magicshoppe

MANIP - Cordon Off 3

Yes, 18. I don't plan to do 18 manips for the series. It's a story told in single panel manipulations. In the transcript, the speakers are (B)lue and (G)reen.

Transcript

G: Given the texture of the hair, and the fact that it isn't a wig, it's easy to believe you when you say this was a living woman who was somehow turned into a mannequin. But, how could that have been done?

B: Magic

G: Magic? Preposterous!

B: We haven't found any scientific explanation.

G: You're serious?

B: This is the 18th woman we've found like this. Worse, whoever's doing it is getting bolder. There are security cameras here. I've seen the security footage. One minute she's a woman. The next, she's a mannequin. No one was near her. No one suspicious was even in the building. Just like the other cases. We have no leads. No patterns. Nothing to follow up.

G: Has the public been informed there's a serial transformer turning random women into mannequins?

B: That could cause a panic or worse?

G: Worse?

B: People might seek the transformer out to be mannequinnized on purpose.

G: Who would...? Nevermind, there's always someone.

B: Cordon off the room. The lab guys will go over the scene and then put her in the evidence locker with the others.

G: Must be a large locker room. Isn't anyone trying to restore the women?

B: While the case is open, we can't allow them to be tampered with. They're evidence.

G: If they were restored couldn't they provide first hand witness testimony.

B: If. If they can't be restored, any attempt to restore them breaks the chain of custody. It's an unfortunate Catch-22. It's also a storage issue. They obviously can be taken apart. But again, that's tampering. If we could break them down into limbs, heads, and torsos we could save a lot of space in the evidence locker.

G: That would be a nightmare if any of the parts got misplaced. Can you imagine the lawsuit for losing someone's arm? Or head?

B: I can.

Sounds Like Fun

“Sam, can you cast a spell for me?”

“What spell?” Sam said.

“I want to turn Laura into a cum slut.”

Sam just stared at Jeff, his oldest friend from grade school.

He pressed on, “The spell should make cum delicious to her, having a cock inside her feel good, simultaneous orgasms, and so on. So, can you cast a spell like that?”

“Yes.”

“Great, I’ll call her over.”

“But, I won’t.”

“What? Why not?”

“Are you listening to yourself? Who in their right mind would want to be brain fucked so hard about cum?”

“Me.”

“I said right mind. Not to mention potentially going to jail for doing that to someone.”

“Oh, there’s nothing wrong with such a spell.”

“There isn’t?”

“You’ve made spells before where the target had to consent or the spell fails. Do that with this as well.”

“Why would I waste my time and energy on a spell no one would accept?”

“If you can make such a spell, you can cast it on Julia. I haven’t been Julia in a while.”

“So, you want me to turn you into a woman and a cum slut.”

“Sure. It sounds fun.”

Sam cast a spell and Jeff started to shrink slightly. As this happened, his limbs because thinner and smoother. His hips and ass grew as his waist narrowed. His shoulders were drawn inwards and chest slimmed down as breasts formed and grew out from her chest. Her face softened. Her hair grew long. Only she was aware when his cock and balls completed their retreat into the cavity within her lower abdomen.

Julia giggled.

“I never understand why you laugh when cast that spell,” Sam said.

“It’s the hairs on my arms and legs. As they disappear, it tickles,” she said in a sonorous higher pitched voice. “You have the cum spell ready?”

“No. That’ll probably take a week or two.”

“Why’d you turn me into Julia this early?”

“I want you to spend time as Julia before turning her into a so-called cum slut.”

“Okay. Well, I need to change clothes and send my boss an email.”

“How does your boss feel when you send emails telling her you’re Julia now?”

“She thinks I should just be Julia. She enjoys engaging with me more when I’m Julia.”

“I wonder if that would be of concern to HR that she encourages you to be a woman instead of a man.”

“It’s HR. Everything causes HR concern.”

* * *

“I’m home.”

“Julia, is that you?” Laura said. “Why are you Julia now? What did you do to Sam?”

“I didn’t do anything. Why would I be Julia because of something I did to Sam?”

“It was that spell you’ve been talking about.”

“He flipped out about it. I have no idea why.”

“And that’s why he turned you into Julia? Because?”

“He said something about spending time as a woman to understand why the spell’s a bad idea.”

She put her arms about Julia and pulled her in for a kiss. “Well, it can’t be too bad an idea if it gives me Julia to play with.”

“For a week or two,” Julia said at the end of a long kiss.

“Even better.”

* * *

A couple weeks later, Sam invited Julia over. “Is it finally ready?”

“I suppose that means you haven’t changed your mind.”

“Any trouble getting the spell together?”

“No, it was surprisingly easy to put together.”

“Then why did it take two weeks?”

“I was hoping you would reconsider.”

“Just cast the spell.”

“Fine.”

Sam intones words in a language unknown to Julia. His hands moved in tightening and widening circles in front of him. Motes of light began to appear, stationary at first. They then moved with his arms creating miniature spiral galaxies of light in the air in front of Sam. The circles elongated until they were about the height and width of a person standing up. “Ready?” Sam said.

“I should stand up straight?”

Sam nodded and when she complied, the swirling lights continued their rotations. The entire group moved toward Julia. She closed her eyes as the spiral of lights washed over her. Sam stopped waving his arms once the lights were behind her and the lights winked out in the order they first appeared.

“Well?”

She opened her eyes. Little motes of light danced on their surface for barely the tick of a clock. “I don’t feel any different.”

“You shouldn’t. Not until you trigger the cum slut state.”

“Cool. Drop trou.”

“What?”

“I want to trigger my cum slut state and you’ve got a source of cum I can tap.”

“I should have expected this.”

“I’m not going to go suck off random guys in a bar.”

Sam lowered his pants and stood there awkwardly.

“Why are you acting awkward? You and Julia have done this before.”

“Just because you have no problems with having sex with the man you’ve known since we were both four doesn’t mean it has gotten any less awkward for me.”

“When we’re done, you can turn into Samantha and turn me back to Jeff.”

“That won’t make it any more awkward for you.”

“No, I suppose not. Underwear, Sam.”

Sam dropped his underwear to the floor. He was becoming erect.

“Look at you protesting while that thing was growing in your pants,” Julia said playfully. “I still don’t feel any different.”

“Think about worshiping my…”

“Done. Wow,” Julia said as she felt compelled to kneel down in front of Sam’s cock and hold it in her hand. The motes of light were briefly visible in her eyes again. She lifted it up and sucked one of his balls into her mouth. “Mmmmmm. Maybe you should sit down before I get too far into this.”

“Okay.”

That was the last thought Julia had that wasn’t a thought about where, how, or for how long to suck his cock, lick his cock, or push his cock as far into her mouth as it would go. When she tasted his pre-cum her pace picked up. When he came in her mouth she swallowed it all down. Each time she swallowed she also orgasmed. At no time did she allow his cock to fully leave her mouth.

“Freeze, Slave” Sam said and Julia’s body stopped moving. He pulled his dick out of her mouth.

Thoughts other than ones needed to pleasure his cock returned to Julia’s mind, like a door that had been closed was now open. He was gone. She wasn’t really sure where he went or why she was laying on the bed with her mouth open hoping he’d return soon. When he did, she said, “Why can’t I move?”

“Because I told you to freeze so I could get up.”

“That doesn’t explain why I just sat here for the last twenty minutes while you did whatever you just did.”

“You’re the cum slut. You do what you’re told.”

“What part of cum or slut implies lack of autonomy?”

“Sluts will do anything for, in this case, cum.”

“Fuck. Now I see why you flipped out you asshole.”

“What?”

“Slut to most people means a person who enjoys sex more than society deems appropriate. Where in that definition is ‘sluts are fucking slaves?’ I remember now. You actually called me Slave.”

“Um….”

“Cancel the useless spell.”

“I can’t really. I… um…”

“Cancel the fucking spell, Sam.”

“Fine, fine, fine. Hold still a moment.” He stood up and went through all the motions he had gone through to cast the original spell. As the spiral of light flowed over Julia’s still immobile body, the network of motes all winked out when they came in contact with her.

“That didn’t look good.”

“It wasn’t. You suggested I make the spell contingent on the wants of the target.”

“Yes.”

“Do you want to suck my dick?”

“Please, Master. Give your cock to… Fuck. Fuck. I take it that means the spell thinks I don’t want it canceled because the spell makes me desire cum.”

“In a nutshell.”

“What are you going to do about it?” Julia said, aggressively getting off the bed and moving toward him with ill intent.

“Time to be face fucked, Slave.”

The motes of light briefly shown in Julia’s eyes. The mental door closed. “Yes, Master,” she said as she got off the bed and knelt before him. She took his cock into her mouth until his balls rested again her chin.

* * *

Julia woke up in Sam’s bed. She was face down in his crotch, his cock rising in her mouth. She immediately started teasing it.

A moan emitted from his throat as he woke up. A couple orgasms experienced by both of them later, he told her to sit up. As soon as she was off his cock, her face was angrier than he’d ever seen Julia before.

“You better figure out how to get rid of this spell before I bite your thing off.”

“Julia calm down. I figured out what to do. The problem is I don’t have a key component. I need to go out and get it. I also need to make sure you don’t leave and enslave yourself to someone else’s cock.”

The motes briefly shown in her eyes. “Robert,” she said. “His cock is bigger.” She moved to get off the bed.

“Lick my balls, Slave.”

After a display of the motes, she knelt down a tongued his balls.

She shook her head. “Who’s Robert?” She asked between licks.

“Probably my neighbor in 3B.”

“And why… did I want to… Mmmmm… seek him out… just now?”

“I figured a slut should be able to find the best cum available.”

“I have cock… Mmmm… cock radar?”

“I wouldn’t say it that way. But, yes.”

“Sam,…. Mmmmm,” she said. She managed to lean away from his cock. “Sam, nothing about the spell I was talking about would make me someone’s slave?”

“It wouldn’t? You said the spell would make, well Laura, not you, worship cum.”

“That’s a bit extreme. I only said cum should be delicious and feel good. And the slut would orgasm when he did. I have no idea where slavery and worship came from.”

“I guess I’m kinkier than you are. Back to the problem at hand. I called Laura. She’ll be here soon. Until then, remain calm and try not to think about…”

“Please, Master, this slave needs your c… God, that’s annoying. You may as well have told me not to think about elephants.”

“I could handcuff you to the bed.”

“Okay.”

* * *

Laura entered the bedroom. Sam was naked and handcuffed to the bed. His cock was limp against his leg. Julia was nowhere to be seen. Laura smacked Sam’s thigh. “Where is she?”

“Fuck. She tricked me. Then she drained me dry. Hopefully she hasn’t gotten far.”

He jumped into a pair of pants and pulled a t-shirt on. Laura was standing in the hallway outside the apartment. “You don’t think she left the building, do you?”

“No. One flight up.”

On the third floor, the door to apartment 3B was ajar. A man was moaning with pleasure inside. Laura burst into the man’s living room where his pants were around his knees and Julia was sucking his cock. She was also naked.

Sam entered a moment later and said, “Slave, return to my bedroom.”

Julia didn’t stop what she was doing except to hold one her hands toward Sam and Laura with her index finger up, indicating she needed a minute.

A moment later, the man’s eyes rolled back in head and he grabbed hold of Julia’s head. He unloaded into her mouth. She swallowed down every drop. After her body shuddered for a moment, she stood up and said, “Sorry. I have to go. Maybe we can do this again later.”

The man just nodded as he was falling asleep.

“She won’t be back,” Laura said.

The door to apartment 3E was open. A man in his underwear stood there gaping as the naked woman walked toward him to the stairwell door. She was between another beautiful woman he also had never seen before and a man he believed had a second floor apartment in the building. The naked woman licked her lips and stared at his underwear. She looked him in the eye and winked as she passed by.

“What’s the plan?” Laura said when they were in Sam’s apartment again.

Julia shook her head. “What just happened? Did I find Robert?”

“You did.”

“His cock is bigger than yours.”

“It was an impressive cock,” Laura said.

“Well, you’re getting a cock so we can keep Julia from wandering off while I go get supplies for the reversal spell.”

“You know I hate being a guy.”

“I’m sure Julia will convince you otherwise.”

“Why can’t I go get the supplies?”

“Because I’m starting to get friction burns on my dick. Now, are you going to babysit or not?”

“I’m right here,” Julia said. “And if Lawrence is joining us, there will not be any kind of babysitting going on. I already love that cock.” The motes of light shown. “Where’s Lawrence?”

“Just do it.”

Sam cast the spell and Laura grew taller. Her hair shortened, seeming to be pulled onto her face and it disappeared in back. Her arms and legs thickened with muscle mass. Her breasts shrank and her torso filled out. She had managed to kick off her shoes before they could no longer contain his feet.

“Lawrence,” Julia said. “Gimme.” Julia lifted the hem of his dress over her own head and started pleasuring Lawrence’s cock.

While she was distracted, Sam got the handcuffs from the bed and locked them to one of Lawrence’s wrists, through the armrest of a chair, and to one of Julia’s wrists. “I’ll be back soon.” He finished getting dressed and left them in his living room.

* * *

Lawrence was out cold on the sofa. Julia wanted to leave but before she couldn’t put a plan into action, she would see Lawrence’s cock and pleasure it instead.

Sam returned while Julia was sitting up, looking around the room. “Did you get everything?”

“Yes. Hang on. I’ll just cast it while you are stuck right there.”

“Or, you could come here and get a cool blowjob.”

“Maybe later.”

“Poo. You owe me. Lawrence’s second orgasm was nearly dry. A newly minted man doesn’t have that large a supply of cum built up.”

“Well, I’m also dry.”

“Not completely.”

“Hush,” he said. He tossed a collar to her.

“Now you want me to wear a slave collar?”

“No. I’m going to transfer the enchantment to the collar. When we remove the collar, you’ll return to your regular annoying self instead of this cum slut annoying self.”

“What if I don’t want to take the collar off?”

“Get that thought out of your head. Slave. Slave. Slave. Slave.”

“Stop with the slave bullshit.”

“Call me Master.”

“Sammm!”

“Are you good and riled?”

“Yes. Oh. Good plan, you piece of shit.” She put the collar on.

The spell to turn the existing spell into an enchantment worked. Julia removed the collar and declared herself slut-free. “Now, turn her back into Laura and me back into Jeff.”

Once that was done, Jeff clamped the collar around Sam’s neck. “Now turn yourself into Samantha, Slave.”

Sam reached up and removed the collar. “I don’t accept.”

“Party pooper.”

Laura took the collar from him. “Let’s go home, Lunch,” she said.

“Did you call him Lunch?”

“Please, fix the spell so we can put the non-slave version into the collar.”

“Probably not necessary, Master,” Laura said. She lifted her hair off her neck and held the collar out to him. “Put it on me.”

“You want to be my cock sucking slave?”

“Sure. It sounds fun.”

Talk: Welcome, Welcome

There's been an influx of new patrons and I just wanted to say hello to them as well as everyone else. I posted an older story to Big Closet that should have been posted when it appeared on deviantArt over a month ago. Have to work on coordinating that better. And I posted an even older story to the Erotic Mind Control Story Archive (EMCSA) which I will be sending a few of my older works to over the next few weeks. From whichever one of those places the new subscribers came, they are welcome.

As I've mentioned elsewhere I've got a bunch of stuff queued here on Patreon through mid-Summer. While none of you can notice this, sometimes I feel like I'm ignoring this space even though two stories come out each week, as they have for over a year now. (I should be exhausted. I'm not. But someone day I will be.)

Some updates:

• Ted's Dolls, Season 3 will resume mid-May and run to the end of June. I've done some terrible things there. Hopefully fixing them in Season 4 will be successful. More details mid-May when the releases commence.

• The Truth continues and will continue through mid-July when I will probably pause it again, or not. Haven't decided and I haven't written much after part 26 of it. It isn't close to done.

• Random short stories will continue into May before Ted's Doll's roll out and they will continue after Ted's Dolls Season 3 is complete. There are even a few Trust Machine stories coming in May and August. It's been some time since I released a TM story with more length than Pair of Panties or The Box.

• There's an installment of The Transformation Inspector in May. Part 3. Part 4 is in the works.

• And some CAPs and MANIPs are queued every other week through the beginning of September.

• I find the only real issue with being ahead like this is when I finish a story, and am most excited for feedback, time has to pass before I can share it. The most recent story I've finished won't be released until mid-August. By the time it comes out, I'll be all excited about whatever I've completed at the end of July.

• I will be on vacation last two weeks of May. Shouldn't affect anything here except I probably won't react to comments. This doesn't mean you shouldn't leave comments. Comments are the fun part of doing this. (Even when they aren't fun.)

• Finally, a teaser. Attached to this is a 2 page PDF. The contents should be self-explanatory. As I'm going to talk about it now, you might want to go read that and come back... I don't know when I might actually get far enough ahead of the story to start releasing it for real. It's just a crazy idea I had. I'm not sure how to even format it for release serially. One idea would be to turn it into a bunch of images with panel boxes around the text and host it on a comic-strip site. Thoughts on this are welcome.

The Truth - Chapter 13

“And that was basically our day,” he finished.

Sandra looked at Sarah, “What was it like being encased in cum.”

Sarah looked at Jon, who nodded and turned back to Sandra, “It was fantastic. This slave loves bondage and has always wanted to be frozen inside something. Though the idea of being encased in cum is not one this slave has ever had before. Being encased in ice would be cold but the cum was still warm when Master solidified it.”

“You want to try it don’t you?”

“How about just a cum bustier?”

“Sandra naked Sandra,” he said as he unzipped his pants and pulled out his dick. It became erect within seconds. “Pull your breasts upward by your nipples.”

She did as he said and suddenly hot cum was plastering the underside of her breasts. Just as suddenly it stopped. There was already a thick covering on her.

“Let go,” he said. As she did he said, “Cum solid cum.”

Her breasts jutted forth from her, held up by the mass of cum. “My hands,” she exclaimed. They were also frozen under a layer of solid cum.

“Oh,” he laughed. “I’m sure you can lick it off eventually. Do you need help licking it?”

“Licking it?”

“Sarah, lick the cum off Sandra’s hands.”

“Yes, Master.” Sarah took one of Sandra’s hands and started licking at the cum.

“This is going to take a while.” Sandra commented as she started licking her other hand. “You want some, Jon?” She held her stiff hand out.

“No, thanks, I’m good.” He said. “Cum crumble cum. But please, enjoy it all.”

In its crumbled state, the women were able to remove it from her fingers in several quick licks. Then Sarah put her mouth around one of Sandra’s nipple as she gently bit into the crumbling cum.

“Oh, my,” Sandra yelped. “Do that again?”

Sarah sucked Sandra’s breasts under the pretense of removing the cum. But after a moment Sandra stopped her.

“No, I’m sorry, I already did the lesbian thing yesterday. So unless he commands me, I’m not interested now.”

“Okay,” he said. “Sandra become Sarah Sandra.”

“What does that…” Sandra transformed into an exact likeness of Sarah before she could finish her question.

Looking at the Sarah where Sandra had been standing, Jon asked, “Who are you?”

“This slave belongs to Master.” Sandra replied in the exact inflection Sarah used.

“Excellent. Kiss one another deeply, slaves.” He commanded.

“Yes, Master,” they replied in unison and then kissed each other.

“You may caress one another as well. Oh, and can’t have one naked slave and one clothed slave. Sarah naked Sarah. Hmm. Although now I can’t tell you apart.”

After a moment, he pulled out his dick and started covering them in cum. They did not stop kissing as he covered them from head to toe in cum. He made sure their noses were clear and said “Cum solid cum.” They became a strange erotic sculpture.

He left them there for a few moments before saying, “Maybe I can make my money selling statues to collectors.”

Looking out the window, Jon saw light glint off something in an apartment across the street. He thought he saw someone move out of the way as he looked out the window. Casually he sat down at the desk and wrote, “As I finish writing this, my television will turn on displaying a live audio and video feed from an invisible camera inside the apartment across the street where someone was looking into my apartment just seconds ago. A remote control will appear on my desk that allows me to move and turn the invisible camera as needed.”

On the television screen, a topless woman sat on a dining chair backwards, her bare breasts rubbing against the wood of the chair back. She was holding a pair of binoculars. She said, “He stepped away from the window. But the two chicks are still just standing there. What did he pour on them? It looks like it hardened.”

“No way,” said another topless woman stepping up behind the seated woman, pressing her crotch against the other woman’s back. “He came on the twins. I swear his cock was 12 inches long. But there’s no way his cum hardened.”

“See for yourself.”

She took the binoculars and looked out the window. “I may have sworn off men in high school, and much as I love you, Irina, if he wanted to fuck me with that thing. I’d have a hard time saying ‘No.’”

Jon’s eyebrow raised as he heard that. He started writing.

“I always thought you might be bi.”

“He’s had a parade of women through that apartment the last few days. He must be pretty good at something.” She handed the binoculars back to Irina.

Irina looked through the window, “Those lesbians are still just standing there kissing. How can they just stand still so long?”

“Oo, maybe it’s one of those standing vac beds.” She said, then a funny look crossed her face and she said, “Maybe it’s their pose. Suppose the way they are embraced makes it so they can kiss in one spot for a while.” She was unsure where the idea had come from but did not think about it long enough to worry about it.

Irina turned and looked at her friend, “What are you smoking, Tracy? They’ve been like that for like ten minutes and you think it’s their pose.”

“Can’t hurt to try it, can it?”

Irina suddenly felt like her partner's suggestion was logical, “Okay, I suppose not.” She stood up. For a minute they tried to stand like the two figures across the way were standing. An idea literally popped into Irina's head, “Maybe it’s because their naked too.”

“I’m fine with being naked,” Tracy replied and she started removing her clothes. After another embrace and kisses Tracy parted her lips and said, “French me.” And they kissed each other deeply.

Suddenly they felt their bodies lock in place but lust prevented them from panicking. Instead they just kissed harder, not caring that they could not move.

Jon looked at the display on the television. “Not a bad copy.” He looked at the two Sarahs and said, “Slaves mute Slaves.” Then he wrote something and Tracy was suddenly sitting on his couch.

“What?” She exclaimed. In front her was a television with an image of Irina standing immobilized as if kissing and embracing an invisible partner. To her left was standing twin women encased in a translucent substance also immobilized.

“Welcome, Tracy. My name is Jon. Don’t get up. I wanted to know why you were spying on my apartment.”

“How did you?”

“Just explain the spying.”

“Irina started it. Is she okay?”

“Aside from total unawareness of the passage of time and complete immobility, yes, she’s fine. She started what?”

“She was looking out the window and saw a mannequin in your kitchen. She has this thing for mannequins and windup dolls. And later she tells me she saw the mannequin walking down the street so she’s been watching your apartment. Some really freaky stuff has been happening over here.”

“I guess I need to close my curtains.”

“Yeah,” Tracy agreed. “People in the city always think no one can see in their windows. There’s a couple two stories up from you who are into naked yoga.”

“So what do I do with you?”

“Apparently anything you want. I can’t move. I was across the street and now I’m here. Irina’s a statue like these two here. What are you?”

Jon laughed. “I can’t allow you to know about me. So what do I do with you? Do you want to forget I exist or become part of my harem?”

“Harem? As in a group of women you have sex with? Irina and I don’t dig guys.”

“Yet you were interested in my cock as I recall.”

“What do you mean?”

“You said if I offered to have sex with you, you’d have a hard time saying ‘No.’”

“You heard that?”

“So, do you want sex with me?” He asked. “Let me sweeten the deal. If you say yes, I’ll free the twins there and they can rub and lick your body while I do you. That way there’s still a girl on girl element for you.”

“I don’t think Irina will want to be in your harem.”

“Cum vanish cum.” He said and then he said to Sarah and Sandra, “Make Tracy feel welcome. I think she’s tense. A foot massage with make it easier for her to think clearly.”

Both women knelt down in front of Tracy and each started rubbing one of Tracy’s feet.

“How’s that feel?” He asked as one of them, even he had lost track of which one was which, started sucking each of Tracy’s toes, one at a time.

“Oh, God, it does feel nice.” Tracy visibly relaxed. “Irina’s going to kill me but okay, let’s do it.”

“Okay,” he said. “Let’s fuck.”

The next thing Tracy knew she was lying face up in a bed, her feet were pulled up over her head pulling her ass in the air. One of the twins was kneeling with her legs straddling her head, her sweetly scented pussy inches from Tracy’s nose. She was holding Tracy’s legs in place. The other twin was lying on her stomach adjacent to Tracy. That twin’s hands and mouth were groping and licking Tracy’s breasts.

Jon was kneeling at the end of the bed holding his huge cock in his hand. “Are you ready for this?” He nodded to the twin hovering over her face and that twin lowered her pussy onto Tracy’s nose.

“Not a big believer in foreplay, eh? Just don’t hurt me because if this one’s pussy tastes as good as it smells, I don’t want you distracting me.”

“I promise not to distract you in a bad way.” And with that he pushed his 10-inch long dick into her pussy with one smooth stroke.

“Oh, my God,” Tracy exclaimed with surprise, mostly at her body’s reaction to his penis. “My pussy’s…” she said “… never reacted to…” between “… a man’s dick…” each thrust “… like this.”

“All part of the magic,” Jon replied.

Emotions overwhelmed Tracy. She felt betrayed by her body’s automatic reaction to straight sex. She tried to remind herself it had to be him making her body do it but that did not help her feel any less betrayed.

“Oh, God, no,” she begged. “No more.”

“No more?” he asked, slowing down.

“I’m betraying…. Please stop.” She continued. “I don’t want this.”

As he pulled out of her, he also shrank his dick to make it less formidable looking. He said to the two Sarahs, “Leave us. Go wash one another in the shower. And no sex.”

They left quietly.

He got up and turned away from Tracy. He pulled a robe on and said, “Cover yourself so we can talk.” After he heard the bedding move, he turned around. “So what am I going to do with you and your girlfriend?”

“I don’t know,” Tracy said. “Irina really wants to know about the mannequin girl. She was a real woman, right?”

“Yes, she’s actually on display in a boutique window over on 15th street.”

“Oh, my, Irina would kill to do something like that,” she sighed.

“I understand you don’t want to forget,” Jon started. “So why not just try out putting up with me and my harem? If it really isn’t you or Irina’s thing I can always make you both forget later.”

She nodded. “It’s not just that. All I’ve seen of your harem is those two twins who never speak. I don’t want to think about what that cage is for.”

“Ah,” Jon laughed. “Slaves come in here.”

Sarah and Sandra rushed into the room. They wore towels around their torsos.

“Sandra become self Sandra.”

As he spoke one of the twins transformed. Immediately she opened her mouth to no effect. She looked at Jon while pointing to her mouth.

“As you can see, they aren’t twins. And you’ll note that the one who didn’t change remains submissive. While Sandra here looks like she’s upset because she can’t speak. Before I brought you over here, I said, ‘Harem mute Harem.’ And that made them both incapable of speech. I didn’t want them interfering with our talk. Sarah speak Sarah. Sarah tell Tracy about yourself.”

Sandra stomped her foot once.

Jon just put his finger to his mouth and turned to look at Sarah.

“This slave belongs to Master.” Sarah said.

“Tell her why.”

“This slave has always desired to become a slave. Master told this slave's former self that if she wished to be his slave she could say so and it would happen. So when she said, ‘Please make me your slave, Master,’ she became his slave as the last act of her free will.”

“Very good,” Jon nodded. “Sandra here is a different story. Sandra speak Sandra. Tell your story.”

“Finally! I don’t even know your name.”

“Tracy.”

“Hi,” she said. “I am not Jon’s slave. Apparently though, I am his plaything.” She looked at him. “I’ll talk to you later about turning me into Sarah.” Then she continued, “Sex around here is awesome. And with the added ability to explore our fantasies I can’t imagine not being here. Technically, Jon kidnapped me, just like you. But as you’ve seen he’s a complete gentleman about it.”

“I’m going to remind you that you called me a gentleman sometime in the future.”

“Ha, ha. Her girlfriend is still frozen across the street.”

“Yes, should I send you back and let you bring her over here or should I just zap her over here?”

“Zap her. I don’t want to have to explain any of this to anyone.”

“Okay,” Jon laughed. “I need to make some spells.” He walked into the other room and indicated everyone should follow. “I have something prepared for you to sign.”

She took a piece of paper from him and read it. It read: “I, the undersigned, agree to become a member of Jon’s harem until such time as he dismisses me from his harem. I understand this makes me subject to all duties, responsibilities, and associated effects that affect his harem.” Below was a space to fill in her name, sign and date the document.

He handed her a normal pen. “That is not a legal document. But it is a magical document. Once you sign it I’ll be able to do all the things I do to them to you. For example, Sandra zentai Sandra.”

Tracy looked at Sandra’s spandex covered body. “You’ll make sure our fantasies are also fulfilled?”

“As long as they aren’t too flashy.” Jon said. “What do you have in mind? Do you want something ready before Irina gets here?”

She flushed.

Slow Writing

I'm not in love with the name of this story. If you have a suggestion don't keep it to yourself. I've thought about "Pen Pals", "Isotopes", and "Where's Greta?" as alternative titles. Be that as it may, enjoy the story.

Where’s Greta?

“Why is there a mannequin sitting at your desk?” Claudia said.

The mannequin in question was a hyper-realistic effigy of a short, blond woman. It sat with its left leg on the seat tucked under its right leg, its right foot dangling in the air. It was leaned over the desk apparently writing something on a sheet of paper in front of it.

“That’s not a mannequin,” Ryan said. “That’s a person. She’s just moving really, really slowly.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Yeah, normally, I’d agree. Don’t touch her or the paper. But read what’s written on the paper.”

Claudia walked over to the desk and looked at the paper. There were two distinct sets of handwriting on the paper engaged in a written conversation:

• What’s your name?

