Transformation Themes:

Genital Transformation (Penis to Vagina, Vagina to Penis)

Feminisation

Transgender Transformation (Male to Female)

Mental Changes (Loss of Freedom to Speak)

Voice Change (Masculine to Feminine)

Skin Change (plastic texture)

Eye Change (robotic, glowing)

Height change (minor growth)

Height change (minor shrinking)

Muscle growth 

Multiple parts (multiple arms)

Breast growth

Sexual Themes:

Nudity

Rough sex (mentioned)

Masturbation (implied)

Part 7: If this, then that…

I’d been keeping an eye on Connor during sex, waiting for any indications he wanted me to stop or slow down, but no such indications had come even as I pushed things a little more. To my own embarrassment I had to admit I’d gone further than I expected. Being so dominant during sex wasn’t something I’d experimented with before and I was still getting used to what I liked. Thinking about what I enjoyed when Connor was being dominant, I’d done the same to him and he seemed to appreciate it. My dick twitched at the memory of choking him, although more for the look of bliss he'd shown than for my own experience.

Connor was sleeping soundly. We’d cleaned up a bit after we’d had sex, although neither of us had the energy or interest in having a shower, so we’d just done the basics. Of the two of us I was usually the one to fall asleep most easily, but tonight he’d been asleep minutes after his head hit the pillow.

Sleep was more elusive for me.

I sat up gently, making sure not to disturb Connor, which was harder than I anticipated considering three of my four arms were entangled with him. He groaned and muttered, but then rolled over and seemed to fall back into a deep sleep.

The Device was on the nearby desk and I quietly got up to grab it. It would be my turn to use it in the morning and I wanted to see if I could come up with some ideas so I could use it first thing. I looked over the initial options presented, but nothing stood out to me. I began to idly scroll through the lists and options, trying to find something to catch my attention.

‘Triggered changes’ popped out at me after a short time scrolling. I was unsure what it meant, but as I clicked into it and read through some of the details it made sense. Connor had referred to this previously when he told me that my mental block could be reversed by just clicking my fingers. This seemed an extension of the same principle, except it was changes being tied to a specific trigger rather than changes being undone by one.

It took a few minutes to decide on and set up a test. I went to click execute but was stopped by a warning. It said that the way I had set the change it had no upper limit and would activate any time the trigger happened. It suggested a few safety features, such as a limit to the number of times the change could be triggered, a reverse trigger and an automatic reversal after a time limit. Looking at the options I decided of setting a limit to how many times it could be triggered.

I placed the Device back down and walked to the bathroom. With the light on, I could see myself clearly in the mirror, wearing just loose shorts and a tank top. My tall, muscular, four-armed form was striking and the light shone strangely on my plastic-like skin. I focused on my chest. My boobs weren’t small, but especially with my new build they didn’t stand out much.

One of my fingers moved up slowly and touched the tip of my nose: the trigger I had set. I felt the familiar tingle as a change began and sure enough in just a few moments I felt my boobs grow. I doubted the change was even a full cup size, I wondered if Connor would even notice, but I considered the test a satisfactory success.

I waited a moment, then repeated the experiment, making sure the trigger could happen multiple times. The tingle returned and my breasts grew again. The actual growth wasn’t huge, but the two combined was certainly noticeable. I guessed most of my bras would be too small now and I was looking forward to showing off this new change and the mechanism to Connor.

As I returned to the bedroom after turning out the light in the bathroom, I was already considering how I could make use of this newly discovered feature on Connor in the morning. I picked up the Device again to continue my exploration.

The safety features I had enabled were proving to be invaluable. I recalled looking over the ‘status’ pages previously and wondered how detailed they could be. A guilty thought entered my mind.

I’d known Connor for years now and even if I couldn’t place what it was exactly, I could tell something was bothering him. He always seemed to be confident and happy, to be the person everyone in our group could rely on to be solid and stable. Yet I’d seen him fall into these introspective and gloomy moods in the past, although if I asked him about them, he denied it was ever a big deal. I didn’t believe him, but I respected his privacy. And still, part of the reason I had been having trouble sleeping was that I was seeing signs he was falling into one of those moods again.

It was with an intense feeling of guilt that I began to navigate to Connor’s ‘status’ page. I tried to justify it to myself. I was just making sure that we hadn’t made any unintended changes. I wouldn’t look too deeply. It was for his own good. But I knew the truth. I was using the Device to snoop on my boyfriend’s most private thing: his very mind.

