Fairies, Dragons, And Elves Oh My! free porn video

My hair streamed behind me and my gossamer wings fluttered in the slipstream as I hitched a flight from Bahadur Azi Dahaka, dragon warrior of the Mountains of the Summer Snows. Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction and any resemblance to real people or events is unintentional. Transgender themes and other mature themes are included within. If you would be offended by these, please don't continue! I, the author, reserve the right repost this work. As always, I am very aware of the wonderful group of proofers that take my rough- hewn ideas and sand it smooth, turning it into a readable story, thank you Hope, Janet, and Paula. Special thanks to Holly who although she was very busy took the time to look over this for me. There may still be errors in the following but they are mine as I am still learning how to send and receive documents in different formats. Fairies, Dragons, and Elves Oh My! By Grover My hair streamed behind me and my gossamer wings fluttered in the slipstream as I hitched a flight from Bahadur Azi Dahaka, dragon warrior of the Mountains of the Summer Snows. Perched precariously on the snout of my huge scaly companion, I squealed in delight as he playfully rolled on to his back as he dove though the clouds beneath us towards the forest of Baron Gillespie. I could feel Azi's rumble of delight as he left vapor trail vortices in his wake. I felt the tingles when he invoked a spell and his velocity suddenly doubled. Needless to say, all the stimuli were delightfully pleasant on various areas of my fairy avatar. Working my VeMotion display, I zoomed out from first person to the "chase view." Using my input gloves, I selected properties to save the sequence for my desktop and screensaver. Another deft movement and I was back in first person as Azi pulled some healthy Gs (G-forces/ acceleration from gravity) as he flashed over the treetops. God! I love flying! The baron's eagle riders quickly grew from specks to armed warriors as Azi demonstrated that as fearsome as they were; a match for him, they were not. It was his way of keeping the uneasy truce between the baron's riders and himself. If it came down to a fight, he wanted them rattled, knowing they would be facing a fearsome opponent. Blinking urgently in the corner of my visor was a not so subtle sign the rest of my fellow adventurers was growing impatient. Smeg! Can't they just let a girl and her dragon have a little fun? Noting that Bob, our multi-talented producer, hadn't sent out his "Hey let's move along" prompt, meant that he was still getting some great set up scenes for our web-cast. We were very lucky to have Bob as our producer, director, and everything else guy. He had a very real gift with computers and the AM's (Artificial Morons) which let him pull live sequences from my fellow players as we played "Dragon's Gate: At Swords Point" MMOG (Multi-Player Massive On-line Game). AM's had made computing easier, but the super-smart AI (Artificial Intelligences) from science-fiction was still a dream. Don't get me wrong! AM's are great because they can follow verbal directions, but idiot savants are still idiots! It takes a special person to act as a conductor for a group of AM's and Bob, as our ratings proved, was one of the best in the business, for all that he had been an unknown before we managed to find him. I was tempted to continue "hogging" the spotlight, but Azi was already winging it back to meet the rest of the guys. Sighing, I reflected that my scaly friend had a better sense of preserving the peace among our party than I. *** I'm often asked in the forums how Azi and I got involved in web 'casting, and how we had such cool avatars for our characters. In truth, it was all luck! We made a great team and were very high on the board of top players. A friend of a friend got us mentioned to the company's advertising and once we found Bob to produce, the rest was history. Oh, our avatars? Well in the old days they were just generic looking figures called sprites by programmers. With the increase of processing power and by using motion mapping programs somewhat like those used by the movie "Polar Express," an advanced web-camera can make your game character seem to speak and have facial expressions. This advancement made playing a lot more fun, and also made it a lot more interesting to watch. With the sponsorship of the company and other advertisers, we could afford to have our tech guru, Bob, design graphics for our sprites that specialized our avatars for us, making us even more one of a kind than the customizing program that came with the "Dragon's Gate" game. *** Leaning out from Azi's snout, I shouted out, "Adventurers, HO!" Down below I could see our impatiently waiting group. There was Galidor Neharma, our elfin ranger with that smegging bow of his that I disliked so much. Next to the tall ironwood mail clad elf was Danar, the war- mage, with his gryphon in full battle regalia. Dressed in leathers so he could still cast spells, the human made a startling contrast to the priestess, Rain. With her loose robes and rainbow colored scarves, her lack of weapons might have made her seem harmless. Rain didn't need weapons or armor, for devotees of the Storm Goddess were weapons, as many unfortunates had learned to their woe. Dwarfing everyone else Balthazar, the half-ogre paladin to the God of War, sat astride his mammoth dire-horn mount. The huge unicorn-like dire-horn, with its ivory plates trimmed and polished, gleamed in disparity with the paladin's lacquered blood red Gothic armor. Lastly, there's me! Crystal the extraordinary! Fairy sorceress, spy, and friend of dragons, but right now, rebel against Duke Ironforge. Standing only a foot high, I am a mistress of magic, and an agent of the Lost Prince Charlie. Outfitted in enchanted silks from far Cathay and bearing a sliver of the broken enchanted Sword of Kings, re-forged by dragon's fire into a blade fit for my hand, called "Fang," I am a formidable foe in spite of my stature. If you think that our group sounds a little "over the top" you'll be right! That's what has made "Dragon's Gate" one of the most popular MMOG on the web. *** After our traditional greetings, we went to the grove where it had been arranged for us to meet with the dear baron. It had taken me weeks to convince him to ally with us against Duke Ironforge. Officially, it would be Balthazar who would sign the treaty in the name of the Lost Prince, but Azi and I were the ones who made it happen. Well maybe "forgetful" might the better title for the prince, since Duke Ironforge'd had his court wizard cast a spell of forgetfulness on the young prince when he overthrew the king. Wanting to keep the prince "on ice", as it were, harmless but near at hand, the duke had used him as a stable boy at one of his estates. However, fate intervened and the lost prince recovered his memory thanks to a certain fairy sorceress. Hey, it makes a better story and sells more expansions, (Game Expansion Modules), raising the price of the stock for the stockholders! The twist here was, as spy-mistress, I knew the baron had also been entertaining representatives of the duke. The possibility of betrayal was high, and all of us had enemies who would cheerful collect the high bounties on our heads, for our heads! At first, all was going well until our dear ranger fired an arrow into the baron's captain of guards. I don't know how Galidor got his hands on that smegging bow and all of the enchantments on it, but it never misses. Why game administration lets him keep it, is beyond me. Just because I've heard similar complaints about my "Fang", is beside the point. Bare steel was drawn and to quote the Bard, 'Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!' Balthazar's black blade left a trail of gore behind him, while Azi and Danar dueled with the baron's eagle riders with