TF (clothing)

Anna sat gnawing on a sandwich, alone as usual. All around her the other college kids were eating too, sitting in groups, all chattering away.

She could guess what they were all talking about - the preppies, the alt-girls, the jocks, the popular kids. The weekend was coming up and they were discussing what they were going to be doing, the clubs they would be visiting, and - thanks to the Venn Machines - the things they were going to be.

Girls were planning on swapping genders with their boyfriends. Boyfriends were planning on being stockings for the girls. A few were planning kinkier changes: becoming dildos or sex dolls.

Not Anna, though.

At the start of the year, her best friend Felicity had persuaded her to get in one of the Venn Machines. "We'll be pandas together! It'll be so fun!" she'd said.

Anna had had misgivings from the start but she'd agreed. Felicity had been so excited, they'd just started college together, and it seemed like everyone else was doing it. She'd held back her fears as Felicity had fed a dollar into the machine, set the duration dial to eight hours. and the doors appeared.

Once she'd got in, though, she knew she'd made a big mistake. The idea of being changed, becoming something she was not, filled her with fear and nausea. She couldn't go through with it.

She couldn't even remember if she'd hit the cancel button or if the machine, in some way sensing her fear, had refused to even work. All she knew was she'd stumbled out of the machine and brought up bile.

Felicity had been understanding, and after a while she'd been able to get back in and change her friend into a lumbering panda, after first getting her sworn vow she wouldn't try to change Anna in return. And she'd supposed it had been fun, after a fashion, although she'd got annoyed with Felicity in the end as she wandered about the mall trying to weird people out as a panda.

But somehow the incident had gone around the college. She'd become the Girl Too Scared To Venn. Her interactions with her one-time best friend had dwindled to occasional awkward hellos when they met by
accident around the grounds.

And speaking of awkward hellos ...

*

"Um. Hi?"

Anna looked up at the voice. Great. It was one of the alt-girls, the one with the black pixie crop, short dress and boots. Why was she talking to me?

"Uh, you don't know me but I'm Ava," the girl said. "Those are my friends Bella and Melanie" - she nodded at the others at a table across the lawn, a moody-looking woman with a deathhawk and a cheerful
girl with blonde hair striped with pink and green.

Anna peered out from under her long brown hair. "What do you want?"

"Well, me and my friends wondered if you were going to the Lounge on Saturday."

"The Lounge? The big Venn club? No. I guess you're the last person at this college to know. I'm the girl who doesn't Venn."

"Oh, I know that. That's why we wanted to know if you were going."

"Huh?"

Ava sighed. "Mind if I sit down?"

Anna shrugged. "It's a free country."

Ava joined her at the bench. "See, me and my friends like transforming. We like to be dresses. Usually two of us will change and
the other one will wear us. But we want to all change together. We all want to be the clothes. It's getting where we're fighting about who'll be the one to not change."

"OK. So why are you telling me this?"

"Well, I thought it would be obvious," Ava said with a grin. "You don't transform, Everyone knows that. If you were going to the Lounge, you could wear all of us. We'd all be transformed, so we'd be getting what we want, and you'd be getting a night out, which, frankly, you look like you could do with."

"Yeah, well, I'm not going to the club," Anna said, putting down her sandwich.

"You sure? It's only Wednesday. You don't have to make up your mind now. Just think about it. We could even pay you, I guess."

Pay her? To wear them? Anna flushed. What would that make her?

"Yeah, well, I still don't think I'm going," she said, throwing the remains of her sandwich in the nearby bin.

"Think about it." Ava got up to stroll back to her friends. She paused. "Just to get things straight, you don't mind changing other
people? It's just being changed you don't like?"

"That's right," Anna said reluctantly.

"Great! OK, thanks for hearing me out. See you later."

And Anna watched the short-haired girl walk away.

*

At first Anna dismissed the idea out of hand. She didn't want anything to do with the Venn Machines, she told herself. Transforming was not for her. And wearing people who were clothes! What the hell was that about?

