Strange Phenomenon

FBI Agent Carter Fagen had been assigned to investigate strange phenomenon all across the country. His latest brought him to a rural farm in Iowa. Despite the reports an elderly couple living there, a young woman opened the door.

She started talking his ear off about how miserable she was. How her husband had a job that moved them to the middle of nowhere. Agent Fagen was much more interested if she had seen anything strange.

The woman brought him out to a barn at the edge of the property where a strange machine was set up. The barn didn’t seemed to be wired for electricity, yet it still seemed to be powered on.

“My husband can’t figure out what it does,” She said before pressing the big red button on the front.

In a flash, the machine started to display the image of two people with an arrow between them, and another moment later the machine did exactly what it was designed to do.

Agent Fagen now stood with his arms crossed, his mind swapped into the body of the woman. “You probably shouldn’t have pressed that,” He said, while trying to sound stern, it ended up as more of a squeak.

“Well, let’s just hit it again!” The woman panicked inside Agent Fagen’s body, “I can’t be stuck like THIS!!!”

Important Work

Dr. O’Reilly watch his colleague, Dr. Park, come into the lab each day and spend about a half hour running electrical current through a brain she kept at her station. This when on for several months before he asked why she was doing this.

“I’m keeping it alive,” She told him, “It’s cutting edge research, and it’s very important to me.”

“What’s research? Whose brain is that?” Dr. O’Reilly asked, as confused as ever.

“It’s mine.” She paused. “Perhaps more accurately, it’s Dr. Park’s. It was swelling and had to be removed, or she would have died. I agreed to keep it alive and look for a cure.”

This begged an obvious question from Dr. O’Reilly. “Then who are you?”

“I would’ve thought you’d recognize your old professor by the quality of my work.”

“Mark Steincroft? Professor Mark Steincroft? But you died five years ago!”

“And now you understand just how experimental, groundbreaking, and important Dr. Park’s work was, and why I must continue it while aiding her brain here.”

Altered Fates (The Movie Trailer)

I don't usually post any videos on this particular blog. (I tend to do that elsewhere.) However, with the advent of AI video, it has really opened up a new way to tell stories, and I honestly couldn't be more excited. I already promoted my YouTube channel last week, but I thought I'd give a shout out to a few of the videos on there by linking them on this site as well. I dunno, I guess I just think they are pretty decent in terms of content. And if people hadn't already sniffed them out or seen them already, now their chance. Also, maybe it helps with SEO? I dunno. I've never been good at SEO; I just like showing off what I do sometimes. I figured it also couldn't hurt to encourage people to like and subscribe and whatnot.

Cleansing

“It’s supposed to be cleansing,” Austin said extremely loudly after he lit the bowl of incense. He wasn’t sure if Brianna could even hear him; if she was still inside this body in any meaningful sense. But she was the one who was into all this mystic stuff anyway.

It was her fault this had even happened at all. That weird spell she cast had turned him into some sort of ghost or something. With his own body gone, he wasn’t sure where else to go; there was no one else around; so he entered Brianna’s body.

It was obviously a mistake for a thousand reasons. The most obvious was that he had zero interest in being a woman, and yet that exactly what he was now. And, of course, it was Brianna that knew about all this weird stuff; what was he even really supposed to do? He only lucked out when he found the incense and it was labeled “cleansing,” but it did little to remove his spirit from her body.

Venture Forth (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Venture Forth.

The goblin guards brought Gideon and Gwyn through the castle ruins. They were eventually brought into a throne room where the princess sat. She was quite the sight.

Neither Gideon nor Gwyn had ever heard of a half-goblin. In fact, everything they had ever read stated that a human and a goblin could not create a viable offspring, yet that is exactly what the princess appeared to be. Gideon thought she was quite hideous, though still better looking than some of the women from the nearby village his parents used to try to hook him up with, and also considered she was outright gorgeous compared to the average goblin. Gwyn’s eyes were focused on the scepter she held. She certainly knew a magical weapon when she saw one, and it seemed almost wasted in the hands of a dumb goblin -- even a half-goblin.

But the princess knew exactly the power in her hand. When she saw the pair enter her throne room. She was excited. She giggled while muttering, “Is perfect! Is perfect! Kneel! Kneel!”

The guards made Gideon and Gwyn get on their knees. Then she held the scepter above them.

In a flash, Gideon realized he was now looking down at his own body. It was cursing and shouting, “Wrong one! Wrong one! Arrest! Detain!”

He was realizing he was now in the body of the princess, and she was trying to bark orders from his body. He just looked around at the goblins in the room an asked, “Could we have some privacy?”

Reactions

Rick and Jenna had two very different reactions to being swapped while they rode the subway. Jenna was watching her former body intently. It was weird seeing someone else be the one to move it. She wondered what it felt like for him to be stuck in her body; the idea fascinated her far more than the fact that she was stuck in his body. She wanted to ask just the right question, but she got nervous thinking about it.

Rick was a lot more stoic. He looked straight forward, not wanting to see Jenna with his body in the slightest. Every now and again, he glanced over and just thought seeing himself was too weird to handle.

Despite Jenna’s excitement, it was actually Rick who spoke up first. “How do you think this happened?” Jenna’s squeaky, high pitched voice coming from his mouth felt even weirder than being in the wrong body. Yet he continued, “And do you think we can undo it?”

Jenna shrugged. “Maybe it will undo itself?” She suggested.

“Somehow I doubt it...”

Freaky-Friday-esque (Part 4)

View Part 1 of Freaky-Friday-esque.
View Part 2 of Freaky-Friday-esque.
View Part 3 of Freaky-Friday-esque.

Despite Candice’s rather flippant attitude to the family-wide body swap, she was as worried as anyone. And despite having access to her mom’s credit card and other perks, she hated being in her body much more than she’d let her brother know.

Against all odds, she was actually good at her mom’s job, but she still hated being there. A 9-to-5 was still way worse than school hours and much less fun. On lunch breaks, she’d pull out the yoga mat and some workout clothes her mom left in a drawer. The exercise was a struggle, but she hated being in her mom’s overweight body. She hated being old too, but she knew there was nothing she could do about that. However, it seemed that no matter how hard she tried, there wasn’t anything she could do about the weight either.

