Peaking through the translucent periwinkle curtains, the beautiful morning sun shone its bright, warm rays into the relatively clean bedroom. Even though the light hit the eyelids of sleeping beauty, he only awoke at the rectangular device blasting harsh dissonant notes into his small ears. A singular dainty hand slapped against the grey bedside table, missing the device a few times before he was able to retrieve it, held securely in his soft palm.
Sitting up on the side of the full sized bed, the one hand holding onto the phone clicked away at the dimmed display, deactivating the screeching sound. Stretching both lean arms above his thin, light blue hair, a soft and light yawn fell from his thin lips. Rubbing his eyes, his bright blue irides revealed themselves to the world once again, looking around the quaint boudoir.
"Good Morning New Bangkok."
The corner of his lips curled upwards at the small joke. No matter how many times he said it, the simple opening statement of the most popular news radio station would never fail to amuse him. Tossing his phone off to the side, the room filled with a pleasant melody full of smooth bass lines and an upbeat electric guitar leading the entire song. Humming along to the funk song, the doors to a walk-in closet swung wide open, unveiling a collection that would make most girls his age drool.
"...And a coat this time, not making that mistake again!"
Before the doors to the light clothing vault closed, he made sure to pull his signature pair of white opera gloves off of one of the many hooks inside. Pausing in the middle of the carpet, he took care in covering his soft and flawless hands, the cloth hugging each and every appendage as if it was fitted perfectly to fit.
"Man, I don't think I'll ever get used to this."
Staring at his own reflection was always such a weird, almost out of body experience. The light blue eyes in the full sized mirror held its own gaze, but at the same time, matched up with his own. When he moved his arm, the echo inside the glass responded in kind, and when he spoke at it, the thin lips showed movement right back at him. He knew it was him that he was seeing, but it certainly didn't feel like it.
From the outside, his entire wardrobe sat in the same spots of his organized closet, completely untouched by the virus. Theoretically, no matter how effeminate his face got, he would still have his clothing to laugh in the face of the bug, but it seems he underestimated just how powerful the system was. When the garments were sitting in the closet, it never looked like they were anything special at all. Once they were actually worn by him, the system took over and adapted them to fit the new feminine frame it generated for him.
"Can't deny, I do look pretty good though."
The fur coat he owned for so long finally felt fresh again, adapting to the smaller frame. It went from a slightly oversized, bulky top piece to something that looked like it could've starred on the next big fashion trend. Additionally, the color gained a hint of baby blue from the original white, now able to match the color of his new, incredibly soft hair that cascaded down to his lower back.
"I'm surprised my bug didn't give me a chest."
Tapping across his torso a few times, he let out a sigh of relief. Of course it didn't, the rebuilt frame the virus gave him was anatomically accurate as little as a body needed to be to be still classified as biologically male. He himself knew a couple people where this system flaw would've been a blessing to them.
"I suppose that's why it's given to a cis person."
Dropping the straight and soft strands of hair back into his face's frame, he finally looked away from the very visage causing him such anguish. Feeling so disconnected from his body was a sensation he wouldn't wish on his worst enemy, if he had one, and it wasn't even the biggest drawback of his Gender Bend bug. The way it affected everybody else around him was extraordinarily draining on his mental state, especially when they weren't as open. His family was fortunate enough to not be affected with the virus themselves, but it really hindered their levels of understanding of each other.
Exiting the quaint bedroom and strolling down the simple hallway, he almost made it out of the front door with no issues. Taking a loop adorned with a couple of cards off of a hook near the exit, he dropped them into his coat pocket as he opened up the foyer to the rest of the world.
"Oh, hey Lillith! Heading out so soon?
Standing on the front porch a few steps away from the entrance, a slightly older woman holding her own set of multicolored plastic cards met him head on. Even though her other hand was holding a tote bag's handles, she still raised it up to head level as if to wave. His own periwinkle eyes rolled at her greeting, shoulders slumping down.
I've told you so many times, it's Cipher.
"Yeah, late morning shift at the cafe today. Sorry sis, I know you wanted to try out that new cafe together. Cory Ander's, was it?"
"Aw, it's quite alright, you can't help it. Good luck at work sis! Oh, and bring me home one of those new cake pops!"
I'm your brother, Sylvia… two months ago it was no issue.
"Of course, of course! You know I will. See ya!"
With a bright smile stretching across his small face, he slipped past his elder sister whilst waving a halfhearted goodbye. Hearing the door close behind, the smile instantly dropped into an annoyed frown. Dealing with his rather upsetting family members always put a damper on his mood, and today was no different, especially since she almost made the entire morning without having to hear any of it. They certainly loved him as a child and sibling, but not who he actually was.
Drawing the phone from his pocket once more, he gave a couple inputs on the screen prompts before moving to wait on the sidewalk of the neighborhood street. Just a few moments later, a sleek, low to the ground vehicle drove around the street corner and parked right in front of him, driver side matching up with his position. The door swung open with an upbeat two toned chime to a matching black interior with a periwinkle trim smelling of fresh leather.
I wonder if the bug manifested because of my family's ignorance, or merely was the cause of it.
Slipping behind the elevated steering wheel of the two door blacked out coupe, his gloved white hands gripped onto the steering wheel. Registering its owner's presence in the driver's seat, the automobile automatically shut the door and the electric triplet motor hummed to life. Reaching into the center with his left hand, he pressed a couple buttons, and soon, the expensive sound system was drowning out the low purr of his personal transport.
