(I'm no good at Gimp or Photoshop, you'll just have to imagine that Iris has thistle-colored eyes. Though I do now have an anime-ish avatar depicting Iris.)

"In Tandem Orbit, Chapter 4"
By = Sure-as-elle

Chapter 4: Normal Day, Normal Girl

I woke up Monday morning to my Omnus, which was sitting on the bedside table, vibrating and beeping at me about an incoming call. Groggily, I reached over and picked it up. Iris's face came up on the holo display. Confused, I looked at the time display; it was almost 8 AM.

"Iris. Kinda early, isn't it?"

"Yeah, sorry about that Rianna, but the adults over here are being really weird today. Not talking as much, sounding weird when they do talk, and looking at me funny. So can I come over? You can sleep some more if you want, I can just read."

"Well I was going to wake up soon anyway. Do you have permission to come over?"

She turned her eyes upward and said, "Fahima?" The holographic display shivered a little as a string of numbers and letters came up, and then the words 'AI insertion into call.' Iris's image became small and went off to one corner while a Middle-Eastern woman's face took over. There was something about the way the face moved that was too controlled to be a human face. This had to be the avatar of their house's AI.

"Hello," said a pleasant female voice with an Arabic accent. "I am Fahima, the AI of the Zahane household. At 735 hours, I recorded Matria Zahane giving Iris Zahane permission to visit Rianna Goode, if Rianna Goode also gave permission. Shall I display it?"

"Uh ... okay," I replied. The image shivered again and a three-vee recording of Matria and Iris's conversation about permission was displayed. It wasn't very long, but I could tell Matria was indeed acting a little oddly. Understandable, after what I'd found out last night, but still ... I decided I'd better have a talk with them at some point. Child prodigy or not, she was still a child and it was best to treat her like a normal human being as much as possible.

"Okay then," I said once Fahima's image returned. "Yeah, Iris, you can come over." Iris's small image jumped up and down a little, and she exulted and hung up. Fahima was still on the line, but soon said her polite farewells and hung up, too.

I put the Omnus down on the table and got out of bed to get ready. I still had my toothbrush in my mouth when Iris rang the doorbell. The avatar of my own house AI, Cleo (short for Cleopatra), appeared in the air before me, asked if I wanted her to let Iris in since I was busy. I gave her the thumbs-up, her image vanished, and I heard the door opening.

"Oh, you in the loo?" I rolled my eyes, since I couldn't answer. Cleo answered for me, thank goodness. I spat and rinsed, told Cleo to let Iris know I'd be awhile, and went about my morning routine.

When I finally got out of the shower and came out wearing a towel on my head and another over my body, I saw on my way to my bedroom that Iris was laying on her back on the sofa, shoes off, reading an ebook of some kind on an e-board, which is a bit like e-scrip but thicker and stiff, kinda like the front or back cover of a hardback book. They're heavier than e-scrip but not by a lot. Perfect for reading. Iris had hers held in front of her face by a flexible meta-material device that was being anchored to her head by being wrapped around her ears; looked a little odd, but kept her from having to hold her arms up for long periods of time. She even had it set to turn pages by voice command.

I came out of the bedroom later in comfortable clothes just in time to hear Iris say, "Turn," to her e-board.

"What you reading, sweetie?"

"Voice command off," Iris said, before sitting up and setting the e-board aside. "I'm still reading that romance novel you suggested to me, 'Under An Alien Moon.'"

"You enjoying it so far, then?"

Iris grinned. "Very much so."

"Excellent. Well, I'm gonna make a proper breakfast for once. Have you eaten yet?"

"No. I tried, but like I said, the adults were acting weird." There was something in her voice, in the way she said that, which was making me think that she knew exactly why they were acting weird, and was looking for some sign of it in me. I chased that particular 'elephant in the room' away by looking at Iris's thistle-purple eyes, and suddenly all I could do was sigh and smile like a lovesick fool. It took me a few moments to remember to get back to the process of cooking.

