ALL NOVEL PART TEN: (18+) Infinite Undo
Minor Spoilers for one aspect of future events in Succubated! as well—so if you read that series, check out the author note at the end of the last chapter for details.
It was mid-morning by the time Jamie pulled open the door of Alexandra’s dorm room and helped her girlfriend-turned-boyfriend over to the couch. Nobody had pressed charges. Vijay had apologized, but he and Carlo had both warned them that Alex couldn't come back, and that relationship disputes wouldn't be tolerated. Fair enough, thought Jamie. Their problems had spilled over into Noxx and had probably looked to Vijay like a client turned stalker or harasser. She just hoped she still had a job.
Jamie and Alex had spent the rest of the night in a hospital emergency room, getting Alex's hand examined and put into a cast. It was clear there wouldn't be any drawing in the artist's near future—in his future, Jamie reminded herself. Alex had decided to use male pronouns, at least until there was some way back to his previous form.
Alex kept asking the nurse, and then the doctor, and then the second nurse, whether his hand would recover enough to draw. The doctor had offered the most thorough prognosis, along with an injection of a serum he said was derived from an off-world substance. Alex had to sign a lengthy legal document.
“We don’t usually give this treatment,” he explained, while prepping a syringe. “But both of you have aetheric readings off the chart already, and if you’re an artist I want your bones and tendons ready for physical therapy. When we get the cast comes off in eight weeks or so, pending X-Rays at that point, this should have helped knit other damage.”
Then there was the matter of the Burin, and the rest of Alex’s body, which they carefully hadn’t asked anyone about.
"Can you draw with your other hand?" Jamie had suggested, though she was fairly certain it was a bad idea.
Alex shook his head. "I mean, I could—but I don't draw nearly as well. Maybe if I practiced for those two months, but I’m afraid I'd end up turning myself into a kid's cartoon, or something. And I've been like this too long now to simply erase the changes." He didn't seem as despondent as Jamie would have been in his place—but then, Jamie had spent her whole life stuck in a gender that she couldn't accept, while Alex seemed to be treating as a novelty… at least for now.
"Even if I am stuck like this until my hands heal completely, I guess I could always try a femme transition?" he'd said as they waited, sitting together on a hospital bed. "If I really got sick of this presentation, that is." He'd flexed his biceps and deltoids. "For now, I don't mind being one of the rowdy RIley boys, like my brothers." Jamie rolled her eyes. The Rileys, from what Alex had told her, were notorious for getting into stupid fights across Boston’s South End. Alex had even given himself little details like his younger brother’s scars and slightly misshapen nose.
They sank into the couch cushions together, side by side. "I don't know how long they're going to let me stay here in Alexandra Riley’s dorm room," said Alex. "At least not without getting some kind of documentation of my identity and appearance from the Office of Supernatural Affairs. Did you see the way they looked at us downstairs?"
Jamie snorted. "I wasn't sure if that was because I showed up again—I mean, they probably have a photo of me on a no-admit list by now—or because you now look nothing like your student ID." She laughed, very briefly. They were both without legal identities now, weren’t they? They both stared at the burin where it sat in the middle of the coffee table, resting on a little stand Alex had drawn for it.
Alex spoke first. "Do you want to try using—"
"No," said Jamie sharply. "You know I’m not good at drawing. Besides, it's supposed to only work for its destined wielder, right? Who happens to have a busted hand."
Alex shook his head slowly. "Everything feels different. I'm not even sure I am the destined wielder anymore. I think maybe... I've been given my just desserts?"
Jamie hummed. "I guess you're ahead of the ancient wizard who invented it; a change of gender and a busted hand beats losing your life in exchange for your lover's."
"Ah, but it did work out that way, didn't it?" Alex smirked. "I, the noble artist, rescued my love from a death-like existence of drudgery as a man... only to lose my own femininity in the bargain!" He placed the back of his unbroken hand on his forehead in a dramatic pose.
