MTU: Hard To Look At - Chapter 14 (Patreon)

Over the next few days, the girls who had befriended me, including a few I met for the first time in the bathroom, gave me all sorts of contradictory tips as well as commiseration. It was what it was. I wasn’t fazed by it so much because I expected it to be horrific, I guess. Not saying it was enjoyable by any stretch of the imagination. I could deal with it just like half the population dealt with it.

Over the course of the next few weeks, Marie would join us on Friday afternoons and weekends to perform experiments. On weekends they would arrive together. For some reason this bothered me.

During that time, I had my follow up appointment with Dr. Lewis at the clinic. I decided to dress up for the appointment. He noticed immediately.

“That is a very feminine outfit. I take it your transition to a woman is going well.”

“Other than my period last week, it’s been almost unremarkable,” I said.

“Well, all teenage women come to terms with that aspect womanhood over time.”

“Yeah, if people who are women all their lives can complain about it, so can I.”

“So be it. Anything you’d like to talk about? Are you still being bullied?”

“Not as badly. The guy, Tommy, still doesn’t like me. Tried to spread rumors that I wasn’t all woman. And he encourages his buddies to help out.”

“Do you know why he would do this?”

“He’s a prick.”

“Is that all it is?”

“I never spoke to him before the first time he picked on Gordon. Can’t say I’ve ever had a conversation with him that wasn’t confrontational.”

“Do you feel you are handling these latest confrontations better or worse than you did as Gordon?”

“Better. He use to make fun of my looks. I would take that to heart no matter how many times I told myself not to. My twist made me beautiful, I’m told. So, he doesn’t have an easy way to torment me.”

“You said you’re told you’re beautiful. Do you think you are beautiful?”

“I was just being modest. It’s funny. I make clay sculptures. Before my twist I made a bust of a beautiful woman. My new face is the face I sculpted months ago.”

“That’s amazing,” Dr. Lewis said. “Anything else you want to discuss?”

“My relationship with my best friend is a bit weird.”

“Who is this friend and what’s weird?”

“Elliot’s been my best friend since we were little kids. We mutually decided we didn’t want to mess up our friendship.”

“How did he take that?”

“Just fine. I think I’m the one regretting it. He’s recently started dating someone. I don’t know how I feel about having to share him with his girlfriend.”

“Would these feelings be the same if you were still Gordon?”

“Mostly. There is a bit more subtext with my gender change.”

“You have feelings for him?”

“I’ve always had feelings for him. They hit differently now.”

“Do you like boys?”

“I think so. I’ve never dated. So, I have nothing to compare my new self to.”

“Is this Elliot’s first girlfriend?”

“Yes.”

“Do you like her?”

“Yes, she’s actually been helping Elliot and me with learning how my trick works.”

“How do they help?”

“It started with Elliot. He would have me activate my trick and walk toward him to see when he would be petrified or how long I could prevent it from happen.”

“Has this worked?”

“Yes, I’ve used my trick on one person without affecting another at various distances.”

“With permission?”

“Of course. I have only turned one person to stone without prior permission. That was the school nurse when I first twisted.”

“Elliot and Marie enjoy being petrified.”

“I think Elliot tolerates it because he’s my BFF. Marie likes it. She’s wanted me to try draining her so she ends up being petrified for more than an hour.”

“That is dangerous.”

“I haven’t done this.” I lied. “And I agree that it would be dangerous. But, they keep pointing out that in a controlled environment it would be less dangerous than if it just happened by accident.”

“This is true. I can’t order you not to experiment. Just be careful.”

* * *

The next day Marie and Elliot arrived together.

“What’s this?” Elliot asked, pointing at a piece I had just finished.

“That’s Duke,” I said. The piece was a one-foot tall replica of Duke the last time I saw him. “Dr. Hausser would always bring Duke to work but he can’t do that any more. I figured he might like this for his desk at work.”

“That’s a beautiful looking dog.”

As we started running out of new experiments, Marie convinced Elliot that getting a timing on how long taking a sip of a statue increased the duration of their petrification. I didn’t want to take chances on draining someone to death. The two of them made multiple arguments about how I needed to know everything about my hunger.

“If you do both of us, we can compare notes afterward,” Elliot said.