It disgusted her. Or, no, not disgust exactly. It made her stomach turn a bit, but OK, if she were to be totally honest, it was turning from a mix of apprehension and ... excitement?

And the more she thought about it, the more excited she got.

After all, it wasn't her being changed. It was their funeral. And hell, those girls had been sexy. They didn't give a crap what anybody
else thought, they looked like they wanted to look, and did what they wanted to do.

She found herself wishing she could be like that.

When she woke up at 5am from a particularly vivid dream about girls with gauges and black negilgees, she knew she'd made up her mind. Or rather, her mind had made it up for her.

That morning she sought out Ava, eventually catching her outside a class. "I'll do it," she said.

"Great! Why don't we meet tomorrow at the coffee house across from the mall at seven? We'll have something to eat, get to know each other, and then we'll hit the Venn Machine."

*
Anna hadn't laughed so much in ages.

Going by their looks, she'd imagined the three women to be aggressive and snotty. She'd discovered quickly as they sat around eating that she couldn't be more wrong. They were funny, bright and very friendly.

Right now they'd been sharing their exploits from last Saturday night.

"So," Ava said, "I turned around and gave the woman next to me a big kiss, and I hear 'hey! That's my boyfriend!' I grabbed her crotch and said 'not tonight he isn't!'"

The four women giggled.

"Hey, can I ask a question?" Anna said, raising her coffee mug. "Are you girls all into girls?"

"I like girls but I like boys too," Ava said with a smile.

"I like boys, but I also like boys who are being girls," Melanie said. "And Bella here is a gold star."

"A gold star? What's that?"

"A lesbian who's never slept with a man," Bella explained, running her fingers through her deathhawk. "How about you?"

"Um, I'm kind of a virgin," Anna said as she flushed red.

Melanie laughed. "A straight virgin or a gay virgin?"

"Ignore her, Anna, she's being an idiot," Bella said. "As usual."

"Hey!" Melanie mock-punched her friend.

Ava looked at her watch. "We'd better get going soon, the club will be filling up and I don't want to be caught in a line at the mall for the Venn Machines. Anna, you must have some questions?"

Anna did. "How long will you be changed?"

"Eight hours. So, from nine to about five in the morning."

"And what should I do with you when I want to go home?"

"Mel and I just live around the corner. You could drop us all off at our apartment. Just lay us on the sofa in the living room. Here's the key; you can leave it on the sofa too and just pull the door closed. Any other questions?"

Anna couldn't think of anything. "Um, no, guess not."

"What you'll be wearing," Bella said.

"Oh yeah! I guess I should know that. Do I get to choose?"

"Um, up to a point," Ava said. "Now, don't worry, we won't be becoming anything too
intimate."

"So we won't be changing into your underwear," Bella said. "Ava will be your dress, Melanie will be a necklace, and I'll be your shoes."

"Both of them?"

"Sure. Don't worry, I won't pick anything that will hurt your feet."

"Anything else?" Ava said brightly. "OK then, let's pack up and hit the mall."

*

The girls stowed their bags away in the lockers next to the Venn Machine.

"Here's what we do," Ava said. "Bella changes Mel, I change Bella, Anna changes me. OK?" She fed a dollar into the Venn Machine, and a
set of icons in green appeared. Ava set the duration of the change to eight hours and two doors appeared.

"See you on the other side, Ray!" Melanie got into the right side and Bella got into the left. Abruptly the doors vanished, and a little
shiver went down Anna's spine.

A little under a minute later the doors reappeared and Bella got out. She went around the booth and reached in.

"Here," she said, handing over a silver necklace on a short chain.

Anna stared for a moment. "That's really Melanie?" That's really the girl who was making all those silly jokes?

Bella blinked. "Well, yeah. That's how Venn Machines work."

"Can she hear us?"

"No, she's a necklace," Ava explained. "I mean, in general she can sense what she is but she can't talk or see or feel pain. She can feel sensation, though, like she'll know she's around your neck."

"Here, let me put her on you," Bella said, taking the necklace and placing it around Anna's throat. Her touch sent a little thrill
through Anna.