Audrey Hiddles

• What happened to you?

How are you doing this? What do you mean?

• You are moving really, really slow. At first I thought you were a mannequin. But I noticed you were moving imperceptibly slowly. What happened to you?

I don’t know. Who are you? I can’t see y-- how did you make that photo appear? Why is the sky always gray? Where’s Ro–

The pen it was holding was at the end of what appeared to be the top of a ‘b’ it was writing. In the margin next to that paragraph was a note written by the first handwriting: “Spell his whole name out and a phone number if you can.”

“Who’s Rob?”

“I have no idea. All I know is based on past performance, it’ll be a week at least for her to write out Robert. And for all we know, the name is Roberta which will add at least another day.”

“I’m still having trouble believing you.”

“Well, you wanted to go see a movie. Let’s go out. When we get back the ‘b’ should be finished a new letter will be starting to form.”

* * *

True to his word, when they returned, the ‘b’ was finished and a line next to it sat at an angle that might turn into an ‘e’ eventually.

“Incredible. How slow is she moving?” Claudia waved her hands in front of the woman’s face. “Can she see my hand?”

“Most likely not. I think she’s moving ten thousand times slower than we are. That means in a week, she experiences about one minute.”

“So, even if you find out her name and where she came from, by the time you might be able to act on it, you might be an old man.”

“Or dead. Yes. A day for her is over twenty-six years for us and she’ll spend eight or nine of those years asleep.”

“All these numbers are making my head hurt. Where did you find her?”

“A friend of mine gave her to me. Her eyes were closed. I think she was asleep.”

“Where could she have been sleeping for years that no one noticed?”

“In a box, in the backroom of an abandoned building. There were a dozen other mannequins in the box. But none of them were as realistic as she was. Tim knew I’d want to see her. He was surprised because her eyes were closed when he put her in the car and open when he got here.”

“She must be freaking out.”

“Or it’s become normal for her. Who knows? She seemed really interested when I got her into the chair there and put the paper in front of her.”

“How long ago was that?”

“Hmm.. A couple months ago. If you look for it, you can see she’s groggy from having just woken up.”

“Could she drink coffee if you made it for her?”

Ryan considered it for a moment. “Aside from the problem of keeping it hot, I have no idea how it wouldn’t just spill down out of her mouth. Once it started leaving the mug, she wouldn’t be able to stop it from leaving the mug for several minutes. And even if she could take a tiny sip, it would probably take a couple weeks for her to notice the mug, pick up the mug, drink, put the mug down, and then resume answering my questions on the paper.”

“You were able to sit her down at the desk. She’s gotta be flexible. Couldn’t you put the mug in her hands, close to her mouth to save time?”

“Just because I said she’s probably use to these body position jumps doesn’t mean she doesn’t freak out about them sometimes.”

* * *

“Hello?”

“Robert Zybel?”

“Yes, who is this?”

“My name is Ryan Chambers. What do you know about mannequins that can move?”

“Oh, my god, have you found Audrey?”

“So you know about her and her condition?”

“It was only supposed to be for a few weeks.”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you have her? Is she safe?”

“Yes. What happened to her?”

“It was only supposed to be for a few weeks.”

* * *

“Did it work?”

“Look at the clock.”

“Three hours? It only felt a few seconds.”

“That was the idea wasn’t it. You can spend a month or two in the window and it’ll only feel like five or six minutes.”

“Maybe that’s to much of a speed up. I like being able to see the people looking at me.”

“Well. This is the speed that worked. We can perfect that for the next time you do it.”

“I guess. Greta said I could be the window mannequin any time I liked as long as it lasted at least a couple months.”

“It lasts until it’s reversed so the duration isn’t an issue.”

“Oh, well, if she wants me for more than a couple months, do that. I already downsized by stuff when I moved in with you. I can easily spend half a year as a window mannequin. And anything she pays me is pure profit since I have no expenses.”

“No expenses?”

“No rent, no car, no food. There’s a few hundred dollars outstanding on my credit card. I can pay that all off before you zap me. And the whole reason to do this is to pay off my student loans. If I can clear a couple grand a month with no expenses, I can pay it down in a couple years as a mannequin. If I can find a store willing to pay enough.”

“I have that covered. Greta is renting you for two hundred a week to start. That’s almost a thousand a month. And maybe word of mouth will get you a different gig at a higher rate a few months from now.”

“So, when can you spin up the machine again?”

“Tomorrow night, it should be ready.”

“We have time for a date night tonight?”

“That was my plan.”

* * *

“The next day she stepped into the Temporal Displacer…”

“Temporal Displacer?” Ryan said. They were sitting in a coffee shop a few blocks away from Ryan’s apartment where Audrey was still writing at his desk.

“That’s what I call the device that alters an object’s perception of time. Once she was displaced…”

“By ten thousand times?”

“Close. It’s actually a ratio of nine thousand, five hundred seventy-one point six eight to one.But, ten thousand is easier for quick calculations,” Robert said. He was a middle aged man of slight build.

“So, what happened?”

“I don’t really know. I delivered her to Greta’s store and she was so excited by how realistic the mannequin looked.”

“She didn’t know the mannequin was a real person.”

“Not as such,” he said ruefully. “I came back each month on the same day and Greta would pay me and ask if we could extend the contract. Audrey wanted to pay off her loans so I figured I would let it ride another month. After fifteen months, when I returned to the store it was empty. All the merchandise, gone. All the signs taken down. And Audrey, missing. I called the management company for the strip mall about it and they said the owner of the store canceled their lease and moved out two weeks earlier. They had no idea why.

“I asked the neighboring stores what they knew and they were just as surprised. They each said the store had had normal foot traffic the day before it closed. There was never a going out of business sale. Just one day no one showed up to open the store. A couple days later, the contents of the store were completely removed. One of the store owners said he walked over and asked the movers if they knew why the store closed. They didn’t. The only strange thing for them was they were hired that morning and paid an unusually high fee for a store closing. Stores that close usually don’t have a lot of money to throw around.”

“Weird. I guess you check out. Give me your address and I’ll bring Audrey over tomorrow so you can restore her.”

“You don’t have to do that. I can just take her off your hands today.”

“I want to see your machine. I feel as though I should get to talk to Audrey and she can talk back in real time.”

“I have your number. I’ll have her call you once it’s done.”

“Why are you being evasive?”

The man sighed. “The machine stopped working.”

“What? When?”

“About six months after she was transformed, it just stopped working. I have no idea why. I worked on it day and night for over nine months. I replaced every part I could conceivably replace.”

“Why did you stop?”

“I stopped a couple weeks after I found out she was gone and I ran out of leads. It was just heartbreaking to think that even if I fixed the machine, there was no point. Audrey was gone.”

“You seem okay with it now.”

“You don’t understand. That was fifteen years ago. I’ve moved on for the most part. I got married twelve years. We have two kids. The only connection to Audrey that remains is the boxes the machine is stored in and her clothing and possessions that I haven’t had the willpower to go through and dispose of.”

“Fifteen years?” I burst out laughing and I regretted it immediately given how his face dropped. “Sorry. It just struck me that Audrey hasn’t even experienced a whole day since you used the machine on her.”

“No, I suppose she hasn’t.”

“She did sleep through most of it,” Ryan said. He told Robert how he had guessed she had woken up just a few months ago.

“That kind of makes sense. It was late afternoon, maybe four o’clock, when it was done. For her body, it’s probably around seven thirty in the morning the next day.”

“You said you tried replacing everything you could conceivably replace on the machine. Where there things inconceivable to replace?”

“Yes. There was an expensive isotope I can’t really afford to purchase.”

“What happened to it? Did it decay to non-existence?”

“I’m not at liberty to say.”

“Were you making this machine as part some kind of research?”

“I’m not at liberty to say.”

“You know how to fix it. You just can’t acquire the materials.”

“In layman’s terms, yes. You really should give Audrey to me and forget about her.”

“What’ll happen to Audrey?”

* * *

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Robert said. “I can test on non-living matter. A few days here or there won’t harm her.”

“I got you your isotope. I want to see what I paid for.”

“Suit yourself. I’ll pull you both out after two weeks so you’ll only have two minutes of Displaced time.”

“That sounds perfect.”

One moment he stood in the well-lit basement of Robert’s home. The next minute, he was still in the basement but it was dimly lit.

“Who are you?” A woman said.

He turned to look in the direction of her voice. It was Audrey. “Audrey?”

“Yes. How are we talking?”

“I’m here to rescue you.”

“How could that work?”

“Actually, Robert is going to rescue us both. It should only take a couple minutes.”

“If Robert can rescue me, why are you here?”

“I’m Ryan, by the way. I’m the guy you were writing to a few minutes ago.”

“Oh, I was so startled when the desk disappeared. I haven’t experienced anything like that since the store disappeared. What happened to Greta?”

“No idea. A friend of mine found you at an estate sale and thought I’d like to have you.”

“I’m seeing someone else.”

“Not exactly.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s been sixteen years since you were put on display at Greta’s store. Robert is married and has two kids, Penny and Dréa are eleven and eight respectively. I just met them a couple hours ago normal time. Nice kids.”

“Sixteen years? Why didn’t Robert….?”

“That’s a long story. You can ask him when you see him. I’ll just say it wasn’t his fault. None of it was his fault.”

Before she could answer she disappeared.

“Audrey? Robert?”

He knew he should relax. The machine would take a day to recycle, two tops. That was like seventeen seconds for two days to go by. He would be back in no time.

He started laughing after the first minute passed. He could see the workbenches and the Displacer machine. An open notebook suddenly appeared on the workbench. At the same time, the Displacer machine looked like someone had taken a sledge hammer to it. A single word was written on the open page of the notebook in Audrey’s handwriting. It was circled a couple times: Sorry.

The Truth - Chapter 12

Sarah didn’t know what time it was when she woke up. The cage door was still locked and she couldn’t read the display as it was outside the cage. She did what she could to move around but noticed she was not cramped or sore. The vibrator was still vibrating but she couldn’t move in any way that might improve her situation there. So, she waited even though Master had told her she should do things while waiting. Some of Master’s commands were confusing and – she could barely allow herself to think it – unbecoming of a master.

Eventually, the lock opened and she shimmied out of the cage. She was relieved when the cage became taller as the door opened. Master was on the bed but she knew she must learn about the apartment. She left the bedroom so as not to disturb Master. In the living room, she looked though Master’s books and recordings. She saw a paper on his desk and couldn’t help but read it. It was instructions to build her cage. And it explained why when Master said ‘Slave plug slave,’ the vibrator had appeared inside her. This was how Master’s magic works. He must write the effect before it works. She opened the desk drawer and found more writings. She read them all. As she read them, the way she could help Master formed fully in her mind. She could create shortcut commands for tying her up or turning her into a dog.

“Master does this the hard way,” she thought. She turned on the computer and wrote several things it seemed master could write to make creating his spells much easier.

When he woke up, he smelled pancakes. Within seconds of moving he heard footsteps heading toward the bed.

Sarah knelt down next to the bed, head bowed, and said, “Does Master want breakfast here or at the kitchen table?”

“The kitchen is fine. Go attend to the food and I’ll be right out.”

“Yes, Master.” She stood up and rushed out of the room.

After using the bathroom, Jon entered the living area and saw the kitchen table decorated with flowers. There were pancakes, caramelized fruit, and juice. He sat down at the table set for one. “Where is your plate?”

“This slave will eat after serving Master.”

“No, no, you will eat while I eat so I don’t end up sitting around waiting for you to eat.”

“Forgive me, Master, this slave was not smart enough to think of that.”

“Just prepare your plate and sit down at the table with me.”

“Yes, Master.” After she had served herself she took a few bites, she asked, “Master?”

“Yes.”

“This slave may have done something wrong and wishes to tell Master so Master can tell this slave if she has done wrong.”

“Just tell me what you did. Leave it to me to determine if you have done wrong.”

She bent down and picked up a few pieces of paper. “This slave found some papers with strange short written passages on them. This slave supposes these passages are how Master enacts his magic. If so, this slave has rewritten some of the passages she found as well as written new passages that this slave hopes Master will bring into reality.”

“Let me see what you wrote.” He took a printed page from her. It was several long effects that if they worked would allow him to pre-print the effects and just sign the paper to enact the magic. It also removed the requirement for adding words like ‘When I finish…’ to delay the enactment of the magic.

“I don’t know if this will work,” he said. “But it can’t hurt to try it.” He got up and rewrote what she had written using the Pen. When he finished he looked at her and said, “I suppose you’ve already written a test… spell.”

“Yes, Master,” she replied and handed him another sheet of paper. It read: “A riding crop is now on the desk.” Below that was the required boiler plate text to enact the magic as described in the other effects.

He signed the paper on the provided line. A crop appeared.

Sarah let out a squeal of delight. “Master, there is more.” She turned around and held up a thin bundle of pages.

“What is all that?”

“This slave noticed that Master has created many spells with similar language except for small details of the effect. They reminded this slave of forms that are often filled out for various regulatory agencies. This slave has created several spells to enable Master to quickly create spells of similar form by simply filling out the form and signing it.”

“You’ve created a bureaucracy. Fabulous. Let me see an example.”

“Yes, Master. Take for example how you say ‘Slave gag slave’ to gag this slave or ‘All mute all’ to mute all of your harem. A form would exist where all Master must do is indicate the magic word, what the effect is, and sign it to create a new effect. A different form would exist to create transformations like the mannequin spell for Debra when she thinks her incantation.”

“I have to read all this to see how it works.”

“This slave can explain it all but Master should read it to make sure this slave has not made a mistake.”

The pages she had handed him were a series of effects describing what a form was, what the fields on the forms did, forms for creating new definitions like what a harem is, forms for creating templates, what happened when a form was filled incorrectly, and rules for revoking effects.

“This is very convenient if it works. Master is proud of his slave. I assume you have a test spell.”

“Yes, Master,” she said, handing him another page.

The name of the spell was “Look Alike” and it transformed a named member of his harem so that she would look and sound like someone else. While she retained her original personality the spell forced her to move and talk like the other person.

“What is this for?” he asked.

“Master has transformed someone named Sandra to look and believe she is this slave’s former self. So, this slave presumes Sandra will return to Sandra’s apartment at some point. If master uses this spell on this slave to look like Sandra she will have proof that she is not Sandra. This will add confusion to her adventure of waking up as someone else, will it not?”

“Very good. Yes, I didn’t have a good plan for how I would end her time believing she was you.” He looked at the page again. “Sarah look-alike Sandra Sarah. That is not easy to say.”

Sarah transformed into a perfect likeness of Sandra. “I feel different. Oh, no, I am not worthy to say ‘I’.”

“Calm down,” Jon said. “Sandra would not say ‘this slave’ so while under this spell you won’t either. That is okay.”

“Please change me back Jo- Master. Talking like this makes me…me…” The look of frustration on her face was incredible. She finished her thought, “uncomfortable.”

“Actually some discomfort might be good for you. As I said, I want you to think for yourself when I’m not giving you commands. This system you have created is very useful. Perhaps you should spend some time believing you are someone else.”

“As you wish, Jon,” Sarah forced herself to say his name. “I have already made a spell for that called, ‘Become’.”

“Amusing, but a spell makes it too easy.” He thought for a moment. “I want you to read through this operations manual for the S&R-A android. Memorize all of its operations. Figure out a good way to create a spell for it. Perhaps looking like Sandra will make that easier.”

“I will do my best.”

While she read though the manual, Jon read through her spell paperwork. He printed a couple blank forms and wrote a few ideas without signing them. After a while he looked over at Sarah, she was taking notes in the manual. “Sarah stop for sec and come here.”

She put the book down and walked over to his desk.

“I command you to sign this and then give me the pen right back.” He said as he handed her the Pen.

She did as commanded but said, “I don’t think this will work.”

Taking the Pen back he knew it had not worked. “Neither did I really. But I had to try. Now, I’m going to give you the Pen to sign another one with no compulsions whatsoever, though I would still like the Pen back when you are done.”

She took the Pen again and signed the next paper. She was about to hand the Pen back to him when she saw he was experiencing slight discomfort.

“It worked,” he exclaimed. “Sign these as well and no peaking,” and he put two more spells in front of her. He put those spells in the drawer along with the Pen as she handed it back.

She read the spell he had left out. It gave him total control over the size, thickness, sensitivity and erectness of his penis. It also made him immune to soreness during sex and capable of cumming at will and in any volume desired. “If you desire to test this out, I am ready.”

“I hope so. Sarah naked Sarah.” Sarah stood there looking exactly like Sandra, completely naked. He pulled his pants down and his fully-erect, 10-inch dick pointing straight out from his crotch. “I think we’ll start with a blow job.”

She knelt down in front of him and started licking his head and rubbing the length of his dick with her hands. After a moment, she pulled him into her mouth and sucked him in. Her eyes bulged with surprise as his dick became thicker in her mouth.

“You like?”

She mumbled her approvals and bobbed up and down the thickening dick as well as she could. She felt the head of his dick swell and she stepped up her pace to finish him off. For ten minutes she sucked as hard as she could and he did not cum. If anything his head became more and more engorged.

“Oh, that is awesome.” He said. “Ready for a huge load, I hope.”

Cum burst forth from his dick filling her mouth in a split second. It went down her throat and leaked out her lips, dribbling down her chin. She tried to swallow it all but there was too much. He pulled his dick out of her mouth and it continued to spray cum. It landed on her face, on her chest. It did not stop. He was hosing her down with cum. “Turn around,” he commanded. He did not stop cumming until she was covered from head to toe in his cum. “Cum solid cum,” he said.

She felt the cum on her skin solidify. She could not move, encased like a fly in amber. Her eyes were closed and she wondered what it looked like. She heard him sit down at the desk.

“Cum crumble cum.”

As he spoke she felt the strength of her encasement weaken. She moved and the solid mass crumbled like a cracker. Everywhere she moved it crumbled and fell off her. She broke a piece off her face and licked it. “Tastes the same,” she said.

“Cum vanish cum.” All the crumbled cum vanished. “There’s far too much for you to eat. Go wait for me on the bed. I’ll be right there.”

She wanted to squeal and run off but, still emulating Sandra forced herself to calmly walk into the other room.

He took the paper out of the drawer and read it again, “Jon can sign off on spells that modify him.” He took out a blank command spell and filled it out: Subject: Jon, Action: fuck Sarah then we both feel fully refreshed afterwards; Duration: 3 hours; Frequency: Once; When: next time they are on the bed in his bedroom. He signed it. He didn’t feel different. He went into the bed room and took off his clothes. “Sarah Look Alike Self Sarah” he said, returning her to her normal form.

“Thank you, Master.”

He took hold of his dick and made it very sensitive, very erect and a little thinner. Then he climbed into bed. He felt himself needing to take Sarah immediately. He thrust his dick into her pussy and started fucking her.

They quickly orgasmed and he kept on fucking her. They lost track of all the orgasms as he could not stop fucking her until hours later when he finally found he could stop if he wanted. He used his control to orgasm one more time before collapsing on the bed next to her. They lay there for a while before she spoke, “That was more than this slave ever believed was possible.”

“That’s because I wrote a spell to make me fuck you for three hours.”

“Master wrote a spell affecting Master?”

“Thanks to you.”

“This slave is so pleased to have helped.”

“What time is it?”

She rolled over to look at the clock on the nightstand. “It is after 3 pm.”

“Let’s clean up, eat something and get ready for Sandra to come home from being Sarah today.”

“Yes, Master.”

MANIP - Cordon Off 2

Cordon Off was supposed to be a series. I am finally releasing a couple of them. They just fell to the bottom of the "todo" list.

Transcript

Case File: 34A6

Location: Alley between 18th and 19th Avenues off Maple St.

Potential Charges: Felony B Magic Transformation (502-3.3),

Felony C Magic Transformation (502-3.4), Misdemeanor Littering (160-118)

References: #34A5, #34A4, #28A4, #28A1, #25A3

Reporting: P.O. Davis, Jeffery (Badge 44323)

Suspects: None

POI: None

Subject: Unknown

Description: Long haired brunette woman, 5' 9", weight appears to be 120-130 pounds, though given her current state as a mannequin, weight is probably 20-25 pounds. Dressed in brown leather dress and boots. No purse or jewelry.

Transformation Results: Victim is an inanimate mannequin. Mental state unknown. (Have requested consult from Divinations Division)

Duration: Unknown.

Reversal Status: Unknown.

Magic Details: No lingering auras or residues found. Transformation was probably instantaneous and painless. Victim appears unaware transformation was initiated.

Point of Sale

There are all sorts of way this might be expanded. But, I think I prefer this one just be as is. Enjoy.

“Barbara, I know you just started a couple weeks ago but do you think you can you work the register? Janet called out sick.” Her boss was holding the keys to the front door of the store.

“No problem, Yvette.” Barbara took the keys. She put the stock she was about to tag back into the shipping box and walked out to the store proper. Usually, she worked in the back of the store. She had register experience from prior jobs. How hard could it be?

She went out onto the show floor and looked around. Everything seemed in order. She unlocked the door to the mall and swung the doors open until the magnets caught them and held them in place. No customers were waiting to get in. It was a typical Tuesday morning in the mall.

She went over to the check out counter and swiped her lanyard.

“Welcome Barbara. Will you be working here all day?” appeared on screen.

She hadn’t expected the sales computer to have prompts. Must be expensive software. She pressed the box containing the word “Yes”.

“Please stand next to the counter where the silhouette of feet on the floor indicate.” After she moved, it printed, “Thank you, Barbara.”

She wasn’t sure how it happened but a moment later her legs went numb. She felt stable but she couldn’t move her legs. She looked down and her legs looked normal in her blue hosiery and below-the-knee length pencil skirt.

She reached down and touched her thigh. It felt solid, like hard plastic. She tapped her leg. A soft, hollow tone rang through her lower body that she felt more than heard. She could twist at the waist and move her arms and head normally. Below that, she was solid, locked in place behind the counter. Before she could panic someone appeared in front of her and said, “Miss? Can I pay for this here?”

The woman in front of Barbara was holding a skirt expectantly.

“Sure, of course, no problem.” She scanned the skirt and the price appeared on the screen. “Will that be all?”

“Yes.”

Barbara pressed check out and told the woman the total. The woman produced a credit card and paid for the skirt. Barbara removed the security tag from the garment, a tag she had probably attached a few days before. She put it into a bag and handed it the woman with the printed receipt. She said, “Thanks for shopping at The All Quinn.”

As the woman left, Barbara wondered now if The All Quinn somehow referred to why half her body was a mannequin body.

She happened to notice something flashing on the point of sales screen.

“Store is empty. Rest mode?”

She hit yes and a moment later she could not move. Her entire body was now a mannequin body. Time passed. She was facing the door to the store. People walked by in the mall but no one entered.

Her boss walked through her field of vision pushing a rack of clothes that she was hanging on the sales racks. Barbara noticed Yvette seemed oblivious to her current status as a mannequin. Perhaps she didn’t think that was out of the ordinary. Barbara wondered how many times she’d walked passed Janet and not noticed she was a mannequin?

A customer walked in. He was going to walk toward the counter when he spotted Yvette and instead spoke with her. After a few moments, she showed him a different rack of clothes and helped him pick one out. They both started walking toward the counter.

Barbara felt something happen and her upper body was once again able to move. “Here you go, sir. Janet, I mean, Barbara here can check you out.”

Before Barbara could say anything, Yvette was no longer nearby.

“Thanks,” the man said to Yvette. “Hello,” he said to Barbara.

“Did you find everything you were looking for?” she said, taking the garment and ringing it up.

“Oh, yes. That other sales clerk was very helpful.”

“She’s actually the boss.”

“Good to see a boss who knows the merchandise.”

“I suppose so.” She told him the price and after he paid and left, the monitor asked again is she should enter rest mode.

At this point, Barbara found the transformations fun and interesting so she poked the yes button and made a point a posing her arms in a more mannequin manner before she was once again a mannequin.

The day continued in similar fashion. She spent more than half the day as a mannequin and the rest of the time as half a mannequin. Around closing time, Barbara was a full mannequin when her upper half became human and the monitor said, “Closing time. No customers. Release?”

She pressed yes and her legs were restored. She took the store key and locked the doors. She went into Yvette’s office and sat in the chair opposite her boss.

“How’d it go? Anything weird happen?”

“Nope. Easy-peasy.” She handed Yvette the keys. “Am I getting paid over time?”

“Of course, although I doubt you accrued much over time given you spent seven hours in rest mode.”

“Seven hours?”

Yvette turned the monitor on her desk toward Barbara. It listed all the times she had spent in half and whole mannequin mode over the course of the day.

“I take it from your attitude you didn’t mind being stuck behind the register.”

“At first it was frightening. Why didn’t you warn me?”

“It’s easier to have it happen to you than to explain it to you. If you had freaked out, I’d have released you and we’d discuss what to do from there.

“But after the first time as a whole mannequin, I guess that’s what it’s called, I understood how Janet could spend the whole day on her feet.”

“Ready to go dancing?”

“If I had a dancing date, I’d be keen to go.”

“Great. Janet actually quit. If you want to be the permanent cashier, consider it a done deal and I’ll put up a posting for your old job.”

“I’m in,” Barbara said, shaking Yvette’s extended hand. “You didn’t happen to take my picture, did you?”

“I did.” She took out her phone and shortly Barbara was looking at her mannequin self in the text she received from Yvette. “Amazing.” She was about to turn and go when she had a question. “Are there any other store positions here where people become mannequins?”

“You’ve only been here two and half weeks. Ease into learning all the store’s secrets, Barbara.”

“Okay, see you tomorrow.”

“Good night.”

Barbara went over to her locker to get her purse and passed three mannequins that were usually in the front window. They were naked, standing in a row next to a rack of clothes. She looked at one of them close in the face but it looked like an ordinary mannequin. Though looking at them, the faces of the three mannequins were unique.

“Nah,” Barbara said, as she left via the employee’s door.

Pair of Panties (and some chatting)

I’m feeling a bit chatty. Over the weekend, I finished Ted’s Dolls Season 3. By finished, I mean they are all scheduled to post here on Patreon and I’ve closed all the LibreOffice files to avoid making useless edits. After that I did a bunch of other scheduling. I had a backlog of short stories from the two plus months run of Hard To Look At. So those 6 or 7 stories will release before Ted’s Dolls. This carries me through the end of July and, by coincidence, The Truth is also scheduled through July. The stories that will make it to deviantArt are planned through the end of the year there.

Speaking of Hard To Look At, when I post that to deviantArt and BigCloset, it will be posted as 10 parts instead of 22. Mostly because I can’t schedule things over there. Posting is tedious over there. I’ve looked at programs that do automation for that. Don’t feel like fooling around with them.

As soon as I’d put Ted to bed, an old short story clamored to be finished and I’m happy with the result. Yesterday, I wrote a story from start to finish. Today I wrote a much smaller story, which I will add to this post because it’s only 345 words. I started another story that will probably not be finished for a while as it’s just a bunch of transformations looking for a plot. A few nice creative days. Over 10k words written.

Here’s the story. Originally there was just the Author’s Note after the story. This foreword was added later. I’ve left it intact. Enjoy a bonus story.

Pair of Panties

Tom’s hand slid down her side and landed on her ass. He gave it a good squeeze.

Susan nibbled his lip in response. The make out session was getting hotter. Her hand slid down his pants and found he was ready. She unzipped his pants and pulled it out.

He broke the kiss and turned her around. As she put her hands on the wall, he flipped her skirt out of the way. She let out a moan as he teased her dripping hole.

“Put it in.”

“We have time. Let me tease you a bit.”

“You’ve teased me plenty. Fuck me.”

“Okay.” He slammed it in with a grunt.

For several minutes the sounds of their rutting drifted into Angela’s ear as she stood on the other side of the wall. She was nearly as turned on as they were. Her finger brushed against her clitoris and soon she was stroking it in a rhythm informed by the sounds heard from the other side of the wall.

“I’m close,” Tom said.

“Wait.”

“I’m. Close.”

“WAIT!” Susan’s breathing got heavier. “There. Right there. Don’t... unh... Don’t… Don’t stop. Don’t. Stop.” She let out a loud moan.

Angela’s finger slid a bit lower and she started moving it in and out.

“Susan?!”

“I’m… I’m… Oh! Yes!! I’m cumming. I’m. Cumming.”

“I’m cumming.”

Their moans crescendoed. Angela shook her head and remembered her role. She slammed the green button. The immediate silence drove her over the edge and she let out her own moan.

The doors to the Venn machine opened. Angela quickly straightened her skirt and left the Venn machine. She walked around to the other side.

“Hey, look. She’s finally done.”

“Took forever.”

She disappeared into the other side and walked out wiping her fingers on a lone pair of lacy, red panties.

“It took you over half an hour to turn your friend into a fucking pair of panties.”

She looked the guy straight in the eyes. “Two friends. One fucking pair. Yes.” She dropped the panties in her purse as she walked away.

Author’s Notes

I left Trust Machines out of the title so that it was revealed where Angela was standing as late as possible. This is a Susan and Tom story (Big Red Button, Teeny Tiny Button, etc) because why not. Angela first appeared in the first S&T story: Big Red Button.

This came to me earlier today and I didn’t feel like overdoing the sex scene description. Recent Susan and Tom stories tend to be short anyway.

No, I have no idea how long they set the machine for. Nor where they will be when they are suddenly no longer a pair of panties. These thoughts are left as an exercise for the reader.

The Truth - Chapter 11

He slipped into the room quietly. She was holding her ass as far up as her restraints allowed her. “Always thinking of Master, she is,” he thought. “Has she been waiting like this since she got on the bed?” He disrobed and climbed up behind her on the bed behind her. He leaned over her and pushed his dick into her barely wet pussy. The magic worked to make her wet. He fucked her hard. He could tell she was close to orgasm within a few minutes. “Come,” he commanded. Her body contracted and squeezed against him. A moment later he again said, “Come,” and they both orgasmed. He climbed off her immediately and purposefully made the sounds of leaving the room.

