Curtain Fall - Chapter 04

In the weeks that followed “Jill”, as he had been steadily encouraged to think as his name, continued working at Amalgamated Automation.

He had slowly become more comfortable with this body and had, due in large part to the appreciation and interest he couldn’t ignore coming from Carol, even come to take a bit of pride in it. He found that he liked looking attractive and continued his efforts in learning about how to accentuate his appearance. Of course this had consequences in the form of more eyes following him where ever he went. He could no longer be the invisible and anonymous “guy” he used to be. The more constant attention, while flattering, found him outside his comfort zone. If anything, his discomfort and humility regarding his desirability garnered even more interest than he might normally as an extremely beautiful woman,

This also meant that he found himself awash in a larger sea of emotions. Because of his initial vulnerability to other’s emotional states and a tendency if not careful to adopt them as his own, his first weeks at work and especially outside were often confusing and distressing as he’d often find himself having bouts of irritation, sadness, attraction, anger, jealousy, and even hatred. As he became aware of this he applied himself diligently and learned to separate himself from the constant bombardment of external emotions. He was largely successful. The remaining persistent downside was that large groups routinely provoked headaches. He was even learning the social skills to deal with the lustful feelings and words of his male co-workers. He was thankful, however, he wasn’t the recipient of too many unwanted male propositions. Apparently the work gossip channels had quickly spread the rumors that he and Carol were an “item”.

While they hadn’t actually done anything, Jill could feel Carol’s steadily growing feelings. Jill was quite moved by the efforts Carol made to hide her feelings and to not rush him. That restraint, along honestly with some bleed over from Carol’s emotions into his own, led him start to develop a level of reciprocal her affection; at least to the point of quick hugs and occasionally holding hands. In his mind their “friendship” had progressed into something far deeper at least. Jill, however, continued to be confused about his feelings and his body. Jill was no longer a man. He was, physically at least, a woman now and he was supposed to be attracted to men now. Right? Jill persisted remaining firmly attracted to women, however. So did that make him a lesbian now? What if he continued to change as acclimated to being female and started looking to men? Wouldn’t it be unfair to Carol, then, to accept what was budding? ‘Push it away for now; deal with it later!”, he chided himself. At least he was doing better in most ways! His beauty strangely, to his male mind at least, usually made life easier for him in day to day interactions. It offended him a little as he had thought he’d internalized the ideal that all should be treated the same at the start irregardless of appearance. He’d discovered, however, that “the beautiful people” often were given preferential, or at least solicitous treatment.

The exception he found was at his work. He’d actually started in the hole, as it were, because women were much less common in technical fields and were not taken seriously; especially women of beauty. Thankfully he was able to quickly rupture the bubble of that mindset! His clear competence at work and almost unnatural insights into the research and mechanisms of the business earned him at first grudging, then widespread respect and admiration. ‘If only they knew I’ve already been working here for years!”, he chuckled.

His developing sense of confidence gave him the strength to start considering what he could do to deal with his/her? legal identity. Three weeks after the event, he went to bed one night and began to tentatively explore himself. He spent an hour in front of mirrors and almost obsessively examined every part of his body. He was truly only 5’6” now. Weighing in at 103 pounds. He had silky and full head of chestnut hair to his waist that he definitely had a love/hate relationship with. Shapely smallish “C” cup breasts. He had a shapely narrow waist accentuated by a toned and flat tummy. Slightly smaller than average but definitely female hips and pert round butt. His face looked as if it almost came from the cover of a fantasy novel. The shape of his eyes gave his full lips and high prominent cheekbones an otherworldly look. If he’d seen this face and body as a man, he’d been all over it! Truthfully, if he’d seen a woman as beautiful as he seemed he’d have been so intimidated that he would have fainted if she’d approached him. With this desirability in mind, however, he eventually tried tentatively exploring. Unfortunately, his sexual confusion left him relatively unfulfilled.

