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by Saless
Chapter 16
Jill glanced at Sean, but it seemed obvious he wasn't going to speak. "I told Sean that I think he's going to have to go to his classes and work as he is. I suggested he say that he is transgendered and this is his real life test. Then when he changes back he can say it wasn't for him after all."
"Woah! That's pretty major, alright. I take it from the glum look on your face that you're not enthused by this idea, eh Sean?" Mike asked.
"Would you be?" Sean replied morosely.
"Well, no, I guess not. This is going to make things more difficult for you at work, I bet. But look on the bright side, that guy in your astronomy class should lay off you now!" Mike said with a laugh, trying to cheer his friend up.
"Yeah, great." Sean grumbled.
"Well, lets eat before it gets cold." Jill said.
After dinner the conversation returned to what Sean would do the next day at school. "I'll go with you if you want." Jill said helpfully.
"It's not like you can stay in the classroom the whole time." Sean pointed out.
"No, but I can help you in the office, and I can wait for you outside the classroom and keep you company between classes and afterwards." Jill replied.
"Office?" Sean repeated, confused.
"You'll have to update your name and gender with the school." Jill pointed out.
"Name? Why do I have to change my name?" Sean asked worriedly.
"Sean's not exactly a common name for a woman. Transgendered people usually change their names." Jill replied.
"You must have done a lot of research on this." Mike said.
Jill nodded. "Yes, I did. It's the best solution I could find until Sean's changed back."
"So, should Sean change his name to Shawna, or what?" Mike asked.
"That would work." Jill replied.
"Sarah." Sean said so softly that his friends weren't sure they'd heard correctly.
"Did you say Sarah?" Jill asked. Sean nodded. "Any particular reason for that name?"
Sean shrugged. "I like it, that's all. If I've got to have a female name, it should at least be one I like, right?"
"He's got a point." Mike said.
"She." Jill said pointedly. "We've got to get used to using female pronouns. Otherwise we'll make things more difficult for Sarah whenever we're around other people."
Sean grimaced when Jill referred to him as Sarah. "I really don't like this." He said petulantly.
Mike shrugged. "If you've got a better idea, I'm all ears. I've thought about this, too, but I couldn't come up with anything. I think Jill's idea is the best we're going to get."
"Getting me back to normal would be better." Sean groused.
"Sure." Mike agreed. "But we've tried that, and we're out of time. You can't just drop off the face of the world for however long it takes to find a way back to normal and then expect to go right back to the way things were. You'd lose your job and flunk your classes. And then there's Erica, and your parents. You've got to have some kind of explanation."
"I'm not telling Erica I'm transgendered!" Sean protested.
"I didn't mean you'd tell her that, you've got lots of time to get things settled before she comes home. But everyone else is right here. Maybe you can get away with not telling your parents, you don't go home much, but work and school are a different matter." Mike replied calmly.
"They'll kill me!" Sean protested in a very small voice.
"You mean at work?" Jill asked. Sean looked startled, as if he'd temporarily forgotten his friends were there, and then nodded. Jill frowned. "If you talk to your manager they should keep everyone in line. You don't have to put up with harassment."
"I'll come with you Monday, and pick you up afterwards." Mike offered.
Sean sighed in defeat. "Alright, I'll be Sarah until I can fix this."
Jill hugged her. "I know this will be difficult, but we'll help you any way we can."
"Yeah Sea…Sarah, we'll be there for you." Mike agreed.
They chatted for a little while longer until Sarah indicated it was time for her IM date with Erica. Jill promised to bring some clothes for her in the morning and she and Mike left for their own apartment.
"What a day." Mike remarked as they were walking towards their building.
"You can say that again! There's something weird going on with Sarah. I just can't put my finger on what." Jill mused.
"Weird? Like changing genders, opening portals to other worlds, and being able to change the gender of anyone but yourself?" Mike retorted sarcastically.
Jill rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean! There's something else going on, but as usual she isn't sharing."
Mike nodded thoughtfully. "Her reactions do seem a bit off. She's under a lot of stress, though." He pointed out.
"True." Jill agreed as they reached their apartment. They sat on the couch and turned on the TV, but neither of them were really paying attention.
"Do you really think this transgender thing is going to work?" Mike asked.
Jill nodded. "It has to. She looks enough like she did that she'll be recognized, I think. And there are laws about it, so they can't fire her. The hardest part will be getting Sarah to stand up for herself. She never did that as Sean, but she's going to have to now or she's going to have more problems than ever."
"I'd better go in with her when I drop her off at work on Monday, then. Make sure her coworkers don't give her any trouble." Mike said.
"That's a good idea, but remember that Sarah has to stand up for herself, too. Don't let her get too dependant on your protection, or she'll be helpless whenever you aren't around." Jill cautioned.
Mike nodded. "Good point. This isn't going to be easy for any of us, is it?"
"No." Jill said with a sigh, "It's not. It's really not fair for Sarah to have to go through this, she had enough problems before! But we'll all have to cope as best we can. The one good side to all this is that she can still talk to Erica as if nothing has changed. I think she really needs that."
Sarah wasted no time getting her computer booted up and logged in. Erica was already logged in and waiting for her.
Erica378 is logged on
SeanDreamer is logged on
<Erica378>: You're later than usual, everything OK?
<SeanDreamer>: Yeah, just got to talking with Mike and Jill and lost track of the time. Sorry!