fire and steel above. Rain sang lightning bolts from the suddenly stormy skies, causing much chaos among the metal clad knights. Galidor's bow sang as soldier after soldier fell to his deadly aim, and I drew my saber patterned "Fang." Flying in a mad charge into the makeshift formation of soldiers, I slashed though their armor as if it was naught but cloth. Soon, what had been a defensive formation fell apart, as they tried to defend themselves from my wickedly dangerous little "Fang." The baron's shattered forces retreated, dragging the wounded guard captain behind them, while above the eagle riders flew for their lives from Rain's storm as well as away from Azi and Darius. I don't believe that treachery had been intended, because if it was, the baron would have been better prepared against foes of our caliber. We have enemies that would have paid him for a chance at us. Apolla, the golden dragon for one, has a standing offer of a ton of gold bullion for Azi's and my hides. Who would've thought that she would have taken the loss of her hoard so personally? As high level as we are, the baron had no chance against us with the forces he had arrayed against us here. What sucked, was the long term consequences of what Galidor did by breaking the truce. The odds of our getting cooperation from the other nobles were now practically nil. It didn't help that Galidor annoyed the crap out me! Whoever his player was, had milked the rules for every advantage he could find and then made up some new ones. Everyone wants to have a smegging powerful character, but please, some restraint! On top of that, he must have Attention Deficient Syndrome, because if he doesn't have something to do, Galidor starts something, usually trouble. I don't care if his polls with viewers say he is almost as popular as Azi and I! We had worked hard for this alliance, and now it, along with a good part of the baron's troops, lay bleeding on the ground! It's just as well I don't know who was playing Galidor, because if I did, I would do something he would regret. Alas, like MMOGs from the past like Worlds of Warcraft and Everquest, I had no idea who he was, or even if Galidor was a he. The advent of newer technology allowed higher bandwidths, making games like Dragon's Gate with inductors possible, which overshadowed the older games. Inductors? Where have you people been? Ok, inductors are electronic "pads," usually attached to video-glasses on your temples, that let you feel sensations from the game, a little like those force-back devices from the old days that would shake and rattle in reaction to game situations. High end ones like mine will even let you smell and taste, along with touch. The intensity of the experience is very low and even violent blows feels like you are just being touched firmly. There is only so much sensation the pads can safely generate. For more, you need to have interface implants that, while they aren't experimental anymore, take some serious moolah. They can make you feel full sensory feedback, but of course they have all sorts of safety thresholds. I mean, who wants to become a "wire-head", addicted to a button for pleasure? *** Together with the new technology, Dragons Gate was about as close as you could come to the old concept of Virtual Reality. It had a huge following and this hadn't escaped big business. There was money to be made, and what started life off as innocent as a web-'cast just for fun soon attracted advertisers and sponsors. Like all such efforts, some were hilarious because they were trying to be serious, while others were actually pretty smegging good. Big stars we weren't by any means, but the extra bucks from our sponsors and promotional gimmicks help keep my equipment first rate with the latest game expansions, and let me put some aside as well. I suppose I could have hit the professional gamers' circuit pioneered by legends like Faltil1ty and Lee Ji-Hun, but this way I get to keep my anonymity. You see, Crystal, my fairy folk character, is very obviously female and I am not. Nope, born male and pardon to all the gents out there, not very happy about it. It wasn't till I started playing female characters that I noticed how much happier and relaxed I was portraying myself as a woman. It didn't happen overnight but eventually I came to accept that Mrs. Smith's little boy would rather be Mrs. Smith's little girl. However Mrs. Smith, my mom, wasn't so thrilled with the news and the rest of my family didn't deal with it very well either. Along with my love of flying, it made me a pariah. Everyone else in my family has this horrid fear of heights and why I was different, I can't begin to tell you. Maybe it was looking up out of my window at night at the dustings of stars and imagining the freedom of being among them. That was one reason, among many, that prompted my move from my birthplace in the Deep South to sunny California. If you want to know more, look it up on the web under transgender. We have a lot of other stuff to cover. Needless to say, I really didn't want every Tom, Dick, and Harriet to rub my nose in my uniqueness, not yet, anyways. That's why a part of every check goes to my special account reserved for my nanotech transformation. Yep, Nano-technology the miracle machines of science fiction. The very tiny robots called nanites, or nanos for short, can take apart and build things at the cellular level or even smaller. Billions of them working together can change the world, accomplishing projects that would take us weeks or months, in just a few hours. I mean, sure, Sri Lanka had scared the smeg out of everyone. The whole world, courtesy of CNN, watched the nano-plague the press called the "Devourer" spread across the Asian island. But nanites are a genie that can't be stuffed back into its bottle. Watching it, many doomsday pessimists warned of the tiny machines tearing everything apart and building more of themselves in a kind of perpetual motion machine that would result in what they called the Gray Ooze prophecy, leaving Earth as a lifeless ball of nanites continually eating each other. Well that didn't happen. It twisted, half-melted and warped everything it touched, so mostly it was just a horrible way to die. I do mean everything, too, from the rocks to the tops of the trees and all in between. Barely a half-percent of the population survived, most with crippling injuries and a very few with astounding talents. India and Pakistan both had nuclear weapons, and a blind woman could see that fear was pushing them into using them to "cleanse" Sri Lanka before the "Devourer" got into the Indian Ocean biosphere. Knowing that the weapons India and Pakistan had were of the "dirty" variety, the Western World, led by the United States, volunteered to use the cleanest possible "devices" they had to do the job. I know, in afterthought, everyone is always saying that we didn't have to use the nukes. After all, a blast of high-magnetism would have done the job just as well, but when the whole world was scared shitless, you figure the odds. Today's nano docs can do a lot more than the old surgical procedures could even dream. Still, there are limits to what they can do. While they can build a womb, and uterus, they can't make eggs. I will be able to bear children but will need have to have an egg donor, and it'll need to be implanted. Sold! What hasn't changed from the traditional procedures, is the cost. I needed every penny I could scrounge, and that meant working a "day" job and my moonlighting hobby of web-casting. California is a lot more tolerant than where I grew up, but after considering how my family reacted, I decided why chance it? *** I was reading Bob's notes as they scrolled across the bottom of my vision in the chat box. "Hello, Beautiful, don't chew up Galidor too badly because we need him for Wednesday's 'cast." Like a good girl, I promised Bob that I wouldn't bitch too much at our ranger. He just knew me too well, sometimes. That didn't stop me from starting an angry chat with Galidor about his uncalled for attack on the baron's captain. I know that Bob had good reasons for wanting him in the 'cast' but I'd worked hard on that treaty! I signed off in the middle of his reply. Hey, I know I was being a bitch, but I do it so well! Not only that, but some of us have to work mornings, and I need to have my five hours of sleep to fake being awake. