It's been a tiring day. Customers misgendering her, down to boring burritos for lunch, and plenty of signs that Monroe is still an unsafe place to transition. At least she has her headmates.
The workday's over, thankfully, and she's sitting at her desk, poking at a story outline with Ruby.
Meanwhile, in another world -
"Dimensional anchor's cooled off, alternate-physics reach is back online. Targets located and ready to prime. Grab away, Director."
"On my mark. Three. Two. One. Direct offer!"
Iridescent blue light washes over the control room as the centralized summoning system works its physics. Though the principles involved are only known to a number of very serious people whose time is more important even than the Director's, it's clear that it's doing something.
And Sable Melanie Miller gets a mental offer, wrapped in truth:
Does she want to be somewhere better than here, that's prepared to receive her and that will help her build a new life?
A vague impression of the world leaks through: comparatively sexually open, a quarter transgender women, majority plural -
It feels a little bit familiar, almost. Like it could have belonged to someone she knew.
Bwuh?
This is a little more intense than the usual daydream about this kind of thing... But. Something feels more believable about it.
Woolgathering later girls. Hailey grabs front, quickly closes the laptop, throws it in a nearby backpack with the charger, and pokes the offer. Yes, yes they want out.
A shimmer of cyan energy washes over them, and concentrates to a glowing dot on the back of their wrist.
Tap dot when ready for transfer.
She stares at the dot.
That's new. This really might be real. Okay. Fuck.
Okay, they have any time. Few changes of clothes, solar/crank charger/radio thing, already have the phone, pocketknife just in case, and they can figure everything else out when they're there. She scribbles a quick note on a sheet of paper and leaves it behind on the desk.
Got isekaied.
Earth sucks.
Bye <3
And then she shoves Sable back into front and taps the dot as she skips out.
There's a wrenching sensation, the feeling of space turning inside-out in a burst of nausea, and then she's suddenly flat on her back on a large couch-bed object draped in deep blue sheets. Her pack is sitting next to her on the bed; she doesn't remember taking it off, but there's a slight feeling of missing time in her head, like she was asleep for a little while.
"Hey." A red-haired head swims into view, crowned with a braid of laurels. The face below is soft and feminine, with blush-pink lips; looking down at her summoner's body, they're wearing a long pink dress that blurs the boundary between a nightgown and a sundress, with lace along the bottom and a floral pattern. There's some kind of hard bracelet on both her wrists, but it's hard to get a look at from this angle.
"Feeling okay? The transfer can be a little rough."
"Bwuh?"
She's maybe not entirely recombobulated from the trip yet. That was wild.
Her rescuer smiles. "It's alright, take your time." She sits down on the side of the bed-couch next to Sable and clips her right hand's bracelet to the side of it by a convenient carabiner on the armrest.
Closer up, it's apparent that she's wearing pink armwarmers, and striped pink and white stockings with no shoes. The bracelets seem to be made of steel with a plastic backing and many holes through them, and gleam with internal LEDs, currently purple.
Okay. She twists a bit, then stretches, then tries to sit up—
Nope. suddenly dizzy. Pause where she is, let it pass, breathe slowly, then get the rest of the way up slower.
She looks around. "So... this is a new world?"
She's in a circular, metal-walled room with a high skylight and one door out, currently closed. There's a side table by the bed-couch with a set of barf bags on it, along with a small first aid kit. It's lit partially by the skylight and partially by a set of inset fairy-lights that seem to be warm-tone LEDs along the perimeter of the room. From the clouds drifting by overhead and the light coming in, it's sometime in the afternoon maybe?
"Yep. An alternate version of your planet. We don't know what the most common name for it is but here we call it 'Heart.' You're in the republic of Asteron on the west coast of the continent, and we are Star-Bright Songbird, or simply Star to our friends."
"Yes, though here it's simply how people are. We call it faceting."
Star-Bright Songbird reaches into the drawer of the side table and pulls out a pair of bracelets in Sable's size, one hard plastic with a cinch and the other steel with an adjustable locking clasp and several holes through it.
