[for Layla]

[howmanylives]

If humans are particularly good at any one thing, it's adaptation. Give us enough time in any strange situation, and eventually we'll take it for granted that that's the way it's always been. On the Island, we're subject to all sorts of tricks and ploys designed to make our lives a living hell, but the longer you spend here, the more the unexpected seems commonplace.

That all said, I have to give it to the Island. Even with the life I've led, waking up as a woman?

Kind of jarring.

The first hint that something was off was that Richards growled at him when Jamie got up in the small hours of the morning to take a leak. The second hint was less subtle, when he opened his pants only to find he was missing a very valuable piece of equipment.

The ensuing scream could probably be heard across the Island.

Comments

[butterflyfactor]

It was sheer instinct that had Layla up and across the room and in the doorway. If Jamie had just been bitten someplace sensitive by a snake, they were going to have some problems.

She didn't see Jamie, though. She saw some tall woman in his pjs.

"What the hell is- wrong with my voice?" she asked, tone shifting mid-thought. She looked down at herself, hard to make out in the relative darkness, and experienced a moment of true white noise in her brain. It was sort of nice for how unusual it was. She then turned and went back into the bedroom to find a light and turn it on.

"Well," she muttered, looking over her extremely thirteen year old self, "this is happening."

[howmanylives]

Jamie spun around on the spot, and unable to process both what was happening to himself and, apparently, to his wife, he resorted to the classic stare and point, holding a quivering index finger in Layla's direction.

"You-- And me-- What."

[butterflyfactor]

"If I had to guess," Layla said, turning back to eye Jamie's classic freak out posture, "I would go with island weirdness. At least I'm me."

She pursed her lips for a moment, looking Jamie over.

"We're going to need to get you a bra."

[howmanylives]

Squawking, Jamie folded his arms over his chest to cover up anything incriminating.

"...first I need to pee."

It had lost a lot of its earlier appeal, but the body needed what the body needed, even if it was suddenly the wrong sex.

[butterflyfactor]

"Remember to sit down!" Layla suggested cheerfully, before going to clamber back into bed and have a moment of private concern.

"Richards," she said, holding out her hands, and scooped him into her lap when he hopped up onto the bedspread.

[howmanylives]

He grumbled a sarcastic thanks and began the delicate process of navigating the bathroom in an unfamiliar body. Reluctant to touch anything and in possession of a suddenly shy bladder, he emerged only some twenty minutes later, swimming in a dirty shirt that had been set aside for laundering. A faint blush still dusted his cheeks: he was a woman and his wife was a kid. This morning was already getting off to a stellar start.

Stopping in the center of the room, he took the executive decision to not climb back into bed, instead drawing out a chair to sit on, posture straight.

"So."

[butterflyfactor]

"So," Layla replied, "you're taking this well. Should I fetch the fainting sofa?"

She let Richards go so he could go nose curiously at Jamie. His tail started wagging.

[howmanylives]

"I am taking this well," Jamie countered. "I'm adjusting. Give me a second."

He leaned down to scratch Richards behind the ears, keeping a weary eye on Kid Layla.

"...I've never been a woman before. Lady Multiple Man? Multiple Woman?"