Imagine a world where there are transformation booths in malls in place of the old photo kiosks. Two people step in, and each selects a change for the other. Welcome to that world... the world of the Trust Machines – known colloquially as Venn Machines due to their interlocked-rings logo.
Note: The Trust Machines setting was inspired in part by Elrod W’s MAU stories.
*** *** ***
“Come on, you two. Everyone else at the party has agreed to get venned.”
Gary glared at his friend. “Peer pressure isn’t going to get me into one of those crazy machines.”
“Oh come on, it’s New Years! Time to try new things. The Venn Machines are perfectly safe. Nobody’s ever gotten hurt. Since you two haven’t tried them before, we’ll let you off with a one month change. But the rest of us are doing the full year as someone else.”
Gary shook his head. “How on earth do you figure that will work? Are you just going to walk up to your job and say ‘Hi, I’m still Tassie’?”
Tassie nodded zir head. “Pretty much. As long as I swipe my badge and know my login, I should be good to go. My supervisor will have a few questions, but it’s not like it’d be the first time I’ve shown up in a new body.” Zie twirled around to show off their athletic but aggressively neuter body. “It’s not like you have a job to lose this time of year, right?”
Gary’s girlfriend spoke up for the first time. “I have a job.”
“You do? Since when?” asked Tassie, incredulously.
“Mom has me doing paperwork for her company. It’s nice, I can mostly do it from home. She keeps bugging me to get an accounting degree.”
“Nice to have rich parents, I guess. Still, it’s not like she’d kick you out if you looked different, right?”
Leah clutched Gary’s hand a little tighter as she thought about it. “As long as someone could prove I’m still me, I guess not.”
“So you’ll do it?” asked Tassie. “Sweet! Now maybe I can get the rest in on it.”
“Hey, you said everyone was...”
Tassie grinned. “I’ve talked about half of them around. By midnight, I’ll have everyone on board. You’re sure you’re only game for the month? A full year would really let you know what it’s like to be someone else.”
Gary felt Leah’s grip tighten. “A month is plenty, thanks. Besides, how many New Year’s resolutions make it the full year, anyway?”
“Yeah, I don’t expect many of them to go the full year. I will, though. Time for something new, agender really isn’t me.”
“Have you been that way long?” asked Leah.
“Just the year.”
Leah giggled. “Do you do this every year? Try to drag others out to change?”
“I tried last year, but only got a couple takers. This year, no prisoners!” Tassie waved and headed off to chat with another group.
True to zir word, everyone at the party headed off to the nearby mall after toasting the New Year and singing Auld Lang Syne. They were all chattering about what they wanted to be for the next year. Some of the girls were figuring on longer hair, or a better figure.
Leah shook her head. “They’re thinking too small.”
“Oh? You want to try being something radically different?” asked Gary. “The Venn Machines can literally turn you into anything. Not just people. You could be a dog, or a cat, or even a cute little plushie.”
Leah giggled even more giddily and mimed hugging something small enough to fit in her arms. “I bet you’d like to be my plushie, snuggled up against my chest.”
Gary blushed. “Wouldn’t be the worst fate.”
“And my mother might even let you in the house like that. Seriously, she’s so defensive...”
“I know. And my folks are around all the time. Trying to get any privacy at all is... ugh.”
Tassie hugged them both from behind, making them both squeak. “If you want privacy, I can arrange it.”
“No you can’t,” replied Gary. “You’re up in everyone’s private business. Making out at your place I’d be worried we’d end up on one of your streams.”
Tassie shook zir head. “Not a chance. Only people who’ve signed the waiver are on the show. I take that very seriously indeed.”
“It’s hard to imagine you being serious,” quipped Leah.
Tassie pirouetted showily. “All the world’s a stage, my dear. I can be serious... when it matters. It just so rarely does. Are you going to be serious about this resolution, or silly?”
Leah exchanged looks with Gary. “Serious. The idea of shaking out of my rut is starting to appeal.”
Tassie clapped zir hands. “Excellent! Oh, I have just the thing for you two. Go in, and say ‘clone’ until you see an image of yourself appear, then choose that.”
“You want us to turn into each other?” asked Gary.
“What better way to understand each other?” replied Tassie. “Come on, give it a try. It’ll be fun!”
“I guess...” mused Leah. “Confusing Mom would be a bonus.”
Gary chuckled. “Works for me.”
