It's been a tiring day. Customers misgendering her, down to boring burritos for lunch, and plenty of signs that Monroe is still an unsafe place to transition. At least she has her headmates.
The workday's over, thankfully, and she's sitting at her desk, poking at a story outline with Ruby.
Meanwhile, in another world -
"Dimensional anchor's cooled off, alternate-physics reach is back online. Targets located and ready to prime. Grab away, Director."
"On my mark. Three. Two. One. Direct offer!"
Iridescent blue light washes over the control room as the centralized summoning system works its physics. Though the principles involved are only known to a number of very serious people whose time is more important even than the Director's, it's clear that it's doing something.
And Sable Melanie Miller gets a mental offer, wrapped in truth:
Does she want to be somewhere better than here, that's prepared to receive her and that will help her build a new life?
A vague impression of the world leaks through: comparatively sexually open, a quarter transgender women, majority plural -
It feels a little bit familiar, almost. Like it could have belonged to someone she knew.
Bwuh?
This is a little more intense than the usual daydream about this kind of thing... But. Something feels more believable about it.
Woolgathering later girls. Hailey grabs front, quickly closes the laptop, throws it in a nearby backpack with the charger, and pokes the offer. Yes, yes they want out.
A shimmer of cyan energy washes over them, and concentrates to a glowing dot on the back of their wrist.
Tap dot when ready for transfer.
She stares at the dot.
That's new. This really might be real. Okay. Fuck.
Okay, they have any time. Few changes of clothes, solar/crank charger/radio thing, already have the phone, pocketknife just in case, and they can figure everything else out when they're there. She scribbles a quick note on a sheet of paper and leaves it behind on the desk.
Got isekaied.
Earth sucks.
Bye <3
And then she shoves Sable back into front and taps the dot as she skips out.
There's a wrenching sensation, the feeling of space turning inside-out in a burst of nausea, and then she's suddenly flat on her back on a large couch-bed object draped in deep blue sheets. Her pack is sitting next to her on the bed; she doesn't remember taking it off, but there's a slight feeling of missing time in her head, like she was asleep for a little while.
"Hey." A red-haired head swims into view, crowned with a braid of laurels. The face below is soft and feminine, with blush-pink lips; looking down at her summoner's body, they're wearing a long pink dress that blurs the boundary between a nightgown and a sundress, with lace along the bottom and a floral pattern. There's some kind of hard bracelet on both her wrists, but it's hard to get a look at from this angle.
"Feeling okay? The transfer can be a little rough."
"Bwuh?"
She's maybe not entirely recombobulated from the trip yet. That was wild.
Her rescuer smiles. "It's alright, take your time." She sits down on the side of the bed-couch next to Sable and clips her right hand's bracelet to the side of it by a convenient carabiner on the armrest.
Closer up, it's apparent that she's wearing pink armwarmers, and striped pink and white stockings with no shoes. The bracelets seem to be made of steel with a plastic backing and many holes through them, and gleam with internal LEDs, currently purple.
Okay. She twists a bit, then stretches, then tries to sit up—
Nope. suddenly dizzy. Pause where she is, let it pass, breathe slowly, then get the rest of the way up slower.
She looks around. "So... this is a new world?"
She's in a circular, metal-walled room with a high skylight and one door out, currently closed. There's a side table by the bed-couch with a set of barf bags on it, along with a small first aid kit. It's lit partially by the skylight and partially by a set of inset fairy-lights that seem to be warm-tone LEDs along the perimeter of the room. From the clouds drifting by overhead and the light coming in, it's sometime in the afternoon maybe?
"Yep. An alternate version of your planet. We don't know what the most common name for it is but here we call it 'Heart.' You're in the republic of Asteron on the west coast of the continent, and we are Star-Bright Songbird, or simply Star to our friends."
"Yes, though here it's simply how people are. We call it faceting."
Star-Bright Songbird reaches into the drawer of the side table and pulls out a pair of bracelets in Sable's size, one hard plastic with a cinch and the other steel with an adjustable locking clasp and several holes through it.
"Here, take a fracture bracelet. Steel or plastic, your choice, the steel one is made to function as a freecuff as well. Press the button at the left end of the light array to cycle colors. Purple, pink, red and cyan have specific meanings, but any other color can be assigned to a personal shard. These come with a dozen colors, and charge from motion and from sunlight."
"Freecuff?" She examines the steel one, turning it over in her hands. "And what are the defined meanings?"
"Many people in this world find it comforting to be physically attached to an object or piece of furniture while resting, so many objects come with carabiners to clip them to a freecuff." She pulls up her right hand and demonstrates how it's stuck to the couch-bed now. "It's easy enough to release yourself, but people find it soothing to have a limited range of motion. And of course there are uses in bed."
She shrugs and smiles.
"As for the codified meanings — purple is your most worn shard, your host. Pink is your most emotionally central shard, your heart. Red is for shards that stem from a fantasy or sexual desire — sparks — while cyan is reserved for shards that handle negative emotions or situations — shields. Any other color is up to the individual."
