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See Yourself Be Yourself [13] Flashes She wasn't sure what she wanted to wear to bed. Lillis had grabbed an interesting variety of options from the pocket reality, but none of them screamed pajamas, nightgowns, or anything like that. Not that Brent ever opted for anything as formal as pajamas since he was a kid. His dad basically wore a pajama outfit all the time around the house when he wasn't going anywhere because he said they were comfortable, and they basically looked like what he would wear anyway. He was an old man, and he basically stopped giving a crap a decade ago. It was both frustrating and inspiring. The towels were comfy and soft, and her skin didn't feel so delicate that just using the towels casually would scour off her flesh. Drying and cleaning were awkward tasks. Everything she tried felt too forceful. As if she were committing a crime just by drying herself. She wasn't a delicate, girly girl. She wasn't quite sure what she was, but it wasn't that. Her makeshift

See Yourself Be Yourself [12] Nakedly Showering "Something I haven't heard yet. Maybe. Brent Lewis is my name, but my life has changed, and I want a name that reflects my own feelings, not something chosen for me at birth or at this possible new beginning. You can use either name until I decide who I want to be. Maybe a little more Brent, at least around here, but Misty is probably more appropriate for whatever comes next. Like the way you use Elle. How did you feel about that sort of thing?" All that felt like another marathon effort she had to shove into a few words. "Okay, you tell me when you figure out what you want your name to be for good. I'll just call you Brent and Misty, whatever feels right. As for me, shit be complicated. Elle keeps it simple, but it's good to have everything in the same ballpark. Well, you better start showering, Brent. There are plenty of clean towels in the upstairs closet. I've got a whole bunch of different soaps if you need anything you don't

See Yourself Be Yourself [11] Change It should have been easy to catalog them for later use. They were thoughts she had made and explored herself. Ideas about Star Trek and places that should have been obvious where the world could follow. Put it this way. There had to be worlds out there that lacked some resource that was abundant here. Trade, but obviously to the advantage of both trading partners. Not that she considered herself an expert when it came to trade or commerce, but it just made sense. And that wasn't counting the simple fact that clothes and other things were simply available when you dialed in a certain space to use. Dream it, and it shows up. Literally everything they would ever need. So why does the current economic system still exist? Why can't things change? Not that she felt like or wanted to be some revolutionary against the status quo, but somebody out there should've seen the possibilities and wanted to exploit them. Maybe that's what this group was going

See Yourself Be Yourself [10] Do It It was all right. Lillis and Valerie had a history where sharing a hug was just one of those natural things. Certain people were those who leapt forward with a clear and confident embrace, and the world embraced them. If only she could be built that way. His life was different. Brent's mom used to casually subscribe to and also huff with distaste about astrology. One thing she remembered from that time was the idea of nakshatra. A lot of ancient Hindu astrology. The idea that there were these template pattern combinations that represented connections between people, looks, personalities, and interests. You had to know the exact moment you were born, and his mother actually kept that from him. Like it was a secret or a detail that she didn't want to talk about. But then she came into this world not through a birth canal but through a C-section. It was supposed to be easier, but more recently, there have been discussions about how being born has

See Yourself Be Yourself [9] Swaps But it didn't take long for Misty to realize that she hadn't actually gotten tacos but rather the cheese quesadilla. It looked nicer, but her mind and stomach had already prepared for the other item. What she had was clearly an objective better, but looking at the crisp tacos Lillis was enjoying sparked a tiny flare of jealousy. She could have asked to trade, but it was more the ideal of the tacos than their actuality that she wanted. Grass is greener concept. Any other state of being right now would be preferable to where she wound up. She knew she had blessings she could count, even if they didn't feel obvious. She was alive. As old people always liked to point out, she had her health. At least as far as she knew. Lillis would have informed her if there was anything, and what she knew of the process emphasized that nothing negative would be placed on the recipient of the service. However, if Dina had had her way, she could have ended up as a

See Yourself Be Yourself [8] Valerie Psychologically, it felt most appropriate to position herself at the lowest pick. The least inconvenience to her host. The air mattress felt like the most she could ask for. But it would have to be dragged out, inflated, and set up. Using this couch would be good since she was already here and had everything she needed. The one upstairs sounded nicer, though, and she could just take all the stuff Lillis brought her there. She couldn't possibly ask her host to give up half her bed. That would be too much after everything else she had done for her. Maybe rolling some number generator on a website would be the best idea... Before she could trace this series of thoughts to anything resembling a conclusion, there was a knock at the front door. The sound had a deliberate pattern that resembled a melody, but Misty couldn't figure out what it was. Lillis made a sound of recognition and stretched up from the couch to walk over to the hallway. "Hey, Val.