Jamie punched him on the arm. It was kind of fun, having a guy friend to roughhouse with again, reminding her of more innocent pre-teen times. "You're way too into the whole boy thing for it to be any kind of punishment. Not being able to draw, however…”
Alex grew serious and took Jamie's right hand in his own hands, putting his unbandaged left hand on top. "Hey, uh... about just desserts and all that. I don't care what the mystical verdict is, but... I just want to say that I'm sorry again, properly. I tried to be responsible with the Burin, and I think I mostly was, but…”
He took a deep breath. "Jamie, I'm sorry that I acted like a jerk, and got full of myself. I was on a serious ego trip, and got way too into redrawing you, trying to steer your life, telling you what to do, redrawing you into a dancer. Even if you ended up liking that destiny. All I can hope is that you didn't end up in any bad situations that you don't want to be in because of me. But if you did, I'll do whatever I can to make it right."
Jamie felt her heart beating hard against her ribs. What was this feeling? She felt like her skin was coming off, raw and exposed, which made her just as aware that her love was feeling just as vulnerable. They were both blushing intensely, their faces close.
Jamie put her other hand on top of Alex's. "Um... thank you for that. I don't regret where I am now. And I'm still grateful, even if I don't like some of the things you did. I guess I feel like I owe you an apology too.”
She tried for a brave smile. “Alex, I'm sorry that I put you in a position where I depended on you so much to move forward with my life. I was stuck and I needed you, and that's a hard position to be in. And then I needed to feel like I had some say over my own destiny, too. I can only imagine how that must have felt, me needing you and then demanding space, whiplashing around. Thanks for being there for me."
He looked up at her. Alex was a little short still, though not as small as in his girl form. And damn cute either way, thought Jamie, so hard to resist. Alex wiped his eyes. "That means a lot to me, Jamie. But you've been through so much, you don't have to apologize for your life being the way it is. Or in any case... I forgive you."
"I forgive you too, dummy," said Jamie. Then she leaned forward and kissed him. It was weird; she'd forgotten how good kissing felt with someone like this—someone who knew exactly how to kiss her back the way she wanted it. His lips were soft and warm and tasted faintly of cinnamon and salt. She felt his hands, rougher and broader than Alexandra's had been, reaching under her tank top to the warmth of her back.
"Whoa," said Alex in surprise, breaking away from the kiss. "Are we uh... back together?"
"I don't mind having a boyfriend if you don't mind being one for a while," said Jamie, smiling shyly at him. "But… just for you."
Alex nodded; he smiled back at her. "Yeah. For now, anyway." There was no awkwardness between them when their mouths met again. Jamie leaned into Alex's embrace as they made out on the couch. She gasped a little when her legs slid across his and she felt that nice cock of his brushing against her. When she reached down to stroke it, Alex caught her wrist and held it gently—but firmly enough that she couldn’t pull away immediately.
"Can I...?" she began.
He looked at her with a strange, intense expression. "You don't mind anymore?"
She shook her head. "I haven't minded for a while. Maybe I'm bi? Even if I prefer dating girls. Or maybe I'm just queer, I don't know. Does it matter?"
Alex swallowed audibly and let go of her wrist. Then he stood up abruptly and led her over to the bed. She lifted her arms and slipped out of her t-shirt, then dropped her pants. She wanted him to see her naked. "Look at me," she said. "I'm yours."
Alex ran his fingers along the curve of her hips, over her breasts. "Oh, yeah," he breathed. "I'm glad you're here." He lowered his face to her neck; his erection was pressing against her thigh. "This is so... different than being a girl. I want you so badly, it's practically painful."
"Then take me," said Jamie.
They fell onto the mattress together and Jamie wrapped her legs around Alex's waist. The weight of his body pressed down on hers and she could feel his hardness rubbing against her crotch. She fumbled with the buttons of his khakis, for the second time that day, trying to be cautious of his cast. Once they were undone, she tugged down his boxer briefs—and saw his cock again, rock hard, pink and curved slightly.