Tassie cheered, and pushed them toward the front of the group. “Show them how it’s done!”
Before Gary could marshall any further objections the Venn Machine was yawning open in front of him. He stepped into his side as bravely as he could manage, and stared at the weird transparent interface between him and Leah. He followed Tassie’s instructions, and images of himself bubbled up. He picked one that looked maybe a touch better than he normally did, then tried a nearby one that looked a little more muscular. “Ready?”
“Let’s do this. Hit the button on three. One, two...”
Instead of looking across at a hotter version of himself, Gary was now looking up. They stepped out of the machine, and Gary couldn’t help but keep staring. “You look like a mirror... oooh, my voice!”
Leah chuckled in a voice that sounded almost like Gary’s, just a little deeper. “You too. Oooh, I see what you mean. This is so weird!” She waved her arm, and Gary aped her motion a moment later.
Tassie cheered for them. “You both look great. How do you feel?”
“Pretty good,” said Gary. “Is it weird that this feels kind of natural? I mean, bits of me are wiggling in unfamiliar ways and yet... it doesn’t feel that strange. The weirdest part is hearing this new voice, really. La la la laaaa! Hee, it’s so cute.”
Several other partygoers asked if they really had swapped, and both of them nodded in reply. Tassie took that as encouragement to chivvy others into doing the same. Not everyone did, but several couples swapped and a few of the single guys got persuaded to try out a year as a girl. By the time everyone else was changed, Tassie was giddy. “This worked out so well. What should I become?”
“You totally need to become a guy to balance the numbers out. Too many new girls, show us some muscles!”
Tassie grinned at the person and set up the Venn Machine. “Let’s do that, then.” When he emerged, he was almost a foot taller, had bright orange hair instead of zir “original” purple, and even more muscles than Leah. “Yeah, this will be fun. Thanks!”
After that, everyone went their separate ways. Gary had to adjust the seat in his beat up old Civic before he could drive it. “Your place first? This is going to be challenging to explain...”
“No kidding. You look and pretty much sound like me,” replied Leah. “Do I sound like you?”
“As long as you don’t giggle,” replied Gary with a giggle.
Leah giggled, then cleared her throat and gave a faux-manly chuckle that started both of them laughing uproariously. “I’ll try. Any other tips?”
Gary shrugged. “Talk more about video games and fishing, and less about how you hate columns of numbers? You’re not fashion-crazy like some of our friends, so that’s easy enough.”
“Me like fishing,” growled Leah, starting another round of laughter. “I guess the inverse applies to you. Less fishing, more ‘do I really need to be an accountant?’”
Gary laughed. “Are numbers so awful?”
“I guess not. I’d just rather not stare at endless columns of them day after day. They make me go cross eyed.”
“I still say you need glasses.” Gary held up a hand in front of his face then moved it closer and further away. “These eyes seem fine, though. Do Venn Machines fix vision?”
“I think so? Huh. That’d be nice. Anyway, this is my stop. Come prove that I’m me.”
The conversation with Leah’s mother did not go well. She refused to discuss the Venn Machines at all, and barely acknowledged that they existed. She wouldn’t even let Leah into the house looking like Gary, and they had a heated argument on her doorstep before getting the door slammed in their faces.
“Well. That... was not what I expected,” sighed Gary. “Now what?”
“She would have let you in,” mused Leah. “Want to take up accounting?”
Gary snorted. “Seriously? You’d just let me... use your room and stuff?”
Leah shrugged. “My closet is full of stuff that’ll fit you. It would be easier to swap rooms than try to haul everything back and forth...”
That got Gary laughing, though he stopped when Leah didn’t join in. “Wait, you’re actually serious.”
“You saw how she looked at me. I have no idea why she has it in for you, but it’s swap places or bail on the resolution barely an hour in. We promised we’d last the whole month.”
“Let’s go see what my folks think,” sighed Gary.
When they got to his place, both Gary and Leah were welcomed in, but once again their resemblance to each other made it difficult to convey that they’d swapped bodies. Gary’s father grudgingly accepted that it could have happened. “But why would you do such a thing?”
Gary looked over at Leah, looking into his own eyes. “It has been... enlightening, seeing Leah’s perspective. I’d like to stick out the month, and learn more. Would you be okay with Leah staying here, and me staying at Leah’s? Her mom won’t let men enter the house.”
