcha gonna do about it, huh?]”
Rather than use her words, Bern replied by kicking the first barfly squarely in the balls, slamming her sneaker through his jeans and watching him as he fell to the ground. He wailed in pail from the impact, clenching his dick while squirming in vain, but that did not stop Bern from kicking him while he was down, just once, aimed squarely for his gut. His mouth erupted as his booze came up the wrong end, pouring out onto the street as he struggled to breathe.
Bern smirked at his accomplishment, pleasantly surprised by her current body’s strength, but the other barfly was not quite as impressed, grabbing a tequila bottle and preparing to smack Bern upside the head with it, only for Bern to dodge it and send a fist into this man’s neck. He gagged from the impact, his grip on the bottle loosening, allowing Bern to snatch it away and hit this creep in the back of the head. The cheap glass shattered, the alcohol poured everywhere, mingling with the pile of puke on the ground, and this creep fell like a wet sack. He was still conscious, but clearly knew better than to try to mess with Bern.
Bern: “[Sorry about that guys, just a little self-defense. You’ll be fine by tomorrow, so just stay down.]”
Acting like a tough guy, Bern stomped her way to the bar proper. The other two guys were staring at Bern with widen eyes, and the silent bartender just sighed, as if he had seen shit like this more times than he could count.
Barfly C: “[Uh, hey, buddy, we don’t want any trouble or—]”
Bern: “[Give me Gemma and get out of here.]”
The two barflies did as Bern suggested, shoving Gemma away before skedaddling out of this place, leaving behind only a barkeep who chose to say nothing. With these obstacles gone, Bern grabbed Gemma by the arm and yanked him out of there, back onto the street.
Bern: “[Could you please explain to me what your plan—.]”
Bern’s sentence was cut off by the sound of a palm smacking her cheek. It did not hurt, but it certainly surprised her, and as she looked down at Gemma… she saw that he was positively pissed.
Gemma: “[Asshole, I don’t know what your deal is, but leave me alone.]”
Bern: “[Gemma, cut the shit. We still need to find this Sandra woman and—]”
Gemma?: “[Who the hell is Gemma? Look, I don’t know how I got here, or got these, but if I’m dying, or going crazy I want to have a good time before I wake up, you get it?]”
Bern looked around at her surroundings after hearing that. She had been standing outside the bar, but there were two stories of open windows above her and plenty of blind spots all around.
Bern: “[Son of a bitch. Let me guess, this is not your body and you used to be someone else, right?]”
???(Gemma): “[Huh? Uh, yeah? God, is this what a lucid dream is like?]”
Bern: “[What’s your name and age?]”
???(Gemma): “[Inés, and a woman doesn’t tell, but a lot older than you, you brute. I was just so happy to be out of my apartment, to feel young, spry, and full of life after so long. If a younger man wanted to be with me, even if he was kinda ugly, it would be the first action I’ve had for a long time.]”
Bern: “[Fucking hell… Now they’re targeting us? Look, Inés, where do you live? My friend and I are trying to find someone responsible for transforming people, and I think they just targeted—]”
As Bern spoke to Inés, her body began to shift and spasm, as if she was about to collapse, only for her to suddenly regain her composure. She silently stared at her hands, moving them, wiggling her fingers… before grabbing her boobs.
???(Gemma): “[Oh, the joys of using non-arthritic hands! That was certainly a fright, was it not, Bern? …Or mayhaps you were also swapped?]”
Bern did not need to even ask if this was Gemma, he was clearly back in control, as nobody else would choose to adopt his distinctive speech patterns. She sighed at this realization, but before she could explain what happened, she heard another familiar voice. One that she… had not heard in three days.
???: “[I can tell that you lot are truly familiar with this stuff. Interesting. And here I thought that this breed of magic was unique.]”
Turning around, Bern and Gemma came face-to-face with… Haruki. Not Haruya, but rather Haruki’s normal female form, dressed in basically the same clothes she had been wearing, complete with her massive ponytail. How this happened was a good question… but the more pertinent question was who was inside her body.
Gemma: “[Identify yourself, magical person! You are not the Haruki we know!]”
???(Haruki): “[Haru…ki? Wasn’t this man named Haruya? Is this some pet naming scheme you have come up with… No. Perhaps you ‘also’ have the power to alter sex and exchange souls. If so, that would be rather—]”
Before this person in Haruki’s body could finish their thought, they were tackled to the ground. Bern and Gemma flinched as they saw Yukito on top of Haruki’s body, arm on their neck, with a hand up against this body thief’s face.
Yukito: “[You are incapacitated! I demand you tell me everything you know. If you continue to resist, I am not above murder.]”
???(Haruki): “[M-Murder? Aren’t I in one of your friends’ bodies? Are you really so heartless that you would—]”
As the body thief ranted with their face half wedged against concrete they saw Yukito’s right hand shift. What was unmissably an ordinary hand without even a hint of synthetic components suddenly opened up and reassembled itself, revealing a patchwork of robotic systems underneath as the hand reformed itself into… a gun. Two fingers became a barrel and a trigger formed around the other two fingers. It did not look practical, but it looked like it could easily kill a person. Anyone would be intimidated, if not amazed, by this sight. …Except for this body thief.
???(Haruki): “[Ha! You’ve got to be fucking kidding me? Not only do you freaks know about body swapping, but you’ve got a damn Terminator on your side! This is too much! This is too much!]”
Yukito: “[I will KILL you if you don’t start giving me details. NOW!]”
The body thief simply laughed in response to Yukito’s threats before suddenly… stopping. Their presence went silent and, as Yukito sat on top of Haruki’s body, it abruptly transformed. Through a swift melding process, lasting a few seconds, her hair seeped back into her scalp, fat redistributed, and clothing rustled and reshaped itself around her body as Haruki became Haruya once again. The process was different, slower, than the immediate transformation of the VD 2.0, but it seemed to get to the same place, as everything about Haruya seemed exactly the way it was just a few hours earlier.
Yukito kept her gun out though, pointed at Haruya’s body’s head, waiting for this body thief to say something. Instead, Yukito just got a lot of screaming.
???(Haruya): “[WA! Gun! No guns! I’m me, I’m Haruki, I mean, Haruya, that’s my current name, and— get that fucking gun out of my face, Yukito!]”
Decently convinced this was not just some ploy by whoever stole her body, Yukito stepped off of Haruya, who slowly lifted herself off the ground, stretching out her back in a laborious motion.
Haruya: “[FUCK that hurt! What the hell did I do to deserve that, you—]”
Bern: “[Okay, start from the beginning, explain to me what the hell is going on here.]”
Haruya: “[I. Don’t. KNOW! Last thing I knew I was asking some dudes if they saw that Sandra lady, they said nope, and I was walking down the streets. Everything went black. When I came to, fucking Yukito was acting like a damn COP, about to shoot me for being as dark as a brown paper bag.]”
In her rage, Haruya looked like she was about to bash Yukito’s head to the ground for threatening her with gun violence. Yukito, conversely, looked more bored by her outburst than anything.
Yukito: “[It seems you don’t remember being transformed. Or body swapped.]”
Haruya: “[The hell are you going on about? We don’t have the VD 2.0. How can we swap bodies? And I wasn’t transformed. That was Laura who… shit, I must’ve lost her! Goldarn it! ARGH! Why is NOTHING going right today?]”
Gemma: “[May I posit a theory?]”
Haruya: “[Sure! Why not! I don’t know the answer!]”
Aiming to establish some stability, Gemma stood at the center of their group of four and recited her theory as calmly as she could.
Gemma: “[I believe that Haruya may have been possessed by some unknown malefactor who might be the true mastermind behind all of these happenings. Per what we have uncovered, I intuit that this entity can alter a person’s sex, swap their bodies, and even possess them for an unknown duration. In other words, we appear to have a transformation phantom on our hands.]”
Bern: “[You’ve got to be kidding me? A phantom?]”
Yukito: “[That theory is surprisingly sound.]”
Bern: “[Okay, you ARE kidding me.]”
Yukito: “[I am a 3,000-year-old android who spent 22 years riding a golden space train. How are phantoms out of the question?]”