I found my way to Connor’s ‘status’ page with the familiar intuitive ease that I associated with the Device. No warnings were showing. No changes were listed other than the ones we knew about. At first glance everything seemed normal. But as I looked, something caught my eye; a small section listed ‘recent changes’ that was separate from the Device made changes listed above. Curious, I had a quick read through the list. For the most part it just listed the changes made by the Device again, but it also included the ones we’d reversed and gave timestamps. However, the thing that caught my attention were a few entries that referred to changes to Connor caused by his experiences. I noticed that it showed his comfort with being attracted to masculinity had increased and that his willingness to explore a more submissive role during sex had also become more prominent. But what caused concern was a listing saying he was struggling to understand and accept his gender identity.

I knew I’d snooped too much already, but the ambiguity of the listed change prompted me to look further. I returned to the previous page and looked for information on his gender identity.

Regret immediately washed over me. I realised suddenly that I’d broken my partner’s trust.

Listed clearly, requiring only a bit of digging, was an entry telling me that Connor was transgender.

Dozens of thought ran through my head. First amongst them was the fear that I’d somehow caused this, although by all indications this wasn’t the case. I also wondered if Connor understood this himself and kept this from me, or if it was something that he didn’t fully understand himself. I wondered if using masculine pronouns for him was even appropriate. I knew the Device could help with some of these questions.

I put the Device down. I’d done enough already. Nothing could fix what I’d done. The temptation to somehow find a way to undo this, or to pretend it hadn’t happened was immense.

But I couldn’t betray Connor any further. I’d tell him in the morning, and, if he was willing, we’d find the answer to some of the questions together.

***

I didn’t even remember finally falling asleep. My guilt had haunted me well into the early morning, but at some point exhaustion proved stronger than guilt. I could hear distant sounds downstairs and from the faint smells I guessed Connor was already up and making breakfast.

The Device was on the desk where I’d left it the night before. I stood and stretched, feeling an instant relief in my back as all four of my arms extended to their full length and a sense of minor tension was released. It was cold enough that I grabbed my dressing down, smiling to see that it, just like most of my clothing, had adjusted to have two extra sleeves for my additional arms. I slipped on a pair of slippers and picked up the Device with my lower left arm.

As I descended the stairs the sound of oil gently fizzling in a frying pan lured me towards the kitchen. I recognised the smell well enough that when I walked into the kitchen to see Connor finishing up making some French toast, I was far from surprised. He must have heard me coming as he simply smiled in greeting at me as I walked up to him. He was also wearing a dressing gown, although he had rolled the sleeves up while he prepared our food. “Take a seat, it’s pretty much done,” he said, gesturing to the nearby table which was already set for two. “Actually,” he corrected, “the kettle is about to boil, will you make tea while I finish this up?”

I assented and gave him a quick kiss on the top his head from my still-novel vantage point above him.

Having four arms rather than two didn’t make it twice as easy to make two cups of tea, but it did speed things up slightly at least. I was enjoying experimenting with the level of co-ordination I could manage with the additional limbs. The Device, which I had placed on the table before heading over to the kettle, had given me a level of comfort with my extra arms, but I noticed I still had to focus to not fall into the habit of only using two of them.

Connor brought over the food shortly after I was finished making the tea. He joined me at the table, and we ate our breakfast in a peaceful quiet. I kept sneaking glances at him. I noticed he’d picked up a habit of playing with his now longer hair while his hand was otherwise idle. One of the times I looked up I noticed Connor looking at the Device thoughtfully, but as soon as I noticed he just smiled and went back to eating. My thoughts returned to my snooping the night before and a wave of fresh guilt washed over me. I tried to work out how to bring up the topic but was frustrated to remember that I couldn’t even start a conversation while the mental block from earlier in the week was still active.

My face must have given away my frustration because Connor gave me a look and asked if I wanted to say something. “I do, but I’m not sure how to bring it up,” I admitted.

“Is everything okay?”

I couldn’t prevent a bitter laugh. “I feel like I should be asking you that,” I replied. Connor scowled in confusion. The conversation wasn’t going where I wanted. “I’m sorry. The truth is that I used the Device last night to check up on you and I saw something that I’m not sure how to talk about.”

Connor looked alarmed and I could see his mind running through countless things. I cursed myself for being so indirect, as it was only causing anxiety. “What did you see? Is it something really bad?”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to panic you. I… I don’t think it’s bad though,” I paused a moment, hating myself for drawing this out. “It said that… It said you were transgender.”

