Programming Conflict free porn video

Programming Conflict by Trish "So what you're saying is I'm dammed if I do, or we're dammed poor if don't!" "Er, yeah," Sue said, trying not to press me. Sue knew that I was just as aware as she was that if I played along with the plan, we three, or rather our 'hobby' cum burgeoning computer games company would be very handsomely rewarded. We were talking real money as well, not the couple of hundred pounds or so we had occasionally made selling our games at computer fairs in the past. "Some choice!" I muttered to myself as weighed up the personal costs of keeping the publishers happy against the rewards on offer if I complied. Although I knew they were there, for a few minutes it was like Sue and Pete had faded into the back ground as I sat there gazing at my PC until I vaguely heard him mumbling. "If he bottles it now, we're fucked!" "Not helping Pete," Sue hissed. "But it's half a million quid?" he muttered. "Still not helping," she said, "now shut up it's Jill's choice!" After being friends for years and sharing a flat for the last two Sue knew just when to whisper temptingly to me, "I know it's something you've always wanted to do..." She was right to... Like all long closeted crossdressers I had always fantasised about being forced to become my feminine alter ego, and now the opportunity was here I felt torn between the fear of embarrassment, and desire all muddled up with the fact that if the publishers pre- release sales estimates were right we stood to make at least half a million, and that was a big enough carrot to sway my decision. "Okay," I said wishing the ground would eat me, "I'll give it a go, but if I look daft or we and mean we don't think I can pull it off, then Pete will have to somehow talk us out of the mess, since he got us into this!" "That's not fair!" Pete grumbled. "I did not know Jill was your pseudonym?" "You didn't ask!" I snapped back. "And its not like you did not know Jill was my nickname!" He muttered something under his breath, and glanced at Sue imploringly. "But," I sheepishly shrugged, "like I said I'm willing to give it a go and see." "You'll give it more than a go love," Sue said ignoring Pete's presence as she gave me a giggled nudge, "and you're going to love it because by the time I'm done with you... I'll have you looking like million dollars." Until Pete, Sue's former next door neighbour when she was a first year in University halls, came on board we (Sue and I) just wrote games for fun, and made a little money on the side selling a few through friends. I cannot quite recall how, but a copy of our latest games disk got in to Pete's hands but it did, and the rest as they say is history. Unlike Sue and I who were 'pure nerd' computer science students Pete was studying Marketing and Business and used us, as in SR Games (a name Pete picked from our post code) and our game as the 'company' and 'product' in his final year marketing project. As a part of his course he had to 'pitch' marketing ideas to real company executives and after he presented his strategy one of them commented during his assessment interview, "Pity that SR Games demo is not a real product Mr Roper, because if it was I can think of a couple of companies who would be very interested in publishing it." "Oh it does exist," Pete said glibly. "The demo for 'Wastelands' on that disk is a real game that we are trying to sell," With his usual gift for talking convincing bullshit Pete told them a load of bollocks about how SR Games was a new start up consisting of himself, Sue and me or rather Gillian, since all he knew about her at the time was the name on the disk information. A week later a few letters arrived for Pete via the university inviting him to officially pitch our game for publication. Phoning Sue, who like me was snowed under with final exams, neither of us really thought much about it when he asked if we (Sue and Jill) would be interested in forming a real company if he could get our game published. Thinking he was joking Sue said yes, and then forgot about it more concerned with getting good degrees than selling games. That lasted until he phoned back a week or two later after meeting the interested companies. Sue took the call and all I can recall is the look on her face when she put the phone back on the hook and told me. "Peter that mate of mine from halls says he can sell our Wasteland game to any of the big players for big player money." "What did you say?" "Sell it of course!" she said. "Idiot." We both completely forgot about one pretty important issue. Having lost my parents I was on income support in place of parental contributions to top up my student grant and when Sue and I started selling our games I was more than a little worried about the authorities discovering my undeclared income. Knowing that I could not afford to lose my top up finances it seemed like a good idea at the time to encoded the author information for me under a pseudonym. As much for the thrill of seeing the name on the disks I decided to use my bulletin board crossdresser identity Gillian Gregory. When we started writing together I was very much closeted with my dressing and was completely oblivious to the fact that a not long after we started sharing the flat Sue had guessed that I was a crossdresser. Even though she was often tempted to say something, she never let on to me that she knew I was a 'tranny' until she saw the author information. I tried to bullshit my way out of it explaining the name off as a dodge for tax man but Sue just grinned at me knowingly and said. "You're an appalling liar you know Jill!" From then on all she called me was Jill and later that evening aided by the beer we bought with our earnings I admitted the truth. Trying to explain that dressing as Jill was just something I did to relax when I was stressed was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. As we spoke Sue told me that she was very curious to see what I looked like as Jill but the look of horror on my face was all the evidence she needed to understand that I was far to ashamed of my 'kink' to dare show her. Although she was a little disappointed, Sue understood my reticence and apart from referring to me as Jill, she let the matter drop probably because the conversation led to the sequence of ideas which grew into Wasteland our first commercial game. I first met Pete at a Union party when he came over to ask Sue about something, and with out thinking she introduced me as 'Jill' adding it was a nick name. Pete was a nice enough bloke if a little to 'sliver spoon' for my tastes but he was 'canny' enough company and it was pretty clear that he was the sort of alpha personality destined for the top in what ever profession he went into. Relishing the challenge of selling our game Pete (who still had not worked out that I was Gillian) kept us informed of where he was up to as the negotiations with the various publishers. I thought that at first he was just playing until he called to tell us that things were getting really serious now he had managed to get a bidding war going between two of them. He was in hog heaven, and I suppose for him it was kind of like all his Christmases had come at once as the two companies vied for our signature. Ever the salesman during his opening pitches with the various suitors he made them aware of the marketing advantages of a game created by two girl nerds and the presentations seemingly made it perfectly clear to the interested publishers that we (Sue and I) would be willing to do publicity. As the negotiations reached the point of contracts Pete had to get our signatures and so he came round the flat. Before he was even through the door her was chattering away at a hundred miles an hour and eventually asked Sue as he followed her into the front room, "Hey Sue can you get hold of Gillian? I need both of you to look at some papers." "Erm she not here just now," Sue prevaricated. "Well