Haruya: “[I mean, if it fits in the hole, it works. A phantom possessed this Sandra lady— who we still haven’t found yet— transformed Laura, possessed me, transformed me, and swapped someone’s bodies at some point.]”
Bern: “[Can things get any more convoluted?]”
As the four continued to make a ruckus in the middle of this side street, they were finally approached by someone who wasn’t just walking by. A full group of five people jointed them, cramming up this side street as Tony, Vidkun, Laura, Salvador, and Monica all joined the cluster standing in the middle of the street.
Vidkun: “[Why do I get the feeling we missed something big?]”
Yukito: “[It’s because you did.]”
Part 5: Haruya ‘n’ Da Boyz Fix This Mess
Date: Thursday, July 9, 2015
Time: 15:57 CDT (Central Daylight Time)
Location: Centro, Monterrey, Mexico
Following their reunion at the bar, Da Boyz, and their three tag-alongs, made their way to the most desolated place they could find. An incomplete multi-story building with a frame of green metal, one of the tallest “buildings” in the Centro district. Alas, it was abandoned and looked to be that way for several years, the result of a construction project that fell through for one reason or another. How and why did not matter though as, after Yukito pushed away a concrete barrier, the gaggle of nine were gathered on the third floor. Out of sight and, hopefully, out of earshot.
It was a sufficient place to debrief someone, especially when the next best place was a parking lot. However, in an attempt to maintain secrecy, Yukito had switched over to Indonesian to discuss things with Da Boyz.
Yukito: “[So, yes, we are dealing with an Irregular. We will need to find this phantom before they can wreck any further havoc on the people of Monterrey. I can incapacitate them if given the opportunity, and we are not allowed to leave here until we find them.]”
Tony: “[Really? Can’t you just use your God Admin powers to make them go away or something?]”
Gemma: “[Negative! We have been over this, us God Admins deliberately weakened their powers so we could co-exist on a more human level.]”
Haruya: “[That’s rich coming from someone with rocket feet. I’m not going to forget about that time at Science and Industry.]”
Yukito: “[We can discuss that later. For now, we have a problem. I did not bring a VD 2.0 with me, and my ability to transform one’s sex or swap their bodies has been disabled. Another one of Verde’s brilliant precautions to prevent someone from ‘cheating’ by using my body to swap people.]”
Bern: “[How is that even ‘cheating?’ She gave all of us VD 2.0s.]”
Vidkun: “[So, what are we gonna do? Do we need the phantom to transform them back to normal?]”
Yukito: “[No, I do have a workaround. Two, actually. I could alter their bodies via my tablet, but time is of the essence, so I will pursue the faster method.]”
Da Boyz looked at each other, confused, while the three transformed individuals were left standing around, looking at each other, unable to understand a word of what was being said. Salvador looked like he was about ready to give them a piece of his mind, but Laura held his shoulder, urging him to just wait. So they did. The three transformed individuals stared at the group of six weirdo travelers as Yukito shuffled about, taking off her suit jacket and placing her back before them, doing something that amazed her travel companions.
The machinery of Yukito’s body shifted as her arm opened up, revealing three objects that looked out of place within her biceps. They were… eggs. They looked to be chicken eggs, similar to the egg she produced that birthed Liang back on Father’s Day, but these were brown instead of white. …Not that any of the five watching this feat were present at the Xing household to pick up on this pertinent detail. Yukito extracted these three eggs from inside her and put on her suit jacket, switching back to Spanish as she turned to face the three bodily displaced persons.
Yukito: “[I would like to apologize for the trauma and inconvenience that I have caused, but I do have a solution. Each of you need to eat one of these eggs. Simply peel their shells and eat them as you would a boiled egg, and your bodies shall return to normal. Well, for the most part.]”
Laura, Salvador, and Monica all looked at Yukito like she was insane for even suggesting such a nonsensical solution.
Salvador: “[How the hell does that make sense?]”
Monica: “[It doesn’t, but neither does swapping bodies, you oaf. Now eat your egg like the nice Asian said.]”
Laura: “[A-Anything to get back to normal!]”
Trepidations and concerns were prominent among these three. For them, today has been one impossible event after another, and while there were countless reasons to doubt that these eggs this foreigner pulled out of their “pocket” would do anything… what other choice did they have? Following some clumsy egg peeling with their current hands, the three took their eggs and placed them in their mouths, chewing them and finding them to taste like a sphere of egg whites, without a yolk in the center. Seconds later, the eggs hit their stomachs and soon after, the transformation began.
Laura was the first to express changes, clenching her gut as she felt something fiery stir within it. Fire was followed by pain, as if something were trying to eat her from the inside out, and doubts clouded her mind. What was she doing? What did she just eat? Did she just choose death over living as a man? These intrusive thoughts percolated across her mind as this pain persisted. She wanted out, or at the very least, a sign that something was coming of this… and she got just that.
Her face became clouded by strands of hair billowing from her scalp, creeping down to her neck. The pain spread from her stomach to her face, where it spread out in clusters, going off one after another, each giving way to an audible crack. She gasped for air with each crack, yet every crack caused her face felt softer, smoother, right down to the shape of her bones. Just taking a single hand to brush against her nose caused a pulse of relief to coat her body. For this… this was her nose.
Excitement grew, supplanting any doubts, and she brought her eyes to her body, watching as the male features that had been imposed on her… faded away. The wide shoulders, narrow waist, shorter legs, and longer, stubbier torso. All these things warped before her very eyes, shifting within the tight wrapping of clothes. Fat crawled from her gut to her chest. Her hip bones cracked just like her face did, resetting themselves as her pants were forced to stretch. Her spine moved through its own will, practically whipping her body in a single motion as it adopted a more curved shape, before receding.
It was hard to parse where and how beyond a vague everywhere, but her entire stature shrunk, losing inches as she felt herself grow closer to the metal floor, the mass going to her thighs, rear, and most notably chest. She brought her hands to her breasts as she felt them billow out, growing within her palms as her fingers narrowed and shark. Every additional speck of change brought her closer to what she knew, not to an ideal, but to a normal, and only once that was near, did her outfit finally shift.
The boring collared shirt lost its sleeves and collar, reshaping itself into a pain tank top, while the shorts melded into a skirt, stopping just above her knees. This sight was followed with the comforting support of a bra as it gripped her shoulders and back, leaving her feeling… complete. Her hands scattered, frantically checking each part of her person. Hair, face, breasts, butt, crotch, before finally grasping her throat, finding it as smooth as can be. Her hair blew wildly, having grown to reach halfway down her back, and as she felt it, measuring the length with her arms, she looked on at Yukito, tears welling in her eyes as she spoke in her true voice.
Laura: “[I’m… I’m me again!]”
In parallel with this Laura’s transformation, Salvador looked down at his current form, tall, imposing, surging with the virality of someone in their twenties, and strong enough to get in a fight and win through sheer power. If only it weren’t the body of a woman. He slowly chewed the egg, as if having second thoughts, but swallowed it all the same. Immediately, he felt the effects of this egg strike his body, and the first thing he felt was the loss of his strength, of this stature.
It felt as if his entire body was melting. Muscle broke apart into fat, his spine and bones clenched together and shrunk in scantly perceptible ways. He clenched an arm, his biceps shrinking within his hands, while his hands themselves grow, developing a subtle layer of flesh that was only noticeable due to how suddenly it appeared.
He could not help but grumble at this sight, at seeing his gut return before him, this time only clothed in the running clothes and shorts that he had been wearing for the past hour. And it was made all the worse by how he still had boobs in the way, growing, accruing some of the fat he had, and chafing against the material, making him intimately aware of the female elements of his body.
He had hoped that these tits, or the hole in his crotch, would be the next thing to be addressed. Instead, he was greeted by an aching sensation as he felt a foot of hair rush back into his head, feeling like a meat grinder in reverse. He clenched his eyes and mouth as he felt this shift, feeling the hair melt into fat on his face. As the pain continued, he allowed himself to fall on his ass, where he looked down at his sitting body with despair. He did not see his form, but the form he would imagine he would have if he had a sudden change of sex.