Iris followed me into the kitchen, wanting to help, so I let her get eggs and other ingredients. I was gonna cook us up some omelettes and some waffles, nothing too complicated. And with Iris's help, it went even faster than usual. Before long, we were sitting down to eat. My own omelette had ham and spinach in it, and some onions. Iris's, not surprisingly, had those things but also had so much cayenne pepper that it looked like she was eating a brownish-red pancake.

When we were done eating, and our dishes were in the dishwasher, I went into the bathroom again and used some mouthwash so I wouldn't have to brush again.

"What's that?" Iris asked.

"Odorless, tasteless mouth wash. Great for after meals. You want to use some?"

"Sure, I'll try it." She did, and looked surprised that it really didn't have any taste or odor.

After that was done, we lay down on the couch cuddling, each of us reading from our own e-boards for at least an hour, not talking. We didn't need to talk, just cuddling was enough in that moment. I'll admit, at first I had a hard time concentrating on my book with Iris's warm weight on top of me, but after a while I got comfortable and just lay there running the fingers of my free hand through her hair gently as we read.

I don't know how long we lay like that before Iris set her e-board away and started to look at me, but it didn't take me long to notice. I looked back at her curiously, but she didn't respond. She was just staring, with a thoughtful expression on her face. I don't know if she even noticed me looking back at her. She did this so long that I was starting to turn back to my book when she spoke. "Rianna?"

"Yes?"

She paused a moment before speaking. "I know you're pansexual and panchrono, but ... well ... do you have a preference? As far as genitalia is concerned?"

I smiled warmly. "Yes and no. Like yourself, I like girls more than guys, though I do like some guys. Technically, I'm not exactly panchrono, it's just the most convenient label; I like young girls, but not young boys. There are the occasional exceptions, some little boys that were amazingly gorgeous. I don't care if the young girls I like are cis or trans, though. It's odd, I know, that I love penis on little trans girls, but if the penis is on a little cis boy, I'm not interested. I don't care for little trans boys, either. Not sure why.

"Anyway ... with adults, I have a strong preference for women, whether cis or trans. Where men are concerned, I mostly go for older men. I've been that way as long as I can remember. I tried to seduce one of my elementary school teachers, but he wasn't even a little bit paedo.

"But also, I'm ... I guess I'd call it greysexual, or grey ace. I like masturbation, but sex I can take or leave. But sexual attraction, well, that's just another matter altogether. I masturbate to thoughts of having sex with people, but it doesn't bother me if I don't have sex."

"Have you masturbated while thinking about me?"

"From the first day I met you. Not every night, but often enough."

She smiled, a little distantly. "Good, good." I waited to see if she was going to say any more, as she was looking pensive again, and I was right. "So it wouldn't matter to you if I was cis or trans? It just matters that I'm a girl?"

I kissed her forehead. "To be honest, at this point I think I love you enough for your mind and spirit that you could end up a boy, whether cis or trans, and I would still love you and want to be with you. And I don't think it would affect our cuddles or kisses. I'm also friendly with little boys, even when I'm not attracted to them, and I think there's a strong chance you could have presented as a boy and I would still have fallen in love with you. Perhaps not as quickly, but still..." I trailed off.

Iris hugged me, her head on my chest. "I'm glad to hear that." I waited again, wondering if she was going to tell me she was a t-girl or something, but she didn't. When she finally lifted her head up again, she said, "This has been fun, but if we sit here all day, I think I might fall asleep, and it's much too early for that. We should do something."

So we spent some time discussing what to do, and the whole time we did, Iris sat on my leg in such a way that, had she been trans, would probably have hurt a lot, which deepened my confusion. Maybe she was cis, and worried that I would prefer other trans girls to cis girls? And yet I remembered the bulge against my neck the other day when I'd given her a piggy-back ride. What was going on here? I looked at her questioningly as I listened to her thinking aloud. She caught my glance and grinned coyly, otherwise ignoring my look. It suddenly occurred to me, she was doing this on purpose. Maybe she'd figured out how much the mystery of her genitalia was bugging me, and was teasing me, doing on purpose what she'd done mostly by accident the other day while we'd been kissing.

