"Next!" calls a man from the stage, his gaze falling to the small set of steps leading up to the raised wooden platform. The queue stands empty, the lab coat-adorned man soon looking around at those standing around the stage in an effort to find the next set of swappers. Our eyes meet for a moment, the man in his early thirties nodding towards myself and Monica as she hangs from my arm to talk down to Sally beside us.
I nod to the attendant, turning around to face Monica reaffirming my original choice to take over her life whatever that may be.
I watch as the pale and curvy young woman with bright and undoubtedly artificially red hair talks down to the natural and diminutive redhead beside us. A subtle tinge of jealousy creeps across my mind, a mixture of long held anxieties of rejection blending with a want to be desired. The look in Sally's eyes as Monica questions her, entertaining the idea of a swap, awakens a desire to be looked at in the same way.
"I can have that" I think to myself, my eyes darting to Emily as she slumps ever more into her frumpy conservative clothing. "I'd have a job... I think? I'd be desired, and the few extra years back on the clock aren't bad either..." I continue to muse, looking between Sally and Emily.
For one last moment I clench my teeth at the thought of the duration, the Swap Meet equivalent of diving into the deep end of the pool. Any of the other women would only be for a short time, a chance to try before I buy so to speak. However, at the same time the fear of missing out clings to my mind. What if I didn't want to swap back after all was said and done? What if they messed up my life or body beyond repair, leaving me unable to either fix their mistakes or find a new equally pleasant body at a Swap Meet.
Mustering what I can if my resolve I nudge Monica, feeling her chest squish against my arm enticingly. The jostling quickly grabs her attention, causing her to whip her head around as neon red hair fluffs out in a messy manner.
"Sorry, I'm just..." Monica chirps, pausing as her bottle-green eyes meet my own. I look to the attendant by the stairs before looking back to Monica, nodding in his direction. For a breif moment she freezes up, her expression turning ponderous as if re-evaluating her options.
As if on que, noticing Monica's lack of attention Sally quickly turns to Emily.
"If they're swapping did you wanna..." She begins to ask, her sentence being cut short by a subtle groan from Emily.
The bespectacled girl looks up at me one last time, her expression shifting to a glare as she eyes up the lightly freckled woman hanging from my arm. She turns to look down at Sally, realizing that this may be her best chance to make a swap on her own without the help of her more charismatic and confident friends.
"Fine..." Emily sighs, shuffling closer to Sally as she truly takes in the difference in their heights. "Just until..."
"Sure sure" Sally nervously chirps, her lips quivering slightly as she tries to keep a straight face. "We can swap back whenever, or..."
"Next Swap Meet" Emily mutters, standing beside the tiny young woman.
"Yeah, like... What is that? Three..." Sally agrees, her voice struggling to overcome some unseen source of anxiety.
"Three months, yeah" Emily finishes, looking up at the stage as the far smaller body of Jennifer stumbles awkwardly from the pod in the right. Emily grits her teeth at the sight of her once towering friend having been forced into a downright diminutive body just so they could go on their planned trip, knowing full well she would soon be sharing a similar fate.
I feel Monica tug at my arm, the pale gothic girl pulling me towards the stage as she eagerly urges onward. I quickly move to take stride alongsode her, hearing Millicent whine and whimper behind us as she slinks off to find her seat once again without so much as a word.
"I knew you'd make the right choice" she sweetly coos, her voice as sweet as honey in my ear. "You'll love it as me, and I'm going..."
"What do you do again?... Exactly?" I mutter, cutting her off as we reach the stage.
As Monica seat foot on the first step she releases my arm, turning to face me with a blank face for a second as she processes the question. After a brief pause she perks up, shaking the cobwebs from her mind before speaking up.
"Sorry, was just lost in planning my new..." She mutters, her look shifting to being more thoughtful as she tries to explain something or at least attempts to work out how to explain her job. "Like I said, I make content and do a bit of photograph..." She begins to explain, repeating her previous statements.
"Yeah, but like... What do you create content of?..." I ask nervously, clicking my tongue a little as I give her a weak smile.
"Oh... Right... um..." She mutters fiddling with her phone as the attendant steps down towards us.
"Are you two looking to..." He asks, his eyes darting between myself and Monica.
"Yeah yeah, just give... me... a..." Monica huffs, eventually shoving her phone towards me as I'm met with the sight of an Instagram account.
On the screen is a series of pictures and images showing a variety of quaint and sweet scenes. A basket of various flower petals and garden herbs surrounded by a warm filter and soft vignette, darling teapots being carefully prepared in a video alongside a set of knitting needles midway through some sort of garment, pictures of Monica in various outfits ranging from soft and nostalgically pastoral feminine to dark and witchy gothic, and a large collection of pictures featuring a run down and overgrown stone cottage.
"I started, like... Doing crafts and stuff, so I easily slipped into a cottage core crowd. But doing the 'online witch' stuff worked so well as a look I kinda just blended the..."
"Sir, are you wanting to swap with..." The attendant asks, turning his attention away from the redhead on the stairs. Monica soon turns to face him, craning her neck up to glare at the man.
"I said yes, can you just give us one..." She huffs in frustration, not appreciating the intrusion into our short conversation.
"Ma'am, I need to hear it from him. These swaps are all final, the Swap Clinic takes of responsibility in enforcing agreements to swap back once..."
"Oh, we're not swapping back at..." Monica explains, pulling back her phone as she turns to face the attendant properly.
"Sure, but I need your partner to confirm he understands..." The attendant sighs, growing frustrated with Monica's constant interjections.
"I... Yeah, I understand..." I state, nodding at the man before looking at Monica. The young woman smiles a little as she turns to face me, her warm smile turning into a smirk as she looks up at the attendant with an 'I told you so' expression.
