Second Class Swaps - Part One

"So... How has the job search been going?" the woman across from me mutters, the bookish and dark-haired academic leaning in a little to sit at the steaming hot latte as she pulls a little at her navy blue scarf.

Despite having broken up over a year ago Fiona and I had still caught up regularly, our lives having been enmeshed for so long that it was hard at this point to simply not remain friends.

"Well... about the same as it has been..." I grumble back, having received a fresh batch of rejections this morning. I watch as my former girlfriend purses her lips a little, a slight bit of foam from the coffee clinging to them as she seems to ponder something.

"I think Latham is hiring again, you know... after all the lay-offs" she muses, raising one of her somewhat pudgy fingers to her chin in thought. It had been well over a year at this point, a year since myself and many of my colleagues had been forced out of academia due to 'over-hiring' during the pandemic.

I feel a pang of frustration at the news along with a slight elation, annoyance that they seemed to have let me go for nothing blending with a hope that I could just slip back given my prior experience.

"Really?" I cough, spluttering a little into my own coffee as I choke down a half-sip. "Maybe I should..."

"Yeah..." Fiona mutters as she cuts me off absentmindedly. "Mrs Mawab said we needed to bring in some more people for diversity. I mean you remember how much of a... sausage..." she giggles, her laughter turning to an awkward chuckle as she looks over my rapidly souring expression. "... sorry..." she mutters, turning to attention back to her coffee as she sips more in an effort to keep from speaking.

Character Recreation - Part Four

Standing in shock I'm only broken from my stunned silence as a soft chime comes from the laptop as a nearby phone begins to buzz, on both screens the same remainder popping up.

'9:30 - Pump' 

My heart skips a beat before it begins to hammer even harder, the aching in my chest and the slowly building wet patch in my robe screaming at me for attention and release. With a sharp hiss the coffee machine begins to release a dribble of dark aromatic coffee, the sound of the pressure release causing my to jump as I feel my soft squishy body jiggle with the sudden movement.

Behind me seems to have been the lion share of the kitchen, with an over and stove top surrounded by marble countertops lined with various appliances and conveniences. A chill runs up my spine as I spot a drying series of plastic parts, the small bottles along with the shield and plastic tubes.

Beside the mess of tubes and pump parts sit an appliance made of clear and black plastic, the inside containing a series of small bottles standing upright and cleaned to perfection.

"Shit..." I croak, my hand reaching up as I feel my breasts through the thick white plush robe. While the warm fabric yields under my touch the sagging mound beneath feels almost painfully tight and full, the heavy hanging weight having grown more so as something rather obvious had built up inside it.

Character Recreation - Part Three

Seconds away from losing consciousness I feel my whole body lurch, the sensation gripping me being almost concerning similar to when one 'falls' while laying in bed. I'm forced to close my eyes as the light rushes back to meet me, the suddenly burst of speed making it impossible to adjust to the blinding rays.

With a dull thud I feel myself suddenly come to rest, the lurching and fall backwards and forwards suddenly vanishing almost as soon as it had appeared. With my eyes still closed I slowly let them flutter open only to find myself leaning on a large marble kitchen island as the loud sound of grinding coffee and scent of freshly cooked breakfast assault my senses, a heavy fluffy wool robe hanging around me and cinching in loosely around my soft squishy waist and aching chest as it fights back the morning chill.

My legs shake and my lower back aches as I hunch forward, an immense pendulous weight on my chest dragging me forward. Wiry and sweaty hair dangles around my face, the messy brown strands obscuring my view as my eyes struggle to focus.

Exhaling sharply I grasp the edge of the counter top tightly, a metal band around my left ring finger clattering against the cool stone as my heart pounds violently in my chest.

Character Recreation - Part Two

"Huh..." I mutter to myself, my heart catching in my throat as I look at the roughly categorized representation of my life fill out on the screen. More filters in lower in the window, however, my gaze remains stuck on the first few options. "... Difficulty?" I coo softly, tapping at the keys as I navigate the blinking cursor up to the [Normal] option.

As I try to delete it the option itself merely begins to blink as if selected, the whole form shifting and editing itself as I tap up and down through the options. From [Very Easy] [-50] to [Insane] [+50] it quickly becomes obvious just how much of a change each would bring.

"Those are... they're the same as the whole total up top!" I croak, realizing that changing to even an [Easy] [-25] life would take some sacrifices down the line.