"Good Morning New Bangkok!"
A simple grin curled up from his pale pink lips, the announcer's tone and volume never failed to amuse her in these mornings. It was nice knowing that somewhere out there, somebody had that much energy in the morning to take on the day. Today's readout was particularly interesting too, it wasn't often they had such a large amount of police officer deaths in one night, especially one that he wasn't expecting. An uneasy feeling welled up in the bottom of his stomach. Something told him he would be finding out the cause very soon.
The ride to the coffee shop was uninterrupted and as smooth as real butter, the vehicle was as high performance as ever. Normally, he would've never jumped for something so opulent, but Serafin insisted on something nice and high quality, and he secretly loved driving the supercar. He was happy enough to reap the benefits from all of the quality of life features too, stretching his arms above his head as the door automatically closed behind him. The car sped off a few moments later, driving around the block and out of sight.
"I wonder how Kanashima's doing… She's been gone for a while."
Turning down one of the many back alleyways that lead to the store's rear, he continued to hum the same upbeat tune to himself, skipping down the concrete and brick corridor. Reaching the back employee entrance, white gloved fingers wrapped around the handle and dropped it downward, the door popping out of the metal frame. Taking one last peek at the immediate surroundings before going in, he was about to drag his second foot in until he saw a clump of fallen hair, definitely out of place in the normally clean alley.
"Holy fucking shit, you're kidding."
The body downed and unconscious at his feet was bruised, cut, and marred everywhere there was skin showing, no doubt just as, if not, worse under the old designer clothes. Hands and all of the white trims of her gothic clothing were stained red with dried blood, almost matching the aesthetic just as well as Adrienne might've intended. The arms were somehow even thinner than his own, evident signs of malnourishment across her entire form rather than an agile, lean build. One look at the bloody, sleeping face was all Cipher needed to know what was going on.
"Let's get you inside girl, oh my God."
Looping both arms under the frail shoulders, he lifted her up with his legs, leaning her back against his torso. Slamming his foot into the back door, somebody had to be in the locker room to hear the awful version of a knock and let him in at this time. Waiting a few moments, he was about to kick again when the alloy door opened up once more.
"You have a key, what the hell are you… oh my God, Kanashima!"
Taking the body from him into her own, much larger arms, Serafin carried the sleeping form of Kanashima in a bridal carry, taking her all the way to the small employee break room. Laying her down on the couch, she opened up one of the closets and procured a blanket, dropping it over her downed employee.
"Run a quick diagnosis. Mirren's still out of town so we'll have to recall her. After that, get in the front."
"Okay! Will do!"
Placing the top of his clothed middle finger into his mouth, he bit down on just the fabric, pulling the long glove off in one smooth motion. Just like he did the week and change ago in Serafin's living room, he dug under his wrist skin flap, extending his own cable before taking the unconscious hand, and plugging himself into her own wrist. Pushing a little bit of his own, blue electrons, he found her singed circuits and biological organs, wincing at the disaster of internal damages.
"At least she figured out how to use something."
Scarlet red lines flooded his eyesight after he pushed just a tiny bit more energy through. With how hurt and damaged her system was, he was careful not to overload it with his own, causing permanent damage to an otherwise helpless girl was not something he was into.
[Identity: Kanashima Belladonna.]
[Vitals: Stabilized, no longer life threatening. Treatment recommended.]
[Blood levels critical. Blood pressure low. Blood sugar low. Torn muscles in left shoulder, regenerative intrinsic required. Burnt internals, not likely fatal]
[Battery level: 12%]
[Ailments: Diminished Charge, Exhausted, Mental Fatigue, Restless, Seared. ]
[Additional Illness: Null]
[Additional Injury: Several minor cuts and external bruises. A few bruised ribs. Internal bleeding near the abdomen. Internal bleeding near the liver. Bruised liver. Swollen appendix…]
[Next Page ->]
His blue eyes widened at the readout from the simple, but extensive diagnosis. There were always horror stories about people returning from their first simulation battered to hell and miraculously still holding on, but he never expected to see the extent of damage with his own eyes, or rather, his own Intrinsic.
Dismissing the informative panel without bothering to take a peek at the second page or expanding the already horrific injury description, he took a seat in one of the small lounge chairs across from the couch. The state of her body was incredible, she must have some sort of insane, harrowing story from the wastelands of the simulacrum, or maybe even some feats of badassery she can recant at the dinner table for everybody once this was all over. However she ended up in that state was a mystery, but how she managed to make it all the way back to the cafe like that was beyond any expectation Cipher had.
"Seems like Serafin found somebody incredible. Hard to believe it's her over Morgan."
Reaching back into the closet, a small package of wet wipes were still stored in there from the last staff party, almost full. Taking several out at a time, he pulled down the blanket and began to wipe the dried blood off of her skin. Even if it was just a little bit removed, it was good enough for him that she was at least a little bit cleaner.
Finishing up on the only exposed parts of her body, he tossed the used up wipes into the trash. There wasn't much more he could do to help her now, and his boss did give him a directive afterwards. With one step out of the door, he was stopped in his tracks by a shaky, roughed up voice.
"An awful sister."
Huh? What was that?
Looking back, one of her gunmetal grey eyes fluttered in the artificial light of the break room, trying their best to adjust to the new environment. Her entire fatigued form twitched in place, begging for some sort of help or respite from the pain.
"Holy shit, Sera, she's awake!"