TF, TG


Ava woke up to find she was no longer a pair of stockings, and felt a pang of disappointment. Recognising the emotion, she found herself amused. Our lives are not like others, she thought.

Being a pair of flimsy lace stockings, divided into two, worn on the shapely legs of your friend … well, it was just plain hot.

But here she was, a person again, lying in bed. With her best friend behind her, cupping her ass, and her best friend’s boyfriend cuddled up against her front.

Well, maybe waking up a human wasn’t a disappointment after all.

*

“Anna?”

“Mrmph?”

Anna briefly opened a bleary eye to find her girlfriend Bella before her.

“It’s nine and Ava’s asked if we want to go out to breakfast.”

“Love to but … need more sleep …” And she rolled over in bed.

“Sure. Catch you later, beautiful.”

*

Bella sat at the diner table, watching Ava and Melanie. Sean had run into someone he knew and was having an animated discussion across the room, leaving the girls to chatter.

Yesterday Ava had confessed that Sean and Melanie had invited her into their relationship. Bella saw plenty of signs of that. Now, Ava and Melanie had been friends since high school, so she expected them to be intimate. Here’s the thing, though - once she started watching, she began to notice just how touchy-feely they’d become.

The constant touching. Ava absent-mindedly toying with Melanie’s hair. The in-jokes. The smiles.

My God, Bella thought, they’ve become girlfriends.

They’ve become girlfriends, and they haven’t even realised it.

*

Sean slid back in his seat. “Sorry about that. An old friend I haven’t seen for a while.”

“No problem,” Bella said. “So how’s work?”

“Great! You heard I was promoted to deputy manager? I thought it’d be a lot harder, but it’s made my job a lot more fun.”

“Ava said you’re a woman there nearly every day?”

“It’s just how I’ve been feeling. Some days I wake up and feel more feminine than masculine, so I’ll change into a girl. It just happens the girl me has been showing up a lot more lately.”

“Yeah, work’s not the only place she’s been showing up lately,” Melanie grinned, touching her boyfriend’s shoulder.

“Let’s not forget the twins,” Ava added.

“Twins?”

“Uh, the ability of the Venn machine to make you into two,” Sean explained.

Bella stared at him. “Really? You’ve been doing that?”

“We all have.”

“Two Avas, two Melanies, two Seans.”

“And I want to do it again soon!” Melanie put in. “I was just getting used to controlling two bodies.”

Bella looked from one to the other and began to laugh. “God, you three really have been going to extremes.”

“And what about you and Anna?” Ava said.

“Who, us? Well, apart from a couple more holes in our bodies, we’ve been pretty quiet. No weird escapades for us.”

*

Anna opened her eyes and sighed. Yesterday’s weird escapade wouldn’t get out of her head.

She’d Venned her friend Kat into a living Barbie doll, less than a foot tall, and had forced her to dance for her under threat of punishment. And she’d had Kat Venn her into a shaven-headed dominatrix.

There had been, she kept telling herself, nothing sexual about it. It was all about power. And oh, what power she’d felt over Kat, a self-confessed submissive.

So if it wasn’t sexual, what was this charge she felt through her?

Just over a year ago, she’d still been a virgin, a quiet, shy girl brought up in the suburbs.

She’d changed so much. How much more would she change?

She rolled over in bed. Maybe a night at the Lounge, wearing her girlfriend, would take her mind off it.

*

Melanie was staring in the camera shop window.

“Like what you see?” said Sean, putting his arm around her.

“Very much. See that Nikon?”

“I didn’t know you were into photography.”

“Yeah, I’ll have to show you my stuff. I’ve sort of dropped it a bit. I’ve been preoccupied lately.”

“By what, I can’t think,” Sean teased.

“I was thinking I’d get back into it.”

“Good idea.”

“What about you? Have I distracted you from something?”

“If I say no, will you be disappointed?”

“Bitterly.”

“Well, as it happens, I used to go surfing in the days when I didn’t share a bed with a beautiful blonde.”

“And don’t forget her friend.”

“How could I?”