Still, my heart races at the thought and my lips curl into a wicked grin. This was simply too intriguing to pass up, my mind wheeling as I try to think of what I could safely edit and change.

"Let's just see... what we have..."

Character Recreation - Part One

Leaning back into the sofa I watch as my laptop whirs and whines, the fans spinning at such a rate it almost doubles as a space heater. It can't be good for the damn thing, the old gaming laptop having grown uncomfortably warm to the touch for the better part of an hour.

The Command Line whizzes past in a flurry of white text, the code flying by as a blur while whatever I had downloaded compiled itself.

"If it's a virus..." I sigh, rolling my head back as I stare for a moment at the ceiling. "Well I'll just reformat. Shame to lose everything on the drives but..." I muse, my blabbering slowing to a halt as the Command Line window vanishes and quickly re-appears.

The new window slowly churns out a set of blocky ASCII art, the separated lines forming what almost looks like some kind of form. Despite the lack of compiling the computer continues to grow warmer and louder, the fans only slowing once the form begins to finish filling itself out.

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[Character Creator] 

[ Name: Jordan Hughes ]                                                [ Points: -50 ]

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Re-Role - Part Three

As darkness consumes my vision I'm left floating for a moment in a complete sense of warmth, the lack of any tactile sensations around me leaving me with only the dull and comforting heat subsuming my whole being.

Sadly, even that delightful comfort ends as the world returns in a vibrant crash of color and sound. The air is knocked from my lungs and my eyes burn with a horrible pain as the sudden shift in light leaves me momentarily blinded and dazzled.

It takes a second before I can even make out the noise around me, my mind rapidly piecing together the various stimuli before focusing in on the least offensive one first. I focus, my mind sluggish from the onslaught of sensation as I finally manage to make sense of the noise bearing down on me.

"Welcome, to Manga-Kon 2012" a voice booms over a nearby speaker "Please keep your badge visible at all times"

Re-Role - Part Two

A low sigh followed by a slight whistle emanates from the other side of the room. Despite the noises the older man was making the machine doesn't seem to die down in the slightest, the scent of ozone only building more intense as it feels as though the building static is frying away the hair on my arms and legs.

"Well Mr. Hughes, it looks like you're in need of a correction..." the man mutters, my heart skipping a beat even with his matter of fact tone. I try to speak only to find my jaw held tightly by the vice-like grip of the headgear.

 

"It looks like your mother and father were meant to have a daughter" the technician states, his deep booming voice lacking much in the way of surprise or emotion. His tone lightens as his foot steps pace deeper in to the room and further away from me, a series of sharp plastic clicks soon following as he fiddles with something beyond my view.

"Over all? Not that drastic a change" he muses, almost relieved by the fact I was meant to be something so similar to my old life. "I had a young woman in here the other day who ended up as her father's older broth..." he begins to explain, as if someone having things worse was meant to make this better.

Re-Role - Part One

"Almost done Mr Hughes..." mutters the deep voice from across the room, the older man hiding just beyond my line of sight as I sit with my head locked in place. Supple rubber grips cling to my temples and forehead, holding my head from turning while a simple chin rest and plate atop my skull keeps me from moving up or down.

My skin prickles and my hair stands on end, the scent of ozone flooding my nostrils as my eyes slowly begin to water. Despite this I try my best to hold still, my breathing short and shallow as I try not to disrupt the scan.

We had failed four times today already, a sneeze from the first rush of the strange chemical smell to a slight wince or sharp breath as the odd energy felt as though it was crackling across my skin. The idea that people did this, day in and day out, seemed nearly impossible.

Despite this, it had become a very necessary diagnostic for many. Less so for medical and more for existential reasons.

Swappy Seconds - Part Two

My brow furrows however as I spot an image, the extreme distance on the picture making it fairly hard to make out. Tapping at the option on screen I watch as the app freezes for a second, the trait loading on my phone as the first thing to load is the simple button reading

'Purchase - $N/A'

Section by section loads into the profile for the trait, each broken seemingly by design as garbled text rests next to each identifier. "Can't be..." I mutter as I stare at the image of Megan, the tiny and mousey blonde grad student in her mid-twenties that Fiona and I mentored. The image on screen shows the young woman held standing by a series of padded metal cuffs, the frame behind her adjusted for her tiny five foot one build.

Her delicate pale chin shines slightly in the camera flash, a rivulet of drool having been wiped away from her brainless body in order to get her ready for sale.