"Anyway, you're next," Ava said. She fed another dollar in, set the duration and again the doors opened. Ava disappeared into one side and Bella into the other, leaving Anna alone.

Suddenly she felt very lonely. Not for long, as the doors appeared and Ava got out, fetching a pair of shoes from the other side. They were black, flat and studded.

"Maybe you should try her on," Ava said, handing them to Anna. She took them to a nearby bench, and was unsurprised to find they fit perfectly.

"They look wonderful," she said, looking up.

"OK then!" Ava said. She licked her lips a little nervously. "Anna, are you sure you're OK to do this? If you want to duck out, it's fine.
I'll just put Bella and Melanie on and be the one who stays human."

She felt sorely tempted for just a second, but she'd come this far ... "No, it's OK, I'll do it."

"Great!" Ava fed a third bill into the slot, and spinning planets appeared on the box's screen. "OK, that's set to eight hours. Now, I
want to be a blue dress. Like this." She handed Anna a photostat with a picture of a cute dress on it. "We're ready to go. And Anna? Thanks." She disappeared into the right side of the booth.

The left door appeared. With a burst of determination she launched herself into the device and the door abruptly vanished.

Don't panic, don't panic ... Anna had been in a Venn Machine before, after all, and knew what to expect. The interface came to life,
showing Ava sitting in the other side.

"I'm looking for a blue dress," Anna said out loud, A variety of blue dresses appeared in the bubbles around the edge of the picture of Ava. Scrolling through, she found one that if not an exact match for the one in the picture Ava had given her, was very close.

"And what do I do now? Oh yeah." She could see Ava grinning in anticipation, and Anna pressed the green button on the interface.
She'd expected the doors to open, but they didn't. She felt slightly panicked but realised the machine was waiting for Ava to apply changes to her.

The fear struck but she kept calm. Ava had promised she wouldn't be changed. The machine was simply counting down. Sure enough, after less than a minute, the door appeared and she scrambled out.

Anna circled the machine to find the other side open. She reached in and pulled out the blue dress.

Ava.

It was a beautiful dress, a rich, saturated blue, well-cut but simple. It was a little lower cut than she would have usually worn, but ...

Anna pressed the dress up against her cheek. "Only ... where do I change?"

Thankfully the women's rest rooms were still open at the mall. After stowing her own clothes in her locker, she headed for the Lounge.

*
Anna had a secret.

She loved dancing.

Oh, she looked so mousy, but she'd been a dancer for many years, starting with ballet lessons when she was small and going through jazz and even tap.

She loved to dance. And lately she hadn't had many opportunities. Tonight was the night.

And weirdly, even though she was there on her own, she didn't feel lonely. On the contrary, her friends were there.

Her friends? Yes, in some way these three women, so unlike her, had become her friends.

The music tonight was light house music, with plenty of pop stuff mixed in. It wasn't Anna's favourite genre, but it felt perfect
tonight.

She danced.

During the night she was joined by a range of other dancers, men, women, and for all she knew men turned into women and women turned into men. It didn't matter.

She felt good.

She felt free.

*

A little after two Anna left, returning to the mall to pick up her and the other girls' things. Even at this time there were plenty of people
milling about, and the lines at the Venn Machines were getting long as people transformed their pickups.

She found Ava and Melanie's apartment with no trouble. It was exactly the kind of place you'd expect a bunch of college students to live - cramped, messy, with comfy old furniture that was past its best days.
Quickly Anna removed the necklace, shoes and dress, laying them neatly on the sofa before putting on her jeans and blouse, then leaving, pulling the door behind her.

She felt a twinge of regret she wouldn't be there to see them change back.

*

On Monday Anna walked into college to be immediately grabbed by Ava, Bella and Melanie.

"That was amazing!"

"The best!"

"Where did you learn to dance like that, girl?"

"You could see me?" said Anna, slightly stunned.

"See? No," Ava laughed. "We could feel you."

"It's kind of difficult to explain," Bella said.