Well, I thought, if that's how she wants to play it, I'll just pretend it isn't bugging me. I got my expression under control, and contributed to the discussion. In a few minutes, we had decided just to go out window shopping. I called up Matria while Iris got her shoes back on.

"You know," Matria said after I asked her if I could take Iris out, "it's so tedious, all this asking all the time. As long as you let Fahima know where you and Iris are, you have blanket permission to take her pretty much anywhere in the city. Fahima knows what the exceptions are, and will let you know when you need to. Oh, and same time restrictions; have her here or at your place by 11."

"Thanks. You're right, it was a little tedious, but I didn't want to say anything. Can we stipulate that Iris needs my permission before she can come over here? I would prefer she not barge in while I'm in the middle of ... er ... something, if you catch my drift. Not yet, anyway."

"Understood and agreed. You two go wherever you want in town today, just have fun and be safe. Have your Omnus send in updates every now and then, okay?"

"Will do." Matria gave a small wave and hung up.

That taken care of, I grabbed my purse, and led Iris out to Jeeves. I assume Cleo told Jeeves of our plan, for his doors opened as we came out the front doors. And once we were both safely in, the doors closed. I told Jeeves a place to drop us off at, and we were underway shortly thereafter.

The trip did not take as long as the trip to the pole dancing concert had, maybe 25 minutes this time. Iris was talking at me about something she'd read in the book about how to build a VC, and since I knew nothing about any of that stuff, I just listened to her voice but not her words, getting lost in thought about the mystery that was Iris as I did. As it was, Iris had to prod me out of my stupor when Jeeves arrived at the destination. We got out, and Jeeves went off to find a parking spot.

"Let's try not to get anything today, we're just looking, okay honey? Of course, if you see something you absolutely must have, I might be convinced to get it for you, but I don't think your family will appreciate you bringing a whole bunch of things home."

"Gotcha," Iris said, immediately running to the nearest clothing store to goggle at the displays.

I suppose I should briefly explain about Paxum's economy. Some ignorant people say we just have machines make everything and we don't do any work, but that's not true. One thing that is true, is that we don't really have money per se. We have a system by which AI's and other computers track how many hours we work; those hours are put into personal accounts and work a little like money, in that we trade minutes or hours of our own past or future labor time in exchange for either someone else's labor, or products. And as an added incentive, the prices are usually 15% higher, so that if you spend - for instance – 60 minutes working on something, it gets sold for 69 minutes.

But basically, everyone's hour is worth the same, and there are people who take that idea further by refusing to charge extra, so that an hour working at a library can buy an hour-long dentist visit, or even an hour with a lawyer. Everyone gets their work time recorded by their Omnus; even artists record how long it takes them to make their art, including time to purchase and retrieve materials. Teams of AI's analyze the footage to make sure nobody is purposefully dragging their feet. You can take as long as you like to do something, but only time spent actually working counts. It's not as bad as it sounds; a lot of jobs entail a lot of waiting around for things to happen, so most of the time spent on the work site on those jobs counts, since you're not at home. And since prices are fixed so they're always just 15% longer than cost on most things, there isn't much inflation. And if you work for a corporation, at least half of the profit is always passed on to the employees, so the better the business does, the more the employees get paid, which is incentive to do your best work. The rest of the profits are restricted in what they can be used for: expansion of the business, donated to public works and other community-enhancing projects, or passed on to the employees.

