BotC: 2, Home Front - Pearls for Danny

The hair! The makeup! From the neck up, he had been made to look like a GIRL !!! Vaginia was real! Pearl wasn't a dream! She had even left a calling card of sorts - on a thin gold chain around his neck was threaded a single pearl about a quarter inch in diameter.

Danny was not usually prone to panic and was, in fact, noted and admired for his ability to coolly handle stressful situations. BUT, this was, anyone would admit, a special case. He grabbed the pair of scissors he saw on the vanity and raised them toward his head with the intent to cut off the red mass of femininity that Pearl had created. There was a little popping sound and a brief feeling of disorientation. It was somewhat like the feeling he got when his optometrist (Danny wore contacts) switched lenses on him while having him try to read the eye chart; everything shifted split second from one focus to a slightly different one. Instead of wildly chopping at his hair, He found that he was using the scissors closed as a pic to fluff an updo curl that had come a bit undone from his passing through The Closet. He snatched the scissors away and tried again. Blinkswitch! *Oh, these bangs have drooped a bit. No one will be able to see my eyebrows* he thought as he used the point again to this time lift those concealing tresses. Then *What am I thinking!* But even while he was wondering about why he was worrying about whether others could see his eyebrows, he was putting down the scissors, picking up Penny's can of AquaNet and, shielding his eyes, spraying the now uplifted bangs. Obviously panic would not do any good.

Pearl had, he thought, made "her" look like she was going in to have her yearbook photo taken ... in 1964.

(Note: If you have not read my part 1, you might want to do so or at least check out Danni's 1964 look pic at the end of it)

Maybe if he didn't try to cut the hair he could change it, take down the updo, make it look masculine; it WAS short enough for a guy. He tentatively reached up and felt for any pins. No blink. He took out the pins and reached for the brush. No blink. He put the brush to his hair with the intent of vigorously brushing out the curls. Blinkswitch! He found himself using the brush and a hair pick to carefully take down the updo without destroying the curls. Instead of a masculine look he achieved a casual and perhaps even more girlie look, though a more casual one. *How cute!* Danni thought. *Aarrrrrghh!* thought Danny.

He gave up on the hair; it even seemed longer now! Makeup wise Pearl seemed to have concentrated on his eyes in shades of black and gray and left his other facial features alone. He reached for his sister's bottle of eye makeup remover. Blinkswitch! Danni put down the tube of Cherry Tomato Red lipstick. *Kewl!* she thought, smiling brightly, *I'm back in the 21st century!*

*Aarrrrrrrrrghh!* thought Danny with a few more r's thrown in than the last time. Obviously Pearl or what/whoever was behind this wasn't going to let remasculinization occur, and every time he tried, he would simply end up with a bit more feminine look. As if in proof, there was one last (he hoped) blinkshift and a second pearl appeared on the gold chain.

Two pearl Danny/Danni

Danny decided he needed a break and needed to get out of his sister's room. He could almost feel Danni eyeing the bottle of Cherry Tomato Red lipstick matching nail polish. He wondered whether his father had by any chance left the liquor cabinet unlocked. To feel that booze might be the answer was a measure of Danny's desperation, as he didn't drink and he didn't smoke ... anything, a product of his years of martial arts discipline. He was always the designated driver. BUT, as has been mentioned, anyone would admit that this was a special case.

*Danni. Where the hell did SHE come from?* He thought. As has also been mentioned, Danny had never in his life had a transgendered thought. As he began to rise from the vanity, it suddenly appeared as if his question might be answered without alcohol. Where he would have sworn there had been only empty vanity top seconds before there now rested an envelope with "For Danni" written on it in Penny's handwriting. Underneath, added a bit sloppily as if it were an afterthought was, "Oh, for Danny, too". The envelope seemed surrounded by a faint pink mist.

What's the message?

To be continued

(I have a lot more that was going to go into this part, but this seemed a good point for someone else to take off from if they so desire. I will be posting my own continuation shortly.)