She heard him say, “Slave ungagged slave.” The gag disappeared. She did not move her head waiting for him to command her. Next she heard him say, “Slave released slave.” The chains and cuffs holding her spreadeagled disappeared. Still she did not move.

“Worthless is the slave who lies around waiting for Master to please her.”

She jumped up from the bed and prostrated herself on floor before him, “No, Master. This slave hangs breathless hoping Master will command her to do his will.”

“My will is that you fulfill my needs before I command you. If I want something that waits to be commanded, I’ll get a dog.”

“This slave was wrong. Changing this slave into a dog will please this slave if it pleases Master. Should this slave wait here for punishment?”

Jon was glad she was looking at the floor or she would have discovered Master could become dumbfounded. Turn her into a dog? He realized he probably could. He dismissed the idea as not being subtle and it amused him that his lease didn’t allow for pets either. Not that he couldn’t change that with the stroke of the pen.

“Apparently, I have been lax in your training. Your expectations of what a slave does are not necessarily mine. Now stand up. I don’t want you waiting around doing nothing until commanded. You have a mind. I expect you to use it. Figure out what you can do when I have given you no instructions and just do it. If you are unsure if you should do something, ask. But again, I don’t expect to have you asking me if you should do this or that a thousand times a day.”

“I will try harder to please you, Master.”

“That’s to be expected,” he stated. He yawned. “It’s late. I’m going to go to sleep.”

Her head dropped to her chest.

He groaned and turned to get the pen. He sat at the desk and wrote: “Sleep is a special verb which acts on members of my harem in the same way ‘go to sleep’ works on members of my harem. The phrase ‘go to sleep’ no longer has an effect on members of my harem.”

He repeated the process using awake in place of ‘Wake up, name’. He also added verbs for the adhesive vibrator, using plug as the appearance verb and unplug and the disappearance verb. In addition, he added a verb in the form Name vibrate number Name to set the vibration percentage verbally. Finally he turned to the sleep arrangements. With the pen, he created a magic cage big enough for her to get into that, when the door closed, became far more cramped. She seemed to enjoy his magic so he thought he entertain her with it.

He returned to the bedroom and said, “Slave awake Slave.”

Sarah opened her eyes and looked around suddenly. “Master, where shall this slave sleep?,” she asked.

“For now,” he began, the cage appearing with the word now. “I did not think you should be turned into a dog but this treatment seems appropriate. Enter the cage backwards or else you will not be able to open the door to exit. The door has a timed lock so you will be unable to open the door until seven o’clock tomorrow morning. If the cage unlocks before I wake, get out and learn where things are in the apartment.”

Sarah's look of surprise and glee were worth the effort. “Yes, Master.”

“Now, go to sleep.”

“Yes, Master.” She knelt down near the cage door and placed one leg in. Then she shimmied back with the other leg. As the doorway narrowed around her thighs she twisted to the side and with a quick push got her hips in the doorway. She backed up some more holding her arms out of the cage until her head cleared the doorway then she pulled her arms in. The cage was shorter than she was so she had to bend her legs up. Since she was slightly turned to one side she put the lower arm under her head and left the other arm draped near her knee. She reached out with the lower arm to close the door. She let out a sudden gasp as the cage shrunk in height. The top of the cage pressed against her hip and she could not fix it without rolling fully onto her stomach. She had to put the bottoms of her feet together and bow her knees outward in this position. Then she had to shift to the right until one of the bars was running between the cheeks of her ass to relieve the pressure on her ass. Both of her arms angled above her head and she had to keep her head turned to one side.

“You look comfortable now. Very good. A boon. Slave plug Slave.”

She felt something fill her pussy. She saw her master walk to the back of the cage out of sight. He reached into the cage and suddenly the object in her pussy was vibrating gently and silently. With that he walked to the bed and lay down. She could do nothing to enhance the pleasure the vibrator caused so she decided to make the best of it and fall asleep.

* * *

Sandra awoke to an alarm. She opened her eyes slowly and looked around. This was not her room. She sat up. The room looked nothing like her bedroom. She looked down at herself. She was wearing flannel pajamas. She didn’t wear pajamas and she owned no flannel. She got out of bed and felt her breasts move heavily. She opened the shirt and saw her breasts were much bigger than they should be. She had thought she had made it clear to Jon she didn’t want him to experiment on her tits. She looked into an open dresser drawer and found a large collection of sex toys and bondage equipment. She opened the closet and found a large collection of conservative woman’s suits. A drawer of undergarments showed a predilection toward conservative looks until she looked closely at the garments. Some of the panties were strictly boring pink except they had openings in the crotch. Whoever lived in this bedroom liked to put on the façade of a conservative fashion sense.

She entered the bathroom and did a double take. In the mirror, her hair was long and blond and her face rounder. Her eyes were green instead of brown and her cheekbones were less pronounced. She got in the shower and found her pussy was bare. After toweling off, she returned to the bedroom where she felt compelled to get dressed in one of the suits and open-crotch underwear. She stopped herself from wearing a specific suit and chose a different one but she could not break the compulsion to get dressed.

Once dressed, she found herself in the kitchenette drinking a cup of coffee and eating a toaster pastry. She cleaned up and walked out the door. She was walking to the subway not far from where she really lived but could not deviate from her path. Twenty minutes later she was in the elevator of a downtown office building. She got off the elevator and walked toward the doors to a law firm.

The receptionist looked up as she entered, “Hello, Sarah.”

“Good morning, Mary,” she answered and allowed the compulsion to take her to a central area with several low walled cubicles. She found herself seated at a desk with a computer and tchotchkes indicating a love of mysteries. Sandra found if she relaxed the Sarah part of her would do what had to be done.

A man walked over to her cube, “Hey, Sarah, do anything interesting over the weekend?”

“No, same old, same old,” She replied. “I had this weird dream this morning I wasn’t myself when I woke up. All morning I was looking at my stuff like it wasn’t mine. I couldn’t shake the feeling until I was walking to the subway.”

“Crazy,” he said, leaning close. “Are you busy tonight?”

“Say, no,” thought Sandra.

“Yes, I am busy, sorry David.” She lied. Sandra wasn’t sure why Sarah didn’t want to date David.

“That’s okay. I’ll see you around,” he replied walking away. “See you.”

The rest of the day was uneventful and soon she was on the subway going home. Sandra asserted herself and stepped off the subway one stop early. She walked up to her apartment building and knocked on Jon’s door. There was no answer.

The super walked past her, “He’s gone, moved out last month.”

“Jon Williams moved out last month?”

“He sure did.”

“What about Sandra and Debra are they still here?” she asked pointing at their apartment.

“Sure,” he said, knocking on her apartment door.

The door opened and a voice said, “Yes.”

“You have a visitor,” the super said stepping back.

In the doorway, stood Sandra. She said, “May I help you?”

“Take care,” called the super from the staircase.

“I… I… I was looking for Jon in his apartment. You knew him right?”

“In passing, can’t say we spoke often before he moved out.”

With her hesitation, Sarah asserted herself, “Sorry to have bothered you. I won’t return.” And with that she hurried down the stairs.

“Wait,” called a man’s voice. “I command you to return.”

Neither of them could resist walking back up the stairs. At the top she saw Jon standing next to Sarah.

Sandra took control, “What did you do to me?”

“Let’s go into my apartment.”

“But the super said…”

“He won’t remember any of this.” Jon said as he closed the door behind them. “I gave you the joy of waking up as someone else. Sandra is Sandra. How was it?”

She felt herself transform to a more familiar body. “Freaky. Sometimes I was me and sometimes I was her. I had to go to work, for example.”

“I put some of that in place so you couldn’t avoid being someone else.”

“So who is … she?”

“Oh, where are my manners? Sandra, meet Sarah. I met her last night after you went to sleep.”

“I am honored to meet one of Master’s friends,” Sarah said offering her hand.

Sandra raised an eyebrow as she shook the offered hand. “Tell me how you met?”

Sarah looked at Jon who nodded toward Sandra. “As Master said, he went out last night searching for someone who wanted in her heart to be enslaved. He found this slave at Sunsets. After talking with this slave he told this slave that he would be her master if that is what this slave wanted. And this slave did.”

Sandra looked at Jon, “No hocus pocus?”

“Only to find her,” he replied. “This is truly her heart’s desire.”

“I thought your weren’t into that.”

“I’m not heavily into that. Besides I wanted you to see what you were missing.”

“Oh, Sandra become Master’s slave. You will always be fulfilled like this slave is.”

“Sorry,” she replied. “I prefer my mind control a little less permanent.” She turned to Jon. “Did you have me spend the day as her for more than just fulfilling my fantasy?”

“I’m not sure I want her to quit her job. But as you can tell I haven’t made any headway on the ‘this slave’ thing.”

“What are you going to do with me now?”

“What I was going to do with you. And now I have another woman to work with.”

“Before we get all kinky, what did you do today?” Sandra asked.

Magic Shoppe - Feminized

“Welcome to the Magic Shoppe,” the tall, thin man behind the counter announced. “What can I do for you today?”

The woman who walked in was tall, broad shouldered and narrow at the hips. Her clothes didn’t fit well, stretched over her shoulders as they were. They did display her cleavage well. She had had to make a choice whether to have her blouse cater to her breasts or to her shoulders. Similarly, her skirt did nothing for her figure. Her backside was flat and her waist nearly the size of her hips. If her clothing made her seem less than feminine, her voice confirmed it.

“Hello,” she said with a deep voice. “I’ve got a magic problem.”

“A magic problem?”

She pulled a white, lacy bra and panties set from her bag. “These allow me to become a woman. But I don’t sound like a woman and my proportions are still too similar to how I am as a man.”

“Ah, yes, inter-dimensional pockets. Well crafted,” the proprietor said running a finger along the inseam of the panties. “You put these on and the genitals or breasts swap in or out of the pockets. You were a man when you first put these on, I assume.”

“Yes. I found them in a curio shop in New Delhi a few years ago. And as fun as it was to dabble with being a woman, I’m hoping perhaps to complete the journey and retire these.”

“You want the rest of you to look feminine, too.”

“Yes.”

“Will you want to keep these?”

“No, I’m hoping you’ll take them in trade rather than charging me anything for whatever solution you have.”

“I accept that deal. For my part of it, I have this.” He reached under the counter and took out a choker necklace. “Now, this won’t actually change your appearance immediately. In fact, you won’t wear this anywhere but in the privacy of your home. This choker will drain the masculinity out of you over time. The downside to this is while it’s in use, you can’t move.”

“Can’t move?”

“I suggest wearing it to bed. It has a cycle of operation of about six hours. You put it on and within ten to fifteen minutes you will be stiff as a board. Six hours later, you’ll be able to move to take it off. It won’t work again for at least twelve hours.”

“How long will I have to do this?”

“I’m afraid it will take at least a year to turn someone of your disproportion into a woman of the proportions I believe you wish to achieve.”

The woman sighed. “Is that all you have?”

“Afraid so. At least, in your price range.”

“What would that cost without the trade?”

“Over three grand.”

“These are worth three grand?”

“I’d pay you eighteen hundred for them. I’ll sell them for three thousand six hundred.”

“That’s a nice markup.”

“It is a niche product.”

* * *

It took over a month for Erin to notice the slight changes wrought by the choker she wore each night. She sometimes stood in front of the mirror when she wore it. She resembled a mannequin when the choker was active.

A month later, she was sure she was more feminine looking. She started getting more attention from men when she went out for drinks with her friends. After another month, the men she had seen dismiss the idea of talking to her a few months earlier were approaching her and confused when she shot them down.

Another month passed and she’d had her first boyfriend to last more than five dates. He seemed a bit flaky with money and she saw no future with him. She actually dumped him. She wouldn’t say it felt good to do that to him specifically. But having been the dumper and not the dumpee was a new experience.

Half a year after going to the Magic Shoppe, she had been dating Lars for a couple weeks when she invited him over for a nightcap. The first couple times he stayed the night she didn’t use the collar. But, one night, he asked her about the collar, as it was sitting on a necklace display on her vanity and didn’t look like the kind of piece one would want to show off in that manner.

When he heard about it, he insisted she wear it that night. After they had fooled around, he reminded her, “Don’t fall asleep, yet. Put on the collar.”

“Okay,” she said, getting out of bed. She latched it on and got back into bed.

“I thought you turned into a mannequin when you wore it?”

“Not immediately. Another five or ten minutes and I’ll be stiff.”

He kissed her and then traced circles on her skin as she slowly transformed into a mannequin. Her lips ended up pursed in a kiss when she could no longer move her face. He fondled the mannequin for over an hour before falling asleep.

The whole time, she couldn’t really feel what he did. She registered that his hands had been touching her neck and arms and stomach and breasts and so on. But there was no titillation, no caressing feeling, no groping feelings. As she fell asleep, her reaction to being touched was flat.

When she woke, he had already left. She got up and walked over to the vanity to put the collar where it belonged. As she unclasped it, her mind exploded in ecstasy. She remembered every exquisite touch, every divine fondle, every moment of attention he had paid her. They all stabbed into her mind at once. When she could think again she was lying on the floor panting for breath. She didn’t remember falling down and she wasn’t sure how long she’d been unaware because she wasn’t sure when she got out of bed. It had felt like more than a handful of moments had gone by.

When Lars heard about her morning, he could not wait to come over again and stay to see how she reacted. They met again on a Friday night and when they returned to her apartment, he insisted she should put the collar on immediately.

He was so enthusiastic she was willing to indulge him. For hours, he could not keep his hands, and other body parts, off the mannequin. He fell asleep eventually. She had not experienced anything exciting other than the vicarious thrill of his excitement. His touch did nothing for her and it was his gentle breathing beside her that helped her fall asleep.

She was woken up by him rubbing his cock between her breasts. She had never been titfucked before. And while it didn’t feel particularly special, she was pleased by his ardor. It only occurred to her after he exploded across her chest and face that she still couldn’t move.

He had stepped away after he came. He returned with a damp cloth to clean her off. “I don’t know if you can hear me,” he said as the cloth slid across her skin. “But I thought you said, it stopped working after six hours. It’s almost eleven o’clock. You’ve been a mannequin for like fourteen hours. I’m beginning to wonder if my continued interaction with you has done something to prolong your mannequinhood.”

He bent down and kissed her lips. A finger trailed across her nipple. “I’m going to leave. When you can move, don’t take the collar off. Call me and I’ll come back so I can see what happens when you take the collar off. I would stay but I can’t say I would stop touching you if I did.”

He left. She lay there, still unable to move. It was just after seven o’clock when she was able to move. “Oh, my god, Lars, it’s seven o’clock,” she said into the phone. “It was even longer than the six hours I normally can’t move with the collar since you left.”

“Oh, that’s somewhat inconvenient, I guess. I’ll be right there.”

“Hurry.”

He arrived in less than ten minutes. “I’m here. You should probably be in bed when you take that off.”

“Right.” She lay down and said, “You remove it.”

“Okay. It’s seven twenty-two.” He unclasped the collar and her back arched and her body coiled and she let out an unholy wail. He pulled the collar away and set it in its place on the vanity.

He took out his phone and started the video camera to record her continued cries of ecstasy. Her body vibrated and her arms and legs were totally uncontrolled. He was rubbing himself within a minute and came long before she stopped.

Her body collapsed on the bed.

“Seven fifty-eight. Thirty-six minutes, Erin.”

She was panting for breath. She limbs felt like jelly. “Thir-thirty minutes?”

“Thirty-six. Can you move or should I keep the timer running?”

She waved an arm about loosely until she saw him hanging out of his pants. Her hand clasped around his turgid member. “Fuck me.”

“Yes, thirty-six minutes of pure bliss must be mind blowing.”

“No, I mean fuck me. Get this thing hard and deep inside me now.”

“What? Oh!” He didn’t need to be told a third time.

They fucked for another hour before he couldn’t go any more.

“You are insatiable,” Lars said.

“I think I’m okay now,” she said. “I can’t. We can’t do that too often.”

“Are you sure?”

“Almost a whole day passed since I got into bed last night.”

“Are you hungry? You must be starved,” he sat up, concerned.

“Um,” she thought for a second. “I could eat. I’m not particularly famished, though.”

“That’s good. Let’s get dressed and go out.”

* * *

Painstaking research was conducted for the next couple months. They discovered that the quality and quantity of his ministrations had little to do with the ecstasy she felt. It only affected how long she spent as a mannequin. His periodic attention to her delayed her restoration but how attentive he was played less of role. Not that he was able to keep his hands off her.

She had blocked off a four day weekend to spend in his care. It was the first time she was going to spend the night in his apartment. She didn’t need to pack much of a bag as she would be immobile most of the time.

“Just remember to stop interacting with me by Monday at noon so I have a chance to get to work on Wednesday,” she said.

He performed a scout salute and said, “I will try my best to honor that request.” When she made a funny face at him, he added, “I will. I swear.”

And he did. From Friday night to mid-day Monday, he spent more than half of his time awake sexually acting upon the stiff body of his girlfriend. Some of the other time awake he would just read news headlines or recent memes to her or prop her up in front of his tablet as they watched a movie together.

For her part, she was somewhat bored. The payoff would be when she removed the collar. They had tried removing the collar while she was a mannequin during the months of research. He told her the clasp refused to open while she was stiff and he certainly didn’t want to break it.

Monday afternoon, he had gone out for lunch and she had spent several hours sitting up on his bed. She noticed shortly after he left something that looked like a human arm through the door of his closet. As she stared at it, she also thought she could see hair, probably a wig about a foot or so to the left and above it, where a head would be located. She couldn’t see a face though as the closet interior was too dark.

When he returned, he stepped into the room and stopped. “Can you see her?” He looked from her to the closet and back again several times before declaring, “I suppose you can. This isn’t how I wanted to introduce you.” He opened the door to the closet wider and rummaged with stuff on the floor for a moment before carrying out of the closet a life-sized doll. It was a well-crafted doll, highly detailed to look like a woman. Its complexion was a hair darker than Erin’s. It shared her hair color but the doll’s hair was longer and wavier. The doll had slightly higher cheek bones, or gave the impression of higher cheek bones, than she had. Her chest was larger than that of the doll’s. From there down, their proportions were similar to one another. One thing the doll definitely had that she didn’t was anatomically accurate sexual details. Erin’s chest lacked nipples and her crotch lacked anywhere to penetrate her when she was stiff. Her mouth didn’t open.

“This is Maisie. I’ve had her for a few years. I hope that doesn’t freak you out. As you can see, I haven’t used her recently since we’ve been dating for a while. I was planning to sell her if we become more serious.”

Erin wasn’t upset, not that she could tell Lars. She kind of wished she were more like the doll in one way: Maisie could be fucked. She was feeling a bit horny thinking about Lars fucking the doll while she was helpless to participate.

“I’ll put her away now.”

Again, Erin experienced great frustration with her inability to do anything at the moment. She hoped the payoff at the end would be worth it.

Lars managed to keep his hands and other bits off her the rest of Monday. About mid-morning on Tuesday, over twenty hours since he had last pleasured himself with her body, Erin could move. “Lars?” she called out.

He returned to the bedroom immediately. “Let me setup the camera.”

“Take Maisie out of the closet.”

“Why?”

“When I’m horny after my ecstasy episode, I want you to fuck us both.” She removed the collar and was immediately slammed with an immense orgasm. She caught occasional glimpses of Lars in bed next the her using Maisie as he fingered Erin. The episode of ecstasy, with the added stimulation, lasted for over two hours.

Lars was asleep beside her when she could move her limbs in a controlled manner. Maisie was right next to her. She fondled its tits. They felt almost real.

* * *

“Welcome to the Magic Shoppe,” the tall, thin man behind the counter announced. “What can I do for you today?”

“Remember me,” she said pulling the collar out of her purse. “You sold this to me to help me feminize my features.”

“I usually tell people ‘of course I remember you’ but I didn’t recognize you until you showed me the collar. I see it’s been working. Have you come here to return it? I dare say you probably don’t need it any more.”

“There are side effects of wearing the collar that I really don’t want to stop using. I probably could have stopped a month ago just for the effect of rounding my face and resculpting the rest of my body. But I haven’t stopped using it because of the intense pleasure it provides.”

“Intense pleasure?” He reached out and waited for her to put it into his hand. She did and he pulled a monocle from a pocket to examine the collar closely. “Oh, my. I had never noticed that charm in the choker. And no one has ever told me about it. You must have a partner who touches you while you wear the collar. No one else I’ve given similar charms to had a partner.”

“You could make a lot more money selling it for the pleasure charm than for the body sculpting magic.”

“Well, I’m afraid this charm is a bit dangerous. It’s probably a bit addicting.”

She frowned. “I was actually going to ask you to replace the original charm with something that would turn me into a more anatomically correct doll.”

“You want to be a sex doll?”

“Only for a few hours a night. My partner was immediately turned on when I first told him I was a mannequin every night.”

“Oh. I can do that. I usually don’t tell people how to live their lives. Before I make the change and because you acknowledged the addicting nature of the charm, I want you to leave. I will spend the evening modifying the choker. If you return, I will sell it too you, after you pay $500 for the modifications. If you don’t show up, I will never bill you for the changes. I will just assume you decided you didn’t want be a sex doll.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said.

“Think about what I said seriously.” The proprietor said as she left.

* * *

They were in his bedroom when she reached into her purse. “I have a surprised for you.” She pulled the collar out of her purse.

“Is that a different color than it was?”

“Get Maisie. I want you to watch you use her when you aren’t using me.” She said as she disrobed and put the collar on before getting into his bed. As before, it took a few moments for her to completely transform.

“Oh, wow, you’re a doll like Maisie, now,” Lars said with excitement. She watched as his pants tented. He arranged the bed with Maisie and Erin sitting next to one another and took a few pictures of them before removing his clothes and getting in bed. He fondled Erin’s breasts and pussy while he kissed her. “You even taste better than before.”

Erin was very annoyed as he played with her. It was exactly the same as before. She could feel him touching her but it didn’t feel any more interesting than shaking someone’s hand. And again, she had no way to tell Lars about her predicament.

After he finished inside her, he turned his attention to Maisie. He made sure Erin’s head was facing Maisie when he starting fucking the original doll. Erin felt a wave of pleasure slowly wash over her. With each stroke Lars made into the doll, Erin’s pleasure rose. If she were alive, her breathing would have been loud and heavy. When Lars came inside the doll, Erin orgasmed.

It was nowhere near the explosion that awaited her when she would removed the collar later but it was still amazing in its own right. Lars switched his attention back to her and she felt ungrateful for wishing he would concentrate more on the doll.

She orgasmed several times before Lars said, “I can’t go any more, ladies.” He picked Erin up and scissored her legs between Maisie’s legs. “Why don’t you girls put on a show for me?”

Erin’s mind exploded as the two dolls’ pussies rubbed against one another. She lost all track of time as Lars made his dolls pleasure one another.

His narration of the dolls having orgasms was completely wrong for Erin but the orgasms were so, so good. She didn’t notice when he had repositioned the dolls so their lips were rubbing against one another. Even that felt better than any kiss Erin had ever experienced in her life. Eventually Lars tired. He spooned the dolls with Maisie on the inside, Erin in the middle, and him on the outside before falling asleep. As he breathed, Maisie’s ass would rub against Erin’s abdomen, the pleasure from this was divine. Erin had no idea when she lost consciousness.

The doll rolled onto its back but didn’t open its eyes. Morning light fell brightly on its face. Lars left it there as he picked up the other doll and took it to the bathroom to clean it. While it dried out, he cleaned the first doll and returned it to the bed. He tried to remove the collar but it would not budge.

He was watching a college football game as the sun descended toward the horizon. Erin stumbled out of the bedroom. “I’m up.”

“Were you asleep or still immobile all this time?”

“A bit of both,” she said looking at the clock. “You won’t believe what I experienced. But first I need to lay down and remove the collar.”

“By the time you are coherent again, the game should be over. I’ll be there after the game.”

“That’s fine.”

Erin spent the next couple hours in pure bliss, only vaguely aware of the world around her. The world came into sudden focus when she felt Lars enter her. She grabbed his ass and, with far more force than he expected, pulled him balls deep into her. “Fuck me harder,” she demanded.

An hour later they were both sweaty and spent. “Who won?”

“Florida State.”

“Cool.”

She then explained how weird it was that when he touched her, she felt nearly nothing. But when he touched Maisie, she could feel it. And when Maisie touched her, it felt even better.

“I’ll keep that in mind the next time we do this.”

She had some accrued time off and took a month of it in January. Lars spent the entire month pleasuring Maisie or having Maisie pleasure Erin directly. He put Erin in the closet on the twenty-eighth of the month and she was still a doll as February started.

She watched him trying to remove the collar several times. For her part, she was completely horny. While she was in the closet, she could still feel when Lars played with Maisie. Lars put both dolls in the closet and made sure they weren’t touching one another before closing the door. Erin stumbled out of the closet on Valentine’s Day.

And what a Valentine’s Day it was. She thrashed in ecstasy for nearly ten hours and fucked Lars for another two. They showered together and fucked in there too.

“I have a reservation. We could go eat.”

“I am a bit hungry.”

It had been over six weeks since she ate, but no one would have noticed. She didn’t even finish her meal.

“Your office called. You’ve been fired.”

“I figured that would happen.”

“Was it worth it?”

* * *

“It definitely needs a woman’s touch,” Tracy said.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Lars said. He pointed at the bed. “These are the dolls I told you about: Maisie and Erin. I’ve had Maisie for four years and Erin nearly two.”

“They look like they’re anatomically correct.”

“They are.”

She took a choker out of her purse and put it on before removing her summer dress and getting into bed. Ten minutes later she had turned into a mannequin.

“You know I called the Magic Shoppe,” Lars said. “The man said you could have the collar modified so that you were turned into a doll similar to them instead of a mannequin.” As he makes out with the two dolls, the mannequin watched. Its pleasure inexplicably multiplying each time he touched either doll.

The Truth - Chapter 10

Jon had a plan. He wrote some truths and went down to the Sunset, a nice bar a few blocks over. The corner booth with the view of the whole room was empty as he had written it would be. As he sat down, Maggie, the server, came over.

“Jon, you never come in on a Sunday night. You’re gonna drag at work tomorrow. The usual?”

“Sure, I’m only here for one or two. I’m feeling lucky tonight.” As she walked away he realized his lottery ticket was already a winner so he must be lucky tonight.

He looked around the room. There were a couple groups of women but if what he had written had worked, one of the women by herself would have the right personality he was looking for.

Maggie returned with his beer. “If you’re feeling really lucky there’s a woman here by herself. I think she just went to the rest room. She is a looker.”

“You setting me up?”

“I love to watch ‘em crash and burn.”

“Thanks for the confidence, Mags.”

She walked away laughing.

It wasn’t possible to see the restrooms from his booth so he didn’t see her until she reached the bar. She was good looking, blonde, leggy and busty to boot. He looked at her and whispered, “Turn.” She turned around somewhat confused. When she looked his way she winked. He nodded.

She picked up her glass and walked over to his booth. “Is this seat taken?”

“Please, join me. I’m Jon,” he said offering his hand.

She shook his hand weakly, “I’m Sarah and I’m not usually forward but there’s something...” She stopped. “I’ve made a mistake. I should go.”

“No, no, Sarah, please stay. I don’t bite.”

She looked at him for moment.

“Really, I don’t.”

She giggled. It was a very girlish giggle.

“Are you here alone?”

“I’d rather not talk about it.”

“Okay,” he said. “What do you do for a living, Sarah?”

She twirled a lock of hair in her finger. “I work in the accounting department of a law firm uptown. They handle mostly corporate contracts so it isn’t too exciting. I have a CPA and was working on a law degree but I haven't been able to afford college for the last couple years.”

“I like a smart woman.”

“Thanks,” she said, perking up. “How about you, Jon?”

“I’m actually going to quit my job tomorrow. I’ve decided to take some time off and explore the world and the people in it.”

“Oh, that’s so cool. Where are you going to go?”

“Nowhere at first. There are plenty of interesting people right here to find out about.” He paused looking at her. “Like you. You’re interested in hypnosis.”

Her mouth dropped open. “How can you tell that?”

“It’s a gift and a curse. Why haven’t you actually been hypnotized yet?”

She paused. “I’ve never found a hypnotist I could trust. Did one of my friends set this up?”

“You have a friend who knows about your deep desire to be a sex slave? I find that hard to believe.”

She trembled. “I think I should be going.”

“How long have you been staring into my eyes?”

“I don’t know.” She said slowly. “I can’t look away.”

“How does that make you feel?”

“Excited. I can't look away. You’re controlling me. Are you going to enslave me?”

“I'm not controlling you. You just need to decide if you want this badly enough.”

“I want to be a slave but....” Her voice trailed off.

“What is your concern?”

“I don’t know you. But you seem to know everything about me. That is...”

“Frightening?”

“Disconcerting,” she differentiated. “What should I do?”

“You can walk out of here. Or you can submit if that it is the life you desire.”

“Please make me your slave, Master.”

“You already are.”

“How, Master?”

“What is your name?”

“Whatever you wish, Master?”

“Take me to your former residence.”

“Yes, Master.”

He left a tip on the table and escorted his new slave out the door. Outside she stood waiting for him to do something. “I don’t know where you lived so you must lead. You have my permission.”

“Thank you, Master.” She walked up the block away from his apartment. Two blocks up she turned right and entered the second apartment building. Her apartment was on the first floor in the back. She unlocked the apartment and handed him the keys. “These are yours now, Master.”

