Room 418, Saturday Morning

[not_every_mage]

Anders	Anders could tell something was wrong as soon as he woke up. It wasn't any one big thing so much as a thousand little things; the uneasy feeling the bed seemed to have gotten larger overnight, longer hair tickling his shoulders, an unfamiliar pressure against his chest. Really, it wasn't so hard to guess what might be going on. He'd only been warned about genderswaps 50 thousand times since getting to the island. He still wasn't ready for it; while he appreciated Fandom's devotion to showing him alternatives, he already knew he preferred the body he'd been born with. He was going to react to Fandom like a mature human being this time, which was to say he was going to lie very, very still, keep his eyes closed, and wait for Nathan to wake up before he dealt with this.
Nathan	Nathan wasn't going to be waking up anytime soon without being poked. Sleeping inside wasn't ever that comfortable for him so getting to sleep without trouble was a blessing. His hair was longer, his body smaller, but he didn't notice. He just curled up on his side and dozed. Sleep was being good to him right now.
Anders	Well, of course this was the one time Nathan would sleep halfway decently inside the dorms. Anders wasn't nearly cruel enough to wake him up just to offer a PSA about Fandom being weird again, so he turned to rest his head in Nathan's hair and tried to fall back asleep.
Nathan	Enjoy that, Anders, since his hair was both thicker and longer than normal. And a little tangled since he'd been sleeping hard. He twitched a bit at the movement, trying to figure out if it was in his dreams or not. He was going 'in a dream' because of how...strange he felt.
Anders	It was nice hair! It smelled a little outdoorsy, the way Nathan normally did, and there being so much more of it almost made up for how tickly it was against Anders' nose. With a sigh, he wrapped an arm over Nathan and tried to convince his body to fall back asleep.
Nathan	Nathan tried to curl up tighter, an involuntary reaction that was made a little more difficult by the knobbier knees and elbows and how he wasn't really sure how to use this body. He mumbled something in his sleep, tensing without realizing it. Something was wrong.
Anders	"Shhh," Anders said, with a drowsy pat and a slurred voice thick with sleep. "We're fine." And then he woke up a little more, because his voice sounded distinctly funny to him.
Nathan	Hey, Anders was the one talking, not him. He'd just muttered, And when he heard words, he got a little more tense because that wasn't a voice he recognized at all. Where was he? And who was he with? He opened his eyes a bit but only saw the wall. He licked his dry lips and tried to figure out why he felt so...small.
Anders	It was meant to be a soothing shush, not a be quiet shush. Also it happened to be the noise Anders felt he could make with the least amount of effort. He could tell he'd had exactly the opposite of his intended effect, though, so he convinced himself to put together a few more words. "It's just me," he said,then realized that might not help. "Anders. Fandom's gone weird again." He was overjoyed by that. Really.
Nathan	"Is it?" Unfortunately, Nathan was paranoid enough to be a little suspicious. That was until he opened his eyes and saw hair falling into his line of sight. He blew the hair out of his eyes and frowned. "What in the he -- " Okay, this was not the body he'd gone to sleep with.
Anders	Anders had taken a quick moment to run a hand down his own body as discreetly as he could manage, which had confirmed his suspicions. "People kept telling us we'd have to be girls someday," he said, half to himself. "Guess today is someday."
Nathan	"I don't want to be a girl," he nearly whined, shaking his head and shutting his eyes again. If he didn't see it, it wasn't happening. "I barely know how to live in my own skin." Ugh, island.
Anders	"Right there with you, but maybe it's still your skin," Anders offered helpfully. "Just .... stretched a little differently. And probably there's less of it." He sighed, rolled away a little. He'd been vaguely curious about the girl thing before, but now that it was actually happening he mainly wanted it to be over with. "This sucks."
Nathan	"Doesn't feel like my skin," he said, sighing and opening his eyes. "Nothing feels like me right now. I feel all...strange. Like I'm not the same person despite the fact that I know I am." He brushed some hair out of his eyes and made a face at how much there was. "How do girls deal with this?"
Anders	"The girl part or the hair part?" Anders asked. "Either way, I imagine they're used to it." And that led him to stretch a strand of his own mass of blonde waves out to where he could see it, discovering it was several inches longer and perhaps half a shade lighter than normal. He let it fall back to the pillow with a soft sigh, then turned his head toward Nathan. "Can I see your face? It's easier to talk that way." And he was curious.