"Here, take a fracture bracelet. Steel or plastic, your choice, the steel one is made to function as a freecuff as well. Press the button at the left end of the light array to cycle colors. Purple, pink, red and cyan have specific meanings, but any other color can be assigned to a personal shard. These come with a dozen colors, and charge from motion and from sunlight."
"Freecuff?" She examines the steel one, turning it over in her hands. "And what are the defined meanings?"
"Many people in this world find it comforting to be physically attached to an object or piece of furniture while resting, so many objects come with carabiners to clip them to a freecuff." She pulls up her right hand and demonstrates how it's stuck to the couch-bed now. "It's easy enough to release yourself, but people find it soothing to have a limited range of motion. And of course there are uses in bed."
She shrugs and smiles.
"As for the codified meanings — purple is your most worn shard, your host. Pink is your most emotionally central shard, your heart. Red is for shards that stem from a fantasy or sexual desire — sparks — while cyan is reserved for shards that handle negative emotions or situations — shields. Any other color is up to the individual."
She hums. "Interestingly complicated for us. We already have our own theme colors, and they collide with most of these. I'm the host and I'm purple, that's fine. Hailey'd be cyan in your system, and her theme's a vivid green, that's fine too. Ruby's theme is red, though, and she's the shyest of us, sexually. Neo's theme is pink and white and brown, but she's a free-spirited prankster, not our heart. That'd be a mix of me and Hailey. Arguably all of us have some sexual fantasy that's deeply held for us, though, so red could apply to all of us in a way."
She shrugs and shakes her head, setting the steel bracelet down and putting on the plastic one. "We're weird. I'm Sable, and we're the Pirates, or Inkstained Pirates to be more formal."
Star nods and smiles. "Welcome to Asteron, Pirates. The signal system doesn't fit everyone, of course. Still, I hope it works out alright for you. Feeling up to standing yet?"
She tries scooting to the edge of the bed-thing. How's that dizziness? Better? Okay, great. Onto her feet she goes, a little wobbly but mostly fine. She stretches a bit. "Seems so."
"Alright then." Star unclips herself from the couch and stands, and goes over to the door out and opens it. "Follow me, it's alright if you want to take it slow. Some background while we walk... We're going to get you photographed for your state ID. You're expected to register your system name and your host identity in the system, and may optionally choose to name additional shards — if you do then you may be able to claim bereavement benefits if one goes dormant or incommunicative in the long term, particularly if they take important skills with them, but it's not required if you have privacy reasons to not share. Some of the other boxes on the form may be unfamiliar to you, particularly the optional pleat entry, but I can walk you through them."
She nods. "It's quite the trip to be in a plurality-centric world for once. That's... I never thought we'd get to see it. I am a little less than thrilled about being photographed as I am, but that's the price I pay for not having started hormones by the time y'all grabbed me, I guess."
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't ask, what pronouns should I be using for you? From the pronouns you've used for your other shards I'm assuming she but I should really check."
"She/her all around, yeah." Sable nods. "What's transition care like here?"
"Excellent. Fifty-three point one percent of all individuals born with penises go on to undergo some form of elective feminizing care on Asteron, whether that's hormonal or includes surgeries of some form. I'm one of them."
"Oh wow. That sounds great. How do we sign up? And what options are there for making one's appearance more variable, to accommodate different shard appearances?"
"Hair dye and temporary tattoos, particularly henna, are popular, as well as of course variations in jewellery and clothing. Fracture bracelets in many designs are available, and at the higher end there's electronic fabrics that are capable of changing colors at the push of a button in the sleeve or at the hem. Zip-apart and quick-change fashions are also in style occasionally, though I don't particularly care for them myself."
Sable frowns. "Got any fancy dyes that can handle hair this black without bleaching to the point of fray first? Or bleaches that can retain some degree of softness and curl to the hair? And quickly changeable dyes? Really I should be asking what's the time-scale on the dye and tattoos."
"You would likely not believe some of the things our aestheticians can do. There's a lot to express, after all - pleat, polycule dynamic, one's keeper or kept if one has one, one's shards — truly a wealth of information to convey. We can go to an aesthetician as part of your orientation and we should be able to get together suitable styles for you all."
She hums and nods. "Okay. Lot to figure out." She follows Star further, paying attention to their surroundings on the way.
