Success!

James blinked once, then twice. He shivered a little, realizing that he was seeing a familiar room--but not his own. Glancing upward, he saw Ivy's grinning face.

"You with me, Jimmy?" she said, glancing down at the body James was in before looking back up. That encouraged him to do the same... and the sight was incredibly different than what he'd known minutes ago!

James nodded, sitting up a bit as his eyes were wide, feeling the weight of breasts shifting on his torso, the feel of fabric--a skirt, he realized--swirling around his legs, which were clad in stockings. He didn't realize that's why they felt so strange and smooth, but it became obvious when he hiked up the skirt a little to look. Brunette locks cascaded down over his shoulders and neck, causing him to shiver. "I'm... here. It worked! Right, this is still Beth?"

Who else would I be? A voice rang in James's ear. Ivy hasn't told anyone else about this yet, has she? I was hoping it would be our secret. This feels really weird though, just watching my body move... you're not gonna go berserk and make me streak in school or anything, right?

James shook his head, which to Ivy made it look like Beth was shaking her head in disbelief. Beth's green eyes met Ivy's own, smiling a bit. "This is really incredible, I can't believe how well it works, I feel like I'm really here!"

"I know, right? But, I made a promise, so it's gonna feel different yet again." Ivy looked right in Beth's eyes. "AscendOS mixed mode, fifty percent."

The sudden rush of thoughts and memories that collided with James's mind was startling, to say the least, but with the mix, it was just as accurate to call the entity controlling the body Beth again! She looked down, blinking. "Whoa, that's a rush. So I'm half-James, half-Beth?"

Ivy nodded, as Beth marveled at seeing her body both in a familiar and new light. It was like she'd never seen her boobs from this angle, but she knew that couldn't be the case. She'd seen them like this every day! Beth's hands locked onto her chest, adjusting the bra, wondering why everything felt so strangely sensitive, though she knew that was probably the James side of her. It was weird to think that right now, she had sides... she felt like one person, but was conscious of her origins.

Beth glanced over, as Ivy twitched a little. "W-what are you doing?" Ivy said, taken aback. Beth blinked, and shrugged. "Making an adjustment. What's wrong?"

"I didn't think you were going to just start touching yourself with your body mixed like that!" Ivy said. Was that jealousy oozing from her voice? Whether it was Ivy's anger at James touching another girl's breasts, or Luke's envy that Beth was letting him do so, it seemed to itself blend together into one single strange jealous ball of energy inside Ivy. As if to retaliate, her hands gripped her own chest roughly, mashing her breasts together as her brows angled down in anger toward Beth.

Beth was taken aback by that accusation, and shot back immediately. "Hey, knock it off! It didn't mean anything! But if you wanna make it personal..!" Beth grabbed at her chest again, this time very deliberately squeezing! She had a cup size over Ivy, and Ivy was constantly reminded of it, and now James had the better boobs of the two... her face flushed at that.

Beth and Ivy continued this self-groping war for a good minute, before both of them seemed to realize how stupid it was simultaneously. They paused, and started to giggle, and then keeled over in laughter, lying on the floor. "Okay, that was dumb, but... look, can you blame me?" Beth said. "I'm feeling pretty good right now. You know how it feels too, right? I didn't think I'd feel this good, but having two brains working together, stuff feels new and familiar at the same time. It's kind of exciting."

"It is, isn't it?" Ivy said, sitting up, and scooting closer to Beth. "I mean, technically, if you think about it, mixed like this, we're definitely different. Like, I'm more assertive, I would want to show myself off, I'm amazing at chemistry and I feel really smart, but I still feel beautiful and like I'm not sacrificing one or the other. We could go to the spa or a football game and I'd be happy either way."

Beth sat up too, thinking about it. "I guess... yeah, I can understand what you mean. I'm a drama kid and a math whiz, I feel sort of like I want to dress up in something cute and then play Alien Showdown on the game system all night, is that weird? Because... it doesn't feel weird. Hell, for something like the superhero movies, Beth and James both love them, so it's like... can I double-love something? I never wanted to cosplay before, now I really want to see what I'd look like in a leotard..." Beth blushed. Was she really just saying all that? All the mixed signals, her boisterous and outgoing personality was interweaving with James's more deliberate, intellectual approach to thinking. But, all she really wanted to do was...

"There's more to it," Ivy said, scooting even closer, until her hips bumped up against Beth's. "It's not just who we are now. But how we are with each other. Think about it... we're good friends, twice over. Half of me is dating half of you. The other half of me wants to give us another shot... but now, uh. Maybe it's a little easier to get closer?" Ivy paused, looking at Beth for a moment, before nervously breaking eye contact as she turned away.

Beth wasn't exactly sure what part of her compelled her, but she leaned in, and kissed Ivy on the cheek. "It's a little strange to think about. I mean, it's not like Luke and I aren't good friends, just it felt weird going further than that. But, uh, I guess if the Ivy side and James side could lend some of their legendary iron-clad relationship energy... I mean, to be honest, right now every part of me wants to kiss you, which is so weird because I've never wanted to kiss a girl until--"

Ivy took that declaration as an opportunity! She grabbed Beth's face, and pulled her into a long, deep kiss. Both girls seemed to melt into a puddle during it, shivering in delight as they wrapped their arms around one another.

"This is weird, but... it does feel good, too," Beth said, with a blush. Her arm came to rest on Ivy's thigh, in a slightly more forward gesture than even James would normally consider, but she was doing it regardless!

Ivy leaned against Beth. "I've got a couple thoughts about where to take this, if you're willing to listen..."

Ivy had apparently been thinking about this for a while, with getting this version of Beth to coincide with the current version of herself. She described a couple scenarios that she'd daydreamed about up to that point. Firstly, the simple one: they could stay in, make out, play games, watch movies, just enjoy themselves tonight and not think too hard about this. They could change the mixed minds up, playing with which mind was more dominant, so it could still be a girls' night or the boys could be fully in charge and they'd have to deal with whatever James and Luke would concoct while in two lovely ladies. Even just the thought of James being mostly in control of Beth and Ivy being mostly in control of herself, or vice versa, was a fun thought. Admittedly, there was still a hint of jealousy between the groups for James and Luke to have access to the bodies of girlfriends and crushes... what if they just swapped masks and Ivy and James were together in one body, and Beth and Luke formed up into the ultimate nerd-girl?

As far as when and where, they could stay indoors, spend time with each other outside or in the mall, or really go anywhere with just the two of them. Another friend of Ivy's was having a pool party the next day, and that might be fun for the two guys to stealthily join in with these bodies--Ivy and Beth get the invites, but Luke and James do not, as plenty of the guys in the school try their hardest to get the girls to themselves. Or maybe they nerd out and go to the comic convention happening in a neighboring big city instead, maybe even go so far as to dress up?

There were so many possibilities, and it was hard to choose just one.