Scowling at the pace of the transformation, unsure when or if it was going to stop at any moment, Salvador was given a second wind as she felt something burst within his tight shorts. Like a party popper, his dick sprang out from his vagina, sending a rippling effect across his body. Breasts shrank before him into modest man boobs, clung close enough to his chest to eschew any ambiguity. His tight exercise clothes burst into a far more flattering T-shirt and trousers. And with this mask of cloth covering him, he felt a final shiver of changes across his bones as his face melded into that of his original body.
As the sensations ceased, he stood up, laughing as he felt his Adam’s apple bob up and down, only to… pause. He shuffled around in his body, attempted to flex the muscles of his thick arm, and took the same hand to his head, finding it to have considerably more hair. He was clearly thinning, but he was no longer bald. Just bald-ing. He fished through his pockets to pull out a phone and look at himself, laughing at what he saw. He still looked like himself, just a little thinner, a bit more muscular, and looking, generously speaking, five years younger. It was a change subtle enough to not arouse suspicion, something achievable through regimen, rigor, and maybe slight surgery, yet Salvador got this with none of that effort.
Salvador: “[Ha! Here I was, about to take this body for myself, and you make me younger. Not twenty years, but you know what? I’ll take it! A year’s a year!]”
Last, there was Monica. A strong and imposing young woman who was confided to the body of a middle-aged man. She looked at Salvador in her body before consuming her egg, picturing herself in her mind’s eye as she contrasted her body and this one. She felt everything she hated, everything she wanted, and begged the forces that be to give her the body she strived for. The forces that be immediately got to work, stretching out their invisible hands as they began to mold her body as if it were mere clay. Her bones erected upwards as she gained lost inches, the fat spreading and dispersing itself, its mass functioning as fodder for new muscle. With every movement, it felt like life was being breathed into rough and coarse exterior.
Power returned to her person. The addles of age that once imposed upon her became little more than a memory, and her bald head became fertile grounds of hair that continued to grow at a steady rate. Clothes similarly rearranged themselves, tightly embracing her flat muscular chest and wrapping themselves around her crotch in a manner that left little to the imagination. She was well on her way to returning to her normal form, her former glory, and just needed the return of her chest.
Monica held out her mighty hands to her chest as she waited the return of her breasts… only to feel nothing. She tried the same with her waist, only to find her body to remain as rectangular as the average man. She even went to her hair, feeling it brush past her neck, reaching an androgynous length, but as she gave it a gentle tug, it seemed to be firmly rooted in place.
She looked down in anticipation, waiting for the next step, and looking at the two people besides her, finding them exclaiming joy over their transformation and looking as different as they should. Laura was unambiguously a woman. Salvador was without question a man. So… why was she still a man? Panic followed as she tried speaking and only heard a deep voice greet her.
Monica: “[W-Why did it stop? I’m… I’m supposed to be a woman, not a man!]”
Yukito: “[Well, I can’t say I expected this.]”
Monica stared at Yukito, now standing a few feet away from her, looking at her like she was a problem to solve. She wanted to ask questions, but the sound of her own voice scared her into silence.
Yukito: “[These eggs are designed to reset one’s body to match their soul identity. Minor fluctuations sometimes happen, but if it results in one changing— or not changing— their sex, it must be because you, deep down, wanted this.]”
The sound of glass shattering echoed in Monica’s mind even though she heard nothing with her ears. What was this crazy man talking about? She was a woman, she was supposed to be that way. Her soul wanted this? How? How is ANY of this possible?
With Monica paralyzed by a deluge of mental questions about her very personhood, Laura and Salvador saw their cue to leave. Skirting past the gender confused “man” before them, they approached Yukito to offer their thanks.
Laura: “[I hope that today was just one elaborate dream, but… know that I will be forever within your debt. If there is anything I can do— while staying myself— just let me know.]”
Salvador: “[Seriously, girl? These assholes put us in this situation in the first place as far as I’m concerned. …But it seems like you netted me some bonus years, so if you’re down for drinks later, It’ll be my treat.]”
Hearing these vastly different reactions brought a smirk to Yukito’s face, only for her to hold up a hand to politely decline.
Yukito: “[Please, just try to forget this ever happened. I do not like getting involved in matters like these. I simply didn’t have a say in the matter. Now, do leave. There’s a locked door that only goes one way.]”
Dismissed, Laura and Salvador left, with Laura running and Salvador taking his sweet time, leaving behind Da Boyz and Monica, who was staring intently at the ID they found in their wallet. The photo was not their prior face, but rather that of a bearded man by the name of Marco. The sight alone paralyzed them, their brain refusing to process this new reality. Yukito stepped forward to Monica, or Marco, or whoever they were in this nebulous state of identity. As she drew closer, Monica, Marco, whoever they were, fled as swiftly as possible.
Tony: “[So, uh, should we…. Should we do something about this guy? Vid and me are trans men and we—]”
Yukito: “[Don’t get involved. We’re not here to act as therapists. We’re here to hunt down this phantom, as they could be anywhere and it’s not like they would just barge in to give us a hint.]”
Two seconds later, Yukito heard the sound of something clanking on the metal floors of this skeletal structure of a building, one coming from the other side of the floor. She sprinted forward with the pace of an Olympic runner, grabbing the object as it was still rolling on the ground. It was a rock, decently sized, and innocuous in most instances. Yet before she even picked it up, she could see that someone wrote on it. A single word written in black marker. Cancun. A tropical party destination of many international travelers, and a city on the other end of Mexico. It was actually closer to Miami than it was to Monterrey.
As Yukito looked over this rock, Bern approached, placing a hand on Yukito’s shoulder as she looked at the stone.
Bern: “[I take it that’s a hint. You gonna track them, or what?]”
Yukito: “[No, if they can exchange bodies freely, there is little point in chasing them. Even if they were, I see little reason to when they are telling us where to be. If the phantom wants to change the stage and become The Phantom of Cancun, then we will follow.]”
Haruya: “[Uh, there’s no way in hell we are driving to Cancun. Driving here was bad enough, and Verde has the money to buy us plane tickets.]”
Yukito: “[I was about to state that we were ‘going’ to fly.]”
Gemma: “[While I comprehend that time is of the essence with a ghost abound, doesn’t that diminish the entire appeal or a road trip?]”
Vidkun: “[More importantly, what are we gonna do about the minivan? I doubt Haruya wants to ditch it in Mexico, and I don’t know if you saw my bags, but I’m not exactly traveling light anymore.]”
With Da Boyz having wandered over to turn this into a full-blown meeting— abandoning Monica slash Marco to an identity crisis— Yukito just sighed.
Yukito: “[Don’t worry about the car, I’ll see to it that it and all your belongings are in a safe place. One way or another. For now, let’s return to the hotel and bring ourselves to a more scenic part of the country.]”
Yukito then made her way to the metal stairs to depart, with the rest of Da Boyz following behind. None expected their vacation to take a turn like this, but if there’s one thing they learned through this summer it’s that… being someone else is a truly informative experience that changes one’s perspective on literally everything. …But also that it’s best to do what the Gods say.
Gaiden July 9th: The Xing(Kurokawa)s and the Kurokawa(Xing)s – Episode 3.0
Date: Thursday, July 9, 2015
Time: 18:47 CDT (Central Daylight Time)
Location: Jade and Caroline’s House
Despite being early July, it was a surprisingly temperate day, with cloudy skies that blocked out the worst of the sun, even as it neared the horizon to mark the day’s end. It was good weather for doing anything outdoorsy or intensive, and that’s precisely what was happening outside Jade and Caroline’s house. While the two were away in Austria, Reyn was in the process of moving in, hauling crap from a rented U-Haul and up the stairs to what would become his office. Even with his taller and stronger male body, even after the training regimen of spending half a year in the woods, it was still something of an ordeal. …Especially with so many wooden bookshelves and a desk that had to weigh at least 35 kilograms on its own.
It was hard work, but he was not going at it alone, as Reyn was joined by Daisuke(Zoey) and Paz(Nazz), both helping him schlep boxes and furniture from the U-Haul, one handful at a time. With their strength and stature, lugging all of this stuff up the stairs was not exactly painful, but they were dogging their way through it near the end.