Wild and curly sandy blonde hair puffs out around her head and drapes down past her shoulders in a massive yellow mane, the thick curly locks framing the dainty and delicate features of her face. Pale green eyes stare ahead through a set of small half-moon reading glasses, the pupils differing in size as they fail to focus without a mind behind them. Her nose is tiny and delicate with a slight up turn, the narrow and slight feature working in concert with her delicate jawline and faint cheekbones to leave her looking down right sweet.

Her build can best be described as 'tiny', her arms and legs lacking much in the way of muscle and sporting just the barest amount of fat to leave her with a soft feminine plush. Her torso is clad in a plain white button-up business shirt and a tight cream-colored cable knit sweater, her narrow waist and modest perky chest on display beneath the warm clinging fabric. Her legs are shielded from view, a long ankle length black skirt hanging from her flared hips in an attempt at some kind of modest yet professional look.

Swappy Seconds - Part One

Sitting on the couch I kick up my feet, the coffee sloshing around in my mug as I'm forced to drop my phone and clutch at the warm ceramic to keep it from spilling. The warm sun stream in through the open kitchen window, the delightful late morning calling for me outside as I wriggle down into my cozy seat to start my day right.

It had been a bit of a habit recently, the morning task being something I had been doing since hearing about it on deep and long forgotten thread on the Swap Clinic forums. Grabbing my phone I pull open the app, the aging device struggling to play the various flashy animations of the Swap Clinic's application since the latest update.

Suggested swaps and featured traits slowly populate the screen, cropped images of hair or eyes popping up one by one along with either prices or what the person was looking for in exchange for the particular feature. I slowly scroll through them, my lips shifting from side to side in thought as I ponder each one though most are simply out of my price range.

Since losing my job I had been living off of savings, and those don't last forever. Despite this, I had been interested in visiting the Swap Clinic for quite some time. It had been what led me to search for 'Cheap Swap Clinic Tricks' online, the search eventually leading me to a thread from nearly a decade ago back when the Swap Clinic still used a website.

The thread had asked about deals at the Swap Clinic, whether the shop front ever ran sales or clearances and the like. While the thread had mostly responded no, the prices were set by the seller and the Swap Clinic had no say over that, there was one response that caught my eye.

"You could always check the Secret Section"

Personal Ad-option - Part One

Walking through the park, basking in the midday sun, I also follow the winding path between flowers in mid-bloom. Bees buzz past me as they dart from flower to flower, each drone seeking pollen for the hive while the sound of bird chirp in distant trees.

It was a perfect day, warm and relaxing with not a care in the world. Or at least the cares that I had were pushed to the back of my mind, thoughts like 'How am I going to pay rent this month?' or 'Will I ever find another teaching job?' were simply left on the doorstep on days like this. My headphone lightly jingle with soothing classical music, the soft piano doing much to calm be down from my woes in conjunction with the brilliant scenery around me.

After over an hour of my strolling a heavy buzz erupts from my pocket, my hand moving towards it as I pause. Glancing down the trail I spot a small little outdoor lakeside cafe, a tiny dirt path leading off the track towards it invitingly.

"May as well..." I mutter to myself, plodding off to fetch myself a coffee before checking my notification.

After a few minutes I find myself seated by the end of a large deck, the shimmering water glistening with sparkles of caught sunlight. As I wait for my coffee to cool I pull my phone from my pocket, my heart skipping a beat and catching in my throat as I read the short line of text.

"You have new a message in your inbox - Personal Ad-option"

The Swap-Cation - Part Three

I quiver slightly as I feel myself get placed down on something cold and hard, the chilly sheet of metal beneath me waking me slightly as I realize just what I am sitting on. However, after a few moments of sitting on the metal plate nothing seems to happen.

"Carl?" calls the young woman, her shout coming through loud and clear as she stand over me. "Yeah... Yeah I've got the list... But I... Yeah...Is this blonde real or dyed?... No, I need to know otherwise the prom queen is going to be up there with exposed roots”

The woman quickly begins to pace away, the sound of her stomping boots piercing the obstructing flesh over my ears before vanishing entirely in an instant. Murmured voices rumble in the distance, a back and forth completely lost to me as some low voice chatters with the young woman.

As the voices die down I hear the boots begin to approach, a series of keystrokes soon following as I feel my pathetic squishy form become constrained by some invisible force. My mind swims and my blood boils as I feel the last of the slime over my skin dry up in an instant, the last vestiges of oxygen vanishing in an instant.