Version 2.0

Bradley had been the only one on his team not to test v1.0 of the Body Switcher. And he wasn’t exactly eager to do so. He had seen the other people on his team as they inhabited each other’s bodies, as they struggled with even the most basic movements, barely able to utter a word or give a thumbs up before being zapped back to their original bodies. But when version 2.0 had been completed, he couldn’t hide anymore. They knew he was the only one who hadn’t participated so far; he ended up first on the list.

Among the many improvements made in v2.0 was the fact that the other subject didn’t need to be in the lab with them. The brain could be swapped into any body anywhere. Bradley really objected when they picked Lexi; he was sure Lexi would have objected to if she had any clue about what was going to happen.

As it turned out, the proximity limitation wasn’t the only improvement in the new version. For starters, the swap was painless -- his colleagues had often described the experience of actually switching as “torture.” And he wasn’t a mindless vegetable either. In fact, he now seemed to not possess Lexi’s body, but her amazing balance and poise. While he would’ve described himself as a bit of a klutz in his former body, Bradley was now standing effortlessly in heels. And it wasn’t just standing; he could probably do yoga or dance or just about anything he wanted to, even with this wild heels on his feet.

That should make his next task easier: Getting back to the lab to announce the success to his team. Then again, what was the rush?

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Toxic (Part 1)

I used to work here. That was back when I used to be a guy. It’s a story. Let me tell you. Whatever is in the ground here, it’s pretty dangerous. You had to wear some pretty intense safety equipment when you were out in the field here, but I guess mine had a rip or a hole in it or whatever. They always said the greatest risk was to the reproductive organs, but I never expected mine to just disintegrate and fall off.

I don’t think anyone truly understood the mix of toxic sludge that actually caused it -- not the company I worked for, not the doctors, and certainly not me. It was like nothing they had seen, because I not only lost my male parts but also gained female ones inside. The doctors also explained they were highly fertile, which was quite unusual given the typically neutering effects of the toxicity.

The doctors tried a phalloplasty at first, but this too ended up just sort of disintegrating away. And so I made a decision. If this toxic sludge was convinced on turning me into a woman, I wasn’t going to fight it. I got surgery to augment my top to become more feminine; I took a few hormones; I grew my hair out. In short, I embraced being a woman -- and enjoyed a big cash settlement from the company that exposed me in the first place.

But perhaps to no one’s surprise, the toxic waste seemed to have no further effects on me.

Roommate's Invention

Lucas stepped into the room with an aura of confidence as he touted his invention to his roommate, Adam. It wasn’t the first time Lucas had done this sort of bragging, and every other time, the invention flopped. Adam simply asked if Lucas had his share of the rent money.

But Lucas was undeterred by Adam’s attempt to change the conversation. He had literally made an invention that could change one thing into another with a simple press of the button. He demonstrated its power by transforming Adam into a bleached blonde woman.

Adam wasn’t exactly pleased by this transformation and snatched the device from Lucas. His thought wasn’t to change himself back to normal but to get revenge, aiming the device at his roommate without any understanding of how it actually worked.

Adam was more than shocked to see his roommate transform into a small mouse. Unfortunately, mice couldn’t speak nor did they seem to be able to generate enough force to press buttons on the device. Adam leaned down to the floor to observe his now rodent roommate and realized this was bad.

He had no idea how the device worked; no idea how turn himself or his roommate back to normal; and he was sure anything he tried would likely only make things so much worse...

Reception (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Reception.

After some time, Julia and I retreated to our hotel room to discuss just exactly how we were going to more forward from here.

Getting a divorce or an annulment was obviously a no brainer for both of us. She suggested going to courthouse first thing on Monday; I told her it may not be open if everywhere there was body swapped as well. We still were both resolved to go as soon as we were able.

She had never told me how much she hated her sister, but it was all coming out now. Nicole coming to the wedding in a skimpy dress was just the latest in a long line of actions. Hearing Julia talk about how difficult it was to look at my current face was hard for me, but I still listened intently.

I responded by telling her that I did still love her; she said the same. It was a moment that might’ve ended in a romantic kiss if it wasn’t for the fact that I was looking at the body of Nicole’s dad, and I was presently in Nicole’s body.

Let Me Show You

Ralph wondered why Bill was leading him down to their friend Gene’s basement. Where was Gene? Why were they doing this without him? It didn’t feel right. When Ralph saw Gene’s body passed out on a table, and a scared Asian woman strapped into a strange chair with sci-fi stuff attached, he was nearly ready to dart upstairs and call the cops.

“Before you panic, let me explain,” Bill said, “Or, better yet, let me show you.”

Bill attached something to his own head, then typed a few things into the computer. The machines in the basement made a loud noise, and Bill’s body collapsed to the ground.

“What the hell?” Ralph said trying to attend to his passed out friend’s body.

“It’s okay; I’m here.” The Asian woman now said, “I’m Bill. In this body. Isn’t it wild?”

The Asian woman pressed a few buttons on the armrest that freed her from the restraints.

“It’s an invention Gene made.” Bill continued explaining, “It lets you become anyone. Gene’s this hunky guy who can bench like more than 200 pounds. We can lure someone else down here so you can be whoever you want too!”

“I don’t want to be someone else! What about your original bodies just sort of lying down here? What about the people whose bodies you’ve taken on a joyride!?”

“Stop worrying and have some fun! It’s fine!”

Happiness

“I should be happy, right?” Vick Gaul lamented as he spoke with his psychiatrist. “I used to be a guy in my early 20s who never applied himself. I dropped out of community college and had a dead end job in fast food. I wanted nothing more than to never work another day of my life. Then the Great Shift happened, and it theoretically gave me everything I wanted. Mrs. Birch was rich -- like billionaire rich -- and she insists on me not working now that I’m in her body. She pays for everything I could ever want, even these sessions. So why am I not happy?”

“Well, Mr. Gaul, let me ask you,” His psychiatrist responded, “Do you suppose happiness is more than what you thought it would be?”

“What do you mean?”

“Perhaps you are more upset about the things you’ve lost than the things you’ve gained. For instance, I might have become forty years younger as a result of the Shift, but being a young woman has destroyed my marriage to my life. Being able to be young and continue my life’s work and research makes me incredibly happy, but not nearly as much as my family did. It’s been a trade off for everyone.”