bloody get her!" Pete said impatiently. "And please don't tell me she's fucked off home already as I've got us the deal of century but to pull it off we have to get things moving today!" "No she's not gone home," she said. "Well fucking phone her!" Pete said, wondering what was going on when Sue glanced at me and I went bright red realising that I better come clean and admitted. "Erm well the thing is I'm Gillian, Pete hence my nick name Jill." "You fucking what?" Pete said going white with horror. "Jill Gregory is me..." I blushed, as Sue jumped into protect me. "Jim writes under a feminine pseudonym of Gillian." "Why on earth," Pete said collapsing back on to our sofa shocked. "Would he do that?" Before wailing helplessly, "But the publishers think SR is just a couple of nerd-birds and me!" "Well it is kind of," Sue said, looking at me asking me, "should I tell him?" Blushing brightly I nodded, as she added. "Erm well you see Jim's a CD, and as he does his best work as Jill it was only fair to use 'her' name on the disk." "CD?" For a moment he looked blank until I croaked. "I'm a crossdresser Pete." Swearing under his breath Pete reigned in his annoyance, he needed both our signatures on the contract and partnership documents he had from the bank and losing his temper was not going to get them! As he explained why we needed to be in a partnership it was pretty clear from his expression that he was not happy about our revelation, but after he had been talking for a few minutes he said with a sudden grin at me, "Jill huh? Well you know I guess I can work with that..." "Good!" Sue grunted with a relived expression on her face, "Now what got a bee in your bonnet enough to come charging round here like your arse is on fire?" "They made me an offer," we could see he was working up to it and when he did I wanted to scream with delight! "For an exclusive three game deal they're offering us a 25K signing fee, plus a hundred grand for the publication rights to Wasteland." Sue and I sat the stunned as Pete went on to say. "With a 15% royalty on the first 100k units and up to 35% if it sells the anticipated half million units the publisher wants for an opening production run, which by my reckoning means we stand to make," and Pete was off, tossing six figure amounts around like sweeties. Needless to say being two poverty stricken students we were more than willing to sign the paperwork that took us into business with Pete as SR Games. With the partnership paperwork done, Pete filed the papers with the local business advisory service and was on the train back to London the following day. Having legally registered SR Games as a partnership he was now able to sign the contracts in our absence that took SR Games into a publishing deal. As the peak selling time for computer game sales was Christmas the company wanted to release at the start of December so it coincided with the London Computer Show at Earls Court, which meant they wanted the demo version ASAP and the full games 'masters' to them by the end of September at the latest. Even though the game was complete it was not formatted or set up for publishing, which meant Sue flung herself into a flurry of recoding. Since we wrote it we had refined various elements which needed to be formatted into the game before she added the publishers logo's and opening animations to the 'master' disk. While Sue was busy with the coding the master I basically rewrote the demo version in under a month, and passed it on to Pete so he could get it to the publishers in mid-August. With the demo done and Sue going great guns with the master coding I was able completely overhaul the rendering, game notes and back ground information before spending an evening arguing with Pete about the text of the company information in the marketing blurb. Pete was in favour of more 'rock and roll' edge to the blurb, while I was more for keeping things simple, or as he put it 'the keep them curious and they'll come back for more' approach. In the end after more than a little bickering we settled on, "SR Games was formed over a few beers in a Sunderland bedsit by Peter Roper (Marketing and Management) Susan Willows (Lead Programmer) and Gillian Gregory (Story, Design and Rendering)." With in six weeks the demo was on the best selling gaming magazines cover disk and then things went a little crazy. Although SR Games technically existed, Pete was kept incredibly busy making us into real company with vat registrations, bank accounts and arranging a small business start up grant (which got Sue and I a pair of spiffing top of the line PC's) while we finalised the publication version of our game. When I look it at now it seems incredible to me that something quite so crude ever made the best sellers charts, but in the world before 3d graphical cards and high speed processors with gigabytes of RAM what we had created turned our world upside down! With all the madness of getting the business going the issue of me being Gillian kind of slipped our minds until all of a sudden we were just a fortnight from the launch and the train tickets, hotel reservations and program arrived. Chortling over the first class for everything booking, it suddenly occurred to Pete that he needed to produce both of his 'girls' at the official release, which is how I came to make the decision that would change my life. "I'll have you looking like a million dollars!" "I'll settle for passable Sue," Pete said with a look of relief. "And we've only got thirteen days before we have to be on that train to London..." "Oh I'll make Jill more than passable," Sue said with a confident grin, "Hell by the time I am through, her late mother wont recognise her!" Unknown to Sue and I, Pete having spent most of the last six months completely immersed in the business side of the quickly expanding games industry had already seen a great way out if I got busted, but aware that I would probably freak out if he mentioned it sensibly kept his mouth shut. "Right then," Sue said laying down the law, "I want you." She looked at Pete who had pretty much taken over the kitchen table with his paperwork. "Out of here until Monday night! Jill will have enough to worry about with out you making things even harder." "Fair enough," Pete nodded. "I'm away touring retail outlets for most of next week anyway." "And we'll need access to 10 grand of company money and don't worry," she added looking at his strangled expression. "I won't spend anything like that much but I don't want to be worrying about not having enough money while I'm doing this." "Why?" Pete asked. "So much?" "Christ men!" Sue grumbled, "Have you any idea how much it costs to get your hair and nails done these days, and that's before we get into Jill's outfits, accessories and the rest." "Nope!" Pete cheerfully said. "And I'm surprised you do." Sue ignored the comment and snapped. "Look we can't just dress Jill in a skirt and expect her to pass as a woman! To have a chance Jill's going to have start now and spend all day every day in roll until we leave!" "All of it?" I squeaked feeling both alarmed and excited. "All of it! In next to no time I've got to get you used to acting differently, walking differently and most of all viewing the world and being treated differently! Now I know a few people who can help me with some of that, and the hair, make-up and clothing just takes money but the mental side, the body language so to speak will only come with experience of being perceived as a girl, which means you need to live as a girl." "Oh my!" I gasped, unable to hide the smile of anticipation. "When do we start?" "That's the spirit Jill!" Pete said. "Just think about that half a mill in the bank!" "Now what sort of look do you need her to have Pete?" Sue said gazing intently at me, "Because I haven't got time to do much more than get Jill confident enough to pull of any more than a shy student look." "That will do," Pete said. "They aren't expecting a