In a world almost but not quite like our own where bodies change on a monthly basis, a young woman feels conflicted about her sexuality.

Originally published as part of the anthology, "Irresistible, Kissable: A TG Mixed Tape"

T-minus 00:00:15. The roads are nearly empty. The car idles.

Casey moans and as she moans her voice deepens and her skin stretches and ripples in ways that hide, reveal, then hide again the changing shape of the body beneath and, as her labia parts and Rachel licks the base of the ripening testes pushing through, Casey moans louder and runs her hand through Rachel’s hair as it darkens, writhes, grows longer and spills down over Rache’s neck and upper back, drawing Casey’s gaze to the hour-glassing waist and swelling arse, and moans even louder still as he feels his lovers tongue tickling the nub that will become his penis, and then Casey is breathless and gasping as Rachel kisses her way upwards and he grasps for her now full and heaving chest and then their lips meet and she straddles him and takes his ejaculating cock inside her.

She gently pushes him away.

Reorientation started as pure smut. It gained a bit more substance as I wrote it, but when I set out I didn’t have much else on my mind except for “I’m going to write a scene where the characters transform while having sex; I haven’t read or seen anything like that before.”

Originally the story was set in BobH’s Changeday Universe, which takes its name from an event which causes everybody on the planet, for as yet unknown reasons, to transform into an opposite-gendered counterpart every month. It seemed to me that since the moment of transformation is known in advance that people would schedule their live accordingly and some would see the moment of transformation as an opportunity for sexual experimentation.

The opening conversation in the car was my solution to the self-imposed challenge to “establish the setting quickly and concisely and without using exposition.” The idea was to have the characters talk briefly about a topic unique to the Changeday world and that got me thinking about a few things including how people would cope with switching back and forth between sexualities. In most cases the change would be from female heterosexuality to male heterosexuality or vice versa. But there’d also be people who’d switch from homosexual to straight, and those people interested me.

When a person belongs to a group that deviates from the societal norm – such as the LGBT community, or one of the many migrant communities, or communities for people with certain disabilities, etc. – especially when that group is a stigmatised one, a common response is for that person to make belonging to whatever group they belong to a deep down core part of their identity. What would happen to such a person if they lost that part of themselves?

This was my first draft. I’ve annotated the bits that stayed the same.

T-minus 00:00:15. The roads are nearly empty. The car idles.

(I like to think the countdown is a dramatic way of getting across the cyclical nature of the transformation. It also dictated the clipped style of the piece. I wanted the story to read like it was ticking alongside the countdown.)

Stephanie drums her fingers on the wheel.

Virginia fiddles a switch. The automatic windows rise and fall. Glass and rubber seals kiss and part. Virginia prattles.

(I like the kiss and part line. I wrote the ending to resonate with it.)

“And just… Garhhh. Your Dad is such a pig Stephie.”

“She’s a different person during her month but. More assertive. Confident. It bleeds over a bit.” Stephanie checks the car clock. T-minus ten. “Don’t you think?”

(Some beta readers found the countdown confusing. I think there are enough clues - such as during her month - to work out that it goes DAYS: HOURS: MINUTES)

“Baby steps?”

Ten seconds.

(Yet another clue re. how the countdown works)

Five seconds.

Virginia moans and as she moans her voice deepens and her crema skin turns espresso black and stretches and ripples in ways that one second hide and the next reveal the changing shape of the body beneath and, as her labia parts and Stephanie licks the base of the ripening testes pushing through, Virginia moans louder and runs her hand through Stephanie’s hair, which is alive and writhing, curling and growing longer and spilling down over Stephie’s neck and upper back and drawing Virginia’s gaze to the hour-glassing waist and swelling arse, and moans even louder still as he feels his lovers tongue tickling the nub that will become his penis, and then Virgil is breathless and gasping as Stephanie kisses her way upwards and he grasps for her now full and heaving chest and then their lips meet and she straddles him and takes his ejaculating cock inside her.

(Well the earth certainly moved for them! The change in style here is meant to convey a sense of overwhelming sensation and the rhythm of the act that they are engaged in.)

T-minus 29:22:15.

She gently pushes him away.

The Setting: For my story I decided to make my two characters a lesbian couple and have them turn into a straight couple. To make this work I took a liberty with the universe and decided that there would be rare people who’d change into a different body but of the same gender. This was shot down by Bob, hence the change.

The Names: In the Changeday universe most people adopt a different name to match their new gender during their changed months. However, a couple of my Beta readers weren’t sure if Virgil and Virginia were the same person (they are). To make the story flow better I changed Virginia to a name that is traditionally applicable to every gender and Stephanie to a name that complimented this new name better. I don’t know about anyone else but I think that rhyming names sound odd.

The Ending: At the end of the story Stephanie/Rachel finds it impossible to reconcile her own self-image with the person she is and the situation she’s in and pushes Virgil/Virginia/Casey away (for good, or is it just a momentary thing is up to you to decide). Most of my Beta readers had trouble picking up on this in the earlier version. Hopefully it comes across more clearly in the version that was included in Irresistible, Kissable.

I’m putting another Mixed Tape collection together (you can read Irresistible, Kissable here and the first collection, Miniskirts, here). If you want to be part of it e-mail me at [email protected]. Let me know if you’re interested in the comments.

The guidelines are:

• Write a short piece no longer than 500 words (such as the story above). Apart from that limit, write whatever you want. However, I do want the Mixed Tapes to showcase a wide variety of stories – from the serious, to the silly, to the erotic – and because of this, this time around, I’m especially interested in stories focusing on female to male transformations and realistic pieces dealing with gender dysphoria and the day to day lives of LGBT protagonists. I feel that there haven’t been enough of these types of stories in these collections so far.

• Write a short “Also by this author” blurb.

• The finished anthology will be published on Big Closet, TG Storytime and Fictionmania. Make sure you have accounts set up on all three sites (all are free to join). I want to get as many authors credited on each site as possible.

Submissions are due by Sunday the 15th of June 2014. All contributors will be sent a copy of the collection before it's published. If you read it and decide that you do not want your work to be represented in it then you may withdraw your contribution. Publication will occur sometime (hopefully early) during the last week of that month (between the 23rd and 30th).

Until then, or until I hear from you.

Cheers

PersnicketyBitch