“I mean, I guess being an older woman sucks, but I’m not even sure that’s too terrible. I wasn’t sure my former body would’ve lived beyond 30 the way I was living anyway. But, I dunno, maybe I do just miss something about it.”

Borrowing

Mia was in complete shock when she realized she was looking at herself. She briefly looked down at the hands she now had which were large and hairy despite having painted purple nails. She knew exactly whose body she was in, but did that mean he was in hers?

“Tyler?” Mia asked as she looked as herself.

“Duh,” Tyler replied from inside Mia’s body, “You were practically crying about needing a makeover. I’m here to help.”

“By stealing my body?”

“I’m not stealing. I’m borrowing. It’s easier this way.”

“You’ve done this before?”

“Honey, I’m not only the most fabulous gay gay on the quad, but I’m also a witch and a fashion expert. I’ve helped out at least a half dozen girls before you. And you are by no means the worst base I’ve worked with. You’ve got a good body here, but I’ll be ditching the boring jeans and t-shirt, doing something about this hair, and the glasses gotta go too.”

“And when it’s done, you’ll give me my body back?”

“When I’m done, it’ll be your body but better! It’ll only be a few hours. And you can trust me on my gayest of gay honor. I have no interest in any of...this; other than the fashion, of course.”

“Well, okay, I guess...”

Species (Part 3)

View Part 1 of Species.
View Part 2 of Species.

Against all odds, Jason escaped from the ship and made his way back down to the planet through a inverse tractor beam. Judging from he fields, he was in some remote farming area. He wasn’t really sure what he was going to do now. Due to the injection of alien DNA, he was probably close to seven feet tall, his eyes were large and black, his cheeks seemed to blush green. He wasn’t sure how he could blend it.

Then again, he wasn’t sure this was even Earth. Sure, it looked like Earth, but the aliens could cross the galaxy; he could really be anywhere.

He coughed. It caused a slight chill down his back, and he began to worry. Would his new alien DNA make him more susceptible to human diseases like in so many sci-fi films? Or maybe this was the alien home world and he was catching the disease that had infected all the women? He coughed again.

Good for One Wish

Simon picked up the coin off the street. He had done the math before as a brilliant mathematician. It was technically not worth one’s time to do so, yet he did so anyway. As it turned out the coin wasn’t any sort of currency. Instead it was some sort of cheap alloy that said on it, “Good for one wish.”

Realizing it was even more worthless than he though, he sought to simply toss the coin, but it would not leave his hands. This was a curious development. With a bit of his inner fantasy nerd coming through, he thought maybe a wish was in order -- regardless of how silly that seemed.

He thought of wishing for a million dollars...or a billion dollars! He opened his mouth.

“I wish,” He said with a pause, but the next words out of his mouth were somehow completely out of his control, “That I was a hot dumb bimbo of a woman, who wanted nothing more than in life but to find a husband to please.”

Then the coin fell from his hand. He tried chasing after it, but it rolled around on the street before falling into the sewer grate. Simon looked down there. A part of him still realized he probably used to be smart enough to figure out a way to get it, but he was now much too focused on how gross sewers were.

And the coin would continue on its way. It might be some time before someone found it. And the next holder of the coin would be transformed into the billion dollars Simon wanted to wish for, but as Simon was transformed into the woman the previous coin holder had wanted.

Pretty (Part 5)

View Part 1 of Pretty.
View Part 2 of Pretty.
View Part 3 of Pretty.
View Part 4 of Pretty.

In rare moments in his spare time (which were often backstage after shows or just before bed), Jason would read through the contract in order to try to find a way out. His former life as a lawyer helped in understanding, but there didn’t seem to be much of a loophole. The terms weren’t favorable to him at all.

But he maybe had one hope. He could renegotiate the terms if both parties agreed. Though the only way he imagined that they’d be likely to do that is if the group made it extremely big -- they’d want an even bigger chunk. He had certainly seen the crowd sizes grow, but would it be enough? Maybe he could leverage the skills he had as Jason to help boost the group into superstardom. It seemed like even more work, which wouldn’t be easy. But it seemed like his only option.

OMG! Shoes!

“I’m so excited to try these on!” Evan exclaimed, “Do you think I’ll know how to walk in them? Or will I have to practice? I’m sure the muscles in your legs are used to wearing heels, right? But I’m sure there's some knowledge that I just don’t have! But they’re so cute, and I can’t wait!”

It was weird for Stephanie as she watched Evan get excited about shoes while their bodies were swapped. She could remember being just as excited about a new pair of shoes not too long ago, but she had swapped her fashion interest along with a few other aspects of her personality to Evan along with her body. She had hoped that would help him adapt while they were swapped.

Now it just felt like he was rattling on about something as stupid as shoes. Seeing herself in this light wasn’t exactly flattering. When they finally swapped back into their own bodies, would Stephanie want to take these annoying personality aspects back? Then again, Stephanie was even questioning if she wanted her own body back at all. She knew Evan couldn’t exactly switch them back to normal without her consent. This could be an exciting new life for her as a guy, and Evan seemed pretty content with being her...

Campus Experiment

Emma was understandably in a panic after she swapped bodies with her professor, Mr. Douglas, during an accident in an experimental lab procedure. After a few hours of looking into the data, he told her they likely wouldn’t be able to swap back for a week.

She asked about her classes. He explained that, as a professor, he’d easily be able to handle them for her. She asked about his classes. He told her he’d take the week off. She asked about her trendy appearance. He explained that he had plenty of experience observing youth trends as a professor, and that he could manage that as well.

She was placated by his answers, but in hindsight, she probably shouldn’t have been. Arriving back on campus after a week, she found Professor Douglas on campus in her body. She was distressed upon seeing him. It wasn’t exactly a trendy look -- at least not for today. Maybe it would have been thirty years ago when he went to college, but now? God, it just felt like he was embarrassing her!

It got worse. He hadn’t made any progress on setting the procedure back up! He was having too much fun being young again. As a result, it was going to at least be another week that they’d be stuck in each other’s bodies. And Emma was starting to think he was enjoying being in her body way too much and that maybe -- just maybe -- he had done this whole thing on purpose...