Reyn was wearing nothing but shorts, sweat pouring from his pits and dripping from his beard as he plopped down a box of books onto the floor, right before an empty shelf. Daisuke(Zoey) had stripped down to a sports bra and short early on, but his fair skin practically glistened with sweat. While Paz(Nazz) was shirtless and in a similar state, drenched with sweat, dripping off from the faint blonde hairs on her legs and chest. The moment she finally finished bringing up the last bookshelf, she slapped her flat dude ass onto the floor, grabbing her water bottle from a shelf and chugging down the third that was left in it.
Reyn: “That… That should be the last of them. Thanks a million guys!”
Daisuke(Zoey): “Y-You’re welcome.”
Paz(Nazz): “Ugh. This was such a… pain in the ass. I forgot how much work goes into moving like this. Especially when you have to haul st— shit upstairs.”
Reyn: “Hopefully this will be the last time I need to move for a couple of decades. We could have probably waited to empty out my place, but with Jade and Caroline gone, I figured now was as good a time as any.”
Sitting on the main desk chair, a bungee chair, Daisuke(Zoey) perused the room, with wooden floors, wooden furnishings, plain walls, just enough room for this place to work as a study. However, there was still much to do with boxes of artwork, a computer, and books. So many books. Too many books.
Daisuke(Zoey): “Please tell us you don’t need us to help you fill your shelves.”
Reyn: “Of course not. I have my own system for how I like them to be sorted anyway. Just moving them here’s more than enough for me.”
Paz(Nazz): “Isn’t it going to be weird grading papers across the hall from where one or your students sleeps?”
Reyn: “Nazz, look at yourself, look at me, and look at Zoey. Everything about our lives is weird.”
Despite having access to Telegram, just like everyone else, Reyn had been negligent the past few days and did not realize that he wasn’t working with the real Zoey or Nazz. Neither bothered to tell him the truth, as that would probably only make things more awkward.
Reyn: “Even then, it’s not going to be a problem for me. Jade was a great student, and I’ve always liked her as a person— even if it’s weird remembering her as both a boy and a girl after what Abigale did to my mind.”
Neither of the two in the room had the energy or deep knowledge to offer a response to that comment. They just looked at her with blank eyes, still recovering from their hauling.
Reyn: “I’m still surprised you went through all of this as a girl, Zoe…”
Daisuke(Zoey): “L-Like I said, I am slightly stronger and faster when like this. I don’t pretend to know why.”
Reyn: “Hmm… but I think you’re the only one of us who’s like that. I know people come in all shapes and strength—”
Paz(Nazz): “I’d imagine that’s especially true when teaching high schoolers…”
Hearing this, Reyn’s blue eyes shined, as if he finally found someone who shared his perspective.
Reyn: “Definitely. I once had a class with a girl who was shorter than Shiaka and one almost as tall as you Nazz, both seniors. …But it’s strange to think that your genetics, your build, could alter that drastically. And most people, like it or not, just go along with what they were born with, adapting accordingly. Back when I was living in the woods with Caroline, I used to dictate what I did each day based on what sex I was. It was just easier to schlep or chop things as a man.”
Daisuke(Zoey): “That, uh, that makes sense. I’d ask why Verde made my female body like this, but she says this is based on my genes and who I would have been if my life was ‘the same,’ but I was born, uh, as another sex.”
Reyn looked at Daisuke(Zoey) at his wording, finding something about it to be off. However, before he could interrogate this matter, his attention was redirected.
Paz(Nazz): “Hey! Can you guys stop chatting about… shit? Don’t you need to pay us?”
Reyn: “Pay you? Oh, you mean the fried chicken? I ordered a pickup at 19:00, so it should be ready after I return the truck. I’m heading out now. I’ll see you in thirty minutes. Forty at most.”
With his new objective given, Reyn took off his sweaty tank top, wiped the designated sweat towel over himself, and pulled his complimentary Oransen High T-shirt off his desk. Now decent, he splashed some cold water over his face and got going, leaving Daisuke(Zoey) and Paz(Nazz) alone. The two looked at one another as he left, walking downstairs to confirm he was indeed gone, and let out a sigh of relief.
Daisuke(Zoey): “I can’t believe he still thinks we’re actually Zoey and Nazz.”
Paz(Nazz): “I can’t believe we agreed to this…”
Daisuke(Zoey): “It’s a new experience, Paz. And don’t tell me you didn’t like flexing your muscles. I saw the look on your face.”
As Daisuke(Zoey) teased his wife, Paz(Nazz) couldn’t help but get a little red in the face. Well, more red.
Paz(Nazz): “If I wanted to feel like a big strong man, I could have gone to a gym. …But it does feel good to help out a friend like this.”
Daisuke(Zoey): “And anything that gets us brownie points with Verde is worth doing… or at least considering.”
While Daisuke(Zoey) spoke, he began to stretch to help avail the soreness that inevitably comes with schlepping several hundred kilograms of stuff in a given day. Paz(Nazz) could not help but look, staring at what she had accepted to be Daisuke’s body as he bent backwards, pressed his chest forward, and spread his legs, only covered by shorts so small they may as well be underwear.
Daisuke(Zoey): “I’m hungry enough to eat an ox after that, but we should both shower before Reyn gets back. The smell of body odor is a bit… much.”
Following that comment, Daisuke(Zoey) headed to the first floor bathroom to take a shower, yet paused as Paz(Nazz) planted a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and saw a twinkle of something sinister in his wife’s eye.
Paz(Nazz): “Dear… on a scale of one to ten, how horny are you?”
If there was any doubt in why Paz(Nazz) was asking that question, the tent in her breezy shorts explained everything.
Daisuke(Zoey): “An eight. …To be honest, that’s half the reason I wanted to take a shower. A cold shower.”
Paz(Nazz): “We don’t have to take a shower right now…”
After what they have been through this past month, Daisuke(Zoey) was not surprised by his wife’s perversions, but he still had to question them.
Daisuke(Zoey): “Do you really want to have sex in someone else’s house?”
Paz(Nazz): “We had gay butt sex in the woods, Dear.”
Hearing Nazz’s voice refer to him as “Dear” was like being stabbed by an uncanny dagger.
Daisuke(Zoey): “Wh-What about our bodies. Nazz and Zoe, or Zoey, are supposed to be brothers— or siblings— and—”
Paz(Nazz): “Daisuke, you know that’s a flimsy excuse. They’re not real brothers, Nazz’s genetics are so out of wack that they’re not even really cousins. Do you see the resemblance? And it’s not like you can get pregnant.”
Even as she spoke to her husband, Paz(Nazz) spoke with an affect befitting her body, confident, cocky, and sure of herself. She had clearly done the mental calculus of “is this incest or not” and concluded in the negative range.
Paz(Nazz): “Ultimately, we’re hot people, horny, alone, and want to fuck. So, what do you say?”
Daisuke(Zoey) looked down at Paz(Nazz), trying to not be swayed by her honeyed words of facts and logic. He wanted to resist, to retort, but… he had been trained to just accept certain things. With a shrug, he moved in, looking like he was going to accept the offer… only to plant his hands against the wall, looking down at Paz(Nazz). He only stood 5 centimeters taller, but it was enough.
Daisuke(Zoey): “If we’re going to do it, I’m going to be in charge. Is that understood, White Boy?”
Though he spoke in a cold calculating tone, the grin on Daisuke(Zoey)’s said it all. He wanted to do this, and if they were going to do this, they were going to do it right. Paz(Nazz) smiled in return, nodding with vigor before being freed to skedaddle up the stairs. Daisuke(Zoey) followed behind, the two heading to Caroline’s bedroom, soon to be Caroline and Reyn’s bedroom based on the dresser and box of clothes that he brought in here. There was more than a hint of awkwardness in doing it in such a place, with the sun still shining through the open windows, inviting a comfortable breeze. However, these two had sex in an alley— next to a dumpster— two and a half weeks ago. This was an upgrade compared to their previous debaucheries.