He accepted the keys without discussion and walked in. He turned on the light. The apartment was small. The living area was functional but had too much furniture. The kitchen was clean and even had a spice rack that it seemed she knew how to use.

The door closed. She stood there waiting.

He spied a trophy on a shelf. “Who is Sarah McNell?”

“No one, Master.”

“Is that your former name?”

“That was once correct.”

“Go put on your sexiest outfit and come back. Shoes too.”

“Yes, Master,” she replied rushing into the bedroom.

He looked through her books and DVDs. She liked mysteries and thrillers. Her computer was turned off. He turned it on. He heard a loud zipper, twice, then the sound of hard soled footsteps on bare wood floors.

She wore a red leather corset with matching opera gloves that stretched half way up her upper arms. A two-inch wide, nickel-plated collar was locked around her neck. She wore stockings but they were mostly obscured by a pair of red, leather, thigh-high boots zippered on the side. A garter belt matching the stockings was partially obscured by a nickel-plated chastity belt. She wore no panties. She walked straight to him and held out her hand. “Master, this slave cannot own these keys. They are Master's. No other keys unlock this hardware.”

He held out his hand and she put four keys into his hand.

She took two steps backward and placed her hands behind her back. She bowed her head slightly and looked at the floor.

“Have you ever worn that for anyone else?”

“For no one, Master.”

He stepped around her and into the bedroom. He opened a couple drawers until he found a drawer with bondage gear: crops, flogs, nipple clamps, posture collar, hand cuffs, leg cuffs, thumb cuffs, several gags, blindfolds, a hood, several lengths of nylon rope, several rolls of duct tape and other odds and ends. He wondered if he might have bitten off more than he could handle. He grabbed the hood, a penis gag, thigh cuffs, and a leash.

When he returned to the living room, she had not moved since he left. “Come here.”

She attended him immediately.

He held up the gag. “Anyone ever been around when you used this or the other things in the drawer I found it in?”

“Never, Master.”

“Put it on.” When she was done, he handed her the hood and said, “And this. Once you have it properly adjusted I want you to stand in the corner over there with you nose as close to the corner as possible. Then don’t move until I tell you to.”

After pulling the laces tight on the hood and adjusting the eyeholes she walked into the corner and pressed her head into the corner as far as she could.

He took out some paper and started writing. After duplicating most of the control and superpowers that affect Sandra and Debra on Sarah he added some more effects. Twenty minutes later he was satisfied. He put the keys to the bondage gear and to the apartment door on the counter top next to him in plain sight.

“Come here.”

She turned around and approached him.

He attached the thigh cuffs down by her knees over the boots. They only fit because of something he wrote. He hooked them together with a short chain. “Walk around the sofa and return.”

She hobbled around the room unable to take a stride over a foot long.

He attached the leash to her collar, and said, “We are going to my apartment. We will not be returning to this apartment. Keep up with me.” He got up and walked to the door.

She stared at the keys on the counter top.

“Delay me again and you will be punished.” He said and exited.

Meekly she rushed through the doorway. As she reached for the doorknob he smacked her hand.

“I did not tell you to close the door. I am not closing the door. You do not need anything left in there. Let people take what they will. Follow.” He grabbed her leash and walked away.

She gave her open apartment door one last look and then followed him to the front of the building.

She watched him rush down the porch stairs and wait without looking back. She had to penguin walk down the stairs because of the heels and the chain between her legs. As soon as she reached bottom she was pulled out onto the sidewalk. The pace he set forced her to shuffle her feet back and forth as fast as she could. She was glad it was late since she was wearing no underwear.

A man she walked past smacked her on the ass, and said, “Give her a few spanks from me.”

She watched Master turn to the man and say he would. How could that man just smack her on the ass? Who would do such a thing? A few moments later she was wondering how much farther it was as her feet were starting to hurt. She let out a gasp as someone she had not noticed groped her right breast and continue walking. She wondered if this was why her mother always told her to dress conservatively.

Finally they reached his building. His apartment was on the second floor. It took her forever to climb the stairs. He unlocked his apartment and pulled her inside. He closed the door behind them.

She was impressed at how clean his apartment was. Then she saw the D-rings on the floor of the living room. As she noticed them he dragged her over to one of them and hooked the end of the leash onto it.

“Leave your feet where they are and remain standing as well as you can.”

She was basically bent at the waist, her torso parallel to the ground. She could not tell where he had gone. Eventually she heard a toilet flush.

He entered the room and sat on the sofa. “Slave naked slave,” he said.

Suddenly she was naked: no gag, no hood, no belt, no leash. She had no idea what just happened but she remained where she was told to wait.

“Very good,” he said. “Sit here next to me. We need to talk. I’m sure you have questions.”

“How? Where did…”

He interrupted, “That doesn’t mean I gave you permission to speak.”

She lowered her eyes.

“Now look at me and ask a question.”

“How did you do that?”

“Suffice to know that I did. Does that frighten you?”

“It makes me curious what else you can do. Could I be tied up instantly?”

“I’ll consider it. You may speak and ask questions freely.”

“Did you use your abilities to force me to be your slave, Master?”

“No, my abilities enabled you to choose slavery. You did it to yourself.”

“You said that at the bar. I don’t understand.”

“I went out tonight looking for someone who wanted to be enslaved. Using my abilities as you called them, I made it possible for this person to enslave herself to me once she committed to the idea. By wanting to be enslaved you sealed your fate. You are my slave.”

“Could this slave stop being your slave?”

“If I permitted it.”

“You did do it to me if I cannot stop being your slave.”

“No, since you wanted to become a slave and you know only a master can free a slave you are incapable of freeing yourself without my express permission.”

“So I act as your slave because that is what I wish?”

“What is your name?”

“What does Master wish my name to be?”

“No, tell me your name.”

“This slave is called Master’s Slave.”

“Say your former name.”

“I cannot, Master.”

“Why not?”

“Slaves do not have names.”

“Your name is Sarah.”

“As you command, Master. This slave will answer to Sarah.”

“Do you still believe I enslaved you?”

“No, Master. This slave enslaved herself to Master.”

“I can’t tell if you believe that or if you are just parroting what I said.”

“This slave cannot deceive Master. This slave cannot disobey Master. This slave believes what Master tells this slave to believe.”

He sighed. He knew there was a reason he was not completely into this. “Do you want to know anything else?”

“This slave wants Master to know this slave wishes to pleasure Master when he is ready.”

“You want me to fuck you?”

“For Master’s pleasure, yes.”

“Slave gagged slave.”

Her mouth was suddenly blocked by a penis gag again. She let out a muffled squeal of delight.

“Go into the bedroom and lie face down on the bed. Once you are there think ‘I am spreadeagled’ three times in a row. You must think the word ‘I’, not ‘This slave.’ Do you understand?”

She nodded. As he jerked his head toward the bedroom she rushed off. She felt the gag on her mouth and face. She reached behind her head and did not find a lock. It was a seamless band of leather fitted as if sewn onto her head. She lay down on the bed as instructed and thought, “I am spreadeagled. I am spreadeagled. I am spreadeagled.” Suddenly cuffs appeared on her wrists and ankles and her limbs were pulled toward all four corners of the bed. “My Master is a wizard,” she thought. While she waited she wondered what other spells he could cast.

CAP - Being My Wife's Husband

And so it comes full cycle. The first image in this series was posted to deviantArt May 15, 2016. We finally get a POV from the former wife of the scenario and find out how he feels about their lives together. I believe this is the final one of these. Although... if I ever find a fashion pic of Ms Shakola pregnant...

Transcript

Sometimes I look at her and forget that her body use to be mine. She is so beautiful. I never really believed that when it was my body. 

I am most surprised by how well she's been able to convince everyone that she's me. Looking back at it, she was meant to be a woman. It was so easy for her to step into my shoes as a fashion model. She even does her makeup and hair better than I use to. She doesn't want to disappoint anyone. She asks the makeup artists and hair stylists why they do what they do and thus she understands those things at a level I never did.

As she looks back up at her old body, does she see me? Or does she see who she was? I see her. I don’t see me at all any more when I look at her. I never knew I was a man. Life is so much better now that I’ve found out.

One of his old friends figured out that I'm not the man he'd known for decades. I confided in him and once he believed me, he was happy that she's happy in her new life. He's been helpful in getting me to pass as his old friend to my other new friends.

I asked her whether any of my friends figured out she wasn't me. She said she's been expecting it to happen since she first went shopping for me and ran into one of them in the mall. But, so far, no.

We told our families the truth. My now mother-in-law still thinks we're pranking her.

Her birthday, the birth date of her body, is coming and I find myself wondering what to get her. I’m missing that sense of what she would like to wear as it's part of the old me that didn’t come with me when I became him. I’m tempted to cast the original spell to take on her likeness so I'll be sure she’ll like it.

As it laughs at the irony, I hope the universe will keep my plan a secret. I don't plan to tell her if I do it. But I wonder. Will I feel as he did if I do it? Will being her for a short time make me want to go back? I hope not. I could never ask her to swap back. It wouldn't be fair.

The Truth Will Resume (plus Recap)

Now that Hard To Look At is complete**, we can return to the serialization of The Truth. Chapter 10 will be posted April 2. New chapters will appear every Tuesday. (New short stories will be in the Saturday slot for now.)

Chapters 10 though 25 are scheduled into July. Not that The Truth ends with chapter 25. That's just how much is "locked" in. I have no idea how long The Truth will last. I may even put it on hiatus again after Chapter 25, as it is also a good stopping point, like Chapter 9 was.

I have five short stories scheduled into May, they are listed in the master story index. After that, the next 6 Ted's Dolls stories (plus one interlude) will be ready to go at that point, carrying the Saturday slot through June 22. I'll post an announcement about Ted's Dolls when it's closer to their release. There are also Caps/Manips scheduled every two weeks on Mondays into September.

Beyond that. No clue. I need to get back to Five Minute Girl at some point. Haven't looked at it in months. I mentioned a story called One Wish a while back. It's gone nowhere in the interim. And it bothers me that I haven't written a Venn story in a while. Tomorrow will see the "conclusion" of the Buying a Gift series, it's told from the original wife's point of view for the first and only time.

** "Now that Hard To Look At is complete". Sigh. I'm going to miss dithering about where that story should go next. Farewell Medusa.

Back to The Truth: if you don't plan to reread the first nine chapters, here's a recap:

When Jon's Uncle Matt died, a magic pen appeared in Jon's pocket. Through experimentation, Jon discovered that anything written by the pen becomes the literal truth. Remembering when the last time he saw his uncle, he imparted to Jon the notion that subtly is best, Jon immediately started gathering a harem of women to have sex with. Sandra was first. Her roommate Debbie wanted to be a mannequin and she spends a lot of time that way. He's got the woman who owns the store where Debbie works on the hook. Who will be next?

Where everyone is at the end of Chapter 9:

• Jon: In his apartment alone, planning his next move.

• Sandra: Still recovering from her public walk in hentai clothing, Jon sent her to bed in her apartment alone.

• Debra: A mannequin in the front window of Beed's Boutique.

• Dorothy Beed: Desperate to be able to do what Debra is doing.

• ?????: Utterly unaware of how her life is about to drastically change.

• ????? & ?????: Utterly unaware how their lives are about to change.

MTU: Hard To Look At - Epilogue

I didn’t mention it before. I had decided to write this memoir before I turned 40 in a few months. Being able to look back at this time in my life with the perspective of being my age now is a gift. Let me catch you up on where I am and where my friends from this time period are today.

I still run the gallery. More on that later.

Ross and I had a falling out my sophomore year of college. We didn’t speak to one another for eight years after that happened. I could probably write another book about all that. We will celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary around the time this memoir should be released. The years we were apart were very important for me. I had other relationships that showed me I had been a fool for allowing us to break up. On occasion, Elliot continues to chastise me not making up with Ross sooner.

Mom and Daddy are still living in town. They’re both retired. Mom likes to help out at the gallery. She’s still a whirlwind with no signs of slowing down. Daddy has settled into the role of grandfather rather well.

My son’s name is Everet. It sounds like Elliot without actually being Elliot. He’s four years old. He looks like a clone of his father at that age from the photos I’ve seen. All through my pregnancy I was worried what would have if I were holding my baby and he grabbed at my hairsnakes. I needn’t have worried. My hairsnakes are more smitten with Everet than even I am, I think.

I haven’t told Ross, yet. But by the time this book is released, we’ll have a second child. I hope it’s a girl. Who am I kidding? Ross will probably figure out I’m pregnant before I tell him. (He did.)

Thomas Radner is a respected member of the community. He’s a lawyer known for his pro bono work. He runs a youth group out of his church. And any time I have a showing of up and coming artists, he’s there to purchase at least a couple of the pieces. I have no idea where he stores them all. We aren’t friends. But we can talk to one another. I don’t know where he met his wife but she seems like a nice person. When he introduced us, she gave me a hug and thanked me for the impact I’d had on Thomas. I didn’t ask for a further explanation.

I don’t know where Jenny Wu lives. But I’ve heard she is doing well.

I keep in touch with Stacy, Melody, and Tess. We have a chat group that we started in high school. They asked me not to get into their private lives so I won’t.

It turns out Elliot and I are separable physically. We live on opposite coasts now. We make it a point to talk on the phone for a couple hours each week. That happened shortly after we graduated from college and I still miss not seeing him every day. He’s married to Kelsey, a woman he met in college. They have the most lovely daughter, Oriole.

The Hausers, Douglas and Betty, use to visit the gallery infrequently. Douglas died a few years ago. In his will, he donated the statue of Duke to the gallery. I placed him by the front door. Everet pets him every time he sees the statue. Betty moved away from town shortly after Douglas died. I think Mom still talks to her occasionally.

I’m still an artist. I still own the gallery. Even though it’s named after her, there are fewer people who even know the statue of Gillian is Gillian.

Hers isn’t the only statue there. There are a handful of people I’ve met over the years who love to be petrified. One of them was so pleading that he pays me to be a statue for a month at a time at least twice a year. Other people found out and I have a handful of people who spend time in a special room in the gallery that I had decorated to look like a garden: a statue garden. When Ross first saw the garden, around the time we made up with one another, he couldn’t stop laughing.

The number of petrifications and the frequency with which I prolong them has meant I no longer need to find a source for my unusual feeding. It’s been a long time since I slithered into the forest to create a menagerie of small animal statues.

Gillian O’Malley’s statue stands in the gallery to this day. I moved her into the statue garden where she is the centerpiece. The other statues have positions around the perimeter of the room.

I’ve even had a wedding there, once. The bride and groom spend a week as a statue between the being told they can kiss and being pronounced husband and wife. Every year on their anniversary, they have me zap them for the whole day. It’s on my calendar. I look forward to it each year.

I get to see Marie Applebottom most days. She is a semi-permanent fixture at the garden. She went to college with Elliot for a year before they broke up. After I graduated, she showed up at the gallery. I hadn’t seen her in four years. She asked if she could spend a few months as a statue. At the time I didn’t think the request from her was unusual. When her time was up she left and came back a few months later and asked again.

It took three years for her to tell me she had dropped out of college, that she still loved Elliot, and that she didn’t want to do anything but be a statue forever. She spends all but a week of the year as a statue. She owns a couple properties around town that she rents out. I suspect she’s very wealthy. When she found out people pay to be statues in the gallery, she gave me a million dollars for cover the next twenty years as a statue. The gallery will never go bankrupt because of that.

The one week of the year she spends as a person she meets with her lawyers and business partners to ensure things are running smoothly. And then it’s back into my garden for another year.

She also stands in the center of the statue garden with Gillian. She always poses in a manner that it looks like she and Gillian are supposed to be paired together. Everet calls her Statue Marie whether or not she’s a statue.

Even I spend time as a statue in the gallery. During a heated sexual encounter I accidentally zapped Ross. I felt bad about it and joined him by pushing some life force back into him. I overdid it and he ended up no longer being a statue and I was stuck for a couple hours. He joked I could spend time in the garden. It was near Halloween. I spend a few days before Halloween in the garden snaked around the room. People loved it. It’s a tradition now for me to spend a few days – last year it was almost a week – in my snake form as a statue in the garden. People take pictures and we charge admission. A few other “monstrous” twisted have joined me for the Halloween exhibit. We donate most of the proceeds from that to charities decided on by my fellow “monsters”. Everet loves Statue Mommy.

He also loves Snake Mommy. I’ve spent a lot of time the last couple years in my snake form. He likes it when I coil around him and then he climbs out of the pit he’s in. It’s fun now but I hope he outgrows it soon. He’s starting to get too heavy to be stepping on my tail.

And that’s about it. I’m sure there will be folks who tell me later I should have included something about this or that. But, that’s what going on late night television is for, assuming the book were popular enough. None of that matters. I love Ross and Everet and many other people. I love and I’m loved. When I was sixteen, I never thought I’d be able to say that twenty years later.

MTU: Hard To Look At - Chapter 21

I had never thought of that. I had thought I had nothing to fear in this meeting and now I was scared to death. My hairsnakes were getting angry. Whatever Mom and Daddy were paying this guy, it wasn’t enough.

Lionel sat down as the room erupted in a cacophony of everyone speaking at once. The mayor eventually reestablished order and immediately threw the ball into the judge’s lap.

“Mr. Barber brings up an important legal point that is further complicated by the fact that Miss Harrison is not a medical practitioner. Since I was going to sign this court order, it behooves me to ask you, young lady, are you willing to use your trick in the manner presented by Doctors Lewis and Adelaide for the experimental treatment of Miss O’Malley’s stage four lymphoma?”

I looked at Mr. Barber and he nodded.

“No,” I said. Before everyone started speaking at once again. I held my palm out to keep them quiet. “There is another choice. In some ways, it is more burdensome for me. In other ways, it is not. The suspended animation state that is at the heart of this discussion does not have to be permanent. As long as I have access to the statue, I can renew the effect of my trick prolonging the duration. A friend of mine spent eleven days as a statue at the beginning of the summer. I only had to be present to maintain her suspended animation three times in that eleven day span. Ultimately, I believe Miss O’Malley would prefer to spend her time as a statue in her own gallery than locked away in the Spiral Clinic under the fiction that she is undergoing a medical treatment.

“My only regret is that I didn’t offer this solution to her before things reached the point of involving of all of you. But I’m glad to know where I stand in terms of the law.”

“I accept,” Gillian said.

“We’ll talk later.”

I stopped paying attention at that point. Mom took my hand and held it. Eventually we were standing in the hallway outside of the meeting room.

Gillian approached me. “I’m going to make a few changes to the trust. Nothing will change for you. It will just become a living trust instead of an estate trust. I’d also like to speak to you and your parents and our attorney’s about forming a legal partnership in order to make you co-owner of the gallery for the time when I’m... indisposed.”

“I suppose that’s a good idea,” I told her. “I have good news. I have a dozen pieces ready for you to put on sale.”

“That’s wonderful. Bring them by tomorrow and we’ll get that started as well. Though, you may end up selling them yourself.”

* * *

Fallout from the big meeting was limited. Somehow both sides of the euthanasia issue had reason to like or dislike me. Thankfully, it wasn’t a topic embraced by many high school students.

My senior year of high school was set to start a few weeks after the meeting. A week before that, I met with Gillian and our lawyers at the gallery. Mom and Daddy were there. The paperwork was completed and the limited liability corporation we were the officers of now owned the gallery. Gillian’s role in the company was as a silent partner.

Her time was nearly up. She threw a going away party at the gallery that evening. A few of her friends arrived and she said goodbye to them all privately and individually. When she was ready, the two of us slipped away from the party to go into a back room. She said to me, “Thank you for this.”

“No need to thank me. You’ve done so much more for me.”

“The fact that I will know what you do with my gifts to you is a far greater gift that give to me. Even if I’m just a block of stone, as long as you live, I will go on. It is more than I could ever ask for. Let’s do this before I cry.”

“Okay.”

She disrobed and stood on the plinth she originally commissioned to be her final resting place. Now, it was going to be the display stand from which she will watch the world go by. Standing in a classic Roman statue pose, she recited her final words. The same words were already carved into the plinth: “May Euryale keep me from Hades’ grasp.”

I was glad she had chosen Euryale over Medusa for the not-an-epitaph. I flashed her to stone. The swirls in her body were awful. I took several sips. Even close to death it was still ambrosia. I pulled a sheet over her and called Arturo in to use the hand truck to move her back into the main room of the gallery.

The room was packed. The number of people had tripled or more in the time since I had left the room to turned her into a statue. I found out later Arturo had been keeping the pre-reveal party private. Once she and I had left, he had allowed others to enter the gallery. The guests fell silent as the covered statue was moved into place. Arturo picked up the edge of the sheet and announced, “Ladies and Gentlemen, Gillian O’Malley’s final commissioned work of art.” He flipped the sheet off the statue.

The room remained silent for a few heartbeats until someone shouted, “Long live our art maven, Gillian O’Malley.” Applause broke out along with other shouts of long life. Several people turned to me to compliment me on how regal she looked. I just smiled and nodded at whatever anyone said.

* * *

“My girlfriend is a real work of art.”

“Elliot, that’s the third time you’ve said that,” I said.

The gallery had closed for a few weeks after Gillian’s statue reveal party. We rebranded it as The Gillian O’Malley Gallery. We were having a small opening party on the eve of reopening the next day.

“Sixth or seventh time. You missed at least half the times I said it,” he said. “In all our testing, I rarely had the chance to really look at the statue of Marie.”

“She is very beautiful. And she looks great standing next to Gillian. It’s too bad she wants to spend time with you on weekends.”

“Not so loud. It’s bad enough she spends every weekday here while we’re in school. I only get to talk to her on weekends.”

“You could talk to her right now.”

“Ha ha.”

Ross tapped me on the shoulder and when I turned around he kissed me. One of my snakes left its eyes open and watched Elliot trying to figure out how to occupy himself as he waited for the kiss to end. When it did, Ross said, “Elliot, your girlfriend is a real work of art.”

“Not you, too,” I said with a pout.

They high fived.

“I still can’t get over the idea that this is your art gallery,” Ross said.

“I barely believe it myself,” I said. “And look at the room I have for more statues.”

“More statues?”

“I’d be a lousy gorgon if I didn’t collect statues. It’s supposed to be a garden in a remote mountain location, isn’t it? I have time. I can work my way up to that.”

At that moment Dr. Parker from the Clinic approached the three of us. “It’s good that you can joke about that.” Dr. Adelaide was with him.

“I think I finally like who I am.”

“Is that a new feeling?”

“Aren’t you off the clock?”

“I can practice psychiatry in my spare time.”

I giggled. “Yes, it’s a new feeling. As Gordon, I was the ugly misfit.”

“You weren’t ugly,” Elliot said.

“Say that as much as you like. My face was ugly and I felt ugly inside no matter how many people told me not to.”

“You aren’t a misfit now?” Ross said.

“Will you be disappointed if I am or if I’m not?”

“Figure it out.”

“I’m still a misfit. But I’m a misfit who owns an art gallery. I’m a thriving member of society. I make art. I’m not just a pretty face. It took a while to get comfortable in this skin. But now that I am, I like who I am.”

“That’s wonderful to hear,” Dr. Parker said. “I was going to suggest at our next session that it be our last. But, you can cancel that session if you like.”

“I’ll miss our talks.”

“No, you won’t. I use to visit Gillian’s gallery a least twice a month. Now, it’s your gallery I’ll visit.”

“And how are you?” I asked Dr. Adelaide.

“I’m, like, just here with Francis.”

“Francis?”

“Like, duh, Francis Parker. My husband.” She kissed Francis and he kissed her back. For some reason I thought he’d be against public displays of affection.

“I had no idea.”

“Get a room,” a voice said. Tara Parker joined us. “I thought you said you’d just be a minute.”

“You know my daughter, Tara.”

“I never noticed you had the same last name.”

“It’s not like any of us were friends with Tara,” Elliot said.

“Is there something I don’t know?” Francis said.

“I believe Tara was, like, dating the young man who, like, assaulted Gordon and Medusa multiple times.”

“I dumped him before she twisted.”

“You dumped him the day I twisted,” I said. “I suppose I should thank you.”

“Thank her?” Ross said.

“If I hadn’t had such a radical twist, or worse, if I had become Gordon 2.0, I wouldn’t have all of this today, I wouldn’t have Ross, and Ryan would probably still be picking on me.”

Ross put his arm around my waist and held me.

“I still don’t know if I want to be thanked for all the other stuff Ryan probably did to you because I dumped him,” Tara said.

“No worries. You’re always welcome here.”

“Not that I don’t appreciate that,” she said to me before turning to look at her father. “Are we ready to go?” She looked at her mother and added, “Oh, I suppose not.”

“You did interrupt prematurely.”

“Talk like a normal person.”

“What did she interrupt?”

“I was, like, hoping you might, like, squeeze me in here between your two statues. I’m hoping a few days, like, as a block of stone will, like, help me figure out the morphic transformation so I can, like, do it to myself properly.”

“Is that really the reason?” Elliot asked. “Or do you just want to be a statue? It’s not as rare a desire as you might think.”

“There’s some literature on the subject I could send you links to,” Francis said.

“No, thanks, Dear,” she said. “So? Can I?”

“Sure. I was just talking about gathering a statue garden when you arrived.”

P a t r e o n

Usually, I read about a service cracking down on NSFW stuff and I think I probably won't have to worry about that for a while. I'm just doing text for the most part. No one cares about "depictions" in written works, right?

In their infinite cowardice, P a t r e o n has made C o n s e n s u a l N o n - C o n s e n t a violation of the t e r m s of s e r v i c e. (Yes, paranoid about being found for speaking out about it.) Hypnosis is explicitly called out as not allowed. I tend to lean on that kind of thing. The full requirements are daft. Works have to make sure that all c o n s e n t is explicitly given. I image sarcastic writers putting in text like this:

"Do you c o n s e n t to me removing your blouse?"
"I do"
"You have to say I c o n s e n t"
"Oh, I c o n s e n t"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Given your c o n s e n t I will now remove your bra."

And so on.

What does this mean? Well, I'll probably be looking into subscribestar.adult. I might move the stories off site. I might even put them into encrypted pdf/zip files. No idea what level of "protection" is or isn't too much.

If you have any thoughts about this, let me know. Would monthly releases of a PDF located on a download site work for everyone? (Yes, I know. Nothing can possibly work for everyone.) How many of you would never (or can't) use subscribestar.adult? Would like to join me in venting? Comments are always encouraged.

MTU: Hard To Look At - Chapter 20

“Medusa?” Jenny said as I stood outside her front door. “Why are you here?”

“Can I come in? I’d like to talk to you,” I said.

“Where are my manners? You can move into my room if you need to. Come in.” She lived in a larger than normal home in the wealthy part of town.

We sat down in a breakfast nook of the kitchen.

“To what do I owe the honor of my savior visiting me.”

“Please don’t refer to me as any kind of savior.”

“I owe you my life. I’m sorry. I suppose savior is a bit creepy. How’s Ross?”

“Ross is great. He just dropped me off.”

“He could have come in.”

“I wanted to talk to you alone.”

“Oh. Is it going to be unpleasant? Can we get the unpleasant part out of the way?”

“That’s up to you,” I said. “I wanted to ask you about when... when your head came off, what do you really remember about it?”

“I’ve kind of tried to block that out,” she said after a moment’s pause. “I died.”

“How do you know that?”

“You probably don’t know. You should ask Elliot or Marie about being a statue. When you’re a statue, there’s a vibe to it. I wasn’t a whole statue long but I felt a vibe to it. I could kind of understand why Marie loves it so much. It’s chill. The second my body hit the floor, that vibe disappeared. I felt cold, empty. The world became distant. The sound of you screaming and Tommy flipping out, I was vaguely aware of it. Being made of stone feeling lighthearted disappeared. It was dull. Final. I was gone. I felt like my life was spilling out me, perhaps how it would feel for your blood to gush out of you. I don’t know. Why?” I didn’t reply and she said something quietly, “Is it about the animal statues?”

“You know about that?”

“Butterbuttons the cat belonged to my aunt. I’ve seen the statue a few times. Never again. I can’t go back into the room where she has it on display.”

“I’m so…”

“Don’t be sorry. Her precious Bee Bee Cat was so old. My aunt is so proud that she was able to do this to the cat. Did you really make all that money?”

“It all gets donated to an animal shelter as charity. I don’t see a dime from doing that. Neither does Dr. Hauser. I couldn’t.”

“I have to ask again. Why?”

“I have a strong suspicion that someone’s going to ask me to do it to them.”

“To a person?”

“Yeah.”

“And you want to tell them the experience isn’t as pleasant as your normal ability?”

“Exactly. Anything to discourage the idea.”

“This person must be really sick if they would put you in this spot.”

“Or they don’t know what they are asking me.”

“Oh. Probably not. I don’t know what to tell you.”

“You already helped. I’m sorry I brought up what happened that day.”

“It’s no big deal.”

I wasn’t sure what she meant by that. And she ended up filling the awkward silence.

“I relive it in my dreams every night,” Jenny said. “No, no. No sorries. I’m working on it with my therapist. It’s better to relive it every night than to not live at all.” After a moment she said, “Can I get you a beverage?”

I asked for a soda. When she returned to the table she had the biggest smile on her face. “Guess who I’m dating.”

“Who?”

“Pete.”

“My friend Pete?”

“Yes. He was actually a very good dancer. And he had me laughing the whole time I spent with him.” She spoke for almost an hour about a guy I thought I knew but apparently Pete was much deeper than I ever knew.

Way to go, Pete.

* * *

“You’re giving me everything I want?” I said.

“Sure. Why not?”

“Because artists don’t get this kind of break usually.”

Gillian O’Malley and I were in her office at the back of her gallery. She had invited me in to look around and get a feel for the space. She hoped it would help inspire me to finish the clay statues so she could sell them. Though it was an office, it had a nook with comfortable chairs and a sofa. She was on the sofa and I was in one of the chairs.