An Absolute Jerk

It had been difficult for Thad ever since that accident in the science lab. It was one thing to break up with his hot cheerleader girlfriend now that she was in the body of some nerdy guy, but then watching her body walk around campus now that he was inside of it was just infuriating.

“You have some nerve,” He said one day walking up to her body.

“Excuse me?” Sam, the nerdy guy now in the former cheerleader’s body, responded.

“Doing all that shit to her body. You’re making her look like an ugly freak. How dare you do that to my girlfriend’s body?”

“For starters, I heard you broke up. Further, she and I made agreements about what we can and can’t do. I assure you, I’m well within the limits. And finally...what the hell makes you think you can tell any woman what to do?”

“Oh, so you decided you’re gonna be one of those feminist types, eh? You know, a night with me in my room has been known to clear more than a few chicks of that horrid political crap.”

“Look, you seem like a nice guy.” Sam paused, “Actually, based on everything you just said, that’s a lie. You seem like an absolute jerk. I don’t know what Ashley ever saw in you, but whatever you had with her and whatever you did to this body, you certainly aren’t getting any more of it...ever.”

Five O'Clock News

The five o’clock news team was scrambling. With minutes before the broadcast, the Great Shift had struck. Of course, the body swapping event would be the top news story, but exactly how they were going to pull if off was yet to be figured out. They had all pulled together for major events on even shorter deadlines, but in those cases, they hadn’t been part of the story themselves!

Thomas was a producer who was lucky enough to be unshifted as he scrambled to pull all the pieces together. He breathed a sigh of relief when he found Ashley Wu, one of the anchors sitting back stage.

“You need to get to the desk,” Thomas instructed.

“I...I can’t,” Ashley’s body stuttered, “I’m n-n-not Ms. Wu! I’m just an intern! I’m John! And I can’t even walk in these heels! How do you expect me to get over there?”

“Take ‘em off! You look like Ashley. You’ll do fine. Or close enough. Whatever. I’m not sure we have a choice.”

“O-okay,” John continued to stutter as he slid his hands down his unfamiliar legs to take off the heels on his feet. He was glad Thomas had confidence in him to do this, because he sure didn’t have the confidence in himself.

Terrible Liar

It didn’t take long for Raymond to put the pieces together about the situation he was in. He knew he was a woman wearing a white dress sitting on a bed with rose pedals around him in a hotel room. He could hear a toilet flushing in the nearby bathroom. He thought fast, and quickly jumped up to use a chair to block the bathroom door from opening.

There was a knocking on the door.

“Hey Cheryl,” The man’s voice on the other side said, “I think the door is stuck.”

“Oh...no. I guess I have to...call the lobby,” Raymond said to the best of his ability, but he was a terrible actor.

“Babe? Are you messing with me?” There was a pause. “Or are you having trouble getting out of that dress and slipping into something more comfortable for our first night as man and wife?”

“No. It’s just that...uh...I...um...had my period just now. And I’m...uh...perioding all over the floor in here. Oh, yeah, it’s a mess. You don’t want this snatch tonight.”

“Now I know you’re messing with me. What’s wrong?”

Raymond knew he wasn’t selling any of these lies, but would this guy really believe the truth? That he suddenly swapped into the body of his newly wed bride?

Gimcrack (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Gimcrack.

As Hester and Elias left the mansion and walked through the streeets of town, taking in the modern world was a little overwhelming. On top of it all, Elias hated his new body, but Hester wasn’t much happier.

“You should’ve let me possess that one,” Hester eventually complained. “You know nothing about being a pretty woman. I was a pretty woman.”

“I didn’t exactly have any control over it.” Elias said confused, “It just was the closest one to me. And even if I could’ve, I don’t think I would’ve picked...uh...yours.”

“Are you saying I’m ugly now? Is that what you’re saying, Elias? You’re a total clodpole. I don’t know why I ever married you.”

“Uh...it was an arranged marriage.That’s why. I know we’ve been stuck together in corporeal forms for about a hundred years, but I almost thought our animosity for each other was mutual.”

“Oh, it is Elias. It is.”

Garbage Day

With garbage pickup suspended for a week after the Great Shift, trash was piling up in people’s homes. When it finally resumed, it was impossible to not notice how much longer pickup was taking.

In part, this was due to the pause, more time between pickups simply meant there was more trash to be collected. Many of the garbagemen were still unaccounted for. Then there were people like Jeff. Whereas his old body was used to just grabbing several bags at a time and throwing them into the back of the truck, his post-Shift female body wasn’t nearly as strong.

He was sure he’d bulk up his new feminine arms in no time, but for now he was limited to a single bag at a time.

The delays would continue.

Never Fire a Shot into the Air

When I was young, my dad told me would take me hunting. He warned me never to fire a shot into the air, because you never knew where it was going to land. He even shared a story about a guy who knew who fired his rifle in celebration after bagging a deer only to have the bullet come down at hit him in the head as he left the forest. I don’t know if that story was true, but I probably should’ve taken his advice to heart.

When my friend and I got our hands on this weird body swapping ray, it started out as fun. You’d zap one person with it, zap another, and then the two people would swap bodies. We messed with people for hours.

We were laughing at the whole thing, and then my so-called friend decided to zap me. I wrestled it from his hands, knowing that I would swap with whoever was zapped next. I probably should’ve smashed the thing, or just swapped with him. Instead, I thought it would just be harmless to just shoot it in the air.

I should’ve listened to my dad.

It took about an hour for the shot to come back down to Earth. But I knew immediately when it did. I wasn’t with my friend anymore. I wasn’t in the same city anymore. I wasn’t even a guy anymore. Just as my dad had warned me when hunting, the shot of the body swap ray had come back down to Earth. I’m sure my friend would be amused by my current body. Heck, he was probably amused while talking to her now that she was in my body. She was probably freaking out with what I imagine were lots of “like”s and “gawd”s. But now I needed to figure out how to get back there and sort this whole mess out.

The Prom Queen

“Let me go! They’re about to announce prom queen! They’ll give it to someone else if I’m not there!” Nancy screamed. Despite being in a rather imposing contraption, she was less concerned about her safety and more concerned about claiming her crown.