<Erica378>: That's OK, so long as you're alright. How are you?
<SeanDreamer>: OK, how about you?
<Erica378>: I'm fine. Are you going home for Christmas?
<SeanDreamer>: I don't think so. I'll probably just stay here.
<Erica378>: Why don't you visit your parents more?
<SeanDreamer>: I keep in touch with them with email.
<Erica378>: That's not the same! You should visit them!
<SeanDreamer>: Not this year.
<Erica378>: *Sigh* OK, if you insist. I really miss you!
<SeanDreamer>: I miss you more! I can't wait for you to get back!
<Erica378>: Me too! That's the hardest thing about law school, being so far from you!
<SeanDreamer>: Same here!
<Erica378>: Well, I'd better let you get some sleep. I love you!
<SeanDreamer>: I love you more! Good night!
<Erica378>: Good night!
SeanDreamer has logged off
Erica378 has logged off
Sarah sighed in frustration. She hated lying to Erica. I hope we get me back to normal soon! This transgender thing is crazy, but I don't have any better ideas. I'm not looking forward to my classes tomorrow!
Sarah got ready for bed and climbed in. Her dread kept her awake for a long time, tossing and turning constantly, before exhaustion finally won out.
To Be Continued…
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Comments
Why Nor Senead As A Name?
Senead is the daughter of Sean Connery, so there is that to go with, and any guy that harrasses her can get girled up by a simple touch. THAT is a very good defense against bullies.
May Your Light Forever Shine
May Your Light Forever Shine
Isn't it though?
I can't imagine your average bully would react well to that! ;) (Would be interesting to see though, wouldn't it!)
Saless
"But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend." - Eddie Murphy, Coming To America
Poor Sarah
with all the stories in the world to choose from and she still cannot find the right one to get back to being Sean...Oh well.... Life goes on, In Sarah's case albeit a little differently than it was before.... But at least she's still alive, And after the places and people she's met so far maybe that's no bad thing!
On another point, Now that Sarah has accepted Jill's idea, Does that mean we get to see just what is going off a Sarah's work that made it such a horrible place for Sean to be?
Kirri
There have been snippets so
There have been snippets so far, but we will be seeing more of Sarah's work environment soon.
Saless
"But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend." - Eddie Murphy, Coming To America
I Had Suspicions About Erica...
...having something to do with all this -- she could, after all, be messaging from anywhere, including their own town, without "SeanDreamer" knowing that she wasn't where she claimed. But bringing up Christmas doesn't seem to me to be something she'd do if she knew what was going on: I can't come up with any kind of agenda that it would advance.
On the other hand, I'm not the first to notice that Jill's behavior throughout all this remains suspicious: she picks out the mythology book, draws the picture of a feminine Sean that he's later transformed into, incites Venus's wrath upon arrival (though she seems to do that innocently enough) then gets back through the gate leaving Sean, protecting Mike, as the one who gets zapped, and now she decides that the way to dodge problems is to have Sarah officially transition.
I'm almost ready to guess that Venus was an innocent bystander and Jill the one who zapped Sean on his way back through, all because she felt that Sean was hiding the girl inside and would be happier if it came out. (Or maybe Jill would be happier, if it knocked Erica out of the picture.) And none of the magic-users they meet can change Sean back because Jill's magic is inherently stronger than that of any fictional character.
Along those lines, after the Shire glitch, I'm starting to wonder if the books are irrelevant and Jill's making all the decisions on where they come out, using the books as cover for her machinations. (Not sure what that theory says about the dream worlds Sean visited to start the whole thing: Jill trying to get on Sean's wavelength?)
Still haven't been able to make a start at figuring out the underlying reasoning to the magic here. Sean's quick choice of "Sarah", of course, joins other indications we've had that Sean's femininity isn't as foreign to him as he alleges.
Eric
You have some interesting
You have some interesting ideas, you must have given this some thought! I think I'll take that as a compliment. ;)
Thanks Eric!
Saless
"But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend." - Eddie Murphy, Coming To America
Quick choice
I thought the quick choice was interesting, too. That, coupled with the fact that the magic users that she saw didn't recognize her as a former he, might mean that Sean had an inner girl that was just screaming to get out.
If that's the case, the only real problem is his/her relationship with Erica. The rest of the stuff -- work, school, and the like -- can be dealt with.
As a matter of fact, Jill's painting may not be precognition as much much as seeing the 'inner Sean.' That would mean that Venus's 'curse' is more of a blessing -- a bring the inner person out spell.
Which goes back to the other magic users totally not seeing the original Sean.
- - - -
But Eric has a good conspiracy theory about Jill.
If she is behind a lot of this stuff, and if she did, in fact, zap Sean, she probably zapped Mike into a dragon in order to save everyone.
I don't think she means it for bad, though -- if she's the perpetrator behind all of this mess.
Sean's not a girl's name?
Being a fan of Sean Young (Dune, Blade Runner) I object!
Not a big deal. A lot of neat stuff going on in this story. Thanks for posting!
Yeah, that was my ignorance
Yeah, that was my ignorance showing through. I really hadn't heard of any women named Sean before I wrote this chapter. I learned better soon afterwords! Thanks Shinigami!
Saless
"But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend." - Eddie Murphy, Coming To America
I'll bet you gamer peeple love this.
Actually, it seems sort of like playing with dolls to me.
giggle.
Khadija