She hums. "Interestingly complicated for us. We already have our own theme colors, and they collide with most of these. I'm the host and I'm purple, that's fine. Hailey'd be cyan in your system, and her theme's a vivid green, that's fine too. Ruby's theme is red, though, and she's the shyest of us, sexually. Neo's theme is pink and white and brown, but she's a free-spirited prankster, not our heart. That'd be a mix of me and Hailey. Arguably all of us have some sexual fantasy that's deeply held for us, though, so red could apply to all of us in a way."
She shrugs and shakes her head, setting the steel bracelet down and putting on the plastic one. "We're weird. I'm Sable, and we're the Pirates, or Inkstained Pirates to be more formal."
Star nods and smiles. "Welcome to Asteron, Pirates. The signal system doesn't fit everyone, of course. Still, I hope it works out alright for you. Feeling up to standing yet?"
She tries scooting to the edge of the bed-thing. How's that dizziness? Better? Okay, great. Onto her feet she goes, a little wobbly but mostly fine. She stretches a bit. "Seems so."
"Alright then." Star unclips herself from the couch and stands, and goes over to the door out and opens it. "Follow me, it's alright if you want to take it slow. Some background while we walk... We're going to get you photographed for your state ID. You're expected to register your system name and your host identity in the system, and may optionally choose to name additional shards — if you do then you may be able to claim bereavement benefits if one goes dormant or incommunicative in the long term, particularly if they take important skills with them, but it's not required if you have privacy reasons to not share. Some of the other boxes on the form may be unfamiliar to you, particularly the optional pleat entry, but I can walk you through them."
She nods. "It's quite the trip to be in a plurality-centric world for once. That's... I never thought we'd get to see it. I am a little less than thrilled about being photographed as I am, but that's the price I pay for not having started hormones by the time y'all grabbed me, I guess."
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't ask, what pronouns should I be using for you? From the pronouns you've used for your other shards I'm assuming she but I should really check."
"She/her all around, yeah." Sable nods. "What's transition care like here?"
"Excellent. Fifty-three point one percent of all individuals born with penises go on to undergo some form of elective feminizing care on Asteron, whether that's hormonal or includes surgeries of some form. I'm one of them."
"Oh wow. That sounds great. How do we sign up? And what options are there for making one's appearance more variable, to accommodate different shard appearances?"
"Hair dye and temporary tattoos, particularly henna, are popular, as well as of course variations in jewellery and clothing. Fracture bracelets in many designs are available, and at the higher end there's electronic fabrics that are capable of changing colors at the push of a button in the sleeve or at the hem. Zip-apart and quick-change fashions are also in style occasionally, though I don't particularly care for them myself."
Sable frowns. "Got any fancy dyes that can handle hair this black without bleaching to the point of fray first? Or bleaches that can retain some degree of softness and curl to the hair? And quickly changeable dyes? Really I should be asking what's the time-scale on the dye and tattoos."
"You would likely not believe some of the things our aestheticians can do. There's a lot to express, after all - pleat, polycule dynamic, one's keeper or kept if one has one, one's shards — truly a wealth of information to convey. We can go to an aesthetician as part of your orientation and we should be able to get together suitable styles for you all."
She hums and nods. "Okay. Lot to figure out." She follows Star further, paying attention to their surroundings on the way.
The hallways are fairly ordinary ones, though still lit by fairy-light LEDs at the top corners of the walls. Occasionally there are more metal doors, though Star passes them by.
"Alright, just in here -" Star gestures through an open arch doorway, and Sable is ushered into a small courtyard garden, with a photo station set up against the wall. The plants are fern-heavy, and look well-tended and natural; there are a few other people sitting around in two and threes speaking with others in wicker chairs amid the ferns and bushes.
"This is the reception area for new arrivals - just sit in the chair in the photo station and I'll take your photo, and then we can wait in the garden while we wait for the courier to come with your ID. Look straight ahead, glasses off, I know it's troublesome but it's for identification of the body and not the person - a secondary identification card with all your facets represented will take more time, and is entirely optional if you'd rather skip the hassle."
She stretches and steps over to the camera. "Whenever you're ready."
"Gonna wanna replace this photo when we make any transition progress at all. Hate looking like this. But let's do it."
She stands in front of the camera, takes off her glasses, and manages a slightly warmer than neutral expression.
She takes the photo. Breaks her heart to do it, but needs must. Better than her charge going undocumented into the wide wide world.
A moment's review, and then -
"All done. It'll get here soon. Thank you, I know it hurts, I've been there."
"Now then, the system will churn away in the background and we'll get to spend some time together while it does. You've already been subject to decontam on the way in, so now it's just a matter of getting you out there into the wide wide world."