Gary’s mother shook her head. “Something is wrong with that woman. So you’re... just going to stay where you look like you belong? I can work with that, if you can live with being called Gary.”
“That... probably makes the most sense,” agreed Leah. “Hey, Leah, you okay if I call you by the name that matches your body?”
“Leah” licked her lips uncertainly. “You’re Gary. I’m Leah. Oh, that sounds so odd, and yet...”
“It does sound correct,” said Gary’s mother. “You look more like a Leah than a Gary, after all.”
“So... you’re okay with this?”
“We’re going to pretend this conversation never happened. Now Gary, you should drive Leah home.”
“Uh... sure. That sounds... You’re serious, right? Not just...”
“We’re confused,” said Gary’s father. “This way we can just sort of go along with things as they appear to be, right?”
“Yessir!”
Gary’s father chuckled. “Don’t call me sir. Just ‘Dad’ will do.”
Leah blinked back an incipient tear. “Yes, Dad. I’ll... yeah, get that driving done. Back soon.”
“No rush on our account.”
Once they were back outside, Gary waited by the passenger door of the family car. He tossed Leah the keys. It took her a moment to realize what to do, but she opened the door for Gary as he used to do for her. “This is going to take some getting used to. But...” she smiled down at Gary. “I kind of like it.”
Gary flashed her her own winning smile. “Me too.”
When they got to Leah’s house, Gary got out of the car and Leah came around to meet him. They shared a hug and a kiss that went on for longer than either had planned. They broke apart, breathlessly. “Wow.”
“Yeah. Damn. You still turn me on. This is going to be...”
“Want to take Tessie up on that privacy offer?”
“Let’s... wait a bit. Does it count as losing your virginity if you’re venned at the time?”
“Physiologically, no. Psychologically? Oh hell yes.”
“It can wait.”
*** *** ***
Gary and Leah spent the next week making regular calls back and forth to advise each other on how to live their exchanged lives. Gary needed lots of coaching on how to get into and out of bras, and was sent links to a series of makeup videos to watch. Leah complained about the boring contents of Gary’s underwear drawer. They met up briefly when “Leah” had time away from work, and before they knew it a week had gone by.
“Gary” showed up Friday night to pick up “Leah” for a date at their favourite inexpensive restaurant. “My treat, this time.”
“You have money?” asked Gary incredulously. “I was always broke. Getting a regular paycheque must be nice...”
“I happened across a renovation project while walking around. I just sort of stood and watched, amazed that I wasn’t getting cat-called. One of the guys asked if I was willing to help out, they were short-handed and needed someone to help move supplies around. I figured, what the heck, I’ve got these muscles...” Leah flexed her arms, showing off the muscles Gary never had.
“Cool. So you got hired on?”
“Nah, it’s all piecework. They pay cash at the end of the day. Told me about a few other sites, might give them a try next week. It was fun being able to lift heavy stuff!”
Gary chuckled. “Nice. Never been a huge fan of it, but... the muscles look good on you.”
Leah flexed again. “How about you? Going blind from staring at numbers?”
“Not yet. But it’s just so bloody mechanical. Page after page... why not just import it all into a spreadsheet and do the checks there?”
“Mom doesn’t trust computers any more than she trusts men. That, and I think all of it starts in spreadsheets anyway, so you’re cross-checking against bad programming and bad data entry too.”
“Bah. I could do all of this with a very small script.”
Their food arrived then. They’d asked for their usual, so Leah got Gary’s usual double-stack burger, and Gary got a salad. They both looked at their food uncertainly, shrugged almost as one, and gave it a try.
“Hey, this is really good,” said Gary. “How’s your burger?”
Leah was too busy eating to answer. She took another bite, sighed happily, swallowed and said, “Divine. Did I get your taste buds, too?”
“If you’re doing heavy work, you’ll need to eat more than that...”
Leah’s grin broadened. “Really? So cool... That body you’re wearing won’t stay thin unless you keep to salads and such.”
Gary shrugged. “If they taste like this, I’ll be okay.”
They went off to watch a movie afterward. Gary got a little twitchy when Leah tried to pose them like usual, with her arm around Gary’s shoulder instead of the other way around. After a while, he settled in against his sweetie and started to feel warm and cozy there...
After their date they promised to keep in touch. Both boggled at just how little their parents had noticed.