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. *** Silicon Valley has grown and shrunk in cycles, and now, with nanotech taking off and stocks doubling every couple months, the valley was once more booming. With the astronomical costs of living in the valley, I was renting a trailer that at least gave a little privacy. I bet you're waiting for me to tell you that I'm a programmer, or a developer of some sort. No such luck, jokers. I work in a warehouse in inventory control. I walk around all day long with my handheld computer tracker, double checking orders and inventory. If I see a trend of items getting depleted that the computers missed I forward it up to the front office. Really exciting? No. Does it pay the bills? Yes. Can be done while half-asleep? You betcha! "Hey, Tex," shouted one of my co-workers, Frank. One of my burdens of being from the Deep South and living in California was if you have a southern drawl, somehow that means you're from Texas. Frank started working here a few months ago after leaving the Navy, and once he discovered that I played Dragon's Gate, he decided that made us buddies or something. I don't know which is worse, him badgering me to reveal my avatar's name to him, or his unknowing critiques of my performance in the 'cast'. Now, I'm not about to tell him any of that, so I'm left with biting my tongue. Add to it that he is always going on about how "HOT" the chick playing Crystal must be, and it just gets to be too much sometimes, sister! *** So how popular is Dragon's Gate? Back in the old days when the expansion "Burning Crusade" for Worlds of Warcraft came out, it broke all sorts of records for PC (Personnel Computer) games sold and for the number of people who missed work the next day. When "At Swords Point," the expansion for Dragon's Gate, was released it broke all of those records. I'm not saying everyone plays, but here in the valley, the day after the release it looked like someone had declared a holiday. *** "Tex, Galidor the Elf Lord says he's going to reveal Crystal the fairy's real identity on tomorrow's web-cast," Frank told me while I sat in the employee break room enjoying a cold soda. "What!?" I choked out spraying soda all over myself. Fortunately, Frank was clueless at the real reason for my distress, or he would've seen all the blood draining from my face in shock. Enjoying my discomfort, he went on. "On the forums this morning, Galidor posted, that he didn't have to put up with her little tantrums. He said that he'd been a secret admirer for sometime, but her bitching at him last night was enough." Leaving Frank gloating at causing me to make a mess, I went into the restroom to clean up and above all hide the shakes. I was more than a little upset at the possibility of being "outed". It was possible I could loose my job here, and my ratings for the 'cast' could drop. "Crystal's adventures" was my big money maker, and that ass Galidor could cause me to get booted from that, too, if the sponsors complained. Splashing water on my face, I did my best to compose myself and face more of Frank's excuse for humor. I bet someone is saying 'hey, it's just a game, right?' Let me tell you that back in the nineties, when people started killing each other over "items" that existed only in make-believe games, everyone thought that was strange. With more people playing and socializing on-line, on-line connected crimes became even more common. Yes, there had even been murders when some lunatic couldn't take it that their dream-lover didn't match the reality. So here is Galidor, who says he's a secret admirer and he's going to "out" me? Crap! The rest of the day sucked, because along with being short of sleep, now I was so nervous I could barely function. Once I got home, I emailed Bob about Galidor's threat, and doubled checked my intrusion software to make sure it hadn't been breached. My security looked good, but I upgraded my firewall anyways. With that done, I contracted Azi by chat and unloaded the day's problems onto him. He, being the good friend he had always been, cheerfully listened and lifted my spirits. We didn't know each other's actual identities, but we had been on-line gaming partners, it seemed like, forever. I guess it was just my being afraid of how he would react if he knew I was really a guy, so I had adopted a "don't ask, don't tell" policy. His friendship was one I valued very much, and if I was being a coward about telling him about myself, so be it. The next two days, I'm telling you sister, were not a lot fun. Frank was even more annoying than usual, and that is saying something. All he wanted to talk about was Galidor's threat to "Out" Crystal, and that was the last thing I wanted to think about, much less talk about. What did it take for Frank to get the hint that I don't want to be his friend? Wednesday night I was holding my breath, waiting for Galidor to make good his threat. Prior to the game I had a good talk with Azi that calmed my nerves somewhat, and I made it though the 'cast' okay. I think the worst part was that I couldn't enjoy the sensations of flight via my inductors very much, because I was so on edge. We got to the end of the 'cast and I was beginning to think I had managed to dodge the "bullet" that is until I got the nasty-gram. Galidor PM'ed me. In short, he knew that I was a guy and where I lived. That fact made him sick, and he would "fix" me, but good. I'm telling you sister, that the acid boiling away in my tummy almost made me throw up on the spot! I was going to copy and send a copy of that nasty-gram to Bob when the entire message ate itself! There simply wasn't a record that I had received a message at all. Having no proof that Galidor was threatening me with more than just bad words, I really couldn't complain to Bob about it. After taking a handful of antacids, I had no choice but to PM Galidor back and try to defuse this sorry mess. I politely pointed out that at no time had I ever intentionally misled anyone. I had gotten annoyed at him because of his actions; although I understood that he was just playing his character. Apologizing, I pointed out that it was in everyone's interest to just relax. The show's ratings were important to keep our sponsors happy and this dispute wasn't helping. 