Nathan	"Easier to talk that way?" Nathan asked, glancing over his shoulder at Anders and making a face before snickering. "Talking is just fine either way but you can see my face."
Anders	"Oh, tell me you weren't curious too," Anders said, making a face back at him. "Do I look that bad? You look like you, by the way. You with long hair."
Nathan	"I never said you looked bad," Nathan pointed out, rubbing his smaller nose and feeling his smaller chin. "You look different. That's all." He shrugged and rubbed at his shoulder. "I'm...this is so weird. I'm just not sure what to do with all this."
Anders	"You didn't say anything, you just made a face," Anders said, then rolled his eyes at how petty that sounded. "Sorry. I don't know what to do either. Clothes? Breakfast? Lying in bed being annoyed?" From the distinct lack of progress he was making toward either of the first two objectives, 'lying in bed being annoyed' seemed to be winning out.
Nathan	"You're reading a lot into my face," Nathan said, rubbing his cheek because it wasn't really his cheek. "Sorry, though." He sighed. "Clothes might be hard since I don't have any girl clothes."
Anders	"Probably I should wait until I'm a little more used to your face looking like that before I start guessing what you're thinking," Anders acknowledged. "And I'll just put on my shirt from last night for now. It'll be big but it's better than nothing."
Nathan	"Yeah." He made a face and tugged at his hair. "How does anyone deal with longer hair? It's all over the place. I just want my real body back." He wasn't even thinking about the breasts and other things just yet.
Anders	"Think I ever left a hair tie here?" Anders wondered, and swiveled to sit on the edge of the bed and lean to get his t-shirt. He kept an arm over his breasts as he did; he normally didn't care about being modest in front of Nathan, but normally the equipment was a little different. "I can at least get it out of your face if I have a spare."
Nathan	Nathan pulled his blanket up, using that as a way to cover up for now. It was warm and familiar but having to do it was just strange. "It's okay," he said, pushing his hair back and making a face at having to do that. "It's fine. I'm just complaining about something that's not hugely bad. Just weird. I just hate feeling weirder than usual."
Anders	"I know there are worse things, but I can't fix those," Anders said, from somewhere inside his shirt. Somehow his lanky build had translated to scrawny as a girl; the shirt seemed much looser on him than it should have been. "I can keep your hair from making you crazier." He finally got the shirt settled into place and tossed Nathan the first shirt of his that he saw. "There. I'm decent, at least."
Nathan	"My hair's fine," he said, letting his shirt settle on the bed without taking it. "It's going to make me crazy either way. My sister's had long hair and dealt with it so I can too." But it wasn't his usual hair which just made it harder. Still. He didn't want to seem weak. "I'll be fine. It'll be over at some point and I'll just go out to the preserve and stay there for awhile. I don't know how this body will handle being inside." He already felt queasy but he wasn't sure if that was because of being inside or the new body or a little of both.
Anders	"Your sisters didn't just wake up one morning with hair down their backs," Anders pointed out, not sure why Nathan's pride seemed to be a factor here. "But fine. It's your hair. For now, anyhow." He sighed slightly and tucked his own hair behind his ears. It was more unruly than normal, but not as dramatic a change as Nathan was dealing with. Honestly, the breasts were bothering him much more. "I'll have to go to work tomorrow," he said. "But would you mind company in the preserve for a while today? It'd be distracting."
Nathan	Nathan didn't know either but it was what it was. And he was stubborn. "That's fine, yeah," he said, nodding. "I figure I'll be out there for awhile. I'm uncomfortable right now so maybe that'll help, being somewhere familiar and comforting."
Anders	"Thanks," Anders said, and went back to sit by Nathan. "I hope it does help. Are you sick, or just mentally uncomfortable with it?" Not that he'd blame Nathan for being either.
Nathan	"Both," he admitted, rubbing a hand over his face. "One's probably making the other worse and I'd rather not throw up and sweat in a body I don't know. I might end up crying." And that'd just be embarrassing.
Anders	"And if you started, I'd probably cry in sympathy," Anders speculated. "Which just sounds messy all around, hmm? Let's get you outside before any of that happens."
Nathan	"Thanks," he mumbled, sliding out of bed very gracefully (except not) and grabbing his shirt as he did. It was big but it'd do. It'd cover him up, at least.
Anders	Anders' eyes stayed on Nathan with just a bit more curiosity than was polite before he remembered his manners and looked away again. "I don't mind," he said. "If we're stuck this way, at least we'll be stuck this way together."

[OOC: Preplayed with halfbad due to availability. NFI, OOC is always win.]