*** *** ***
The next week, Gary insisted on paying for the date. “The script worked remarkably well. Flagged a few problems, and I was able to track down a couple of payments that had gone astray. Your mom gave me a bonus for that.”
“Really? Damn. And she still thinks you’re me?”
Gary shrugged her shoulders. “I’m starting to think I’m a girl, I’m not surprised she does.”
Leah chuckled at that, nodding his head along with Gary. “Oh yeah. Same here. Your folks are so nice when I do the chores without being asked. Such sweeties, I can’t imagine why you complained.”
“God, they’re so stifling at times. I resented being poked about the... you just did it without asking?”
“Yeah. You may want to try that, they were so surprised and so nice about it. Can I keep them?”
“Uh...” Gary blinked, giggled briefly, then covered her mouth. “Shit. Seriously?”
“I was kinda joking. Mostly. Having a father is so nice...”
Gary tilted her head and peered at her girlfriend curiously. “I don’t get it.”
“You’ve had a Dad all your life. I lost mine when I was eight. God, I miss him. I know Dad isn’t... I mean he isn’t my Dad, but they asked me to call them Mom and Dad and... this is too weird to be so normal.”
Gary laughed warmly at that. “Normal? I mean... Okay, I’m getting used to your place, and your shampoo... why does it smell so nice?”
“Why does yours smell like industrial solvent? I need to buy some nicer stuff. Not floral, but certainly there has to be something... nice, right?”
“Beats me. I just use the same stuff Dad always has.”
*** *** ***
“Gary. Hey Gary.” Leah snapped her fingers. “Leah?”
Gary blinked and looked across the table at her boyfriend. “Oh! Sorry. Got too used to Mom calling me Leah. I mean your mom. Did I really just react to your name?”
Leah grinned and nodded. “Try it.”
“Hey Gary, studly boyfriend of mine, shall we go somewhere private instead of to a movie?”
Leah twitched. “Fuck me.”
“That was the idea, yes,” Gary said with a pretty, saucy grin.
“I... I’m not sure I’m ready yet. Like this, I mean. Can it wait until we change back? Please?”
Gary smiled at her boyfriend sweetly and took his hands. “You’re worth waiting for,” she husked.
Leah moaned softly. “Going to be another cold shower tonight.”
Gary giggled. “I’ll go down on you in the theatre.”
“You wouldn’t!”
“Wanna bet?”
Leah stared at Gary wide eyed. “Why?”
“Been where you are. And I’ve been reading some of your magazines. They get some things right...”
Leah whimpered softly. “I can’t believe I’m agreeing to this... but yes please. Still haven’t figured out how to... uh... manually solve the problem.”
“Oh dear. Is my muscular, handsome boyfriend really that desperate?”
“Yes!” hissed Leah, blushing intensely.
“Then I’m going to have even more fun than I imagined.”
*** *** ***
Leah snuggled up against Gary and sighed. “I can’t believe it has been a month already.”
“Has it?” her boyfriend asked, pulling his sweetie tighter against his side. “I... crap. That means I’m going to turn back in a bit. When?”
Leah pulled out her phone. She’d replaced Gary’s old industrial-grade case with something sparkly. “I’ve got a venn timer here... says we have another ten minutes. I’m not sure I got the start time right, though. Could be any minute now.”
“So that’s why the mall date?” asked Gary.
Leah nodded. “So we’re near the Venn Machines, yeah. Look, I know we haven’t really talked about this much, but... could we maybe stay this way a little longer? I’m helping your mother automate more of her work and she’s thrilled with how it’s going. She’s been so nice about it, about everything, really. Just wish I could get her to unbend about you. I mean Gary. I mean me...” Leah giggled. “I don’t even think of myself as Gary any more, not really. How about you?”
“Uh... wow. I mean... a little? I’ve gotten used to answering to your name, but I don’t...” He hesitated, closed his eyes. “Um. Okay, maybe I am more used to this than I thought. It feels natural to hear this voice when I talk, and I even hear it in my inner dialogue. When the hell did that happen?”
“A couple weeks back for me. You really didn’t notice? You’re such a guy.”
Gary stuck his tongue out at Leah and giggled. “Am not.”
“You look like one to me.”
Gary crossed his arms across his chest and pouted at Leah. And then quite suddenly, without any fuss, both of them were back in their original bodies and clothes. “I don’t look like a guy any more.”
