Thursday 29 November 2012

Tales From The Role Exchanger #1

Anyone that knows my work knows that I love Morpheus' Role Exchanger stories. 

For the uninitiated, the stories feature a blue glowy alien entity thing that just loves to swap traits of different humans to see how they react. For example, a prude and a dominatrix switch sexual morals, a teenager and a fortysomething can swap ages and of course there's the old favourite sex swapping. I love personality and mental changes and this really pushes my buttons.

I recently found a fourth Role Exchanger story so I thought I would share a couple of  extracts that really tickled my fancy. This latest story is set in an office block.

Disclaimer: I did not write this story. It is the copyright property of Morpheus and can be found in its entirety here: The Role Exchanger 4. If the writer sees this and would like it removed, please contact me.

Here's the first change:
Jenna stepped out of the office building for her mid-morning break,pausing to glance at her watch while calculating how long it would take to get to the coffee shop and back. She only had a limited amount of time for this after all.

At the same time, Jenna wondered if she could get some bagels for her office as well. Since she was the new girl who'd joined them straight out of college a couple months ago, it wouldn't hurt to butter up her coworkers a bit more with free food. So far the tactic had worked wonders when it came to making friends here.

For a brief moment, Jenna paused to glance back at the office building she'd just come out of. It was pretty large at five stories tall, the top two of which were occupied by the company she worked for. The rest of the space was leased by about a dozen other tenants, most of which Jenna knew little about except for their names. After a few seconds, Jenna continued towards the parking lot where her car awaited, walking past the smoking area as she did so.Unsurprisingly there were several people out there on their smoke breaks including her own coworker Diane.

Diane was about ten years older than Jenna and a mother of two. She'd also been something of a mentor to Jenna since she'd started working here. At the moment, Diane was talking to one of the other smokers with an unlit cigarette in one hand and a lighter in the other. She was about to light up when she noticed Jenna walking past. "Hey Jenna," Diane called to her. "Come on over here for a moment." Jenna scowled inside but it didn't actually reach her lips. She thought smoking was a filthy habit and absolutely hated the smell of the smoke so was not at all happy about going over to where the air was thick with it. However she didn't want to offend Diane so forced a smile and went over.

"Have you started on the Sherman project yet?" Diane asked Jenna who shook her head no. "I just wanted to give you a heads up. Sherman is very particular and has a few quirks..."

"Not yet," Jenna responded with a polite smile. "I was about to start that one when I got back from break."

Just then, Jenna caught a flicker of some blue glow from the corner of her eye. She quickly turned to look for the source but didn't see anything there. Diane appeared to have noticed it as well since she was looking in the same direction.

Jenna shook her head and then turned her attention back to the topic at hand. She'd barely started talking about the Sherman project when she found herself staring at the cigarette in Diane's hand and wanting one. Jenna had never wanted a cigarette before in her life, but for some reason, she wanted one now didn't really feel bothered by this. "Can I bum one of those off you?" Jenna asked, feeling only a little self-conscious.

Diane gave Jenna a look of surprise, but wordlessly held out her pack of cigarettes. Jenna took one of the cigarettes out and then casually lit it and took a drag. It went down easily and didn't taste nearly as bad as she'd expected. She blew the smoke out to the side, feeling oddly comforted. In fact, this didn't feel at all strange or nasty to her.It felt almost like a comfortable old habit. She took another drag,barely noticing that Diane was wincing and backing away slightly or that she was dropping her own cigarette to the ground with a look of disgust.

"I need to get going," Jenna told Diane. "I still have to go get my coffee. We can talk about the project more when I get back." With that Jenna turned and continued the walk to her car, taking another drag of her cigarette and musing that this wasn't nearly as bad as she'd always thought. In fact she found smoking to be rather pleasant and calming. She could easily see doing this more often. By the time she reached her car, she decided that she'd need to make a quick stop at the store so she could buy her own pack.

Now, this strikes a chord with me because smoking is something that I have never taken up. Nobody in my close family really smokes and I was put off it at an early age. I nearly tried it in college but I was put off mainly because I was afraid I would look like an idiot, having never physically taken a drag before. So for smoking to become like a comfortable old habit to someone who is slightly anti it is quite a delicious idea.

I feel much like Jenna in this scenario and I love that she also gains some of Diane's confidence.

I'm not that anti smoking but I don't like a lot of it around me. A lot of my friends smoked in college and I would often go outside with them mainly to talk and avoid being left in the classroom all alone. Plus there was also a girl I really liked who smoked, unsurprisingly.

Back with another extract soon.

Thursday 22 November 2012

Harry Potter Cosplay #2

Well, overall my weekend was full of ups and downs but despite initial nervousness I loved dressing up again. 

My weekend didn't get off to a good start really. This time I decided to try shaving my legs again. Now, I normally use an electric razor for all my shaving needs because I'm the type of person that would doubtless end up hacking chunks out of my face if I used the traditional kind. The electric razor does take a while now (not that it's a proper Ladyshave or something like that) so I decided to give the traditional kind a shot to see if it would do a better job. I ended up cutting my thumb while trying to clean some hairs from it and at the time it looked quite bad but after a few days it cleared up and I'm left with a tiny scratch now. Luckily my lift arrived and verified that it didn't warrant a visit to the hospital. All through the journey I was wondering why one side of my body seemed colder than the rest then I realised that it was because I had one leg shaved. 