“Oh,” Connor said flatly. “That,” he continued in the same tone, looking away from me. A new tension became evident. He was struggling to figure out what to say next. We sat in a tense silence for a few moments more before he continued, “What exactly did it say?”

“Just that. Or at least that’s all I read,” I clarified. “I felt so bad about going behind your back that I turned it off afterwards. I just… Is it true?” Connor seemed to flinch at the question and I hastily added, “It’s fine if it is. It doesn’t change anything. Or I guess it does, or it might? I don’t really know. Sorry.” I took a moment to breath, “It doesn’t change how I feel about you.”

He turned to look at me then and smiled gratefully. “I think it is true,” he eventually admitted. “I… I think I’ve always been aware of it, but I’ve never accepted it. Honestly I’m not sure I’m ready to accept it now.” His smile remained, but I felt a sadness behind it.

I felt myself begin to tear up. Without even thinking I found myself on my feet with all four of my arms wrapped around Connor, holding him in an embrace. He seemed a little shocked, but then his arms were around me and his face was buried into my neck.

“Thank you,” Connor said, pulling away slightly. “I wish I had been able to tell you myself, but please don’t feel bad about finding out how you did. Maybe it’s a good thing, I don’t know if I could have confronted this properly on my own.” He grabbed one of my hands and squeezed it gently, “I don’t really know what to do now though.” He smiled, this time a warm genuine smile and he laughed.

“Maybe we should finish our breakfast first?” I suggested, which was greeted with enthusiastic agreement.

***

We spoke more as we finished up. Connor admitted that he’d been distracted the last couple of days as the changes had caused him to reflect on his gender identity. He was concerned how comfortable he was with the changes. Combined with the more submissive role he’d taken in sex, he’d felt as if he was quickly throwing his ‘maleness’ away.

“So does that mean you want to hold on to being male? To some extent at least?” I asked.

“No, not really. I don’t think so,” he replied thoughtfully. “I think the scary thing was how willing I was to throw it away. I didn’t really want to confront,” he paused and gestured at himself, “well this. The idea of being trans.”

We’d both finished our food and our tea. “You don’t have to confront it alone. I’ll support you babe.” Connor smiled at me and reached his hand over the table to squeeze my hand again. I returned the gesture with a similar smile and (gently) squeezed his hand back. As I looked across the table at him, my eyes fell on the Device. Before the mental block kicked in to stop me talking, I asked, “What do you want to do about making changes today? Considering everything, would you prefer holding off? Or even reversing everything.”

Connor shook his head immediately and grinned. “No way. I can’t be accused of backing out just because I’m confronting a difficult and shocking truth about myself.” A twinkle in his eyes told me that his grin was genuine. He opened his mouth to continue and then paused. He looked away from me and continued in quieter voice. I’d gotten used to the feminised version of his voice I’d caused the other day but hearing him speak with hesitation and less volume was still strikingly feminine. “But since we’ve had this discussion, do you mind if we… finish the transformation?”

“What do you have in mind?”

“I want to look fully like a woman. I know I’m pretty much there already, but I think my figure and face could do with a change,” he paused. “On top of that, people still see me as male due to the awareness features. I’d like people to see me as female.”

I nodded in understanding and handed over the Device. “So, to be clear, are you going to use she/ her pronouns now?”

She nodded. “For now at least.”

“What about your name?”

“I…” she paused for a moment, then smiled and blushed, “Let’s try… Aoife for now. I think I remember my mum saying she would have given any daughters that name.”

“That’s a nice name,” I smiled gently, “Aoife.” She seemed a little shocked to hear the name, but grinned widely involuntarily. I picked up the Device and turned it on. “So, Aoife, do you trust me to make these changes? Or do you want to do it yourself?”

“It seems like a shame to not let you finish what you started,” she laughed and stood, opening her dressing gown as she did so I could get a look at her figure. I was shocked to see that she was wearing the underwear from yesterday, including the bra, but nothing else. She noticed my look and blushed slightly.

With a reassuring smile I turned my attention back to the Device and began to navigate quickly through menus to find what I wanted. I was sure to change the awareness settings so that people would see Aoife as a woman and that they would use her new name and pronouns naturally. The physical changes were relatively easy, I’d considered a lot of them already when I had been thinking up changes for her.

Satisfied, I nodded and looked up at Aoife (who had closed her dressing gown again to ward off the cold while I tinkered) and smiled. “It’s ready? Alright,” she paused and closed her eyes. “Can we move to the other room? I’d like to be able to see myself in the mirror?”