She goes over to a small set of lockers by the photo station, provides a six-digit code and her thumbprint, and returns with a wallet for Sable. "The identification cards will come in later, but here is a state account card, a state medical card, a temporary ID with your system name on it that was printed while we were on the way over, and some cash. You're registered in the system already, it's all automated, and are just waiting for the physical card now, which is only important for identification purposes if you're involved in an accident or similar. We went through your pack while you were out and have already located the appropriate equivalent medications for the ones you brought, if there wasn't anything more you forgot to bring. You'll want to schedule an appointment with an erogenist to discuss potentially getting on Cycloterine, likely, judging by the state of your endocrine system from thumbstick testing, but that can wait, you're an adult and a citizen and get to make your own decisions. Feminizing surgeries are covered by state healthcare so you may want to arrange for some of those as well."
"There are government-provided apartments in the complex that you can move into immediately, and you can move out as soon as you find a place that'll rent to you. You'll likely want to look into finding an extended clan to marry into, but that's kind of personal so I'm not going to push on that for the moment. For now, I can recommend some of the local attractions and you can tell me what feels like your speed? I'm not your minder, I'm your local guide, so if you want to dive right in and leave me behind that's alright too."
Sable blinks for a moment, taking all that in as she accepts the wallet. "I don't mind doing the system member identification, that'll honestly feel better than this photo did. Some info on where and how to schedule appointments with the erogenist, aesthetician, transition care people, and so on would be helpful. There's a lot stuff y'all offer here, as far as actually becoming who we want to be, and I'd appreciate some guidance on figuring out how to get started with it all."
She looks down at her hands, frowning. "Couldn't really feel comfortable checking out local attractions looking like this," she mumbles.
"I completely understand. Aesthetician first, then, so we can get you styled for the member IDs, and then we can go on from there."
She beckons. "This way and I'll get you booked in."
They turn a corner into a little slice of madness.
It looks a bit like a high-quality costume shop crossed with a kinkwear store and a hair salon. There are whole sections for wigs, false breasts, elaborate masquerade masks, pierced and patterned animal ears, and apparel ranging from long sweeping maxi skirts to enveloping leather coats to halter tops to shapeless negligees. Elaborate boots sit in stacks, and a large section of hair products and dyes sits next to a salon chair and a whole vanity full of makeup.
Behind the salon chair stands a woman who looks like she stepped right out of a baroque painting, bar some concessions to modern styles in her dress. She looks every inch as if she were nobility, down to the silvery tiara that rests across her forehead.
"Ah, welcome! My Songbird, and another new arrival?"
"Good to see you, Aria. This is Sable of the Inkstained Pirates, and she'd like to retain your services for her government facet ID."
"A noble task. Alright, Sable, won't you come sit in my chair? And we can discuss your options."
Sable looks around at the selection in wonder, taking it all in. "Wow," she breathes, slowly stepping closer to the chair. Finally she looks up at Aria. "Um. Hi. Yes, Let's."
She sits.
"There are a lot of options."
"There really are, but don't worry too much, I vet every piece that comes in the door for its quality. I have many questions, but let's start from the beginning. Who of you would you like to style first?"
"Alright. Then my next question would be: why are you the Inkstained Pirates? What aspects of piracy appeal to you? Do you want to wear something that conveys that aesthetic day to day, or is it more of a philosophical inclination?"
"The ink is about me in particular, the piracy is philosophical. Maya's a shipgirl, I'm her captain, we're all scoundrels, and we've broken lots of unjust laws and a few just ones. We don't necessarily need to live the piratical aesthetic full-time, there are probably other priorities."
"Tell me more about yourself, then, Sable. What would you consider your aesthetic goals to be?"
She hums a bit, tapping her lips. "Very femme, by my old world's standards. A bit of danger, a bit of vulnerable openness... Actually, what all do y'all tend to express aesthetically here? Just so I have a sense of how deep in the pool of identity to dig, y'know?"
"Fictive aesthetics are quite common, especially among Sparks, so if you're alterhuman don't feel that you have to be shy about it. There are also known aesthetics for most sexual interests which are fine to wear in public. Necklaces are generally reserved for Keeper and Kept bonds, but there's also a number of ways to signal availability through a necklace. In general so long as you're not actually nude or experiencing movement issues due to the depth of your costuming you're free to do whatsoever you wish. I've seen some people who do full-body makeup looks on a day to day basis - they're very dedicated people, of course, but that's not seen as particularly unusual. There is much less gender separation between clothes here than on some worlds as well; in particular the general aesthetic is more feminine."
She takes a breath. "What's in style... In hair, ponytails are in, particularly braided ones. The classic transfemme look is a v-necked top, maxi skirt, likely some stylish boots or glossy flats, usually with snaps rather than laces, and depending on the individual's preferences and transition progress perhaps a mask, breast forms, or a hair accessory or headband. Hair treatments are also common - I have a bleach that will render your hair dyeable without destroying its curls, and there is also the option of hair extensions. A mask would have to incorporate prescription lenses, of course, but some are built to attach to an existing pair of glasses and those might work with your present pair."