The restored Gary winced and tugged at his waistband. “Damn it. I know it was my idea to wear our clothes from when we got venned... figures I’d forget about the panties.”
“Bathroom’s over there,” Leah said, pointing at a nearby hallway. “I’ll wait.”
Gary returned a couple minutes later with the offending panties in hand. “I think they’re ruined. Sorry.”
Leah shrugged. “I wasn’t planning on wearing them any time soon.” She handed Gary his old wallet back. “Here’s your ID.”
Gary handed over the purse he was still carrying, giggling a bit as he realized how easily he’d done so. “And yours.” He pulled open the wallet to check his cards and blinked. “There’s... a lot of cash in here. And what are these business cards?”
“Projects near your folks’ place. Any of ‘em will take you on for a day’s worth of heavy lifting. Seriously, such a great way to earn some cash.”
Gary thumbed through the bills. “Think you can spare some of this for a hotel room for the night, get us a little privacy for once?”
Leah grinned hugely. “That sounds like a lovely idea. Before or after we venn back into each other?”
“Both?” asked Gary with a shy smile. “I’d... kind of like to do it right the first time, but I do want to go back.”
“Yeah, me too. C’mon, girlfriend. Let’s go have some fun.”
Imagine a world where there are transformation booths in malls in place of the old photo kiosks. Two people step in, and each selects a change for the other. Welcome to that world... the world of the Trust Machines – known colloquially as Venn Machines due to their interlocked-rings logo.
Note: The Trust Machines setting was inspired in part by Elrod W’s MAU stories.
This story was one of the earliest Trust Machines stories to include a notable TG element - the first few were mostly inanimate TFs, with one silly twinning story as well. It was originally published on DeviantArt in 2012.
*** *** ***
"Hi Rod."
Rod looked up blearily. A curvy blonde came into focus. His first thought was, damn, Jim is a lucky guy.
"Hey Shelly."
"Don't you 'Hey Shelly' me. Where is Jim?" Her voice was as cold and sharp as an ice pick. That was about how it felt to Rod's hung-over head, too.
"I, uh... We kind of lost him."
Shelly's hands closed around Rod's neck. "You LOST my GROOM? How can you just... LOSE your best friend?"
Rod gurgled something that sounded a bit like "I don't know."
Shelly started to shake him. She wasn't especially strong, but Rod was far from his top form. "I'm getting married in six days. Six days!"
Rod's reply was to puke all over her shoes.
A shower and a cup of coffee later, and still the worse for wear, Rod recounted the story as best he could remember it. He'd been working on ideas for a stag party for some time, but the budget was a bit tight to get good strippers. That was when Grant mentioned that he worked security for the same company that did the local mall, where the Venn Machine was.
"So Grant came up with this bright idea. Why hire strippers, when we can be them? It seemed like a good idea at the time."
"How could that possibly have seemed like a good idea?" asked Shelly, sharply.
Rod clutched the icepack a bit more tightly to his head. "Not so loud. Uh, probably because we were all drunk when Grant suggested it. The next day, a few of the guys started having second thoughts, but nobody was willing to back down when Grant started calling them too chicken to do it."
"OK, now that I believe."
"So we all got there just as the mall closed, and Grant bribed his buddy to let us stay after hours. We were supposed to clean up after ourselves... Crap. We owe him on that too."
"Never mind that. What happened?"
"We started out with the drinking, of course. To make it seem like a good idea again. Then we drew names from a hat, and whoever we drew had to be the next stripper. I think we put Jim's name in three or four times."
"Wait, Jim turned into a stripper? Is that why you can't find him... her... ow, now my head hurts."
Rod frowned in concentration, then winced. "I don't... I'm pretty sure he got changed back. The first time, anyway. Oh, that's right. He was the first one up, I cheated to make sure of that. To be honest, he didn't make a very good stripper. That might have been my fault, I was impatient and picked the first halfway cute girl the Venn Machine offered."
Shelly grumbled. "Not the only one getting impatient here. I... guess I'm glad Jim made a bad stripper, though."
Rod laughed, then quickly thought better of it. "I... sorry. Jim was a bad stripper. But he made really good ones. He changed the others, he's got a hell of a knack for it."
Shelly ran a finger down her curves, grinning at a memory. "Oh, don't I know it."
