See Yourself Be Yourself

[2] Downpour

Past a black curtain, he opened a very ordinary door and stepped through another curtain into what looked like a luxurious suite in a nice hotel. The impossible fact was that this room overlooked a spacious pool and an outdoor garden. It was afternoon here, and huge masses of thunderclouds loomed in the sky, blocking out the day.

Based on the structured scenario, Brent knew that if he tried to hide inside from the rain, it would just work its way into the building anyway. Besides, he already felt like he was being weak. If he presumed to be a man, then he also knew that wearing the colors Dina wanted and setting aside that masculinity temporarily only strengthened his resolve that he was a real man underneath it all.

He could do this, and he would do this, and it wouldn’t be a big deal. Gender stuff was just made up anyway, according to Dina. No matter what he looked like, he was still the same person. This might even help her put together a really influential paper, and it could be like her final thesis. She hadn’t really suggested that, but he knew, as she continued her education, that if he set a confident, positive example, then that would be a big help to everyone.

Brent stepped outside just as drops of rain started to darken the cement. One speck falling on his head became several. It played with the length of his hair, unfurling it from a tight bowl shape into bright, dangling locks that framed his vision. This was actually fucking real, was a thought that swiftly dawned on him. Retreating suddenly seemed like a good idea, even though he knew it would rain through the ceiling.

Every feeling and thought in his head as a little boy growing into a man echoed like a declaration. He was about to be emasculated. He was about to become one of them. A fearful strand of the notion felt strangely sexy amidst the rising terror. But that sensation stopped at the actuality of being turned into a woman.

It wasn’t enough to make him want to yell 'chiffon', because that would be giving in, but he reminded himself of the word as heavy curtains of hair spilled past his shoulders and his face began to tickle from the rain collecting on his features. Inside his head, the water almost felt like it was melting him. It wasn’t painful, not physically. The feeling of his flesh shifting was intimately unsettling. Like skin being torn away to reveal new skin underneath. The process cooled and soothed, as if trying to convey that it was just clearing away mud, but Brent wasn't fooled.

With a distant flash and a thunderclap, the downpour was unleashed. Brent felt the way he breathed change. The structure of his ribcage shifted, even before the presence of a weight began to develop. His arms felt immensely heavy even as they dwindled to slender, almost stick-like extremities.

Everything about him lost bulk. Dina mentioned the other day when she was scheduling that she wanted a figure for him that was more curvy like her, with what she referred to as “normal body fat.” The representative informed her that state and federal regulations prevented them from exceeding a certain threshold due to health risks. Dina made much of this and complained loudly, but that was all.

Moderate degrees of thickness settled in his behind and along his dampened legs. The strangest, weirdest sensation he could track was his leg position and how far his hips spread with an obvious flare. Just shifting in place required a gradual adjustment, and walking seemed bizarre. He didn't fall, but he wobbled with uncertainty. Getting shorter certainly didn't help.

Thoroughly soaked now, the tingling lanced between his legs as sensations sank to a strange, dimpling fissure in his being. With resigned awareness, he was a she. But that was just the meat. It still meant a lot to him, though, even though he'd tried his best with Dina's suggestions.

The weighty presence of the rain dragged his saturated clothes down to the point where they almost fell off, except for the front of his shirt, which flared up with obvious twin mounds. Watching this unfold kindled different sensations than realizing he was the participant. The absolute mass on his chest spilled over to the sides, leaving him with no way to move his arms without bumping into some warm, fleshy, soft part.

He could easily see the disadvantage. The overwhelming presence was greater than anything else. A feature that could not be overlooked. Even adjusting the pendulous weight to see past them took effort. The rain subsided, and he ventured back into the suite to look for clothes. As established, the cabinet was full of options meant for him. The fancy and dressy options were the first to be overlooked since Dina had made a big deal of saying she would take him shopping for the full experience. Instead, Brent settled on a gray cotton-poly long-sleeved shirt that didn't cling too much but also fit over his hips.

Getting undressed was an adventure, as whatever denials were shed with the revelation of his altered flesh. He looked so girly, from his long, slender limbs to his narrow shoulders, tiny waist, and plush thighs. The absolute coup de grace was seeing the discreet, receding dimple of suggestive flesh flanked by a puffy crown of blond pubic hair instead of the modest but obvious manhood that should've been there. He knew not to fixate on the physical, but it still felt like a stark, tragic loss.

The general first impression of this new body in his all together... her all together was that she felt immensely fat, despite the health regulations. Everything encompassing her was soft to the point of absurdity. Even her skin felt as if someone had inserted extra padding. At the same time, it felt scoured, raw, and much closer to the surface. Her entire body tingled despite the changes being finished. Even her face felt fat because of the protruding profile of her lips. And what didn't feel fat on her seemed dinky and like a child's version instead. It was an absolutely creepy fun house twist and distortion of everything she might consider part of her being. These were the most absolutely eye-opening discoveries so far. Processing them felt overwhelming.

Before she left, she found and slipped on a generous brassiere with openings in the front. In the nearby mirror, instead of Brent, she found a blonde woman with disheveled hair and a rather generic workout outfit. A certain part of him instantly thought that she could have shown a little more skin, while the rest was perfectly fine with not showing anything. It was bad enough to her that the curves of her chest and the suggestion of her bottom just seemed to keep going and going and flowing and spilling and stretching to the point of absurdity. She could find no respite for her awareness to land on what felt like familiar territory.