You can save your work-time towards expensive goals, too; but there's an earning cap. I don't remember exactly what the earning cap is, but I do know that somebody with a million hours in their account would start to be investigated for fraud the instant the AI's spotted it, which would be a nanosecond after it was entered. Oh wait, I remember; the earning cap is 500,000 hours. No more than 500K hours in an account at any one time. That's roughly 57 years, and even with a projected lifespan of between 170 and 230 years, that's 146,400 hours (roughly 16 years) more than you could work in 170 adult working years. Though I'll grant you, only a corporate account would have anywhere near that much.

And now enough of that boring old nonsense. I've exhausted my knowledge of the subject anyway.

"Ooh, look at that!" Iris said, pointing at a crown with excitement in her voice. It was just a cheap toy crown, probably came out of one of the lower-quality 3D printers, as it only cost 6min, a price that was probably based mostly on what it cost the owners of the shop to lease the template and maybe the lease on the printer. I doubt it took more than 30 seconds to actually print it out. But it had something of a "queen" aura about it, and didn't look too bad for a 6min product.

"A crown fit for a queen," I said. "Want to take a closer look?"

"Yes please!"

"Okay then." We went inside and the store clerk looked up from something he'd been writing to look up at us with a slight smile, glad to have customers.

"Welcome to Tomas & Tomas Trinkets and Toys," the middle-aged Caucasian clerk with glasses and a balding head announced to us. "Looking for anything in particular?"

"I wanna look at the crown closer," Iris announced, pointing at the crown in the window.

"The 6min golden one?"

"Yes please."

"Sure thing," he said cheerfully, fetching it for Iris to look at.

I let her examine the crown while I looked at the things in the transparent display case that doubled as the man's transaction desk. The things in there were significantly more expensive, ranging from 30min to several hours in cost. I wasn't actually planning on buying anything, but then I saw a pair of beautiful necklaces that cost an hour apiece, and came as a set. They had the CL logo heart-within-a-heart; both the hearts were pink in this version, and it looked very well made. I wanted to look at them more closely, but I didn't want to alert Iris to it. I wanted to get them, but between feeling like I was rushing things, and thinking it would make a great birthday gift for her in October, assuming we were still dating by then, it would be a great gift. And if it didn't work out, well ... something to remember her by.

Luckily for me, Iris set the crown down after trying it on, and told me to keep it there while she wandered off to look at other stuff, because she wanted the crown enough that she offered to dip into her allowance to pay for it. I watched her wander off, and when I could only just see the top of her head behind a display, I turned to the clerk and quietly told him I wanted to look at the necklaces.

"Oh," he said quietly, but went quiet, glancing briefly in Iris's direction before giving me a conspiratorial wink and smile. He opened up the case and lay them down so they would be blocked from Iris's sight. He slid an e-scrip across as well, and it started up with a text-and-picture sales pitch he'd apparently pre-recorded.

I picked one up to look at it, occasionally glancing at the sales pitch. According to it, these necklaces – once activated – lit up when they got within 5 feet of each other. Each one the size of a kumquat, they could also be made to vibrate and/or play a tune either at the same time as they lit up, or manually. Oh yeah, and they were lockets, opening up to display a 2D digital image.

Glancing back at Iris every now and then, I thought about it. A 2hr purchase for something so small was not usual for me, but between my regular job, my art, and my usual frugality, I wasn't rich, but I was comfortable. I decided to get it. I nodded at the store clerk.

"Excellent," the man said quietly. We touched Omnuses, and the sale was complete. I'd paid for her crown, too. I put the necklaces into my purse, and took the crown over to Iris.

"Here you go, honey. I figured my Queen might as well wear her crown while she peruses the rest of the store."

"Thanks, Rianna!" she put it very carefully on her head in front of a mirror, discovered it had hair clips, and clipped it in place. "Perfect."

We spent a few more minutes looking around at the other things in the store, but thankfully nothing else caught either of our fancies enough that we had to have it right then. Iris and I both gave the clerk (who was, I suspect, also the store owner) a happy wave and a smile, and I winked conspiratorially at him. I could hear him chuckling as the door closed.