"Right, I remember. Anyway, things got a bit crazier still when Grant pointed out that strippers in shirts and jeans didn't really... y'know, work. Our clothes changed to fit, but... they were still just plain. So when Jim turned him into Gren..."
"Gren?"
"Grant seemed to like it, gave herself a new name and everything. Anyway, Grant comes out one side as this sex-bomb calling herself Gren, and in the other... no Jim. Just a sparkly red bra."
"So Jim's a bra?"
"Uh... well, not that bra. Things get a bit fuzzy around then. We all took a few more shots before we started drawing more names. First would be the dancer, second her bra, third the panties."
"Ah. Drinking yourself blind almost seems reasonable, in comparison," Shelly snarked.
"Hey, everyone was having fun. Well, except Jim. When Busty Betty tried to go down on him, he balked."
"Who's Busty Betty?"
"I... uh... don't remember. One of the guys really got keen on the stripper thing, and... yeah. Said she wanted to stay that way, and make Jim her first time. He said no. I don't remember much after that. Except getting rolled into the Venn Machine. Turns out if you're too drunk, it won't work."
"And?"
"That's it. I woke up the next morning with the sun in my eyes, and stumbled home. Nobody else was there. I'd just gotten home when you started strangling me."
"So where is Jim?" It was asked quietly, but all the more menacing for it.
"I don't know!"
"Find him!" Shelly stormed out the door, slamming it behind her.
Rod whimpered as the echoes died down. He wallowed in self-pity until he started to think about what Shelly might do if he didn't find Jim. He shuddered.
Rod's first stop, after chugging a few aspirin and a large bottle of water, was back at the mall. He found Grant's mall-guard friend scrubbing the floor, and queasily pitched in. He asked if any bits of female clothing had been found during the cleanup, but the answer was no. All that had been left behind was a couple of pools of vomit.
One mess dealt with, Rod pondered his options. It was getting toward noon on a Sunday, most of the guys should be waking up before too long. Hopefully some of the others had answers.
Rod called every guy from the party list. Most of their cellphones didn't even ring, which worried him. Nobody answered.
Rather than report such massive failure to Shelly, Rod went home. He knew the names of most of the guys' girlfriends, hopefully they knew where a few of the missing party members had gone.
After the fourth call where Rod got yelled at, he started to lose hope. Thankfully he got a better response from Tina, Grant's girlfriend.
"Oh yeah, Gren's here. Thanks for planning the party! I had no idea she had it in her."
"Um, can I talk to Grant?"
Tina giggled. "There's no Grant here. But Gren might be able to answer a few questions. Why don't you come over about four? That should give us enough time."
"Wait, but..." Rod sighed. It was his only lead, so he figured he'd best follow up on it.
Rod paced outside Tina's apartment door for ten minutes before pounding on it exactly at four. It took three tries before someone answered.
"Rod!" called Tina as she flung the door wide. "Thank you so much." She swept him into a hug and spun him into the room. Standing there shyly was a curvy brunette woman that looked passingly familiar.
Rod stared at this other girl, gears grinding slowly. "Grant? Is that you?"
"Gren. And yes."
"You're freaking gorgeous."
Tina hugged Rod a bit harder. "I know! And I have you to thank for it."
Rod squeaked, "Actually, it was Jim that did it."
Tina let Rod go. "Jim? As in Shelly's Jim?"
"Yeah. Guy has a knack for design. I don't know how he does it. He's also why I'm here."
"What do you mean?"
"Well..." Rod launched into an abbreviated version of the story he'd told Shelly about the Stag party gone slightly awry. "... and you're the only one who answered the phone without yelling at me."
Tina hugged Gren, and kissed her on the lips. "I have good reason not to. But I don't know how we can help."
Rod looked uncertainly at his friend. "Gran... I mean Gren. Do you remember anything more about what happened? I kind of overdid the booze. I think Jim got transformed, but I don't even know what he is now."
"Oooh, good point. I kind of lost track of things, too. I don't remember what happened to Jim. Something... you're right, he got changed. And we... and we... Damn. We did something, but I don't remember what."
"Oh great. I am so dead."
Gren frowned cutely. "And... ooh, I just remembered." She stripped off her top and took off her bra, giving Rod quite the show. She tossed her bra in Rod's face, then covered up again. "I'm pretty sure that was one of the guys, but I don't remember who."
Tina stared at Gren. "You were... wearing someone, while we were fucking? Oh, that is so hot!"