And that was supposed to be the point. An adventure outside of everything he knew, stretching into the aspects of being human that he would otherwise never really understand. Even like this was just the Cliff Notes since, as Dina reminded him, he would only be strapping on this form for a short time as opposed to growing from a girl to a woman.

It was easy to fuss, fear, and feel nervous emotions in the mirror. The changes in her brain chemistry were supposed to intensify such moments. She steadied herself and tried to walk as normally as possible. It still wasn't smooth, but she didn't feel like she was going to faceplant if she made a mistake. Her altered stomach didn't want anything and continued to insist that it was ready for a full clearance without warning. She mentally squeezed that down and did her best to forget.

The world outside seemed especially frightening now, but she relaxed as much as she could and gingerly stepped toward the curtain and the door that led out.

Brent took each step carefully. Once outside, she carefully closed the door and watched the hall. Elle caught up with her a few moments later and gave her a quick pat on the shoulder. The relief was immeasurable. It was also startling to see Elle so much taller than her.

“Dina said she had to step away for a minute. Restroom or something, I guess. Shall I keep you company? It’s actually my break.”

Brent's heart sank. She was sure Dina would be out here to greet her. She must have had a personal emergency related to anxiety or physical problems. Nervously, Brent glanced in several directions, then nodded quietly. Elle led her to a break room off to the side. The walk was gradual, with Brent trembling like a newborn fawn. Even the couch she invited Brent to sit on didn't provide any real respite.

Her knees settled together with a gentle gap, and she felt as if they vividly hinted at the contours behind them. Meanwhile, her bust remained a punctuated, unmistakable presence on her chest.

The other workers casually noticed her but didn’t interrupt their lunches. She was flooded with so many confused emotions, wondering if there was something else she should be doing or if she was offending them by being here.

It was a bit like when he was a little boy out shopping with his mother and some shiny thing on a shelf caught his attention, and he soon lost sight of his mom. Young Brent calmed himself down, carefully balancing between sudden panic to look for her and the settled ease of staying where he was and waiting.

Each and every time he was lost, she found and scolded him. This time, he felt he had lost much more than just his way. Nervously, she wondered if the workers by the table secretly hated what she was. Perhaps their knowing looks conveyed a whole secret language of derision and mockery. Brent tried to keep her head down and her stomach steady. She didn't want to cry, but it felt like the only rational thing to do. Elle plopped down on the couch next to her with a sigh and a shrink-wrapped sandwich.

Kindly, she inquired, “Would you like something, maybe a water?” Brent shook her head. What she really wanted was to wrap herself up in the biggest blanket she could find and insulate herself from the world. She tried to close her eyes as tightly as she could, like when she was a kid, and just pretend it was the same as hiding.

"I've called and auto-texted the number on the paperwork a few times, but I haven't been able to get through to your girlfriend. Is there any other way to contact her?"

Wrapping her frail arms gently around her insignificant belly, Brent kind of wished she had asked for a water but instead inquired what numbers they had on file.

When Elle read them off, Brent frowned and relayed that they didn’t sound like any of her numbers. She gave her Dina’s personal cell phone, along with her work number and her parents' number. She got a little nervous about giving all that out and added her own numbers.

Elle set a hand on her shoulder and reassured her, “Oh, it’s fine; we have a direct line to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office for tracking. Some big security conglomerate does it for us, and they take the facial recognition of everyone who comes into the store and run it against social media to track down any false information. Most customers of concern get a warning, but if we discover that they gave us false information in the verification, their account can be fined between $100 and $500. Usually this is part of the billing of their account, but if there are suspicious elements, we can send them a warning SMS. I think that's reasonable, don't you?"

Brent felt woozy. She had no idea how this afternoon had gone from some college stuff that Dina needed to do to having to threaten his girlfriend with a fine if she didn’t show up. A bubble of nausea gathered in her throat, and she gently asked for some water. Elle eagerly retrieved a large bottle for her.

It wasn't long after Elle sent the fraud warning as a text message to Dina's number that not only was the message marked as read, but Dina typed an angry response in all caps, screaming obscenities at the company and saying she was just stepping out for a minute. Elle raised an eyebrow and showed Brent. A small bubble of relief eased the tightness in her throat, like seeing that her mother was on her way to take her home.

[Welcome to the Seventh Book in the Cerberus Saga. This one has a particular goal in mind which won’t be revealed until the end of Chapter 4. So I’m gonna keep polls off until the end of the week. Provisionally, I am focusing on one chapter a week and we’ll see how things go from there. They might be longer or shorter and more numerous. Always feel free to offer suggestions. Reader response is going to be very important going forward. I’m open to anything. Although the squirrel thing is probably the closest I’ll ever get to furry. I’m gonna have some fun and funny characters this time too. Dunno how long this will go. It might be much shorter due to the different pacing. I hope you enjoy it. I plan to get the earlier books together and released in an official form. Look forward to that hopefully. As always, vast details, especially types of characters, character names, and more are wide open for this narrative. Feel free to add any idea which doesn't show up in the eventual options. Also, if you see any random typos or uncapitalized starts of sentences, please pass them along. I am currently using Quillbot and DeepL to assist with speedy editing, but that’s not 100%. Thank you for reading!]