See Yourself Be Yourself [7] Arrival Lillis was away, rushing back to the truck as soon as she passed through into the hallway. On the wall to her left were a variety of fancy brass hangers stuck up with almost-covered command strips. A little seat and a designated area for shoes did double and triple duty as storage. Everything was scooted very close to everything else. It was to be expected. This was Southern California. Any space was at a premium. The closet practically butted up against the door and required careful manipulation and folding to not block the opening. Fancy little ornaments hung on the wall. Misty recognized the style of at least some of them as suggesting and embodying the sense of science fiction that Lillis alluded to. Others had traces of what must have been a video game aesthetic. Both made her wish she had more familiarity with one of the subjects, but she... he felt like he was just falling deeper into a bimbo-like role. Behind the door ahead was a water

See Yourself Be Yourself [6] Snack The rain remained heavy as they pulled away from the apartment. If anything, it got even heavier. Misty grabbed the pink elephant out of the bag and hugged it to her chest. Brent used to do that a lot when Dina didn't even want to touch him. She couldn't see the elephant with her boobs in the way, but when she looked from the side, she noticed that the poor thing was having its back broken by her bust. Repositioning the stuffed critter only buried it in a forest of softness. Nothing of her old habits fit anymore. She would have to adapt. Lillis sighed and looked over. "I don't want to pressure you, but you need to document all of this. The moment that bitch shattered the crystal, it became a $100,000 legal case. I'll testify to whatever they need to know about what happened. But legal things take time. Especially if she wants to drag it out. I assume there was a deposit on the apartment. Breaking up with someone is never easy, especially on

See Yourself Be Yourself [5] Acclimate "Would you be cool with some music?" Lillis leaned back in the driver's seat and adjusted her towel. Her last word was followed by an extended yawn that Misty couldn't help but catch and echo in a smaller version. The first thing that Misty did in response was shake her head before realizing she was going in the wrong direction and boldly nodded instead of timidly twisting her neck. Lillis chuckled and sniffled as he plucked a classic handkerchief out of her purse to rub her nose with. She offered her guest a second one and urged, "Keep it. My family used to collect them all the time instead of doing the normal thing and putting some toilet paper or tissue away for later." Lillis paired her phone with her car's dashboard. She stopped at an area of the parking lot with a designated stop sign and took a few moments to scroll through her playlist. "I'm not a big fan of classic rock. Or most of the stuff from the last century. But I do have

See Yourself Be Yourself [4] Drenched “Hey, there. How are you feeling now?” Misty cracked open her eyes. Elle ducked down and looked at her. Everything about her felt so sweaty and hot, wrapped up like that. And her lips felt like they were going to split from the dryness. Her head pounded with a faint ache. And there was an itchy, achy dryness between her legs. She resisted the urge to scratch down there but shifted instead, hoping that might help. All the impossible, horrible sensations returned. She was, for now and forever, this skinny, bolted-on-boobed, slight figure of a girl. Her eyes trembled, but she seemed too dehydrated to shed tears. Elle passed her a water bottle and urged her to drink. Her plump, crusty, chapped lips felt unnatural when accepting the bottle. Bright blonde hair kept dropping over her eyes and twisting to get into her mouth. She gave a listless puff and continued to drink. Meanwhile, Elle asked her what her situation was now and if she had a place to

Chapter 18 - Beach Episode 2 The first stop was a custom boutique named G. Feisty Blossom. Despite turning over the offer of waiting somewhere else, the girls had me inside before I could come up with a good excuse. It was rather stark white-and-black with little lights shining off the sides of a drop ceiling concealed with black tiles. I got the impression it was meant to be like a runway. Signs marking discounts were scribbled in fancy script with a white marker on black. Words and slogans like "beauty bountiful abundant sassy confident curvy" danced on little signs and LCD screens showed off entire catalogs. While Elizabeth and Siana intercepted a tentative Calliope and urged her to the center aisle, Natalie soon made herself my partner and guided me towards some prospects. She had nice taste. And she pointed out the sort of outfits that would minimize and maximize the kind of features I wanted. Granted, I already had several choices to fulfill this task, but I could still

Chapter 17 - Beach Episode It wasn’t long before Calliope sent some text messages with large photo attachments. I had to wait till I was closer to the city to have enough data for them to download. My eyes widened. In the photos, she was wearing the two-piece swimsuit she'd alluded to before. It had a velvety texture and a sea-blue look. However, it didn’t seem to be the right fit for her. Her breasts bunched up, as though an invisible hand was pushing out more cleavage than she intended. The window, with stringy bands stretching from one side to the other, appeared quite revealing. The top was doing its best, like a set of baseball gloves trying to smother unruly balls. The kind she was wearing wasn’t too different than mine, more like some sort of sports top than a typical bikini. Three photos followed up with her trying to adjust it, unsuccessfully. The bottom looked fine though. I used my finger wiggle to communicate as many of these details in reply. She sent along a string of