Since he was staying at Carol’s for now he felt obligated to help pay for some of the expenses. As a result, with his first paycheck, an actual check, since electronic banking was quite dicey, Carol helped him start a new bank account. Now he had at least some money to contribute with. Jill fretted over his previous bank account, but couldn’t figure an effective way other that hand written checks to access it. What he started to do, therefor, was write himself checks from his old account and bit by bit transfer some of the cash. He also continued paying rent on his original apartment, even if he didn’t feel he could just move back. Other asset were left for the moment fallow. By this time, his car, which had been left at the bar on the night of the Event had been impounded and towed and as he had no way to prove ownership he left it in the impound lot. This did, however, illustrate his need to build an identity.

One afternoon not much later, this led him to take a day and meet with an attorney to see if there were options. Meeting with the lawyer, a Stephanie Bollard, proved surprising hopeful. “I understand you are using the name Jylene Neveah now, am I correct?” Ms. Bollard asked as she looked at the paperwork Jill had filled out, “Not Gilbert Vehaen.” Giving Jill a through look she smiled tightly and continued, “I can certainly see why. You must have had quite a number of issues presenting with your original name.”

Jill smiled awkwardly and admitted he’d started using the new name almost immediately because he realized, nobody would believe he really used to be a man. He/she admitted he’d even begun working at his workplace again by presenting the new false identity. The fact that electronic records had been in many cases scrambled made this much easier. To this, Ms Bollard gave a “hmmm” and made some notes.

“Well you are luckier than you might have thought”, she commented as she finished her notes, “You are not completely unique in needing your identity updated in some way. With the Curtain Fall”, she continued referencing what had become the commonly accepted name for the world changing event, “there have turned out to be many who have been changed. While you are the first gender change I’ve been introduced to, I’ve met a number of individuals who have been rendered unrecognizable when compared to their original appearance. While the process hasn’t been officially codified, I know a couple of judges who’d be sympathetic to your plight and will be willing to expedite the process.” She paused a bit and inquired further.

“If I might ask, when being ‘hired’, what did you do use for necessary information like a social security number?”

Jill’s discomfort increased and coughed as he prepared his response. Carol, having access to the hiring paperwork had been able to just use Jill’s original SS number; and as the weeks had passed had slipped needed background information into Jill’s records. Realizing this was likely illegal, he decided to shield his friend as much as possible. “Well the company’s systems were twitchy, and as a Tech, I managed to get into the system and adjust my records to use my original Social Security number. As time allowed, I wound up adapting my other records as well.”

Stephanie nodded. “I see. Well, there might be some issues when the change becomes official, but I’ll can see what we can work with. If anything”, Ms. Ballard quipped, “using the same SS number might actually make the IRS happier! Let me look, and we’ll see what happens!” Jill was thrilled and left optimistic for the first time about her future.

Things seemed to be looking up all over as the region’s infrastructure had steadily improved as well. While not up to pre-Fall standards, it at least offered power, over the air TV and radio again and a general rough return to what could be called ‘normal’. While, the National Guard military trucks and troops were still not uncommon, the government had revoked the curfew; and many businesses had reopened their doors. Some things were slow to return, however. The most ironic of these were internet and computer dependent services. Apparently, the ones most reliant on active computing were most damaged. Efforts at hardening were useless. Where there had been a concentration of hi-tech (Google server farms and the NSA as examples), they had been truly devastated. For the near future, the world had been thrust back in time to the 70’s (at least with regards to things like internet connectivity). As a result, businesses like newspapers were seeing a real resurgence and live radio and broadcasts were as well.

Since Carol had gone to work without him, Jill sat on one of the in-town busses reading a paper he’d picked up after leaving the attorney’s office as he made his way ‘home’. He read the latest info about consequences of the Curtain Fall. This article spoke about the latest sensation that had arisen. There were now verified reports that some who’d been affected by the Fall were displaying strange new abilities. In New York a group of individuals had engaged in combat with each other using comic book like powers! A man was seen to fly and several others displayed unbelievable strength. The combat had apparently evolved out of some sort of gang-related conflict.

Locally, the paper reported two events had occurred, The first, an unidentified man was seen and photographed tearing open an armored car with his bare hands and after engaging in a short fight with the defenders of the car made off with somewhere in the neighborhood of a half a million dollars in cash and valuables. The second, a Changed looking like a cross between a man, a reptile and seemingly made out of something like rock had gone on a rampage and slaughtered a whole family. It had then run off and was still at large.