“If that makes you one of the lucky ones, so be it. You’ll get to show off your clay sculptures, which I’m still not sure how to price. I don’t want to make them too expensive. But I want to be sure you get a good profit out of them. And your friend gets to be a statue any time she wants. I’ll set up a little display like it’s performance art and sometimes the performer is unavailable. Any time you want to set her up, you just let my assistant know and they’ll be sure the gallery is available to the two of you.”

“Why are you really doing this?”

“I understand this is unusual and you’re right to wonder at my motives. I just want you to be happy.”

“How long do you have?”

“Have?”

“You have some kind of cancer, I think. How long do you have?”

“A few months. How did you know?”

“I won’t do it.”

“I haven’t even asked.” In hindsight, I wish I had noticed how crestfallen she had appeared when she said this.

“No, you’re buttering me up first.”

“Is that what you see?”

“Is it an invalid assumption?”

She was going to defend herself but stopped. “No, I suppose it isn’t. I’m so… I suppose apologizing sounds like part of some kind of pitch if you already think this is a pitch. Okay. I give up. I won’t ask.”

“And no show, no performance art gallery.”

“Oh, no, none of that changes. In fact, since you know I’m dying, I’ll also tell you about my will. Part of the charter of the gallery and trust I’m setting up to run it will require that you can use the gallery any time you want.”

“Why?”

“I like you. More importantly, I wanted someone who would care about me and remember me to look after the statue I was hoping to leave behind. I never had children. And my brother’s kids are completely uncultured. I can’t leave them a gallery. The trust already has provisions that allow you to decide your role in the gallery. You can be as hand-on or off as you’d like. Originally I was going to just set up a trust for some scholarships, still am. But knowing I can leave it the gallery to a local artist makes it even better.”

“We haven’t spent much time together. I’m only seventeen. Do I want to run an art gallery for the rest of my life? Will I still be sculpting when I get married? It’s all so sudden.”

“So is stage four cancer when you don’t catch it sooner.” She was looking at me funny and I wasn’t sure why until her head drooped and she started to weep. “I’m so sorry. You’re just a kid. I shouldn’t be dumping stuff like this on you. As I said, you can use the gallery like it was your own. My assistant will contact you in a few days with details. You don’t have work with me. I should never have even considered it.” She got up and poked her head out of the room. “Arturo?”

“You don’t…”

“Yes, Ma’am?” Arturo said. He was a man in his twenties, her assistant.

“Arturo, this is Medusa. I’ve already told you about her. I’m leaving for the day. Help her out with anything she needs before she leaves.”

“Of course, Ma’am.”

“It was good to see you again, Medusa. I’m sorry I tried to dump my burden on you.”

I was so overwhelmed I forgot Arturo was there.

“Do you really turn people to stone?” Arturo asked.

“Yes. Lasts about an hour normally.”

“Forgive my being forward about this. Gillian is an amazing woman. When she told me about you and what she hoped to have you do, I thought you had warped her perceptions somehow in order to steal the gallery. But, I was eavesdropping just now. You had no idea. I’m sorry I thought the worst of you without even knowing you.”

“You didn’t have to tell me any this.”

“No. I didn’t. But I think I should. I also think I should ask you to do what she said she would not ask. She told you she has months but as I understand it, she only has a few weeks. She stopped chemo a few months ago when she wasn’t responding to it. She only has hair now because she’s good friends with someone who has a hair growth trick.”

* * *

“I’ve decided I want to help her. But I believe euthanasia is illegal. I’m not willing to go to jail to help her. What should I do?”

Five minutes into my telling the tale, Dr. Parker stopped me and invited Dr. Lewis and Dr. Adelaide into his office. Five minutes later, they stopped me again and asked if they could schedule a meeting with a few more people. Daddy came in and asked who those other people would be.

“We know a few politicians and judges,” Dr. Parker said. “Whether or not Medusa decides to assist Miss O’Malley, we think a legal decision should be reached about the concept in general.”

A few weeks later, we were in a meeting room at town hall with the mayor, the city council, several state level politicians, a circuit court judge, Gillian, her physicians, her lawyers, the doctors from the clinic, the clinic’s lawyers, my parents, my lawyer, me, various town hall staffers, and several people I still don’t know what their affiliations were.

Before the meeting, I met with my lawyer, Lionel Barber, alone for the first time. He asked me one question and I answered him: was I willing to kill someone? We then discussed how I would proceed if I were asked.

I thought the graduation ceremony was boring. It was a Mardi Gras event compared to this. That was until the lawyer from the clinic stood up.

“While it may be unusual for doctors from the Spiral Clinic to provide medical treatment for someone, such as Miss O’Malley, who is not twisted, we believe we have a solution to the problem that will work for everyone represented here.”

“I’m all ears,” the mayor said. He had not been happy to be blindsided by a case for or against euthanasia in an election year.

“It has been medically proven that the trick possessed by Miss Medusa Harrison is a Darrington Field phenomenon that induces a suspended-animation-like state in living beings. It has been medically proven that this state is reversible. It is therefore, the recommendation of Dr. Lewis and Dr. Adelaide of the Spiral Clinic that Miss O’Malley could be placed into this suspended-animation state for medical purposes. At the moment, only Miss Harrison is capable of doing this. And she would only do this under the supervision of our medically trained staff. We would be able to study this phenomenon and perhaps someday reproduce it without the assistance of Miss Harrison.”

A murmur rose among those in attendance. Gillian looked to be on the verge of tears. After a few more hours of back and forth, the judge was willing to sign a court order permitting the use of this suspended-animation technique on Gillian. The state senator was going to attempt to make a state law endorsing the technique. That would take more time than Gillian had left.

As the meeting was about to adjourn, my lawyer, who hadn’t said anything during the meeting stood up. “If I may, Lionel Barber, counsel for Medusa Harrison,” he said. “This is a wonderful outcome for people who believe euthanasia is a human right. There is just one thing that hasn’t been addressed here. No one has asked my client if she is willing to kill someone.”

“That’s rather blunt,” someone said.

“Dead is dead. Murder is illegal. There are circumstances were killing is condoned. But, no one is forced to kill. All of this is for naught if my client is unwilling to do it. And no one has asked her. What happens a year from now when someone goes to the Clinic and asks to receive this wondrous new ‘medical procedure’? What happens when someone behind a court bench orders the ‘medical procedure’ to be performed under penalty of contempt changes?”

“No one would ever do…”

Lionel slammed his fist on the table. “Never say the words, ‘No one would ever do something to your client.’ There is always someone who is willing to do what we think is unthinkable. What protections does this minor, this minor child have that she will never be conscripted to euthanize someone against her will?”

MTU: Hard To Look At - Chapter 19

Elliot and I were in the audience of the school’s graduation ceremony. Marie was graduating. Marie had made sure two of her allotment of four tickets were for us. The ceremony was as boring as most graduations are. Marie’s mother, Ellen, was seated next to me. One of Marie’s cousins sat next to Ellen.

After the ceremony we all went to a restaurant together where I met a few more of Marie’s cousins, aunts, and uncles. Some of her friends from school were there with their own families. I only knew the graduating seniors as faces I’d seen at school.

“I heard you’re deferring a year before college,” her cousin Abigail said. “Are you going to travel the world?”

“I can’t afford to do that. I’m hoping to spend time in a local art gallery.”

“You won’t make a lot of money in an art gallery,” her cousin Randall said.

“Probably not. But it’ll be an experience of a lifetime.”

* * *

A week later, Elliot and his family went on a vacation. I had been invited to prior vacations but this year they were going on a driving tour of the southwest, hitting places like the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone Park, and others. Given these places weren’t safe for the obviously Twisted like myself, my parents convinced me I shouldn’t go. Two weeks without Elliot would have been unthinkable a year ago.

The afternoon after they left, Marie visited me in my garage. “Can I come in?”

“You’re always welcome, Marie,” I told her.

“Where’s Ross?”

“He works for his father during the summer. I’ll only get to see him on weekends.”

She sat down on the chair Elliot usually sat on. “I miss Elliot already.”

“It’s only been like six hours,” I said. We sat in silence for a few moments. “I miss him, too.”

“You and I talked about something a couple days ago and you said you’d think about it. That you didn’t just say, ‘No,’ was more than I’d hope for.”

“I did think about it.”

Marie wanted me to test petrifying her for the whole two weeks Elliot would be away.

“You realize, it’s dangerous?”

“You didn’t say too dangerous. Are you trying to get my hopes up?”

“I’ve been convinced I can’t be afraid of my own abilities. So, if you’re still interested I will petrify you.”

“Oh, thank you, Em.” Her whole body twitched as if she were going to fling herself at me for a hug. But her eyes were looking at my snakes.

I took hold of her and she held me so tight. She was dabbing her eyes as we separated.

“That’s a lot of happy tears.”

“I know, right?” She said. “I don’t want to do it here.”

“Oh?”

“As much as I love spending time with you here in this lovely garage, I’m hoping to be stuck in one place for two weeks somewhere with a better view.”

“That’s fair,” I said. “I also have one condition.”

She visibly deflated. “Okay. What?”

“It’ll only be for eleven days. I need to bum a ride from you on the twenty-ninth. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Eleven days is good, too. You had me worried for a minute. Why can’t Ross give you a lift?”

“Work.”

“Where do you need a ride to?”

“Dr. Hauser’s clinic.”

* * *

Her mother thought Marie was crazy. When we arrived an hour later at her home. Marie conscripted me to help rearrange the living room furniture. The result was probably the room’s Christmas tree configuration except in this case, Marie would be the tree. She wanted to freshen up before being petrified, leaving me alone with Ellen.

“A couple months ago, your mother seemed very worried about what happened to Marie. Now, you want to do it on purpose,” Her mother said as soon as Marie was out of earshot. “Is doing this safe?”

“Mostly. And it’s not what I want to do. It’s what Marie wants me to do.”

“’Mostly’ isn’t very reassuring.”

“I know. Did Marie tell you about what happened to Jenny Wu?”

“Recently?”

“When I petrified her a couple months ago.”

“Oh, that. Did she really die?”

“Yes.”

“And you revived her somehow?”

“Yes. Basically by doing the opposite of what I’m about to do to Marie. So, it’s reversible.”

“Well, if my Marie trusts you, I trust you. Can I hug you?”

“Of course.” Marie returned to the room wearing nothing but an opaque bathrobe as her mother and I finished our hug.

“I’m glad you two are bonding,” she said.

“I will need to come back a couple times to make sure you don’t recover faster than expected.”

“Marie mentioned that,” her mother said. She looked at the robe. “Honey, I wish you weren’t doing this in the nude.”

“Statues don’t wear clothes.”

“Statues of people in clothes are a thing.”

“Unfortunately, my power doesn’t affect clothes. It really is weird to see a statue wearing actual clothes.”

“I suppose. I guess I should leave now. Have fun. Is that what one says to someone about to become a statue?”

“It’s what you say to me when I’m about to become a statue.”

Her mother kissed her on the cheek and left the room. Marie didn’t see her shaking her head as she left. When I turned to look back at her, she had draped the robe over the end of the sofa and was posed for me to zap her.

“How’s this look?” She asked. She had one hand on her hip, the other bent to the side with her palm pointed upward at about eye level. Her feet were near one another but one leg was straight and the other was bent at the knee so only the toes touched the ground. She was facing the street through the window.

“Looks good. You are aware you’re currently flashing the neighborhood, right?”

“I’ll be flashing the neighborhood for eleven days.”

“Flashing with flesh tits is different than flashing with stone tits.”

“Tomayto, tomahto. Hit me.”

“I’ll count down so you can be sure your face is how you want it. Three.

“Two.

“One.” My inner eyelid opened and the color drained out of her body. The lines and swirls within looked as they always did. I probably could identify her and Elliot by just those swirls now.

I reached out and took a few sips. I was aiming for the first duration to be about seven days. I would take additional sips when I came back over the next few days. When I was done, I wondered how accurate my aim for seven days was. I made a mental note of how diminished her colors were.

I went into the kitchen where her mother was looking at her phone.

“Is it done?” She asked.

“Yeah. It should last seven days. I’ll know for sure when I return tomorrow or the next day to see how she’s progressing toward restoration.”

“Could you have just done it all at once?”

“Maybe. Doing it this way makes it nigh impossible for me to have overshot the target end date.”

“Sensible. I have a request.”

I don’t think I rolled my eyes.

“I’d like to experience what she doing for the normal one hour duration, if you don’t mind.”

“I would have been surprised if you weren’t curious.”

“I’m sure afterward I will only be more perplexed as to what she finds so fascinating about being a statue.”

“Where would you like to do it?”

“Can I stand behind her in the living room? Or will that affect her timer?”

“No, it won’t affect her at all. You just can’t be touching her.”

We went into the living room and Ellen stood half a room away from her daughter. For some reason, I suspected that she didn’t want Marie to know what was happening. So when she looked like she was posed how she wanted to stand, I tilted my head in question. Ellen nodded. And I zapped her. I took a few pics of Ellen and then of Marie.

“Marie? I’m leaving. Have fun.”

I locked the door behind me as I left. I walked over the lawn and took a few more pics of Marie through the window.

Marie spent the next eleven days as a statue looking out the window. Ellen enjoyed seeing the pics of herself. But her prediction came true. Being petrified wasn’t anything she needed to experience again. Marie’s first duration was probably a little less than seven full days. No big deal. Each time I visited, Ellen and I would chat for an hour or two. One evening she insisted I stay for dinner.

When I arrived on the twenty-ninth, Marie was already out of the window. Ellen hugged me as soon as she opened the door. The living room furniture was already back where it belonged. Marie came downstairs and said, “I was going to go pick you up.”

“I’ve gotten use to walking to your house.”

* * *

Marie gave me a ride to Dr. Hauser’s office. I was there to make an animal statue. I had done two animal statues since Duke and while it wasn’t emotionally easy, it didn’t destroy me like Duke had. I think knowing I could reverse it if I absolutely had too mitigated the darkness of the moment.

We walked in the back door and waited in his office. When Douglas returned, he smiled. “Medusa, so nice to see you again. Betty said to say hello.”

“Thanks. Say hello back for me. This is my friend Marie.” After exchanging pleasantries, Douglas got serious. “Are you ready to meet Catmando?”

“Is that really the cat’s name?” Marie said.

“Unfortunately. Crazy pet names is one of the hazards of being a veterinarian.”

We went into another room. It was basically a supply room with an infrequently used examination table. An older tabby was resting in a pet carrier on the table. As soon as we entered the cat stood up and hissed at us. “He’s a little feisty.  Let me take him from the carrier so he can get to know you.”

The cat would calm down for the doctor, but as soon as he put the cat down it would scamper away from Medusa. “I suspect he knows I’m a better predator than he is.”

“It would appear that way.”

“Can I hold him?” Marie said.

Douglas shrugged and passed the cat to her. He sat in her arms calmly.

“Zap us both. If I’m not touching the cat, you can separate us and do what you need to do,” Marie said.

Douglas took the cat back and handed Marie exam gloves.

“You don’t have to do this.”

“Em, you know I love to get stoned.”

“What?” Douglas said.

“She means petrified, not high.” I said. “Everyone thinks saying I get them stoned makes them a comedian.”

A few minutes later, Marie and the cat were statues. It took some effort to make sure the cat wasn’t being squeezed before I zapped them. I took the cat from Marie’s hands and put it on the exam table. Once I was sure the pose was fine, I drained the poor cat dry. As usual it tasted so good, but a bit off. When I was done, I took the cat to Douglas’ office.

“So quick?”

“Sadly, it doesn’t really take any time.”

“I guess you’re going to be here for another hour.”

“Need any help with the other animals.”

“No, I had a surprise for you but she’s running late.”

“She?”

“Gillian O’Malley will be here in a few minutes. She was hoping to see the cat before and after. But I didn’t see any reason to make you wait.”

“She really wants me to make an exhibit?”

“Well, yes. She was hoping you could zap her, today. She seems a bit like your friend.”

“You didn’t enjoy being a statue?”

“Enjoy is a strong word. It’s not like it was a bucket list item for me to cross off. I’m guessing Marie has been a statue more than once.”

“More than I can count.”

The phone on his desk rang. The receptionist informed Dr. Hauser of an arriving appointment. “Duty calls. You can wait here or with your friend.”

“I’ll wait here.”

I heard the sound of the back door opening and a woman poked her head into the office. “Medusa. I’m glad I caught you,” Gillian O’Malley said.

“Do I call you Miss O’Malley?”

“Oh, please don’t. I’m Gillian to everyone I like. Oh, I missed the cat?”

“Sorry. Douglas didn’t tell me he was expecting you until after we did it,” I said. “Follow me. My friend wants to meet you.”

“Friend?” She said as we moved to the store room. “Oh, your friend held the cat I’m guessing.”

“Yes. She’ll be stuck for another thirty or forty minutes.”

“That gives me time to convince you to do a show at my gallery.”

I laughed. “I would love to do a show. I have a dozen pieces that I plan to make. But only about half of them have been fired.”

“That’s a lot more progress than I expected. At the prom I wasn’t sure you were enthusiastic about a show.”

“What kind of artist doesn’t want a show in a prestigious art gallery?”

“That’s kind of you to say about the gallery.”

“I’m curious though. Marie here would love to spend a week as a statue in an art gallery. Do you think we could make that happen?”

“Sans clothes, I hope. As it doesn’t appear that you turn fabrics to stone.”

“No, I don’t.” I took out my phone. “Here, look at this.”

“She’s naked in front of her living room window? When was this?”

“Actually she was there for eleven days. Just turned back to normal earlier today.”

She flipped between the various pictures I had of Marie, and Ellen, and Elliot for several minutes in silence. She looked embarrassed when she realized how long she’d been looking at the images. “I’m sorry. I’d be happy to have Marie spend any amount of time in my gallery. You need to get those other pieces finished.”

“She’s probably thrilled.”

“She’s aware?”

“Oh, yeah. People say it feels like only five minutes go by unless there’s something to pay attention to. For example, the two of us having a lengthy conversation in front of her. She’ll have been aware of the whole time we’ve spent talking in front of her.”

“How was she a statue for a week if it only lasts an hour?”

“Part of my trick.”

“Oh,” Gillian said. “And how the cat is a statue for good?”

“Same trick.”

“So, you could do that to a person?”

“Make a permanent statue? No, I wouldn’t. I couldn’t.”

“I didn’t say you would. But it’s possible?”

“Why are you asking?”

Douglas chose that moment to enter the room. “You made it.”

“I made it.” They air-kissed.

“Did you ask Medusa to petrify you?”

“I was getting to it when you interrupted.”

“You want to be a statue?”

“I studied ancient roman art in college. I love everything about statues. And given the chance, I’d love to be one.”

“Here?”

“Anywhere,” she said. “Do you mind Douglas? If I am petrified I require that a lot of pictures be taken.”

“I will photograph you if that’s what you want. And you can stand here in this room for an hour if you like.”

“Please?”

“If it’s what you want. Don’t stand near Marie.”

“I’ll see you in my office, Medusa,” Douglas said as he left.

Gillian put her bag down, took off her shoes, and jacket. “Do you mind if I take my clothes off?”

“The number of women who’ve disrobed in front of me is far greater than a younger me could ever have guessed.”

“That’s a story I’d love to hear someday.”

“Maybe. I’ll step out into the hallway. Call me when you’re ready.”

It didn’t take long for her to call me back in. She was standing in a classical statue pose. “How does this pose look?”

“Classic. Ready?”

“Any chance you can make it last two hours.”

“I’d rather not.”

“Okay, never mind. I’m ready.”

I zapped her. Once she was stone, I examined the flow of colors within her. I was saddened by what I saw.

“Douglas,” I said as I entered his office. “She’s ready.”

“I’ll take the pics after you and Marie leave.”

“Makes sense. Do you know?”

“Know what?”

“I’m no expert. But I’m guessing she has cancer.”

“Cancer?”

“The glands here and here.”

“The lymph nodes.”

“That’s the word. I should study anatomy.” I said. “I guess you didn’t know?”

“She never said anything about cancer to me.”

“She was asking me about my trick and she start drilling down on whether I could do to her what I did to the cat.”

“What?”

“The patterns in her statue were similar to that dog I did a few weeks ago that you said had cancer. I haven’t seen a lot of sick people or animals with my weird statue vision. Or many healthy people for that matter. But this was the exact same condition.”

“I thought she was interested in you for the art. And I still think that interest is genuine. But could she have been thinking about what you did to Duke? Doing it to her? I can’t tell you what to do. But that is… I’m going to call my lawyer and see if he would look out for your interests.”

“I don’t think I’m going to do anything.”

“Just in case. You should tell your parents what you told me.”

“Okay.”

MTU: Hard To Look At - Chapter 18

I thought the prior Monday had been unusual. The atmosphere at school was unreal. Everyone already knew that Jenny had dumped Tommy. Neither of them would tell anyone why and the number of often conflicting rumors were unreal.

I had to stop a few of the rumors: Jenny had caught Tommy in bed with me; I had petrified Jenny because Tommy wouldn’t date me; and the funniest one: Tommy, Jenny, and I had had a three-way and now Jenny only wanted to date me.  I had heard that last rumor with different woman and a couple different men in my place. I must have told a dozen people to leave me out of the Jenny and Tommy drama.

I was dreading biology and I was right to do so. As soon as Ryan saw me, he was in my face, “How’d you get Jenny to dump Tommy?”

“I didn’t do anything. Tommy got her to dump him all by himself.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“What you believe doesn’t mat--” Suddenly my head weighed a ton and I dropped to the floor. My own hair snakes felt like baseball bats as the struck my head. I squeezed my eyes shut in pain.

Mr. Heinz shouted, “Let her go.”

“Fuck off, you simp. Get out of here. I need to talk to the monster here.”

I heard the room clear out. My right arm lay across my chest and made it hard to breath. I couldn’t even slide it off and I felt a rib break. I cried out.

Ryan was shouting at me. And I couldn’t do anything.

I couldn’t do anything. There was ringing in my ear canal. I couldn’t do anything. I could taste blood in my mouth. I couldn’t do anything.

I – I could do one thing. I opened my eyes. Instantly all the weight crushing me disappeared.

“Fuck. She zapped him,” Jared said. He ran for the door.

I zapped him and whoever else was in the room. I got up. Ryan stood there like a statue. I placed my palm on his chest and took a couple sips. My head cleared a little and my breathing hurt a bit less. Enough for me to shuffle out of the room. My right arm hung limply at my side. I wheezed when I inhaled and there was a metallic taste in my mouth. I wasn’t sure if my inner eyes were closed. I pushed the door open. The rest of the biology class were all standing right there. Several of them shouted to call the nurse.

Mr. Heinz got in front of me and said, “Where do you think you are going?”

“Move.”

He muttered something and got out of my way. I was limping toward the nurse’s office when Ross appeared and picked me up. Next thing I knew I was in a chair in the nurse’s office. Mom was there. I heard the words concussion and bruising before I lost consciousness.

* * *

I woke up. Carefully, I opened only the outer lids. The light in the room was too bright. My snakes formed a light barrier over my eyes.

“She must be awake.”

“Who’s there?” I said.

A masculine voice said, “I’m Cynthia. I’m a nurse here at the Clinic. I’ll get Dr. Lewis.”

“I’m here, too,” said Ross. “I’d kiss you but it would probably hurt. Your face is all bruised. You bruise in a kind of sickly greenish color.”

“I never needed to know that.”

“The first thing they’re going to ask you…”

“The first things I’m going to ask you,” Dr. Lewis said, “Is why is Mr. Cairns still a statue? He assaulted you nine hours ago.”

“Yes, that,” Ross said.

“I may have drained him a little when I got up.”

“Probably a good thing you did. Your brain was near the consistency of pudding after being subjected to more than ten gravities of force by the foolish boy.”

“I don’t really remember anything but yelling at the useless Mr. Heinz.”

“Jameson already put him on probation,” Ross said. “A lot of students complained that he had never done anything to stop Ryan from bullying you, myself included. Ryan will probably get expelled as well.”

“Can you speak to a police officer?”

“Not without a lawyer present,” my mother said, arriving suddenly.

“Can you turn off the lights?”

“Yes, we can do that.”

“Where’s Elliot?”

“There’s a limit on the number of visitors,” Ross said. “He said he could talk to you later.”

* * *

After the police interview, I was famished and human food did nothing to curtail the hunger. Dr. Adelaide caused me to destroy a dozen more cameras as she tried to capture what was happening as I partially drained over two dozen lab rabbits and mice. It was barely enough. But my mind was much clearer afterward.

Ryan was a statue for a day and a half. I must have taken more than a few sips. Every time I think about that I realize I must been near death when I drank from him. He was charged with attempted murder I believe.

My arm was still in a cast when I left the Clinic two days after the incident. Even the healer at the Clinic said she couldn’t do anything until it was set properly and allowed to heal on its own for a week. The contusions on my face healed and, aside from the cast, I looked like I did a week ago.

The night I got home I walked out into the woods alone. I didn’t turn into my snake form because of the cast on my arm. I created a large menagerie of stone woodland critters. I didn’t drain any of them dry. Just enough to make sure I wouldn’t turn into my snake form by accident.

Elliot was on the back porch as I returned from the woods. He pointed back into the forest and said, “How many experience points did you get?”

“Probably none. I’m too high a level to benefit from squirrels and birds.”

“I meant from Ryan.”

“More than I ever wanted.”

“Where’s Marie?”

“She figured you’d just want to talk to me. Not that you don’t like her company,” he quickly added. “She just thinks there are some friendships that are extra special. Like ours.”

I sat next to him and leaned my head against his shoulder.

He rubbed my shoulder and patted a few on my headsnakes. “You okay?”

“Fine. Just need a shoulder for a few minutes.”

“Take your time.”

* * *

I was actually cheered like some kind of hero when I returned to school on Thursday. Everyone wanted to sign my cast and thank me for getting Ryan expelled. I heard a lot of tales of heavy clothing falling off of the women and guys having their balls suddenly weigh a lot in the most painful manner.

At lunch, my new girlfriends had me sit down while they fetched my lunch. I was sitting there alone when my snakes saw Tommy heading toward me. I couldn’t read his intent.

He stopped at a respectable distance and loudly said, “Medusa, I want to apologize to you for any grief I’ve ever caused you. I don’t expect your forgiveness. I don’t deserve it. But after what Ryan did to you, I feel awful. I don’t remember which of us decided to pick on you all those years ago. But, if it was me, it was the dumbest thing I ever did. I’m sorry.”

He stood there a moment and then turned and walked away. Behind him a dozen guys, including Elliot and my old crew were standing waiting for something to happen.

“Thank you, Tommy.” I said.

He turned back and said, “No. Don’t thank me. I don’t deserve it.”

“Okay. I acknowledge what you said.”

“That is more than I can ask for.” And then he left. And the crowd dispersed.

“Did that really just happen?” Melody said, holding two trays of food.

I took the one she was holding toward me. “Thanks. Yeah, it really happened.”

* * *

It was May, the night was the prom. My stomach was in knots. I was positive this was not caused by my feeding hunger. I had just fed a few days before. The high school I attended had one prom for the seniors and juniors and one prom for the sophomores and freshmen. It had been six months since my twist and almost four months since the incidents with Jenny, Tommy, and Ryan.

None of that was on my mind as I was tying cream and scarlet bows around the necks of my hairsnakes. Even Dirk submitted to getting a bow – he preferred the red one. I was wearing the beautiful dress I had Mom buy when I first twisted. My makeup was more prominent than I usually would wear. My nails were freshly painted and I was wearing the tallest high heels I’d ever worn.

I still had at least five minutes until Ross would be here to pick me up. I was standing in front of the mirror on the inside of my closet door. It was the safest place for a mirror in my room. Mom suddenly appeared in my doorway. “They’re here,” she said. “Oh, those bows are adorable.”

“Thanks. I’m ready.”

She was downstairs before me. I started down the stairs as Ross entered the house. He was wearing a full tuxedo with an orange cummerbund. I was fully aware of how my black nylon sheathed legs poked out and tucked back inside the folds of my dress as I descended the stairs. When I reached the floor, Ross was still half a foot taller than me.

“Are you wearing platform shoes?”

“I knew you’d wear those heels.”

“I wanted to be taller than you.”

“Fat chance.”

I laughed.

“Let’s get a pic, dear.”

I stood on his left and he put his arm around my waist. Just before the pic was taken I kissed his cheek.

“Medusa!” Daddy said. “This time look at the camera.”

I just smiled bigger and Daddy took a couple more pics.

“Sorry, I’m late,” Elliot said, walking in. “Woah. I feel like a munchkin. Oh, you finally did the little bows. The girls are going to be jealous.”

“We should get going,” Ross said. “Marie was expecting us ten minutes ago.”

“I’m sure she’s glad for the extra time.”

She was. Marie was wearing a scandalous, for high school, red dress with a plunging neckline. The four of us posed for pics taken by Marie’s aunt.

From there we went to the dance. It was being held at a local country club ballroom. As we passed through the lobby, I spotted someone I had to say hello to.

“Dr. Hauser,” I said.

He was talking with an older gentleman and a woman I didn’t know. “Medusa,” he said. He put his arms around me and gave me a gentle hug. “It’s good to see you.”

“It’s good to see you looking happy.”

“I’m sure the last time you saw me, I was devastated. Gillian, this is Medusa and her boyfriend?”

“Ross,” Ross said extending his hand.

Douglass shook Ross’ hand.

Gillian said, shaking my hand “They get bigger every generation.”

“Gillian O’Malley owns an art gallery downtown.”

“Did she do the statue of Duke?”

“Both of them,” I said.

“I meant the fake one. It is such an uncanny likeness of the original Duke.”