"Oh wow, okay. That's more than we expected." She hums again. "Fictive aesthetics are complicated slightly by the fact none of the media we're sprawlingly multifictive of likely exists here, unless y'all have been harvesting media from our old world. That could be fun, though slightly less applicable to me as my fictivity isn't as aesthetically central to me as the other girls' are to them. Sexual interests, though..."
She blushes brightly and bites her lip.
"Sparks can be very much like that, yes, taking inspiration from a dozen different sources. There's quite a demand for custom clothing commissions on this world, so even if you only have a moderate income that's likely to be within reach for you in future. The stock here at my atelier is government-supplied for identity separation purposes, and you can walk away with an exact duplicate of any pieces you like here for a low cost. Several prominent artists and designers contributed to the project of clothing and fitting our new immigrants, and the stock rotates, so while you may encounter others wearing similar designs in the program they're not likely to mark you out in the broader world save to those who are already in the know."
"As for designs expressing your interests, sexual or not, whatever you would like to discuss I'm sure I can find something appropriate."
Sable fidgets for a moment, accepting a mental hug from Maya, before finally speaking quietly, "Do you have anything for girls that fantasize about eating other girls?"
Aria bustles back into the stacks of items, and there's a sound of shuffling and muffled cursing as she rummages through not-entirely-neat stacks.
Then she returns, bearing a half-dozen items in her hands.
"Let me see here. Sharktooth mask." She holds up a cloth halfmask to cover the lower half of the face which is blazoned with a pattern of very fangy teeth, along with an actual metal edition of the same one with quite sharp fangs, which almost looks like some kind of muzzle.
"Stylized chef's coat." She holds up a long cloth jacket in black with small buttons and a small collar, with a marking of a bloodied cleaver over the right-hand pocket. It looks like it'd be good at preventing stains on anything worn underneath.
"Sharktooth availability charm." She holds up a simple ring with pointy teeth on either side of it. "To be worn as a pendant to advertise that you're open to partners interested in vore. There's a one-sided and a two-sided version, depending on if you want the teeth on the side against your skin or not."
"Several slogan t-shirts." She holds up a shirt saying SEX MEANS TEETH, another saying WARNING: I BITE, and another few with images of fangs and meat, one reading MY KINK IS RARE over an image of a steak. Most of them have a dipping v-neck, with the slogan over the bust.
"Knife bandolier slash scabbard." She holds up a small hip scabbard with room for three knives, which currently has a table knife in it simply to demonstrate its intended use.
"Claw extensions, tooth appliques." She lays out several false fangs and nail extensions, all pointy and able to scratch.
"There's more in the back if you don't like anything from here but I thought I ought to let you see this much at first."
Sable's blush, which had begun to fade while Aria was bustling through the stacks, returns with a vengeance, her hands coming up to cover her mouth in shock. A sound somewhere between a teakettle and a strangled breathy moan escapes her, muffled by her hands. "Hhhhngh???"
It takes her a moment to collect herself.
"Hailey's gonna like the knife bandolier too, for non-vore reasons. Chef's coat is very tempting. Definite yes on the pendant, pred flavor if there's a difference. Yes to the shirts, preference for v-necks. Definitely the fangs, claws are a sometimes thing though."
"Then let me suggest — open chef's coat, v-necked blouse with your choice of slogan, pendant, and then we should start talking about skirts and boots. Any other aesthetic notes you'd like to work in before we go deeper down this route?"
"I like that plan," Sable agrees with a nod. "The other big themes for me are ink, shapeshifting, and eldritch stuff? Do y'all have that trope here?"
Yeah her blush just isn't going away here, is it? "My big alterhuman theme is about being a sort of otherworldly, 'beyond the sane borders of the universe', spooky, tentacled-horror kind of thing?"
Yeah she knows that's dorky and edgy as fuck she's weird okay?
"Aw, cute! I'm not sure I have that exact idea in — after all, tentacles are pretty mainstream here, so it's not exactly an easy combination with 'otherworldly' — but I can try. Let me see..."
She ducks into the back and comes back with a long purple maxi skirt with a pattern of black octopus tentacles on it, descending from the waist and tangling along the hem. "Something like this, perhaps?"
Sable wiggles in her seat a bit. "Yeah, that's great. If we can somehow work ink themes in I will be well and truly covered."
"Ink, hmm... — do you actually, like, write as an enra or is it more of just an aesthetic note? An enra is, ah — Star, can you, I'm not sure how to explain."
Star walks over from where she's been inspecting the stacks, a new coppery tiara on her head inset with pink gems, and bows her head to Aria. "Certainly."
She turns to Sable. "An enra is — a thing that you do because you are compelled to by your heart. Something you can't set down even if you want to. Generally it's used to mean a passion or a vocation, but anything that's an area of lifelong work or play can be an enra, including some kink roles. An enra is — something life-defining that's non-circumstantial, let's put it that way. Something about you that you choose to express on a daily basis, because something in your heart demands that you love it or else can't help but be it."