'Please, please let's not let our "dislike" of each other spoil the opportunities that our 'cast' program gives us.' With my fingers crossed I hit the send key. A little later I got a reply that said only "OK". I really didn't know if that was good or bad, but at least it seemed that he wasn't going to do something stupid, I hope! The next day at work once more I was greeted with the dreaded "Hey Tex" from Frank. "Have you seen the web-cast forums from last night?" Wearily I shook my head no, knowing that Frank would tell me in all of its gruesome glory the latest gossip. "Galidor posted late last night that he and Crystal had come to an understanding. He said she had apologized to him saying she had been a bitch and wanted to make it up to him. I wondered if she slept with him?" Frank said with a leer in his voice. I ran to the restroom, and locked myself in a stall while I alternated between wanting to kill both Galidor and Frank or just crying. I wasn't sure why I was so emotional, but it was probably just a combination of stress and not sleeping well. It said good things about my other co-workers, that they did notice that I was having a problem, and sent someone in to find out if I was alright. Hidden behind the stall door I told my more civilized co-worker that I had eaten something that didn't agree with me. I had gotten myself mostly together, but Jim, my supervisor, hunted me down to find out for himself how I was. It was good to know that I was valued enough for him to bother. Yeah, I shouldn't talk that way about myself, I know, but my self-esteem was taking a bit of a beating this week. Apparently I wasn't fooling anyone, as Jim took one look at me and told me that he would clear some "sick" time with the front office, and for me to go home and rest. I protested, but he made it clear to me that I would be getting some paid "sick" time, and he knew I hadn't used any of my "sick" or "vacation" days yet. Not being able to argue with his kindness, I gathered up my stuff and went home. Maybe I was coming down with something other than stress and the usual lack of sleep, because when I lay down, I slept for most of the rest of the day. When I got up, I knew that indeed, somehow I had caught a cold or something. My sinuses were stuffed and I had an itchy throat. Fixing some food, I found that some smegging hacker had crashed the Dragon's Gate servers. A polite message from tech support said that the backups should be up soon, and three days would be added to all active subscriptions as compensation. Disgusted with the entire week, I chatted online with Azi, along with some other on-line friends for a while and caught some footage of NASA's latest moon landing at Shackleton Crater before heading back to bed nurse my ailing body. I woke up in wet, sticky sheets, and so weak I could hardly move. Reluctantly pulling myself upright on the edge of the bed, I made my stuffy head focus on what had awakened me. It was the first time that I'd ever been "stopped up" this badly. I couldn't breathe very well, and my eyes were glued shut. Croaking, "Yuk," I pulled the Kleenex box over to help with my runny nose and the "nasty stuff" I was coughing up. Finally being able to see, it was even grosser than I had thought. The ill-looking goop was all over me! My silly inner little voice exclaimed, "I've been slimed!" quoting the old classic movie "Ghost Busters." I've never heard of someone, excuse the expression, of sweating snot from their pores before, but I even had it in my hair, and needless to say, coughing it up in muscle tearing convulsions. Even my bladder was getting in on the act and demanding that I go to the bathroom. Now! Stumbling feebly from my ruined bedding, everything seemed out of kilter. The room appeared to be bigger, and my legs were refusing to work quite right. Having trouble balancing, I had to lean on the wall to aid me in getting to the bathroom. Not bothering to stand, I sat down on the toilet grateful to able to make it without any accidents. Blearily, I could make out that it was a little before five AM, before my body demanded my attention back. My bowels and bladder released followed by the most awful gut-wrenching cramps I've ever had. On top of that, I felt my gorge "rising" and just barely managed to grab the small trashcan in the bathroom before puking my guts out. No, I mean that for real, sister! I know what I had to eat the last couple of days and the unmentionables that were coming up out of me weren't among them. It was the old clich? of "All exits are open, no pushing, no shoving!" My eyes were trying to glue themselves shut again as I gingerly got my bottom part cleaned. My "boy" parts were very tender, and it felt like I was peeing battery acid. If I hadn't already heaved, the smell alone would have made me want to, all over again. Pulling myself to the sink, I tried to cleanup a little. My skin was very sensitive and felt feverish. Yep, to say I was getting worried that something was seriously wrong, would be an understatement. That was when the screaming started from outside. With the aid of the wall again I got to the window of my trailer. As I looked out I realized that the screaming was actually a siren. Wishing I hadn't looked, I saw an army Hummer with a set of those big civil defense speakers on top slowly making its way though the trailer park. What froze my blood was the walking escort of soldiers in bulky chemical defense suits with weapons, and the Nanotech hazard sign of a globe of orange dots on a field of safety yellow that they all bore. Shocked fully awake, I could now hear other sirens in the distance. Now I know someone is going to point out that the Santa Clara Valley doesn't have a civil defense network. That was before the Sri Lanka Accords that required it of every area with a nanotech factory or research facility. I suspect that if the government had its way, we would be in the middle of the old Nevada nuclear test ranges, but failing that, had legislated the smeg out of it, instead. Teetering, I got to my TV to find out more and sit down before I fell down. One of the local anchors were on and it was very obvious that he was scared crap-less. "CDC (Center for Disease Control) and the DHS (Department of Homeland Security) has issued an alert concerning the possible release of a hazardous nanotech device. Please remain calm and stay home until advised that the "all clear" has been given." "The alert was called because several patients admitted last night to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, exhibited symptoms that were consistent with extreme nano-transformations. Testing teams are trying to confirm or deny the presence of any hazardous materials, but the Governor of California, with the approval of DHS, has declared Martial Law." Remain calm!?!? There were nearly three million people in the Santa Clara valley area, and San Francisco wasn't far away either. The last time this had happened, the powers that be, NUKED the place! Remembering the horrific pictures from Sri Lanka of people melting and twisting into god-awful shapes, I hobbled at my best speed for the bathroom mirror. The best time to examine yourself is not while puking and crapping on yourself. Now, I pried my eyes open and was really looking. My face had always been very male, but now it could easily pass for a woman's face. The brown hair I had been born with, was now longer and fuller, with auburn highlights. Big green eyes looked back at me, rather than the gray ones I had looked at only the day before. Not only that, but they seemed unnaturally large. I could see very little white around the edges, and the irises appeared more elliptical than the round they should be. Holding my breath, I brushed my hair away so I could get a good look at my ears and sure 'nuff they were becoming pointy. What was going on here? Was I turning into an elf or something? Examining my chest carefully, my boy nipples had grown, like those of a young girl in puberty. Cupping my budding breasts in my hands, I didn't know whether to cry in joy, or horror at the changes being made to me. I don't think I can explain how I felt; terrified that I was being transformed by a force that could so easily kill me, or grateful that somehow I was now closer to the person I really was inside. It took me awhile to start my brain working again. Not everyone on Sri Lanka had died or been crippled, and San Francisco was part of the good ole' US of A, so Uncle Sam will at least think twice about nuking the place. Besides, with the number of people commuting into the Santa Clara Valley, it was likely the nano was already spreading outside of it. Remembering what I knew about nano-transformations, it seemed like the best idea was to treat this like the flu. Nanos, like any machine building something, needed raw materials. I would need plenty of fluids and easy to digest food, so soup was a good choice. Normally, in a hospital, the nutrient rich fluids would be given in IVs, but after checking my weight and being surprised at losing almost thirty pounds overnight, I decided that