A lunch, more discussions and a change of plans

To Chris’s surprise, the boxes for the rest were filled with multiple salads, grilled chicken, salmon and some form of fried white fish. In contrast, Chris’s was a mixed rice with other grains mixed in, steak, and chicken skewers slathered in peanut sauce, and some Indonesian-style fried vegetables. “Well, I got Indonesian-style food, and you guys got diet food. Sorry, didn’t intend for that.”

“No worries. It could have been worse. You could have gotten fried banana! I would have been jealous if that was the case.” Jesse commented jokingly. “This is fine. We have salads to pick and grab from as we want. Lids that we can use as bowls, and they brought cutlery along. You need that more than us. Last time you ate less than that, you went on a binge in the evening.”

“Last time? Wait, in the other timeline, sure.” Chris responded. Jessica nodded to confirm his suspicions, having already grabbed a piece of fried fish.

“Wait, I haven’t heard anything about that from you two. That is why you guys were knocked out, right? Spill the beans! How was that other timeline? Was I there? How did our relationship progress there?” Becky asked, suddenly realising there was a fun subject to ask about.

“Yeah. Well, I did like it. Chris was a great, supportive boyfriend. From what I remember, he helped me get into therapy, but we ended up not going through with the transition because my dad was still hostile to it. During therapy, I realised I had gender euphoria when doing some feminine things as well as other male things; it wasn't either/or.” Jessica said.

“Huh, in mine we did go through with it. I had mainly gender euphoria during male things.” Jesse responded, surprised that their memories were different.

“Should we ask Syl now, or do we ask it now?” Chris asked.

[Could just be a weird interaction of transformations to retain their identities.] Ember declared.

“Still worth checking, even if it is just a weird interaction between the transformations. Especially if it is an unexpected consequence, we wouldn’t want them getting harmed because of it.” Chis declared.

Before the message arrived, Syl stood there with medical-looking equipment. Using a stethoscope on the head of one, then on the other. Syl proceeded to measure things whilst they ate. “So, good news. It isn’t on our part. It is what you are doing to the transformations.” Syl declared.

“What could we be doing? None of us has magic.” Jesse responded, confused.

“Chris does, as a result of his bond with Ember. And even if Ember isn’t a member of the harem, she is connected to his soul. She is affecting the transformations you guys end up getting. She is subconsciously, or not even by her instinct, just by her presence, twisting the transformations. We had noted that you guys were having a lot more individuality than expected. I didn’t want to make a point of it before, but if this is also going weird. It is better to tell you lot now than having to explain it each time it happens.” Syl admitted frustratedly.

[Wait, so if I am doing it, is there a way of stopping it?] Ember asked, getting a shake of her head in response.

“Do I also have these types of effects?” Missy demanded to know.

“Intensity turned up on some things you are feeling, from what we can tell. I won’t go into detail. I have no idea what the effects are or the exact details of what you received this morning, but… it might be able to overwrite or remove the major negative. Especially if you upgrade it.” The hostess talked around the answer, hoping not to let everyone in on the subject.

“Are there any others we should know about?” Chris asked.

“For most of them, I have not figured out side effects. Except for some alterations to the way specific things behave under forces. For now, you are the only one we can say has not had alterations to their transformation since you got it before Ember merged with your soul.” The elf explained.

“So that twist might have made my conclusion that they are both less likely or more likely just different aspects of Jessie? Man, this is complicated.” The calorie devourer said between his bites of peanut sauce-laden rice and chicken.

Syl nodded before saying something. “Would the three of you be open to a poll as to what both will mean? I will offer the viewers the five options, and they will decide. Tomorrow I will show the results. For them, it will likely be more than a week, but I ought to limit it to a week to prevent untoward shenanigans.”

Jesse was the first to react. “Can we know the options before we say yes to this likely binding poll? And what if we say no?”

“If you say no… I think I will have to ask what my producer wants. He likely wants the most dramatic option to win, so that will be that. I can also imagine him picking that both is not a valid option, and Chris will have to pick a side since that is most dramatic. I will say the four options for both are really both, and there is a we don't want both option. They are best viewed as two variations of two major themes. The major themes are return to one Jessie or both of you become your own fully fledged person. That should be enough to make your decisions.”

“You will not give us the option to pick… I think this might be the best option for both of you.” Chris said, looking between the two of them. “If I had to pick, the two of you being your own person might be best with recent developments.”

“I agree.” Both the Jessies said at the same time.

“Hello, ladies, gentlemen, gentlewomen, lads, lassos and anything in between. You heard our duo and the master. Those who have seen our last behind-the-scenes episode might have figured this was coming. For safety, I have put something in place in the poll just to make sure everyone knows where we end up going.

1. They combine into the original Jessie, combining any single-target transformations and receiving one to replace a tale of two Jessies. (On the next transformation round)
2. They combine into the original Jessie. They have to spend 12 hours in each form. One form from 4 to 16, the other half the other gender, to even out time in use somewhat. Each form will have its own transformation vote.
3. We keep it as is. Two people as one contestant who are now arguably getting more and more separate memories. Both receiving separate transformations.
4. They become fully separate contestants with separate memories. (Starting next round)
5. Pick a side, figure it out.”

“Yep, the separate one is the best option. I would prefer them being able to score together, I think.” Chris said.

