Double Date (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Doouble Date.

While John and Chloe lightly complained to their friends in public, the merge had actually been nothing short of a nightmare for them. Their internal monologue was a mess of confusion and contradiction. The bra and heels were just the start of complaints. Nothing fit right; nothing felt right. Somehow the merge made them feel like everything was both familiar and foreign at the same time.

This turbulent period lasted several months before it finally died down. But a new problem started to emerge. The Merge was supposed to connect John and Chloe as a single person, to be with your loved one forever, and never be lonely. But their sense of two distinct selves was long gone, and the merged being now felt alone. Should they start dating again? Was that even a possibility? Would anyone want to be with this strange, confused individual?

12:01

The Client

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Traits

It didn’t matter how hard Conor worked out, he was never able to lose weight or get into shape. As a result, he never saw much of the point or appeal of going to the gym. That is, until he got the device. No one else seemed to be able to see it or notice its effects, but it could swap traits between two people, including himself.

And so he hit up the gym for the first time in a very long time. He immediately started by stealing a guy’s muscles. Next, he tried aiming for another guy, but a woman walked in the way -- Conor ended up with a lot more than he bargained for. Of course, he didn’t have much reason to panic, not yet anyway. Sure, he had turned himself into a woman, but the device ensured no one else would notice or care. He could keep switching traits to himself as much as he wanted. And, heck, he might just enjoy being a woman.

The Walk (Part 2)

View Part 1 of The Walk.

I had no idea what I was going to do now that I was swapped into this woman’s body, but I figured a cup of coffee couldn’t hurt. I certainly needed one.

Everything felt weird. Walking to the coffee shop felt weird. Ordering with my new voice felt weird. Paying for the coffee and having to reach for a purse felt weird.

As I pulled out the credit card, I saw this body’s name. It felt goo to know I had a name that I’d have to get used to going by. But she had to have some sort of ID, right? I could find out where she lived; maybe I could get some more answers about who I was now.

Out-of-Body

My brain still didn’t want to believe my body could move in certain ways. Lifting up my leg to stretch was effortless, but when I saw it up on that bar, it didn’t feel like MY leg. Well, in some ways it technically wasn’t my leg. It hadn’t been my leg until just a few days ago. Perhaps I should say that it didn’t feel like that leg was attached to me, and since swapping into this woman’s body, well, that leg was definitely attached to me now.

I often wondered if these sorts of out-of-body experiences were common for everyone after the Great Shift, or if it was just me. Maybe it was swapping bodies with a woman that had put me in such a state of disbelief at what was clearly my reality. Maybe it was just the particularities of her specific body that made it so weird. Either way, it was so surreal and not getting any better.