ˆSo, I’m not the only one who gained abilities!’ Jill thought. He wondered how many had gained powers. Certainly not many but if they’d seen some, there must be more. He hoped they weren’t mostly bad (he felt he wasn’t) but few peaceful ones had made the news yet. He grinned a little sadly as he also thought how Tom would have gotten a kick out of it. He’d always razzed Gill about his fascination with comics and superhero stories. Jill refused to let the reminder of loss pull him from his good mood, however, and so focused on the promising news.

Jill was still almost bouncing with optimism in spite of a mild headache he’d developed on the bus ride. When he got home he decided to make the dinner without the advice or help of Carol as a ‘thank you’ for all the help and comfort she’d given him. He wanted to have a nice meal ready when Carol arrived as a surprise.

As he worked on the dinner, he thought about his life and his profound changes. He was physically a woman in every respect. Nothing remained of his male body. This meant he’d been dealing with serious emotional upheavals as, he learned to deal with an entirely different set of social expectations as well as a totally different battery of hormones. ‘I guess this is me now! I really need try to start thinking of myself a she now’, he/she thought.

But was she really a different person? As far as she could tell, she maintained mostly the same interests and opinions. She still didn’t share Carol’s “feminine” excitement for shopping for example. This was proven when last weekend Carol had insisted they buy a complete new set of clothes that actually belonged to Jill and fit properly. Jill liked finding clothes that were truly fitting and comfortable but found herself wanting to be finished FAR more quickly that Carol; especially when they wound up in a Victoria’s Secret boutique. She had rarely been more embarrassed than when the attendant cooed and gushed over Jill as she was fitted with a properly fitting bra. On the other hand found he (no she!) found a part of herself really enjoying the time spent and growing in the light of the emotional sharing she was having with Carol. This willingness to share and show vulnerability to other women was so unlike anything she’d have allowed herself to experience as a man. Men almost never show vulnerability to others; especially other men. The feminine closeness he/she felt with Carol was almost intoxicating.

“Maybe this new me won’t be that bad!”, Jill said quietly to herself..

In spite of the chicken being over done, Carol was very touched by Jill’s effort. She listened with excitement and pleasure at Jill’s news and new enthusiasm. Her heart warmed as she perceived that Jill might have hit a new plateau in her adjustments. Maybe the time was ripe for Carol to make a move? The weeks they’d been living together.. It had first been for security and support. Then the feelings for Jill had been impossible to ignore but inexpressible due to Jill’s confusion. Carol had always been able to tell, by the way Jill looked at her when she thought Carol wasn’t paying attention and her embarrassment when she accidentally saw Carol in her undies, that she found Carol still an object of sexual attraction, but Jill’s extreme confusion and discomfort about her body and sex made the possibility of Carol expressing her feelings too much of a minefield. Until now perhaps?. She decided to make a move.

As Jill ran down, Carol looked happily and earnestly into her eyes and gently reached over and grasped her hands. “I can’t tell you how happy you look right now Jill. How- how happy it makes me that you are gaining some peace with all that’s happened. I’m, glad you’ve let me be a part of it...”

Jill froze and closed her eyes as she felt Carol make some internal decision and subsequently felt a wave of affection interwoven with fear wash over her. From this Jill realized that the depth of Carol’s feelings had far progressed beyond even a deep ‘friendship’ to something more. Could Jill allow him/herself to truly return it? While not completely certain of this (increasingly less) foreign body should she/he reach out and risking hurting Carol?

It was then that Jill stopped ignoring the realization that she DID actually care for Carol. That fear of hurting felt deeper than what her memories told a friendship required. Maybe I should just take the leap of faith...”, Jill thought. With a tremulous smile Jill leaned a bit closer to Carol, opened her eyes and said, “Even with as screwed up as I am, I’m happy you really care and are here with me too!”