I had better eat something. Once I started eating, I had a hard time stopping, and let's not talk about the strange cravings that started. Whatever was happening to me hadn't stopped yet, because I still had, what did the medical professionals call it, discharge? I had nasty crap running out of my nose and eyes, as well as coughing it up. Yet all the while, I was stuffing my face with potato chips covered in veggie oil and peanut butter, urk! The terrified TV anchor had been replaced by someone else who had it a little more together, but he was giving mostly the same message. What had changed was they were calling it a nano-virus. It was different from the "Devourer", in that it was targeting just us humans, while the "Devourer" had eaten everything, mineral, plant, and animal. "If you think you've been infected, don't panic! Officials are conducting a house by house inspection. Please be prepared to leave your home if an evacuation is called for, blah, blah, blah." The only thing they said that made sense, was to pack an over-night bag and making sure you have identification with you. Getting dressed might be a good start, but I was still covered in slime. As far as I could tell, the slime was just a byproduct of my change, and not part of it, like a chrysalis or anything. I decided to risk a shower. I was concerned about contamination getting into the water system, but it was too late for that, considering all of the nasty stuff I'd already flushed earlier. It felt so good to get clean, and the warm water vapor helped me breathe easier. I washed myself gently, and was glad I was cautious. My skin was really sensitive, and my "boy" parts were very much so. Now clean, I examined myself carefully, and found I was developing a hunch back. A large lump was forming, and it really itched. Thinking maybe I should've left the slime, I located a tape measure. Smeg, I was shrinking! Six inches of my previous five foot eleven was gone. Being shorter wasn't that big a deal, but the smegging hunch-back thing most certainly was. Feeling sorry for myself, and depressed, I started crying. Modern medical nano-tech might be able to correct some of this, but the changes I was seeing were extreme. I knew exactly what I would have looked like as a woman, due to computer sims and my transformation pre-scans. I had "tweaked" some things, because a girl does have her vanity after all, but this person I was turning into wasn't me. I could see a girl looking back at me, but not the woman I wanted to be. Hearing a beeping from my computer, I saw that I had a message from Azi, who was very worried about me. Opening up chat, he said the news had gone national, and knowing I was in California, he'd wanted to check on me. Having to type a little slowly because of my now slender but shorter fingers, I told Azi that I was definitely infected, but okay so far. He said that a media lock-down was in effect, and phones were out due to the Martial Law order. Even on the Internet it had been hard to reach me, but he had worked around some of the blockages. He asked if I had anyone to contact in an emergency, and I told him no. What he wanted next, shocked me. Azi wanted to come to me! He was no more than an hour away, and with the panic and fear that he saw, Azi was concerned that the military would overreact and begin a cover-up or something. Fear was what had gotten Sri Lanka nuked and I could see his point. However, I didn't want my friend to catch whatever I had, and I told him so, not to mention the quarantine and Martial Law. His next inquiry also surprised me. He wanted me to show him what I looked like with my web-cam. My first reaction was a NO, but looking down at my breasts, I really didn't look male anymore. Well, I still had boy parts but they were very small and it was pretty clear that I would be sitting down to pee from now on. Azi said he wanted the pictures, so in a worst case scenario, it might help him find me if things got worse. I was scared, and I remembered only too well the CNN coverage from Sri Lanka. It was comforting to talk with my friend, and I trusted him. I told him to hold on and I went to dress. I did have a small collection of filly things, but, smeg it, they didn't fit anymore. Oh well, it's athletic clothes time. After making very sure that "Mister Winky" was well out of sight, I enabled my web-cam. My face blushed scarlet, but I slowly turned so he could see all of me. I did pull up the back of my t-shirt so Azi could get pic's of my hunch- back. I got my scales and measuring tape out and made sure that the camera got my current height and weight. Smeg, I was still loosing both, too, I saw with dismay. Azi sent back that he had gotten what he needed. What I wasn't expecting was the "You're beautiful." Blushing again I typed back, "This isn't me!" He replied with, "You'll be beautiful no matter what shape you're in." After all of these years, this was the first time that he had seriously flirted with me, and it confused and pleased me at the same time. His timing could be better! I told him I had to get an overnight bag ready in case I had to leave the trailer. Leaving the web-cam on, I went back to my bedroom to get my things ready. It didn't take long to pack my toothbrush and a few other hygiene things. The TV was still broadcasting the same old stuff, and it was on every cable channel, so it must still be set up on some sort of emergency network override thing. I really wished that I could find out how the rest of the world was taking this. I went back to Chat with Azi and he was still on-line. He floored me again! "Do you know you're looking a lot like your Crystal avatar?" Typing back, "What?!" in denial. He sent a graphics file of a picture of Crystal next to my web-cam picture side by side. Azi was right! 'Hunch-back? Oh Crap! I'm growing wings?' Shaking, I sent back, "You know this is not a good thing, right? Crystal is only a foot tall, and maybe in a world with magic, she has human normal intelligence or higher, but here in the real world, what's the smartest animal with brains that small; birds, mice maybe?" I started crying again, smeg it, and it took awhile for Azi to calm me down. He started going on about coming to me again, and I refused! "I don't think that my turning into Crystal is a coincidence, seeing how the Dragon's Gate server was taken down by a hacker last night. Think what would happen if you started changing into a dragon? That alone might kill you, not counting that our trigger happy army might start shooting!" "Azi," I told him, "I am GC Smith," and gave him my address. He told me he was RB Saks and gave me contact numbers for him that I included with my ID stuff. It was easy to find an on-line form to name him my "official" contact person in case of emergency. It wouldn't help much, but might let him get to see me if worst came to worst. It was then that it hit me! "Azi!" I sent, "Galidor said he would 'fix' me good. You don't think he had anything to do with this do you?" "Galidor threatened you?" Azi asked. "Well, in a way, but I thought that we had managed to "cool off" a little when it looked he would settle for humiliating me," I replied. "Crystal's avatar image is a custom piece. For a nano-transformation to just randomly come up with that image is next to impossible. It would be nice to know what the other victims are transforming into. If they are all like you, it would have to be someone like Galidor, because he does have a motive. Still, it would be insane to loose nanites in a population, to just to get revenge on one person," Azi wrote back. On that happy note, I left to pack my overnight bag with what meager clothing that would still fit. I had a few feminine articles. Finishing with my overnight bag, my grumbling stomach was demanding food again. It was just another of the contradictory feelings from this nano-bug, sick, but starving. Maybe most bachelors don't have