“No, the fourth option is better. It means we are fully independent from each other, and no one can screw us over by buying a transformation that fucks with both of us,” Jesse argued.

“Neither can anyone give you both a helpful one, as we did earlier.” Chris refuted.

“The fourth is better since we can get group sex things easier that way. It might also make Jesse’s relationship with Ryan less awkward.” Jessica said.

Syl interrupted their discussion to add, “None of this matters unless you all agree both Jessies are the true Jessie is correct.” The trio looked at each other and nodded.

“I think we can all agree to that at least,” Jesse said, receiving an “Aye” from both Jessica and Chris in response.

“So you will accept the outcome of this weird poll as what actually happens?” Syl asked, double-checking with the three of them, and they agreed. Syl left as swiftly as she had arrived.

“Before our interruption, you two didn’t answer the other question I had or go into detail, for that matter.” Becky was disappointed that her friends hadn’t spoken about her alternative timeline self.

“Honestly, when we went to high school, you retreated, as Chis had said. You separated yourself from us, saying we would get bullied if we got involved with you. It is nice of you to try to protect us, but you didn’t help yourself with that. You needed friends, and removing yourself from us didn’t help. I have no idea if you went to prom because Chris and I were not let in for not fitting the dress norms, even if we were in a suit and a dress.” Jesse said.

“Why weren’t you let in if you were up to dress code?” Becky asked.

“Well, I was wearing the suit. You can imagine Chris in a dress now if you want.” Jessica said.

“Was I at least wearing proper tights and shoes under it?” Chris asked.

“What the fack, man! Why would you even entertain it?!?” Will interjected. “Isn’t that a thing sissies do?”

“One, I can be a man and wear a proper dress in proper form. Me doing that does not remove the fact that I am a man. In fact, no matter what I did, it showed my confidence in being able to pull it off. That is just my opinion.” Chris rebuked. William grumbled something inaudible.

“You wore a green, flowy, gala dress, with black tights and Mary-Janes. Dad was mad sooooooo mad. Mom loved you so damn much. I wish they knew that realities me and not this one.” Jessica said. A shout of “Same” followed from Jesse. “But yes, you were super confident and sexy, not the outfit, but you.” Jesse nodded as Jessica added this.

“That could be an option for the upgrade of a life lived differently, wouldn’t it?” Chris realised. “The people you care about knowing that other life without having to explain it?”

“Syl has her eyes glued to the drama, it seems,” Chris replied to the message out loud. He was trying to sound as dry as he could while stifling a laugh.

“If you are going to text me all your responses to this, you might as well be here. Weren’t you complaining about my incessant texting yesterday? No need to respond if you agree.” Chris replied with a chuckle. “So is everyone done eating?” He looked around the group. Missy and William had stopped eating a while ago and nodded. Looking over the bins, there was still a decent chunk left. “Did you eat, Becky?” The concerned friend asked.

“Nooooooo?” The person who would have been diagnosed with anorexia if she wasn’t overweight said, like a little kid getting caught.

“Just have some bean salad and some of the grilled chicken. This seems to be from an actual charcoal grill. No additional fat touched this thing.” Chris tried to convince her, holding up a piece of chicken thigh.

“Yeah, but it is so fat by default,” Becky said.

“Depends on a bunch of things. Cooktime, and heat, for starters. This beauty is cooked low-and-slow, aka maximum fat removal, maximum flavour. That doesn’t work with all cuts of meat or grills, but somehow the kitchen made it work.”

[Dim-Flame-Who-Keeps-a-Constant-Heat knows their low-and-slow, if anything.]

“Okay a flame elemental specialising in a specific style of cooking in the kitchen cool.” Chris was genuinely suprised by this. He shouldn’t have been.

“Makes sense, to be honest, having a fire elemental do the cooking more than them being film crew,” Will responded.

[Hey, that is mean. I am a very competent camera person.] Ember shouted for only Chris to hear.

“I know, Ember. And Will is indeed being mean to the person he can’t interact with directly. That does not mean you should shout in my ear.” Chris replied, picking his ear. How could a fire be so loud? Then again, fireworks work on a similar process, he supposed. “He also never said you were bad at your job, but yeah, it does somehow have a racist note to it.”

“I never meant it like that.” William defended himself. “It is just that if you are hot, you shouldn’t be outside where you can start fires.”

“Shutting up is also an option before digging your own grave,” Jesse said. “Whatever you say to defend yourself is likely to be twisted, especially if you apply existential essentialism to it. That is like saying women can’t do a job because they are women, or women are more suited to a job because of body instinct, whatever.”

“But they are!” Will shouted.

Chris took a deep breath and counted to ten. “Will, genuinely know when to shut your mouth. And when you have your fucking gym, I want to see who can bench more: you or Jessica. I think it is Jessica.”

Will was stunned by that. Before recovering and saying, “Do you want to put something on the line for it?”

Chris pondered, and the Jessies did so as well. “If we win, you grab one of the chastity cages and give Chris control over it for the rest of the round.” Jesse ended up proposing. “If you win, we will give you 15 BP that you would have gotten if you wore the chastity cage.”

“Deal.” The overconfident coach agreed.

“Are we still doing the hike, or are we going to Samson to buy it now?” Jessica asked.

“You think you can beat me after that swim you are on.” The group threw out the plan and instead went to the canteen to buy the gym.