Tethered partnership

"How about... the one where two people use each others' bodies? That seems like it makes a lot of sense. The other one, for a whole week, it sounds like you'd have to put me in a hospital bed with an IV and stuff if I'm not going to eat or drink normally, that sounds weird. This one sounds more reasonable."

Dr. Evans nodded, and produced some papers for Sonja to sign. "You're right, that can be intensive, this other procedure is much easier to manage. Still, I'll need to have you fill out these consent forms before we pair you up with anyone. Unfortunately, for this process, we can't have you just choose the body you would like the best, we'll be matching you up based on what Re-Vital thinks is a good match for you. Likely it'll be a pairing with someone else considering transition to male who presents as female in the real world."

Even though Sonja thought of herself as a woman, she kept her body fairly well groomed, had nice clothing that didn't raise any eyebrows, cut her hair into unassuming styles, as she often thought it was easier to just surrender to the maleness of the body, particularly since it required no explanation why she looked the way she did. The fewer suspicions outwardly, the easier it was to coast through the day and get back to her friends online. Sonja wondered if that meant she would likely pair up with someone who did the same, not that it mattered. Whether someone dressed more masculine or feminine in their own time, it seemed that Sonja might be able to make choices for herself when in charge of another body.

Sonja stopped at a page on the desk filled with a ton of check boxes. "What's this?"

Peering over, Dr. Evans checked the paperwork. "Oh, that's your own preference form. As in, things you would find it acceptable if someone else did them in your body. The more freedom you give another person, the wider the pool of likely candidates, since it's typically assumed that you'll be paired up with someone who will act quite differently than you normally do in your own body. Even though their face will be different on your current body, we still want to make sure that attire, hairstyles, activities like drinking, sexual activities, that you're okay with whatever result that ends up being for your body now. Since some of those things may have lasting effects when a session is over, and beyond.

It made sense, and Sonja would hope that she would be afforded similar freedoms in whatever body she ended up in. She checked quite a few of the boxes, thinking that she didn't care so much about her current, male body--if someone could find more happiness with it, all the power to them. She paused for a moment as words sank in. "...Sex is okay using the other bodies?"

"Well, usually," Dr. Evans confirmed. "That's up to you and your pairing to decide. Maybe it's with each other, maybe with different partners, maybe you both agree to avoid it now and return to the subject later, and so on. It's easier when you meet the pairing, and when you spend a week with them."

"How does the first week work, then?" Sonja asked as she slid over more papers about her preferences and releases from liabilities, standard legal stuff.

"It'll be pretty controlled, heavily monitored, and you'll spend it with some Re-Vital staff for the first couple days. That's mostly so we can evaluate behaviors and speech to help you and your partner fit in with your new bodies to a degree that you're comfortable. Believe it or not, but when you start talking with a new mouth, there's still work to be done on just how to use it properly!" Dr. Evans chuckled. "We have some basic AI to help give some 'training wheels' as needed for behavior modification, and we can dial that back over time if the partnership goes long-term and you get more practice. For the whole first week, though, you and your partner have to maintain a distance of about thirty feet or less or the device shuts off, for safety purposes, and each session is only about two hours long. After that week, if we evaluate you both and it seems like everyone's happy with the arrangement, we can adjust the distance and duration accordingly."

Sonja nodded, and came to the last page to sign, reading it. Dr. Evans tapped the form. "This one's probably the most important. Like I mentioned earlier, this one is about that sympathetic connection we set up between the two devices. You're going to basically be sharing a lot of bodily urges, even if they originate from just one body. And it's going to be very confusing and perhaps a bit embarrassing to feel when one body has to, say, use the bathroom--you'll both think you have to do so at the same time, even if it's not true. I'm told that over time the brains figure out which body is actually sending the signal and so the pair can figure out who's actually hungry, or sleepy, or aroused, or whatever the case may be. But at first, it's going to be confusing. That mental link, therefore, is going to be critical. It's going to be like an inner voice that you have to focus to project at one another, so you aren't just sending your tethered partner your innermost thoughts, but that will always be present, so you'll always have them to talk to. I don't recommend you it though, find an amount of communication that works for you and your partner, otherwise a pairing could go south very quickly."

All of it sounded fine to Sonja, even if that idea was strange. If she was hungry, she might... not be hungry? It seemed like maybe the best thing to do would be to synchronize meals and such with a partner, but she didn't think much else about it for now. She signed the final paper and sent it to Dr. Evans.

After reviewing the forms, Dr. Evans smiled. "Great! I will submit all of these to the database, and I would expect to have a pairing for you by Friday. If we find a match, we'll have you come in, we'll give you a headset, and we'll turn it on. You won't 'meet' your new body until you're in it, we do that on purpose since we don't want you to end up with any bias about how your partner behaves when they are themselves, not at first. You need to establish your own identity through them, kind of like an initial imprint, and then afterwards you can talk to them with the receivers off. Got it?"

Sonja nodded, nervous but excited that she will get the chance to be in a body that better reflects her inner self! The only question is, who she will end up becoming...