Jamie touched it with trembling hands. Alex groaned in appreciation; she felt his hot breath on her skin. She stroked him gently, feeling her pussy growing ready. Alex rolled over so they were lying side by side facing each other. "Do you want to...?" he asked. She answered by straddling him.
Jamie grabbed his shoulders to keep her balance and pushed his shirt up until it was bunched beneath his armpits. She stared hungrily at his torso, which was smooth and hairless except for a line of red curly hairs running from his solar plexus down his belly, like a trail leading toward his crotch.
"Mmmm," she murmured appreciatively as she rubbed herself against him, feeling his hard shaft poking against the crease of her ass. She moved slowly; she liked knowing that she could stop if she wanted to. A different kind of power. He tried to buck his hips, eager to fuck, but she kept one knee on his thigh, restraining him.
She kissed him passionately, pushing her tongue into his mouth. Their tongues dueled for dominance; she moaned and writhed atop him as he explored her with his hands: her amazing firm ass, her sleek thighs, all the parts he'd drawn. She was wet—he could tell by the way she squirmed against him, the way her pussy slipped against his shaft. Then she took control again, and gripped his cock to position herself atop it, and lower herself onto it.
With a low cry of pleasure, Jamie impaled herself on his penis. Her tight pussy clamped him like a pitcher plant swallowing prey. "Oh god yes," he moaned. "Fuck me. Tell me I'm your dream guy." He'd never felt anything quite like this, the intensity of sex focused into one long shaft.
She began to ride him faster; their bodies slapped together as she bounced above him. With her other hand she reached up to squeeze his nipples while she ground her hips into his. "I don't know if I have a dream guy," she said. "Even after all of this, I still feel pretty dykey. But this is definitely at least one part... of my dream."
She slammed her body down against him, enjoying the sensation of driving his shaft deeper inside her. Acting almost on instinct, she began rubbing her slippery clit with two fingers as she rode him. Alex was just moaning swear words, grabbing at a pillow. Jamie felt—she felt her boyfriend's cock rubbing against her in a way that—that made thought flee and feelings spin.
Suddenly—with no warning at all—she came, far more quickly than she'd thought possible, the waves of pleasure rushing through her. She screamed with the sudden release of energy and collapsed on top of him. They both laughed and cried out as they struggled to catch their breaths.
***
They heard the knock at the door a whole five minutes after their second round together, during which she'd given Alex his first blow job. They both froze.
"Should we...?" Jamie asked, looking around for her clothes and patting her mouth. Did she still have a trace of cum across her chin?
"Maybe they'll go away!" hissed Alex. The knock came again, more insistent.
Jamie swore and grabbed her pants and top, not bothering with underwear. Alex got up after her.
"Ah... Ms. Kurokawa? Ms… or Mr. Riley? I'd like to have a word," came a woman's voice from the other side of the door. "Security downstairs said you'd come in, and I'm happy to wait. Not going anywhere. Just hanging out here, in the hall."
Alex grimaced and whispered, "They know about us!" Jamie just nodded, as if it was obvious, and walked towards the door.
"What are you doing?" yelled Alex in a loud whisper, pulling on a pair of sweatpants.
Jamie opened the door. On the other side was a short-ish Asian woman in a navy-blue sweater and a white skirt. Perhaps a few years older than Jamie and Alex, she was wearing black-rimmed glasses and brandishing a notebook, along with what Jamie realized was a badge.
"Hi, you must be Jamie Kurokawa. Nice to meet you! I'm Susan Sunghi Miller. From the Office of Supernatural Affairs? I'm here about the Burin of Destiny, of course." Jamie just nodded mutely. This woman's style was disarming; she seemed to know everything already and have it all in hand.
"Uh... yes, that makes sense. Won't you come in?" Jamie stepped aside, noticing with a start that Susan's eyes were an unusual color, with golden irises that seemed to flow as she moved.