Somehow, without even realising it, they’d wandered down past the Venn machines in the mall.

“We should go surfing together,” Melanie said thoughtfully.

“Sure,” Sean said. “If I can borrow Ava’s car, we could go tomorrow. I’ll see if I can find a board for you.”

“I don’t think you understand. We should go surfing together.”

And Sean followed Melanie’s gaze to the Venn machines.

“Oh,” he said.

*

She looked damned good, and she knew it. Anna had found some images in a copy of Vogue that had fired her imagination. She’d showed the pics to Ava, who had immediately dubbed it the “David Live” look. Anna hadn’t know what she’d meant, and Bella had to explain it was a reference to a David Bowie album from the 1970s.

So here she was at the Lounge, looking hot in a men’s thin-lapelled suit that fit her perfectly. It was Bella, of course. The lovers, Melanie and Sean, were doing duty as her underwear and white shirt respectively. And Ava, well, Ava was a stylish choker around her neck.

The finishing touch had come straight from the Venn machine: her haircut, short back and sides, and a wedge on top. Indisputably a male haircut, yet one that served to make her look more feminine.

Her dancing tonight was cool and measured, quite unlike last Saturday’s frenzied bopping. She felt cool and measured too.

Until a hand touched her. She spun around to find Kat there, in her leather leggings and a singlet that exposed her sleeve of tattoos, and with a look that clearly said “we need to talk”.

*

They were on the balcony, Kat with a beer, Anna with a martini. She’d never had a martini before, but it seemed like the perfect drink for this outfit.

“Anna, what you did to me yesterday, I can’t get it out of my head.”

“I know. I can’t either.”

“I felt … well … what did you feel?”

“Powerful. In control. I felt powerful.”

“I want to do it again.”

“I don’t know …”

“Anna. I need to do it again.”

Anna was silent. Something occurred to Kat.

“You didn’t tell Bella about this, did you? She doesn’t know.”

“I should have told her.”

“You have to tell her.”

And more silence.

“I know.”

*

There was something wrong with Anna, Bella thought.

Usually after a night at the Lounge, everyone would change back from clothes and there would be laughs and drinks and a little boogieing about the living room at dawn, and they’d all collapse into a pile on one of the beds.

Usually Anna was in the middle of it all.

Usually.

Tonight she was sullen and withdrawn, made her excuses and went upstairs to their apartment as soon as she could.

Bella followed soon after, finding Anna in a heap on their bed.

“Something you want to tell me?” she asked.

Quiet.

“Yeah.”

“Okay.”

“I feel dirty.”

“It’s Kat, isn’t it?”

Anna raised her head.

“Sort of.”

Bella sat on the bed.

“Talk to me.”

*

He’d only got a few hours’ sleep, but that was okay when you had a beach waiting for you. He’d shaken Melanie awake.

“We’re going?”

“Yeah. Ava gave us the car keys.”

“Still tired.”

“You can sleep in the car.”

“You mean on the car.”

Sean smiled. “Yes indeed.”

*

He used a shortboard, which was lucky. Still, he still marvelled how he was able to get a surfboard out of the Venn machine.

The blue on the board was undoubtedly Melanie’s jeans and shirt. The yellow stripe was her blonde hair. Or maybe he was reading too much into it. Venn machines probably didn’t work that way.

Sean carefully strapped Melanie to the car rack. He wasn’t worried about her falling off; if she did, the Venn machine would restore her, unharmed. But then he wouldn’t have a board.

*

Anna was a picture of misery.

“So that’s it?” Bella said softly.

“Uh-huh.” Anna raised her head. “You must hate me so much.”

“I don’t hate you, Anna.”

“You must be so angry.”

“If I said I wasn’t angry, only disappointed, would I sound too much like your mother?”

A smile. “Probably.”

“You should have told me.”

“I know.”

Bella sighed. “If you’re going to keep playing with Kat, then we need to lay down some rules. And the first one is, in future you tell me everything.”

“Keep playing? I thought … you’d want to break up …”

“Break up? Why? I love you. You say this isn’t about sex. Okay, then. How much do you want this?”

“A lot.”

