A regular check-up

"Oh, these summits are nothing too special, other than Emilia wants to collect as much data as she can on the state of things with the Coinbearers." Ever-stern Alice crossed her arms, looking out at the crowd filling up the mansion. "Plus, it keeps the place lively. Archibald King used to throw regular galas here, but his son Reginald stopped them outright when he inherited the place. Emilia's trying to restore a little life into the estate, I suppose, though she's certainly hand-picked an... unusual crowd."

You shrug. "She must have her reasons, yeah?"

"Quite. Anyway, you're free to mingle, relax, explore the mansion. Staff will answer any questions you have, but Emilia will have an open Q&A session around seven about the coins or other items in the mansion, while the staff is taking biometric data and doing a coin examination. Nothing serious, all in all it's about a five minute process, both before and after your coin flip. I'd also recommend hunting down Samantha now, or Samuel after the coin flips, and ask about commissioning some custom-tailored outfits. She is quite skilled at modifying garments so they can adjust in size for both frames, it's her coin talent in fact to work with clothes and fashion. For shoes, you'd want Terry/Teresa. There are about ten 'vendors' I suppose you might say, who can help provide assistance for a variety of potential nuisances that accompany your constant transformations."

You nodded, doing your best to pay attention. Archer was in her own little world at the moment, mostly admiring one of the ancient-looking suits of armor in the hallway. She hefted her backpack, glancing back. "So, there is a pool, right?"

"All the way down the hall, take the stairs on the left down one floor. Enjoy yourselves, I'll be up here to answer anything until Emilia is available herself."

Before you could say thank you, Felicia was already dragging you down the hallway. "Daylight's burning and I want to swim! We can do the other boring stuff that you probably want to do after. Plus, we have to do it now, if we do the pool after the coin flip and I see you in that swimsuit again I'm gonna just embarrass myself in front of a bunch of people."

You weren't much of a swimmer, but you knew Archer must have been a dolphin in her past life or something. Not necessarily because she was good at swimming, more just because she is always loud like one whenever she surfaced for air. After using the nearby dressing rooms, you two slipped into the water, where a few others were doing some laps as well. Brr, cold! You weren't so bold as to cannonball in like Archer and just get it overwith, you took to gradually acclimating to the water. Until she swam over and tugged you in the rest of the way, of course.

"Good thing our transformations aren't tied to splashing in water, you'd be hopeless," Archer said. "Wouldn't that be bizarre though if cold water was the catalyst for the changing instead of a coin toss?"

You shrugged, before swimming Felicia's way. In her green bikini, Archer looked particularly made for the beach, and you couldn't help but appreciate even her somewhat modest curves regardless of if she was just a friend when you two were like this. "I don't even see how that would work. I'm barely ever splashed, so I'd just barely ever change."

Felicia countered your argument with a splash of water to the face.

About a half hour until seven, the staff came to give you a notice, and you and Archer climbed out of the pool, dried off, and made your way upstairs once more. They pointed you toward the dining hall, which was where you wanted to be anyway--it was time to load up on some finger foods and get a soda before the Q&A started. You looked around, seeing namecards on the one of the long tables that filled the dining hall. Once you and Archer found your seats, next to a placeholder for 'Tom/Tammy' and 'Briana/Brian', you pondered the value of a unisex name while you ate some of the best tasting tiny sandwiches you'd ever had.

Emilia was eventually brought in, via wheelchair. She'd suffered new injuries since you last saw her, her leg was in a brace and part of her head was wrapped in gauze. While this seemed to concern you, nobody else said anything, this apparently was just the norm for her, from what you recalled. Injuries were part of her daily routine, and it seemed like everyone accepted it without question. Your attention on her was immediately pulled away as trios of staff members quietly approached one of the other tables, talking with one of the guests and wheeling carts with a variety of medical devices on them. Some devices, you recognized; others seemed about a century too old to be on a table. But, it didn't matter. You couldn't see exactly what they were doing, but the coin flip was interesting to watch for each different person. They would be led briefly away so they could change clothing, and then return to conduct the tests yet again. You found that each very regular-looking person one by one was becoming an exceptional representative of humanity before your eyes. Even this eighty year old woman at the other table seemed to transform into the best looking grandpa you'd ever seen!