Sable's eyes go wide. "Okay that's an amazing concept to have a simple two-syllable word for. I don't know that writing counts as an enra for me, though. I... I really want to get into writing more, but it's not central like that. It's... more that I'm a person who's made of stories, than that I'm a person who must write, if that makes sense?"
"That makes sense. When someone has an enra of a particular kink role, that role is often referred to as their pleat. You can take or play with a role without it being an enra, but if you do it's just a ruche."
"Any type of enra can be recorded as part of your official ID, though if it's an uncommon one you might have to check an 'other' box. Most pleats have an associated formal title."
"The most common enras are writing or other artistry, helping others in general, allegiance to a particular person or clan, one's chosen gender, and the pleats of being a princess or being a goddess."
She tilts her head, grinning. "Huh! That's really cool! Do princess and goddess pleats typically come with any kind of power, beyond just whatever followers you wind up acquiring? How do the dynamics around that get handled?"
"Generally we try to avoid the religious angle, there's a policy of state atheism due to religion predictably causing problems in most cases — it often leads to psychosis symptoms in the local population despite being a very attractive enra. It's a bit of an awkward situation. But Princesas such as myself are accorded the privilege of being addressed by that title on official communications, and certain government programs are more available to them based on their natural aptitudes. We try to avoid the situation where someone wants to falsify their Enra though, so generally such programs come with duties as well. I'm presently employed under one such program."
"Wow. I'm impressed, that's a solid way of handling that!" She hums for a moment again. "I'll need to think about mine somewhat, because I feel like there's an additional enra beyond Voracian that I haven't really had the... slack, I guess, to figure out before. Maybe something about helping people?"
She shrugs.
"Maybe, yes. The searching process for offering rescue seeks people with unfulfilled or weakly fulfilled compatible enras — I'm not sure how it works exactly, you'd have to ask a Very Serious Person and they generally have better things to do with their time."
"That makes sense," Sable agrees with a smile. "So, right, where Aria and I left off is discussing my ink theme and whether or not it's about a writing enra, which I think we're concluding it isn't. It's really part of the eldritch thing for me, the particular kind of weird tentacle creature I'm supposed to be is basically a shapeshifting inkblot that can be lots of things."
"Not to worry. I think the appropriate thing is an ink-bottle charm of some form. Not in the necklace area, but perhaps on the wrist or in a coat pocket? I have a nice little potion-bottle here -" She turns out a tall slim black bottle with a little stopper from among the odds and ends. "- which might suit if visibly carried in a pocket or on a bandolier."
"Ooh. That could go in the bandolier, and it's nicely fidgetable."
"Then I think we just need a pair of boots and perhaps a hair accessory to complete the look. Let me see, what looks about your size..."
Aria pull a pair of heavy black boots with chunky silver snaps out of the stacks; they're quite tall, rising almost to the knee. "Do these suit?"
"That sounds promising. Alright, hair accessory — scrunchies are in if you're going for something casual, but if you want to put in more effort a more complex hairclip might add a nice little touch of color. The butterfly style is classic, but one could also do something with a hairband or a brooch..."
She reaches over and plucks a small plastic hairclip in the shape of a butterfly from the vanity. The violet's a decent match for the skirt.
"How do you feel about this piece to start? Do you want something more elegant and formal, something more practical, something more cutesy...?"
"Wonderful! Then it's time I loaded you up with all the pieces and sent you into the change room. It's just in the back left, past the stack of boots."
Aira bundles up the stack of pieces that Sable has approved so far, and hands them over with both arms. "Here you go, let me know if anything doesn't fit. I'm generally fairly good at estimating sizes but even I can't always get it perfect."
"Hm." She glances over at the breast forms for a moment, then shakes her head. "Yeah, let's start with these."
Up she gets to change. She gets everything on well enough, then steps out. "The skirt was a little snug getting up past my hips, surprisingly, but everything fits."
She wiggles and looks around for a mirror.
"Take a look!" Aria points to the quite large mirror in the vanity over the stack ot makeup.
She checks herself out, then gasps a bit. "Oh, this is great. This is much more me. Tempted to ask about the bleach and dye, but probably we can't switch colors as fast as we switch fronters."
"I can provide you with water-soluble dye, or with lumistrands — I don't know if you have them on your world, they're flexible plastic hair extensions with tiny LEDs built into them so that they can illuminate in a variety of colors depending on one's mood. They're slightly thicker than regular hair, so they lend themselves to more of a cyberized look, but more fae looks can be done with smaller proportions of them mixed into regular extensions as well. Would you be interested in those?"
"Oh lumistrands sound lovely. Our old world didn't have anything like that, at least not that we knew of. Hm. Water-soluble dye might be easier for Neo's half-pink and half-brown with a white streak, and Ruby's red tips in black hair. Hm hm hm."
"Don't feel you have to make a decision immediately; you can always come back later!"
"I... honestly we should probably take both. The lumistrands make Maya's look easier and can spice up my and Hailey's, and the dye handles Neo's and Ruby's. Do y'all have anything for eye color?"