“Then we need to be able to trust each other. We’ll set the boundaries, and I expect you to stick to them.” Bella stood up. “I need to talk to Kat too. Be back later.”

“Bella? Thank you. And … I love you too.”

*

It was a beautiful day, but the beach was fairly empty. Good. More waves for him, Sean thought. It had been a long time since he’d been here. Well, technically he’d been here a few weeks ago, but he had been a pair of sunglasses at the time. That didn’t count.

There were a few other surfers out there, but there was still plenty of room. Sean knew the rules - don’t drop in on other surfers.

He put Melanie down on the water and began to paddle out.

*

A knock on the door. Kat answered it to find Bella there.

“We need to talk.”

*

Sean was taking a break on the beach. God, what a beautiful day it was. Maybe they would swap next week, and Melanie could bring him here.

He wondered what it would feel like to be a camera.

*

Bella exited Kat’s apartment with a grin. They’d found a surprising amount of common ground between them. Kat had been happy to accept the rules Bella was proposing.

Now to see if Anna would stick to them.

*

The phone woke Ava from an afternoon nap.

“Hello?”

“Hey, bridesmaid!”

“Mae!” Ava brightened at the sound of her sister’s voice. “How are things?”

“Great! Hannah and I were doing the bridal registry today. We spent four hours deciding what spoons we wanted people to buy us. Not that people ever pay attention to a registry anyway.”

“I can imagine.”

“Listen, I know it’s a long way away, but we were drawing up the guest list and wanted to know if you wanted to bring someone.”

Ava chuckled. “One? How about two?”

*

On the drive back, Sean listened to Elliott Smith. “Waltz No 2” always brought tears to his eyes, and this time was no exception. He’d only discovered Smith a couple of years back, but it had hit him hard.

He felt peaceful and happy.

Next stop, the Venn machines.

*

Ava heard the door open, and she looked up from her book. “Sean?”

“I’m back. Melanie, too. Or Melanies …”

Sean was followed by not one but two Melanies.

“I couldn’t wait to twin again,” one said, a grin on her face.

“It’s getting easier already!” the other added.

Ava smiled. “Well, the more the merrier, as far as I’m concerned.”

*

“I want to do something nice for you.”

Anna had been so happy since Bella had returned.

“Would this something nice involve a Venn machine?”

Anna giggled. “Uh-huh.”

“And let me guess … you’re not going to tell me what I’m going to be, are you?”

“Nope. But you’ll like it.”

Well, Bella thought, here’s where the trust began.

*

She was still occasionally stuttering or moving the wrong body, but Melanie had picked up the trick of being in two bodies at once remarkably quickly, Sean thought. It was, though, slightly creepy to see her naked in bed with him, and to know the exact same person was in the next bedroom with Ava. At least when he’d been split into two people, one of them was male, the other female …

He wondered if Melanie would like to be two different people.

*

Bella had suspected that Anna would change her into something mechanical. She’d been wrong.

She was plastic and flat, and, weirdest of all, not an inanimate object. She didn’t breathe, but she could hear, and see, and even feel, in a limited sense.

“Oh God,” she sighed, “what am I?”

Hands reached in and grabbed her, easily lifting her.

“What you are,” Anna said, “is a classic.”

She looked at the unblinking, flat face of her girlfriend.

“And I can’t wait to unroll you.”

*

Bella was laying flat on the bed. “This feels weird.”

“Bad?” asked Anna.

“Not bad, but weird.”

“Well, let me take care of something … let me blow you up.”

She put her mouth to the valve on Bella’s foot and began to blow.

“Oh yeah, that feels good now … Am I inflating?”

“Oh yes, you’re beginning to look very pneumatic.”

Anna smiled at the inflated love doll. “Bella, you’re full of my breath.”

“How lovely.”

“Now just lay back there. Let my fingers do the talking.”

Bella felt Anna’s hands run over her plastic body. Oh, and apparently Anna had made her particularly sensitive in one spot.

Where Anna’s fingers were heading.

No, Bella wasn’t mechanical, but hell, she wasn’t complaining.