I nodded and we moved into living room where we had a large mirror. It wasn’t quite full body length but was good enough to give a near full body view. Aoife looked at herself in the mirror for a moment and I could see her almost flinch, but she shook her head and removed the dressing gown completely. “Okay! Do it quickly,” she said, “it’s cold in here!”

I hit the execute button on the Device.

Despite designing the changes myself I was still surprised when they kicked in. They weren’t hugely dramatic, on the contrary each change was subtle on its own, but in combination the final effect was instant and obvious.

Her entire torso seemed to shrink inwards slightly, with the shoulders and waist continuing to reduce more than the rest of her figure. It wasn’t a huge change, but it immediately gave her shape where once she’d had an almost boxy appearance. I’d decided to not change her breasts, considering what I’d given her the day before to be fine as they were, although obviously we could change that later. Emphasising the change to her torso was the very slight widening of her hips, accompanied by a subtle shift to her posture that went alongside the change. Her arms and legs softened and slimmed down as some of the muscle she had reduced, giving them a more feminine look that matched the rest of her figure. Her hands and feet shrank and slimmed in compliment to the adjustments to her limbs, making her look more proportional.

The face took a few moments longer than the rest of her to change. Again, I didn’t feel like I needed to change much. Her jaw became smaller, and her brows became a little softer and higher. Her nose got smaller and her lips larger. Her eyes seemed larger, or more open, and a general softness filled out her face. Yet despite all the changes, she was still entirely recognisable as the same person, except at the same time she was also immediately identifiable as a woman. I was struck by how little needed to change to alter my perception so completely.

A quiet gasp caught my attention. Aoife was looking at herself in the mirror and touching her face in wonder. I wanted to ask what she thought, but the block prevented me. I considered getting her attention, but there was no need. With tears in her eyes and a wide smile, she turned to look at me. She began to speak but seemed to lose the words. Instead she rushed over and gave me a hug as she began to sob happily.

***

“Sorry,” Aoife apologised with an embarrassed smile, “it just hit me all at once. I didn’t realise how much I wanted this.” She was wearing the dressing gown again, but still looked down at herself and involuntarily smiled. We were cuddled on the sofa, her curled up next to me. She’d cried from the sheer emotion for a good few minutes, longer than I’d known her to cry before, and even after she stopped she wasn’t ready to get up from our embrace.

“You don’t need to apologise,” I reassured. “I hope you’re happy with the changes?”

She nodded enthusiastically, “I’m more than happy. It seems so unreal, but at the same time I feel suddenly so much more comfortable than I can remember feeling in… well in forever.” She let out a deep sigh. “God, I’m such an idiot. How did I not know I wanted this?” She frowned as she berated herself and I noticed she was idly playing with her hair again. “Well. I did know, didn’t I? I was just scared to do anything about it so I pretended it wasn’t true.”

I could see she was starting to upset herself, so I interrupted her with a kiss. “Well now that we’ve got your request out of the way, I still have one more change to make to you this week if I’m not mistaken?”

Aoife knew I was distracting her and she gave me a look that told me I wasn’t fooling anyone. But she played along anyway. “I don’t believe you are mistaken. Do you have something in mind already?”

With a grin I opened my dressing gown so she could see my chest. “Take a look,” I invited, gesturing with one of my free hands towards my enlarged breasts. Aoife squinted suspiciously.

“Not that I don’t like looking at your boobs but,” she frowned before finishing the sentence. “Are they bigger?” With a grin I nodded. “Well I can’t say I disapprove, but what are you suggesting? Are you saying I’m going to get a magical boob-job?”

“If you want one,” I replied, “but no, that’s not what I’m saying. Watch this and hopefully things will make a bit more sense.” I dramatically moved one of my hands towards my face and, with theatrical deliberateness, pressed a finger against my nose. Immediately I felt the familiar tingle in my chest and felt my breasts grow again. Each individual boost hadn’t been massive, but now that I’d done it three times, the overall change was obvious.

“Oh wow!” Aoife exclaimed and I could see the gears turning in her head. “Ah! You have it set up to change in response to a trigger?” I confirmed her theory was correct. “That’s such a good idea! So I take it you want to give me a change triggered by something?”

“Exactly! But I thought maybe we could make a bit more of a game of it,” I suggested with a smile. “I won’t tell you what the change or the trigger is. I’m sure you’ll figure out the change soon enough, but the game will be to figure out the trigger.”

“Too easy,” she said confidently.