Susan walked in and looked around. "Ah, there you are... Alexandra Riley? Or is it Alex now?" Alex just shrugged, uncharacteristically sullen. He still wasn't wearing a shirt, but Susan didn't seem to notice or care. She made a beeline for the burin, sitting on the coffee table, and picked it up.
"Hey!" said Alex, suddenly willing to talk. "That's mine—or at least, I'm supposedly the destined wielder of it, at the moment!"
Susan clucked her tongue. "Did you ever consider that it might be safer if the destined wielder didn't come anywhere near it? Reality warping enchantments can be extremely dangerous, volatile. I mean, look at you two, all swapped around." She smiled as if it was a phenomenon she saw every day. She placed the Burin of Destiny in a small case and tucked it into her handbag.
"At least you turned out well, both of you." She gave Jamie a frank, appraising glare, clearly checking her out. “Would you mind telling me the whole story? I got a few details from the hospital, and your place of employment, but I’d like to hear it from you.” Jamie nodded. Although Alex still looked a little panicked, there was clearly no point in trying to hide anything from this strangely matter-of-fact woman.
They sat down and reluctantly began to recount the events of recent weeks. The reluctance was more on Alex’s part; he was acting like he’d been caught by a school principal, and Jamie had to keep prodding him to help her with details. This government officer was strange but disarmingly friendly, and Jamie sensed helpfulness and curiosity more than anything else as Susan scribbled rapidly in her notebook.
“Well, that does correspond to the records I’ve been able to find on the Burin. Nobody has ever been able to wield it for long, and it usually ends badly. Destiny is not easy to warp, fortunately, and there’s often a rebound effect.” She flipped a page over, then reached in her bag for something—not the burin, but a long tube that looked oddly like the middle of a roll of paper towels. Jamie squinted, and saw that it was made of some kind of wood with an unusual number of knots in the grain.
Susan held the tube up to her face. “Do you mind if I take some readings?” Jamie and Alex looked at each other. He shrugged, and Jamie nodded. The woman took off her glasses—she was startlingly pretty in a schoolteacher sort of way, Jamie realized—and peered at Jamie through the tube, one golden eye blinking at the end.
“Hmm,” said Susan Sunghi Miller. “That’s good, and perhaps to be expected. Unusually good job with a reality-warping too, Mr. Riley.”
“What is it?” asked Jamie, uncomfortable. Susan swung the tube to look at Alex instead of answering.
“You, on the other hand… yes, that’s a bit of a mess. Hmm. Jamie Kurokawa, aetheric skein elasticity appears low, tightly wound.” She was writing with one hand while still peering through the tube. “Alex Riley, skein frayed at edges, untethered.” She peered around the room for one more moment, through the tube, and Jamie noticed that she flinched at one point. Turning, Jamie saw what Susan had been peering at: Alex’s full-length mirror.
“I’m sorry,” Susan was saying. “I should explain. The Burin doesn’t redraw reality as much as it forces destiny into a new groove. But it doesn’t always work as you intended, nor in entirely predictable ways. You’ve probably noticed that.” Alex nodded, although Jamie was only partly sure what he was thinking of.
“That’s because you’re interacting with existing destiny already, the skeins of fate. We don’t know much about them, but with this little puppy,” and she slapped the simple wooden tube, “I can at least see if something’s messed up about your destiny. Jamie’s destiny is just fine. I’m almost certain that’s because whatever changes you made to her were already fairly close to her destiny. Now her skein has wrapped her tight.”
Jamie nodded, for she knew it to be true; not just about her body and gender, but the things she’d done since the Burin first touched her.
“You, on the other hand,” said Susan, turning to Alex. “I don’t think your current form is destined enough to be stable, long-term. For whatever reason, fate doesn’t currently believe you’re meant to be—”
“His own twin brother, a bully boy from Boston who skulks around strip clubs?” interrupted Jamie.