pair of photo whores." Sue nodded weighing up his words before saying to me, "You bath now, and shave your arms, legs armpits and chest if it needs it," Reaching forwards she ran her hand over my cheeks and chin commenting with a nod of her head, "Thank god you don't need to shave your face yet!" I was not sure how to respond to that, but before I could come up with something Jill had turned back to Pete and asked him to run through the launch program so she knew the sort of things she was going to have to get me ready for. "Let me see, we have a 10.30am train booking which will get us into to London for 1.30. At 3pm we're launching the game at Earls Court, followed by a press interviews and then dinner with the Pearson's digital media staff back at the hotel that evening. Saturday morning just says 'publicity' and we're down for two meet and greet sessions that afternoon on the Pearson's stand at Earls Court, which means you'll have time to take a look round and see what our competition have on offer." "And Saturday night?" Sue asked. "Well its says, TBA but that's the night of UK Games Association Awards dinner and we're not members so unless Pearson's can add us to their group we should be free." Jill nodded, "So best be prepared for a business dinner, and may be a formal, right?" Noticing me still lurking by the door to the bathroom she looked me in the eyes and said pointing to the stairs behind me. "Still here!" When Jill get her bossy head on it was better to just get on with what she wanted, and with a nodded, "Okay," I headed off to the bathroom hearing her call out. "If you look in the cabinet there should be some of my shaving foam and shaver. Oh and use my bodywash as well. Its that Bodyshop stuff mum got me," As I closed the bathroom door I heard her snap at Pete, "Anything else I need to know?" Not much later when I was in a bath full of water Sue banged on the door and asked where I kept my girls clothes. It was decision day and although she had known for well over a year I was a dresser I still had never actually shown her what I looked like as Jill and I probably sounded like a scalded cat when I said semi excitedly. "Case under my bed." Like most closeted crossdressers living in shared housing I did not 'girl' shave because dressing for me at that time was a once in a blue moon opportunity so there was something all rather thrilling about Sue's forceful instructions to shave my body. Being normally a shower person it was rather nice to wallow in the highly scented bath and pretend to be one of the girls in a ladies shaving advert as I carefully removed all the body hair I could reach. Even more thrilling was how sensitive my skin felt when I sheepishly walked out of the bath room wearing a towel. Giving me a grin Sue ignored my squeak of horror as she stripped me of the towel and retied it above my nipples saying cheerfully, "You're a girl from now on, and girls tie towels above their boobs, even if they are flat chested like you Jill!" Giggling excitedly as she fixed my towel she nodded at my groin. "Nice to see you're enjoying this!" Which had me blushing like mad as she slapped my arse and told me to change into the clothes on my bed adding. "Oh! And don't bother trying to do anything with your hair or make up just yet. I want to see how you look naturally, before I give you a quick make over." Except for my own high heels, tights, panties and my home padded bra, the clothes that Sue had laid out for me consisted of one of her cotton 'hangover' skirts and a pink university sweat shirt. Feeling a mix of anxiety, fear of ridicule and undeniable excitement, I crossed my fingers and said walking from my room, "Well?" Sue clicked her tongue looking at me and said with a pleased surprised smile, "Not bad Jill, not bad at all," Beckoning me forwards she spun her finger indicating I should turn round. "You're slim enough to look right, and even in three inch heels your still under five 10, yeah... you know Jill I think this will work... Here," she handed me a big glass of wine. "Get that down your neck it might help relax you." It's just as well Sue felt confident because I sure as hell did not. With an impatient look in her face she said nodding at a chair as she grabbed her seldom used make up bag, brushes and twisty hair curling things. "Sit down Jill," Adding with a laugh as I slumped into the chair, "Not like that! Stand up, now watch and sit down like this from now on!" Smoothing a non-existent skirt to her legs, Sue gracefully slipped into my recently vacated chair and smoothly crossed her legs over her thighs, before bouncing back to her feet saying, "Your turn." It took me three goes to do it right, and clapping her hands she giggled, "Get used to doing it like that all the time and every time from now on Jill, because I'll be watching." She did as well and there were time's during the next few days that I complained bitterly about her insistence that every time I learned a feminine mannerism, be it sitting, standing or walking I adopted it. Once I was sat to her standards Sue chortled as she carefully brushed and combed my hair out, "Who would have thought that mum making me work in her hairdressers as a kid would have at last come in useful!" Before I could answer she picked up a pair of scissors and scythed a fringe into my shoulder length hair. "Hey!" I yelped when a mass of hair dropped into my lap, "What you doing to my hair?" "Something I've been itching to do since I learned you were a tranny Jill, now shut up and let me get on, we don't have much time." For about five minutes she snipped at my hair with the scissors, before putting them down adding in a pleased sounding tone as she started twisting the foam tubes into my hair. "That should do. Its all level and that simple fringed bob will do until I can get your hair professionally done." Picking up a pot of make-up she told me, "I'll start teaching you how to do this for yourself in the morning, but for now shut up and let me do this." Obviously like all CD's I had experimented with make-up, and wearing it in many ways was an even bigger turn on for me than how I was dressed. So I was pretty grateful that I was wearing a very lose skirt and had my legs crossed as Sue started smoothing creams, shadows and powders on my face. "Well that's a hell of an improvement!" Sue commented after blasting my hair with her hair-dryer removing the curler foam things. "Ah... Ah not yet Jill," she giggled holding me down, "Let me finish messing with your hair and then you can take a look in the mirror." "Oh my god!" I gasped when Sue let me see myself in the mirror and saw a surprisingly pretty girl looking back at me, "That can't be..." I did not believe my eyes and actually had to touch the mirror to be sure! "Well it is!" Sue laughed. "And you came out way better than expected, hell you're better looking than me!" Pulling herself together Sue said more seriously as she fetched her Polaroid camera from her bedroom, "This is your base line look Jill, and what we are trying to improve on." I looked at her and gasped, "You can make me look even better?" "May be I could, but I know a few people who definitely can, now do me a favour and go stand in the middle of the room," she grinned adding, "I want a few snaps to record this occasion and from a practical point of view it will make life easier if we have a record of your feminine look as you improve." "Lose the gallows look Jill," she called as I sheepishly walked where she directed and posed for the picture, "I want a nice smile!" Chuckling with a snicker of glee, "After all this is fun." Oddly it was too! Sure I felt a little stupid as Sue got me to pose this way until she felt happy taking four shots. Commenting as she put the camera down, "We'll look at them later as they'll be done developing when we get back." "Back!" I yelped as she tossed me a handbag. "From where." "The Chinese," Sue said firmly. "Now I've got you looking passable