"Al...ght..." the woman coos, her voice distant and hard to make out. "Le... thi...the...ro..." she calls out, a sudden shock rippling through my terrible diminished form. With a gasping breath I feel two holes form in what I could loosely describe as my face, the small gaps quickly winding through my jiggling flesh into what feel like a pathetic and deflated set of lungs. The two little holes begin to shift as cartilage forms between them, my skin stretching out as a small and dainty nose is formed.

The Swap-Cation - Part Two

Without much going on in my life, and the thought of the expense that had gone into the gift, I had quickly went to the Swap Clinic to cash in my gift without any real thought into who could have sent me such a gift. Thankfully, the local Clinic was more than capable at cashing in the little voucher, the woman beaming at me as she scanned the card with a little beep.

"Thank you for coming in early... Mr Hughes" the caramel skinned young woman had chirped from behind the counter. "We always have issues with people checking in right before the deadline. We can get you sorted now if you want? Next thing you know you'll be off enjoying...Perfect Prom!" the young woman cries with excitement, her slender frame nearly launching out of her seat.

"Uh... Thanks?" I mutter in response, my hands fidgeting with my jacket as I try to pull it around me.

"It's sooooooooo sweet that someone gifted you this" she coos, her deep brown eyes practically sparkling as she looks off into the mid-distance. "To relive such a big event, the excitement and powerful emotions rushing back and..." she giggles, obviously longing for her own chance to try the holiday package. "Sooooooo..." she muses, smirking at me from across the front desk. "Who got it for you? Wife? Partner? Maybe..."

"I..." I stammer, completely in the dark as to who had left the card in my mailbox. "I have no ide..."

"Mr Hughes!?" calls a low and honeyed voice from the hallway beside the front desk, a short and fit man in his forties soon leaning out as he scans the room. Giving the tan blonde man a nod he waves a little clip board at me, gesturing for me to follow as he begins to plod off down the hallways and out of sight.

The Swap-Cation - Part One

The darkened world around me lurches as a set of distant wheels catch a dip in the road, the cool liquid around me sloshing in the tight container as I'm forced against the walls of my minuscule confines. I can feel my heart race inside me, the pounding muscle hammering the limited blood through my heavily redacted body.

Arms, legs, even my head an mouth had to be shaved away in the clinic's massive foreboding machines to be sent to a 'storage' body. All that remained was a pale jiggling cube of flesh housing my brain and my heart, a thick slime forming over my skin as the added trait of 'breathing through one's skin' borrowed from a now likely dead frog kicked into gear.

It had to be this way though, at least that's what I had been told as they had explained the procedure. Transportation was an expensive overhead, and for the sake of immersion they didn't want anybody to know just where we would be going.

"Total immersion" the Swap Clinic representative had explained. "It's one of the selling points of a Swap-Cation."

Suitable Subject - Part Two

My eyes flutter open as I find myself on the sofa, my half finished coffee thankfully resting in my lap. The TV blares out with the same Suitable commercial a thousand times before, a low groan escaping my lips as I lazily slap about for the remote.

"Too..." I huff, my hand soon finding the remote as I skip the add. "Expensive..." I groan, rolling my head back as I feel just how cold the coffee mug is with my free hand.

Slowly heaving myself up I begin to shuffle towards the kitchen, my footsteps staggering to a halt as I hear a loud series of knocks from my front door. Looking over my shoulder I wait for a moment, my brain still processing what I had heard before another more panicked set of knocks fill my cozy living space.

Rubbing the sleep from my eyes I slowly plod towards the door, my gait picking up in speed as the knocks grow practically frantic. Just as the knocks turn to banging I pull the door open as I find myself looking at a bundle of rubbery skin and Kelly, the slender and energetic brunette from down the hall. The young woman's fist swings forward, colliding with my chest as her eyes go wide in shock.

Jumping slightly she takes a step back, her hazel eyes going wide as she lets out a little squeak.

"S... Sorry Mr Hughes!" she chirps, her gaze darting to me and her balled fist for a moment before shifting down to the rubbery pale suit resting over her arm. She opens her mouth to say something, her whole body flinching as the sound of a door somewhere in the hallway squeaks and a set of footsteps begin to shuffle out.

Without another word the five foot seven brunette ducks under my arm, sliding past me and into my apartment as she clumsily kicks the door closed behind her. Blinking rapidly I'm left in shock as the young brunette takes a deep breath, a mumbled set of voices coming from somewhere in the hallway slowly moving away.

"What are..." I croak sleepily, rubbing my eyes as I try to muster a glare at the young woman.