much food in the house, but when you are trying to pinch every penny, you eat at home a lot. The strange food cravings continued and for your own peace of mind I'm going to leave that part out. Cleaning up the mess I'd made in the kitchen, and trashing my ruined bedding helped distract me from my aches and pains. What was hurting most were the growing pains in reverse, in the bones of my legs, and hips. my arms hurt as well, but not as badly as the lower extremities. I was also developing hot, feverish feelings from my "hunchback", where it looked like I was growing wings. I took some generic acetaminophen, thinking that it couldn't hurt at this point ,and was wondering if it would help if I wet some towels and laid across my back to help cool the "hunchback", when I heard a sharp knock at the door and hobbled over to answer it. I was wearing a loose t-shirt and some stretchy exercise pants. In spite of that, I still looked like a little girl in her big brother's sweat suit. Looking out of the window, I saw one of those environmental suits, so I grabbed my bag when I opened the door. What I should have been thinking about was that those guys were just as scared as I was, but I was in too much discomfort at the time. Then I heard the, "Oh Crap! She's infected!" Seeing how I was barely five foot tall now and had a very visible hunchback. No shit, Sherlock! There was no way for me to tell how old the soldier was with the suit on, but the fear in his young sounding voice gave me some clues. What grabbed my attention was the scared way he was pointing his M-8A3 assault rifle at me! Slowly raising my hands palms out, I noticed my voice was changing too, but managed I think to say understandably, "I need help." I thought about turning around and locking the door of my trailer, but the nervous guy with the gun kept gesturing towards some school buses. Deciding that as jumpy as everyone was, my life was more important than my stuff in the trailer. I wasn't able to move very fast and I would've been bitching like smeg over this very un-cool kid with the gun, if I hadn't been terrified out of my soon to be birdbrains. Glancing up at the other passengers as I got close to the bus, I could see other victims of the nano-virus. They didn't look, as I had feared, like my Crystal avatar, but they did have the fantasy motif thing going. I could see elves and other races from Dragon's Gate game. Walking even the short distance to the curb was exhausting for me. I could see other soldiers leading some that looked unaffected to tour/Greyhound buses, while those like me were going to school buses. Army Hawk Attack VTOLs (Vertical Take Off and Landing) circled overhead and Mule Medical Evacuation VTOLs were taking out those unable to walk. I was struggling to get on board the bus when I saw another man with sergeant stripes on his environ suit. Even muffled by the suit, I could hear him use a colorful vocabulary gained over a life time to chew out my young friend with the gun. He came up to me and helped me onto the bus. "Sorry about Private Jenkins, Ma'am. Please understand we're all doing the best we can, but everyone is just as scared as you are." "Where are you taking us?" I asked self-consciously in my little girl's voice. "We're using a high school as a triage center right now. I'm told doctors will see if it's safe to kill your nanites with Hi-Mag. The good news is, right now it is only acting like a virus, so the Brass think we can contain this." the sergeant told me gently. "No one is dying from this thing so far, so try and relax, Ok?" I gave him a small nod and found a seat. Sitting down, I was relieved that Private Jenkins was the exception, and that sergeant was on top of things. At least we weren't being shot out of hand. Looking around at my fellow passengers, I was glad that Azi was not in this mess. There was a poor soul in the back changing into a minotaur, and he was in obvious distress. If Azi had started turning into a dragon, his chances of survival wouldn't be very good, I fear. Twisting around, I tried to get comfortable, but the tight feverish skin across my hunchback was just too tender. I ended up resting my forehead on the seat in front me and that helped a bit. "Are you going to be okay?" a soft voice in front of me asked. Glancing up I saw one of the elves I'd seen earlier, watching me with some concern. She had the usual elfin good looks, along with Asian like slanted eyes. I could see her irises were elliptical like mine, and she had the pointed ears as well. She, however, didn't look to be growing wings. Trying to be on my best behavior, after all, their bodies were being assaulted, too. I said, "It depends on how much more I shrink." The concern and sympathy in her voice made it hard to dislike her, even if I did feel like snapping someone's head off. "Oh my, you're changing into a fairy?" Ironically remembering my family's reaction when I told them that I was transgendered, I couldn't help giggling, even though it hurt. They couldn't understand the difference between wanting to be a woman, and being gay. Men were men, and women were women, and that was that, in their minds. Putting my past behind me, I nodded. The elf said, "The more extreme the change, the more and longer you're sick. I was just a little ill last night, but I actually feel better now than I have in years. Hmmm ... Jil, my daughter had more of a problem. The good news is that we both are fine right now." She introduced herself, "I'm Heather Giovannia. I was a nurse's aid before I married, and had this one," tossing her head at Jil. Looking at the young elf girl next to Heather, I saw they looked more like sisters than mother and daughter. Jil shared her mom's elfish appearance, but while Heather was dealing with her changes well, Jil was anything but happy. Piping in my high voice, "I guess you should call me Crystal." I'll never get used to sounding like this! Heather raised one eyebrow that was so much like Leonard Nimoy's that I gave a little giggle. "You know, you really do look a lot like her don't you? I mean, Crystal, from the 'Sword's Point' cast", she said, blushing a little. "I know, because I am ... well, she was my avatar anyway," I told her. Startled she took my hand excitedly, "I can't believe you live here. I thought that you guys were like movie stars." Thankful for the distraction from my discomfort, "Well, more like a reasonably successful garage band would be more like it. The extra money from the promotional stuff is nice, but we all have to have day jobs. At least I did. Know of anyone hiring one foot tall bird brains?" I asked, falling into depression again. Heather did her Spock thing again with the eyebrows, "Bird brains?" I explained my fear of shrinking so much that I would only have the brainpower of a bird, or maybe a mouse. It was plenty clear that some sort intelligent design was behind this. Maybe the plan had nanite augmentation in mind for the full transform, but the government would never allow active nanos out into the population. What a choice ,of Birdbrains or birdcage. It was hard not to feel the almost physical fear and distress in that bus. The minotaur was growing horns out of his skull and plainly, the human skull wasn't made for that. It was definitely causing him a lot pain and I could only imagine the mental distress. Heather shook her head sadly, "I'm one of the lucky ones. I've lost about thirty years and fifty pounds. Elves have always been my favorite fantasy race, and I don't mind being one at all." Jil, her daughter, had risen from her apathy and was listening to us. I gestured at Jil, "Is she ok Heather?" Heather hugged her daughter, who looked embarrassed. "Jil has had a bit of a shock." "Mom!" Jil exclaimed, in a way that made me think that there was more going on, than on the surface, was concerned that her mom was going to say something more. "Were you really Crystal from the