Jill, it's time for you to face the real world." I really, really did not want to do it, and Sue knew it, adding. "Look going out in public is something you just have to get passed and putting it bluntly the sooner we start, the sooner you'll get used to it!" Sue was right, and I knew it. Going out in public dressed was the ambition of pretty much every crossdresser, and I was no different. Aware that the best way to get me to go along was with logic she added. "Look Jill, the roads are quiet, and an evening walk to the takeaway has got to be a better introduction to being a seen as a girl in public, than me taking you into town shopping or to the hairdresser to get your hair, nails and ears done." Using that combination of logic, common sense and more than a little of her inherent bossiness Sue manoeuvred me into following her from the flat. God it felt surreal to be stood on the other side of the front door dressed like this. The sensation of being out side mixed with the erotic sensations of having my legs tensioned from the heels and the brush of my skirt in the breeze on my nylon covered legs left me feeling like I was both shitting myself and on a high as she took me the long way round to the takeaway. Trusting the heels to modify my gait for now Sue concentrated on getting me to 'hold' myself like a girl as we walked much slower than usual round the corner to the takeaway on Durham Road. Taking her time she kept up a ready patter of encouragement, advice and all sorts of useful information about how to react when we approached people. After perhaps ten minutes walking down the quiet back streets we approached the traffic of Durham Road, "Relax, Jill, you look great, and so long as you don't freak out no will notice that your not what you appear." The walk to the Chinese was on one level much harder than I expected, both physically and psychologically. As a bloke, I was used to walking very quickly with an unrestricted gait. Even though I had worn both before at home walking outside wearing heels and a skirt made that unrestricted level of movement impossible. It came as an erotic shock when I had to accept that from now on I would always be forced to walk with dainty, ladylike steps. The other thing that really struck me as we made our way to the takeaway was the the intense sensation of vulnerability I was feeling. As a bloke I could be reasonably confident that most muggers would probably not target me and if one did, a life time of the rough and tumble of male life meant I would have been able to fight him off, or at least run from any confrontation. How ever if I was seen as a girl I knew my chances of being targeted went up astronomically and it came a worrying shock to realise that dressed in the kind of restrictive feminine clothing and heels that was currently in fashion if some did decide to assault me I would be as helpless as any other woman! I was also very aware of the fact that many of the male passers-by were giving Sue and I 'the look' and in part I couldn't blame them. We lived in an area with a large student population and as Jim I had done my fair share of leering at girls in the street but other than one. "Evening," from an old gent coming out of the paper shop, no one took any overt notice of us as we walked to the the takeaway. It was weird I felt like I must have been standing out like a sore thumb, but no one seemed to bat an eyelid to my presence. Taking her time and occasionally commenting on the contents of the shop windows as we passed, it quickly became clear that Sue was not in a rush to reach the Chinese. She timed things well because by the time we got there I had got over the 'culture shock' of being in public dressed like a girl, but I cannot say I really felt actually ready to go in with her when Sue pushed open the door saying. "Come on Jill, I'm hungry." Feeling like my insides were twisting into knot I followed her in sure that someone was going to yell at me 'drag queen' or worse! Actually given what happened, I half wish it had as it would have been less embarrassing than being mentally undressed by the two lads collecting their take out as we walked in. Nudging each other they smirked, and I could guess what both were thinking as they gave us that cattle market look. Sue who was looking at the menu hardly noticed the looks but they made me blush like crazy which just made one of them give me a cheeky grin. The looks were bad enough but when I over heard the one who had been most blatant with his trawling look of me say to his mate, "I'll have the one in the skirt!" I felt sick to my stomach about being viewed as 'prey' by another bloke and it left a nasty taste in the back of my throat. With out doubt, it was the most unpleasant part of this first exposure to being seen as a girl! That was when it hit me, the realisation that if this idea worked then being ogled and assessed like that by strangers was just something which I would have to get used to and for a totally heterosexually minded lad like me it felt more than a little sickening! God was so degrading, and yet in an embarrassingly dark way there was also something intensely exciting mixed in with knowing that if Sue got me as 'passable' as she wanted I would be receiving such lustful looks every time I went out in public. "That happen a lot Sue?" I asked sighing with relief that they had not waited for a second 'ogle' as we walked home the quick way a few minutes later. "What?" "Those lads," I said blushing. "What about them," I could see in Sue's face that she was more interested in getting home than noticing what I was soon to discover was just part and parcel of daily life if you were a girl. "The looks and the comments." "Oh them, yeah!" Sue nodded, "Most guys aren't as blatant but yeah/" If Sue had not got me to accompany her to the Chinese, god knows what sort of state I would have been in the following lunch time when she suddenly announced. "Kate can fit you in this afternoon Jill!" "Fit me in for what?" I asked. "To get your hair done," Sue said with a smile, "And don't worry she knows all about your gender issues, and she's worked on loads of girls like you." "What do you mean like me?" I asked feeling like my knees had turned into rubber as I stood up. "Tranny's," Sue grinned, "Girls like you." Like the night before Sue gave me time to get used to being outside and gain some much needed confidence in passing before the bus ride into town, which putting it bluntly was terrifying. Thankfully Sue had dressed up a little and drew most of the looks as we got onto the bus. I hardly noticed her confidently leading me down the aisle because I was to caught up in telling myself to smooth my skirt and sit like she taught me. Surviving the journey with out any untoward incidents, we walked round the shopping centre for may be twenty minutes, with Sue asking my opinion of the outfits and shoes on display in the windows. Seeing a pair of very fashionable girls jeans I commented that I'd feel more comfortable in them, which Sue shot down with a simple, "No chance Jill, you've got to be the kind of girlie girl who wears skirts and heels." "But your wearing jeans," I complained. "Yeah and I can get away with them, you as yet can't, now come on Jill we're going to be late." The hairdresser's was just off the high street and leading me Sue called, "Kate, come meet Jill." "Grab a seat girls and I'll be with you in a moment," A locally accented voice called. "Do you want milk and sugar?" "Milk no sugar in both," Sue called waving me towards a styling chair. Sitting where Sue indicated, I was looking round with increasing curiosity when a very 'mumsy' looking woman appeared through a door holding three mugs, and said handing one to me, "Hello you must be Jill." I nodded feeling like a cat on a hot tin roof whispered, "Hello." "Jolly good, now I'm Kate," she said said passing Sue the second mug, before leaning against the sink saying. "Now since Sue has