The hallways are fairly ordinary ones, though still lit by fairy-light LEDs at the top corners of the walls. Occasionally there are more metal doors, though Star passes them by.
"Alright, just in here -" Star gestures through an open arch doorway, and Sable is ushered into a small courtyard garden, with a photo station set up against the wall. The plants are fern-heavy, and look well-tended and natural; there are a few other people sitting around in two and threes speaking with others in wicker chairs amid the ferns and bushes.
"This is the reception area for new arrivals - just sit in the chair in the photo station and I'll take your photo, and then we can wait in the garden while we wait for the courier to come with your ID. Look straight ahead, glasses off, I know it's troublesome but it's for identification of the body and not the person - a secondary identification card with all your facets represented will take more time, and is entirely optional if you'd rather skip the hassle."
She stretches and steps over to the camera. "Whenever you're ready."
"Gonna wanna replace this photo when we make any transition progress at all. Hate looking like this. But let's do it."
She stands in front of the camera, takes off her glasses, and manages a slightly warmer than neutral expression.
She takes the photo. Breaks her heart to do it, but needs must. Better than her charge going undocumented into the wide wide world.
A moment's review, and then -
"All done. It'll get here soon. Thank you, I know it hurts, I've been there."
"Now then, the system will churn away in the background and we'll get to spend some time together while it does. You've already been subject to decontam on the way in, so now it's just a matter of getting you out there into the wide wide world."
She goes over to a small set of lockers by the photo station, provides a six-digit code and her thumbprint, and returns with a wallet for Sable. "The identification cards will come in later, but here is a state account card, a state medical card, a temporary ID with your system name on it that was printed while we were on the way over, and some cash. You're registered in the system already, it's all automated, and are just waiting for the physical card now, which is only important for identification purposes if you're involved in an accident or similar. We went through your pack while you were out and have already located the appropriate equivalent medications for the ones you brought, if there wasn't anything more you forgot to bring. You'll want to schedule an appointment with an erogenist to discuss potentially getting on Cycloterine, likely, judging by the state of your endocrine system from thumbstick testing, but that can wait, you're an adult and a citizen and get to make your own decisions. Feminizing surgeries are covered by state healthcare so you may want to arrange for some of those as well."
"There are government-provided apartments in the complex that you can move into immediately, and you can move out as soon as you find a place that'll rent to you. You'll likely want to look into finding an extended clan to marry into, but that's kind of personal so I'm not going to push on that for the moment. For now, I can recommend some of the local attractions and you can tell me what feels like your speed? I'm not your minder, I'm your local guide, so if you want to dive right in and leave me behind that's alright too."
Sable blinks for a moment, taking all that in as she accepts the wallet. "I don't mind doing the system member identification, that'll honestly feel better than this photo did. Some info on where and how to schedule appointments with the erogenist, aesthetician, transition care people, and so on would be helpful. There's a lot stuff y'all offer here, as far as actually becoming who we want to be, and I'd appreciate some guidance on figuring out how to get started with it all."
She looks down at her hands, frowning. "Couldn't really feel comfortable checking out local attractions looking like this," she mumbles.
"I completely understand. Aesthetician first, then, so we can get you styled for the member IDs, and then we can go on from there."
She beckons. "This way and I'll get you booked in."
They turn a corner into a little slice of madness.
It looks a bit like a high-quality costume shop crossed with a kinkwear store and a hair salon. There are whole sections for wigs, false breasts, elaborate masquerade masks, pierced and patterned animal ears, and apparel ranging from long sweeping maxi skirts to enveloping leather coats to halter tops to shapeless negligees. Elaborate boots sit in stacks, and a large section of hair products and dyes sits next to a salon chair and a whole vanity full of makeup.
Behind the salon chair stands a woman who looks like she stepped right out of a baroque painting, bar some concessions to modern styles in her dress. She looks every inch as if she were nobility, down to the silvery tiara that rests across her forehead.
"Ah, welcome! My Songbird, and another new arrival?"
"Good to see you, Aria. This is Sable of the Inkstained Pirates, and she'd like to retain your services for her government facet ID."