Prelude 1 - Names "Are you absolutely sure you understand name registration? Once entered, I can't change it.” - Kearny Lindgren tightened his brow at the question and asked, "What does that mean?” A restless grumble wafted through the air behind him. He shifted his feet and amended, "Never mind! Uh, yes! Of course. Just making sure." Seated before him at a wooden table, which had been half-assembled when he got in line and teetering at the edge of crumpling into pieces every time someone put weight on it, with a lavender quill and unrolled scroll was a dark-haired man with ringed but still vibrant blue eyes. This line before a table was one of several dozen positioned in a horseshoe pattern in this open field in South Pronderosa (known by many names). To the north, looming like a silver stone beacon he could see for miles, was the towering pinnacle of Elshelm Castle. It was easy to get lost in its majestic splendor and Kearny had whiled away the waiting

Green Thumb Thomas settled into bed as his girlfriend, Lily, furiously typed on a paper-thin, silver laptop beside him. "I fixed that weird rumble in the bathroom tap. Loose filter", he announced with a long breath. "Awesome", her answer came without her eyes leaving the screen. Hiking the covers up, Thomas sighed and added, "I cleaned out the fridge. Nothing spoiled now." "Awesome", she answered with the same tone. Dropping his head against the pillow, he told her, "I met with the diplomatic liaison to the Murder Hornets. They agreed to let us live if we give them your Uncle Rufus." "Take the deal. Mom would gladly hand him over herself. That's if they were actually a thing, which they aren't." Sighing, Lily saved and closed her laptop before saying, "Hey." Thomas looked at her and replied with the same, "Hey." Taking a deep breath and gently rubbing Thomas's fuzzy arm, Lily whispered, "I'm sorry things are like this, but I'm grateful you're holding down

Chapter 6 - Hammer You know what you have to do. Get up. Now. Good. Walk. Don't worry about the other voices in your head. My voice is the only one which matters. You are strong with me. You are focused on me. Keep walking along this hallway. You know the way to go. You've walked it many times. Don't linger. Don't doubt. You are confident. Your path is clear. You just need your key card. Retrieve it from your pocket. Insert it like you've done a hundred times. Good. It's not far. Keep going. You see the guard. Smile for him. Tell him you just need to talk. Don't waver. Don't doubt. Stop. Dammit dammit. Grab his hand. ~ You know what you have to do. Attend to the other guard. He's in trouble. Who am I? I am you. You have nothing to worry about. Keep quiet. Help the guard. He's in trouble. Good. Let the headache pass. Listen to my words. Listen to my thoughts. My will is your will. There is nothing to worry about. Nothing is wrong. Everything is fine. Go. Your attention

Mystery Lake [80] Layla An Egg My name is Layla Archabean Regalia Eggers! If only I could choose it. But I'm starting off with half of it. I kind of go back and forth when it comes to the first middle name, but Regalia is so beautiful, although I don't want it to sound too fancy. I'm not a prim and proper fancy lady. Pfft, I'm barely a lady at all. No one would ever believe it, but I spent so many years of my early life so desperately quiet that family members forgot that I existed. Dad would drive with his spectacles perched as far down his nose as he could get them and then arrive at his destination shocked to see me sitting there quietly with my little friends, never having given him a sign that I was there. I was often scolded for that. Layla, speak up! But I didn't have anything I needed to say. My mom likes to tell the story that the first thing I said as a baby was a complete sentence: "May I please have the bottle?" I don't remember it, but she swears that's how it went. I

Mystery Lake [79] Home Again Roxy took a deep breath of preparation and pushed away everything that might distract her. It probably wasn't necessary, but nothing was going to get in the way of what she had to do or distract her. She was going to do this right. She held on to that razor wire of light in her head, like the true path version of what the jail space offered them as a distraction. She tore through the folds of space, tore through walls that were never meant to be touched, and found exactly what she was looking for. She saw the warm and welcoming space of Maggie's kitchen unfold before her as her hand went as high as she could stretch it, so that even Rydia could fit through, and then continued all the way to the ground. With the way cuts sealed in this realm, she left her hand jutting through the fissure so it wouldn't have a chance to close again until she wanted it to. Rydia was happy to test the opening first and slipped through with just a small bow of her head to