"Greetings, Coinbearers." Emilia was finally at the end of the central table, speaking into a microphone. "It's wonderful to see how the group has grown over the past few months. You've doubled in population since the last summit, I'm afraid if I do the same for the next one of these I may have to buy a bigger mansion to fit you all." Everyone laughed politely, while you stared at a shrimp. You were reminded of that charity dinner you and Archer crashed that one time, but Emilia's dining room had bigger shrimp.

"I know a lot of you are wondering a lot of things, especially the newcomers, about the how and why around here. Why were you chosen, where are the coins from. Those of you who attended the first two summits probably won't hear anything new from the questions that are typically asked, so once we have your biometric data, you're free to return to other activities unless you have new questions yourselves. A couple things before we get to questions, I just wanted to acknowledge that Robin has improved her design for the Venus-Mars wallet, so you can easily open it to whichever side you need without accidentally showing the wrong cards."

While Emilia plugged some of the Coinbearers goods, there was some extra activity over at one of the far tables with someone who had just flipped their coin for their readouts. The staff converged to discuss something as a confused-looking middle-age woman stared back at them, before they helped her up and took her away from the table, disappearing down the hall. Low rumblings of conversation began to form, until Emilia took charge. "Everyone, everyone. No need for alarm, there is just occasionally the need for further testing that goes beyond what fits on the cart. Keiko is in good hands. Now, let's start off with the questions."

"What happens if you eat your coin?" a random voice asked.

"Please do not eat your coin. Next question."

A few actually useful questions later, you and Archer learned far more about the coins than you expected. The box of coins was discovered in Switzerland by Archibald King in the 1950s, although when he found them, the coins were just coins. Emilia had the painting on the box restored, which restored the inscription and made it readable again. After speaking the inscription, the coins within the box all unlocked their magical potential once again. The story goes that the town's population was considered too small to request military aid for protection from bandits and pirates, by about half. Someone minted the coins--precisely the same number as the occupants of the town--and let the gods decide how to empower the coins to become talismans for the townsfolk. They were charged with the magic of talent by the gods, which the coinmaker proposed be used on talents needed to fortify and protect the town.

Nobody wanted that talent. They wanted to be artisans! They wanted to be good at things they enjoyed! A town filled with skilled individuals making high-quality art and other goods just became a bigger target, so the coinmaker gathered up all the coins again and prayed once more for help from the gods.

It seems the gods were not so amused by the choices the townsfolk made during a time of need, so they altered the magic: now, tied to their skill was the coin flip that altered men into women and vice versa. While this caused confusion and panic, they understood what the gods had intended when a census-taker arrived in town, only to discover twice as many people as previously thought, as long as they were tallied before and after a coin toss. It was enough for the town to receive the military aid they requested, driving the invaders away for good.

...And then, the town incurred twice as many taxes. The townsfolk couldn't pay twice the amount to cover both their forms for the tributum capitis tax, so they paid with the only extra currency they had: the coins themselves. Half the population vanished overnight, their townsfolk lost all their abilities they had cherished, and the town outright disappeared not long after.

Other questions that arose focused around what they could do if they lost their coins, could people have multiple coins, could new coins be minted. The answers weren't very interesting nor encouraging, but you were distracted anyway as the staff came around to take your and Archer's readings next. It was a whirlwind of questions, pinpricks, plucked hair, and cheek swabs. They took your pulse, listened to your breathing, all while checking your coin for damages. In a blur, you and Archer were hurried to a side room so you could turn your coin over and change, and moments later the crowd met Felix and Jane. Despite the impressive results many people had with their alternate bodies, you could see more than a couple people, primarily from the older crowd, looked upon you and Felix with jealous eyes. You sank into your seat to try and hide from some of the envious stares, at least until the physicians yanked you up again and started testing once more.