“Don’t get too confident. I have some tricks up my sleeve. The change doesn’t have to happen as soon as its triggered, and it doesn’t have to happen every time. I can make it happen only after you do something a certain number of times, or have it have a kind of grace period where it doesn’t trigger. And believe me, I’ll be using at least some of these tricks since you’re so confident.”

Aoife didn’t appear to lose any of her confidence and simply grinned with a cockiness that was all too familiar. I directed her to stand up so I could work on the Device without her seeing what I was doing. She moved over to the mirror again and I couldn’t help but smile as I caught glimpses of her posing and admiring her reflection.

It took me a few minutes, but in short order I was ready. With a confirmatory look towards her, I hit the execute button.

***

My entire body tingled, but it was less intense than I was used to, almost like a change that didn’t quite finish. I looked down at myself, feeling another euphoric thrill at seeing what I knew was a woman’s body, and noticed no new changes. “Nothing changed?”

“I just set it up. You’ll have to trigger it first,” Hira replied with a smile. “And to be a bit kinder, I’ll tell you that I set two other conditions. The change will happen a few minutes after the trigger is done, I won’t tell you exactly how long after to keep some challenge. Oh, and it can only happen once every hour.”

I nodded in understanding and immediately began to wonder what the change and trigger would be. Hira grinned, clearly recognising the look on my face as the same as when I was struggling with a puzzle. I glanced at the mirror and was surprised again to see a woman’s face staring back at me, although it was certainly a pleasant surprise. I grinned and was struck by seeing the familiar expression mapped onto a face that was subtly different than I was used to.

My finger found its way to the ends of my lengthened hair and began to twirl it absently. I only noticed because I saw myself doing it in the mirror, but I realised that it had become a bit of a habit to play with it while I thought. I pulled my hand away.

“Well,” I reasoned, “I doubt I’ll figure anything out until it’s triggered at least once. So I suppose we should just get on with our day?” I faced Hira and shot her a smile. “With that in mind, we should probably clean up the kitchen. Rob and Simon are coming over later.”

“Good idea,” Hira smiled, “but why don’t you let me do that while you have a shower? I’m sure you’d enjoy a little time alone to really examine the changes?” Her eyes pulsed gently with light in a way that told me she was inwardly laughing and teasing me. My cheeks felt hot as a blush betrayed the truth of her words.

“Well,” I admitted, struggling to not let the embarrassment overcome me, “I guess that could be nice.” Hira laughed and I couldn’t help but join in. I smiled, but I had to express a thought that had intruded. Absentmindedly my finger began to twirl the ends of my hair. “Are you really…” I paused and took a breath, “Are you really okay with this?” I gestured at myself. “I’m not the person you thought I was. I’ve changed so much. Can you even find me attractive like this?”

Hira smiled gently and delicately took my shoulders in her upper arms. With slight pressure she turned me towards the stairs while one of her lower arms slapped me on the butt. A kiss on the top of my head was accompanied by the words, “Don’t be silly. I love you and I find you attractive. This doesn’t change that at all.” I smiled and began to head up the stairs. “And it might seem a little arrogant, but I think I made you really cute.” I felt myself blush again and decided to keep my face turned away to hide the evidence.

On the third step I felt my whole body tingle as a change kicked in. Immediately everything seemed bigger and I felt like I had to lift my leg higher to reach the next step. Hira giggled behind me and I turned to see her standing at the foot of the stairs with a huge grin. With an exaggerated grumble I made my way to the top of the stairs. I guessed I’d lost about an inch of height. It wasn’t dramatic, but certainly noticeable. At least I knew what the change was now and I could start to try and work out the trigger.

I walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower so it would reach optimal heat before I got in. With a shrug of my shoulders my dressing gown slipped to the floor and in short order my underwear joined it, leaving me naked. The hammering of the spray from the shower took a different tone as it reached my preferred heat and started to generate wisps of steam. My eyes scanned the bathroom to check that there were towels within reach before I climbed into the shower and I started in surprise at seeing someone else in the room with me, until I recognised it as myself. My new self.

The previous morning I’d inspected myself in this same mirror and determined that I had still looked like a man. The nude form I stared at now would be immediately seen as a woman by almost anyone who saw it. I’d be seen as a woman by anyone. A thrill of satisfaction ran up my spine. Just the morning earlier I had felt disappointment at concluding I looked like a man but had refused to explore the feeling further. With a last euphoric look at myself, I tore my gaze away from the rapidly fogging mirror and stepped into the shower.