told me a little about your background and why you've had to move your RLT forwards, I think it's only fair that I tell you a little about me." With her accepting and friendly personality it was not hard to like Kate. Looking at me as she spoke Kate told me how she how she first got involved with 'gender challenge' girls as an apprentice at Sue's mothers shop when one of the boys from her day release course transitioned from Simon in to Sarah. "I'll be honest I found it a little freaky at first but as I got to know Sarah I found what she was doing was fascinating, and when I qualified thanks to Sarah I applied to go on the list of approved Real Life Test advisor's and then qualified as Gender Reassignment councillor." Nodding as if I understood what she was saying, I managed to say, "Thank you, I'll remember that," when Kate cheerfully offered to council me during my 'transition.' As she chattered away Kate was full of useful information and recommended that I made a couple of appointments with behavioural therapist in Newcastle to smooth out any tell-tales before my big coming out. Seeing that she had lost me Kate explained what the therapist did, and seeing my interest gave Sue the number before asking with a smile, "Now how long have you been dressing?" I told her, "As long as I can remember." "Well if its any reassurance looking at you now, I can tell that you'll make a smashing transition and if you get on the programme pretty soon you won't have to worry about developing male hair patterns." I nodded as if I knew what she was talking about as Sue butted in, "Her appointment is the week after we've been to London." "Excellent!" Kate said, "If you can see Doctor Wood at the general, he's the best gender doc locally and as you are already on RLT he's almost certain to prescribe you a treatment script," she gave me a friendly smile and said, "Shall we make a start? We've a lot to get done if Sue was right when she called earlier to say that you wanted the full works, hair, nails and ears the lot done." "Erm yeah," I nodded uncertainly. "Great!" Kate grinned running her hands through my hair, "Anything in mind for this?" I sort of shrugged and looked at Sue in the mirror, who said giving me a wink, "Natural looking, but Jill will be happy with what ever you think is best Kate." "Carte blache, huh," Kate grinned, "Well for one we need a little colour in this. With your fair skin a honey blonde, with highlights will look really pretty and bring out those baby blue eyes while still looking pretty natural." Kate's acceptance of my 'gender disadvantaged' situation came as a bit of a relief, I had been dreading being taken to get my hair and what nots done, and having them 'out' me. The thing was it was pretty clear from how Kate spoke and behaved towards me that she assumed I was a genuine transsexual embarking on a her real life test component of an official gender reassignment. When we left three hours later, I could not believe how different I looked and felt. Talking to Kate had reassured a lot of my nerves, and given me enough confidence to suggest to Sue. "Umm since we're here shouldn't we hit Tesco's and get the weekly shop." I could see she was surprised as she said grinning like a Cheshire cat, "If you think you can handle it Jill?" "Well, given this," I nodded at my reflection in the hairdressers window, astonished and delighted by the simple fact the blonde with the long pink nails and double pierced ears was actually me. "I might as well as jump in feet first, as I can't exactly easily go back to Jim looking like this." God knows how many times I had been in Tescos since I started at Sunderland the year it changed from a polytechnic to a university, but this time it felt all very different as I walked in pushing a shopping cart beside Sue. Every time I caught sight of my reflection it felt very surreal. I knew from seeing myself that being in public looking like I did was so wrong on all sorts of levels and yet it was was also incredibly satisfying to be doing something as completely normal as shopping supermarket with a skirt swishing round my legs to the sound of my heels clicking on the tiled floors. As we waited in the check out queue I can clearly recall whispering to Sue, "It makes me wonder what I was so afraid of." "Told you so!" Sue giggled. "Oh wow this is so cool!" I giggled a little later when I saw my pink manicured nails flying over my keyboard as I recoded the routine and sent it to Sue's PC. It was the solution to a programming problem we had been bashing at since we started thinking about a sequel. It had popped into my head at the hairdresser, and no sooner were we home it sent me scurrying to my computer. Other than how I was dressed and looked, the day ended in complete normality, with us both clattering away at our keyboards. After a little fiddling Sue added my rewritten routine to the game engine, and ran it with in the very basic environment I used as the starting blocks for the for the level structures. It crashed umpteen times but after about six hours we got it to run and even managed to navigate a simple box avatar around the wire frame obstacles. "You know," Sue said over a glass of wine when we finally called it a day. "I think we might have a the beginnings of a viable follow up Jill?" Although we were both itching to get cracking with the new game other than the odd few hours here and there, we did not have much time to do any real work as the next few days passed in a busy blur. If I had not heard Sue on the phone making my appointments I would have believed she had been planning this for weeks as first thing the following morning she took me to be fitted with a pair of mastectomy prosthetic c-cup breasts, and a couple of pairs of incredibly confining garments to called gaffs hide my cock. God it was a thrill to feel the weight of the boobs pulling and sway on my shoulders as my very realistic boobs bobbled around as I moved. I was not as keen on the gaff, but it did solve a serious worry for me. Ever since Sue had dressed me I had been troubled by unwanted erections when ever the eroticism of being made to live as a girl kicked in, and the gaff solved that problem but in its way created another as it kept me in a state of frustrated arousal which just made things seem even more erotic! After discussing with Sue the sheer eroticism having to do this she decided that I should see the behavioural therapist Kate recommended. When Sue took me to see her I was not sure what exactly I was going to get from seeing a 'therapist' but in the end it was more than worth while as she polished and improved the feminine movement and body language cues Sue had been trying to teach me. Having spoken to Sue when she made the appointment the therapist also assumed I was a genuine TS, and I did not have the heart to point out her error or judgement as she chided me about not starting my RLT under a doctor's supervision and immediately offered to make me an appointment with the same Doctor as Kate recommended, so I was legally registered as a transgendered woman. Hell it was hard work though! Each ninety minute sessions always began with ten minutes of dancing in my heels to loosen me up. After the therapist was happy I was relaxed, she would usually spend ten or fifteen minutes explaining the difference between the masculine and feminine way of what ever exercise we were studying that day. Once she was sure I understood the boundary between the male and female movements she strung everything together and worked me ragged. Over the six sessions I had with her before the release day she covered everything for holding a hand bag, to getting in and out of cars always pointing out when and why I got a movement or gestures right or wrong. I am pretty sure that if Kate had not put us in contact with the trainer, I probably could have got through the signing, but there is no way in hell I would have survived the Industry Dinner Dance