web-cast?" Jil asked nervously. I smiled at her, "Can't you tell?" I asked Jil. "But there's a guy that lives in that trailer," she barely whispered back. As Jil was speaking, I could see the concern in her mother's eyes and thought carefully about what I said next. "Jil, I'm going to hazard a guess that you and your mom played elves, didn't you?" Heather and Jil looked and at other and nodded yes. "Yeah," said Jil. "My mom has always been elf crazy. I've seen those 'Lord of the Rings' movies sooo ... many times." Her mom giggled, and Jil blushed, but kept speaking, "I had an elf ranger archer named Jiltanith, and my Mom has been playing this elf sorceress, like forever." "Well, I played a fairy sorceress and did a really good job at it. A lot of people thought that I really was a girl. What they thought, or believed doesn't change who I really am. I'm much more concerned about dying than anything else. Besides, turning into something like our friend would brother me a lot more than just becoming a girl," I said, gesturing politely at our minotaur in distress. After a couple more changelings came on board, we started moving. We made some small talk, and I was thankful for the distraction from my problem. I was guessing that Jil had also been a guy not so long ago, because how self-conscious she was of everything. "Jil," I asked her, "are you going by your avatar name because like me, your old one doesn't fit anymore?" She gave a little unwilling nod, and started crying softly. Heather hugged and comforted her child who was hurting. When she got her cry done she whispered, "How do you stand it?" "My hunchback is hurting enough that I'm really not noticing the rest yet. I've also shrunk at least a foot so far, and I'm worried more about that right at the moment," I told her. "Hey it's the truth!" Jil thought about that for a second. "I'm sorry. I guess feeling sorry for myself, when everyone else is hurting so much worse, is stupid." I took her hand. "Jil, it is not silly! Something has attacked us, and forced us to become something we are not. The trick is to try and make the best of it we can right now." Turning to Heather, "You have a good kid." Heather gave a sigh, "It hasn't been easy of late, because her father is gone so much and teenagers are always having problems. I must admit that Jil and I are closer now, but I don't think I could recommend turning sons into daughters as a solution." Jil let out another, "MOM!" "Just think of all the shopping and beauty supplies," Heather said teasingly, "it will cost a fortune." As Jil shuddered in horror, Heather and I couldn't resist sharing a smile. The bus pulled up to a high school that was crowded with military vehicles and tents. As we got off the bus, a person in a white environmental suit asked us to have our ID ready. While we had a picture taken of the new us, they ran a copy of our Id. Oh yeah, for those in obvious distress, they did a triage, for those who was still changing, like me, or were in immediate danger, like the minotaur. What I could see indicated that this had all done been on the fly. The soldiers were at least more courteous, and the medical staff seemed to try to help, but the undercurrent of fear was still there. Our picture ID was pinned to us. I was taken to a tent where others like me and the minotaur were in pain. Most of those I saw were changing mass, like the centaur lying awkwardly on a cot. I was dismayed to see that my feet no longer touched ground when I sat on the cot. Yeah, I was feeling more than a bit sorry for myself, no matter what I had told Jil. That was until I saw Galidor. I mean, not every Avatar is unique, but the ones Bob did for those of us in for the 'cast' had been tweaked a lot. He was elfish, of course, tall and slim, dressed like most of us changelings in baggy athletic wear. His clothes suggested that he'd been shorter and broader. The eye-opener was the two men he was with. Even in the white environmental suits, they looked liked MIBs (Men in Black, Feds). Not only that, but Galidor was wearing a shoulder holster, and had a badge pinned to him. I mean, with the exception of the elf, these were the stereotypical Feds (Federal Agent) I was looking at and they were looking for someone, me? Confused, I wondered why a Fed would get into a smegging contest over a disagreement in a game. You would think that the psychology screen would catch immature behavior like that. Unless, it was about something else. Guiltily, I looked away trying to hide my face. I hadn't done anything! Well, I did bitch out a federal agent it seems. I didn't know! That was when I noticed that I was still aware of the Feds, even though I wasn't looking at them. I couldn't see them, but with a strange certainty, I knew where they were. Concentrating on how I knew this, it seemed to be coming from the top of my head. Reaching up carefully, I touched a flyaway hair that gave me, I don't know how to describe it, except as feedback like, maybe? It was then I knew it wasn't a hair but an antenna! 'Ok, so not a bird brain, but a bug-brain. This just gets better and better sister!' I was waiting for Galidaor to arrest me for some trumped up charge, but to my surprise they quickly backed away, and if not for my new "Bug- Vision" I wouldn't have known they were there. Galidor left, but the two MIBs stayed behind, and were definitely keeping on eye on yours truly. The upside of this, was I got better treatment. I Bug-Visioned one of the MIBs, convincing one of the Doctors to attend me, and it didn't escape me that I got some privacy as well; if you can call a curtained off section of tent, privacy. The Doctor had a duct-taped name tag and a makeshift ID kinda like mine. Her name was Doctor Shah, and it was my guess that she was from India or Pakistan from her accent. That threw me for a moment, till I remembered Sri Lanka was off the Indian coast. Inspecting her badge, I could see it had a UN insignia on it. I breathed a little sigh of relief, because if the UN was on site with medical help, then this was less likely to devolve into a cover-up, involving mass graves. Some of Sri Lanka's victims had survived with deformities and a few very fortunate ones with what could only be called superpowers. I'm sure you've seen them on the Tonight Show. That guy who can walk up walls, or that old woman with the elephant's trunk and ears. My silly inner voice was imagining, "And here she is folks, the amazing Crystal. Let's have a big hand for her tonight." "How are you tonight?" "Buzz, buzz, buzz." "Miss? Sir?" Doctor Shah corrected herself as she brought me out of my day-dream. "Sorry," I blushed. "I'm not at my best." Getting right to business, she carefully scanned me with a medical diagnostic wand after she input my ID to get my medical files. Modern medicine using the multi-purpose diagnostic wands could perform the equivalent of X-rays, MRI, Sonograms, and blood pressure in the time it used to take them to take your temperature. Saying that it would take a few minutes for the results, she asked me the usual questions. When did I first observe symptoms? Pain? When did the discomfort turn to pain? Plainly curious as to why I was getting special treatment, I could tell somehow when her questions tuned from professional to just being curious. Where did I work? Was I still a candidate for transformation? All I really could add was I did play Dragon's Gate and was part of the "At Swords Point" web-cast's cast. I was somehow becoming very like my character's avatar in appearance, and one of my fears was of personality death because of my shrinking form. I did mention that my Avatar was a custom one for the 'cast and I was closely resembling her, not just the standard game sprite. She did make a note of that, and I guess that satisfied her, thinking that I was some sort of minor celebrity or maybe a clue in the spread of the nano-virus. I suppose it was more like a