Dorley…the Final frontier…
These are the voyages of Alan Malloy
His continuing mission?
To expunge his toxic ways
To seek out a new life and a new identity
To Boldy Be Basemented Like Many Men Have Been Before!
Stardate -295.3125 – Programme Day Seventy
Two months flew by as my life in the basement under Dorley settled into a sort of pervasive mundanity. Every day, I woke up, had breakfast- the quality of which had managed to increase to the point where we had cereal choices and even baked goods- occasionally attended a morning lesson when Monica or another sponsor had something to teach us (although this seemed to become an ever more infrequent occurrence, possibly due to a finite amount of teaching material), and spent most of my time either talking with the three boys who had formed an alliance of sorts with me and each other.
Danny and Arthur’s temporary alliance seemed to have fallen apart at some point during October, and they spent most of their time avoiding whatever space the other one was in. Two months of being trapped together did tend to cause tension however, and midway through October, a fight broke out between every one of us that had us all confined to our rooms for a week without access to entertainment. Nobody could quite point to what started it, and our sponsors eventually released us after making sure we understood that further brawls would not be tolerated in the slightest.
One thing that I soon discovered was that my body was changing very gradually in a weird way. Initially, I thought it was just me putting on weight from the lack of exercise and the addition of more bread products to our diet, but it didn’t stick to what I’d have expected from simple weight gain. The fat seemed to be building up on my chest, my hips, and my buttocks, something which greatly disturbed me. Initially, I thought it was just me, but on the morning of November 12th, our fellowship of four all ended up showering at the same time. And I could see the exact same effects happening to my compatriots.
“Guys, stop scrubbing yourselves for a moment and look at this.”
Ewan groaned. “Alan, nobody wants to see your penis. Unless you’ve found a way to get yourself erect- and trust me, none of us have been able to do that for at least a month- your penis is decidedly unimpressive.”
“None of you have noticed what’s happening to your bodies?” I asked, incredulously, as they turned to look at me. I waved a hand up and down my body. “Guys, I’ve got fatty deposits where there honestly shouldn’t be. Fuck, look at Katsuro, he’s got what looks like fucking tits now. Something weird is going on.”
“Dude, it’s probably just all the croissants they’ve been giving us at breakfast,” Ewan said, dismissively. “You know, we’ve been on oatmeal for so long that the sudden influx of carbs has made us all put on a little bit of extra weight. Plus, you know, we’ve been losing muscle mass thanks to those goserelin implants, so it’s probably just some sort of weird reaction to that.”
“That doesn’t quite sound right,” Ted said. “If I didn’t know all of you were guys, I’d almost say you were fourteen year old girls.”
“Dude. Please. Don’t remind us that you of all people happen to know what fourteen year old girls look like,” I said, frowning. “But, yeah, something fucky is going on here. Katsuro, you agree, right?”
“I prefer to stay out of this,” Katsuro said, his voice cracking a bit. He seemed to be having trouble maintaining his usual baritone, and his voice had been slipping into a higher range as of late. I noted this as a possible symptom of whatever was happening to us. “I’m sure it’s just a natural effect of the goserelin. If you want, I’ll go talk to Indira and get her to tell me what’s going on.”
“You two are way too close,” Ewan grumbled. “And Pippa keeps coming into my room to watch movies with me. Not that it isn’t nice, but she’s been way too friendly as of late.”
“I know someone who’ll know,” Ted said, bunching up his fists. He turned off the faucet, and grabbed his towel off a shelf. He dried himself off quickly, and began pulling on his clothes. “It’s time I got the goddamn truth.”
“Oh, fuck, Ted, don’t do what I think you’re about to do,” I said, panicking slightly. “You’re not seriously going to go and confront Nessa now are you?”
“Well, let’s put it this way. She’s my sister, and she’s trans,” he replied, doing up his fly and pulling his shirt over his head. I switched off the shower, and grabbed my towel. “I’m not the smartest guy out there, but even I can join the fucking dots. They’re doing something to us to turn us into girls. I fucking know it.”