She was actually surprised no one could hear her screaming for help. She could still hear the bass of the music through the walls. She had been taken from just outside where she had been sneaking a cigarette where no one could see. But who took her? Karen? That bitch would do anything to take the crown from her.

She was quite surprised to see a nerdy guy emerge from the shadows. He had a strange helmet on his head and placed a matching one on hers.

Nancy was confused, “Who are you? Why are you doing this?”

“You never noticed me,” The nerdy guy sighed, “No one ever did. Well, that ends today. I’m going to be prom queen.”

Nancy suddenly stopped screaming and began to laugh. “You? You’re not exactly prom queen material. You’ve even got the gender wrong.”

“No, but I will be. Once I used my machine here to steal your body.”

“Steal my -- ? What?” Nancy started screaming for help again. But as the machine was activated, she could hear the sound of her voice changing from her sweet, high pitched tone to an obnoxious, nasally snort. What had he done to her!?

In the Pouring Rain

“And just why did you bring us up to the roof in the pouring rain?” Tricia asked her boss Mike.

“Because we came up here the other day and there was that lightning strike that swapped our bodies, right?” Mike asked. “I figured there’s a pretty good chance of another lightning strike in weather like this. It’s been two days, Tricia! I want my body back!”

You don’t think I want mine back, too? It’s nice to be the boss, but I miss being young! I miss having a social life! I hated going back to the suburbs at night!”

“Then what are you complaining about!?”

“Because it may be raining, but there’s no lightning today! We’re just getting soaking wet!”

Searching

Late summer in 1947. Henry and Tanya had spent the last two months together on an expedition. The two archaeologists were in search of something, and it seemed they had finally found it.

Henry reached out and put his hand on the artifact, and it began to glow. Tanya maintained a safe distance.

“This is what we’ve been looking for,” Henry told her, “If we both touch this at the same time, it should swap our bodies. We can get back to normal!”

“What if I don’t want to go back?” Tanya asked.

“How could you not want to return to your own body?”

“Not everyone is as progressive as you. The fact that you allowed me in your class at college; the fact that you picked me as you teaching assistant; the fact that you hired me at the university after I graduated. This world is tough out there for a woman like me, and no one except for you will ever give me a chance. Being stuck as an old white man doesn’t seem that bad in comparison.”

Henry knew exactly what she was talking about. He had lived the past two months as Tanya. He had experienced the racism and discrimination first hand. He had given her every opportunity because she was the brightest student he ever had, and he wasn’t going to let other people’s racism get in the way of that; he had done his best to shield her from it, but he was one man. He knew exactly why she didn’t want to go back though. He laughed, “Okay. Fine. I understand. But we’re still bringing the artifact back in case you change your mind. Oh, and, for the record, I’m not that old.”

Wish Upon a Shooting Star

Avery saw the bright light in the sky. It was the second shooting star he had seen in a month. He guessed it wasn’t a coincidence. This was his opportunity to undo his first wish if he so wanted to.

He didn’t want to.

When he saw the first star a month ago, he had wished to become a woman. He almost thought it was silly by how specific he got, as if he knew to take this wish more seriously than any other he had ever made. Waking up the next morning, he was surprised that had been granted.

And since then, he had been enjoying his time in a female body. Was it perfect? Far from it, but everything about it still felt “more right” than it ever had been as a guy. He wondered if everyone got a chance to undo their wish like this.

But just before the star blinked from view, he realized something else. It wasn’t just a chance to undo what he had loved, it was an opportunity he could grant for others. And so he wished that anyone who wanted to change gender could do so just as easily and freely as he had.

A Good Mother

After 10 years of marriage and two kids, Joel and Skye both could feel their relationship was in trouble. The more traditional couple’s therapy they had tried didn’t work, so they both agreed to something more extreme. They sent their kids to the grandparents and underwent a temporary body swap treatment.

The initial swap was both weird for Joel and Skye. Neither felt comfortable in their new skin, but the therapist explained a minor amount of hypnosis would help them adapt. And, sure enough, by the end of the day, Joel felt comfortable as a woman in the wife role, and Skye was fine with being the man and husband. With their roles reversed, they found that they went to bed without an argument for the first time in years.

The next morning wasn’t nearly as quiet.

Skye woke up to an empty bedside next to her. She heard a door slam, and she ran down to follow. Joel was standing there with a doll in his hands.

“What are you doing?” Skye asked.

“Our daughter isn’t well,” Joel said frantically, “I’m taking her to the doctor.”

Skye looked at the doll again before looking at Joel. “That’s not our daughter.”

“Of course it is! I’m a wonderful mother! And I need to take care of her! You wouldn’t understand, Skye! You didn’t give birth to her!”

Skye could only assume this was something off with the hypnosis. She needed to call the center for help, but she also didn’t want Joel to run off like this...especially not while he still had her body.

The Oddest Thing

Luke would have thought that the oddest thing about swapping into someone else’s body would be the actual swapping, but the strangest thing for him after swapping into Brenda’s body was the way people treated him. Despite being in her ditzy, blonde body, he was still acting like the awkward dork he always had been...and people were treating that like it was normal.

When Brenda’s friend, Amy, invited him to the mall, he found himself groaning and begging to go to a video game store instead of all the clothing shops.

“You always act like this,” Amy noted, “Sometimes I think we need to get you out of those cargo shorts and into a cute miniskirt.”

Luke tried to reason, “If I’m such a pain to be around when we come to mall, why did you even ask me to come?”

“Oh, I didn’t say you were a pain! I love our times at the mall! We always have a blast!”

“Do I look like I’m having fun?”

“Of course, come on, I’ll even buy you a dress from H&M. If you wear it out of the store, I’ll even play one of those demos at the game store with you this time.”

Body Swap Bomb

Many in the trans community had hoped the invention of body swapping would bring in a new wave of acceptance. Instead, it brought about laws to restrict the use of the technology and a social backlash that made being trans more difficult than before. A few radical trans groups formed to create body swap bombs using the technology, which often could switch around small groups of people randomly. They argued if they couldn’t transition into a body that felt right, then others would have to be in the wrong bodies as well.