Rod was still staring at Gren's chest. "Wait, what?"
"Change him back. Maybe you'll get another lead?"
Rod took a few moments to process that. Gren's boobs had been magnificent. "Uh, right. That sounds like... right."
He hesitated in the doorway. "Want to come along? We could change you back, too."
Gren shook her head. "Nah. I think I'm going to stay this way a while."
"Really? What about work?"
"You don't pay attention to the union newsletters, do you? They got the company to handle this kind of thing under the transgender clause. Heck, the company approves of it, as it helps fill out their quotas of females and minorities."
"That's... too many kinds of wrong for me to deal with right now. Catch you later."
As Rod let the door close behind him, he heard Tina say, "Maybe we should go to the mall. I could be Tony for a while."
Rod shook his head, and drove back to the mall. He wasn't quite sure what to do with the bra, so he dumped it into one side of the Venn Machine, then stepped into the other. "Oh, Hi Ben."
They aborted the changes, and Ben stumbled out into the light of the mall. "Uh, are you OK?"
Ben shook his head, and ran to the washroom.
Over coffee from the food court, Ben recounted what he could remember. "I was pretty pissed by the end, too. Busty Betty went on a rampage, and everyone who didn't protest enough ended up as her wardrobe. I'm just glad it was Gren that got me, or I'd be stuck for a year."
Rod laughed. "So you were... lucky to be her bra?"
"Heck yeah. She has amazing tits. I kinda wish I could go back for a little longer."
Rod pointed behind Ben. "Now's your chance."
Ben looked around, and grinned. "Damn, she's hot. Aw, they're heading for the Venn Machine, I guess she's going to change back."
"Nope. Tina wants to be Tony and Gren for a while."
"Damn. 'Scuse me, I have a question to go ask."
Rod watched as Ben approached the Venn Machine. He wasn't too surprised to see a guy and a girl emerge, and the girl was Gren. From the way Gren hugged Ben, it looked like her answer was yes.
Rod wandered up while the two were inside the Venn Machine. "So. Tony, was it?"
"Uh, I guess. For a bit. How do you guys walk with this thing between your legs?"
Rod snickered. "Gren went over the top, did she?"
"Girl knows what she likes."
Gren grinned at Tony. "I do, at that. C'mon, lets grab my new bra and go shopping."
Rod sighed, and wandered off. Was he going to be able to find anyone that could help? His only remaining lead was this so-called Busty Betty.
He spent the next few nights cruising the clubs and asking after her. It wasn't until Wednesday evening that he found what corner she was working. The other girls working that corner rolled their eyes when he asked after Betty, and told him to wait a few minutes. Sure enough, she got dropped off at the corner in a nice looking car, and waved cheerily to whoever was inside.
"Hey Bet!" called the dark-haired hooker. "Someone wants to see you!"
Betty bounced over, in more ways than one. "Hey, Rod! I hope you're not angling for an old-friends discount... Girl's gotta have her standards."
Rod sighed, and reached for his wallet. "Look, I just want to talk."
"Time is money, you know how it is."
Betty was willing to part with her 'starter outfit' - she'd bought quite a bit of clothing with her earnings. It still set Rod back more cash than he'd cared for. And there was the matter of the missing bra - her second client had run off with it.
Rod raced back to the mall with what he did have. The guys were quite grateful to be restored, and none of them wanted to talk about the ordeal. Worse, Jim wasn't among them.
For a time, Rod considered using the Venn Machine to get turned into clothing, himself. But three years wouldn't be long enough for Shelly to cool down. So he went to her place, to admit defeat.
Shelly greeted him cheerfully at the door. "Come on in, Rod!"
Rod entered warily. "Look, Shelly, I'm really sorry about all this."
"Oh, don't fret. Everything worked out."
Rod twitched. She was being too nice. That never ended well. "What do you mean?"
Shelly tossed him an express delivery envelope. It was filled out in Rod's own handwriting, addressed to Shelly. Contents were listed as 'Jim.'
"Oh. I wonder who's stuck as the missing bra, then."
Shelly waved off the concern. "Someone was very naughty. And very creative. He arrived this afternoon, and we've had... quite a bit of fun together."
Rod's eyes widened as he put the fragments of memory together. "God... Busty Betty was so pissed at Jim for turning her down. She changed Jim into... that, and I got him out of there before she could use him."