Shutting the door, more as a formality than anything, the two began to strip out of their sweat-caked clothing, lobbing them into a conveniently placed hamper, and took in what they would be receiving. Daisuke(Zoey) witnessed a strong, tall, blonde White man at his physical peak, looking as cocksure as any decently adjusted person would with a body like that.
While Paz(Nazz) saw an Asian woman with slick black hair, a figure that was optimized to a frankly absurd degree, and a level of strength that could have her stand toe-to-toe with her own physical prowess. That was not to say she lacked sex appeal. Her breasts were small yet perky, and she did not have a butt to be ashamed of, that much was obvious. Yet, as this woman undid the ponytail that was binding her hair, she took on a different look. Less like that of an athlete and more that of a woman who could, and would, beat the ass of any man she saw fit.
Daisuke(Zoey) was that woman and, per their agreement, he was in charge— the dominant one— and he began to exert his dominance immediately, walking up to Paz(Nazz) and planting her White boy butt on the bed.
Daisuke(Zoey): “To make it less weird, call me Mistress, White Boy.”
Paz(Nazz) snickered before falling into her role.
Paz(Nazz): “Uh, I think you’ve got that backwards… Mistress.”
Daisuke(Zoey): “I think I’ve got it exactly as I want it. Now, splay yourself across the bed, White Boy.”
Like a good submissive, Paz(Nazz) followed her orders, spreading herself over the queen-sized bed as Daisuke(Zoey) planted himself on top of her,
Daisuke(Zoey): “You do have quite the impressive body. You must have worked so hard on it. That is, unless you stole it. But before you may lay a single hand on me, you must first submit to me. You can begin by cleaning my sweaty pussy.”
Daisuke(Zoey) nearly laughed as he said that line, trying to find the right balance between role-playing and a corn-storm, yet Paz(Nazz) did not seem to mind, especially as Daisuke(Zoey) spread his legs to reveal his sweaty pussy, planting his firm ass onto Paz(Nazz)’s chest and his legs over her arms. Trapped, Paz(Nazz) looked up to her husband’s vagina, dank with sweat and precum, just inches away from her face. She had never so much as considered something like this, but… when you look like you’re 22, you may as well fuck like you’re 22.
Taking a gulp, Paz(Nazz) stuck her tongue out and began licking the pussy before her, closing her eyes as she tried to pinpoint the taste of what she was tasked in cleaning. There was a faint hint of sweetness behind the signature salty flavor of sweat, yet it was far from unpleasant, and a single lick was enough to make Daisuke(Zoey) react, squirming slightly from the sudden warm and wet touch before reasserting himself, planting his feet around Paz(Nazz)’s head.
Daisuke(Zoey): “Keep going. [Do not break focus.]“
With orders from her decidedly Chinese “mistress,” Paz(Nazz) resumed licking, moving her tongue about as she went through the folds of the flesh before her, sweat practically falling onto her tongue as she attempted to stimulate it, transposing her experiences as both a man and a woman in this new, to her, task. The warm soft texture was so appealing on her tongue, it was almost its own reward. This technique garnered a pleasure that Daisuke(Zoey) plainly showed on his face, so Paz(Nazz) took things to a new level. She began making her way to the clitoris, plainly presented under a pinkish hood, but as her tongue drew near, she felt feet rub against her head.
Daisuke(Zoey): “[Hey! Save the cherry for last.]”
Paz(Nazz) took note and began to cater to her “mistress” in other ways, digging deeper into his vagina, treating her tongue as just another phallus, all while the scent of precum began to overpower that of sweat, causing her penis to lift skyward. She looked up, seeing the underside of Daisuke(Zoey)’s boobs, hanging magnificently overhead, and making her feel all the smaller. She wanted release, to touch the body before her, and that only made her tongue more aggressive, lashing out inside her husband as she wanted to be freed. Once he was left moaning in delight, she took her tongue and pressed it against his clitoris. A jolt traveled up Daisuke(Zoey)’s spine in response, he spasmed from the burst, and a second later a splattering of discharge planted itself on Paz(Nazz)’s face.
Daisuke(Zoey): “[You’re a cheeky one, aren’t you White Boy? Maybe I should help you offload some steam. But first…]”
Not satisfied moving onto the main stage of intercourse, Daisuke(Zoey)rose like a spider as he arranged himself, leaving Paz(Nazz) dazed and confused as he planted his ass on her face, blinding her, yet leaving his vagina well within licking range. Daisuke(Zoey) then looked at the penis before him, throbbing, eager for a hand, a pussy— whatever— and whatever is what he had in mind. After planting feet around his wife’s head, he realized just how dexterous this pair was.
Knowing a thing or two about porn from his programming career— if you know, you know— he decided to try something different. Taking his sweaty unwashed feet and trying his hand at a footjob. After all, the only thing a handjob, or blowjob, required was some stimulation and caressing, and with his toes wiggling and eager, he decided to try his luck. He was trying a lot of new things today.
Daisuke(Zoey) took his long slender feet and cupped them around the dick of his wife, titillating it with her big toes first, much to the confusion of Paz(Nazz), but the moment she spoke up, was the moment her husband urged her to remain quiet. She did so, merely moaning and groaning as Daisuke(Zoey) began to caress the White dick before him with care and attention. Daisuke(Zoey) cupped the penis with the soles of his feet as he rubbed the two back and forth. The thicker inseam pressed down on the root of her dick while bending the ball upwards to reach the rim of the head. It was unconventional, sure… but it was working.
Even as she was being catered to, Paz(Nazz) still kept on licking, lapping the pussy before him, like a man dying for thirst in the middle of a desert, hoping for some release, some reward. And through enough talented foot rubbing action, he was given just that. After about three minutes, Paz(Nazz) was brought to a breaking point, cum sputtering from her skyward cock and splattering onto the feet below.
Daisuke(Zoey): “[Never in my life did I imagine that I would get some White Boy to cum all over my feet… No matter. This just tells me you’re ready for the real thing.]”
Paz(Nazz): “Y-Yes Mistress! I can still go! We still have time.”
With a smirk, Daisuke(Zoey) lifted his ass off of Paz(Nazz)’s face and stared down at her, planting a kiss on her face before standing on his knees. Spit and discharge were leaking from his vagina, lifted right before he reached a second climax. Paz(Nazz) licked her lips, still tasting Daisuke(Zoey), while he just snickered, looking down at the penis before him and deciding to go for a ride. Slowly, he slid himself onto his wife’s impressive shaft, taking it deeper and deeper, climaxing before his ass could touch skin. His pleasure was painted on his face, but rather than relent or cede control, he decided to start dominating the dick inside him, setting the pace, allowing Paz(Nazz) to follow suit, and watching as her face twisted in delight with each rhythmic gyration.
Daisuke(Zoey): “[I’d call you a lustful man, but that’d imply I wasn’t lustful as well. No matter the shape, I will always love you.]”
Sacrificing his stature, Daisuke(Zoey) leaned forward, practically crawling over Paz(Nazz) before reaching her lips, opening them to land a kiss as he continued to ride the stud before him. Tongues clashed, the flavor of Daisuke(Zoey) was brought to his mouth, and their chests rubbed against each other, nipples crossing as Paz(Nazz) reached her arms over Daisuke(Zoey). He did not resist, accepting the closeness, the euphoric sensation of touch, and the all-encompassing warmth.
Both were eager, so they did not wait. They fastened their pace, going at one another with a ravenous gusto that defied the gradual build up they enjoyed. Their minds might like it slow, but their bodies needed it fast, and from that, with the clock striking 19:19, their bodies both burst with heat and sticky fluids, one apex begetting the other, but it was hard to say which.
Heavenly heights were followed by floating aftermaths. Daisuke(Zoey) landed to the side of Paz(Nazz) and the two shared a look of immense satisfaction.
Daisuke(Zoey): “Sorry about going in such weird directions there. But you said I should try to spice up our love life and—”
Paz(Nazz): “Oh no! We have always been conservative when it came to sex, and I’m glad you were willing to experiment so much. …Even though I don’t see what some people see in feet.”