Alex scowled. “All right, I get what you’re saying. It was a… desperate idea, and not meant to be permanent. But what do we do about it?”
“I think it’s already been done,” Susan replied. “Your argument at the club, and the misunderstanding that injured you, might have been the rebound. Fortunately far from fatal or disfiguring, or some other kind of awful fated accident. The only other wielder who got off as easily was…” she flipped a few pages. “The late Nathaniel P. Ogilthorpe, who had it until… hmm, shortly before Portal Day. That’s interesting.”
“What did he do with the Burin?” asked Jamie.
Susan grinned. “The best possible thing, and similar what I’m likely to recommend. He left it in a storage room in South Carolina for almost twenty-five years, perhaps because he didn’t know what it was. He died of a heart attack in his sleep.”
She stood up, her manner formal enough that Jamie also instinctively stood. “Now, next steps! You really should register at the Office’s headquarters on Canal Street… I’m guessing you've already realized the difficulties of being undocumented?”
Jamie nodded sheepishly, feeling lectured. “Uh… Ms. Miller? Could we possibly keep the Burin until Alex’s cast is off, or have access to it again? I don’t have any intention of changing back, but Alex is stuck in this form until he can redraw himself. And like you said… it’s an unstable destiny?”
Susan flipped the pages of her notebook and tapped her bottom lip with the ordinary pen she held. “Hmmm. No, I’m pretty sure we’ll want to lock this away somewhere. It’s just too powerful to hand over to a new wielder, at least outside of an emergency.”
“It’s commendable that you didn’t get into more trouble making ridiculous changes,” she continued, “creating monsters or changing history or something like that, fake gemstones or explosives, but not everyone is so responsible.” Neither of them said anything, but Jamie glanced around to make sure Alexandra hadn’t left any of the gemstone experiments lying on the floor.
Susan looked over at Alex. “But about your destiny. Let’s see… with a broken hand, I can see why it’s a good decision not to draw anything else with the Burin—even if you are still the wielder, which I’m not so sure about. But despite that cast, you should have been able to use the undo function, right? Did you try that?”
Jamie and Alex both looked at her blankly. “Ah,” she said, “You don’t know about the undo function! You should always read the documentation.”
“Documentation?” sputtered Alex. “It’s not as if it came with a manual!”
Susan shook her head. “Of course, it’s not that easy, but there are such things as research libraries, you know?” She lifted the Burin out of its case again and held it up for them to look at.
The center of the strange pen was a hexagonal, yellow cylinder that resembled nothing so much as the shaft of a wooden #2 pencil. “Yes, this should work, even if my etheric skein isn’t entangled with it.”
Susan gripped the hexagon between thumb and forefinger and twisted it. Click.
“That should have reverted the last thing you drew,” said Susan, glancing at Alex, who was naked, blushing and had one hand over his crotch. “Ah, I see. Those pants were drawn into reality too?”
Jamie giggled. “Amazing. We could have done that anytime to change something back?”
Susan nodded. “Are you ready to do this now? If I take this back to headquarters, I’m not sure they’ll give me access to it again.”
Alex gulped and nodded. “It’s been fun, but I don’t think I want to be stuck in this body forever.” He straightened up, allowing the girls a view of his half-erect cock. Susan waggled her eyebrows and ran her tongue across her upper lip. Whoever you are, thought Jamie, could you stop ogling me and my boyfriend?
“This should be fun,” she said. “I took this job in part so I could mess around with stuff like this. Responsibly, of course.” She twisted the burin again. Click. They peered at Alex. “Hmm, body hair was the last detail you added? Makes sense, although you practically have the male model look.” Alex’s faint stubble and trail of chest and stomach hair had disappeared.