Carol lit up inside and her smile became radiant. She slowly leaned forward until their lips touched in the gentlest of kisses. Jill’s plump lips were as soft as Carol had imagined and as she pulled back she heard Jill quietly let out a small sound of disappointment. Carol chuckled and said throatilly, “Liked that did you? Perhaps we should make sure you liked it!” The second kiss was stronger and carried more passion.

The couple soon progressed, Carol taking Jill into her arms and still kissing while leading her to the nearest bedroom. Carol began to touch and explore the magnificent body before her. As she lightly traced her fingers along Jill’s arms and sides she could feel her shiver as her nipples erected into noticeable points. Carol’s own were aching as well and their kisses became deeper and hungrier. When Carol reached to caress Jill’s breasts, her thumb gently rubbing across a nipple Jill, unable to contain it, let out a moan of pleasure and need and then blindly reached up to do the same. “Blouse!”, Carol darkly husked and they both rapidly pulled off their tops. Bras followed immediately after as their combined needs drove them.

When the pants started to come off, it was Jill who paused. Though the haze of need and lust, an honorable small part of his diminished male mindset pushed to the fore and it caused her to ask, “Are you sure? I shouldn’t take advantage of you...”

The unexpected question almost caused Carol to laugh and loose the mood, but she got past it, chuckled darkly and replied “Just shut up and let me fuck you!!!”

What followed was extremely passionate but gentle and controlled as Carol proceeded to truly introduce Jill to some the secrets of a woman’s body in the grips of passion.

Maddeningly slowly Carol caressed and teased Jill. By touch of fingers and tongue she caused an almost electric sense of pleasurable tension and want to build and tighten over Jill’s whole body. It was soo unlike what it was for a man! Instead of what was a primary and dominant singular focus, the pleasure arose from multiple points and felt as if all of her was involved!

Jill tried to reciprocate but Carol clearly was the dominant one right then and continued to control the pace and direction of the love making. Carol moved lower and no longer satisfied with fingers rubbing and sliding into Jill’s most private depths she began to lick what was becoming yet another center of Jill’s existence. Deliciously, Jill could feel a need for release building. Reduced to largely inarticulate moans of need she finally gasped out, “Please! Oh God! Pleeeease!” Finally Carol moved and sucked hard on her lover’s clitoris and Jill let out a shriek.

What had been building inside peaked and Jill achieved release unlike any she’d felt before. It was both more pleasurable that she could imagine and strangely painful too, for it seemed as if along with the orgasm, she also released a pressure in her mind she’d not previously been aware of. As she rode the wave of ecstasy she felt as if she were floating into a new realm. “Ooooh Gawwwwwd!”, she wailed in pleasure.

Carol for her part, held tightly to Jill who was almost convulsing with pleasure and she lapped the juices almost squirting from her. Smiling, she pulled her head up to gaze at her lover’s face and froze in amazement and fear. The two of them were about a foot from the ceiling; floating directly above the bed! “H-H-Holy Crap!”, Carol squeaked.

Just coming down from the greatest of the waves of the orgasm, but still feeling as she was floating, Jill heard and felt the sudden unexpected squeak, and raised her head to see what distressed Carol. She saw and felt her head bounce off the plaster of the ceiling. The pain of the bump had just registered and Jill had just enough time to exclaim in a startled tone, “What the F-“ when the two suddenly and gracelessly fell back to the bed with enough force to break the mattress and bed spring through the wooden slats holding them in the bed and onto the floor. Carol’s head wound up impacting Jill’s crotch painfully, illustrating to Jill that women were still sensitive down there.

The two lay trembling with shock and reaction as they tried to wrap their heads around what they’d just experienced. Then they heard banging coming from the floor as the neighbors the floor below expressed their displeasure at the noise of what they must have thought was just over enthusiastic love making. The couple’s shocked silence persisted for several seconds, when Carol rolled over and finally began snickering. Jill, still wincing from the pain, watched dumbfounded as Carol’s snickers evolved into snorts and outright laughter as she stared up to the ceiling. Gasping, she choked out, “Did- did the world move for you too??!?!?!?” Then she lost it completely.

Feeling the waves of hilarity tinged with hysteria Jill was swept away as well and the two grasped each other tightly and began howling. The pounding started again..