with out giving myself away! The bulk of my sessions with the trainer consisted of endlessly walking up and down the studio between to chairs where I had to sit and stand gracefully. If you don't believe me about how hard it was, just try sometime walking up and down a dance studio in three and four inch heels. As Sue watched and joined with many of the exercises she made sure that I practised what I had learned and it did not take that long before muscle memory began to kick in making me keep with in the 'boundary's' I was being taught. Although she did not spend much time on it, the therapist also taught me a few little voice tricks that along with stressing the Welsh lilt in my accent, gave me a reasonably feminine tone. It was good enough but even after hours of practice I did not really get perfected until long after the London show. Even if we were not going to Newcastle to see the therapist, Sue still made sure I spent a large proportion of each day out and in public as Jill. I needed a feminine wardrobe and although Sue actually loathed shopping she still took me round every shopping venue in the area. Not that we bought much at first beyond a coffee, and the kind of essential accessories a girl needs, like a watch, a few rings and bracelets. I don't think I was 'read' as a tranny that often and after a few hiccups at first soon got used to being treated differently. I don't care what bollocks our political leaders say, there is a huge difference between how men and women are treated and I was often shocked by how patronising some men could be! I almost lost it with a couple of blokes who tried to pick us up when we stopped in at 'Micro World' to pick up their in house magazine which had a pre-release review of our game. Micro World was one of the few national suppliers that had survived from the early 80 micro boom and was unashamedly a gamers outlet. Being honest it was not the kind of computer shop either of us would usually bother with being aimed at the user end of the market, but they had according to Pete been one of the big pre-orders so we wanted to check them out. Giving us really oily smiles, the salesmen closed in on us like we were a pair of apples ripe for the plucking! It was really annoying to be treated like a dumb blonde as they tried to patronise us with their superior knowledge and I could tell Sue was equally annoyed by it. Knowing what Sue was like with men, I was expecting her to rip the a pair of them second pair of arse holes but unusually she just giggled flirtatiously. I felt her gently squeeze my arm, when she felt my temper bubbling. Giving me a sly smile she flirted with them in a very un-Susanish way until I eventually worked out that she was flirting with them for my benefit. Tapping the advert for Wastelands once she knew I was aware of what she was doing she said, "Oh is this any good?" "The demo was fantastic," The taller of the two said, "And we're expecting it to be one of the Christmas hits." "Oh do you think so..." Sue said airily, giving me a naughty grin as the other one commented that our game was from a locally based company and might interest us as it was written by a couple of student girls from Sunderland. With a decidedly superior note in his tone his mate chipped in. "We had Marketing Manager of SR in the other day," He gave us a smile. "And I asked him to see if he could get the writers in to the shop, if they do why don't you come along?" Sue still had that naughty look in her eyes as she flicked her hair back adding. "May be we will," Her eyes twinkled with humour as she added looking at me, " I wonder why Pete hasn't mentioned it to us Jill?" I clearly saw the salesmen looking confused. "He probably forgot Sue," I shyly said, "You know what Pete's like." "Oh!" Sue said as if she just noticed the guys expressions. "Didn't you know Jill and I wrote it!" Leaving them with their jaws on the floor Sue picked up the magazine and led me out chuckling as we got back on to the high street. "That was fun!" Looking at it now I can see how Sue carefully (and probably on the advice of Kate or the therapist) stepped up my time and activities in public. It worked as well because by the end of the first week she had familiarised me with being in public as a women, and then when she was confident I would not give myself away took me shopping with the intention of finding something. The first major purchase was something we both needed and Sue settled on pair of similar but not matching dark blue business suits, with nice satin blouses, pink for me and red for her and blue two inch heel court shoes so we had something professional looking for the formalities of the release. As usual for Sue she opted for a pants suit, but gave me no choice in the matter when she told the sales assistant that I would take the skirted version! After seeing my trainer for my fifth 'therapy' session on the Monday before the launch I was feeling pretty confident, and mentioned to Sue that I had seen a dress I liked in New Look? "Want to go and try it on?" she asked. "Yes!" I grinned excitedly. "If we've time?" "There not bringing the new machine until later so we've time," Sue said, leading me towards the shop. After a week of living and being out in public as a girl many of my male taboo inhibitions had started to come down and I was really starting to enjoy the experience. It no long felt odd or wrong, to find myself commenting to Sue that I thought such and such was pretty, or holding something against me and asking if she thought it would suit me? Hell for a previously very closeted crossdresser I was in heaven and had started to ask myself why I never had the courage to go out dressed as a girl before! My only real worry as we got home was how Pete was going to react when he saw me that evening, and I was getting into a bit of a tizz about it when the door bell rang. As Sue was swearing at a line of code she was struggling with I answered it and the expression on Pete face when I let him in the flat was a picture. "Fuck me... Jill?" he gasped, looking at me with a shocked expression as I said in my carefully practised feminised voice. "Hi Pete," adding with a giggle, "Well will I do?" "Do?" he gawked, "Bugger me... You'll more than do!" "What do you want?" Sue growled from behind her computer when he bounded into the the front room like he owned the place. "I said tonight?" "Yeah, you did but I need some papers signing," Pete said opening his briefcase, before he grinned up at me adding "And I've been dying to see for myself how our 'girl' was getting on?" "She's doing fine," Sue said curtly, "And will be more than ready by Friday." "She looks ready to me?" he laughed, giving me a discrete but obvious ogle before he added handing me the papers saying, "Sign these Jill where it indicates babes and then pass 'em over to Susie!" Babes! I almost had a heart attack as I signed, J. Gregory on the papers as I passed them to Sue I could see her looking at Pete curiously as she asked, "What's with the suit?" "Got to tie up a few lose ends with the bank before we get paid at the weekend," Pete said with an evasive smile. Sue could see he was hiding something that had got him very exciting and grunted as she scribbled her name on the papers, "Spit it out Pete! What's got you so excited enough to come running round here like you've a burr up your arse." Clearly delighted Pete said, "We've already got 100K units shifted just on advanced sales, and that's got us invited to join the UK Digital Games Association, which means we're going to the Games Industry awards dinner dance!" Having been on the fringes of the industry we both knew what he was talking about and knew it was the UK games industry's big annual shindig and everyone who was anyone in the business would be attending. "So I was thinking that since we're going to have to go to a formal dinner how about I take you two girls to a celebratory dinner tonight?" "Make it tomorrow," Sue