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Trigger #094: The "Dead Names Tell No Tales" Hex

Spell Class: A curse crafted by the Witch Doctor, Madame Chery the Third for Captain Valentine Everett in 1669. In exchange for her left eye, Captain Valentine was given the ability to "sway the heart of any sailor to her service" and "bring out their innermost potential."

In other words, it trans-ed her gender and trans-ed the gender of anyone who joined her crew.

Transformation Type: TG, Dominance, Pheromones

Threat Level: Benevolent. This spell died with along with it's carrier when Captain Valentine died of natural causes in 1734. And despite having a reputation as a "cutthroat pirate queen", Captain Valentine and her crew were extraordinarily merciful, sparing the victims of her raids (despite robbing them blind.) 

Subject: Captain Valentine Everett (F) formerly known as Captain Vaughn Everett.

From the private memoirs of Captain Everett, written in the years preceding her death...

Call me Valentine.

Some years ago—never mind how long precisely—having little or no money in my purse, and having been betrayed or berated by every pirate crew north, south, east, or west of the Caribbean, I decided to seek out the services of the Witch Doctor, Madame Chery. I was convinced, rightly so, that I was under a curse or spell most foul. My luck had no doubt been rotting away day after day as I fought to make a name for myself on the high seas. Often had I been told I had neither the stomach nor the heart for piracy. But coming from nothing, it was the only way I could rise above my station.

Deep in the bayou I sailed my dinghy, the only vessel I could still commandeer, up to the mossy wooden shack of Madame Chery. Full of wonders and oddities it was. But I did not steal anything. It is NEVER wise to draw the ire of a witch. As if from the shadows she emerged, smiling warmly, like a mother greeting her child.

"Captain Everett... you come seeking a cure for what ailes you...?"

I had neither given her my name nor my business, and yet still, she knew it well. She new it far more well than even I myself did. I liked my parched lips and spoke carefully.

"Madame... I wish to be a true pirate captain. A leader any sailor would follow to the depths of hell and back. I wish to be unmatched in skill and charm, to be the single most famous pirate of all time." I held out the meager bag of coins as payment. 

The lady searched me with her eyes, then smiled, pouring a strange brew into her cauldron as she spoke. 

"Magic doesn't take money as payment, Captain. You need to give something to get something. In your case..."

She pulled out a strange dagger, and placed it in my hand.

"An eye for an 'I', Captain... This will make you EXACTLY who you want to be..."

I hesitated, of course. My cowardly nature urged me to run, to keep my eye, and abandon my fruitless dream.

But I had nothing, and no one to run to.

I was well and truly alone, adrift at sea.

Were this some cruel trick, I had nothing and no one to lose.

Madame Chery tended to my wound as soon as the deed was done, staunching it with cloth and herbs. She whispered my wish into the cauldron, and dropped the ivory orb into the broiling fluid. Stirring and chanting slowly, the brew shifted between every shade of sky before settling on a pure golden potion.

She bid me to drink. Having run out of fresh water the day prior, I was more than happy to down the mysterious ichor.

A warmth like rum ran from my tongue to my toes. And then pain. Agonizing, excruciating pain.

"You fool! You stupid, cowardly oaf, you let her poison you!" I hissed to myself, doubling over as my insides caught fire. It was like a thousand snakes were wriggling around inside me. My face felt as if it was burning, melting, as if I had swallowed acid. But when my hands rose to touch it, it was soft. Hairless. I turned and caught my reflection in one of the witch's trinkets. I had a woman's face!

I crumbled again as I felt every creak and crack of my bones until they snapped entirely, rearranging like a ship's floorboards. My shoulders sank, and my hips rose. They filled to the brim with muscle and fat. Round. Childbearing. Motherly hips that swayed even still as I squirmed in pain. My ass nearly ripped my pants in half!

My muscles, earned through years of slaving away on ships and working up the ranks, melted into nothing, only smooth, supple flesh remaining. The wind itself tore at my hair, dragging it out until it was longer, smoother, silkier. A great red mane falling down my back and resting just above my ass. And finally, my chest. Two massive, bountiful breasts tore through my shirt like cannonballs through a sail!

When I looked at my reflection again, I was a woman, an impossibly beautiful woman, panting and shivering in the cold swamp air. When breath came back to my chest, I whirled on the witch and screamed. It was a woman's scream. And something about that filled my lungs with the deepest relief I had ever felt. But I was still angry, and confused. I shrieked at her, asking why she had turned me into a such a frail, round woman? How was I to command respect when I looked like a common Tortuga whore?

The witch only rolled her eyes in what I now know was an act of great patience and mercy.

"Whether you know it or not, this is the form of your deepest, truest desires. That it is a woman's form lies on your shoulders, not mine..."

She took my face in her hand ever so gently and smiled.

"Besides... strength comes in many forms. A woman's wiles are FAR better at breeding loyalty than you might think... I can show you, if you would like...?"

I left that hut sore and wobbly legged, but also FAR wiser in the ways of women.

As she had said, it was not difficult for me to seduce sailors into my service. A flip of my hair here. A flounce of my breasts there. And they all came willingly. They also joined my crew without any coercion. 

But as soon as they stepped foot aboard the vessel I had managed to acquire in my new methods, the strangest thing happened.

Some of the men became women, like I. And some of the women who followed me became men! And there were some who became something not quite either, or both, or neither.

But one thing was certain. They were merry. Very merry.

And as my first mate handed me my captain's hat, I realized I was merry, too.

I wasn't Vaughn, anymore, that weak, pathetic, cowardly man.

I was strong, and brave, and beautiful.

I was a WOMAN.

This new body, this new life, it was a GIFT.

And THAT is why the seven seas now know me as the Dread Pirate Queen, Captain Valentine.

From the desk of

Mira Alcott

Head-Mistress of Transformations

(Special thanks to Wyvernstrafe for the suggestion, to my Test Readers, and to all of you for your support!)