For the next couple hours, we mostly window-shopped. We didn't go into many stores, though one of the ones we went into was a clothing store. Iris, seeing bathing suits on display, explained it reminded her that her family were going to the beach this coming weekend, and Matria had authorized a suitable amount from the family account to pay for it. I was a little subdued as I watched her trying on things at first, since it seemed I'd be away from her for two whole days, from what she'd said. She noticed this mood of mine, though, and looked surprised at me.

"Oh didn't I tell you? You're invited, too!" This cheered me up greatly, and I was able to be much more helpful in her decision-making process. Of course, it also meant we took a little longer while I shopped for one for myself. We tried on lots of samples to see what things would look like on us, and once we decided on what we wanted, the store clerk customized the templates to our measurements and printed out our new swimsuits. We tried on the finished products, to make sure they fit, and when they did, we changed back.

In the end, we left the store with a cute aquamarine two-piece bikini for Iris that, while sexy, was not overly so; my own swimsuit was a pink two-piece with blue accents. I had been so very tempted to suggest she get a bikini that tied on, and thus could be untied, but I resisted that urge. Iris had the sort of mind that she would have gone along with it just to annoy her mother, who would worry that it would get lost. And the fact that it would annoy her mother would probably just make Iris laugh harder about it. I couldn't imagine Iris purposefully losing something that cost what it did; the suit didn't cost enough for Matria to get angry if Iris lost it, but she would be disappointed, and that would be enough for Iris to feel really bad about it. So I made a mental note that if I ever really wanted Iris to have a swimsuit like that, I would get it for her.

By the time we were done at the swimsuit store, it was getting to be time for lunch. I used my Omnus to find Jeeves, who wasn't far away, and we put our purchases into his trunk, and left him parked there while we walked off to look for someplace to eat. We ended up going to a Mediterranean place for chicken, hummus, and falafel, which was 'very yummy' in Iris's words.

After eating and spending an extra half-hour digesting, Iris and I set out again, wandering around the neighborhood, trying to decide where to go next. It was Iris who spotted it first.

"Hey look at that! A cuddle theater? What's that?"

We read the advertisement outside the 'cuddle theater.' It was a movie theater – more of a multiplex, really – boasting beds, recliners, and bean bag chairs to cuddle on while you watched the show. Intrigued, we went in to discuss which movie to see. We decided on a romance movie.

"Two tickets to see 'Connected Hearts, ' please. One adult, one child, couple rate." The words 'couple rate' didn't get us in any cheaper, but I said them for honesty's sake. They'd be checking things out with a quick Mesh sweep anyway, so it was best to be up-front about it. They scanned my Omnus, and in a matter of seconds, Matria's trust-level signature came up on the three-vee. I was astonished to see she'd upgraded me to level 5. Since the trust-levels only went up to 8, it was even more amazing to get a 5 so quickly. I sure hoped Matria wasn't being overly trusting.

Everything having gone through just fine, the clerk handed me our tickets, which were a significantly cheaper e-scrip than that used for the tickets to the pole dancing concert. I thanked her, and Iris and I went off in search of the concession stand for some small snacks, since we'd just eaten lunch. After we got our snacks, I asked how to get to the theater that our movie was in, and I was informed that touching a button on the ticket would send directions to our Omnuses.

"Can I push the button?" Iris asked as we walked away from the concession stand.

"Of course, my Queen." Iris grinned and pressed the button. Both my Omnus and hers immediately lit up with a three-vee map with a red line to follow, the both of us represented as blinking green lights. There was also an arrow pointing where to go. Holding hands, Iris on my left, since her Omnus was on her left arm, we followed the directions. When we got to the open theater door, the directions vanished, briefly replaced with 'Enjoy the show! Please remember there is no sexual intercourse allowed in the theater.'