Jenny could understand where they came from, but she certainly objected to their methods. Being born with male parts, she often wished she could use body swapping technology to become a woman; she’d even go through more traditional surgery if they still allowed that. Instead, she just had to deal with being miserable.

However, one day, she might’ve just been in the wrong place at the right time when one of those body swap bombs went off in the park. She soon found herself in the body of a woman -- one with all the parts she longed for.

But before she could get too excited, a man grabbed her from behind. At first, she was worried it was some sort of assault, but she soon realized it was this woman’s boyfriend as he kissed her.

“Thank God you’re okay, Babe,” He said, “I heard those trans freaks were out here.”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Jenny said flatly. Based on this man’s language, he certainly didn’t want to tell him the truth about who she really was. She knew the people that were out there in this world who would absolutely hurt her without a second thought. She knew she might get blamed for the bomb, even though she had nothing to do with it. The smart move here was to try to fake it.

Explorer

Chuck had been on a hike when the alien beam zapped him. Most of his body was frozen in place, but he could still move his face. It was an absolute shock to see the blue-skinned alien woman arrive, but he didn’t flinch.

“You’re a brave one, aren’t you?” She asked, “You’re out here all alone, and you aren’t even afraid of something like me. You’ll be the perfect form to explore this planet with.”

“Are you going to steal my appearance?” Chuck asked.

“Darling, I’m going to steal your entire body.”

“Am I going to a husk? Or are we swapping...”

“Oh, you’re curious too! It’s a simple swap.”

“It sounds interesting.”

“It’s also not a choice.” She said as placed fingers on his forehead. They soon felt like knives in his skull, digging out his brain bit by bit.

But then it subsided and he stood there in her body. He felt his new alien form with all his femininity and the strange tail. He spoke now with her voice as he asked, “Should I go back your ship? I mean, you’re totally welcome to explore Earth with my body for a bit, but I think it would be pretty dangerous for me to walk around like this. I think they’d dissect this body on sight for research.”

“This planet is primitive, but I can afford you safety upon my ship.”

“Cool.”

Freedom

Using the body swapper to escape punishment for his crimes seemed like the perfect plan at first. But it didn’t take long for Don to regret his choices. For starters, his original body was still arrested, and all the money had stolen was taken into evidence. Most unfortunately, the body swapper was also seized by police, but he couldn’t imagine they’d ever figure out what it did or how to use it.

Then there was the issue of the body he had been swapped into. She was a housewife in suburbia. She was rich enough to be able to rely on her husband’s salary but not rich enough to have a maid or anything. He had to keep up appearances if he wanted to keep his cover -- especially with the woman locked up in his body squawking about who she really was. So he did his best to play the part of the good housewife by cooking, cleaning, and shopping.

On some days, Don thought it was worse than prison. And yet with her husband at work during the day, he still had a lot of freedom. And being able to have as many cigarettes as he wanted during the day was often motivation enough to keep up the lie and stay out of prison.

Ruined (Part 1)

Derek remembered not believing his friends when they told him about the ruins. It wasn’t just that they were a beautiful architectural artifact, but they were also literally magic. They had told him about swapping bodies with some hot chicks who were also there. Though the swapping wore off soon enough, they got him thinking about what it would be like to be a babe for a few hours. He was curious.

The hike to the ruins was well off the beaten path. It took several hours. The ruins themselves were exactly as beautiful as his friends described. But the only other person there was a short, dumpy Asian woman. There was nothing Derek could do as the magic started to take hold.

“Oh, what the hell?” He shouted from Lin’s short female body. “My friends said there were always hot chicks at this place to swap with.”

“I heard the same thing! I just wanted to be pretty!” Lin shouted from inside Derek’s body. “Instead I’m some gangly awkward dorky man. And why the hell would you want to be a woman anyway? You’re a guy!”

“Curiosity, I guess?” Derek paused before also adding, “I’m not dorky.”

Fail Safe

The semester had ended a few days ago, and Jacob had come to visit Mia. They didn’t look at each other. Mia had a hard time looking at what was technically her own face, and Jacob felt guilty, even though none of this was his fault.

“I’m still sorry about Swap Class,” He said staring at the window.

“It’s not your fault, you know?” Mia replied.

“It still feels like my fault. It was my body. I’m not even sure how Professor Chen ended up inside my body. We were paired up, and somehow the swapping machine just included her. There weren’t even an odd number of kids in class! We should’ve had them fix it right then and there.”

“I would’ve preferred to end up being stuck in your body instead of hers like I am now. At least no one’s forcing me to dress like a teacher anymore.”

“You wouldn’t have been stuck in anyone’s body. We would’ve swapped back like everyone else. It’s only because she did something stupid and fell off that cliff on the hike with my body. I did try to argue with the techs to swap us so you could at least return to your own body. But they said no.”

“It’s a fail safe. All swapping bodies need to be present to return to normal. They can’t override it. So I’m stuck as Professor Chen, and you’re stuck as me. They never did find your body though. Do you ever think she faked it to run away with your body?”

“I’ve considered it. But where would she go? What would she do?”

Smooth Like Butter

It was pure torture for Joon watching all the things Lucas was doing to her former body. She covered her eyes at he started to just eat a stick of butter. He was going to turn her body into a fat mess. Surely this wasn’t something he used to do in his own body, was it? Then she looked down at the large fingers and big belly she now had that used to belong to Lucas; maybe he did. But still, now that he was in her body, he shouldn’t do that!

But what could she really do to stop him? She was probably stronger than him with their bodies swapped, but she certainly didn’t want to risk hurting her original body. And she couldn’t watch him all the time; he’d probably just do these sorts of things when she was looking. But she still couldn’t understand why he was doing things like this? WHY!?

BBQ (Part 3)

View Part 1 of BBQ.
View Part 2 of BBQ.

Many cheers arose from the backyard, which Travis assumed meant many people were back in their original bodies. Of course, Travis knew he wasn’t so lucky, Mirah wasn’t either.

As he was still rubbing his head due to the pain of the swap, Alvin’s overweight body stumbled over. Somehow Travis just knew.

“I’m sorry, Mirah,” He said.

He could tell she was holding back the tears, “Who’s in there?”

“Travis.”

She seemed to cheer up a little. “Well, it’s better than Dennis! That was the worst! Do us both a favor and get yourself tested. It was Dennis, after all.”