“I hope your father told how touched I was when he passed along the replica statue you made.”

“He did.”

“Could you do more works like that? I’m sure I could sell them.”

“I don’t have anything finished.”

“Here’s my card. Call me when you have five or six items you want to sell. We’ll see how it goes from there.”

“Thank you, Ma’am. It was good to see you, Dr. Hauser.”

“You, too.”

Ross took the card from me and put it in his pocket. As we were entering the ballroom, Marie was waiting for me to enter. “Did I see you talking Mrs. O’Mallory?”

“Um, yes. Why?”

“Does she want you to do an exhibit at her gallery? Can I be a statue at the exhibit?”

“Marie, she saw a sculpture I made and asked if I had any more.”

“To display?”

“To sell. I don’t think you want to be sold as a statue.”

She didn’t agree immediately.

“Marie?”

“Well, obviously I wouldn’t want it to be forever. I would miss Elliot for one thing. But, you know I’d like to be in a gallery as a statue. Just for a week. Maybe two.”

“Aw, you’d miss me,” Elliot said. “I could deal with a week or two as well. While you were in the gallery I could tell people my girlfriend is a real work of art.”

Several of us groaned.

“What? It’s not like I’d take her for granite.”

“Elliot…”

I looked up at Ross. “We could be dancing.”

He bowed and then held out his hand to me. He said, “Would the lady do me the honor of her first dance this evening?”

“Of course.” I took his hand and he led me away. I heard someone complain about their boyfriend not being as gallant.

The song playing was a slow song. I was glad to be wearing the high heels as we could dance cheek to cheek without one or both of getting a stiff neck.

As we slowly swayed to the music, Ross said, “Elliot is a wonderful goofball. I’m glad he’s your best friend.”

“I’m glad you like him. Do you have a best friend?”

“I have an opening in that department if you’d like to fill it.”

“I can’t be your best friend. I’m your girlfriend.”

“You are? We’re a couple?”

“You don’t think so?”

“I wasn’t sure what you thought.”

“Could have asked.”

“I thought I just did.”

“Could have asked sooner than at the dance.”

“I didn’t want to spook you.”

“I’m scarier than anything that merely spooks.”

“Not to me.”

He tilted his head toward mine and the room got dark. Our lips met. I realized later all my hairsnakes had surrounded our faces so no one could see us kissing. And they’d all closed their eyes to leave me in the dark like a proper kiss. At the moment, I just enjoyed the softness of his lips and the flutter in my stomach as we kissed.

A few songs later, we met Stacy, Melody, and Tess and their dates on the dance floor. Melody could not stop talking about how cute my hairsnakes looked in their bows. As the song ended, we all sat down at a table on the perimeter of the room. The guys asked the ladies if they wanted drinks and disappeared to get them.

“Does everyone have condoms?” Tess said. She had an assortment in her bag.

“No. And I won’t need one,” I said.

Melody removed a couple and put them in her own bag. “Thanks, I always forget.”

“Just in case,” Tess said.

“I’m good.”

“She’ll be fine,” Stacy said. “Ross is unbelievably considerate.”

“Isn’t he?” Melody said.

Pete and Jim waved and walked over to talk to me. They usually didn’t come around when I was with the girls.

“Hi, Medusa. Ladies.”

“Hi, guys. Here stag?”

“Yeah,” Pete said.

“I didn’t want Pete to feel lonely.”

“That’s very thoughtful, Jim.”

Jenny Wu sat down at the table. “I hope you don’t mind if I join you.”

“Not at all. These gentlemen were just expressing their feelings for the other,” Stacy said.

“Don’t feel bad,” Jenny said. “If I can end up going to a dance alone, going stag can’t be all that bad. It does make it harder to dance.”

“Pete is the least creepy of my old friends.”

“Is he? Are you?”

Pete stuttered out, “Not creepy at all.”

She got up and took his hand. “Let’s dance.”

“Later, Medusa.”

“I should be upset,” Jim said. “But, yeah, Pete’s less creepy than I am.”

The guys returned. Elliot gave Jim a hug hello. “Where’s Pete?”

“Dancing with Jenny Wu.”

“Really?”

MTU: Hard To Look At - Chapter 17

“He killed me,” Jenny said. She was in my arms as I carried her to the living room.

“He could have killed you,” I said. “You are alive. If you had shattered more, well, then he would have killed you.”

“I felt it. I felt myself falling. I felt it when I hit the ground. There was a loud cracking sound reverberating through my body. And then nothing. I was dead.”

She wasn’t wrong. But, I didn’t want her to completely freak out. I was barely holding it together. My stomach was flipping and flopping. I had to leave.

“I’m guessing you’re tired,” I said as I laid her down. The strain I was under was obvious though I doubt she noticed. “Sleep a while.”

“Okay.”

She fell asleep almost immediately. As soon as she did, I ran up the stairs to my room, removing my clothes as I went. Naked with my door shut, I transformed into my snake form and grabbed a canvas bag. I was out the window in a flash. I paralyzed a few small critters as I zipped into the forest. When I had a bag of paralyzed critters I stopped and took one out of the bag. My body was screaming at me to suck the poor thing dry. I stood there holding the squirrel for several minutes before I opened my inner eyelid. It turned to stone in an instant. I put my palm on its chest and I slowly drained it. I stopped before it went completely gray and I set it aside.

I removed the next animal from the bag and repeated this controlled consumption of their life force. Eventually the bag was empty and I was surrounded by a stone menagerie. A menagerie of animals that would come back to life eventually.

It took over thirty animals to quench my hunger.

* * *

After standing the statue up, Mom said, “You can do something. I can see it in your eyes.”

“I need to look at her with my special vision.”

“I’ll leave.” She kissed me on the cheek as disappeared from the garage. The door slammed shut behind her.

When I opened my eyes, I was disheartened. There were no moving lines in the statue. Faintly, I could see where the lines would be. But they weren’t active. I looked at the head, still puckered up for a kiss. The memory of her lips on mine was all the more maddening. There were lines there. But they were quickly leaking out of the neck of the statue.

I quickly put the head on the neck of the statue. But it did not connect. There was no flow within the body for the flow within the head to connect to. I put my palm on the body near the break and for the first time pushed life force out of myself. It hurt. My body didn’t like what I was doing. I pushed some more. After a few moments, I couldn’t move. I felt my skin harden and the color drained out of my body. I had become petrified. I was holding her head in place and I could see my lifeforce flowing into her body and her head where I was touching her.

What had I done? Were we both going to die?

I was overjoyed when I could see the lifeforce flowing from her head into her body. Lines became more visible and took on the colors I was use to seeing. More of her life functions became visible to me.

“Medusa?”

I heard my mother calling me from outside the garage. I couldn’t answer. My phone rang on the table where I’d left it.

“Medusa?”

She must have called my name for a few minutes before she stopped. Then I saw her walking slowly around Jenny and I. “I hope you’re okay, honey,” she said. And then she left.

A moment later, Elliot was circling us. He was standing where I could see him. “It’s been two hours. She said she remembered to look at a clock when she left you to look at Jenny. I assume you’ll be stuck until the life forces equalize. And since it’s been over an hour, Jenny must not have had much life force. Did she?”

No, Elliot, she didn’t. I wanted to tell him.

He left shortly after that.

The sun rose. It hadn’t felt like we were standing alone together for eleven or twelve hours. I finally experienced time as a statue only feeling like five minutes.

At least another six hours passed before it happened. Suddenly we were made of flesh and bone again. Jenny collapsed into my arms and I was feeling the hunger. I picked her up and carried her into the house.

Everyone I knew was suddenly in front of me talking at once. I nearly zapped them all. “I have to leave. Stay back.” I growled at them.

Mom, Daddy, Elliot, Marie, and Ross took hold of the man and woman I didn’t recognize, whom I guessed were Jenny’s parents, and disappeared into the kitchen.

As soon as Jenny fell asleep, I ran up the stairs to my room.

* * *

I sat in the clearing for an hour or so before I heard Elliot calling out. “Is it safe?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

He was with Marie and Ross. I rushed toward Ross and he held his arms out. We hugged and kissed for a few moments before separating.

“So, I’m guessing this is the other form.”

“Good guess,” I said. “How is she?”

“Still asleep. The Wu’s had her pediatrician examine her. She seems no worse for losing her head.”

“It was never lost. It was right there on the floor,” I said.

“She’s fine,” Elliot said with a laugh. “Let’s leave her and Ross alone, Marie.”

“Are you fine?” Ross said.

“Fine enough to joke about it. Sure. Has Tommy been back?”

“Jenny was awake for a few moments and when Mrs. Wu asked if she should call Tommy. Jenny told her to let him stew about it.”

“She did say she believed he killed her.”

“She isn’t dead.”

“She was.”

The three of them were shocked.

I told them about pushing my lifeforce into her to get lifeforce to flow within her body.

“Cool. You’re also a healer.”

“Can you explain what happened from the beginning?” Marie said. “I still feel like I missed part of it.”

“Oh, yeah, Mom probably couldn’t explain how it started.” I told them the whole story, starting with the basketball game to explain why she wanted the bust.

“He just burst into the garage?”

“I’m not sure what his problem was,” I said. And then I blushed. “He may have seen us kissing.”

“You were kissing Jenny Wu?”

I blushed, or I suppose I oranged, even more. I explained why we were kissing staring into Ross’ eyes the whole time, pleading.

He didn’t say anything at first. “You don’t have to worry about me kissing John or Ryan as revenge for this.”

He said it so seriously I thought he was mad until he smiled and kissed me.

“It was all for art. I’d kiss Jenny for art’s sake too if she asked me.”

“Me, too.”

“Me, too. And if Elliot did it, I’d just ask him to tell me how it felt.”

“It felt great. Her lips are so soft.”

“I’m sure she would say the same about yours,” Ross said. And he kissed me some more.

“Should we leave?”

“No, we can all head back to the house together.”

When we got back to the house, Dr. Parker and Dr. Lewis from the Clinic were there as well as a police office. They were seated in our kitchen talking with Mom and Daddy and Mr. and Mrs. Wu.

I had to go over the story again from start to finish. And I had to do it in my snake form. The doctors and the police officer asked questions for over an hour before the officer was satisfied. She turned to Mr. and Mrs. Wu and said, “Do you think your daughter will want to press charges of assault against Tommy Radner?”

“No, they are dating.”

“And do you want to press charges against Mr. Radner?” She said to me.

Gordon would have jumped at the chance to do that. But I was no longer Gordon. Gordon didn’t exist any more. “No. I’m sure whatever he’s going through now is punishment enough.”

“Usually I’d say punishments are for the courts to decide. I’ll file your statement at the precinct and copies will be sent to you and the high school.” She looked at the Wu’s again. “Bring your daughter to the station when she’s feeling better so we can take her statement as well.”

“We will.”

Dr. Lewis said, “I don’t think we are needed here. But Medusa, I think you should schedule an appointment with Dr. Parker as soon as possible. And I’m sure Dr. Adelaide would be thrilled to hear about how you reattached a head.”

“She’d probably ask me to do if she doesn’t hold her impulsiveness at bay.”

Parker laughed, “You aren’t wrong.” He and Dr. Lewis left.

Mrs. Wu stayed the night in the guest room. Jenny was allowed to stay asleep on the sofa. Mom said she’d stay awake over night to watch her.

I said goodbye to my friends, informing them, I still needed some sleep. I woke up in the middle of the night and went to the kitchen. Mom and Jenny were eating bowls of plain pasta.

Jenny dropped her fork into the bowl and jumped up to give me a hug. “How did you save me?”

“That’s a long story. Let’s just leave it at ‘you got better’ and not talk about the details.”

“Why? I want to tell the world that you saved my life.”

“I’m flattered. And I can understand how you don’t want to downplay it. But, I don’t want too many people knowing I can see lifeforces.”

“Okay. I won’t say anything.”

“Does Tommy know you’re alright.”

“No. My phone was full of texts from his friends asking that I tell them I’m okay so he’ll stop crying. I haven’t responded to them.”

“Isn’t that a bit cruel?”

“You didn’t see his face. He wanted to kill you because we were kissing.”

“Kissing?” Mom said.

“I’ll fill you in later.”

“Sure you will.”

“You were telling me on Monday that he wasn’t the asshole I’ve always thought he was. Were you lying?”

“I said he was influenced too much by his asshole friends. I never said he wasn’t an asshole. I’ve also never know him to be this violent. I don’t know if I want to ever speak to him again.”

“As much as I believe he should be left twisting in the wind, you should let someone tell him you’re alive.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything,” Mom said. “But I think he’s been sitting in his car since dinner time, parked across the street.”

“I don’t want to talk to him.”

“I’ll go tell him and then tell him go home.”

“You don’t have to.”

“Yes, I do. I’ll get dress though, first. I’m not in a hurry.”

* * *

Tommy jumped out of his car and walked toward me as soon as I stepped out the front door. It was not yet dawn. “Is she okay? No one will tell me.”

“Shut the fuck up, Tommy. She doesn’t want to talk to you. So drive your ass home and don’t come back.”

“She’s alive? That means she’s alive.” He dropped to his knees in silent prayer.

“Yes, she’s alive. And she hates you for attacking me. I’m not thrilled with you either. What were you doing?”

“I couldn’t lose her. I saw you two talking during the basketball game. She’s into you. If I lost Jenny I’d be devastated. But I’d move on. Plenty of fish in the sea. If I lost her to you – of all people – you. I’d be ostracized by my friends.”

“Your friends suck.”

“They do. But they’re all the friends I’ve got.”

“There are plenty of friends in the sea as well.” I started laughing and couldn’t stop.

“What’s so funny?”

“You are. You’re pathetic. I never knew how pathetic you are. Picking on other kids because you’re worried about losing your friends. And somehow I was the loser.”

“You were a loser.”

“And now I’m not? Am I hot? You want me? Never gonna happen, by the way.”

“Don’t delude yourself. I wouldn’t date you.”

“Like you have a choice. But you just said you wouldn’t date me because of your friends. I’m not the one who’s delusional. Now get the fuck out of here before I call the police and tell them some guy’s been sitting in his car across the street from my house for the last ten hours.”

“Tell Jenny I’m sorry.”

“Tell her yourself if she ever lets you.”

POLL: Do you play AVNs?

Adult Visual Novels are a subgenre of the Visual Novel genre of video games. VNs are basically the video game equivalent of those old Choose Your Own Adventure books. VNs are the children of Text Adventure games. AVNs are VNs that include adult content: usually pornographic depictions of sex and sexual situations. The budgets for an AVN can be quite high since players are use to full motion video in normal video games.

I'm quite addicted to VNs and AVNs and even Adult games in general (aka games with adult content that have more game elements than implied by the term Visual Novel). And have thought about writing one. The obvious problem for me being I don't make art. And that is frankly the important part about a VN. 

There are many subgenres of AVN, like there are many subgenres of both fiction and porn. There aren't a lot transformation or inanimate AVNs certainly. But as we all know that is such a niche market and as mentioned above, where would the budget for artwork come from?

Poll opens to non-patrons March 18.

MTU: Hard To Look At - Chapter 16

Monday started out weird and just got weirder. First, I was up early and spent most of the morning before school trying to decide what to wear for my second date with Ross that would also be good to wear all day in school. It took forever to decide on an outfit that, last week, I probably would have chosen without a second thought. The worst part was my assumption that Ross probably wasn’t thinking about his outfit at all.

Then, I did my makeup and it, for some reason, was difficult because I could not decide which combination of eye shadows looked best on my copper and green skin. Mom knocked on my door as I was adding a marigold eyeliner. “Not yet, Mom,” I called out. “I’m lining my eyelids.”

“You’re going to be late. I can see Elliot walking this way.”

“Okay, thanks, Mom.”

I finished up quickly and was out the door before Elliot could ring the doorbell.

“Don’t you look all spiffy,” he said.

“What this? I just threw on the first thing I saw.”

“Yep, and it turned out rather spiffy.” After a moment he said, “You’re nervous. I totally understand. I was nervous the first day of school after Marie and I went on our first date.

“Is it obvious?”

“Only to someone who’s been there recently. Relax. You had a good date. You’ve set up a second date. School should only be its normal level of awkward.”

“That’s a relief.”

We made it to school just in time to get to our first classes. After class Stacy walked with me to my next class. “Looking good, Em.” The Fashion Police had started calling me Em. “How was your date?”

“We can talk at lunch. Short answer: great.”

“Great. Can’t wait till lunch time.”

Before lunch, I saw Ross down the hall between classes. He smiled at me and then disappeared into the rush of students trying to get to their next class. Someone bumped into me from behind because I had stopped short. It was not until I was in my next class that I realized my hair snakes had not hissed at the intruder. They had been as distracted as I had been.

I was grilled at lunch by the girls and apparently the kid gloves with which I had been treated up until now were gone. They wanted to know everything and I could not keep any details private from them. I finally felt just like one of the girls with them.

When classes ended for the day, I rushed down to the gymnasium. The boys on the team were running in circles bouncing basketballs up and down and passing them between one another in a manner that looked like a choreographed dance. I didn't know much about basketball but I think it was called drilling. Ross towered over the other players. Only Ryan came close.

As I watched I didn't notice Jenny until she was sitting next to me. I said, "Hi."

"You're here to watch Ross? He is so hot."

"Won't Tommy be mad if he heard you say that? "

"He knows better than to be like that. Heck, he'd probably say Ross is hot."

"Really? I never would have thought those words could come from his mouth."

"Oh, no, he wouldn't say that in public or in front of friends. Maybe he'd joke about how hot Ross is in the locker room. But he has told me a few guys in school are hot."

"Why does he hate me?"

"It's all because of his asshole friends. Hell, if I ever dumped him, and he could figure out how to woo you, given the history, he'd date you in a second."

"I find that impossible to believe."

"I don't blame you. I've tried to get him to stop hanging with those idiots but they're all on the football team and he doesn't want to rock the boat. If he did, he would apologize for all he's done to you."

"Are you sure you know him as well as you think?"

She laughed. "Maybe I don't. But I believe what I'm telling you."

The game started and it only took the first ten minutes for Jenny to say, "You don't know anything about basketball, do you?"

"Not really."

She started explaining the game to me. Ross was the Center because he was the tallest player on the team. I remembered Ross telling me that and I wasn't sure what it meant.

At the end of the first half, I said, "Thanks for explaining what's going on in the game."

"You aren't the first girl I've had to explain basketball to."

"I'm sure I'm the first one who used to be a guy that you've helped in this way."

"Don't assume." She ignored the surprised look on my face and continued, "I saw the bust you made of Marie. You’re very talented. I will completely understand if you say no, but could you make a bust for me. I'd be happy to pay for it."

"A bust of you?"

For the first time since she sat down she seemed apprehensive and unsure. "I'd like a bust of me and Tommy, kissing. I can model my part and I have a photo of us kissing that would be so cool in 3D."

"And all that stuff about me not understanding Tommy was to get me to agree to do it?"

"Not as such. Please. I know you probably hate him. But I love him. And it would be a gift to him. He's always giving me thoughtful gifts and I want to one up him."

"He'd probably break it if he knew I was involved."

"I wasn't planning to tell him where I got it."

"Let me think about it."

"That's more than reasonable."

* * *

Jenny and I were waiting outside the boys locker room when both Ross and Tommy exited. They bid one another a good evening. Tommy didn’t say word to me. Jenny and I said goodbye to one another.

Ross drove us to a quiet coffee shop not far from my house. “I saw you were sitting next to Jenny during the game. “

“She knows a lot about basketball.”

“She does. Did you know she and I went on a date before she started going steady with Tommy?”

“No, I didn’t. She was the only one date girl?”

“Yes, I told her I didn’t think it would work out.”

“She still thinks you’re hot.”

“Am I hot?”

“The hottest.”

At the coffee shop we ordered beverages and sat on a sofa. “You’ve asked me a lot a questions. I still know very little about you,” I said.

“We’ve established that I’m the hottest, I believe,” he said with a wide smile. “Ask me anything.”

“Do you have any hobbies?”

“Aside from basketball? Actually that’s not really a hobby. It’s fun. But, it’s not a core part of me. I read a lot, mostly mystery thriller stuff.”

“When I suggested an action movie you didn’t want to see it.”

“I don’t think thrillers really translate to film very well. A thriller isn’t a scary story, it’s an edge-of-your-seat story. While some action films can give you that feeling, I far prefer reading them.”

“I guess I never really thought about it.”

“And that’s fine. I’ll give you one of my favorite books if you want.”

“Sure.”

We talked for a couple hours before we noticed it was getting late. He drove me home and we kissed for a moment in the car. He walked me to the front door and we kissed again. He had to get home for dinner so he didn’t come inside.

As soon as I entered the kitchen, Mom said, “How was your date?”

“It was good. We mostly just talked.”

“You could have invited him in for dinner.”

“He said he had to go home for dinner.”

* * *

Elliot noticed the photographs as soon as he entered. “Are you stalking Tommy and Jenny? Have you finally decided how to get your revenge?”

“What are you talking about?” I said.

“I’m just joking. I suppose you decided to make the bust for Jenny.”

“Yeah. I didn’t have anything else going on. And she’s paying for it. I can deal with Tommy’s face because I’m being professional.”

“She’ll be here Thursday so I can start the details of the bust. I was actually thinking you and Marie might want to model for the kissing part.”

“Well, I’m flattered. Am I as good looking as Tommy?”

“On the inside, where it matters.”

He laughed. “I’ll take it.”

“Where is Marie?”

“She’ll be here around five. She had an appointment.”

When she arrived she was eager to be petrified while kissing Elliot. I took a few pictures of them kissing, trying to match one of the photos Jenny had given me. We spent a few moments picking which photo would look best as a bust before I zapped them. I took a small sip part way through working on the bust. After an hour and a half, I had a rough sculpt of two generic people kissing. Marie and Elliot had to leave after that.

Jenny arrived at my house around four on Thursday. She liked the pose of the bust so far. She saw the stool and asked if she would sit there when she posed.

“Posed? I doubt you can pose all kissy-faced for very long.”

“I thought you would do your thing to me.”

“Why would think that?”

“Marie told me she posed for her bust.”

“You want me to petrify you?”

“Yes. Is that a problem? I’m really curious about it.”

“Curious, you say?”

“Marie isn’t the only person you know who’s contemplated being petrified.”

I laughed. “I had no idea it was so popular.”

“I’m serious. I first saw that Greek myth movie from the eighties when I was eleven. I must have cried for days when Perseus cut off the head of the gorgon. Do you know what kind of raw deal your namesake had?”

“Being cursed for getting raped? Yes, I’m aware of the parts of the myth most people don’t know about.”

“So, you’ll do it.”

“I’d have done it without the explanation. But I appreciate knowing what you said.”

“How should I pose?”

For almost half an hour we tried to get her to pose as if she were kissing someone. But it never looked right. I took a bunch of photos and she agreed she wasn’t doing it right. We could not get her to look right by herself.

“What if I kissed you?” She said.

“That could work. But how will I know how you look from a distance if I’m right next to you?”

“Take a selfie of us and we’ll see if I look better.”

We tried it. Her lips tasted of some kind of berry and we may have kissed a bit longer than was necessary. The selfie was much better. And after a second selfie, we were sure she would look right. We kissed a third time and I admit I let the kiss linger a moment longer than necessary before opening my inner eye and turning her to stone.

“What the fuck!”

My hairsnakes opened their eyes to see Tommy rushing toward me. The next thing I knew I was in serious pain as he had grabbed a handful of my snakes and tossed me to the ground.

“What is going on in here?” My mother said, suddenly appearing in the doorway. “Look out!” She shouted.

“Oh fuck, no!” Tommy shouted.

I heard a loud thump and a crack. When I got up Tommy was holding his head, his face went from shock to utter despair and he started bawling and repeating the word “no” over and over.

“Oh my god,” my mother said.

I noticed Jenny wasn’t standing where I left her. I stood up. She had fallen backwards, her head no longer attached to her neck.

“You can fix her, can’t you?” Tommy said, tears running down his face. “Dear god, I’ll do anything. Anything. You have to fix her.”

“Get the fuck out of here,” I screamed at him. “I don’t know if I can fix her. But I know I don’t need your fucking noise.”

“I’m going. I’m going. Ple--” he shut up and disappeared from the garage.

“Can you fix her?”

“I don’t know, Mom. Help me stand her back up.”

MTU: Hard To Look At - Chapter 15

I was in the stairwell at school when a voice behind me said, “Excuse me, do you have a moment?”

I stopped on the landing and turned around, face to face with Ross Perry. He was on the last step of the downward stairs. As I said, “Yes?” he stepped up onto the landing and I had to look up to look him in the eye. Ross was on the basketball team mostly because he was about seven feet tall. He was the only person in school taller than me.

“Medusa, right? I was wondering if we could go out for donuts and coffee on Saturday together.”

“Just the two of us?”

“Yeah, like a date. You like guys, right? I wasn't sure. I figured it couldn't hurt to ask.”

“I don't know what to say.”

“I'd prefer, 'Yes'. If you're busy Saturday we can pick another day. Or you can say, 'No'. I just thought you might enjoy my company.”

“Okay. You aren’t put off by these? Or that I use to be a guy?”

“No, and no. I dig the snakes. And I'm sure you having once been a guy is more a thing for you than it is for me.”

“You have no idea.”

“If you aren't willing to go, for any reason, just say so, I can take it.”

“No, I think I should go. A donuts and coffee date sounds like fun. Maybe eleven o'clock?”

“Sounds good. I'll pick you up and take us to a shop around eleven.”

“Okay. It's a date. I'll send you my address.”

“Sounds good.” He smiled and walked away.

Melody was beside herself when I mentioned the date at lunch. “Ross Perry. Oh Em Gee. He’s so tall. You have to wear heels on this date.”

“Heels? On a donuts and coffee date?” Tess said. “That might make her seem desperate.”

“Ross is taller than our giantess friend by several inches. Heels are almost necessary,” Stacy said.

“You should wear that aubergine sun dress,” Melody said.

“That's purple, by the way,” Tess said.

“I sculpt and draw. I know more than eight colors.”

“No need to be snippy.”

“I am a bit moody.”

“Is it that time of the month again?”

“Yes, third time starting Monday if I'm regular.”

* * *

Elliot and Marie were happy for me.

“Are the fashion police driving you nuts about what to wear?” Marie said.

“Yes. Apparently I have an aubergine dress that will look fabulous.”

“That should be a good color for your coppery and green skin.”

“Yeah, I've taken art classes. It rarely comes up with sculpting, but I know a thing or two about color. I'm just not use to applying it to clothes.”

They made other plans for Friday so I could get a good night's sleep before my date.

Saturday could not arrive fast enough. I woke at seven and had breakfast with Mom. She didn’t mention the date, thankfully. After breakfast, I showered and painted my nails. I put on the dress Melody suggested. It was shoulderless, with a half sleeve on the upper arms only. I spend nearly an hour trying to decide how I should shade my eyes. I went with a palette that I found pleasing containing a blend of dark green and light purple. I used my usual dark green lipstick. I tied a few purple bows around the necks of the four longest hairsnakes. Three of them liked how they looked and the fourth I could tell was just tolerating it. I had started calling that one Dirk at some point. It fit him. And, yes, he was definitely a masculine hairsnake.

I buckled the tops of my black heels. They were taller than the ones I usually wore, just over five inches. I would still be shorted than Ross with them on. I had checked the contents of my clutch twice when the doorbell rang. I heard Mom shout she was getting it as I left my room.

“Medusa should be down in a moment,” I heard her say as I descended the stairs.

He was wearing jeans. I felt a bit over dressed. But, then I saw he was wearing a polo shirt so he was a little dressed up compared to a T-shirt.

“You look amazing, Medusa. I should have worn my khakis.”

“You look fine,” my mother said. “Have fun, you two.”

As we walked to his car, he said, “I love the heels. It's amazing that I don't have to look down to see your eyes.”

“I understand. I tower over a lot of people myself.”

He held the door to his car open for me. And closed it after I was seated in the passenger seat. After he got in, I said, “Where are we going?”

“Ever heard of Guilt Free Desserts?”

“Who hasn't? Is that where we're going? It's, like, on the far side of Spiral.”

“It's only twenty-five minutes away. Is that too far? I thought we could talk on the way there. We could just go to an Apollos.”

“No, that's fine. I've always wanted to try Guilt Free.”

He drove us to the crosstown highway. “So, I'm not sure about Twisted etiquette. Do I ask you about your twist early on a first date or late or do I save it for a future date?”

“I have no idea if there is such etiquette.”

“I wouldn't know. No one in my family is Twisted. I'm a natural mutant.”

“People must assume you're Twisted all the time.”

“Yep. They also want to know what my trick is. Other than a high percentage at the free throw line, I don't have anything close to a trick.”

“Were you always into b-ball?”

“Not initially. When I had my first big growth spurt in sixth grade, it felt like everybody was telling me I should be a basketball player. So, naturally I resisted the idea. I hadn’t been especially athletic before that. My cousin Archie convinced me to try it and gave me a few lessons in dribbling and stuff. I still can't say I'm into basketball. I don't watch pro or college games much. Are you into sports?”

“No. I was a bit too nerdy before this.”

“Doesn't matter. What are you now?”

“I wish I knew.”

“You will. You should come to one our games. See if you like it more with someone you're rooting for.”

“When is your next game?”

“Monday. We have a home game against North. We usually beat them. Though, who knows if they are any good this year.”

“I'm free Monday afternoon. I'll stop by if I can.”

“That's great. If all goes well, we can go somewhere after the game. And if today goes well.”

I just smiled.

“So, what's it like?”

“What's what like?”

“Any of it. Twisting? Being a girl? Being a mythic character? I'd like to hear anything about all those things you would be willing to share. Or I can continue talking about myself.”