said glancing at the clock, "Because neither of us has anything suitable to wear and as we're waiting for the new graphics station to be delivered we don't have time to go now." I really wanted to go, and Sue could see it when I suggested. "We've those business suits..." Sue laughed, "See what I mean about not be quite ready yet Pete." "Er no," Pete said grinning at me with a light in his eyes that I found really unnerving. "If Jill was ready Pete," Sue teased, "She would know that there is no way in hell she would be willing to go out for a posh celebration dinner tonight!" "Why?" I asked, wishing Pete would avert his eyes from my boobs! "We don't have a couple of posh frocks and silly heels," Sue said, making me giggle when I saw her pull a face before she added. "Fuck and I can't get out of it can I." "Nope!" Pete said. "Bastard!" Sue grumbled, "You know how much I hate all that dressing to look pretty shit!" Even though Sue loathed what she saw as the fripperies of female life, the following day she took me shopping and blew the best part of ?800 on a pair of outfits before spending the afternoon with Kate getting ourselves done for dinner. "Oh my!" Kate laughed once she had Sue in her styling chair, "You don't know how long I have been wanting to do this Susie!" Sue just grunted, but I could tell she was sort of enjoying it. On the odd occasion in the past when I had been out to dinner I always felt a little like a fraud wearing a suit, so I expected to feel and even bigger fraud wearing a black halter necked knee length dress and four inch strappy heels but instead I just felt awfully grown up when we hopped into a taxi to the fancy restaurant. "God I feel such a bloody fraud decked out like this," Sue chuckled as we rode into town. "Oh its not so bad," I said, grinning at her in astonishment. Sue had always been a jeans and tee sort of girl and the change in her once she was dressed up to the nines was in many ways even more startling than seeing myself. I guess over the last week or so I had got used to seeing myself looking like a girlie-girl with my blonde shoulder length hair wearing skirts, dresses and make-up. "And you do look good." "Yeah, but you enjoy this Jill," Sue grumbled, "I don't! This whole looking pretty and feminine lark is definitely more your thing than mine!" "Not any more," I teased. Arriving at the hotel restaurant was all a little surreal for me. Just the year before I had worked there as a pot washer, and I could not help the grin that went from ear to ear, when the head waiter (who I knew was right bastard) treated us like royalty flounced up and obsequiously asked. "Do you ladies have a booking?" Sue gave him a smile and said, "Hello, yes the tables booked either under Roper or SR Games ." "Ah yes a table for three at 9," He said clapping his hands, "If you ladies would like to follow Becky to the bar and order your drinks, I shall fetch you the menus." I recognised the waitress as a girl I used to have a bit of a laugh with but she never guessed who I was as she said with a polite smile, "This way please ladies." "I'll bloody kill him!" Sue growled when Pete was not waiting for us. Feeling like I was somewhere between being on display and 'queen of the world' I tentatively ordered us a glass of wine each and settled into a comfy alcove at the back of the bar. Although I nodded along with Sue complaints in truth I did not give a toss that Pete was late. I was having a great time and loved every moment, the specks of lipstick on my glass, the feeling of my tight straight skirt, and a couple of time I almost had to pinch myself to make sure I was not dreaming when I saw my reflection in the wall mirrors. Pete was only ten minutes late when he arrived with a worried look on his face as he bounded over and apologising at a hundred miles an hour. "Was up?" Sue said reading his expression. "I've just seen Mike and his boss from the publishers checking in!" Pete hissed giving me a worried look, "Is Jill ready for this, because if they see us they're bound to want to be introduced." "She'll just have to be," Sue said giving him a look that said that she would be discussing this with him later adding cryptically, "We might have to revert to that fall back I mentioned on the phone the other day." "Okay," Pete nodded, winking at me adding, "That won't be hard." I could tell something was going on between them behind their words, but before I could ask Sue said with a smile. "You ready to face this Jill, because," she did not get any further because at that moment two blokes walked into the bar and when they saw Pete they made a beeline for us. "Peter?" The younger of the two said. "I did not expect to see you until the morning, what you doing here?" "Hey Mike," Pete said, giving me a wink before he turned to meet them holding out his hand. "Just treating my girls to a celebratory meal since we got invited to join the association." The older bloke gave Sue and a smile and said, "So you two lovely ladies are the Susie and Jill, Peter has been telling us about." "All good I hope," Sue said, holding out her hand confidently, "I'm Susan Willows, and this is Jill Gregory." "Hi," I smiled, telling myself to relax as I shook hands with them. Letting Pete and Sue do the talking as we were introduced I hid between them, preying that I did not give myself away. I kept a smile on my face and kept telling myself, "Shy and demure," as I tried to recall everything I had been taught about how to use the language cues that are the gender tell tales. I'm pretty sure that neither of them guessed in that critical first few minutes of meeting someone when they fix a gender relationship with you. "So I finally get to meet the programming brains behind SR Games," Mike's boss, Mr 'call me David' Pearson said with a smile before asking if we had anything else in the pipeline? Sue took the question saying, "Oh we've been happily bashing away at a much improved sequel in terms of interface and graphics." "So its a sequel?" Mike asked. "Only in the loosest terms," Sue said, "Substantially its uses the same basic interface principals but the game engine has been completely over hauled, and the environment is all new but I'm not exactly sure what it will look like until Jill finishes the final wire frames, renders and textures." "Sounds like you still have a fair way to go yet?" Mr Pearson said. "Yes and no," Sue commented, "I've pretty much got the game engine sorted and Jill's done the story and most of the wire frames. Assuming that we don't make any cock-ups I guess cum hope to have a rough beta version running in a couple of months." With the conversation rooted in the practicalities of game design and the games business, I started to relax a little and even shyly contributed the odd comment about the 'story' behind the game as I tried not to think about the meaning of the looks I was getting from Mike and his boss. I might have been able to look and act enough like a girl to pass but behind my still forming feminine personality I was still essential a bloke and I clearly recognised when another bloke was trying to surreptitiously check out a bird. Hell I had done it myself in the past, and I tell you now it made me more than a little uncomfortable knowing that I was one of the 'bird's' being checked out, so I breathed a silent sigh of relief when Sue said, "Where's the ladies room Pete?" Since it was in gender roll that women rarely went to the bathroom alone I followed her from our table, and the moment we were alone Sue was complaining about Pete putting us in this situation! "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Sue cursed, "You're not ready for this yet!" I could see her mind whirling at a 100 miles an hour before she added with a sheepish grin, "Look, I guess I should have mentioned this earlier, but I never expected to have to worry about you attracting male attention I could not just tell to fuck off until the weekend, but Pete