“Aaand the conspiracy nut returns,” muttered Ewan. He didn’t seem to want to get involved. I noticed Katsuro was also towelling himself down, and was looking at me. He flicked his head towards Ted and nodded at me. I gave him the thumbs up. Ted looked between the two of us.
“Oh no, you’re not going to stop me,” he said, backing towards the door. Katsuro gracefully stalked towards him; his towel wrapped around his waist like a skirt. Ted sprinted for the bathroom door leading to the rec room, where we had last seen our sponsors, and I tried to make a grab for him. I nearly snagged him, but I slipped on the wet floor and landed hard on my ass. It hurt. A lot.
Ted made it out the door, slamming it closed in Katsuro’s face. It didn’t slow him down much, but enough that I could hear the sounds of Ted beginning his confrontation with his sister. That motherfrakking smeg head! I climbed to my feet and quickly wrapped my now-sopping towel around my waist before following Katsuro through the door.
“Seriously?” yelled Ewan after me. “Am I going to have to join the toga party now? Alan, don’t fucking leave me here to clean up the mess!”
“-mit it, you used to be Ned! You were my brother!”
I walked into a scene right out of my worst nightmares. Ted was struggling to escape from Katsuro’s grasp, the taller boy holding him in place and stopping him from moving closer to the sponsors. Nessa was flinching back from Ted, the other sponsors standing in front of her as if to guard her from Ted. Pippa and Indira both had their tasers at the ready, pointed at Ted. It was a fucking nightmare that could have been avoided if that fucking moron had just listened to what I’d been trying to tell him.
“Ted,” said Maria, standing next to Nessa with her hand resting on her shoulder comfortingly. “You are out of line. Back off, now.”
I noticed Steph talking on her phone nearby, watching the situation and seemingly reporting on what was going on, possibly to the security room or another person. This situation could go bad in a matter of seconds. Katsuro was looking directly at Indira, as if looking for instructions, Ted squirming to escape from his grasp.
“Katsuro! Let me go!”
Katsuro shook his head, his long ponytail dripping water on the floor as it shook back and forth with his head. “No. Ted, I can’t let you hurt anyone. They’ll send us all to the cells again. Now, calm down, sit down, and we can talk-”
“I’m not going to fucking hurt anyone!” Ted yelled back, clearly annoyed. “Fuck, she’s my sister, if Alan’s theory was right! Why the fuck would I hurt her?”
Katsuro looked back to Indira, and I watched suspiciously as she gave a slight nod. I was increasingly beginning to think that Katsuro was definitely too close to his sponsor. Maybe even up to something with her at that. Whatever it was, he hesitantly let go of Ted, who immediately shot him a chilling glare. Nessa was gripping Maria’s hand like a life preserver while staring in shock at Ted.
“Ted…I…I don’t…” she tried to say, stuttering slightly. “Y-yes. I am your sister. God, I shouldn’t be telling you, but it’s the truth. I was Ned.”
“I guessed as much,” Ted said, his tone unidentifiable. “Alan helped me confirm my suspicions. Why did you hide from me? You were my brother, and now you’re my sister. That doesn’t mean you aren’t still my better half. My twin. I don’t give a fuck what gender you are, we’re still blood.”
The sponsors all looked at each other, and then back at Ned. There was a good moment of silence before Maria spoke up. “Wait…you mean this whole thing…the yelling, the confrontational behaviour…wasn’t part of an attack on Nessa?”
“God no,” Ted said, clearly affronted. “I was just frustrated by the bullshit that’s clearly going on around here if my own fucking sister couldn’t tell me she was my sister when she fucking kidnapped me. If I’d been told that, like, two and a half months ago, I probably wouldn’t have had such a fucking hard time coming to terms with being down here. Let alone being forcibly imprisoned in said basement as part of some bullshit self-improvement programme.”