“No, it's my turn,” I said. “Both my parents are Twisted so I always knew I would Twist. I have not spent a lot of time dwelling on being a girl. My father drilled into me not to get to attached to the old me and I guess that advice worked.”

“You don't miss being a guy?”

“Every time I sit down to pee.” We both laughed. “But, that's not important. I don't enjoy my periods any more or less than any other woman.”

“So, the rumors that moron Tommy says about what your packing under that dress are false? Good to know.”

“Yeah, about two weeks after my twist I was officially initiated into the sisterhood. Would you have asked me out if you thought he was right?”

“Probably. I'm not expecting to see under your dress.”

“Ever?”

“Expecting. If things go well, after some time together, who knows?”

“Okay. The gorgon thing was, of course, a complete surprise, as is the nature of my twists.”

“Ironic, too.”

“I can see that now. My friend Elliot's been great. He's helped hone the control of my trick by getting petrified by me far too often.”

“What's that like?”

“For him or for me?”

“Either. Both.”

“It's easy for me. I have two eyelids. When I open the inner eyelids, my trick activates. It's literally no big deal for me. For him? He says it's mostly boring. If nothing is happening, you barely notice the time passing, people say.”

“Elliot. I’m not sure which of your old friends that is. Is he the one dating Marie Applebottom?”

“Yes, they’re dating.”

“She doesn't mind that Elliot hangs out with you?”

“She wants to be there, too. Don't tell anyone. But, she actually likes being petrified.”

“She likes being bored?”

“I don't know why.”

“Do you have more friends now that you've twisted?”

“I think I do. The old me had a reputation for being a nerd. These days, only people like Tommy treat me like they treated Gordon.”

The conversation drifted into a discussion of the various clicks around school. Soon, we arrived at the bakery. There were people standing in line out the door and down past two neighboring stores. There were saw horses with Spiral police department logos placed to indicate where people should stand. Luckily, Ross found a parking spot not too far from the entrance. We got out and walked to the end of the line.

We got more than a few stares. Some of them were for Ross but most of them were for me. It was a little disconcerting to be stared at by so many people. I hadnt spent a lot of time out in public.

“You're popular here. You’re a stunning beauty, no doubt.”

“Yes. No other reason I might be stared at would make sense.”

As we approached the end of the line, the couple we were going to stand behind turned toward us. The guy said, “Those things are alive?”

“The snakes? Yes.”

“Can I touch one?”

“I wouldn't advise it. They are venomous.”

He was about to reach out but put his hand down after that.

“I apologize for Gerry's forwardness,” the woman said. “He has personal boundary issues.”

“I’m sure the visually Twisted get asked similar things all the time,” Gerry said, failing to defend himself.

“Why do you think my date is Twisted?” Ross said.

“Well, obviously… um, she… just look at her.”

“So, you judge people and pigeon hole them based on looks.”

“I didn’t… I…” Gerry looked like he wanted to storm off.

The woman with him said, “Just shut your mouth, Gerry. Thanks for that. He needed it.” Gerry turned to argue with her. She took Gerry to the end of the line putting a few people between us.

When we reached the doorway of the shop, we could see several display cases filled with pastries. There were still five or six people in front of us. The room smelled even better than the scent that had been spilling out the door.

A little boy sitting with his mother by the entrance looked at me and said, “You’re tall.”

“Am I tall?” Ross said.

“You both are.”

“Don’t bother the nice people,” his mother said.

“Why do you have hair, Mommy?” he said. “Snakes would be so much cooler.”

I leaned down. “Do you want to touch one of my snakes?”

“Yes, Yes.”

“What do you say, Jeremy?”

“May I please touch one of your snakes?”

“Only if you promise not to pull on it.”

“I promise.”

I had one of the long snake float down toward him. “Cup it in your hand and pet it with the other hand.”

He held out his hand and the snake nestled in it. He stroked the back of the snake. “What’s its name?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “What do you call your arm?”

“Arms don’t have names.”

“They don’t?”

“I call my right arm Priscilla.”

“I think its name is Foggy.”

“We have to move forward,” Ross said.

“Maybe, it is. Say goodbye to Foggy.”

“Bye, Foggy,” he said. “Before you go, can we take a picture together?”

“Sure.” I crouched down and his mother got her phone out.

“Say cheese danish.”

She took the pic and Ross handed her his phone. “Can you take one of us?”

“Sure, stand together.” She snapped a pic.

“Have a nice day.”

We stepped away from the table and closer to the counter.

“Lovely boy,” Ross said.

“Jeremy. I’ll never forget the first man to ask to touch my snakes nicely.”

“No one’s ever asked before?”

“No one’s ever asked nicely.”

“I’ll remember that.”

We purchased a dozen pastries intending to bring some of them home. We found a seat in the shop and ate one pastry each while drinking coffee.

“These are divine,” he said.

They were amazing, to a point. I found them lacking in some way I could not pinpoint.

“Is there something wrong?” Ross said. How was he so empathetic?

“No, I think my sense of taste is off.”

“That happens, doesn’t it?”

“I hadn’t noticed it before. I also haven’t had many pastries since my twist. They’re great. Don’t worry about that. I just think I expected them to be even better than they are.”

“I suppose that is a problem the bakery sometimes deals with.”

We got back in the car and started the drive back to our part of town. Ross made small talk about the scenery. It was nice to engage with him without it feeling like we were interrogating one another. At some point, I blurted out, “Have you dated a lot of girls?”

“Do you really want to know?”

“I don’t know.”

“I’ve dated two other women. The first one was just one date. We had nothing in common. The second one took three dates to figure out we had nothing in common. Why do you ask?”

“This is my first date.”

“You hadn’t dated before…?”

“No. I never had enough nerve to ask anyone.”

“Well, I hope we’re doing okay at the moment.” After an awkward silence, he said. “What do you do with your time?”

“I sculpt. I make clay sculptures.”

“That’s cool. Kind of ironic.”

“Tell me about it. I recently did a bust of Marie Applebottom. It came out quite well.”

“I’d love to see it. I wish I were artistic. My sister is. She can draw anything. But she never finishes any of her stuff.”

“Finishing is important,” I said. He allowed me to prattle on about the sculpting process and how I got into it.

“Do you really make new sculptures all the time?”

“Not really. Other than the bust of Marie and one piece, I haven’t done much sculpting at all recently.”

“Why?”

“I’ve been spending time learning how to control my trick.”

“Turning Elliot and Marie into statues.”

“Yes.”

“How long have you and Elliot been friends?”

“Since we were toddlers, I think. I use to worry I’d have a big personality change when I twisted and we wouldn’t remain friends. But, if anything, it seems we’re closer than before.”

“I wish I had a friend like that.”

“Who do you hang out with?”

“Mostly guys on the team.”

The car turned onto my street and he parked in front of my house.

“I had a lovely time,” he said.

“So did I.”

We both got out of the car and he walked me up to the front door. He handed me one of the boxes from the pasty store.

“This is for you and your family.”

“Thanks. Would you like to see my studio slash garage?”

“I would.”

I led him away from the front door to the breezeway between the house and the garage. I opened the door to the garage and turned on the light.

“Sorry about the mess. But, then, it’s always something of a mess. That part over there is Mom and Dad’s stuff. The studio is this section here.”

“Are those cloth covered things on the shelf your pieces?”

“Yes. This was the one I did before my twist.” I uncovered the bust with my face.

“It looks just like you. Except for the hair.”

“I know. I never thought it was finished. Now I know it was the hair.”

“Are you going to fix it?”

“No, I like to think this is what I would look like with hair.”

“Do you miss your hair?”

“No. I’ve gotten too use to these guys floating around my head.”

“They do give you a striking presence.”

After he had given the bust a close look, he ended up standing right next to me. I could smell his scent over the pervading scent of clay in the room. He was looking me in the eyes and I could tell my snakes were checking him out as well.

He leaned forward. I tilted my head back and closed my eyes. His lips touched mine. His hands were touching my upper and lower back, pulling me into the kiss. My arms were useless. They just hung out to the side for the first few seconds of the kiss. Then, they wrapped around him.

The door to the breezeway opened and Ross and I were suddenly three feet apart. “I’m sorry,” Mom said. “I saw the car and was wondering where you two were.”

“I was just showing him the bust I made that looks like me,” I said, pointing at the shelf.

“It’s an uncanny likeness,” Ross said.

“I’ll get out of you hair... snakes,” Mom said awkwardly and left.

Ross and I stared at each other for a moment before laughing.

“Was she more embarrassed than we were?” I said.

“Let’s say she was. It was a beautiful kiss.”

“It was.”

“I should probably go.”

“Maybe we could do something after school Monday,” I said.

“After my game Monday,” he said.

“Right. I’ll be there.”

We kissed once more for who knows how long before he left. I brought the pastries into the house. Mom and Dad were in the kitchen.

“Someone had a good date,” she said.

“He is so nice. No, not just nice. Considerate.” I told them about the encounter with Gerry.

“He sounds very thoughtful,” Mom said. “I’ve been putting this off until you felt comfortable with yourself. But, we need to schedule an appointment.”

“For what?”

“You need to see a gynecologist.”

“Um…”

“I know you don’t want to think about this. But, delaying it will only make it seem scarier.”

“Okay. But, not Monday. I’m seeing Ross after school.”

“Okay, dear.”

* * *

Elliot called me Sunday night. “Hey, how’s it going?” He said.

“You and Marie have been spending a lot of time together.”

“Yes. I heard you had a good time Saturday.”

“From who?”

“Ross posted online.”

“Oh, the pic Ross had that woman take.” I looked up his social and found the photo.

“You two look so tall. That guy next to Ross is like more than a head shorter than both of you.”

“I was in heels. Ross is really tall.”

“You both were really smiley in this pic. Was the whole date smiley?”

“We had a good time. Ross is very thoughtful.”

“Yeah? I’ve never really spoken to him. Marie thought you two looked great in the photo. So, second date?”

“We’re going to do something after his game Monday afternoon.”

“I’m so happy for you.”

MTU: Hard To Look At - Chapter 14

Over the next few days, the girls who had befriended me, including a few I met for the first time in the bathroom, gave me all sorts of contradictory tips as well as commiseration. It was what it was. I wasn’t fazed by it so much because I expected it to be horrific, I guess. Not saying it was enjoyable by any stretch of the imagination. I could deal with it just like half the population dealt with it.

Over the course of the next few weeks, Marie would join us on Friday afternoons and weekends to perform experiments. On weekends they would arrive together. For some reason this bothered me.

During that time, I had my follow up appointment with Dr. Lewis at the clinic. I decided to dress up for the appointment. He noticed immediately.

“That is a very feminine outfit. I take it your transition to a woman is going well.”

“Other than my period last week, it’s been almost unremarkable,” I said.

“Well, all teenage women come to terms with that aspect womanhood over time.”

“Yeah, if people who are women all their lives can complain about it, so can I.”

“So be it. Anything you’d like to talk about? Are you still being bullied?”

“Not as badly. The guy, Tommy, still doesn’t like me. Tried to spread rumors that I wasn’t all woman. And he encourages his buddies to help out.”

“Do you know why he would do this?”

“He’s a prick.”

“Is that all it is?”

“I never spoke to him before the first time he picked on Gordon. Can’t say I’ve ever had a conversation with him that wasn’t confrontational.”

“Do you feel you are handling these latest confrontations better or worse than you did as Gordon?”

“Better. He use to make fun of my looks. I would take that to heart no matter how many times I told myself not to. My twist made me beautiful, I’m told. So, he doesn’t have an easy way to torment me.”

“You said you’re told you’re beautiful. Do you think you are beautiful?”

“I was just being modest. It’s funny. I make clay sculptures. Before my twist I made a bust of a beautiful woman. My new face is the face I sculpted months ago.”

“That’s amazing,” Dr. Lewis said. “Anything else you want to discuss?”

“My relationship with my best friend is a bit weird.”

“Who is this friend and what’s weird?”

“Elliot’s been my best friend since we were little kids. We mutually decided we didn’t want to mess up our friendship.”

“How did he take that?”

“Just fine. I think I’m the one regretting it. He’s recently started dating someone. I don’t know how I feel about having to share him with his girlfriend.”

“Would these feelings be the same if you were still Gordon?”

“Mostly. There is a bit more subtext with my gender change.”

“You have feelings for him?”

“I’ve always had feelings for him. They hit differently now.”

“Do you like boys?”

“I think so. I’ve never dated. So, I have nothing to compare my new self to.”

“Is this Elliot’s first girlfriend?”

“Yes.”

“Do you like her?”

“Yes, she’s actually been helping Elliot and me with learning how my trick works.”

“How do they help?”

“It started with Elliot. He would have me activate my trick and walk toward him to see when he would be petrified or how long I could prevent it from happen.”

“Has this worked?”

“Yes, I’ve used my trick on one person without affecting another at various distances.”

“With permission?”

“Of course. I have only turned one person to stone without prior permission. That was the school nurse when I first twisted.”

“Elliot and Marie enjoy being petrified.”

“I think Elliot tolerates it because he’s my BFF. Marie likes it. She’s wanted me to try draining her so she ends up being petrified for more than an hour.”

“That is dangerous.”

“I haven’t done this.” I lied. “And I agree that it would be dangerous. But, they keep pointing out that in a controlled environment it would be less dangerous than if it just happened by accident.”

“This is true. I can’t order you not to experiment. Just be careful.”

* * *

The next day Marie and Elliot arrived together.

“What’s this?” Elliot asked, pointing at a piece I had just finished.

“That’s Duke,” I said. The piece was a one-foot tall replica of Duke the last time I saw him. “Dr. Hausser would always bring Duke to work but he can’t do that any more. I figured he might like this for his desk at work.”

“That’s a beautiful looking dog.”

As we started running out of new experiments, Marie convinced Elliot that getting a timing on how long taking a sip of a statue increased the duration of their petrification. I didn’t want to take chances on draining someone to death. The two of them made multiple arguments about how I needed to know everything about my hunger.

“If you do both of us, we can compare notes afterward,” Elliot said.

I rubbed the side of my boobs. I was feeling bloated. I was not in the mood to argue. I had told Dr. Lewis only recently that I wasn’t planning to practice this kind of thing because it was dangerous. I sighed and told them to pose. Marie was immediately in a majestic pose. Elliot knelt down before her as if pleading for something. I flashed them without warning and they were made of stone in a heartbeat. I tapped the timer app on my phone and then approached Marie.

“I'm going to take a sip now.” My eyelid was still open and the swirls within her were familiar. I placed my hand on her chest and waited a moment, verifying I was in control. I drew as small a sip as I could. The ambrosia within her flowed for just a second. It was still divine. I left my hand in place for a second before removing it. I repeated the process on Elliot.

While equally divine and delicious, I noticed that they tasted different. There were distinct and subtle differences between their sweet nectar and the taste of other beings I had tasted, including Mr. Hauser and even Duke.

Elliot revived about thirty seconds before she did. The clock timer said eighty-two minutes had passed. We repeated the test and, on average, my quick sip added about twenty minutes to the overall duration. I had hoped we were done.

“Did you feel the pull, Elliot?” she said.

“This time I did.”

Marie had said the sips felt like I was tugging on her somehow. “You did? It's like a rope tied around my rib cage was gently tugged when the sip happens.”

“Yeah, something like that.”

“I wonder what a longer... drink would feel like.”

“I've already said this is dangerous.”

“I am curious myself,” Elliot said.

“Not today,” I said. I finally won an argument about this. I only noticed afterward that my bloating had subsided.

* * *

Marie, Elliot, and I would each lunch together at school on the days Stacy didn’t ask me to eat with her and her friends. Those days Marie and Elliot eat lunch at a table together.

One Tuesday, while eating lunch with Stacy and her friends, I spent most of the time there watching Elliot and Marie laughing together.

“Earth to Medusa,” Melody said.

“What?”

Stacy said, “I said, are you coming with us shopping on Friday? It's been a month since our last shopping trip. You need to add a few more things to your wardrobe.”

“Fridays, I'm usually busy. Thursday would be better.”

“You let me know.”

Wednesday afternoon, Elliot and I were in my garage after school when he said, “I have a question.”

“Okay.”

“Marie and I won't be able to come over Friday night. Will that bother you?”

“How do you know Marie can't make it?”

“Because she and I are going on a date.”

My stomach twisted into a knot. “Why would that bother me?”

“I can tell you’re upset.”

“I'm not.”

“Okay. I believe you. Are you happy for me?”

The question hung in the air a little too long before I said, “Of course.”

“Medusa, my friend. I don't want to hurt you. If you say, 'Don't date, Marie,'  I won't. But, please be honest with yourself if not me.”

I sat in silence for a moment looking at the floor. “You can date anyone you want to, Elliot. I'm not a child. Yes, I think I'm a bit jealous. But, I'm also not ready to date anyone. Marie likes you. It's obvious. Find out what might develop.”

“You're sure?”

“No, I'm not sure. Just don't overthink it. You won't get rid of me by dating her. She likes being petrified too much to mess up our relationship.” I laughed.

“I suppose that's true.” He gave me a hug. “Thanks for being understanding.”

* * *

Friday morning, Tommy and Ryan made sure to be talking very loudly about women who have penises and implying I was one of them. I ignored them. But, Ryan used his trick on my shoes and I just stepped right out of them.

They laughed. “That usually works better with sneakers,” Ryan said.

“Hand me my shoes, Ryan,” I said.

“Why don't you just pick them up?”

“Because I know they probably weigh a ton by now. You will pick them up and hand them to me.”

“Sure,” he said. He picked them up and held them out.

As I reached for them, I pushed them toward him and let go. As they landed on his foot he let out a scream. Guess they were a lot heavier than they looked. The gathered crowd was laughing at him. I quickly picked up my shoes and left.

All during the shopping trip on Friday I was wondering what Elliot and Marie were doing. I swear I wasn’t mopey. But, they took me home rather than back to Melody's house for a fashion show.

I was lying on the bed staring at the ceiling when Mom tapped at my door frame. “Can I come in?” she said.

“Sure.”

“I noticed you didn’t spend any time in the garage with Elliot and Marie tonight.” She sat on my desk chair.

“It happens.”

“No, it doesn’t. Something you want to talk about?”

“Not really.” We sat in silence until I said, “They're on a date.”

“Elliot and Marie?”

“Yes.”

“A date date?”

“Is that a surprise?”

“It is. What do they have in common besides you?”

“Marie is into professional video game competitions. She knows far more about video games than I ever cared to know about it and apparently Elliot is into it, too. I never knew. She's even qualified for a semi-final for a military squad tactics game.”

“She's that good at video games?”

“She even streams. Has a ton of followers. Mostly because she’s a gorgeous girl who’s good at the games.”

“And all of this is a problem for you?”

“It isn't. And it is. I'm happy for Elliot, assuming tonight goes well. It will.”

She got up. “I know this probably doesn't help. But, the idea that one of you would have a girlfriend before the other was always something I worried about in the past. I hoped you guys would deal with it maturely. You being a woman doesn't fundamentally change the dynamic. Or does it?”

“Elliot is like a brother to me.”

“Good.”

“But, he isn't my brother.”

“Um...”

“I'm not ready for any of this. I told him not to waste an opportunity.”

“That's very mature.”

“Girls mature faster than boys.”

“We do.”

She kissed me on the forehead and left. Eventually, I fell asleep.

As I expected, the date was fabulous. They still spent Saturday with me being petrified. The first time I tried more than a sip, I slipped and Elliot turned back to flesh after three hours but Marie was still petrified.

“Three hours? How much more of sip did you take?” He said.

“It felt like maybe three or four sips worth. I'm as confused as you are.”

“How many sips did you take from Marie?”

“I messed up. Probably five or six sips worth. Based on what I can see with my special sight, she's probably got another three or fours to go.”

“At least we know she's enjoying it.”

“We also need a better unit of measure than sips.”

“I kind of like sips. It goes well with how you described how we taste.”

“What do you mean?”

“You said my life-force had a smokey flavor and hers was more floral. It's like we're expensive sipping whiskeys. So, sip seems like a great word for it.”

“I suppose it's better than comparing it to wine tasting,” I said. I changed my voice to sound more snooty, “Elliot pairs well with poultry.”

We laughed.

“How was your date?” I said after an awkward pause.

“It was good, I guess. I don't think I'm supposed to talk to my best friend about my date while my girlfriend is standing four feet away from me.”

“I'm not sure what the proper etiquette for that is,” I said, continuing in the snooty voice.

“She's fun. And when she's not like this, she's vivacious. We went for a walk in the park after dinner and she was constantly dragging me to see one cool thing then quickly to another. I'm never really seen the park before until I saw it though her eyes.”

I had brought it on myself. I smiled and said all the right things. But, I felt a small part of me dying inside. Unusual thoughts crept through my head: why couldn’t she have been boring? Why doesn't she have a terrible laugh?

She was restored after six hours and fifty minutes. They had to leave shortly thereafter.

Elliot and Marie were inseparable the next few weeks of school. I spent most lunch periods with Stacy and her posse. I still walked to school with Elliot, unless Marie drove past and picked us both up. Elliot use to spend every afternoon in my garage where we just hung out. These weeks he was only around on Tuesday and Wednesday by himself and Friday with Marie.

“I was thinking,” she said. “What happens if two people are touching when you zap them and then take a sip from one of them? The bird drew my life-force when I was holding it.”

“You just want to smooch Elliot as a statue.”

“I do.” She giggled. “Can we? You don't mind do you?”

“Just don't grope one another in front of me.”

“Okay.” She grabbed Elliot and they embraced and kissed one another.

I zapped them. They made a cute statue couple. I took a few pics because Marie was always sad when I forgot to take pics of her and Elliot as statues.

I put my phone down and opened my life-force vision. It was interesting. Some of the life force flowing through them was definitely jumping into the other where their lips met. I wondered what that meant. The stopwatch app was past ten minutes before I put my hand on Elliot's back and took a sip.

After enjoying the initial hit of his ambrosia, I notice that he tasted different. There were notes of her taste in his. There was definitely a flow of life force running from her to him.

I touched her and took a second sip. The flow passing across their lips ran into her for a few moments. Normally, one sip from each of them would last a total of eighty minutes for each of them. As I waited, I did some homework. But I was distracted and the stop watch time slipped past eighty minutes without any changes in them. The watch was at one hundred twenty-five minutes when they both reverted together.

“How long?” She asked.

“Over two hours. Just like a normal two sips of a single subject.”

“You could see us swapping life energy before the sip?” Elliot said.

“I said that out loud? I guess I did. Yes. I should have guessed you were just one statue from the trick's point of view.”

“I felt both tugs,” he said.

“Yeah, I felt when you sipped him and when you sipped me,” she said.

Talk: Contest results. No, I didn't win.

Remember the contest I posted about earlier this month? Well the contest results are in. There were a LOT of entries. Didn't expect to win, place, or show. But I did receive an honorable mention for "outstanding last line", among 6 others. Cool. Should I post the stories here? Probably will. Maybe I'll do another edit run to address some folks' concerns about who was who, in Marriage Counselor particularly.

I just noticed the person who won $50 for making the best post contest comment naming their top 3 stories picked Who Am I as their 3rd pick. (That did not roll off the tongue well at all.)

MTU: Hard To Look At - Chapter 13

How could this be? She had been holding the lifeless bird statue when I petrified her and some of her life force was now in the bird. How much had been drained from her? The bird had had no life force for over a week.

I looked at the place where she and the bird were in contact and I could see some of the red inside her moving into the bird. I grasped the bird and was able to remove it from her hand. The bird's life lines were still very faint. At least now the essence was no longer flowing from Marie to the bird.

I carried the bird into the house and sat down at the kitchen table.

“Where's the young lady?” Mom said.

“I had an incident.”

“What happened?” Daddy said.

“You remember me telling you about this bird?”

“That bird is just a statue now, isn't it?”

“Not any more. Marie was holding it when I zapped her. I went about working and three hours went by before Daddy called me to dinner. Well, this statue now has a very faint life essence. And Marie's life essence has dimmed slightly. It'll probably be a few hours before she turns back to normal.”

“We have to call her parents,” Mom said. She ran out of the room.

I just nodded.

“This wasn't your fault,” Daddy said. “In fact, this is good news.”

“It is?”

“It means if you were to accidentally drain someone to permanent stone, they could be revived.”

“That assumes the bird will eventually revive.”

“True. But, it does give you hope that it works that way.”

I ate dinner. Mom came back into the kitchen. “They were rather calm about it,” she said.

“What did you say?” Dad asked.

“I said Marie was with Medusa and she accidentally got zapped so she would be late coming home.”

“Ellen, her mother, said Marie had told her she was sleeping over tonight.”

“She said what?”

“Then she asked if I meant Marie would be late tomorrow and I had to tell her I didn't realize Marie was sleeping over. I said, never mind then, since she should be fine by tomorrow. Ellen thanked me for calling and then we talked about some parent's club school stuff before we hung up.”

“Can't really ask her anything until she's no longer stone,” I said. “But, I will get to the bottom of this.”

“I'm sure you will,” Dad said.

After I ate, I went back out to the garage. No reason to waste the added time she was a statue. It was another five hours before she moved.

“Wow, that hour seemed to drag out forever,” she said.

“It was more than an hour.”

“Did you zap me more than once?”

“No, there was a weird trick accident. It's almost one in the morning.”

“Really? I was a statue for like seven hours?” She said with glee. “I thought you said it had to be only an hour. Oh, wow, that looks so cool.”

“It's ready to be fired. I'm glad you think it came out well.”

She walked around the bust and looked closely at it, careful not to touch it. “It's an uncanny likeness.”

“So, why does your mother think you're staying the night?”

“Oh, I didn't say that. I said I might stay the night. I was hoping we could get this done in one sitting but you had implied it might take a few weeks of sittings.”

“You got your wish.”

“I got two wishes. You finished the hard part of getting the bust done in one night and I got to be a statue.” She yawned. “Can I stay the night? I'm really sleepy.”

“Sure, I guess. Let's go inside. Daddy probably stayed up to make sure you were okay after your extended petrification.”

We went inside and Mom and Daddy were both in the kitchen. Mom was eating her midnight load of carbs.

“How are you feeling, Marie?” Mom said.

“Tired. Like, really rundown.”

“You can stay here tonight. Do you want to stay in the guest room or make it a sleep over?”

“Sleep over, if that's okay with you, M?”

“Em?” I thought, then said. “Sure. Are you hungry or too sleepy?”

“Let's go to sleep.”

“G'night Mom and Dad.”

“Good night, Mr. and Mrs. Harrison.”

“Good night, Marie.”

When we got to my room, I said, “You can take the bed.”

“We could share it. Just to sleep, of course.”

“Okay, sure, of course, right.”

She took her book bag into the bathroom and changed into pajamas that she had brought with her. I was already in my pajamas when she returned. I went to the bathroom and she was in my bed, taking up the half against the wall when I returned. I got into bed next to her.

“Can you make me a statue for an entire day?”

“I don't know. I haven't explained to you what happened tonight.”

“That will have to wait until morning,” she said with a deep yawn. Several of my headsnakes were very close to her. She cupped one under the chin and said, “Good night,” to it. It flicked its tongue at her.

“Good night,” I said. But, she was already asleep.

* * *

There was a knock at my door and, half-awake, I said, “Come in.”

It was Mom. “Elliot is here. Are you two still asleep?”

I looked over at Marie still sleeping. “What time is it?”

“Nine thirty.”

“I'll be right down.” I got out of bed as gently as I could without disturbing Marie. No luck.

“Is it morning?”

“Yes. Elliot is here. You can keep sleeping if you wish.”

“Okay.” She rolled over and her breathing indicated she was asleep.

I quickly got dressed and went downstairs. Elliot was eating breakfast with Daddy. “Morning,” he said.

“Morning.” I kissed Daddy on the cheek and gave Mom a hug before sitting down.

Elliot looked like he was about to say something about missing out but instead said, “I heard about Marie and the bird.”

“It was an accident.” I added, “Thanks,” as Mom gave me a plate of food.

“A happy accident,” he said. “You can't really kill someone by accident any more.”

“Maybe. We won't know that until the bird turns back to flesh.”

“True,” he said. “She's still here? I want to ask her about being a statue for seven hours.”

“At the time, she said it had seemed longer than an hour. She wasn't sure. But, I haven't even explained to her what actually happened. She was really tired when she changed back.”

“She's still sleeping?”

“She just rolled over and went right back to sleep when I got out of bed.”

Elliot occupied the conversation, speculating about applications of this life-energy transference. Marie entered the kitchen an hour later, dressed in different clothes than she’d worn to school the previous day. She must have expected to stay the night.

“I can't believe I slept so much,” she said.

Mom put a plate of food in front of her. “You are probably starved.”

“Oh, god, I am.” She sat down and wolfed half of it down almost as fast as Mom could eat. “I feel like a pig. Why am I so hungry?”

“Probably because you donated some of your life-force to a dead bird.”

“I did what?”

I explained how the bird was purely a statue until the accident. I went into detail about how I can see these life-force energies and how I feed on them. And I explained that the bird now had life-force energy again.

“I jump started the bird.”

“Or the statue somehow stole your energy and the bird is still dead. We won't know that if and until the bird comes back to life.”

After an awkward pause, Elliot said, “Now, can I ask Marie what it was like being a statue for seven hours? I've spent more than seven total hours as a statue but not for more than an hour at a time.”

I shrugged.

“It was amazing,” she said. “You've been zapped multiple times? You're so lucky.”

Elliot started describing our experiments and Marie bombarded him with so many questions she heard about every experiment in excruciating detail.

“I want to help,” she said at the end. “You zapped Elliot's brother without hitting Elliot. You probably need a lot more practice with that.” She was looking at me expectantly.

“That would be great. Although you seem to want to be a statue more than not.”

“Really?” Elliot said.