He hadn’t considered all the thigns Dennis had probably done in Mirah’s body, but she was probably right. Dennis was just that type of person. And as he thought about all of this, he noticed his grandfather had approached.

“Give it back!” The elderly man said.

Travis somehow knew that this must have been Dennis. It seemed perfectly fitting, and the ultimate opportunity for revenge. He simply looked up and smiled before saying, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, GRANDPA!”

Out of Ideas

I counted up the number of captions I had written and posted so far today. There was one up for paid subscribers on DeviantArt along with a few archives on there. I didn’t forget to post one for the archive site either. And there were two for greatshiftcaptions.com, one in the morning and one scheduled for the afternoon.

But I hadn’t changed back into my male self; I was still Alicia. I needed to get to my actual job, and I absolutely couldn’t go like this. I scanned back over to make sure I had everything covered, soon realizing something happened to my scheduled post. I’d have to write something quick if I wanted to transform back in time.

Maybe I’d write something to encourage supporting me for $3 a month on DeviantArt. Or maybe I could write something about how I was cursed to transform into a woman each night until I wrote enough captions to transform back into a man. It felt too true to life at the moment, but I was all out of ideas.

I Sure Hope So

“Look, Babe, if you can handle my job, then I think I can handle stuff around the house for as long as we’re swapped. I mean, how hard is going to the grocery store and cleaning up? I got this,” Mike assured his wife Yuni.

“But maybe you should put on one my dresses or at least a blouse?” Yuni suggested, “For when you go out and someone might see you.”

“No one’s going to think anything of it. I get that a collared shirt and jeans isn’t your typical style, but it’s not usual for most women. I may be stuck in your body, but that doesn’t mean I have to be stuck in your clothes too. Oh, and you might want to stay quiet at work as your accent will definitely give away that we’re swapped. Don’t worry though. People don’t expect me to say anything; they just want to see the job done.”

“Okay,” Yuni sighed, “Do you still think the medallion just needs to recharge? And that we will be able to swap back when I get home.”

“I sure hope so, Babe. I sure hope so...”

Freaky-Friday-esque (Part 3)

View Part 1 of Freaky-Friday-esque.
View Part 2 of Freaky-Friday-esque.

Being bored in Candice’s classes, Matt’s mind drifted to Candice herself. She could cause so much trouble in their mom’s body. First, would she even safely make it to work without getting in an accident? And then how would she handle an actual job? Candice had gotten fired after two weeks working retail at the mall, and now she’s have to handle being in an office?

And then Matt thought back to his own self, now stuck in his 18-year-old sister’s body and repeating classes he took years ago. He was certain he’d ace any finals she had, but he wsn’t sure Candice deserved the good grades he’d get for her. Yet if was doomed to live her life, he’d want to set himself up for success as much as he could.

Would they all be doomed like that? Mom was certainly most upset about the whole thing, but this was going to a miserable future for him as well if he was stuck as Candice...

Willing to Bet?

My wife always complained about how no one on public transit ever stood up for pregnant women, and I tried to argue. I told her that couldn’t possibly be true, and that I stood up all the time for this very reason. She asked me how much I was willing to bet.

I had no clue what I was getting myself into.

And that’s how I ended up swapped into the eight-months-pregnant body of my wife’s friend, Maggie. The terms of the bet were simple. I’d take a bus from our home in Brooklyn to midtown. If anyone offered their seat for me, I’d get my body back and be able to tell my wife “I told you so.” If not? Well, I’d be spending the next month in Maggie’s body, and I’d be the one experiencing child birth for her.

There were simple rules, like they had to offer (I couldn’t ask). As we got past 14th Street, I was getting pretty scared that no one would stand. I started to stare people down or other use nonverbal communication. But no one was budging.

I was not looking forward to the next month.

Explain

Waking up in an unknown industrial facility was weird enough, the fact that Aaron also seemed to now have the body of a beatiful woman wearing a bikini was downright bizarre. He began to explore the place until he came across a pool with several woman swimming in it.

“Oh, hey, a newbie,” One of the women said as they noticed Aaron.

“What the hell is going on here?” Aaron asked.

“You used to be a guy, right?”

“Yeah.”

“We all did, but right now I’m the only one that actually remembers it. Of course, by the time the next woman arrives, that’ll be you. You’ll have to explain everything.”

“Explain what? I don’t know what's going on here!”

“There’s something about this place. It turns you, and then you just embrace it. You see Jackie and Maxine here? They don’t remember being Jack or Max at all. Hell, even I’m starting to enjoy being Samantha instead of Sam. Especially now that you’re here; I can finally let it go.”

“No. No! I don’t want be a woman!”

“I said the same thing when I arrived. At least, I think I did. Quite honestly, it’s all getting a little fuzzy now...”

On Fire

“Do you think you can fix it?” Melissa asked quietly from the other side of the room.

“Um...it’s on fire,” Marcus said as he looked down at the device. The thing had shown up on their doorstep in an unlabeled package. They weren’t sure who sent it or what it did when they opened it.

For a while, it just sort of sat around the house. It was only when they both touched it at the same time that it sparked to life. It made noises and lights flashed, and soon Melissa and Marcus had swapped bodies.

Unfortunately, the swapped also seemed to overload the thing and it began to spark, then it began to smoke. Marcus finally opened it up while Melissa kept a safe distance. The insides were simply burning up. Marcus didn’t think he and Melissa would be swapping back into their own bodies any time soon.

Venture Forth (Part 1)

There had been stories of heroes in the realms. Gideon had never imagined he would be one of them. As an only child, taking over his family’s farm seemed like the only option in life. It made no sense that they were targeted by the Mad Mage, but maybe that’s what made him mad -- just random killings and slaughter in his wake. It was also enough to turn a quiet man like Gideon into a fighter. His first encounters were awkward and mostly involved a hasty retreat.

Meeting Gwyn was a stroke of luck. She was a novice wizard with a grudge against the Mad Mage, but he supposed he was little better than a novice fighter himself. A partnership seemed like it could be the beginning of a decent party. And so they began travelling together.

The castle they found after a short time together looked abandoned, a reasonable place to gather a bit of lefr-behind goods or maybe a little loot. But then Gwyn spotted them.