***

The sound of the shower running told me Aoife had reached the bathroom. I doubted that she would have figured out the trigger yet, but I was determined to do all I could to get it to trigger as often as possible for the rest of the day. I had set a limit on the shrinking; she’d only lose about 6 inches of height at most, but with the hour long cool down between activations I hoped it wouldn’t all happen too quickly.

I quickly finished cleaning up from breakfast, but still heard the shower running so began to tidy up the living room to prepare for the arrival of Rob and Simon later in the day. Even after I heard the shower shut off I could hear Aoife moving about in the bathroom. She’d been in the shower almost half an hour and by the time she eventually left the I’d cleaned up the living room to my satisfaction.

Satisfied and ready to enjoy a shower myself I climbed the stairs. When I reached the top I noticed that the bedroom door was open and I could hear Aoife moving around inside. Walking in I saw her standing over the open bedside dresser looking through the underwear inside. She heard me enter and smiled, before gesturing to the drawer, “I see my selections have expanded.” She picked up a pair of black boy shorts that looked similar to the boxer shorts she usually wore and then a sport bra with a similar design.

“It asked me if I wanted to adjust your clothes,” I explained, “they don’t look that different despite the shape.” Aoife nodded as she took out a handful of underwear. There wasn’t much variety, a lot of black, navy or lighter blue boy shorts and matching sports bras. She pulled out a red pair of hipster briefs and a relatively basic black bra, which seemed like some of the few exceptions to her limited selections. With a slightly self-conscious smile Aoife began to put on these pieces of underwear.

Once her underwear was on she walked over to the wardrobe to check the rest of her clothing options. While all the clothes were clearly a different size and cut, they still were recognisable as the same clothing she usually wore. “All jeans and t-shirts,” she commented with a frown, before laughing, “which I wouldn’t have been upset about before.”

“Would you have liked there to have been some skirts? Or even dresses?”

Aoife blushed a little, but then nodded, “I think it would have been fun to try it out since I’ve changed so much. I still might not have liked them.”

“Well, I could probably see if the Device could make some adjustments but,” I paused to look at my watch, “we have about four hours before Rob and Simon arrive. Maybe we could use that time to go shopping?”

Aoife eyes widened at the idea and she smiled. “Oh! That could be fun,” the excitement in her voice was evident, “I don’t really know what I want so getting to look a bunch of options seems smart.” I smiled to myself, thinking of how hard it was usually to get Aoife to go clothes shopping for herself. I supposed now that it wasn’t “men’s clothes” it was different. A mental checklist of half a dozen shops began forming in my mind.

“Okay. Get dressed in something while I have a quick shower. I hope you’re ready for me drag you through every shop in the shopping centre!”

***

Since we were relatively short on time we decided against travelling into the city centre and instead took a short drive to a large shopping centre where we could look in a number of shops efficiently. I was happy to drive us there since I was more familiar with the journey than Aoife. As I scanned the car park for a free space that wasn’t a million miles from the entrance Aoife was excitedly telling me about a movie she had seen advertised.

“I’ve seen some of the other films she directed and they’re really bizarre, but in an interesting way. I think it could be really cool to see what she does with a bigger budget. Oh, I think there’s a space there,” Aoife took a brief break from her excited ramble to direct me towards a parking space close to one of the shopping centre’s many entrances. She was back on the topic of the movie before I even finished parking up.

She didn’t stop speaking after we left the car, or as we walked through the large glass doors into a long hallway that would lead us into the centre proper. I nodded along and agreed that I would see the film with her, smiling fondly and enjoying her excitement. She was playing with her hair again and I could see that her talking was an effort to distract herself from her nervousness.

The hallway came to an end and after we passed through another set of automatic glass doors we were suddenly surrounded by hundreds of people across two floors of expansive retail space, with dozens of bustling shop fronts visible with each glance. Light from the glass ceiling illuminated the busy thoroughfare where we stood. A flowing crowd had to part to make their way around our stationary forms.

With a gentle push I moved Aoife to one side against the wall so that we weren’t obstructing the path as much. She had gone silent as soon as we had exited the hallway and I could see her watching the faces of each passer-by anxiously. With my upper right arm I gently squeezed her shoulder to grab her attention. The mental block prevented me speaking, but I did my best to express the question ‘are you okay’ with my expression.

Aoife took a breath and nodded. “I’m okay. I just…” she looked around again, “It’s busy. I keep thinking people are staring at me and judging me. It’s scary.”

“Babe. I have four arms, plastic skin and glowing eyes,” I stretched all of my arms out wide to demonstrate, “if no one is paying attention to me, you’re not going to attract any particular notice.”