The attendant quickly gestures for us to come up onto the stage, pulling a small card reader from a nearby table. He holds it out for Monica who simply walks past with heavy clomping steps in her heavy leather boots.
"You're paying right?" Monica asks, looking down at me as I begin to climb the steps. "I mean, it's for your benefit to cover the costs for..."
"Yeah, I mean if you're serious about..." I begin to respond, fishing out my wallet as I grab my credit card.
"Sure. Look, I promised to cover the cost and I'll soon be the one with that card so..." She mutters, smirking across the stage as the towering Melissa and the tiny Jennifer shuffle over to us.
As I swipe my card, putting in the pin as I pay the modest sum for the service we were about to receive, I hear a gasp come from behind me. Standing at the base of the stairs Emily's eyes go wide, her gaze locked to her now diminutive friend as the busty Asian woman clutches her head in obvious discomfort.
What appears to be Melissa sways a little as she comes to a stop Infront of Monica, a goofy grin spreading across her lightly tanned face as she looks down at the pale woman.
"Oh... My... God..." Melissa gasps, her hands waving excitedly as she stares downwards as Monica. "You are sooooo small now, this is wild" Melissa cries, grinning ear to ear.
"Can you please take it down a notch?" Jennifer groans, her thin and barely perceptible Chinese accent clinging to her words. "My head is..."
"Oops, sorry Jenni" mutters Melissa, the towering redhead wincing slightly as she looks down at her old body before smirking at the apparent reversal of identities as she uses her real name.
"Are you okay Mel?" Emily whimpers from the bottom of the stairs, looking at the obviously pained Chinese woman. "Does the... Does it hurt?"
"I'm fine" chirps Melissa as she shifts and flexes her powerful athletic body. "I feel sooooooooo good right now, I could... Wait... Oh you were talking to..."
"Me? Yeah, took me a second..." Jennifer huffs, looking down at her petite and overwhelmingly busty body. "I feel... Weird... I dunno, it's like my head is... It's like there's a weird... Tension? Pressure? I dunno" Jennifer whines, her large brown eyes watering a little as she tries to explain herself.
"I dunno what you're talking about" Melissa coos, her smile only getting warmer and grander by the second. "I haven't felt this great in, like, forever... Well, besides..." She begins to mutter, her cheeks turning red as she dredges up some unknowable memories.
"That'll die down soon" the attendant mutters, ushering Monica down stage towards the pods before waving me on as well. "The technicians should have explained mental compression to..."
"Did they?... I... Right, yeah they..." Jennifer mumbles, her eyes darting about in a state of worry. She lets out another sigh, her shoulders slumping as her chest jiggles with the sudden motion. "My head hurts."
Leaving the confused and pained 'Jennifer' along with the overly giddy 'Melissa' behind I slowly approach the looking metal pods resting center stage. I begin to look them over, the spread of hastily hooked up wires and exposed circuitry leaving my blood running cold.
My mind is soon drawn to other things as my gaze returns to Monica, the redhead shimmying and sashaying with added gusto. My heart skips a beat as I linger in her hips shaking from side to side excitedly, her plush and plump rear standing out prominently beneath her tight clingy black dress.
As she leans forward to climb into the pod in the right she arches her back, shooting me one last look with a nervous smile. My eyes glance over her lithe pale form, her large bust bound tightly in the straps of her dress and her hips pressing out gracefully against the airy material.
"See 'me' soon" she chuckles nervously, the gravity of the situation finally hitting her as she ruminates on the lengths she was going to in starting a new online persona.
"Uh... Yeah..." I mutter in response, holding the top of the open pod to the left as I easily step inside.
The pod itself is rather tight and cramped, not really being designed for someone as tall as myself. I'm forced to crouch down a little bit to avoid hitting my head, my gaze falling onto the small padded seat in the center of the claustrophobic steel chamber.
As I spin to drop myself down into the seat I hear a loud slam come from Monica's pod, the sound of various sets of footsteps racing around as the wiring is checked and double checked now that she sat within the chamber.
A new attendant shuffles towards my own pod, sticking their head into the doorway as I ease into the seat and curl up to avoid touching the sides.
"Are you ready to go?" Asks a dark-skinned woman in a lab coat, the young woman in her late twenties quickly adjusting a pair of safety goggles I can only hope are for show.
"Uh... Yes, I mean I'm..." I begin to stammer, the woman not even waiting for me to finish my sentence before she slams the heavy door shut. The small room I'm left sitting in reverberates with force of the slam, the metal ringing like a dull bell.
From inside the pod the sound of the Swap Meet outside barely managed to break through, the muffled voices becoming muddied and blurred inside the daunting metal chamber.
I'm left to wallow in my own thoughts for a moment, fear and anxiety gripping me as I wonder if I made the right decision in all this.
I don't have all that much time to second guess myself however, the walls around me soon begin to groan and warble as something begin to shift or change beneath their heavy metal shell.
My mind rapidly begins to fog, any train of thought I manage to conjure soon being derailed and ripped from its tracks almost forcefully. I'm forced to brace myself on the walls of the machine, the vibrations from within passing through to my arms as they slowly turn numb.
For a moment I wonder if the numbness was simply due to the vibrations, however, my feet and legs soon give way to the same creeping lack of sensation. There is a sudden and violent tug at the corners of my conscious mind, an almost impossible to describe sensation as it feels as though my very being is being scraped clean from some physical form I had never quite been fully away of.
The tugging and pulling only builds more and more, my eyes watering as the pod whirs loudly with the sound dulling any chance of forming an errant thought. With one final shock I feel something 'break' inside me, the odd sensation being the last thing I feel before the world tumbles away into darkness.
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