“There are good reasons I didn’t tell you, Ted,” Nessa said, getting up, and walking towards her brother, the sponsors parting before her as she approached. I stared at the scene in mild disbelief, wondering if I’d been right to stop Ted from doing this earlier. This was not how I thought this would go. Then again, it was clearly also not what Maria and the other sponsors had been expecting, so there you fucking go. The bathroom door banged open behind me, and a fully clothed Ewan entered the room, still running his towel through his wet hair.
“So, what’d I miss?” said Ewan, walking up besides me. He gaped as Ted hugged Nessa, both of them sobbing into each other’s shoulders, holding each other up. “…uh…I feel like we should be giving them some space. Alan? Katsuro?”
I nodded, still shocked by how things had been going this morning. The three of us began making our way to the door, where Steph was still standing. I made sure to remember to ask her about the breast thing later, if Ted didn’t manage to get an answer out of Nessa for whatever reason. Steph finished her call, and smiled at me. I smiled back, and stopped to talk to her as the other boys headed back to their rooms without me.
“Well, that was unexpected,” I said, rubbing the back of my head and grinning. My hair had grown way too long in the two months I had been down here, and was uncomfortably tickling the back of my neck. “The three of us are going to give Ted some space to talk with his long lost sister. If you could ask Indira and Maria to keep Danny and Arthur- wherever the fuck they’ve gotten to- out of the rec room for a while so they can talk, I think Ted would be grateful.”
“It’s good to know you’re concerned for your friend,” Steph said, nodding. “I’ll make sure to suggest that they spend some quality time with the other two. They’ve been sulking in their rooms for a while now. I suggest you go get dressed before heading back to your room though. You’re a little…uh…underdressed.”
I looked down, self-conscious. The towel covered all the embarrassing bits, but failed to cover up anything above my mid-torso. “Ah, yes, probably a good idea. I’d like to talk to you later, actually. Might have a small health complaint, nothing too worrying, but, uh, thought I should talk to you about it.”
“It’ll have to be later. I have a…uh…tutoring session upstairs to head to right now,” Steph replied, apologetic. “But I’m sure this is something we’ll want to discuss in private anyway. I’ll see you later, Alan. You did good today. You’re definitely making good progress towards being that better person we want you to be.”
She patted me on the shoulder, and walked off to talk to Indira and Maria, who were standing a respectful distance away from Ted and Nessa, who were talking to each other on the couch, acting like they’d never been separated to begin with. I looked at Ted, who was actually smiling in a way I’d never seen before. He looked happy, which seemed odd considering where we were and what our situation was. Then again, he had just had his life made whole again, in a certain sense. I could not understand this sort of bond between siblings, but then again, I was an only child. I left, heading towards the bathroom to retrieve my clothes.
Then, I was planning to check out that show Steph had added the other day. Some Seth MacFarlane show from 2017 that I’d vaguely heard of, but never bothered to watch. She said it was the closest thing to Star Trek she could get approved. Sounded alright.
Fuck that, sounded awesome.
“Alright, now try that again. This time, move a bit slower, and think carefully about what muscles you’re moving in your hips and waist. Be more precise.”
Steph watched as Ellen walked back to the starting point, and attempted once more to walk gracefully across her bedroom. She was still moving with the distinct lack of grace that most fresh second years still exhibited, but she was making progress steadily but surely. Some of her sisters were still having the same troubles, but Ellen was definitely towards the rear of her intake’s progress. The girl, her dark black curly hair coming down to her shoulders, hesitated as she seemed to plan a route across the room, and then began to move, trying to sway her hips gently. She seemed to be managing for a few paces, but soon fell back into the same exaggerated movements they were trying to avoid. Steph thought that was good enough for now.
“OK, Ellen. Good work. Let’s take a break for now, and then we’ll go over your progress with your voice training,” Steph said, waving Ellen over to where she sat on the bed, and patting the spot next to her. The younger girl sat down, smoothing out her denim skirt as she sat down. Steph silently ticked a checkmark on her “list of skills still to teach” list. Clearly her charge was learning things on her own time. “How are things going? I know it’s a bit of a challenge to only have your sponsor here half the time, but staffing issues around here get worse every year, and we have six boys in the basement who need sponsors.”