There was a small line to get in, as people walked around the half-lit room with its odd assortment of mismatched furnishings. A cursory examination of the furnishings showed they were kept meticulously cleaned. My Omnus flashed again with the message 'All our furnishings are made of 100% Dreckfort brand Anti-Filth Meta-material, guaranteed clean and safe or twice your time back!'

"That's what my dress from our first date is made of," Iris commented. "Mama says the cost of using the template is worth it for what she saves in laundry costs."

After some discussion, we decided on an over-sized recliner that was amazingly comfortable, and Iris lay next to me on it as we leaned back, cuddling, to watch the movie, such as it was. The movie was an adaptation of a book Iris and I had both read, and she didn't think it was any better an adaptation than I did, judging by the way she was criticizing it with me. It was so bad that we couldn't even focus on cuddling, and left halfway through the movie in disgust.

Once we left the theater, we decided to call it a day, and so we walked back to Jeeves to have him take us home. As soon as we got back to my place, Iris ran home really quickly to put away her new swimsuit, then came running back to my place afterwards. She and I both kicked off our shoes, Iris took her crown off and set it aside, and we sat next to each other on the sofa, just quietly reading for several hours. Halfway through, Iris had her head on my lap. It looked rather uncomfortable and bad on her neck, so I rearranged myself on the sofa so that she was leaning the back of her head on my chest instead.

We were still in that position over an hour later when Iris tossed her e-board aside and sat up to face me. Curious, I set my own book aside as well. Something about her posture was making me uncomfortable, it was like she was nonverbally saying 'We need to talk, ' which of course is rarely good.

She must have sensed my distress, though, because she took my hand and said, "Oh don't worry, I do want to talk but it's nothing bad."

"Okay. What about?"

"Well, I've been thinking off and on today. Between your answers to my questions this morning, the fact you haven't treated me any different since figuring out what you did last night – you know, the whole child prodigy thing, and how I have come so quickly to trust you and feel safe around you, it's only fair I let you in on the secret now."

"If that's what you want to do, my Queen."

Iris smiled. "Well, I do. So, I will." She paused a moment to breathe deeply before speaking. "My whole family are from Lucem."

Well that was anti-climactic, I thought. "Okay. You're a Lucite. What about it?"

She looked at me oddly, like I'd sprouted a third eye or something, before sighing and rolling her eyes. "You plan for every possibility, and then this happens," she muttered to herself. Then, addressing me, she asked, "What do you know about Lucites?"

"Admittedly, not much. I know they're a different sub-species, but what the difference is, I don't know. I can't even remember if it came up in school or not." I frowned thoughtfully. It occurred to me that either I hadn't paid attention during those parts of school, or there was a major hole in the curriculum. After all, the planet Lucem could be seen with the naked eye from here on Paxum, and the two planets were colonized by the same group of colonists.

"Well," Iris explained, "the difference is pretty big. Have you ever heard of clownfish?"

"Um ... are those the fish on Terra that can change sex? Wait, are you saying Lucites can change sex?"

"Yup. We're sex-shifters. We can change from one sex to the other overnight."

I blinked. "Well that sure explains a lot." Iris giggled. "So, uh, Iris ... how does that work, exactly? I mean, if you don't want to answer ... I don't want to seem rude."

"It's okay. When I go from testes and penis to vagina, everything, er, gets sucked in. Well, except the first third of the penis, which becomes a clitoris of sorts. And of course, going the other direction, it all kinda ... slides out."

"And it doesn't hurt?"

"No idea. If it does, I never feel it by the time I wake up."

I took a few moments to process this. Then another question occurred to me. "So, er," I said, feeling my face warm up, "does that, er, does that mean you have a vagina all the time?"

"Yes and no. It seals shut when I let the dangly bits dangle."

I just sat there, not knowing what to think for a while. But then I noticed Iris starting to worry, and I snapped out of my weird mood, leaning forward to pick her up and hold her in my arms to cuddle. She grinned happily at me and snuggled close.