Mystery Lake [78] Last Motion Roxy was exhausted. She didn't know or care which groups hated them or were in conflict. They could fight each other to the end of the world. It wasn't her fight, no matter if she was reincarnated into it or because the frightened girl next to her was upset about the boy who had melted into someone new at the lake. Someone who had no place for a queen and all her business. Someone who was relieved to be beside Jake but wished he didn't have to fight to protect them. Cerberus took charge with his head cocked and his brow set. "I've lived a lot, and I can imagine even more. Call me what you will; it's meaningless." The queen huffed as the royal black cut them off in all directions. "The Cerberus of stories used to be such a talker. The screaming selkie at your side seems so much more like you than the divided husk you are now. Where are your teeth? Are you all gum? Gone soft?" Cerberus reached out with a smoky tendril, wrapped around the nearest royal

Mystery Lake [60] Miranda Ultimatum For such an unconventional person, she didn't like things being weird. We talked about random stuff like that for quite a while before the snoring started, and we decided to wash up. She was slightly nervous about undressing in front of me, even though I had a more accentuated form than hers. If it would have made her more comfortable, I'd have become her twin so that she could treat me like her reflection in the mirror instead of something to worry about. But that wouldn't have made her comfortable. I don't know if anything would. We just had to deal with this strange distance between us. Big towels helped a lot when we took turns washing up and figuring out what to wear to bed. I had the pick of any of her clothes to sleep in—the threshold of sharing. It would be good to get some clothes of my own. By the end of the day, I had weathered a sea of change and was still firmly in this form. Sleep came with only one real reveal. Another sense of

Mystery Lake [55] Miranda Image Upstairs, everything I was afraid of actually came to pass, just as I had foreseen it. And I was afraid to tell anyone. If my power turned out to be prognostication, then I wasn't a particularly good steward of it. Know the future but live in my head of doubts. It seemed far too abstract compared to the visible talents of the others. Layla's gender change, though I wondered if that was just a side effect similar to what happened here where some switched back, only she could control it. Then Jake had strength. No, wait, he was strong, but that wasn't the power. Roxy could split open that veil I felt and shift between realms. Alyssa could spew powerful darkness that melted monsters. And then Chiara saw things that no one else could; she saw truth. I couldn't keep what I knew from the others; it was wrong, and if I restrained the wrong thing, that might mean that earnest revelations would never come to light. I had to say something. But I kept quiet. It

Mystery Lake [58] Oh So Miranda I could have pressed Eugene about details, but I've always been more of a listener, absorbing and coming to my own conclusions. At the same time, I couldn't just sit around and sit on all this information. I took some notes. But that note-taking diligence dipped slightly when Eugene's mother offered up delightful historical snippets attached to a multitude of artifacts they had on their walls. Each one had a story, and each story felt blissfully distinct. Part of me suspected that some of these stories were fanciful elaborations. No matter if they were made up, the way she told them kindled a brimming delight to experience them. Best of all, she offered up wardrobe items that looked like castoffs from some theater troop. They were probably collections from some famous theater I wished I could've experienced in its heyday. Layla picked out an appropriate jester's hat to exclaim her playful nature. Chiara embraced her girlish shit with the addition of a

Mystery Lake [57] Miranda Race I took down so many notes before I realized that a lot of the stuff, like what Jake presented, could be smartly copied rather than furiously taken down like a frenzied lecture. Call it a force of habit that keeps me working harder rather than smarter. Also, the act of taking notes is somewhat therapeutic. And we all sure needed therapy. Funny how I got away with never having any up to this point. Duncan certainly needed all of it, but I dunked my troubles away. Everyone contributed a lot of ideas and concepts to my notes, and I rattled off my biggest fears. Darkness was coming, and the woods were the darkest place of all. We didn't need more terrors. We needed somewhere warm and friendly, even if it was a crack house motel. But no matter how far we traveled, the distance between felt stretched out like taffy being pulled for every moment of apparent progress we made. Even finding signs didn't quite dispel traces of danger. I tried to make light of it,

Mystery Lake [56] As Girls Miranda World [Author Note]: Chapters are a day late due to Christmas and illness. New chapters Tuesday through Saturday and likely returning to normal schedule next week. Title is a riff on "girls run the world". This had to be Christmas; come too late or too early. I got to walk out, and we got to walk out as simply girls in the best-blanketed respects. Look how my chest protrudes! Look at the shape of our faces! Look at what we're wearing! Listen to how we sound! The bathroom hand soap was a helpful aid, as I wasn't yet convinced of our smells. Nor was I able to shake the little, irrepressible unpleasantness sneaking around this old diner. I wasn't quite sure what it was, but Chiara's nervous alarm coincided with my own feelings. I just didn't have the confidence to add them to the evidence. And what would we do if we found something bad here? Better to play it cool until it can be understood. The absolute mass of food they provided fit with every