Daisuke(Zoey): “I think that just makes you normal.”
Paz(Nazz): “Regardless, I think we need to be more willing to use other people’s bodies for things like this. Sure, I don’t see you, and you don’t see me, but the feeling of—”
Before any pillow talk could ensue, the sound of a door slamming open could be heard, followed by the sounds of a man’s scream, the words muffled by drywall and distance, but the phrase “I got the chicken” was intelligible.
Daisuke(Zoey): “Shit! Reyn’s here! We need to get in the shower, now!”
Paz(Nazz): “Oh, how about we do it together?”
Daisuke(Zoey): “Just because you look like a horndog doesn’t mean you need to think like one! I’ll take the en suite, you take the regular bathroom.”
With orders distributed, the two took the fastest showers they could manage, just soaping and rinsing themselves off before grabbing a towel and running out to snag their spare clothes. Through panic and athleticism, they showered, half-dried their persons, left their legs and faces damp, threw on a fresh set of clothes, and ran to the kitchen.
Reyn looked to have just finished setting things up, with plates, silverware, and a spread one would expect after spending $40 at a good fried chicken place. A big bucket of chicken— an entire bird— laid in the center, while sides of potatoes, biscuits, Mostaccioli, coleslaw— the works— were all open, hot, and begging to be eaten.
Reyn: “Oh hey, I was wondering what took you two so long.”
Paz(Nazz): “Oh, you know, it always takes a couple extra minutes when using someone else’s shower.”
Rather than question that bold claim, Reyn just nodded along.
Reyn: “Well, dig in while the food’s hot. It’s not the healthiest thing, but we just burned a couple hundred calories, and we need to celebrate every now and again. We didn’t exactly get fast food when staying in the woods, and that Burger Queen… event gave me a taste for this sort of thing.”
Daisuke(Zoey): “I… I have to agree. It’s important for one to indulge in their vices every now and again and—”
As Daisuke(Zoey) tried to feign being who he appeared to be, he was met with the sound of his stomach loudly grumbling. Before he could even say anything, the same happened to Paz(Nazz), her stomach practically howling as she saw the spread of food before her.
Paz(Nazz): “Oh, sorry about that.”
Reyn: “What’s there to be sorry about? Grab a plate and dig on in!”
With Reyn’s encouragement, the two did just that, filling up their plates with chicken and other fixings before going to town, table manners optional as they let grease coat their fingers and fizzle in their stomachs. They blazed their way through the food, looking like they would finish everything in a single sitting, but as the end was near, Paz(Nazz) leaned forward to Daisuke(Zoey), whispering into his ear.
Paz(Nazz): “Hey, uh, are you okay with continuing things when we get home?”
Though he could not see Paz(Nazz)’s erection, Daisuke(Zoey) could tell she was succumbing to the lust of a young man, and he could not say he was faring much better.
Daisuke(Zoey): “This night… and every night until we get back to normal.”
Paz(Nazz): “Oh? How assertive. Consider it a date.”
With their plans made and Reyn too busy catering to his plate to notice the swap that happened underneath his nose, the husband and wife returned to their meal, gobbling up their heart’s content and excited to explore this new dimension in their relationship. Changing sex and swapping bodies with your spouse was all well and good. But when the two of you can be anyone, the possibilities are literally endless.
Gaiden July 9th: The Xing(Kurokawa)s and the Kurokawa(Xing)s – Episode 3.1
Date: Thursday, July 9, 2015
Time: 19:11 CDT (Central Daylight Time)
Location: The Kurokawa Residence
With Zoe(Dia) missing in action and Haruya off in Mexico, things were remarkably muted at the Kurokawa residence, and that went before taking the body swaps into account. Nazz(Paz) and Liang(Shiaka) were both sat at the kitchen table, poking away at a quick stir-fry dish, with a palpable silence going on between them. Liang(Shiaka) stared on as he munched away at the scrumptious mesh of 12 different ingredients in his bowl, while Nazz(Paz) looked off into the distance, as if his mind was desperately trying to leave his body. Sensing that something was wrong, Liang(Shiaka) decided to broach the subject in the most comfortable way he could. Indirectly.
Liang(Shiaka): “Y’know, this turned out pretty damn good. My compliments to the chef!”
Nazz(Paz): “It’s nothing worth complimenting. I just used a recipe by Paz. It seemed easy and quick, and it was. Tastes better than the sort of things I usually made anyway. I always prioritized cheap, was never good at using spices, and just made the same things over and over again because they were comfortable and easy.”
Liang(Shiaka): “Oh please, you made good hearty meals for cheap, and that’s a skill well worth celebrating.”
Nazz(Paz): “I don’t think mediocrity is worth celebrating. It just means you did the bare minimum.”
Whatever spark that defined Nazz’s personality was absent as he looked out into the distance and muttered disparaging comments. Nazz(Paz) looked pathetic, and Liang(Shiaka) simply could not stand to have his former wife looking like this.
Liang(Shiaka): “…Okay Nazz, something is up. What’s going on?”
Nazz(Paz): “Ugh. Do I really need to explain?”
Liang(Shiaka): “I might legally be your daughter, but regardless of our bodies, we swore a vow to protect each other, and I’m not going to just sit here while you mope. So, please, talk to me.”
Hearing Liang(Shiaka) bring up something like that made Nazz(Paz) wince. He had almost forgotten he had said those things, and that those words actually meant something. Though he clearly did not want to talk, he knew it would be a sign of weakness, of distrust, if he kept silent. So, he swallowed his pride he had and let it all out.
Nazz(Paz): “When you died, my life started to suck. Money was tight, I was stressed out every day, trying to raise Zoe, trying to keep my life together, and trying to find some reason to push forward. I… I was weak. I relied on you, depended on you, and needed someone to help me. But I didn’t have anyone, so I just had to deal with it. I let myself go, I let the stress get to me, and I could feel myself aging, feel the good in my life go away while Zoe grew. I wanted out. When I was in his body, I felt that I had everything I could want. Looks, youth, strength, and the ability to be seen as good for something in this world. I hated who I was even more, and, well, that’s why I became Nazz.”
Liang(Shiaka): “Nat— Nazz, I understand that. I’m not going to say you did a bad job or anything raising Zoe. I wouldn’t know how to keep up a house if something happened to you. You made due with what you had, and practically speaking, I can’t blame you for changing yourself. It’s still weird, knowing that my wife wanted to be a man, a young ‘White’ man, but who am I to judge? I’m supposed to be dead right now!”
Stewing over his comments, Nazz(Paz) took another bite, letting it sift on his palate, and then spoke up again.
Nazz(Paz): “It’s not that. It is but… it also isn’t. Of everybody in this little polycule of degenerates, Paz is probably the most similar to me. A woman, well into middle-age, and mostly concerned with raising a family, with her handsome Asian husband. She lives in comfort, she has two lovely children, does not need to worry about money, and spends her free time enriching the lives of others. And she does it while being 20 fucking kilograms lighter than I was. If I had a life like Paz, if my body was in her shape, I would have been such a happier person. And… I could have just asked for that, begged for that.”
Discarding the idea of eating dinner, Nazz(Paz) stood up and began pacing around the kitchen table, too frustrated to remain seated.
Nazz(Paz): “I could have asked for you to come back to life. For me to be skinnier, to be a decade younger, to have this and that tweaked around, to make myself feel better as a person. To be a better Natasha. But I didn’t. I just gave it up, became Nazz, and threw out my old self, erased and sent away to take care of family that doesn’t exist! I could have been happy this way and just being here, living her life, wearing her clothes, and just existing as her, it… it makes me feel comfortable. And I fucking hate it. I know being Nazz is better in every way. Yet I cannot find it in myself to truly hate this!”
As his former wife poured his heart out, Liang(Shiaka) sat in contemplation. What he said here could have ripple effects on their relationship, and while they were still figuring out what that relationship was going to be, he needed to give a good answer. He thought, and thought, before reaching a conclusion.