"But we're doing this again next Saturday, right?" Melanie babbled. "Say you'll do it, Anna! Please?"

"And about the money ..." Ava said, reaching into her pocket.

Anna immediately waved her off. "Guys, of course I'll do it. I had a great time too. And please, don't worry about money."

"Fantastic!" grinned Melanie. "It's my turn to be the dress next, isn't it? I've got some ideas I want to go over with you, Anna. Let me
know if it's too extreme for you."

"Sure," Anna said with a smile. "And, uh, guys? I don't mind if you want to become underwear."

*
The rest of the week passed in a blur between lectures and hanging out with the girls. They'd meet after classes and go get coffee, blabber and laugh.

On Thursday night Anna was browsing in a bookstore when she heard a quiet "hey". Turning around, she found Bella.

"Oh, hey, Bella. Book-shopping? Oh, that's silly of me, of course you are. I mean, why would you even be in a bookstore if you weren't shopping for books? Oh sorry, I'm babbling. Shutting up now."

"I think it's cute," Bella smiled. "What you got there?"

Anna held up her choice. "Francesca Lia Block. Beyond The Pale Motel."

"Love her. You're really going to enjoy it. Hey, do you know Charles de Lint?"

Anna couldn't help it, she squealed. "You like de Lint too?"

"My favourite. Hey, you ever been to the cafe in this place? It's not too bad."

They wound up talking until the cafe closed at midnight.

*
"Wow. This is weird."

"What's weird?"

"This time last week I hadn't even spoken to you. Now all I want to do is keep speaking to you."

"Well, you had me on your feet all Saturday night. I guess that counts as breaking the ice."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"How did it feel when you were on my feet?"

"Well, it felt ... liberating. I mean, I wasn't me, with all my hang-ups and troubles. I was a pair of shoes, and all I wanted was to
be walked on. But I was still kind of me. And it was weirder because my consciousness was also divided into two."

"Two shoes."

"Right. It's like I said, though, it's really difficult to explain. The only way you'll understand the feeling is if you use the Venn
Machines too."

"Uh, well, that's not likely."

"Sorry, that was insensitive of me."

"No, it's OK. It's just ... you said being a pair of shoes was liberating, but to me it feels like ... well, kind of like a death. An erasure."

"Sometimes being erased, just for a little while, can feel like a good thing."

*
Anna felt ever so slightly naughty at the Lounge. She'd been so eager to get here that it was just past eight, and the room was only partly full. The dancers were overwhelmingly female, and she wondered how many of them had started the night as men.

She caught sight of her reflection in a mirrored surface. The dress she and Melanie had agreed on was perfect; more daring than she would have chosen by herself, but form-fitting in a way that showcased her
figure. It was dark purple, with a scoop back that showed plenty of flesh, and a high neck that somehow made her boobs seem even sexier than a low-cut dress would have.

Her breasts were full and rounded, thanks to being firmly cupped by het bra. Ava.

Meanwhile, a matching pair of briefs fit snugly around her crotch. Bella.

It was amazing to think that a couple of nights ago she was having a heart to heart with a woman who was now snugly wrapped around her most intimate parts.

Anna hadn't realised the DJ changed on a weekly basis. Tonight the music was a lot funkier, with deep, throbbing bass, and more to her taste. She found herself moving in time with the bass, her hips swaying, feeling the music.

She danced for an hour, took a break for a drink, then returned to the floor. That was her routine until she finally left around four, as the club closed.

Instead of dropping her friends off at Ava and Melanie's apartment and then leaving, she stayed to catch the eye-popping moment when they changed back, before they had a little dance party of their own.

Bella gave her a lift home about 10, and she crashed for the rest of the day.

*
"So, who's going to pick the dress this week?"

It was Monday, and the girls were having lunch.

"I think it's time for Anna to choose," Ava said.

"Really?" Anna was surprised. "But actually, I kind of get to choose every week. I mean, you give me instructions, but once I'm in the Venn Machine, the end result is really my responsibility."