“It’s mostly OK,” replied Ellen, shrugging. Her voice was barely audible, as if it hurt to hear it the way it was. Steph knew full well that her old intake had the same problems at this point, and knew not to prod. “It’s not like I’m the only one whose sponsor is splitting their attention. Sarah and Zoë both in the same boat. The other two both have sponsors full-time, but they’ve been really good about it. Amelia showed me a few things she learned the other day. She’s been really nice this year.”
“Big change from how she used to be,” Steph remarked. “You two got into no less than sixteen verbal confrontations in your first eight weeks here. Not to mention the six separate brawls, the two broken limbs, and how both of you nearly got three strikes in your first six months.”
“OK, yes, I used to think she was an irredeemable bastard, and she used to think I was a brutish thug with no respect for her “aristocratic privilege”,” Ellen admitted begrudgingly. “But then she and Sam got together, and that girl has got some surprising social skills for someone with her intellect. I mean, seriously, she was on a scholarship from the RAF to study astrophysics before she got picked up by Dorley. Obviously she can’t do that now, but when you’re doing astrophysics and also minoring in quantum wormhole theory and half a dozen other subjects…you have to wonder how she managed to have any social skills with how much of a science geek she is.”
“Yes, it’s very impressive, but getting back to you, Ellen, how have you been going?” asked Steph. “I hear you’ve already had a meeting with the surgeon to discuss your face surgery.”
“Mrs Prentice said I had great bone structure, and that whatever she did would be minimal,” replied the younger woman. “She said that even with my more angular jaw, I didn’t need to worry so much about that. Kept bringing up that I looked just like some actress from New York who was in some horror movie in the 70s.”
“Did she say what the movie was?” asked Steph, wondering what the surgeon was talking about. Something about the description rang a bell, but she couldn’t figure out why it was making her think about- of all things- eggs. “It sounds familiar, but I can’t quite place it.”
“Nah. She just shook her head when I said it didn’t ring a bell and said something about people not respecting the classics. Also something about telling Auntie Bea to be less strict about the movie library?”
“That’ll be the day,” Steph grumbled. “I had to promise to take on another two years of sponsoring just to get her to let me give Alan access to sci-fi he would actually enjoy watching. I swear, that boy needs to learn that there’s more than just one genre of film and television that he can watch. Bea was convinced most of it was violent and would encourage the wrong behaviour in him. I had to actually watch the stuff and compile a three thousand word analysis on the media I selected and the themes and subtext of the stuff just to get her to make that deal with me.”
“So you’re stuck her for another two years then?” grinned Ellen. “I mean, not the worst fate. Plus, you know, Bethany won’t mind. She’s already spending half her time walking around mountains getting all lusty for the local geology.”
“Remind me that I need to put a tracking bracelet on that girl someday and tether her to my immediate vicinity,” grumbled Steph. “There’s only room for one rock in this relationship, and I sleep with her when she’s actually in the same postcode.”
“Your relationship issues aside, I’d like to know how my “little sister” is going. She making progress towards being less of a nerdy incel?” asked Ellen, waving in the direction of the floor. “Has she managed to not be such a shit about nerdy girls who like sci-fi?”
“Oh god, I don’t know,” Steph groaned. “Some days, sh…he surprises me with his unexpectedly accepting attitude towards trans people- and while I know we had nothing on him to suggest that wouldn’t be the case, it was basically what all of us expected from him with his attitude towards women being the way it is- and then the next he’s sending me messages complaining that Christine confuses him because she apparently meets his very strict criteria for being a “real nerd”. She’s been telling me that, despite him talking a big game about how nerdy he is, he actually has a lot of misconceptions and knowledge gaps even about his favourite show.”