I rubbed the side of my boobs. I was feeling bloated. I was not in the mood to argue. I had told Dr. Lewis only recently that I wasn’t planning to practice this kind of thing because it was dangerous. I sighed and told them to pose. Marie was immediately in a majestic pose. Elliot knelt down before her as if pleading for something. I flashed them without warning and they were made of stone in a heartbeat. I tapped the timer app on my phone and then approached Marie.

“I'm going to take a sip now.” My eyelid was still open and the swirls within her were familiar. I placed my hand on her chest and waited a moment, verifying I was in control. I drew as small a sip as I could. The ambrosia within her flowed for just a second. It was still divine. I left my hand in place for a second before removing it. I repeated the process on Elliot.

While equally divine and delicious, I noticed that they tasted different. There were distinct and subtle differences between their sweet nectar and the taste of other beings I had tasted, including Mr. Hauser and even Duke.

Elliot revived about thirty seconds before she did. The clock timer said eighty-two minutes had passed. We repeated the test and, on average, my quick sip added about twenty minutes to the overall duration. I had hoped we were done.

“Did you feel the pull, Elliot?” she said.

“This time I did.”

Marie had said the sips felt like I was tugging on her somehow. “You did? It's like a rope tied around my rib cage was gently tugged when the sip happens.”

“Yeah, something like that.”

“I wonder what a longer... drink would feel like.”

“I've already said this is dangerous.”

“I am curious myself,” Elliot said.

“Not today,” I said. I finally won an argument about this. I only noticed afterward that my bloating had subsided.

* * *

Marie, Elliot, and I would each lunch together at school on the days Stacy didn’t ask me to eat with her and her friends. Those days Marie and Elliot eat lunch at a table together.

One Tuesday, while eating lunch with Stacy and her friends, I spent most of the time there watching Elliot and Marie laughing together.

“Earth to Medusa,” Melody said.

“What?”

Stacy said, “I said, are you coming with us shopping on Friday? It's been a month since our last shopping trip. You need to add a few more things to your wardrobe.”

“Fridays, I'm usually busy. Thursday would be better.”

“You let me know.”

Wednesday afternoon, Elliot and I were in my garage after school when he said, “I have a question.”

“Okay.”

“Marie and I won't be able to come over Friday night. Will that bother you?”

“How do you know Marie can't make it?”

“Because she and I are going on a date.”

My stomach twisted into a knot. “Why would that bother me?”

“I can tell you’re upset.”

“I'm not.”

“Okay. I believe you. Are you happy for me?”

The question hung in the air a little too long before I said, “Of course.”

“Medusa, my friend. I don't want to hurt you. If you say, 'Don't date, Marie,'  I won't. But, please be honest with yourself if not me.”

I sat in silence for a moment looking at the floor. “You can date anyone you want to, Elliot. I'm not a child. Yes, I think I'm a bit jealous. But, I'm also not ready to date anyone. Marie likes you. It's obvious. Find out what might develop.”

“You're sure?”

“No, I'm not sure. Just don't overthink it. You won't get rid of me by dating her. She likes being petrified too much to mess up our relationship.” I laughed.

“I suppose that's true.” He gave me a hug. “Thanks for being understanding.”

* * *

Friday morning, Tommy and Ryan made sure to be talking very loudly about women who have penises and implying I was one of them. I ignored them. But, Ryan used his trick on my shoes and I just stepped right out of them.

They laughed. “That usually works better with sneakers,” Ryan said.

“Hand me my shoes, Ryan,” I said.

“Why don't you just pick them up?”

“Because I know they probably weigh a ton by now. You will pick them up and hand them to me.”

“Sure,” he said. He picked them up and held them out.

As I reached for them, I pushed them toward him and let go. As they landed on his foot he let out a scream. Guess they were a lot heavier than they looked. The gathered crowd was laughing at him. I quickly picked up my shoes and left.

All during the shopping trip on Friday I was wondering what Elliot and Marie were doing. I swear I wasn’t mopey. But, they took me home rather than back to Melody's house for a fashion show.

I was lying on the bed staring at the ceiling when Mom tapped at my door frame. “Can I come in?” she said.

“Sure.”

“I noticed you didn’t spend any time in the garage with Elliot and Marie tonight.” She sat on my desk chair.

“It happens.”

“No, it doesn’t. Something you want to talk about?”

“Not really.” We sat in silence until I said, “They're on a date.”

“Elliot and Marie?”

“Yes.”

“A date date?”

“Is that a surprise?”

“It is. What do they have in common besides you?”