"You've covered for him at work, right?"
Rod nodded. "Of course. Some of the others, too. I've had to actually work hard for once, to make up the difference."
"How long will he be a sex-toy?"
Rod gulped. "I don't remember. Probably a year." At Shelly's look of panic and anger he held up his hands defensively. "Just take him to a Venn Machine, it'll change him back whenever you want."
"Oh! Well, that's OK then. Can you keep covering for him until the weekend? The whole abstinence for the month before the wedding thing was really getting hard on me, so... well, I think I'll keep him this way a little longer."
"Sure. The others are back, they'll help too."
"Cool. See you Saturday!" Shelly turned, and went into the bedroom. Rod let himself out, shaking his head. Jim was a lucky guy.
Rod had a lot of fun preparing the Best Man's toast. Shortly after Jim and Shelly had gotten together, Jim had gotten Shelly to pose just like she had in one of her pictures from before, and had gotten Rod to create a morph between the two images. Rod had kept a copy, of course...
"So there Jim and I were, spending yet another night at a bar getting shot down by all the cute girls. We went to a diner to wind down and commiserate. Jim struck up a conversation with this mousy girl sitting beside us at the counter." He gestured to the AV guy, and the 'before' picture of Shelly went up, a shot of her in one-piece bathing suit that didn't have a lot to hide. There were some murmurs of recognition from the audience - Shelly's old friends and family.
"They had a lot in common - including getting shot down by the sort of person they were looking for. She was bummed out over getting dumped for someone 'blonder and curvier'. So Jim offered to use a Venn Machine to make her even blonder and curvier than her rival, if she'd go on a date with him. She agreed, on the condition that it had to be a date in front of the jerk who dumped her. So Jim turned her into..." He gestured to the AV guy again. "The wet dream that we all know and love." The image changed slowly from the mousy brunette to a spectacularly curvy blonde in the same bathing suit and pose - only now, it barely contained her.
That got a good laugh from the audience. Most of the audience, anyway. There was some seething coming from the head table. "The date went so well, they forgot all about the jerk. That was a year ago, and today... well, here we are. To Jim and Shelly."
Afterward, Jim and Shelly changed into their departure clothes and went around the room saying their thanks and goodbyes. They were off on their honeymoon in the morning, and had a luxury suite lined up for them somewhere even Rod hadn't been able to find. And he'd tried.
Just before they left, Shelly grabbed Rod in an iron grip, and dragged him along with them. "You have an appointment with a Venn Machine, mister."
Rod went along meekly. He didn't even object when Shelly set the time for a month. When she held him up as a sexy leopard print teddy, she grinned. "Oooh, you turned out nicely. I was only going to use you like this for one night, but then you went and dug up that morph. For that... you're going in our luggage for the whole honeymoon. Well... I bet you won't spend too much time in the suitcase. Rowr."
Shelly wore that teddy pretty much the entire week, except when she was making love to her new husband... and sometimes even then.
Afterward, Rod went into the lingerie drawer instead of into a Venn Machine. Shelly loved having her 'power teddy' to wear, and wasn't quite willing to give him up yet. She wore Rod pretty much every other day, hand-washing him and letting him dry on the off days.
About a month later, on a quiet Sunday morning, Rod appeared standing beside Shelly's dresser. He looked around the dim bedroom, and then realized he could hear Shelly moaning Jim's name. Rod tried to sneak out quietly, but tripped over a half-unpacked carry-on case.
Shelly sat up in bed. "What? Oh, it's just you. Hi, Rod. Has it been a month, already?"
"Crap, really? Do I still have a job?"
Shelly nodded. "Jim took care of it. Something about a new clause in the disability section? You should be good to go."
"Where is Jim, anyway?"
Shelly squirmed, and grinned. "Oh, he's here. Your stunt with the Venn Machine opened up a whole new world to us. Thanks again."
Rod blushed, and hurriedly left.
At work the next day, he found out that since 'involuntary transformation' was covered under disability, there'd been some paperwork involved to prove he was 'disabled'. It had included photos.
Everyone at work called him 'Spotty' after that. The worst, or maybe best part was... every time he got called that, Rod remembered what it had felt like to be worn on that gorgeous body. He wondered if Shelly would take him back.
A few months later, after he'd built up a month of vacation time, Rod found out the answer was yes.