Liang(Shiaka): “You know, I am still new to this whole body swapping thing, but I think one of the best things about it is that… you don’t need to be just one thing, live in one world, and be one person. You can be lots of people. We can be whoever we want in our little ‘friend’ group, and we can play into our roles, or go against them, living in a way that nobody else has before. And I think that’s not something to be feared, it’s to be celebrated.”
Pausing for a moment, Liang(Shiaka) stared down at his chest, some of his long blonde hair entering his vision.
Liang(Shiaka): “I might still be Liang, like that the best, and have no plans on changing. But have I had fun at Lilian, Jade, Maxxie, and now Shiaka? Of course! I like being a tall imposing man, jovial yet capable, and I’ve also come to like being an adorable little thing. It’s like I’m a kid again, because I am! I talked about this with, uh, I don’t actually remember who was who, but I talked about it with someone on July 4th. They said that we have the freedom and ability to lead a plural existence. We don’t need to be one person. We can mix and match things, becoming several. And if this is what you want, to be multiple people, that’s what we’re basically doing at this point!”
Hearing these words, Nazz(Paz) grew silent. While he intuitively knew this, he still had to stew over these truths, fiddling with the small morsel of food left in his bowl before he had the mental clarity needed to respond.
Nazz(Paz): “Yeah, I see your point. That’s probably one of the goals Verde has in mind for us but doesn’t tell us. It’s just hard for me to accept that because I hated being who I was, hated being Natasha, and wanted to become someone new. But I didn’t even get to be Nazz for more than two days before I had that taken away from me. I don’t even know if I want this plural existence when I’m still trying to figure out who the main me is supposed to be. And being in Paz’s body… it just makes things so murky. And I don’t want murkiness. I don’t want ambiguity. I want clear, simple answers.”
As Nazz(Paz) voiced his frustrations with his current situation, Liang(Shiaka) rose up from his seat and went to give him a hug. Liang(Shiaka) flinched at the feeling of his chest digging into Liang(Shiaka)’s arm, but that did not stop him from saying what he wanted to say.
Liang(Shiaka): “I’m sure that, if you stick with it, things will become clear in time. You are whoever you want to be, Nazz is whoever you want to be. And while I might not be able to understand what you’re going through, remember that I will always be there for you, and will always love you.”
With those words of support, Liang(Shiaka) leaned his head forward, gingerly kissing Nazz(Paz) on his lips. Nazz(Paz) snickered at the gesture, but felt a weight lift off from his shoulders, breaking away from the hug as he returned the favor to Liang(Shiaka). He shut his eyes as he tried to find the Liang within Shiaka, but the feeling of such large breasts pressing into his borrowed breasts made it hard for him.
Nazz(Paz): “I still can’t get used to you being a little girl like this.”
Liang(Shiaka): “Ha! Despite being a shortie, I’m still as old as Zoe, you know.”
Nazz(Paz): “Hmm… that’s true.”
Thinking back to their first time in years a week ago and how much experimenting they engaged with, Nazz(Paz) looked on at Liang(Shiaka) in a specific light, wondering if they should try to manifest their shifting sense of love and shove it into these new molds. He had found a strap-on they could use to achieve penetration, but it was one thing to be a man like Zoe, having sex with an older woman. In his eyes, Nazz(Paz) still saw Shiaka as a child, and despite his current body reacting with a spark at the thought of sex, he eould not allow himself to succumb to this desire. He would just… wait until he is him again.
Nazz(Paz): “…Thank you, Liang. For everything. Now, if you’ll excuse me, someone needs to clean up after dinner.”
Liang(Shiaka): “Oh, I’ll just do it! You take some time and relax, Nazz.”
With both finished with their meal, Liang(Shiaka) began loading the dishes into the sink, running hot water to clean the food crud off of them. With another thank you, Nazz(Paz) returned to his room for the next few days, sitting on the bed, looking at himself in the mirror, and allowing his mind to wander.
Nazz(Paz): “If I can be anyone, be anything, then can I really be so adamant about who I am? Or should I just… go with the flow? …Nazz would. He’s supposed to be comfortable enough with himself that he wouldn’t need to prove himself. And even within Nazz, there’s Nazara who…”
Thinking back to his time as Nazara with Liang, finally making love with him for the first time in 13 years, Nazz(Paz) was struck with another twinge of unease in his lower abdomen. He groaned, looked at the clock, at how empty this couple’s bedroom was, and pulled out an unmarked box from a drawer.
Nazz(Paz): “Would Nazz just let this opportunity pass him by, or would he enjoy it? …Let’s be honest, he would, so I should.”
Locking the door, Nazz(Paz) got to work, and a mixture of electronic buzzing and muffled yelps could be heard echoing from the door. Liang(Shiaka) overheard as he returned from doing the dishes, smiling as he realized that Nazz was finally enjoying himself. …Before adopting a sly smirk, giving his boobs a gentle squeeze and scampering off to his bedroom.
At this point, it’s obvious what he was going to do.
Gaiden July 9th: The Xing(Kurokawa)s and the Kurokawa(Xing)s – Episode 3.2
Date: Thursday, July 9, 2015
Time: 19:25 CDT (Central Daylight Time)
Location: Flare Industries Chicago
The hustle and bustle of Flare Industries died down as people ended their 9-to-5s and the overachievers departed. The office was effectively closed, vacant, and grew dark as night drew ever closer, yet bunkered away in a room without any sunlight were Shiaka(Liang) and Zoe(Dia), both at desktops in the Flare Industries IT office, typing and clicking away as they tried to sanitize and repair the server after a cyberattack the following week.
It was something well outside of their wheelhouse. They were fresh out of high school, so what did they know anything about maintaining corporate servers that over a hundred people used. However, through the power of Language Addition, they at least knew the terminology, knew what things were, and had a rudimentary grasp on how to use the software. Combined with the ability to text Urabe at all hours of the day to solicit tech tips, they were able to get by, to look like they were doing what they were supposed to be, and made good progress. Their hands moved deftly and from a glance at their screens, they were clearly doing some technical work.
Shiaka(Liang): “I think I’m just about done verifying that all traces of the worm have been removed…”
Zoe(Dia): “That’s half the battle. Giving users access after this is going to be another headache. Ken and Elly had two-factor authentication already enabled, but Besnik and Felix were both adamant that everybody needs to improve their security…”
To reassure herself, Shiaka(Liang) opened up a spreadsheet of Flare Industries employees, the number of employees, and finding even more users.
Shiaka(Liang): “Are we really going to stay to help with that?”
Zoe(Dia): “Daisuke and Liang will, not us.”
Shiaka(Liang): “And, uh, are we not worried that Liang might not understand what I did?”
Zoe(Dia): “I have been maintaining documentation for a reason. They’ll be able to defer to that.”
Shiaka(Liang): “R-Really? …You’ve been able to keep up with that while doing everything else?”
In response, Zoe(Dia) flashed a professional looking composition book, with detailed and focused notes, written in Zoe’s usual handwriting. He had taken so many notes over the past month that his handwriting ceased being influenced by the hands he was writing with.
Zoe(Dia): “Contemporaneous note-taking is a vital skill to alleviate cognitive load, and it just so happens to be incredibly helpful when swapping bodies like this. Though, neither Felix nor Besnik seemed to understand that. It’s so much easier without them around, breathing down our necks.”
Just as Shiaka(Liang) was about to make a comment, Zoe(Dia) jittered in his office chair as he saw the time.
Zoe(Dia): “It’s 19:30, and we just finished making big strides, so I think we can call it a day. Besnik should be happy when he comes in tomorrow…”
With a key press to lock his computer and a couple of leg movements, Zoe(Dia) stepped out of his chair, barely gaining height as he stood up. His full figure was wrapped in only the dress portion of his skirt suit, the jacket hanging from the back of his chair, and a look of fatigue was painted on his face, as one would expect after working a 10.5 hour shift.
Nothing about him said he was anything more than an adult woman trying to make due in a corporate job, with the only thing not selling the look being the relative youthfulness of his appearance. Shiaka(Liang) stared at him as he stretched following a long day, digging out a pair of flats from a drawer as he took off the corporate mandated heels, losing two inches of height, and grabbing his purse. From the way he moved, you’d swear he’d done this three thousand times.