“Marie is into professional video game competitions. She knows far more about video games than I ever cared to know about it and apparently Elliot is into it, too. I never knew. She's even qualified for a semi-final for a military squad tactics game.”

“She's that good at video games?”

“She even streams. Has a ton of followers. Mostly because she’s a gorgeous girl who’s good at the games.”

“And all of this is a problem for you?”

“It isn't. And it is. I'm happy for Elliot, assuming tonight goes well. It will.”

She got up. “I know this probably doesn't help. But, the idea that one of you would have a girlfriend before the other was always something I worried about in the past. I hoped you guys would deal with it maturely. You being a woman doesn't fundamentally change the dynamic. Or does it?”

“Elliot is like a brother to me.”

“Good.”

“But, he isn't my brother.”

“Um...”

“I'm not ready for any of this. I told him not to waste an opportunity.”

“That's very mature.”

“Girls mature faster than boys.”

“We do.”

She kissed me on the forehead and left. Eventually, I fell asleep.

As I expected, the date was fabulous. They still spent Saturday with me being petrified. The first time I tried more than a sip, I slipped and Elliot turned back to flesh after three hours but Marie was still petrified.

“Three hours? How much more of sip did you take?” He said.

“It felt like maybe three or four sips worth. I'm as confused as you are.”

“How many sips did you take from Marie?”

“I messed up. Probably five or six sips worth. Based on what I can see with my special sight, she's probably got another three or fours to go.”

“At least we know she's enjoying it.”

“We also need a better unit of measure than sips.”

“I kind of like sips. It goes well with how you described how we taste.”

“What do you mean?”

“You said my life-force had a smokey flavor and hers was more floral. It's like we're expensive sipping whiskeys. So, sip seems like a great word for it.”

“I suppose it's better than comparing it to wine tasting,” I said. I changed my voice to sound more snooty, “Elliot pairs well with poultry.”

We laughed.

“How was your date?” I said after an awkward pause.

“It was good, I guess. I don't think I'm supposed to talk to my best friend about my date while my girlfriend is standing four feet away from me.”

“I'm not sure what the proper etiquette for that is,” I said, continuing in the snooty voice.

“She's fun. And when she's not like this, she's vivacious. We went for a walk in the park after dinner and she was constantly dragging me to see one cool thing then quickly to another. I'm never really seen the park before until I saw it though her eyes.”

I had brought it on myself. I smiled and said all the right things. But, I felt a small part of me dying inside. Unusual thoughts crept through my head: why couldn’t she have been boring? Why doesn't she have a terrible laugh?

She was restored after six hours and fifty minutes. They had to leave shortly thereafter.

Elliot and Marie were inseparable the next few weeks of school. I spent most lunch periods with Stacy and her posse. I still walked to school with Elliot, unless Marie drove past and picked us both up. Elliot use to spend every afternoon in my garage where we just hung out. These weeks he was only around on Tuesday and Wednesday by himself and Friday with Marie.

“I was thinking,” she said. “What happens if two people are touching when you zap them and then take a sip from one of them? The bird drew my life-force when I was holding it.”

“You just want to smooch Elliot as a statue.”

“I do.” She giggled. “Can we? You don't mind do you?”

“Just don't grope one another in front of me.”

“Okay.” She grabbed Elliot and they embraced and kissed one another.

I zapped them. They made a cute statue couple. I took a few pics because Marie was always sad when I forgot to take pics of her and Elliot as statues.

I put my phone down and opened my life-force vision. It was interesting. Some of the life force flowing through them was definitely jumping into the other where their lips met. I wondered what that meant. The stopwatch app was past ten minutes before I put my hand on Elliot's back and took a sip.

After enjoying the initial hit of his ambrosia, I notice that he tasted different. There were notes of her taste in his. There was definitely a flow of life force running from her to him.

I touched her and took a second sip. The flow passing across their lips ran into her for a few moments. Normally, one sip from each of them would last a total of eighty minutes for each of them. As I waited, I did some homework. But I was distracted and the stop watch time slipped past eighty minutes without any changes in them. The watch was at one hundred twenty-five minutes when they both reverted together.

“How long?” She asked.

“Over two hours. Just like a normal two sips of a single subject.”

“You could see us swapping life energy before the sip?” Elliot said.

“I said that out loud? I guess I did. Yes. I should have guessed you were just one statue from the trick's point of view.”

“I felt both tugs,” he said.

“Yeah, I felt when you sipped him and when you sipped me,” she said.