“Huh. Do you think he knows about Lucille Ball?” mused Ellen. “Because if he’s genuinely all like “hurr durr, women can’t like Star Trek”, he probably doesn’t know that it was a woman who saved Star Trek from being cancelled before it ever aired.”
“…hang on what???” Steph asked incredulously. “There’s no way that can be true. You’re telling me that his favourite show’s existence is predicated on a woman liking it??”
“Uh…yeah?” Ellen responded. “My brother, last I saw him, would not shut up about Star Trek. He was basically Alan, except apparently Alan doesn’t know half as much as even my annoying-ass kid brother. Anyway, here’s what I know. Lucille Ball was some sort of big-name sitcom actress in the 50’s. She founded her own movie and television studio, who backed Gene Roddenberry when he came to them with the pitch for what became Star Trek. While all the male executives hated the first pilot, Lucille Ball thought it was promising, and gave Roddenberry a second chance when the other executives wanted to cancel the show. Without her, Star Trek would literally not exist. My brother had a picture of her framed on his bedroom wall; called her the ‘mother of Star Trek fandom’”.
“…Ellen, you’re a fucking genius,” Steph said gleefully. “You just gave me the lever I was looking for. Now, let’s leave Alan aside for now. I want to see how you’ve been coming along with your voice training…”
Stardate -295.9375 – Programme Day Seventy
I stood in front of the mirror, brushing my teeth and running my hand across my surprisingly smooth chin. I hadn’t needed to shave since three weeks after I got here, and I was beginning to suspect that it wasn’t just the dietary change like Ewan was convinced our body issues were being caused by. Katsuro seemed to be decidedly unworried, and I wondered if he had been told something we hadn’t by Indira. The two of them were unusually close- everyone except Katsuro and Ted had infrequent contact with their sponsors, although Nessa was often gone for extended periods. Ted had talked about what Nessa had told him over lunch, and apparently she hadn’t revealed anything about the changes we’d been having, and had suggested that Ewan was probably right. Ted seemed to accept this at face value, but he was her twin brother, and I suspected he’d trust her if she told him the Nazis had gotten to the moon first and had a secret invasion fleet of dieselpunk flying saucers on the far side of the moon.
…God, that was an awful movie. At least that show Steph had given me had been fucking amazing. Who knew the guy who made Family Guy could do something so bloody awesome? Certainly the best Star Trek clone on the market, besides Galaxy Quest. And that one episode of Black Mirror with the...toxic...nerd...
...fuck, I was literally just Robert Daley, wasn't I? Christ, I was just as bad, even if I didn't put my co-workers brains inside a video game to torment them for not being nice to me. What was Dorley doing to me? I wouldn't have been able to admit that two months ago, that's for sure.
In any case, they’d mostly discussed what Nessa had been up to in the last four years. Apparently she had decided to stay at Dorley to complete her transition and also complete her degree, which she had since gotten. She had apparently been regretful that Ted didn’t manage to finish his degree, and told him she was sorry she never tried to track him down. She had confirmed that she had staked out their hidden stash in case he ever came back, and had been lucky enough to be out there when he came back to campus. She apparently had hated having to act like a stranger to him. That much I believed. The stuff about not knowing what was happening to us? I trusted that about as much as I’d trust Palpatine.
I walked back to my room, wondering if this might be some sort of cancer. Steph hadn’t shown up to talk to me for the entire day, so I’d probably have to talk about this tomorrow when I wasn’t feeling half asleep. I unlocked my door, and walked inside to find Steph sitting on my bed.
“Alan, I apologise for not catching you earlier. I had to attend a late lecture, and then I had some coursework to get finished. How was your day?”
I sat down on the bed next to her. “The usual. Ted was happy he got to formally reunite with Nessa after so long. Wouldn’t stop talking about how he’d have never seen her again if he didn’t get put down here. Beginning to think that I’m going just as crazy. This place doesn’t seem too bad after three months of confinement.”