and I have cooked up a plan in the event of this happening." "And," I said feeling sure that I was not going to like what I was about to hear. "Don't look like that pet," Sue said, "It not that bad, but even so you might find it a bit freaky." "What more freaky than my life already is..." I half laughed to hide my apprehensions. "Yeah!" Sue said clasping my hand, "Well may be... Because the best way out of this with out pissing Mike or David off is if you pretend to be involved with Pete." "You what, why?" I gasped. "Because you've passed! Sue grinned, "And trust me on this Jill, you're passing well enough that Mike had been looking at you with all the indications that he fancies you enough to try to put a move on, and there is no way your ready to deal with that, which means like or lump it when we get back the best defence you can have is to kiss Pete on the cheek and say, "Did you miss me love," before keeping your attention largely centred on him all night." "Oh... Umm why?" I said. "Think about it Jill! Hell until recently you used to be a bloke, you know how they think!" Sue giggled watching her words sink into to my mind before she added. "And if I'm reading Mike right, in a situation like this he's the kind of bloke who won't make a move on another blokes girlfriend if he knows she taken." "Oh... yeah well that's true, I guess," I said. "So the best way to get Mike leave you alone is if he thinks you're already taken." I nodded, seeing the logic of the just in case plan Sue had concocted with Pete as she looked at me and said very seriously, "Think you can do that?" "I guess..." I hedged feeling more than a little afraid. I was still trying to work out how I felt about the sudden change in my dealings with Pete after the cattle market looks he given me in the flat the afternoon before. Sue nodded adding, "Sure?" "Not really," I said honestly, "But I'm just going to have to manage." Oddly our deception worked perfectly, and I quite clearly saw Mike's, "Lucky sod," nod of approval at Pete as I clacked back and kissed him on the cheek saying as I sat, "Did you miss me?" Giving me a cats got the cream smile, Pete said, "I always miss you babes, you know that," and plunked his hand on my thigh in that masculine possessive way. I'll be honest for a split second it freaked me out as it felt really unnatural, but at the same time it also felt kind of nice. David dominated the conversation which suited me, and other than when I was asked a direct question I was mostly able to keep a shyly to myself and let Sue and Pete do most of the talking for me. Although the meal started out with me absolutely terrified, by the end of the night I had learned two important lesson, one that I was able to pass convincingly and the second came from watching Sue's master-class in flirting as she had Mike and his boss eating out of the palm of her hand before we finished the first course. I even managed to make a blushing joke about suspecting that Pete had taken us to dinner that night to make sure we did not make fools of ourselves at the formal awards dinner the following weekend, which got a laugh and probably a brownie point or two for Pete. After I made the quip I saw David Pearson nod approvingly at Pete, who had the good manners to look embarrassed as he said, "Guilty," and admitted that he had taken the opportunity of using the the association invite to make sure his 'girls' would not show themselves up at the weekend. With a laugh he took hold of my hand and said to David, "Our Jill's always been able to read my every motivation." It must have been pretty clear to David and Mike that Pete with his upper middle class upbringing, grammar school education and background in business and marketing was quite a home in with the posh formalities of our soundings. It was probably equally clear that Sue and I lacked his level familiarity with formal etiquette, and were essentially just the couple of 'girl' nerds Pete had described. For me the main thing that got me through the night with out giving myself away was down to how Pete acted like the perfect gentleman when it came to his performance as my 'boyfriend.' It was pretty clear that he and Sue had discussed how he was to play it, and although I was not keen on the idea I did find pretending to be his 'girlfriend' actually made the whole evening a lot more comfortable for myself, which when I thought about it was kind of freaky! The wine probably helped me because by the end of the meal I had relaxed into being 'Jill' to the point that I did not find it particularly shocking when both Mike and David gave me a very European farewell kiss before Pete led us out with has arm firmly wrapped round my nipped in waist. "Well that went better than I expected," Sue said, as we walked towards our waiting taxi. "You two were terrific, and I am dammed sure no one in that restaurant had the slightest inclination that you were not the couple you appeared." All in it was a very successful evening, and it set the tone for the next few days. Other than nipping to the corner shop for the first time on my own, which was both thrilling and scary the only other thing on the 'timetable' was a Wednesday afternoon trip into Newcastle to see the therapist for a final polish. After the madness and changes in my life over the last week or so it was really nice to just get back to something resembling normality and spend some time on the follow up game. Although normality was hardly the way to describe life if you are living as a member of the opposite gender and yet that alteration no longer felt abnormal. I had got used to being Jill, and I was starting to find I was no longer feeling there was anything usual about living as her, which was on the odd occasions when I thought about it very weird. "I think we might have to find a bigger place," Sue had dryly commented on the Monday afternoon when we were setting up the high end graphics station that was going to be my new main work machine. Although we had only up graded from our old home built computers to the top of line machines a few months earlier, we needed a dedicated graphics station to speed up the time it was taking to build the gaming environments, but the addition of a third PC in the lounge, along with one of our old machines for Pete on the kitchen table meant that SR Games had pretty much taken over our front room and kitchen! "Tell Pete," I giggled delighted by my new toy commenting, "This will make things so go much faster." "Yeah," Sue said, looking at me strangely. "What?" I asked. "Nothing just thinking," she said dismissively. I could tell it was something important, but with Sue if she's not ready to say something she won't and nothing on the earth will make her. I caught sight of the strange expression on her face on and off over the next 48 hours but as we were up to our necks with Game 2 and trying to pack for London I had neither the time or the inclination to find out what was troubling her. Pete who unless he had work to be done was at Sue's instance still keeping his distance from the flat, arrived with his weekend case on Thursday night clutching a bottle of bubbly and a Chinese. Over the fizzy wine and the takeaway Sue mentioned, that she hated eating her dinner balanced on her knee which got us discussing the pros and cons of finding real business premises, and the idea really fired Pete, who was getting a little frustrated about having all the business paperwork scattered between the flat, his bedsit and his car. "I'll go see the business advisor at the advice centre and see what's on offer," Pete commented when we came to an agreement that we should find something more official than the flat as a company HQ. After clearing the plates away, I came back in to hear Pete chattering excitedly about the weekends events. I pulled a face at Sue and grumbled seeing she had nicked the single chair I had vacated to wash up. "Will you be in my grave as quick," I teased a