I did the other one a day or so later. My costume didn't change apart from adding a couple of bracelets and swapping my black shoes for my trainers but I did feel comfortable in it perhaps due to the combination of my usual clothes and the new stuff. I got a lot of compliments though especially with my star tights so at least that's all good. At least I wasn't the only person doing that costume so I felt less nervous than usual. 

I think that's all I would like really, the freedom to wear a skirt and tights or a dress if I wished. I'm happy with my body though and doubt I would want to go as far as a wig, breastforms and make-up. I'm a lazy bitch and doubt I could keep up that level of maintenance anyway.  

Wednesday 21 November 2012

25 Caps of Christmas

Hey everyone, just a quick post regarding an offer I'm running over at Rachel's Haven.

Last year I ran the '25 Caps of Christmas' thread which was like a kind of capping advent calender and I've just restarted it today. The idea is that a different capper posts a Christmas cap in the thread every day.

So if you're on the Haven and would like to contribute please have a gander over here:  25 Caps of Christmas

The original thread can be found here: 25 Caps of Christmas 2011 if you want to read some damn fine turkey day related TG amusement.

Here's a taster from last year:

Christmas Office Party (2011)

Friday 16 November 2012

Harry Potter Cosplay

Well, not exactly Harry Potter, that wouldn't be any fun at all now would it.

A couple of months ago (I think) I mentioned a Harry Potter themed cosplay and it will be happening at some point this weekend as I'm going on holiday with my friends. It started off as a loose theme of everyone dressing up as students from Hufflepuff house but a secret theme has been added: school age Nymphadora Tonks (both guys and gals). I gave it some consideration and decided to make a go of it and have spent the last couple of weeks putting a costume together. I tried it on last night and although I'm not as pleased as I was with my Amy Pond outfit, it still looked good. Speaking of Doctor Who, I'm going to another convention in December and am trying to decide what, if anything, I could do for that.

So I basically have a white shirt (normal workwear sort), pleated grey skirt, black and yellow striped socks, tights with stars on, black jumper, Hufflepuff tie and scarf. Oh, and a really cheap wand. I also bought a purple wig and wigs are something I have been thinking about a lot recently. Now, I did see a really nice layered purple one but I eschewed it for a cheaper one. Maybe I should have got the better quality but I guess I thought that would be going too far. Once again I feel very self conscious which I guess relates back to what I said in an earlier post, the average man either feels embarrassed and refuses to dress or goes at it with gusto. The crossdresser grabs every opportunity to dress but I would bet a good portion share my fear of looking like they are enjoying it too much or having their secret exposed.

I wonder if I was asked to participate because my friend wanted to feel better about crossplaying himself or maybe he thought I would enjoy it. I'm not sure which I believe or which I would prefer to be true. At the same time I fear being mocked, even light teasing really gets to me. I've played the fool too many times.

I am wishing I had bought more accessories now.

I guess I'll find out in a few days time.

Wednesday 7 November 2012

Fashionista #3


Ok, so...

Remember last time I mentioned studs and spikes? Well this is now officially A Thing. Little studs and spikes are now adorning the shoulders of jackets, handbags and shoes as women are trying to look that little bit more badass and teen-emo punk.
Studded shoes

Studded Jacket
One little twist to this is also the jewelled collar on that Noughties favourite the sheer blouse. Notice on the picture below that the blouse is also tucked into the skirt. This is another little thing that has now become popular. The free flowing shirt or top is gone and the future is tucked shirts with skirts riding a bit higher up the waist.

Tucked and Bejewelled

Patterned tights are in mainly with hipsters and geeks but are slowly creeping into the mainstream. Leggings with floral patterns are in especially with matching jackets.





Patterned Tights and Leggings
Speaking of jackets, Superdry Japan are out and this years essential jacket is quilted. It seems that the Sloane Ranger look may be about to make a comeback. Ok, yah!

Quilted Jacket

Staying with jackets, this is more men than woman but it's now becoming fashionable to have the collar of your overcoat turned up and some colour underneath. Can't really find the right picture to illustrate this one.

Sticking with comebacks, the military look may be on the rise again. This is one look that keeps emerging and it's understandable considering the times we live in. The military look, green shirts and khakis, was quite popular in the 1970s following the Vietnam War and let's not forget that one of the biggest and most durable fashion items is military in origin: the T-shirt. US Veterans started wearing them casually after World War II and they really caught on in the 1950s. The last time it came around was in the late 1990s and I doubt I will forget the cargo trousers and multicoloured khakis that adorned market stalls everywhere as I was in my late teens.

In the Army Now

To finish off, one item I'm seeing more of is the dress or jacket and skirt combo with the frill in the middle. A tight dress with a frill looks sexy, stylish and professional. A 21st century version of 1980s power dressing.

Fantastic Frills!
 That's all for now. Ciao!