“I do,” Marie said. “I want to be a statue at an art show or something. Spend a day or a week in one spot being looked at by passersby. It would be so cool.” She sighed.

“I suppose we could practice the transference and find out how to time it so you would know how long the resulting stoning would last,” Elliot said.

Daddy looked like he was going to interject, but said nothing after I said, “I don't know how comfortable I'd be with that.”

“We don't have to start there,” she said. “It's not like there's an art show waiting for me to be exhibited there.”

“You should call your mother,” Mom said. “I may have scared her last night.”

She got up from the table. “Okay, I'll make the call and then meet you in the garage?”

“Okay.”

Elliot and I left the kitchen. Daddy cleared the plates.

“She's interesting,” Elliot said.

“I know.”

“This looks great,” he said, indicating the bust.

“Thanks. I'll fire it after our first experiment. Speaking of which. Go out into the breezeway. I want to take a look at the bird.”

“Gotcha.”

When the door closed, I opened my inner eyelid and inspected the bird. Its colored lines were improved from last night. It was a little disconcerting, I thought, to think this bird was tied into an alternate dimension now. And that link was filling it with life.

There was a knock at the door and I closed my inner eyelid.

“Ready, M?”

“Come in.”

“Are we going to experiment with the bird?”

“No, I was just looking to see what it's life force looked like. It's better. No idea how long it will take to fill up though.” I put the bird back on a shelf, out of the way.

“A selective petrification experiment, then?”

“When do you have to leave?”

“Mom wants me home by four so we could do four or five experiments if we get started right away.”

We started with me trying not to turn either of them to stone at I approached them. I managed to get within five feet of them before she transformed. I was startled when it happened and Elliot was transformed as well.

I spent the hour getting the bust glazed and ready for the kiln.

“Your eyes look so cool when you do that,” Marie said.

Elliot transformed back to normal as she spoke. “I never mentioned that, did I? But, it true. There's like a green glow to them but the vertical yellow color pierces the glow.”

“Thanks, I guess. I suppose I'll never get to see it.”

We tried that experiment for the next few hours. I was able to get within two feet of Elliot before he was petrified the final attempt. But, Marie always was petrified before he was.

Marie reluctantly drove home as it was nearly four o'clock. She returned on Sunday for more experimentation. She always volunteered to be the one who got petrified.

That morning before she arrived, there were some spots of blood in my underwear. I almost panicked until I realized what this probably meant. Welcome to womanhood, me. When I went down to breakfast, I must have had an inquisitive look on my face.

Mom immediately asked, “What's wrong, honey?”

“I think I have to put to practice the mother-daughter talk we had.”

She disappeared and reappeared even faster than I thought was possible for her. She was holding a small pink box from a store aisle I was not use to being in.

“Did you notice any discomfort last week? Feeling bloated or tenderness?” She said.

“Maybe. I'm not use to how I feel like this normally.”

“I'll ask you next month. You should start to bleed tomorrow or Tuesday.”

“Great.”

“Sarcasm is an excellent coping mechanism.”

MANIP - Sasha! No!

Just a bit of fun.

Transcript

Sasha! No, no, Sasha! I know you're horny. But, don't cast the spell before you get in the... front seat. That look on your face. You know. You... know...

Crap. Now I have to figure out how to fold you up so you fit in the seat. I swear. Sometimes I think you enjoy forcing me to take you apart so I have to carry you from the car to the apartment piece by piece. The more trips the more likely it is people will notice and find out your secret desire to be a mannequin. That's what you want. Fine. Maybe I'll remove one of your hands and leave it here in the desert.

You'd like that, wouldn't you? I can just imagine you orgasmed as soon as I said it.

MTU: Hard To Look At - Chapter 12

Thursday morning, Elliot and I were walking to school together. A car pulled up beside us. It was Stacy. “Get in,” she called from driver seat. “Melody, get in back. Her legs are so long she can't fit in the back.”

“What about me?” Elliot said.

Stacy looked at me and then said, “This time, okay.”

Elliot sat behind me. I had to adjust the seat so it was all the way back and still my knees where pressed against the dashboard.

“Thanks. What's the occasion?” I said.

“I wanted to invite you to the mall after school. You really need better clothes.”

“Pardon my interrupting,” Elliot said. “I know you'd rather be dead than be seen with me. But, why are you being so nice to Medusa?”

“That's none of your business,” Stacy said.

“I suppose that's fair,” he said. “But, you should tell her.”

“I will,” she said. She looked at me, “I will. But, not here. So, are you coming to the mall with me after school?”

“Sure, I guess,” I said.

“I'm not inviting you, Elliot,” Stacy said.

“Don't worry. I wouldn't want to be invited on a shopping trip.”

“You could use a makeover,” Melody said.

“No thanks.”

“But, you wear such frumpy clothes. Change out those shapeless tees for some polo shirts and you could look sharp.”

“I could look sharp?”

“You'd still be a loser. But at least it wouldn't be offensive to look at you.” After a moment Melody laughed. “You believed me, didn't you?”

“Which part? Am I actually offensive to look at or a total loser?”

“Neither,” Melody said. “I guess I've never looked at you up close.”

“Please stop flirting with Elliot, Mel,” Stacy said. She parked the car and everyone got out.

People in the parking lot took note that we were getting out of Stacy's car and walking to the entrance with her.

“Meet me back here after last bell and we'll hit the mall.”

“Okay.”

Classes went as well as they had been going this week. No one knew about my drama with Duke and I had already become last week's news when a freshman I didn’t know twisted, she had been flat chested last week. Now she had two, perhaps three, pairs of breasts of sizable girth. This problem was compounded by her near constant lactation. Rumors were going around that she spent most of her time attached to a milking machine.

I understood how she might feel less than human. She did not seem to have any down time at school that matched my own as I did try to seek her out to see if she wanted to talk about it.

Shortly after lunch, I was stopped in the hall by Marie. “Hi, G- Medusa,” she said.

“Hi.”

“We were supposed to get together last Friday but you were out that day.”

“Sorry. We never exchanged phone numbers or I would have called you.”

“Are you available tomorrow?” She said as we exchanged phone numbers.

“I suppose so.”

“Good. I'm only available on Fridays.”

“Okay. See you then.”

“Sounds great.” She gave me a friendly hug and walked away in the opposite direction to where I was going.

The rest of the day slipped by and soon I was in the parking lot with Stacy, Melody, and Tess, three of the most popular girls in school.

“Why are we doing this?” Tess said.

“Because it'll be fun.” Melody said.

“Okay.”

We arrived at the mall and they led me to store after store where they tried to find clothes that would look good with my wild proportions and oddly colored skin. They spoke in a cryptic code of colors and styles. They explained to me how sometimes a top was just a top and sometimes it was a blouse.

When they saw my stomach was naturally buff, they traded out some clothes that were keepers for some more mid-riff baring clothing. I spent a lot of time going in and out of the changing rooms and being met with anything from flat nos to mehs to wolf whistles. Melody was disappointed I couldn’t wear pants, pantsuits, or leggings. They had me try on sheer hosiery but the normal colors for hosiery did not go with the coppery tone of my skin. Tess suggested mail ordering silver colored hosiery.

I had to admit I was having fun when we hit the food court several hours later and we had a bunch of bags we were all carrying. They did buy a few things for themselves and each of them paid for some of my things, mostly when I was not aware they were buying something for me.

We went back to Melody's home, she supposedly had the largest bedroom with the largest full length mirror. Here the lessons continued with mixing and matching all the clothes I had bought.

“It's too bad you can't wear a hat,” Tess said.

My snakes, who had be relatively quiet all day, hissed at the comment.

“Did they just wake up?”

“I have no idea what they do or don't understand when I'm not focusing on them.”

“That must be so weird,” Melody said. “Having parts of your body that can just do stuff if you aren't paying attention to them.” She looked at particular snake. “Can I pet you?”

The snake reached toward her and rested its head in her palm. She stroked the back of its head with her other hand.

“This isn't weird is it?” She asked me.

“I'm not sure. But, you don't have to stop.”

“Oo, I want to try,” Tess said and she reached for me too fast.

“Wait, no!” I said, too late. The snake she had been reaching for was cool. But a different one had freaked out and bit her. The snake Melody had been holding whipped back out of her hand.

“Ow,” Tess cried out and shook her hand. Before she could say anything else she stopped moving.

“What just happened?”

I shook my head. “What's the time?” I said. “Tess has become test subject number one for the paralytic poison my snakes' bites.”

“You paralyze and petrify people?”

“Usually not on purpose.”

“Usually?”

“Elliot has be helping me learn the extent of my abilities so, occasionally, I have turned him to stone on purpose.”

“What's that like?” Melody said.

I noticed Stacy seemed very interested in my answer. “Well, I wouldn't know myself. But, from what Elliot, Nurse Rhymes, and others have said, it's very calming. If no one is engaging with the statue, they lose track of time and the hour or so that the petrification lasts might only seem like a couple minutes.”

“Can you do it to me?” Melody said.

“Well, not while we're waiting to see how long Tess is paralyzed for. And I don't know if you want us hanging around while you are indisposed for an hour.”

“You can do me when you are ready to leave. I'll tell my parents not to disturb me and to see you out.”

“If you insist.”

The topic drifted to school work and boys. Stacy did not stop Melody from talking about a few of the cute boys she saw in class today. But neither of them seemed to expect me to join in if I did not want to.

About forty minutes passed before Tess grunted. She still could not move, apparently. But, it was the first sound we had heard from her in a while. As more moments passed, she was able to make small movements and soon able to talk. She had been saying, “What happened?”

I explained to her about the poison and asked her if she had not heard about the poison warning in school.

She had thought it was an exaggeration. It was another half hour because she could move sufficiently to walk but her movements were still obviously stiff. “Isn't your petrification instantaneous? Why did this take so long?”

“Do you want the long answer?” I said. “The venom is just a toxin. It has to get into your system. And then it has to get out of your system. So, you get to feel like you did as the poison gets out of your bloodstream. The petrification is a quantum effect much like twists are quantum effects. One moment you are flesh and blood and the next moment you are stone.”

As it was getting late, Stacy and Tess said goodbye to Melody and said they would meet me downstairs. I turned to watch them leave her room and watched them go downstairs. When I heard them talking to Melody's parents I went back into her bedroom where she was out of her clothes.

“Can you take some pictures, too, before you leave?”

“The camera cannot be active when I do it. I broke a lot cameras at the institute.”

“Okay. Just take them after I'm stoned.” She said with a giggle.

“Like I haven't heard that before.”

“You should get use to it. Stoned is easier to say than petrified.” She set her feet shoulder width apart and cocked her right hip out. She put her right hand on that hip and placed her left hand on her head. “How do I look?”

“Great. Ready?”

She turned her head a little to the left so she could see the mirror and said, “Do it.”

I did. I then picked up her phone and took a few pictures of her. I took another pic with my phone before saying, “Enjoy an hour of stillness.”

“Did you do it?” Melody's mother said.

“Yes, your daughter is a statue at the moment. Should last about an hour.”

“Okay, well, you girls get home safe.” As she closed the front door behind us I could hear her rushing up the stairs.

On the ride to Tess' house, she said, “I kind of want to have you do me, too. But, not tonight. I'm still a bit out of it from being poisoned.”

“Some other time. Sure,” I said.

After Tess was dropped off, Stacy drove me home. “You never did ask me why I'm being nice to you.”

“I figured you would tell me when you needed to.”

“That just makes me feel worse. I tried to get Jenny to talk sense into Tommy about picking on Gordon. She tried but failed to get him to ease up. Eventually he convinced her I was trying to break them up so I could date Tommy.”

“Were you?”

“Date Tommy Radner? He isn't all that,” she said with a sneer. “I invited Jenny to come with us this afternoon. She isn't talking to me apparently.”

“I hope I didn't...”

“Shut up. You didn't do anything. Why are you so nice?”

I did not answer.

We drove in silence for several blocks before she continued, “My cousin was put down after her twist.”

“I--”

She pushed forward over my attempt to give condolences. “She was reading some weird book and she turned into an obscene tentacle monster covered in eyes and mouths. She ripped her brother in half and devoured part of him. My aunt and uncle managed to flee from the house. The authorities put several dozen bullets into her before she stopped moving. The autopsy said she probably was unaware that she killed Eddie because she was probably disoriented by having too many eyes and mouths in random parts of her limbs. She probably could still be alive today except the people who first responded overreacted.

“When I heard they thought you had kill Mrs. Rhymes, I had a panic attack. I thought I was going to witness in school what I heard had happened to my cousin. You even have more eyes and mouths than usual, like she did.”

I did not respond immediately. Then I said, “What was her name?”

“Rebecca.” She said. “We had always wanted to go to the same college when were old enough.”

“Well, I’m sorry you had to worry about me.”

“You didn’t need to say that.”

“I'm just lucky to have people who care about me. Including you.”

She parked the car, as we had arrived at my home. She hit a button to open the trunk of the car. “Do you need help carrying stuff inside?”

“No, I am much stronger now than I once was.”

She pointed at my snakes and said, “Behave!” My snakes, as one, recoiled. She gave me a kiss on the cheek before they could react. “Have a good night,” she said.

“Good night.” I got out of the car and grabbed my bags from the trunk. After I closed the trunk, she drove away.

Mom entered my room as I was unpacking the bags. “Did you have fun with the girls?”

“Elliot told you, didn't he?”

“You didn't tell me.”

“I said I'd be out late with friends.”

“Elliot was more forthcoming.”

“He needs a good talking to.”

“These are lovely clothes. I suppose these popular girls thought the clothes we bought together were too old for you.”

“Your tastes are apparently not those of teens today.”

“Probably true.” She held up a tube top. “Is this even allowed by the school dress code?”

“Not normally. But, I have a registered shoulder compulsion that means they might have to allow it.”

“Did the girls suggest that?”

“No. They didn't know about the compulsion.”

“Medusa!”

I shrugged.

* * *

After school Friday, Marie gave me a ride home. Elliot was nowhere to be found so I assumed he was giving me some space with Marie. Though, I wasn’t sure why.

We talked mostly about school. She complimented me on my outfit, one of the new ones I had bought the day before. When we entered my garage, I pointed out the chair she should sit in so I could start her bust.

“I was wondering,” she said. “It'll probably be boring just sitting here. I heard when you did your trick, time seems to go by faster.”

“Are you asking me to petrify you?”

“Do you mind?”

“Only because I realize you asked Gordon to make a bust of you. So, it's not like you planned for him to be able to petrify you. This is a new idea you've had.”

“Well, yes, since your twist I've wondered what it would feel like. But, no, it's not the first time I've wondered about that. Athena and Perseus were the villains of the myth.”

“Let's talk about that later when the light is less natural. It only lasts an hour.”

“Then, you can keep doing it to me until the bust is complete.”

“Fine. Stand up. I was only having you sit so you would be comfortable. Standing I won't have to lean down to check out the details.”

She stood up. “Should I smile?”

“A slight Mona Lisa smile is good. A big toothy grin would just be scary on a bust.”

This caused her to smile naturally and I flashed her into stone before she even knew what was happening.

“Hope it was everything you hoped it would be.” I said. I snapped a pic of her before getting into the clay. I already had a bust started with the head a bit too big and waiting to reveal Marie within the clay.

The hour passed quickly and I was so in the zone I was startled when she laughed.

“That wasn't fair,” she said. “I had no warning. And it was exactly what I had hoped for. Can I see the pic?”

I unlocked my phone and handed it to her.

“That's so fabulous. It's too bad it only lasts an hour.”

“Why is that bad?”

“I'd love to be in an art gallery standing there as a statue for a weekend. Being seen by people and they have no idea I'm alive watching them look at me.” She looked at the sculpture. “Wow, it already resembles me a bit.”

“Got started with the gross structure, eye placement, cheekbones, etc. Once all those proportions are correct, I'll then spend time getting all the little detail right. Ready for another hour?”

“You didn't say you couldn't make last longer.”

“No, I didn't. But, I'm not going to do anything like that without your parents' permission. My folks would flip if I experimented with making your petrification last longer than usual.”

“Why?”

“I should not tell you this. If you tell anyone I'll deny telling you. Swear you won't tell anyone.”

“I swear.”

“Check out that bird on that shelf.”

“Did you do that?”

“I did that a couple days after my twist.”

“It's been a statue for a couple weeks.”

“And it will remain a statue forever.”

“That's so cool.”

“Until they throw me into a jail cell forever. Then, it's not so cool. I'm fairly certain this would not happen to you. But, I don't think your parents or a judge will be happy hearing me say, I warned her this might happen and I told her I was fairly certain she'd be fine.”

“I get it. So, just hit me for an hour.”

She settled her face into a nice smirk and I flashed her to stone. I got into a good grove and got a lot more done than I thought I would.

Daddy entered the garage. “Are you and your client coming to dinner?”

“What?” I said distracted. “What time is it?”

“Almost seven o'clock,” he said. “That really does resemble the young woman whom I assume wanted to be a statue.”

“You have to admit, standing still for a bust is much easier when you can't move.”

“I suppose so.”

“Well, when she's normal again, come to dinner.”

“We will.”

After he left I looked at Marie. She should have turned back to normal two hours ago. I had been so in the zone I had no idea I had been sculpting for three hours straight. She was holding the bird statue. I opened my life-sight and she seemed normal, slightly dimmer than I would have expected. The bird also had life lines in it.

MTU: Hard To Look At - Chapter 11

It. Was. Divine. I had to have more! More! But, I did not take more. I took my hand away with my trick still active. I was in control, at least I was when I was not starving for the stuff. "That's it. Now you just have to wait it out."  I closed my eyes and opened them. The urge subsided a bit.

I walked back inside. "I'm done," I told the others. They went outside to see Douglas.

There were a few interesting art pieces in the foyer where I waited. They returned in a few minutes as I was looking at a lithograph of a Dali painting.

"Do you like Dali?" Betty asked.

"Of course, though my normal tastes are of the classics. Probably because I can't paint nearly as well as I sculpt."

"You sculpt and your trick petrifies people? How ironic."

"Tell me about it. I never really got to work in stone before. I might stick to clay in my artwork."

"Have you made anything noteworthy? "

"Those bookends for my sister had some wonderful cherubs on them," Daddy proclaimed proudly.

"Actually I did something better. I sculpted my current face. There is a bust in the garage with my new face with hair that I made several months before my twist."

"Why didn't you ever show it to us?" Mom asked.

"Because I always thought it wasn't quite finished. Maybe it was because it has hair instead of snakes." I answered. "But enough about me, I'm wondering what the story is behind twisting into a human-cat hybrid, if you don't mind."

"I've told that story many times but I'm guessing you haven't heard it." Betty began. "My twist is unusual because it happened when I was two. I fell into the leopard enclosure at the zoo. The momma leopard protected me from the other leopards and licked my head wound clean? The zookeepers quickly moved the other leopards to another enclosure. But, they had to tranquilize the leopard protecting me. As she fell, I twisted. I spent a lot of time with occupational therapists relearning how to walk."

"Makes me feel a little guilty since I adapted to my snake form instinctively." I said.

"Oh, don't feel guilty, I was only two and crawling had suddenly become very natural and faster, too." Betty paused mischievously. "Has your father ever shared his twist with you?"

Strangely, my mother reacted with outrage, "Why would he share his trick with his child?"

"Calm down, Silvia," Daddy implored.

"Oh, gods, no, Silvia," Betty replied in embarrassment. "I asked about his twist, not his trick."

Mom seemed somewhat confused, "How are they different? "

Daddy was shaking his head. "You do know how to make things interesting, Betty. They are very different. I doubt Medusa would be pleased to find out what my trick is. But, no, Betty, only my parents, you, and I know the secret of my twist."

"There's a secret you never told me from when you were a teenager?" Mom asked sadly.

"I'm sorry, Gregory," Betty explained. "I thought Silvia knew. It's nothing bad. In fact it's extremely ironic."

"I'll tell them," Daddy interrupted. He paused before starting. "There's a reason you've never seen a picture of me as a child. I was born as a girl."

"You weren't always male?" Mom asked, obviously relieved.

"Well, that's debatable," he continued. "I hated everything about being a girl. I hated frilly stuff. I hated dolls. I always wanted the trucks and airplanes. I always ran around with the boys. I played sports all the time with the guys, and beat them often.

"In high school, I never hung out with the girls. My circle of friends treated me as one of the guys. Those friendships became strained when I started dating one of the cheerleaders. To this day I'm not sure if she was gay or just experimenting.

"My twist was the answer to what I thought was an impossible dream. I finally felt how I always thought I was supposed to feel. My twist occurred while I was with my girlfriend and that's all I'm going to say about that.

"We broke up shortly after my twist. My guy friends continued to be my guy friends. That's the story."

"Why wouldn't you tell me that story?" Mom asked.

"Because it wasn't important," he answered. "I've always felt I was male. Twisting only took away the doubt from others. Since you've only known me as I basically appear now, why would I complicate things with something that happened in the past. I suppose it kind of matters now only because of Medusa's twist."

"Does Shawna actually exist?" I asked.

I had been silent throughout the story so they all suddenly looked at me. Betty spoke first, "You told her about Shawna Jelicho?"

"Well, Dad asked me on the day I twisted to help him understand women since my perspective was different. I thought it was because he wanted to understand his friend who also changed from male to female." I turned from looking at Betty to Daddy, "You’re still trying to understand yourself, aren't you?"

He just nodded without looking at us.

I excused myself and went to the bathroom. When I got out, Betty was hovering nearby. She asked, "Do you want to see Duke?"

"I don't think so. I can't decide if I should get to know him before I have to... you know."

"Yes, that makes sense, too."

There was an awkward pause as I debated my next question, "What can you tell me about my father's trick?"

"Are you sure you want to know?"

I nodded.

She sighed. "Without getting explicit, your father can do something probably no one else can do with his, um, you know," she held the end of her tail suggestively.

My eyes rolled. "Tell me. I'd rather know than regret not asking and I can tell he’ll never tell me."

Though we were alone, she whispered, "He can detach it when it's erect."

"That's enough details, I think," I announced.

She had a faint smile, "I was only interested in whether you knew he was a girl. You asked about the rest."

"I did," I admitted. "Duke is a quiet dog. I have no idea where you keep him."

Betty seemed glad for the topic change. "He had his own room on the other side of the house. I don't normally go over there," she admitted. She then saw the question in my face and added. "Cats don't get along with dogs."

"Another compulsion?"

"I suppose. Douglas knows we aren't getting another dog once Duke is gone. I suppose that's why he's interested in having Duke preserved."

So much for changing the subject. Thankfully Mom entered, "Oh, there you are. Douglas returned to normal. He's going to get Duke and bring him to the den."

"I'm going to my room while you deal with Duke." Betty said.

Mom just nodded knowingly as Betty went one way and we went the other. The den was empty. Mom sat down and looked at me with her worried look. "Are you sure you want to do this? No one will be upset if you decide not to do it."

"I'm fine," I laughed. "I thought you were worried about what we found out about Daddy." I looked at her again and asked, "Should I ask if you are okay?"

"I'll be fine. I'm just surprised. I can understand why he never brought it up. It certainly explains his mantra for the Twisted: what you are may not be what you become." I could not tell if she was trying to convince me or herself why he never mentioned it.

After an awkward silence, Daddy entered, "Douglas is taking Duke on one last walk." He sat down on the sofa Mom sat on, though he left an awkward gap between them.

Mom and I nodded then the silence resumed.

"What was your name?" I asked, breaking the silence.

"What?"

"Your birth name. I doubt it was Gregory."

"Oh, right," he replied. "I was born Harriet Harrison. When I was young I always assumed I'd marry my way out of the double Harries. I was apparently named for my mother's mother before she knew my father."

"Why Gregory?"

"It had three syllables, like Harriet, and Harry was not an option."

Douglas entered with Duke. Mom and Daddy slipped out of the room while Douglas spoke calmly to Duke. He turned to me and said, "I'm sure you'll get him in a good pose.”

“I have to ask you. What did it feel like?”

“Oh, you don't know. Yes, it didn't hurt. But, I definitely felt something. I can't really describe it. Being stone is very calming. And I heard you say you were about to do it. It was like a feather stroking my chest. I guess.” He paused. “Do you want his leash?

"No, and remove his collar. We don't want it deforming his fur."

"Right," he agreed. "Stay, Duke." He seemed like he was about to say something else but instead he turned and left.

"Stay," I commanded. I placed myself about ten feet away and commanded, "C'mere, boy. C'mon!"

Duke perked up and, with difficulty, raised up on his legs, then he started toward me. After a few steps his gait looked more natural. About a foot away, I did it.  The color drained away in a second. Using my sight, I shifted one of his legs for added stability.

I went to the hallway and found Douglas crying on Daddy's shoulder. I turned and entered the kitchen, finding Mom eating leftovers from dinner while Betty spoke.

Betty stopped as I entered, "Is it done?"

"No, I was going to have Douglas look at the pose before I made it permanent."

"Just finish, he trusts your judgment more than he trusts his resolve."

I nodded and returned to the den. Duke was where I had left him. He did look natural, like he was going somewhere. I was suddenly nervous. I opened my inner eyelids. The colors within Duke were familiar but off in some ways. Were those dark patches disease? His paws and joints had lots of dark spots. I placed my palms on his chest and drew forth the ambrosia like stuff. While still awesome, there was something a little off about draining Duke. I consumed it quickly and soon no colors danced in the stone statue that was all that remained of Duke.

I closed my eyes completely and sobbed. No one interrupted me for what may have been a long time. Finally, all cried out, I got up and entered the hallway. Only Daddy was there. He looked at me expectantly and I just gave him a quick nod as I passed him. I heard him walk into the den as I proceeded to the kitchen.

"It's time to go, Mom," I announced.

She just stood up without question. "I'll call you tomorrow, Betty." She stated. Betty led us out, heading for the hall closet to get our coats.

Daddy met us in the hallway and followed us out without a word.

* * *

When I got home I went to my room and locked the door. I got undressed and transformed into my snake-hybrid form. I wrote “Back tomorrow” on a piece of paper and slipped it under my door. I dropped my tail out the window and slithered into the woods as fast as I could. Not being out of my mind, I thought my speed was slightly higher than my old running speed. I couldn’t be sure.

I concentrated on the way my tail pushed me forward. I could feel it gripping and ungripping the ground in a rapid cycle to get me slithering forward, serpentine-style. I had to really study how snakes move. I wondered if I could sidewind, not that I was sure what that entailed.

The woods behind the house were rather deep. I must have traveled about a mile from the house before I picked out a nice clearing to coil up and relax in. My tail was long enough that I could coil myself into a cocoon that wrapped my entire human torso within the coils of my lower half. It was rather comfortable and I eventually fell asleep.

I was still dark when I woke up. I felt better. My head was clear and for the first time since I was alone with Duke, I did not feel like I needed to burst into tears. Part of me wondered if I was actually better or was I now just uncaring and cold. I didn’t think I couldn’t care. I figured I was fine because I was wondering if I was not fine. Or something.

My life-sight, I needed a name for my psychedelic sight that did not imply illicit drugs and life-sight seems to fit the bill. My life-sight was active when I woke up. I heard something land with a thud nearby. It was a squirrel. Or what remained of a squirrel. The statue had cracked in half when it landed. I picked up the two halves and looked at them. All the colored lines within the statue looked normal except there the crack was where the color seemed to glow out of the statue. I pressed the two halves together and the glow stopped shining out of the statue. But as soon as I let go, the halves would separate. I tried fusing the two halves together in the same way I had gotten the bird's head to turn. After a few tries, the statue felt whole again.

I closed my inner lid and left the squirrel on a rock. I wished I had brought my sketch book with me. The little grove I was in was very pretty. I lost track of time and I did not notice the squirrel get up and scamper off until it was already clinging to a tree some forty feet away. I had repaired the broken statue. That also made me feel good.

I stood up. Well, I didn’t actually stand as I had no legs at the time. I lifted my torso above my abdomen and attained vertical balance. I think I will call that standing up from now on. I stood up and started to head home. Looking at the sky, it would probably be around noon when I got there.

Halfway there, I saw Eliot walking toward me. He called out my name but we were really too far apart for easy communication. I just waved at him and he jogged toward me.

“Do you mind that I'm here?” He said.

“Why would I mind?” I said continuing toward the house. He fell into step next me. He refrained from trying to look at me as my head was over two feet above his.

“Your Mom and Dad were worried about you.”

“I left a note.”

“'Back tomorrow.' Could you have been any less reassuring?”

“No note? Or maybe if I’d written ‘I have become death.’ in blood.”

He laughed. “You seem in better spirits than how they described you.”

“I am better.”

“Great.”

“No, not great. Just better.”

“Will you do it again?”

“I’ll have to. But, I don't think it will be nearly as traumatic as the first time.”

“Few things are more traumatic than the first time.”

“Yeah, that kind of bothers me. I hope it never feels routine.”

“Medusa, the great thing about you is worry about all the right things.”

“I do?”

“You worry about others. You worry about yourself becoming complacent. You worry about how your literal food feels. You probably worry about letting down your guard against worrying too much.”

“That does cross my mind occasionally.”

“Well, I'm your cheerleader. I'm here to remind that you've already worried enough about all these things and it's time to stop worrying at all.”

“You're a good friend.”

“The best friend. And your best friend.”

I laughed. We traveled in silence for a bit before he started talking about a video game that was due to be release next month.

My parents were low key when I got home. I coiled in a corner of the living room and said, “Have you heard from Betty or Douglass?”

“Betty called,” Mom said. “They’re fine. How are you?”

“I'm okay. No yearning desire to do it again but also no revulsion against doing it again.”

Elliot did not suggest that we do any practice today and I did not bring it up either. After some gaming and dinner, Elliot went home. After some homework and light reading I went to bed.