"There are of course cosmetic contacts, but they can be a bit of a trouble to put in and take out."
She hums. "The lumistrands can keep up with our switching without needing midday rinses or contact swaps. Probably those. Can lumistrands light up just the tip, or only the whole strand?"
"The kind we have available here light the whole strand or nothing, but there are more expensive varieties that are fully programmable which you might be able to purchase with your stipend."
"Long-term thing, then. Could you help me put in some lumistrands?"
"Of course. Just take a seat in the salon chair and I'll work my magic."
She sits back down with a smile. "I'm thinking something like streaks maybe? I don't think we mind the cyberized look if it turns out like that."
"Your wish is my command."
Aira breaks out a set of lumistrands from a plasticized paper container, and starts settling them into Sable's hair, adding some more mundane hair extensions matched to her hair color to compensate for the additional length. "How wide would you like the streaks to be? Pinky width? Thumb width? Smaller than a single pinky?"
"Pinkie, I think." She can't help but wiggle a bit, smiling.
"Then I'll work my magic!"
And work it she does. Over the next few minutes she works in several clumps of lumistrands to Sable's hair and extends her hair overall as well.
"There we go," she says, handing over a small remote control. "This is the remote for the lumistrands — they're powered by motion and sunlight, so they may take a little bit to "wake up" in the morning, but don't worry, they're not broken, just sleepy. Right button cycles colors, left turns them on and off."
She hops out of the chair and bounces up and down a bit to try to wake up her new light-up hair, then sets them to purple when they're ready.
"Looks lovely!"
Aria holds out a hand mirror so Sable can see the back of her head as well. The purple fairylights concentrate in little dots amid her hair, but there's also a certain amount that's carried up and down the strands. It looks quite starry and eldritch.
"Oooooh." She wiggles happily. "Okay, I look more like me than I literally ever have. Thank you."
"You are so, so welcome. This is what I live for. Now, do you want to go get your photo taken in your new style? Or are there any small tweaks you'd like to add beforehand?"
"Certainly. They're semi-permanent and will only come off when you use the appropriate anti-dental-epoxy solvent - I'll give you a small bottle so you can remove them later if you wish."
She holds up the package. "Smile wide, please."
And Aria very carefully attaches the fangs to Sable's eyeteeth and dries the epoxy.
"There. If you want to keep them permanently it'd be best not to eat anything for another hour, but it's not strictly necessary, just wise. Here's the bottle of solvent..."
She slips another small bottle into the pocket of Sable's chef coat and pats it. "There we go.
"Wonderful job, Aria. Come along with me, Sable, and we'll get your first facet ID done."
"Eeeee."
Sable wiggles as she follows Star-Bright Songbird to the camera.
And Songbird plops her back down in front of the camera and lines up her shot. "Feel free to make any expression you want, the identification of the body part is already handled by the formal photo so for the facet you can ham it up if you like."
Sable experiments for a minute, finding a grin that'll show off her fangs, something expressive and warm with a hint of danger. Then she gives Star a nod.
Click.
"One down, more to go. Do you want to go through all of your shards right now? It could take a while and we've been at this for a bit. I don't mind if you do, here to guide you and all, I just thought you might want to see the world a little more now that you're in something a little more suited to your heart."
She hums. "Both are tempting. I'm pretty solidly in front, though, so maybe we should come back and visit Aria again after a bit of touring. What would you recommend I see first? And what should I do to get surgeries and hormones and such booked?"
"There's a rather nice garden just outside that you might want to take some time in. It has an il'ka, too. Perhaps we should stop by past the erogenist first and then proceed there once the details are sorted out?"
"Alright, then let's go."
And it's off down another hallway.
The erogenist's office is cozy, done up in lavender wallpaper with a rather squashy couch. The receptionist informs them that she's seeing another patient at the moment, so Star gestures to Sable to take a seat on the couch.
"I'll wait outside if you'd like," Star says. "Though nothing I'm likely to hear is likely to shock me."
She blushes brightly, looking down for a moment. "Um. If you came in, you might have suggestions about other people I should go see for various things, and who to talk to about that."
"Alright, but if you're not comfortable discussing something with me in the room you can always tell me to shoo, alright?"
She nods. "You took me being Voracian okay, you can probably handle the rest."
And just as she says that, a brown-haired woman with a sprig of holly in her hair comes out of the back office.
"Welcome, welcome," she says. "I'm Holly, I'm the erogenist here. Please come into the back — Star, you can come, but from the preliminary data we're going to need to do a stimtest and that I'm going to shoo you out for lest we turn our client here as red as a holly berry."
Up she gets and in she goes. "Nice to meet you." She looks for an appropriate place to sit.
There is a long bench, covered in soft cushions, and atop that a layer of paper.
Holly stands, but pulls out a computer screen on an extensible arm. "Alright, so, let's start with reviewing your numbers from the fingerstick test certain officials I shall not name forced on you while you were out. Not a move I'd approve of but apparently it was necessary as part of decontam." She rolls her eyes. "Anyway, flagrant breaches of professional ethics aside, I'd like to discuss where you are right now and where we can go from there."