Zoe(Dia): “Come on Shiaka, we’re done for the day.”
Shiaka(Liang): “C-Coming!”
With her attention primed away from Zoe(Dia), Shiaka(Liang) began mimicking her “co-worker” by locking her computer and grabbing her messenger bag. Her tall stature burst from her chair, feeling her pants and shirt ruffle against her bare chest and straight legs. She adjusted herself slightly, jostling around her belt as she felt her penis bop around, before following behind Zoe(Dia). Stepping out the office, he fished around his purse for keys to lock the IT offices for the evening. Shiaka(Liang) stared down at him as he fiddled with the finicky lock, looking so small by comparison, yet moving deftly with his borrowed hands. It reminded her of their initial swap five weeks ago, how it completely warped their dynamics in terms of stature, and how… familiar this all was.
She kept going back to this, but it felt almost as if they never unswapped, they just lived like this, and stayed as each other for 20 years. Looking past a mirror along the wall as they walked through the office— added to avoid collisions— she saw herself as what looked like an older Zoe, just with a slightly different face, and an older version of herself, with lighter skin and dyed black hair. They even looked like a couple from how they walked together, staying so close. If she were not living this, she would swear she was looking into an alternate reality.
The stairs were their next destination. Not because there was anything wrong with the elevator, but because when you sit for hours on end, you owe it yourself to go up and down a couple flights of stairs. The clattering of their shoes on concrete made conversation untenable, but as they reached the empty lobby, Shiaka(Liang) finally began voicing her thoughts.
Shiaka(Liang): “Do you ever feel like we’ve just become older versions of each other? Like, if we just stayed swapped with each other?”
Zoe(Dia): “Oh, I can absolutely understand why you would feel that way. I cannot deny that resemblance between Liang and myself, and while I have internalized how different our faces look after seeing photos of him all my life, the resemblance goes without saying. Who knows, maybe I will look more like him as I grow older. People’s appearances can radically change during their 30s.”
Though he did not say as much, Zoe’s mind went back to family photos of Natasha when she was in her 30s, before having Zoe, to what she looked like upon her 40th birthday, shortly after Liang’s death. Few would argue that was a downgrade…
Shiaka(Liang): “Yeah, I get what you are saying. Dia doesn’t sound like me, but I could see myself looking like her even if I don’t think, uh, that my butt will ever get that big. …Or that my skin could get that light without doing some bad stuff to it.”
The sight of Zoe(Dia) shaking his hips as he walked, wiggling his tight dress-bound ass and hips, did not exactly pair well with horror stories of the East Asian skin whitening industry.
Shiaka(Liang): “But, uh, I would be lucky if I looked like Dia at 47-years-old, and I actually considered dying my hair when I was younger. I figured it would make me look more Japanese and less… ambiguous.”
Zoe(Dia): “Well, I’m glad that you never chose to do that. You are a beautiful woman, Shiaka, and you should not need to modify your body just to fit what society wants. You’re a strong woman… even if it sounds strange calling you that when you’re in my dad’s body.”
As he offered that compliment, Zoe(Dia) opened up the door to “his” car for the week, inviting her to do the same, sliding into the passenger seat. It took Zoe(Dia) a moment to adjust, as while he had access to the Driving Skills perk of the VD 2.0, that did not work in conjunction with the TransSex function, so he had to learn how to drive with such a fat ass in the seat and a seatbelt digging through his boobs. Still, he was a very regimented driver for an 18-year-old and had a few days of practice under his belt, allowing him to back out of the parking spot and slide comfortably onto the road.
Zoe(Dia): “…And I really mean it when I say you’re strong. This is your first time in an office like this, and you have been doing swimmingly. You were so nervous on the first day, but look at you now. It’s really not that different from school, now is it?”
Shiaka(Liang): “Heh. Th-Thank you. I have been trying my best, but I’m glad this isn’t going to be a permanent thing, and being Liang… it does give me a confidence boost. Just knowing I’m bigger than almost anyone else, it… it feels like I can ignore a whole layer of anxiety. Like, nobody can hurt me.”
Zoe(Dia): “I know, and I get it. I truly do. But I want you to be able to grow into being comfortable in a place like this as yourself. You’ve seen how I’ve acted, and how people have treated me, how they’ve treated Liang in your body. If you would like, we should be able to arrange something where we work together. I think we make a great team.”
Punctuating his words, Zoe(Dia) looked away from the road to shoot Shiaka(Liang) a smile, and she squirmed, looking a trifle bit silly with the body of a big, strong man.
Shiaka(Liang): “I think we do. I know we do. And I do want to work with you, Zoe. I really do. But… I also do not want to rely on you too much. I need to keep getting stronger, until I can do everything I need to on my own. I look at Haruki, how she has been able to do so many things, by herself, alone in her basement, and… I’m jealous of her. I’m jealous of how self-sufficient she can be. I know I’ll never do as much as her, but I want to at least prove to myself that I can make it on my own, and not become codependent on others.”
Zoe(Dia): “Shiaka, I admire your dedication, and I want you keep on growing. But I do not want you to grow too fast, to change who you are out of hatred or a sense that you’re not good enough. You do not need to be like Haruki. Nobody but Haruki does. I would like to work with you, to help you, before you try working on your own, just in case you need someone you can trust, and so that I have someone I can trust.”
That last line made Shiaka(Liang) look out the window in embarrassment. She knew Zoe(Dia) was being honest, but that didn’t make him any less corny.
Shiaka(Liang): “I think I understand, but… where are we going to work?”
Zoe(Dia): “Why not Flare Industries? Ken and Elly would be glad to have us around, I’m sure. Although, I would not want to spend a career at Flare Industries.”
Shiaka(Liang): “Oh? Do… Do you have another company in mind?”
Zoe(Dia): “It would be my own company. I have seen how the tech industry has moved the past few years and believe the best way to achieve wealth, to make a difference, is to develop a company, a technology, and sell its assets to an established firm. I want to create a start-up. For years, that has been my goal, but to achieve it, to make a start-up work, you need the ideas, the dedication, the people, and knowledge of how a modern business works. I might not be a true developer… but I know someone who is, and know how impressive her skills are.”
Shiaka(Liang): “W-What? Do you really want to make a start-up with me?”
Zoe(Dia): “Yes, of course. It would not be easy, it would require spending months, if not years, working hard to pursue our ideas, but we would be rewarded for our efforts. We could accrue wealth, capital, and spend the rest of our lives pursuing whatever ideas we are passionate about, not caring about profits. I wanted this, so I could take care of my mother and though… that all changed, this is still my dream, my ideal, and I would like you to join me. Your skills will only develop through college, and with some of our other friends, like Vidkun and Haruki, we should have the expertise to make something happen.”
Shiaka(Liang): “You’re being awfully ambitious, Zoe.”
Zoe(Dia): “Yes, I know it is something of a pipe dream, but I believe it is possible, and I have every intention of achieving this goal. Both for myself… and also for you. You might not need to worry about money thanks to your parents, but if you want to be self-sufficient, this would help.”
Having stopped at a red light, Zoe(Dia) looked over to Shiaka(Liang), looking down as she contemplated his words, eyes drifting before she nodded and turned back to him.
Shiaka(Liang): “I’ll do it. I don’t know what you have planned, but I trust you, absolutely. Because… I love you, Zoe.”
Zoe(Dia): “And I love you, Shiaka.”
With their words of affection shared and traffic still stationary, the two leaned forward, eyes shut, lips puckered, and shared in a kiss, breaking away to look at their partner’s face… and sharing disapproving looks.
Zoe(Dia): “…I don’t think it will work like this.”
Shiaka(Liang): “Y-Yeah, you having your dad’s body is one thing, but knowing you’re in my dad’s body is a bit…”
Zoe(Dia): “It is crossing a limit that neither of us are comfortable with. Let’s end it there.”
With the denial of pseudo-incestuous activities, Zoe(Dia) placed his flats on the metal and moved along with traffic, heading home. Both were feeling some desire to do something, especially after such a long work day, yet their mind urged them to wait. After all, Sunday was just a few days away.
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!