Happiness In The End

A new universe?

So I had a cap debt with Tami (Trscroggs) over at the haven, and she had some things in her preferences that really hit me:

Repeating changes, but not necessarily preventable, aka Ranma 1/2.  What is life in a world where gender is just as changeable as clothing? Any kind of cap with a continuing story, even if it is just implied.  Cap with a little story behind them, or a little world building. 


The first part that caught me was 'life in a world where gender is just as changeable as clothing'.  That sounded so different from what I've attempted so I just had to try it.  Everything flowed form that main idea, but I tried to incorporate the other preferences I listed.  Together they would all make an interesting story (or at least I think so).

So I started with an image search and came upon the second image (the bikini shot).  Beyond the BOING feeling I got from the image, I saw a woman contemplating something while lying on the beach.  Now this could be her considering how long to lie there, but I'm thinking TG/TF so I figured she was considering if she would have dinner as a Man or a Woman.   She also looks content.  Like she has found happiness again.

So I started from there.  The hard part came in the beginning.  If I was going to have her live in such a world, I had to establish that world.  I had been hitting up magic pretty hard lately, so I wanted to make this more 'fact of life'.   By that I mean something that has changed us as a race and that wasn't reversible.   Not just some wizard or witch laying out a curse.

So I started with the first paragraph and tried to describe this new disorder.  I think one of the problems I came across was that if it is something that is normal, then it loses some of its drama.  Most TG/TF caps use the transformation itself as the dramatic turn.  So I had to make something 'special' in this world of ordinary transformations to work from.  I tried several drafts with just the first two types.  But I couldn't figure out how to make a story.  I kept bumpging my head against 'So you are a woman now?  Big deal, I was one last week'.  So even forcing the change on someone wasn't enough.  I was already playing with the Dom/Sub labels.... and I figured that I could make a rarer class that takes the choice out of it.  Thats when I came up with the Slave variation.

That soured on the story.  Thomas would find out that he was a 'slave' by accident.  By its own nature the 'Dom' wouldn't know that Thomas was anything other than a 'Sub' who liked the change.  But now I had an intro (just telling about the disorder) that was over half of the cap.

So I went back to the description of the disorder and starting some massive pruning.  Well o.k... I TRIED some massive pruning.  But by the time I got it down to a good workable length, it just didn't convey what I needed it to.  So I would go in and add more... and then start over.

I was getting really frustrated.  I liked the picture because of the obvious line between the sky and the sand.  I figured I could use that as a delineation between the 'intro' and the 'story'.  But I just couldn't get the 'intro' to fit.

So I took a path that I generally don't do.  I asked for help.  Jennifer was online, and I told her about what I was trying to do, and showed her what I had so far.  She liked it, and thought of the easiest solution out there.... make it a two panel story.  Now when I hear suggestions that I don't think of (even good ones) I generally balk at them.  I find ways to say 'I don't think that will work'.  But she was right.  Don't deny the intro the length it needs, just get more space.

Sadly this was at the end of the day and I needed to get up early the next morning.  So I did something else I rarely do... I saved my work thinking I would come back to it a few days later.  This just doesn't normally work for me.  I lose interest, or worse yet I look at what I've written/designed and it doesn't inspire me to continue.  I don't know why that happens, but it does.  Almost every single cap I have here, I did in one sitting.  Some take 30 minutes, some take 7 hours.  But they are done in one sitting.

So I only gave myself a 50/50 chance to get this to work.  And to be honest when I first picked it back up I got.... nothing.  I remembered what I wanted to do, but I didn't feel like it was going to work.  This is normally where I would just delete the images and word document.  But I had also shared this with Jennifer.  I don't mind quitting on something when no one knows about it.  But when I share with someone what I am working on.... well now I feel obligated to continue.

So I work on it for a bit, but I'm still hitting a wall.  So I saved it for another day.  Then another day.  Then another day.  Well several hours ago.... (sheesh I just looked at the clock)... many hours ago I picked this up and 'felt it'.  I wrote a lot, but I felt that I was putting to much information into to little space.  So I once again hit up Jennifer for advice.  She helped me feel confident enough in what is now the first panel to continue writing.

So if you like this, you have Jennifer to thank as well!  Without her, this wouldn't have seen the light of day.

I did save some of the edits.  In all honesty these are really disconnected.  Some are 'restarts' that didn't make it, while others are just major edits.  I figure if nothing else they can show you different ways I thought about the setup and the beginning of the story.

The exact cause of inscneathru is still debated.  Some believe it to be a genetic disorder, while others believe it is a biological weapon that escaped the lab.  Inscneathru disorder manifests itself as a complete gender reversal, that happens over a matter of mere minutes.   The most common manifestation of inscneathru disorder is the 'controlled' variety.   In the controlled variety (or CID) the patient can control their change, although intoxication takes away that control.  Sadly Thomas contracted the much rarer unwilling variety.  In the unwilling variety (or UID) the patient does not control their change.

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 The Inscneathru Disorder is fairly common after the Great Biological war.  The Dom variety is now present in 1 out of 10 people.  Alone the disorder does nothing, but when two people infected with  Dom Inscneathru Disorder work together, they can change their gender.  Unfortunately people infected with the Sub variety have no control over their change.  Anybody infected with the Dom variety can change the sub against their will.  The sub variety is quite rare, present in only 1 out of 1,000,000 people.  Sadly Thomas was infected with Sub Inscneathru Disorder. 

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Thomas lived for 20 years never knowing he was infected.  That all changed when he was changed against his will on the eve of his 21st birthday.  While in a heated argument with his best friend Tim,  Thomas found himself changing into a beautiful curvy blond woman.  Tim smiled knowing what was going on, as he had been diagnosed with DID since he was 10 years old.  His friend playfully suggested that they have sex, to which Thomas readily agreed.  Or so his friend thought.  It seems that Thomas was rare even amongst the rare.  Not only did he go through a physical change of gender, he lost all self control and found himself following any suggestion of the person who transformed him.  Thomas could think clearly, but had no means to express his inner feelings.  His body just acted on its own following happily along with whatever Tim suggested.   Quite unwillingly Thomas found himself engaging in carnal relations with Tim. 

As Tim had no idea that Thomas was not a willing participant, he kept progressing the relationship until they finally wed.  Four years later while Tim was on an extended trip away, Thomas finally changed back.     

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 it is merely a genetic reversal.  The process takes several days, and they become the opposing gender, but otherwise remain themselves.  When a sub is changed, it goes far beyond a mere physical change.  Their body responds to all suggestions and commands given by the Dom that changed them.

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