She laughed and nodded. “You make a good point,” she admitted, then smiled at me, “okay, where first?”

Aoife had picked out a basic white t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans. They were clearly a more feminine cut, but they still hung quite loosely on her and hid her shape. I was determined to get her to try on at least one or two dresses and she had seemed okay with the idea. With that in mind I directed her towards a nearby shop that sold simple, but cute clothes that were reasonably priced. It was the kind of shop that we could reliably find a bit of everything: underwear, casual attire, shoes or even formal wear.

There was a slight relief from the crowd as we entered the shop, as there were far fewer people inside, although it was far from deserted. Our fellow shoppers consisted mostly of girls in their late teens up to women a few years older than the pair of us, although there were a handful of men who seemed to be following partners around or standing around looking bored. Aoife paused again, but I insistently dragged her over to a rack of dresses I’d spotted from outside.

I picked up a pretty, dark blue dress with small floral patterns and held it up to Aoife with a questioning look. She took it from me and then looked it over, feeling the fabric with her free hand. “It feels nice,” she commented, “I do like the colour.” She looked awkward and just held it in front of her as if it was some kind of dangerous animal.

“Nice enough to try on, or do we put it back?” I prompted. Aoife seemed to cringe inwardly at the question and I saw a blush redden her cheeks.

“I…” she faltered, then quietly, “I wouldn’t mind trying it on.”

I grinned and took it from her, then grabbed a couple more in different sizes. Aoife gave me a curious look, “I’m not sure your size, I can guess but to be safe for now we’ll grab a couple of sizes for everything we pick.” I picked up a plain red dress that had a pretty texture in the skirt and open sides that I thought I could wear even with my four arms, “This is cute. I’m going to try this on. You should try one as well.” Aoife put up no resistance as I added a handful of other dresses to my collection over the next few minutes.

“Wait,” Aoife said as I began to move towards the changing rooms. I turned, wondering if I was going too far, but instead I saw her holding an emerald dress up to herself with a smile. She turned to me and blushed again, “I’d like to try this one too.”  I grinned and added it growing collection held in my lower arms.

I’d picked out a couple of dresses to try myself, but my selections were severely limited while I still had my extra pair of arms. Aoife on the other hand had a large pile to work through. To Aoife’s relief, the changing rooms were practically empty when we arrived and we split the pile between us as we stepped into our respective changing rooms.

Aoife gasped as I handed the last dress over. I was concerned for a moment, before I realised that a change had triggered again and was taking effect. Her entire body got noticeably smaller, leaving her about an inch shorter. I laughed at the accusing glare she gave me from her now even lower vantage point. “I think I’m starting to figure out what the trigger is, but I’m not sure yet,” she commented before laughing and heading into her own changing room and drawing the curtain across.

I tried on the dresses I’d picked out quite quickly. It was obviously almost immediately with both of them that they just weren’t going to fit all my arms, despite what I’d hoped. I was a little disappointed, but not overly so. The main reason I was here was to find things for Aoife after all. I got dressed again and placed the dresses back on their hangers.

Moving over to Aoife’s room, I cleared my throat. “Hira?” Aoife called, to which I replied in the affirmative. “Would you mind coming in? I want your opinion.” The request came after a noticeable delay and I could imagine her blushing while making the request. Opening the curtain just a bit I stepped inside the mirrored room.

Aoife was wearing the emerald dress. Most of what we picked out had been casual day wear dresses, but this looked more like a party dress. It hugged close to her body, highlighting the subtle curves she had. It was sleeveless with just two thin shoulder straps and a tight skirt that ended mid-thigh. The colour was beautiful and complimented the dark green of Aoife’s eyes well. She stood self-consciously; an arm across her front and her stance slumped slightly. And yet she still looked great. With visible effort she smiled and stood up straighter, “Well?”

“Wow,” I replied, “you look great. That colour is really good for you.” She smiled with genuine pleasure and a weight seemed to be relieved from her shoulders.

“Thanks. I thought it looked good, but then I got all…” she smiled and shrugged. “I don’t know if I could wear this out though,” she laughed, “but I’m glad I tried it.” I was glad she’d tried it too, and convinced her that maybe we could buy it, for a future occasion if she felt brave enough. She didn’t put up much resistance.

I had her model a few other dresses for me, and together we agreed to buy the emerald dress and the red one for her. She started to walk towards the checkout, but I stopped her and pointed towards the shoe section. Rather than the trepidation she had shown previously, there was just excitement on her face.