“Goblins,” She said, “Up on the walls.”

“But goblins are, like, super easy to kill, right?” Gideon asked.

“Depends on how many there are. And where there’s one, there’s often more.”

“Damn right there is,” A voice said from behind them. It was a goblin. “Come quietly. The princess will want to see ya.”

Wearing THAT!?

“Did you seriously wear that while riding the subway on the way to work this morning?” Allen sighed.

“Yeah, so? What’s the big deal?” Sharon replied. “It’s better than what you’ve dressed my body in.”

“Well, I’m glad we both decided to show up early to work, because we’re going to have to switch clothes. The last thing I wanted to do was go through another day in a short skirt and a much too revealing top, but I can’t let my body be seen like THAT by our coworkers.”

“It’s not like I want my body to look like a slob all day either, you know? I just hope they’ll figure out a way to switch us back to our own bodies today, or at least let us tell some more people that we’re in each other’s bodies.”

“I’d personally prefer to keep it a secret.”

“Really? Why?”

“Dude, do you think Derek will ever let me live it down that I’ve been in a woman’s body for a day or two? The guy rags on everyone. He’s a total tool. I will NEVER hear the end of it.”

Species (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Species.

Jason wasn’t about to become the incubator for a batch of alien babies! He watched the aliens slow movements and devloped a plan of escape. It was a simple matter of running away at just the right time as they unstrapped him to move him from the transformation table to the mating machine. He felt like he may have been slowed down due to the alien DNA now in him, but he was still faster than the aliens.

But where was he going to run to? An escape pod? A transporter? Would he even know what those looked like?

As he dashed through the corridors, he could understand the propoganda being pumped in through sound. It was trying to play on sympathy. It explained the tragic history of the plague on the alien homeworld that wiped out viable females. The cross galaxy trek was an expedition to find compatable species to prevent extinction. Time was running out if they were to save themselves from extinction.

Jason didn’t care. After being turned into a half-alien female for mating and reproductive purposes by force, there were no amount of words that would invoke any sympathy from him...

Still Alive

After being hit by a meteor, the space station was on the brink of collapse. Most people had been able to leave in an escape pod. Lawrence had helped everyone else get out, but the final pod had gotten damaged with the station.

Still, as a resourceful man, he was determined to find a way out. As it turned out, there was just enough time to transmit his thoughts to a research vessel only a few light years away. His body would be gone, but he could easily transmit a message to implant his thoughts into a clone. After sending, he embraced the coming explosion, knowing he’d be reborn on the other ship.

Lawrence blinked his eyes as he awoke in the cloning pod on the research vessel. He could remember every moment up to the transmission. His new body felt strange with limbs feeling like the wrong length. It made sense, of course. They didn’t have his DNA to clone, so he must have a copy of a body aboard this current ship. His mind would take some time to adjust to it.

However, his new body was a much bigger change than he expected, as it turned out to be the body of a woman! As his mind was still trying to adjust to the new form, it was hard for him to even act with the appropriate level of surprise; instead, he just sort of flailed for a moment.

Another person finally walked into the cloning room. She explained that as the only researcher on this particular ship, he was now her clone. Still unable to fully control his new body yet, he simply nodded. At least he knew what he looked like now. She was pretty enough, which meant he was now pretty as well. But more importantly, he was alive.

Imagination

Lamar came into his apartment late that night. They discovered a vulnerability in one of the dependencies at work, and all the codes needed to work late to patch it as quickly as possible. He didn’t expect to see the ominous figure sitting on a chair in his living room when he turned on the light.

He certainly didn’t expect her strange appearance either. She wore all leather with a hood. When she lifted it slightly to see her face, he wasn’t sure if he was supposed to recognize her. However, the cold gray color of her skin was certainly unique. The woman seemed to sense his confusion.

“Do you not remember a thing from the Shadowfell?” The woman asked.

Lamar certainly recognized the reference, but he hadn’t played D∓D in years. Though he only knew one person who ever played as a Shadar-Kai...

“Daryl?” Lamar asked.

“I go by Nyx these days,” She responded.

“What the hell happened? How?”

“You’d be surprised by the magic that seeps into the real world through our dreams and imagination. You can join me once again if you wish.”

“I haven’t done any of that stuf in a while. And I’ve got bills to pay...and a girlfriend...and, I dunno...I’m sorry, Man. I just can’t.”

Losing It

“So, let me get this straight,” Eun Chae said addressing her older sister Eun Seo and her husband Ted, “You two swapped bodies with some sort of magic medallion two days ago...and you decided not to tell me?”

“I wanted to say something,” Ted added, “But she said we’d swap back in twelve hours.”

“We could’ve if this dumbass didn’t lose the medallion,” Eun Seo interjected.

“You didn’t tell me we needed it to swap back!”

“I don’t care.” Eun Chae said flatly, “But last night...when we were intimate...that was you, Unnie?”

“You were...intimate?” Ted asked, “No way. No f*cking way!”

“We agreed to not let her be suspicious!” Eun Seo tried to argue.

Eun Chae began to break down and cry with the realization of what happened. Ted immediately tried to comfort her, but the fact that he was doing it with Eun Seo’s body only made Eun Chae more uncomfortable. It wasn’t long before Eun Chae retreated into the bedroom with tears streaming down her face while Ted and Eun Seo continued to fight.

Pretty (Part 4)

View Part 1 of Pretty.
View Part 2 of Pretty.
View Part 3 of Pretty.

It didn’t take much longer for Jason to figure out what type of body he ended up in: He was an idol in a K-Pop act. It became a whirlwind of filming music videos, photoshoots, meet-and-greets, concerts, and so on. It was really non-stop. Jason’s one saving grace seemed to be that he wasn’t stumbling with the dance moves or screwing up the lyrics -- somehow he knew both.

His Korean was still terrible. His role was generally singing the English parts, but it often made communication with the other members difficult. He often felt alone.

He’d force a smile on stage, but it was hard. He hated this life. He hated prancing around on stage and wearing the skimpy outfits. He hated feeling like he always wanted out. Maybe that’s why this woman took his life. Maybe a body swap was the only way to escape, and she just picked his life out of some random, dumb luck...