"Well, it will all be your responsibility this week," Ava told her. "Pick whatever you want, make us whatever you want."

"Seems fair," Bella nodded.

"Well, OK. Let me check out some fash mags for ideas and I'll get back to you."

*
When she showed Ava her idea, the girl's eyes popped out.

"Really? You're going to go for these?"

"You don't like them?" Anna blushed.

"Like them? I love them! I guess I just wouldn't have expected these to be your choice. You're really coming out of your shell. Only ... can I make a suggestion?"

"Sure."

"Your hair. You really need to update your haircut. And luckily for you, my mom the hairdresser taught me everything she knows." Ava made a pair of imaginary scissors in the air. "Why don't you come over to my place on Saturday around three, and we'll take a stab at it?"

"I'm not sure I like the word 'stab' in that context."

*
Bella was waiting outside her lecture hall.

"Hey, are you doing anything this evening?"

"Nope, I just finished my paper, so I'm totally free."

"I wondered if you wanted to go browsing for books tonight."

"Sounds great."

"And maybe then we could go eat something?"

Bella looked so hopeful that a light dawned in Anna's head.

"Bella, are you asking me on a date?"

"Call it what you want. I just wanna spend some time with you."

"I'll meet you at seven."

*

Anna couldn't help but laugh as she hit the dance floor. She felt so sexy! She was going to lose herself in this music. She and her
friends.

She couldn't help but thrust out her butt. Ava had been changed into a pair of shiny leggings. She wondered what to call the colour her friend had become. Cranberry, maybe? Anyway, Ava cupped her ass so nicely.

She was also wearing a red spaghetti strap top that left her midriff ever so slightly exposed. Under it her breasts were being held together by Bella as a skimpy sports bra, and Melanie was a G-string.

What Anna was really loving was her new haircut. She sported a sleek, chin-length bob that was a rich blue-black. She'd have to think of some way to repay Ava. That girl had skills.

Well, Anna could dance for her, for a start.

And she did.

*
Ava looked from Anna to Bella and back again. "Are you guys dating?"

"Uh ... maybe?"

"What makes you think so?" Bella asked.

Ava ticked off her fingers. "The way you're finishing each other's sentenced. The way you're stealing each other's french fries. The fact that you're both reading books by the same author. And most importantly ..." she pointed to the photo Bella had printed out "...
this. I couldn't imagine you even suggesting this to Anna unless you were dating."

"Well, it was my turn to be the dress," Bella said.

"This isn't exactly a dress, though, is it? It's not something you'd usually wear to the Lounge."

"Uh, I thought we could try a new club for Saturday."

"And I've got a pretty good idea which one. Anna, are you cool with this?"

"Oh yeah." Anna's eyes gained a far away look. "Oh yeahhhh ..."

Ava's face split into a grin. "Yeah, I think it could be fun. Hey, Anna, if this is what you're wearing, can I suggest another change to
your hair?"

*

Anna walked - no, strutted - into the club. She could feel the eyes of every other person in the room on her as she made her entrance. And she was loving it.

Bella made a fantastic catsuit, black, shiny and fitting her like her body had been dipped in ink. The original plan had been for Ava and
Melanie to be her underwear, but it had immediately become apparent no
underwear would be possible with this garment. They'd quickly made a
switch. Melanie was the pair of boots she wore, while Ava was a dog collar-type of choker that fitted around her throat.

She'd let Ava loose on her hair again. On one side she still sported her black bob, but her hair on the other had been shaved to the skin.

She took a seat, her fingers playing with Ava. It wasn't too long before she had a visitor. A blonde woman in a red and black latex
dress, a ring dangling through her septum. A vision of Bella as a similar ring through her own nose made her smile. Maybe she'd
investigate such a piercing later.

Over the heavy industrial beats, the woman invited Anna to dance with her and her friends. With a smirk, Anna gracefully accepted the invitation, allowing herself to be led to the floor.

As she moved, she thought about the friends she was wearing. She hoped they were enjoying their transformations.

Because she was sure as hell enjoying hers.