We spent nearly an hour in that one shop before we left with our small haul of two dresses, a couple of pairs of tights and a pair of low heels. Aoife, now once again dressed, somewhat reluctantly, in her t-shirt and jeans, checked her phone. “Ah, Simon said they’d be over in an hour. I don’t think we’ll have time to go many other places,” she said showing me the message. “I can’t believe we spent so much time in just one place. Next time we’ll have to make sure we don’t have such a limit.”

“Next time?” I asked with a knowing smile. Aoife smiled shyly and looked away.

***

We sat in our bedroom with our small haul spread across our bed. After a brief debate, mostly with herself, Aoife had finally decided she was going to wear the red dress for the rest of the day, as well as trying on a couple of other things. I helped her put on a pair of tights, then let her put the red dress on herself. She was reluctant for a moment when I handed her the heels we’d picked out, but without any protest she slipped the pair of black shoes on. When she stood again, the shoes had allowed her to reclaim an inch or so of height back. “These feel really strange,” she commented as she took a couple of cautious steps forward. The heels were low, but even so I was impressed that she was handling them so well.

She walked over to the mirror and looked at herself. “Well,” she asked turning to me, “what do you think?”

“You look great!” I said with absolute sincerity and I laughed as she blushed in response. She turned her face away from me to look at herself in the mirror again. A thoughtful look crossed her face and her fingers reached up and started to twirl a strand of hair that fell to her collar. She was staring at her face and a thought came to my mind. Before the block kicked in again I said, “It’s a shame we didn’t have more time, we could have tried to buy you some makeup.”

Aoife’s blush deepened and she shot me a look that told me I’d gotten close to guessing her line of thought. She looked down and admitted, “It would have been good to at least get to try a little.”

“We can play with some of mine later,” I promised, “although a lot of it might not suit your skin tone.” Aoife’s skin was far paler than my own, but some of my eyeshadow pallets and lipsticks at least would probably suit her. She didn’t respond, but I saw a small smile in response to my promise. “Next time we get the chance though, I’ll take you shopping again and this time we’ll make a day of it.”

Aoife moved towards me more quickly than I expected in her heels and wrapped me in a hug. Her arms found their way around my back from underneath my second pair of arms. Her reduced height left her face to face with my upper chest rather than my face. “I love you,” she whispered and pressed her head against me. I smiled and pulled her tighter.

After a few heartbeats passed I pulled away slightly and reach my head down for a kiss. She eagerly accepted. Even while our lips were still together, I felt her start in surprise. When the kiss ended I quickly realised why; she had lost more height. I chuckled at the sight, especially since in this instance her clothing hadn’t shrunk to match. Her clothes looked to be almost a size too big, and I noticed even her shoes no longer seemed as snug.

With a pout she tried to adjust her dress. “Why does it feel looser? My other clothes didn’t when I changed. And haven’t I only lost a bit of height?”

“Well, I guess when I made the change with the Device, that dress and your shoes weren’t actually your clothes,” I theorised out loud, “I set it to shrink your clothes to match your body. And while you’ve lost height, its more accurate to say you’ve lost mass in general.”

“Lost mass? I’m getting smaller all over?”

“Only slightly,” I assured her, “just to keep you in proportion.” Even as I was speaking I was walking towards the desk where the Device sat. With a few presses of buttons, her dress and shoes shifted subtly and immediately looked to fit as well as before, if not better.

She looked herself over in the mirror again. “Thank you.” She looked herself over again. “I think I might have an idea what the trigger is.”

“Oh?” I asked, doing my best to give nothing away.

“At first I thought it might be a little action or habit,” she explained and her hand began to play with her hair. “But now I’m not so sure,” she noticed what her hand was doing and visibly stopped herself. “I think it might be tied to something involuntary?” I said nothing, but I could tell my glowing eyes were pulsing with amusement. “Is it an emotion?”

Rather than confirm or deny anything I smiled and said, “What emotion would it be?”

“It’s…” she paused, “embarrassment?”

I laughed. “Almost, but I think I can give you the win for getting that close. It’s specifically when you blush in embarrassment.”

Aoife grinned in victory, then suddenly seemed to process what I’d said. She pouted, but there was a wry amusement in her tone. “That’s so mean! Why would you make that the trigger?”

“Because you’re just so cute when you blush!” I explained, inciting another deep red glow to spread across her cheeks. “And don’t worry, you’ve got plenty more room to shrink,” I teased, “and I’m going to look forward to every little inch.”

I hugged her tightly and she grumbled in protest.

But her arms were wrapped around me and she gave no indication she wanted to let go.