The Man? In the Mirror

Marcos hurried to keep up with the crew member leading him to their room. He was used to being tall, seeing above people, walking past them.

Now he was taking twice as many steps trying to keep pace, and he couldn't see anything past the two women in front of him. He felt awkward in his new body. It was too small, too frail. His breasts were large, but he still felt the weight of them shifting as he walked. He kept moving tongue around, like he couldn't find a comfortable place to rest it. He felt the breeze on his legs and kept trying to pull the skirt down further. At least all these small things kept him distracted from truly freaking out about his situation.

Finally they stopped at an ornate french door. It had beautiful carved wood around the edge, and the glass was slightly frosted. The woman opened it to reveal the room.

The first thing Marcos saw was the mirror, and the other mirror, and the other one. In fact he lost count of the number of mirrors he saw. Some were floor length, on wooden stands. Others were mounted to the walls. There were small compact mirrors and fishbowl mirrors. They made for a slightly confusing perspective, but the biggest confusion came when he looked so straight ahead. He saw his new body for the first time clearly. He knew it was him, and yet knew it wasn't. He looked so young. So small. He was short, and his colourful hair tumbled past his shoulders. He saw the my little kitty earrings, and the silver septum ring. He opened his mouth and saw the bright pink ball on his tongue. He touched his skirt, he couldn't believe he was wearing a skirt. Who was he now?

"Welcome Mr Silva and Miss Liu. This is our mirror suite. Isla sent us to a carnival for inspiration and we got lost in a hall of mirrors for 3 days and this is the result. We hope you enjoy your stay with us. If there is anything we can let you know or get for you, we'd be happy to, for a modest fee of course. Now we'll leave you two to get acquainted but first -" She tried to keep speaking but suddenly Sarah spoke up from behind Marcos.

"Can you get me scissors?" She asked.

"Of course. Here." The woman said, suddenly hoping a pair of scissors. They were thick plastic child safety scissors.

"What? No. Sharp ones. To cut my hair." Sarah explained.

"Of course. Here." The woman tried again, this time with the right tool. "Just 200BP."

"Fine. Gimme." Sarah said, taking the scissors.

Sarah 3000 BP -> 2800 BP

Sarah pulled some of her blonde locks in front of her, opened the scissors and SNIP! A large chunk of blonde hair came off in her hands.

"That's better," Sarah said, "Wait, what?" She watched as the hair in her hand started to fade, then disappeared. She looked over at a mirror, her hair was uncut. "What is happening?" She screamed.

One of the Twos spoke, "You have the Master's dream body. You cannot change that. Only the Master can. Can we get you anything else? If not we would be happy to leave you as soon as we get our tip."

"A tip? For real? Here's a tip, don't piss off a woman with scissors." Sarah said, still clutching the scissors.

"Wow, what a great tip. Thank you." She seemed earnest. She turned and walked away.

The second woman was still there looking at Marcos expectantly. He wasn't sure what was going on, but thought of a tip for her.

"If you want to get better at a game or level, you can watch pros on Twitch or YouTube and learn how to improve your skills."

"Oh very interesting. I could get better by watching. Thank you for this tip. Have a pleasant night." With that she left. Leaving the two in silence.

Marcos looked around the room more. There was only one bed, and it was a double. He didn't like the idea of having to sleep beside someone besides Beatriz, but Isla's words echoed in his head. He would just have to suck it up.

The decor was interesting to say the least. His apartment back home was pretty bare, only the essentials, with grey walls and little art. This room was the total opposite. Aside from the mirrors all over the place, the walls were full of posters, stickers and photographs. The bedspread was neon pink and there were tons of stuffed animals and decorative pillows.

The only thing that reminded him of home was the huge desk with a computer. Walking over to it he could tell it was a high end water cooled rig. Like at his place there were multiple high def monitors, but unlike at home there was also a fancy microphone, camera and lights.

It was just so bizarre. Searching his new memories, the person he could be loved this new space. However Marcos, the middle aged man, felt like a creep just standing here, like he had snuck into some teens bedroom. It was weird, thinking about these new memories. It was like they were both him, but also totally separate people. Right now he was Marcos, and he was just a man trapped in a woman's body. However if he thought more and more about this new life, it became more and more real to him, and Marcos faded away. Instead she took over, and Marcos felt like the dream.

"Mali." He said suddenly.

"What, did you say something?" Sarah asked.

Marcos pulled back out of those memories and back to himself. "Sorry. I was just thinking through these new memories. This girl," he said gesturing up and down his body, "she didn't grow up as Marcos Silva from Lima. Her name is Mali Asavawanda, from Bangkok. I can see her whole life, like it's my own. It's so strange. Like if I remember her too hard I'll become her. I'm afraid I'm going to lose Marcos. I've already lost so much." Marcos allowed himself to feel his loss finally. He had not wanted to cry in front of Beatriz, he wanted to be strong for her. But he couldn't take it anymore, and he didn't care what Sarah thought. He let the tears flow.

He as startled when Sarah came and hugged him, but it felt nice. "I'm sorry you had to go through that. That sounds rough. I was so caught up in my own changes I wasn't really watching everyone else. Fuck this show sucks." Sarah didn't know why but now she was crying too. The two just held each other and cried.

Some time later they had both recovered. "Thank you Sarah. This is all kinds of fucked up, but at least none of us are suffering alone. We will have to look out for each other." Marcos said.

"Yes, you are right. Yaz seems happy to be here, and obviously knew what she was getting into. The rest of us, even those the read the rules, I think we have to stick together ." Sarah replied.

"Even Stephanie?" Marcos asked, then immediately regretted it. "No I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought her up."

"It's fine. Or it should be fine. Argh. We broke up a year ago, I shouldn't be so hung up on her. To find out she was cheating, ya that hurts on its own, but shouldn't that just help me drop her?" She looked at him, waiting for him to say something.

"You still love her don't you, even after all that hurt? I don't know you, or her for that matter, but aren't you worth more than to be treated that way?"

"I don't know. Honestly even when we were together I am not sure she treated me well, but I just felt like she gave me what I needed anyway. Maybe that doesn't make any sense. Fuck. Love sucks. I'm sorry. We don't need to spend the night on my issues. But to your original question, yes even Stephanie. I don't know where I stand with her, but I don't want her eliminated."

"Right, so we are a team. Once you've played as many games as I have you start to see how they are all alike. At first this feels like a solo game. Don't get eliminated, score high to get easier transformation, high score get a wish. But I think that's a trap, one that leaves us all miserable except the final winner. This is a team game. If we play together, we all win. We make sure nobody gets eliminated. Work together to get everyone to 100 points. What do you say Sarah, partners?" Marcos held out his hand.

"Ok. Partners." Sarah took it, hoping that he was right. She knew it would really take the other girls to make it work though. The two of them were probably the least likely to do anything sexual with the master. And Marcos wasn't going to be winning any physical competitions in that tiny body. As for herself she was more athletic than ever before, but she knew she didn't have the competitive drive she saw in those other girls. Particularly Yaz. She was positively gleefully during the transformation round, and probably the only one who really understood what they all signed. Would Yaz cooperate and maybe give up that wish? Would it even be possible to cooperate in the challenges?

Marcos thought about their current positions. They would have to find a way to get Stephanie some points before the first challenge. That might be easier said that done if Eric can't forgive her. Pushing reconciliation might actually lose her points. He booted up the computer and started poking around. Finally he found what he was looking for, a copy of the rules. Time to start reading.