“Good to hear,” Steph said encouragingly. “Hopefully you won’t be down here for much longer. Another nine months, and you’ll be freed. Now, you said you had a health concern to talk about. Are you feeling sick?”
“No,” I said nervously. “It’s a bit…uh…bizarre, to say the least. Steph, what would you say if I said that me and the other boys seem to be growing breasts? Please tell me that it’s just a reaction to our recent upgrade in food quality like Nessa and Ewan seem to think. Because otherwise, something fucky is going on, and I’d appreciate it if I could be less worried that I have some sort of cancer.”
“I…uh…wouldn’t worry about it,” said Steph, looking like she was being put on the spot. She clearly hadn’t expected this to come up now. But the way she looked, she was less surprised by the medical issue, and more surprised that I had willingly brought it up with her. She kept looking into my eyes, and frowning as if she expected this to be some sort of practical joke I was playing. “Probably just the weight thing, like Ewan said.”
“Steph, we haven’t talked much, but I can tell when someone is bullshitting me,” I responded, getting annoyed. “Look, if I’m going to cooperate with you girls and change my ways or whatever- something you all haven’t made exactly clear what the end goal of which is other than me being a better person- then I need to know if I’m going to drop dead of some sort of horrific disease, or if an alien creature is going to rip through my ribcage and slither off into the darkness to grow into a xenomorph.”
“So that’s what she was referencing!” Steph exclaimed, almost to herself. “Oh, sorry Alan, don’t worry. Someone else referenced Alien today, just figured out that was the reference I was half remembering.”
“…you know what? Not going to question that,” I responded, shaking my head. “Look, Steph, I’m too tired to really raise much of a fuss right now, but if you and the girls are hiding something, and there’s something happening to us that you’re not telling us, I think you should seriously consider telling us. Because sooner or later, one of the Dynamic Dirtbags- probably Danny, considering how morose Arthur has become in the last three months- is going notice the same changes as the rest of us, if they haven’t already. And they won’t be nearly as polite about how they react.”
“I’ll…Alan, just don’t worry about it,” Steph said firmly, getting up to leave. “Look, you’re tired, get some rest. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I watched as she left the room, and got up, turning around and pulling back my covers. I climbed under my sheets, and waited for the lights to dim for the night. When they finally did, I was surprisingly unwilling to go to sleep. Steph had seemed to be surprisingly evasive on the topic of our bodily changes. She was definitely hiding something, and this was definitely not an unexpected turn of events for the sponsors. To me, at this point, it felt like a storm was on the horizon, and it was about to start ripping apart the relative peace that had persisted in this concrete prison for the last two months. I didn’t know what would happen next, but I knew I’d probably not like it, whatever it was that Steph was so cagey about.
Also, seriously, she watched Alien, and didn’t remember the name of the film? Seriously??? That was somehow more bizarre and confusing than her reluctance to discuss my medical issues. I fell asleep, and proceeded to dream of chestbursters erupting out my nipples and performing ballet on my bare stomach as my blood showered down on top of them. Seriously, my dreams were getting fucking vivid in their weirdness.
“Steph, what do you need to discuss this late?” said Maria, yawning as she walked down into the security room, clad in a set of black flannel pyjamas. Steph patiently waited besides the security console, a recording of her discussion with Alan paused on one of the monitors. “Is there something up with Alan?”
“Maria, he’s beginning to figure it out,” Steph said, pressing play on the recording. “Listen to him. He’s suspicious, and so are the others, even if Ewan has managed to figure out a semi-plausible scenario which denies that anything is wrong, and Ted has agreed with it. I don’t think our insider can do much to keep them in the dark, and she’s already been doing a lot of work to that end while trying not to alert any of the more suspicious boys. Alan being the one to figure it out is, at the very least, reassuring- if not surprising- and suggests that his reaction will be within acceptable parameters, but we need to consider moving forwards to the next stage.”