As we cuddled, I got lost in thought. I realized I'd heard oblique references to this from people in my life before, but I'd had no idea what they were talking about, because it was like some shameful secret. Sure, kids are encouraged to play with gender, but most people on Paxum end up settling on one or the other. It stands to reason that a society that thought gender non-binary people were weird would make veiled, snide comments about it behind peoples' backs. Paxites are far too polite about gender stuff to treat anyone differently to their face, mostly, but it was still true that if this got out, people would talk.

"I don't know how open you and your family are about this, Iris, but I suggest you ask your parents to keep it as quiet as they can. I don't mind, and nobody will treat you any differently to your face, as far as I know of, but, well..."

"Oh yeah, I know all about that. Sure, Papa said it wasn't a big secret, but he still just considers it to be nobody's business but ours. He made it sound like I was the one wanting something kept secret, and while I did want to know if you'd like me for me and not for being a Lucite, it was more Papa trying to throw you off the scent. I think. It's kinda confusing. But yeah, basically, don't tell anyone else about it, but don't deny it if they're seriously asking."

"Alright, my Queen."

We sat there cuddling some more for a little while longer, then we ate dinner at my place, because Iris still didn't want to risk being around the adults in her family in case they were still acting oddly around her. We ate dinner in the living room, while watching programs on the three-vee, getting up from that activity just long enough to put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher. But all good things must come to an end, and I had work the next day, so eventually I had to escort Iris back to her home.

"I told her," Iris said to Matria as casually as anything as she strolled by to go get ready for bed. Matria blinked after her and then looked at me.

"So ... she told you what?"

I came inside and closed the door. "That you're all from Lucem."

"Oh, that. When did she tell you?"

"A couple hours ago."

Matria relaxed. "Good. Then that means you handled it well and she still wants to be with you. Otherwise, she would have come straight home, possibly even crying."

"Well if something as monumental as her being a child prodigy doesn't make me treat her any differently ... Oh, about that..." And I pulled her aside into the other room where I could see Derris and Taanlen, and had a polite discussion with them about treating their daughter like a normal child as much as possible.

Matria chuckled at my concern. "Oh don't worry. Yes, things were a little weird this morning, but with Iris gone all day long, we talked, and we got used to the idea. I don't think she'll have to worry about us acting weird around her anymore."

"Okay, that's good to know."

"Always so concerned about Iris, it's almost maternal. You would make a great parent, I think."

"Thank you."

When we'd said our farewells, and I kissed Iris goodnight, I went back home and got on my VC to browse the Mesh for information about Lucites, and Lucem's history. It was fascinating. I'll spare you most of the details, but one question I'd refrained from asking Iris was answered. The answer to that question also answered why Derris looked so androgynous. They were all androgynous, of course, because of how being a sex-shifter affects the secondary sex characteristics, but apparently Lucites can choose to never switch sex, and if they remain one sex or the other during puberty, they look more like you would expect that sex to appear, and so I guessed that Matria and Taanlen might have done that, while Derris no doubt liked to switch still. Then again, Matria and Taanlen were both mothers, and pregnancy makes the breasts swell up, especially for Lucites, and then it takes a year or two of non-use of the breasts for baby food to make them go back down again. Sometimes they never do go back to their original size, either.

The more I read, the more envious I got, too. I identify as trans female because it's easier than putting up with the judgmental looks of people trying to disguise their true feelings, but I'd never really been comfortable with that identity. I would identify as bi-gender if I had more guts. Reading about Lucem made me wonder if I'd somehow blocked memories about that planet out of anger that I hadn't been born a Lucite. Because I'd never told anyone but a few trusted friends that while I liked my girl-cock, I've always wished I could switch back and forth between having a dick and having a pussy.

I sighed, turning off the VC, and decided not to let my envy intrude on my relationship with Iris. And when I got into bed and drifted off to sleep, I knew it wouldn't.