Self-reflection.

Ask herself? She thought about himself and was suddenly knocked off guard. He gently guided the body down as he exerted pressure on her own mind. Eventually she relented.

To Ben, this internal battle manifested as a series of facial tics and grunts. After about ten seconds she went silent for a moment, then her eyes widened and she shouted.

"Holy shit! What was that? What the fuck?" He heard panic in his weirdly feminine voice. "Oh fuck, that was- shit!"

The real Ben looked alarmed. "You ok?" he asked gently.

"Yeah, I think so," Ben/Amanda said. "I just - wow. Something about that question made things click. I think I'm pretty much in control now. Oh, and I'm Ben."

"So no Amanda?"

Amanda/Ben thought about it. "No, I'm still in here. I just - she's like a subordinate personality. I can let her out anytime, or even let little pieces of her leak into my consciousness. The difference is that I control her, not the other way around." He turned to look at her ass. "Man, this body is wild. I don't know how to handle it."

"So is Amanda, like, pissed at me? Can you talk to her in there?" Ben was starting to worry again.

Amanda/Ben's response helped assuage his anxiety. "It's not quite like that. I mean, I'm her and I'm you. I'm just being you right now. Talking to her would be talking to myself. Do you want to hear from her?"

"Not if she's gonna freak out..." Ben muttered.

A change came over Amanda's demeanor. She became subtly more feminine and more relaxed in her body. She grinned at Ben and punched his arm.

"Hey man, don't worry about me. Ben - the Ben that I am - kinda dictates the parameters of my existence. I'm being Amanda, but I'm not being angry Amanda if that makes sense."

"So wait, you just turned into Amanda?"

She sighed and put a hand on his knee. "You're not getting it. I brought myself - Amanda - to the forefront of my mind. I'm not exactly you or her, but I can emphasize either one. The only difference, the part of me that's Ben controls the part of me that's Amanda. Including not freaking out or being mad."

For the first time, it seemed like she had the upper hand and Ben was catching up. "So wait, you can change Amanda's personality at will? Like you can make her dumb, or horny, or slutty?"

She scowled and socked him on the arm again. "You fucking perv, of course that's your first thought. But yes, I can be a dumb, horny, slutty version of Amanda for you. I can change my name or my memory or my logic. Think of it this way - my Ben side is permanent but my Amanda side is infinitely malleable."

Ben considered asking her to be dumb, horny, and slutty immediately but he had other questions first. "So, you're being Amanda right now?"

"I'm presenting as Amanda. I'm being both."

"Right, right," he waved his hand dismissively. "But as Amanda, doesn't it bother you to talk about fundamentally changing yourself on a whim? That seems like it would be really disturbing."

"It would, but it isn't. Remember, I - Ben - have complete control over the context and parameters of Amanda's subjectivity. Watch this."

She leapt up and began to dance sexily. It was totally uncharacteristic of Amanda, who wasn't particularly flirty or sexy. As she gyrated her hips, she began to unbutton her shirt. "Is this more to your liking?" she asked huskily.

Ben was taken aback by this display. "What the hell are you doing? Are you Ben or Amanda right now?"

She had taken off her shirt and began to shimmy out of her pants. She turned and leaned back against him, moving her body along his. "I'm both, silly. And I'm a stripper, or at least in the Amanda context I am. You did this whole thing so you could fuck me, right? I figured I'd get the process moving by making myself a stripper."

He was completely caught off guard and started to stammer. "Amanda- Ben- Abby, are you sure about this?"