"Alright, so, bad news first.
"Firstly, you're on the wrong sex hormones right now. Testosterone doesn't suit your body chemistry and it's no doubt causing you dissociative symptoms, which is always no good for physical pleasure. We will fix this."
"Secondly, you have taken some erogenous system damage from the application of a libido-suppressant drug, likely some form of SSRI. I think it's fairly clear what I think about trying to treat dissociation with a libido suppressant but suffice to say that would be malpractice in this world. Fortunately, we have cycloterine. I can't wholly repair the damage but I can definitely boost your libido back to a higher level if you wish me to."
"Thirdly, for some reason your penis has had the foreskin surgically removed. I also do not understand this and my arguments against it would fill a book. Nonetheless. Surgical restoration is an option here and may restore significant sensitivity, but I suspect you may prefer a more general reconstructive surgery to give you genitalia you are more happy with. We can discuss the options here as well."
"So to summarize — your past life has done significant damage, but it should all be able to be treated. You will not have to suffer all these effects on your sex life indefinitely."
"Wow. It's... different, to be in a world where y'all can actually quantify and care about the damage done to my libido." She blushes and nods. "Yes to the hormones, yes to the libido boost, yes to the general reconstruction."
"Alright. Then the easy part is to prescribe you estrogen, an anti-androgen, possibly progesterone, and cycloterine. Cycloterine is a pill, but estrogen and anti-androgens can come in multiple forms. This early in your hormonal journey we likely want to work with gum-applied or injected estrogen and oral anti-androgen; for longer term work there are medical implants, but they generally require an established level of daily estrogen to be effective. Injected generally gives better transition results but is more of a hassle; gum-applied is less effective but much more convenient and less painful. It's your decision."
"Then we should discuss anti-androgens. I generally recommend a mild anti-androgen like feminase - please disregard the terrible brand name - because having some additional available testosterone can help to boost the libido even in trans women. If you'd rather, I can use a more intense antiandrogen such as cyproacetate and then give you a higher dosage of cycloterine to bring your libido back up, but that's a little more fragile in some ways."
Sable hums for a moment. "Probably the injection, we're willing to put up with a lot of nonsense to get better results, and injections aren't that big of a deal. And I think if y'all have sufficiently effective and lasting hair removal treatments, then we'll go with the feminase."
"We do. Feminase it is then. So next we should talk about a referral for surgery - that's specialist work for an erogenic surgeon, I know some of the basics but it's an advanced topic - and to prepare for that we will need to have a sensation map of your present organs, and an updated one of any rewiring occurring due to hormonal feminisation. So I'm going to shoo Star out of the room now." She looks over at star and makes a small shooing motion. "Out. Unless Sable would actively like to have you watch while I probe her genitalia with a variety of instruments, which may or may not be her kink."
Star gets up and glances over at Sable with a smile on her face. "Yeah, uh..." She doesn't quite move for the exit.
Sable blushes.
"Um."
Honestly having a hot girl present will only help, right?
"She can stay."
Star laughs, comes over and offers a fistbump. "Alright, if you'd like that!"
Holly retrieves a small selection of implements from a drawer in the wall; a latex glove, a wartenberg wheel, a small bullet vibrator, and a rather chunkier large vibrator. She settles them into a tray that slides out from the wall and sits down next to Sable, and then extracts two additional items — a small metal buttplug, and a finger pulse monitor.
"Alright," she says. "So, the most accurate readings will come from measuring pelvic floor contractions along with heart rate and breathing, for which an internal sensor is best." She taps the buttplug. "However, if you would prefer to have an external sensor that's also possible, it'll just make the data a little less accurate. I'd attach an electrode to the perenium in that case. Either is a reasonable choice; are you willing to accept a probing for the cause of better data?"
That blush is just not going away. "Um. Never done that before, but..."
Fuck. She had to make it about better data.
Nervously, "Okay, I'll try it."
"Alright." Holly nods. "Proud of you for taking the plunge, and keep in mind that you can stop at any time if you want, alright? Do you know the stoplight system?"
"Heard of it, haven't had much chance to use it. Red, yellow, green for stop, caution, go?"
"Yes. Seems some things are the same between our worlds. Alright, get as nude as you feel comfortable getting — I'm going to need access to your genitals for this, of course, as well as your ass."
She flushes again and hops off the bench, shimmying her skirt and underwear down and stepping out of them.
Clematis gathers them and puts them in a bag, which she puts on a hook on the wall.
"Alright," she says. "Clip this on your finger." She hands over the finger-clip, which is probably an oximeter and pulse rate monitor. Then she slips on the latex glove and pours a little bit of slick lube onto it and the probe.
"Now, to loosen you up for the probe I'm going to use my fingers. Yes, I'm aware there may be fecal matter, don't worry, I am beyond used to it at this point. Just try your best to relax and not clench - it's instinctive at first but you can get used to it, many couples do."