Click. Alex suddenly got shorter and held out his hands to balance himself. Click. His hips widened to generous proportions. Click. Alexandra’s pear-shaped ass blossomed suddenly out of the leaner ass he’d sported moments before. Click, click, click. Jamie could barely blink as she saw her girlfriend’s shape return: shoulders narrowed, muscle definition replaced by softness, Alexandra’s gorgeous red curls tumbling out of her head. Another click brought back Alexandra’s slender, dextrous hands—the right one, Jamie noticed, still in a cast. But a smaller cast, somehow? That was an unexpected adjustment, but magic had its own ways.
Susan looked closely at Alexandra’s returning shape. “Just a few… obvious things left, maybe?” A series of clicks were necessary for all the details of her face, which Alex had fashioned to resemble one of her brothers. Ultimately, girl Alex was cuter, thought Jamie, and felt a rush of excited warmth as she once again saw her girlfriend’s little upturned nose, sleepy-looking eyes, porcelain skin.
Click. Alexandra’s breasts bobbed into existence at the enhanced size she’d drawn them into months ago. The restored girl was blushing like mad, and no wonder; the other two women couldn’t tear the eyes away from the spectacle of her body changing.
Susan looked down at Alex’s cock, which was now fully erect. Alexandra had put a hand over it, bashfully, but it was impossible to conceal. The long shaft looked different on Alexandra’s smaller body, downright erotic. The representative of the Office of Supernatural Affairs had a strange look in her eyes. This is too weird, thought Jamie. If this thirsty nerd offers to suck my girlfriend’s dick, I’m going to scream. But Susan seemed to regain her composure.
“Your manly member here… I’m guessing it was the first thing you drew for your boy version?” she asked, appraising Alexandra with a grin. The petite, curvy artist nodded, almost entirely back to her old self. “Did you want to keep that part?” She glanced slyly over at Jamie. “You’re college students wearing next to nothing, so… I assume you’ve been enjoying it.”
“Don’t look at me, ma’am!” protested Jamie. “It’s not my dick, thank God.”
Alexandra looked down at her cock with a sigh. “I suppose today has been a fitting farewell. Strap-ons just won’t be quite the same.”
“They have some magic models now with interesting features,” noted Susan clinically. “Not that I can condone that sort of thing, in my current capacity as a part-time case manager for the OSA.”
Alexandra nodded for Susan to go ahead, and with a few clicks, the cock was replaced by the familiar sight—to Jamie, at least—of her girlfriend’s gorgeous pussy. She stared at her Alexandra’s naked, bashful body. Yep, she thought, I’m still really into girls.
Susan Sunghi Miller put the burin away as Alexandra grabbed a bathrobe. “My work here is done!” said Susan brightly. She handed Jamie a card. “But I’ll let them know to expect you downtown, all right? You should get that magical body of yours checked out by a doctor, as well, even if you have a nice tight skein. Perhaps Dr. Kelley? You’re acquainted with her, aren’t you?”
Jamie stared at her. “Dr. Kelley? You don’t mean… Gail Kelley?”
Alexandra blinked. “Gail is… a doctor? She never mentioned.”
Susan nodded. “Yes, Gail Kelley does some work with the Office of Supernatural Affairs. You should ask her about your situation! Gail’s great.” And with a few more pleasantries, she took her leave. The Burin of Destiny left their lives in a departure as unceremonious as its arrival, although with considerably less mystique.
Alexandra sighed with relief and leaned against Jamie. “You all right having a short lil’ curvy girlfriend, again? I’m happy to get a silicone dick out, if you need me to, you know, lay some more pipe. I’m an expert now. Expert pipe-layer.”
Jamie glared at her. “My god, when did you get so gross? I’ll decide if there’s going to be any more… pipe. Besides, we should make sure everything’s in working order on your body, little miss experimental artist.”
She slapped Alexandra sharply on the ass. “I may have to conduct an inspection, now that you’ve been demoted back to Private.”
Alexandra yelped and stood at attention, saluting her. “Yes, ma’am! I’ll be ready for a thorough inspection at once, ma’am!”