"Uh... Mr Hughes..." she mutters nervously, fiddling with the squeaking suit. "Could I ask you a favor?"

Suitable Subject - Part One

Shuffling down the street in the wee hours of the morning I do my best to keep my eyes open. Empty disposable coffee cup in hand I try to focus on the pot of dark roasted coffee I had left on the warmer at home, the reward I had made for myself before heading out before the sun had even rose.

Hopefully it had been worth it but I wouldn't know for months, the job agency working in mysterious and glacial ways.

Form Fitter - Part One

Walking back towards my apartment I can't help but shudder with each swing of my arm, the small box grasped in my clammy hand rattling slightly at the end of each arch. I try to shake the thought of just what was rattling around inside the palm sized box from my mind, instead focusing on the warm sunny rays bearing down on me and the scent of the rain baking off of the sidewalk.

"Wait..." I mutter under my breath, my hopes of not thinking about the little gift I ad been given falling apart almost immediately. "What would they do to me if I enjoyed the sun like this? Tan me?" I mutter, looking down at the plain white plastic case.

As I cross the street I raise the box up, bringing it closer to my face as I turn it in my hands. With each spin I don't find much in the way of instructions or any useful information, the only words on printed on the plain white surface simply reading.

Standard Form Fitter

One Week Dosage

TruU - Part Two

Pulling my wallet from my pocket I quickly pump in my credit card information, the app hungrily accepting the three figure payment as the border of the screen turns gold. A slight series of chimes bellow from my phone, an extension to the jingle that had played once the blonde had made her match.

A fresh pop up flashes on screen, a small arrow sitting beneath it to cycle through the dialogue boxes while another button merely says 'Likes'.

Welcome to TruU Gold

You won't regret your subscription

To take the tour of the app press the arrow bellow.

Otherwise, enjoy your sneak peek on future matches! 

Eager to see just who could have possible swiped right on that terrible profile I quickly fumble to tap at the 'Likes' button, my my shaking hand and large phone making it a little difficult to navigate to the oddly placed prompt.

Suddenly the screen flickers, the gold border remaining as a blank page appears. For a moment I think I was lie to, the lack of any potential matches causing no small amount of confusion. However, after a few seconds image after image begins to populate the blank background, each listing a name along with the person's age and profession.

As I tap at the first profile picture it merely expands, the same information being provide once over as a set of buttons appear at the bottom of the screen.

"Match'     -     'Skip'

TruU - Part One

Walking up and down the aisles of the super market I slowly place fill my basket with the cheapest of essentials. Cans of bean, two-minute noodles and anything else that is shelf stable and that can keep me from needing to do another shop for as long as possible.

Sighing to myself I search for the best sales on cans of tomatoes, sighing as I grab some of the home brand and cram them along with the other cheap and nasty items filling the basket. It wasn't easy to budget on zero income, especially while still paying rent in the city, the job hunt since being made redundant in my academic role having been less than fruitful.

With slumped shoulders I shuffle towards the frozen aisle, hoping to find some cheap source of vegetables, my ears perking up as  I hear a cute little chime from one of the aisles. A sharp giggling squeal erupts from a young woman standing next to a shelf of hair dye, her friend turning to her in confusion.

"I got a match!" the bubbly young blonde giggles, turning her phone around as her friend looks at the screen. The dark haired tan young woman pouts a little, her tongue briefly licking over her plump lips as she looks the picture almost lustfully.

Altered Egos - Part One

Groaning as I come to in the the early hours of the morning I try to scrunch my eyes shut, the faint light streaming in through the gaps in the curtains being enough to cause pain as my eyes adjust to the brightness. The groaning only grows worse as a loud thudding fills the room, a constant knocking at the front door.

"What time is..." I blurt out, rolling around in my bed as I wrack my brain for just who would be so eager to speak to me while I was still in bed.

However, as I lazily make my way to sling my legs over the edge of the bed the knocking simply does not cease. Between bursts of thumps and thuds against the wooden door I can hear a muffled voice saying something before knocking again.

Heaving myself up from the bed I stagger forward, my morning wood bouncing with the heavy steps within my tight boxers. As I shuffle across the floor, wiping the sleep from my eyes, I feel my foot snag something odd. Glancing down I spot a set of panties, the singular pair from a cheap black bulk set sending a chill down my spine as I remember where it had come from.

"Not doing that..." I sigh, shaking my head as I rub the bridge of my nose. "Definitely not doing AE again anytime soon."