Sable clips the monitor onto her left middle finger, flushes, and leans over the bench a bit, trying to relax. "Okay." She takes a couple slow breaths to brace herself.
Clematis very gently reaches in with her latex-gloved hand that's not lubed, and steadies her, then carefully slips a lubed finger into her and waits until she stops clenching.
She can't help but clench at first, gasping, but slowly manages to convince her body to relax.
"Good girl." There's a slight smile in Holly's voice.
She slips in a second finger, once Sable's gotten used to the first.
"Yeah, it can be a lot to get used to. Don't worry, we're almost done the hard part."
Carefully, Holly slips in the probe, and settles it.
"There we go. You can turn over now." She strips off her soiled glove, turning it inside-out, and deposits it in a specialized garbage before slipping on a new glove.
Sable takes a few moments breathing slowly, getting used to it. "Ohhh that's quite the thing."
After a bit, though, she turns back over.
"Yeah, it can really take some getting used to." Holly gives Sable a reassuring smile. "It's normal for it to be a bit alien the first few times. Congratulations on reaching for better data."
She brings in her tray of implements. "So, now we gather data. If you need a few more moments to prepare that's fine, we can go at your pace."
"We're going to start with manual stimulation. I'm going to grab you, excuse me."
She reaches in, and takes a soft hold of Sable's cock.
"Standard techniques test... Starting with d-pad movement."
She clicks her tongue, and the machine beeps in affirmation; then she begins to carefully, precisely simulate Sable's frenulum with the flat of her thumb.
A quiet "mmm" spills from Sable's lips as she adjusts to the new touch. Holly's instruments definitely reveal some lost sensation. Dissociation due to dysphoria also makes an appearance.
Holly tests her various tools, as carefully as she can, trying to keep Sable present and comfortable as much as she can.
Holly encourages Star to hold Sable's hand through the harder parts. It's awkward, but it does seem to help. And even Star blushes a little at it too.
At last —
"All done. I apologize for the dysphoria, and I'm very proud of you for sticking through it. The prescriptions have been added to your health card and you can claim them at any pharmacy. I hope you recover well. Thank you for your patience with my poking and prodding."
She sighs and smiles lopsidedly as she puts back on her underwear and skirt, now that the probe is out.. "Thank you for helping with everything. I... it was a lot, but I'll put up with a lot of things in the pursuit of transition."
"Yeah, it really can be. That said, this data will inform your surgeon which areas of your tissue have the best nerve depth and integration, which will make for a better-optimized final result from genital reconstruction. I certainly didn't regret it when I had my surgery done."
"Investment," she agrees with a nod. "Sink some finite discomfort in up front to get better pleasure for the foreseeable."
"Indeed. And in the short run, the hormones should help considerably. For now, though, that's all. Thank you for taking the time to see me."
Star-Bright Songbird gets up from her chair, a small blush still on her face, and stops by the door. "I, ah, it was certainly an experience."
"Have a nice day, Holly." Sable blushes at Star-Bright Songbird and follows her out. "Yeah, Star, it really was. Um. Thank you for keeping me company. I know it was maybe a lot to ask, but it helped me cope with the dysphoria a lot better."
"It's alright, just, um, maybe buy me dinner about it?" She ducks her head and runs a hand through her hair. "And to be clear, yes, that is me asking you on a date because I need to process how weirdly intimate that was."
Sable grins. "Normally when I take a pretty girl out to dinner, I know anything about the local restaurants and such. This definitely justifies an exception, though. What sort of food do you like?"
"Spicy, usually. Asjolan cuisine, but I'm not sure you'd have an equivalent. It's mostly... curries."
Sable hums. "Sounds like Indian food, from my old world? Conveniently that's one of my favorites. Do they do like... garlicky flatbreads and that sort of thing too?"
"Sounds delicious. Is there a good place nearby? And when's dinner, relative to now?"
"There's one in the town mall, it's just a stop away on the hex network. We'll have to take a train but it'll be right there when we get off. And in about an hour; we should be there in time to beat the rush."
Sable grins sharply and bows sweepingly. "Then lead on, Princess. I look forward to it."
"Charmer. Alright, then, follow me. Train station's on the third floor like always."
And off she goes towards the elevator, trusting Sable to follow along.
She follows cheerfully, borrowing stability from the new place and the new connection. "It's nice to standardize that kind of thing. Our old world didn't have nearly enough mass transit in most places, let alone this kind of convenience."
"The hex system's relatively new. New in I think my grandmother's generation. There used to be a lot more urban sprawl but then they did a test city and the sky-scraper-with-park design worked well so they did a major refurbishment. Lot of chaos in the short term, people shouting about being moved around and up into the towers, but I'd say it was worth the expense in the long term. The clans got on board in the end once there was an expert consensus; they usually do. Some of the holdouts got paid to leave, some of 'em stuck around and got built around. It's a little patchworky in some places with personal plots of land. But the bones are solid."