virus, than Sri Lanka's "Devourer" which altered and warped everything from the soil to the top of the trees, and all in between. I remember watching a TV program that stated that much of the bizarre mutational effect from the "Devourer" was due to the tiny machines malfunctioning, and breaking down, because of chaos and entropy effects on a massive scale. I mean, just look how long it takes for a new model car to work out all the bugs and problems on a new game console? The "Devourer" nano had been an early prototype of nano-tech, but this virus seemed to be much more advanced. No mutations here, except for the deliberate ones that had plundered the MMOG data bases and matched player to avatar. It took what; 48 hours to spread and begin the transformations? With my own male to female transformation pending, I had read about every advancement I could find. Medical science at the moment can't duplicate these changes. Appearance maybe, but the Bug-Vision thing, I don't think so! I was beginning to suspect that this nano-virus thing was a self replicating nano Artificial Intelligence that was specifically banned by the accords and International Law. You can build nanites in a restrictive environment, and ship them to the work site in this said environment. Use the nanites, and if they escape, they can't survive outside their special environment, and so self- destruct. Nano that can reproduce themselves and adapt to changing situations controlled by something that might run amok, NO! Of course nano developers protested, saying that this limited the usefulness and potential way too much. Fear naturally overcame their objections. All the legislators had to do was point at the once glowing crater that use to be Sri Lanka, and that was that. Doctor Shah's eyes turned serious though her protective helmet as my test results came back. First, my bones were being replaced by some sort of hollow carbon-fiber-like material, and the wings I was indeed growing, were also of a similar material. Second, I was growing female organs including ovaries, and a womb. I had to resist touching myself to find out for myself. Ecstatic, yes, but I was still being forced against my will to be this way. The antenna had "fronds" somewhat like a moths, that gave me a type of Motion Sense and might even detect other things as well. Okay scary part coming up, yes, my brain was rewiring itself, if for no other reason than because of the antenna. Just exactly what else was happening was anyone's guess right now. Now the good news, my shrinking had slowed, and Dr. Shah expected it to stop altogether soon. She based this on the readings from my bone reconstruction. The bad news, was I was going to end up somewhere just over 4 feet tall, and at the current time they didn't want to risk interfering with the nano-virus because of the radical changes to my bone marrow. Stopping the changes now might be the same as killing me, since it helps produce blood. I could lie and tell you how I took the news in stride and escaped my watchers and ran off to find the cause of the virus outbreak fought the good fight and won against overwhelming odds. Nope, I blubbered like baby who has had her lollipop taken away and cried my heart out. It took awhile, but I finally drifted off into a restless sleep exhausted and drained as the nano-virus raped my body. Sometime later, a volunteer, a Kitsumi, came to see me. She, like the other humanoid changelings, outwardly had what appeared mostly just cosmetic changes. For her it was the Asian eyes, fox ears, and tail. She said, "The suits are awkward for the doc's to use, so she and other changelings with medical backgrounds are helping in the overworked wards." I half-remember asking her, "How bad is it?" The fox-woman replied, "Well, some where between 10 and 20 thousand people have been quarantined so far, with about third of them with serious problems, like those gaining mass, like the centaurs and minotaurs. Losing mass while painful and alarming, isn't life threatening for those like the dwarfs, halflings, and fairies." There just weren't enough doctors and equipment to go around. If that wasn't bad enough, a willing guinea pig had found that we were still contagious in the age old way. A man who had played an elf, had removed his suit and found out the hard way. I gave a weak smile at that, "They are going to have to set-up roadblocks to keep the wanna-be elf lords out!" My silly inner voice started singing softly, "She's an elf, I'm an elf, don't you want to be an elf too?" to the old Dr. Pepper jingle. I manage to take a few bites while Foxy changed my IV, and she applied some salve to my feverish wing "humps." At least most of my changes had finished, but for the wings, and soon I went back to sleep. When I awoke I was surprised to see my young friend from the bus, Jil. Her mom, Heather, being a nurse, had volunteered the two of them to help. Jil had been keeping an eye on me because of the lack of monitoring equipment which I needed due to my developing wings. My hunchback was much bigger now, but Jil gave some welcome relief when she applied some more salve to it. She was having problems coming to terms with being a girl and, if she had to help someone, she had asked for it to be me, since I at least, was going though something similar. Knowing that someone else was in the same situation seemed to calm her. It seemed that Jil had been a Michael, and had found playing a girl avatar erotic. Jil, unlike me, couldn't use the inductors, because of her age. The parental controls had made her play without them. She had found it enjoyable watching her Elf warrior maid flounce around in her iron-wood mail bikini. What teenage boy wouldn't like to have a beautiful elf nymph obey his every command, even if it was only an image? I really wanted to help Jil, because I knew all too well how it was to be trapped in the wrong skin. Knowing the despair I felt as a girl inside, but caught in my "Greg suit", I was filled with compassion for Jil. Even in this age of the miracles of modern medical science, transitioning from one gender to the other isn't easy. Statistics alone point out that most transgendered people manage to live without transitioning. Not a high quality of life, however, as the suicide rate and the incidence of serious depression statistics morbidly demonstrate. At least the medical community has finally admitted that it is a problem with a physical cause and not purely psychiatric. "Jil," I told her softly, "they can do a lot with nanites and surgery if they can't reverse this somehow. Don't give in to despair." She nodded sadly. "Mom has been telling me the same thing. I know that one of the reasons I'm here with you is everyone is trying to keep me too busy to think too much about IT!" she finished as she awkwardly removed her medical gloves. "Why don't you try and play Jiltanith?" I asked her. Jil looked at me strangely, but I continued, "I don't mean to go around shooting people with arrows, but you've played a girl in Dragon's Gate and must have done well if you have a set of iron-wood mail." Iron-wood mail is magical armour enchanted by elfin wood-singers. They literally sing wood into the form of the rings needed for the mail and add other enchantments that let it exceed the strength of mere steel. In the Dragon's Gate game, this still living wooden mail allows magical castings while metal armour can't, as well as it's being rare. She nodded at the compliment. "But I don't want to be a girl!" Touching her hand, "Jil I know you don't, but I can see how unhappy you are. Instead of Michael being treated like Jil, because that's what everyone else sees, try letting Michael pretend to be Jil while being treated like Jil. Try to find fun or enjoyable things about being Jil," I suggested to her. Seeing objections in her eyes, I added, "Don't ever forget Michael, because that's who you are. But doing nothing but thinking