Maria watched the recording, remaining silent as Alan voiced his concerns, laying out the situation with him and the others. Eventually, once the video had come to a halt, she nodded. “I’ll discuss this with Bea. She should still be awake at this point in the evening, paperwork being a complete bitch as usual. All things considered, this intake has been surprisingly passive, but we did have the fortune to have only three violence cases this year, of which one turned out to be the opposite of what we had thought. While I don’t expect with a hundred percent confidence that she’ll give permission, I’ll send a message to everyone tomorrow and arrange a meeting to discuss this. If we all think it’s the right time, tomorrow may be the day we tell them the truth.”
“Second disclosure then?”
“Assuming we get permission? Yes. They’re going to know what’s in store for them. And then we deal with the consequences. Go get some sleep, Steph. You’re going to need it. And charge your taser tonight. You’ll need it ready in case things go to shit.”
“Understood.”
Why do I get the feeling disclosure is gonna be a shitshow? Usually, they tell the intake this is the first time they're doing the whole feminization thing, but given what they all know about Nessa, there's no way anyone's buying that. They'll have to do the whole disclosure in one go.
It might not go that horribly for some. At this point, I think Ted would follow Nessa off a cliff without hesitation, and somehow, I don't think Katsuro will cause trouble. But Danny and Arthur? With their background? They should preemptively put them in the cells and disclose them separately.
Ted would definitely follow Nessa without hesitation. It's also entirely possible that both of them- back before Ned was taken- were eggs. At the very least, Ted isn't entirely sure he's not trans, referring back to the conversation with Alan where he asked some very specific questions.
Danny and Arthur are really the unknown variable here. While both of them are undoubtedly the most dangerous of the bunch, they're also taking the whole situation the hardest. I'm not sure I managed to convey this the best with their relative absence from this chapter and the fifth chapter having both a complete absense from Danny and Arthur's massive depressive episode (which I think I'd like to set up a bit better if I ever decide to go back and do some minor rewrites to the existing story, but I think is pretty understandable considering that he's a violent bigot who's been put in a situation where his usual outlet for his own insecurities- hurting others- has basically been rendered non-viable. Basically, he's wallowed in his own misery because he can't vent by hurting others without in turn being subjected to extreme pain of either the electroshock or baton-induced variety).
Basically, while Danny and Arthur may react the worst, it's also a situation which isn't exactly a powder keg like it might have been two months ago when they still had some level of bravado. Danny is also by far the most broken, and despite being a nazi, is also trying his best to move past that, even if his shitty politics and opinions get in the way.
In all honesty, I've had a hard time writing them the way I'd like to. I'm a pretty mild-mannered person, I'm extremely- and I mean the "I want to help create a future that's literally just a Star Trek utopia within my limited time on this planet" type- progressive, even when I was presenting male I was very much not the traditionally masculine sort of person, I don't enjoy violence, and I can't write the characters that well because their mindset is by far the most foreign to my experiences. I think I'd definitely like to go back through this story when I'm done and do some tinkering to try and make them a bit more believable, but I haven't gotten any complaints, so IDK. Maybe they work better than I, the author, think; and I'm just being overly critical of my own writing.
Oh? Ho ho ho! I had a feeling, but.. do we have an IMPOSTER in the intake?
10 bucks it's Katsuro.
KATSURO JA NAI. KATSURAAAAAAA DAAAAA
I don't think there's any point hiding it at this point; I've already admitted Katsuro is the feral trans girl. Or at least...he's the one we know of directly.
Interesting chapter!
I stood in front of the mirror, brushing my teeth and running my hand across my surprisingly smooth chin. I hadn’t needed to shave since three weeks after I got here, and I was beginning to suspect that it wasn’t just the dietary change like Ewan was convinced our body issues were being caused by.
Huh? Are they getting electro in their sleep now or something? Do the English have some kinda super-HRT that completely suppresses facial hair?
I mean, I know it can make facial hair grow slightly slower, but I still need to shave once a week or so, and that's barely less often than I did pre-e.