Gaming the System

"So I think that's it for the night, but I've got one Heart you earned today. Clever work with that carrot, although I'm not sure if it's sanitary. I think we'll go with the toy box since you've actually gotten into the spirit of things. You'll find it somewhere in your apartment: A box with some 'adult' toys and such you may find a use for if Frosty's nose just isn't in the mood next time. Since it's not really a change to you, I'm going to take away some of your more 'guy' toys. The girly posters seem a little out of place, even if Zelda's into women."

—

LEVEL 3

Zelda woke as her alarm clock sang its song. She took stock of herself and her situation. The last few days had brought many changes, but this time she seemed unaffected. Thankfully, she was not uncontrollably horny this morning and managed to get showered and dressed in near record time. Her work was a customer support job at a nearby software company and she had to dress professionally in slacks (nearly unchanged) and a dress shirt (The buttons changing from side-to-side was mesmerizing to watch). When summer came skirts and such were an option, but the idea of wearing a skirt was still too alien for Zelda to consider. As she prepared to leave she noticed Anna had made good with part of her deal: A few posters of supermodels and anime girls in the living room and been replaced with one for a rainbow-horse themed animated series and two 'inspirational' prints. They even seemed to have upgraded to frames over just being tacked to the wall.

She wolfed down a granola bar and a Monster Energy drink, then busied herself finding shoes (minor tweaks, as she was a low-level employee and could get away with sneakers), name badge (Zelda Davis, and someone had put a small, scratched pixel-unicorn sticker on the back), and similar. She took a deep breath as she grabbed her purse, knowing what she'd find inside. Her driver's license, credit cards and other things all said Zelda Davis on them.

After a brief drive to work (Her car remained a rather boring 2-door hatchback. Cheap to keep running, though.) she thought about her plan she had concocted while selecting a new name and idly reading a lesbian romance novel the night before:

1. Her assumption was that the 'curse' was meant to teach her a lesson.

2. The lesson did, perhaps, have some truth to it. She had been horrible to her ex-girlfriends and others. She acknowledge this.

3. If Anime had taught her anything, there was a definite chance the 'endgame' for the curse would have her as some sort of oversexed slut unable to control herself.

4. Her best chance at getting through this was to keep control, but try to learn something, proving she was more interesting to that bitch Anna as a reformed asshole than a brainless fuck-toy.

5. Adapt, learn, and be open-minded, but keep control.

That was the basis of her plan. Play nice, go along enough to keep it interesting, and maybe actually become a nicer person. She was proud of it even if Anna would probably see through it in seconds, and it made her actually happy as she walked into work for her first day as a woman. She knew Anna had power, and just wanted to avoid being some brainless creature like she'd seen in so many stories.

Security was normal other than a compliment from the one woman security guard working the desk on the green stripes in her hair. Her badge worked like she expected. She was, she found, in a great mood.

This lasted about five minutes: Her first work call was frustrating as the caller refused to take advice from a woman. The next went better, but then on her break her boss yelled at her for not 'properly mentoring' a coworker she had never even met. More calls ruined her good mood. A trip to the ladies room was nerve racking as Zelda was worried she'd do something unexpected and embarrass herself. At least, Zelda thought, she was keeping her uncontrollable horniness from the weekend in line. She had daydreamed about noisily pleasuring herself in the ladies room, but mercifully kept her cool.

By lunchtime she was nearly in tears from a series of rude calls. She collected her thoughts and was surprised to see Stacey, and pleasantly Stacey's breasts, hanging over the wall of her cubicle. "So, Zelda... I know you usually eat by yourself, but you look like you've had a rough day. Want to join us at the deli next door?"

Zelda nodded and found herself sitting with a small group of women working in the Customer Support group. Each had their daily special sandwich, cookie, and bottled water drink. The deli was crowded with the lunch crowd, and it looked like one of the developer groups had taken over another large table nearby. She listened to her coworker, but once the conversation moved from 'shop talk' about the recent software release causing issues and horrible customers she found their conversations about shopping, spouses, and decorating boring. Stacey was the subject of a brief fantasy: She talked about her new baby, and Zelda found herself fantasizing about drinking from the woman's milk-filled tits. She found herself looking around and locked eyes with a raven-haired woman from the dev team table nearby. With merely eye contact and a smile, the woman caused Zelda to shiver with sudden arousal.

She knew the woman's name was Samantha and she worked one the other side of the building, but little else. She was a bit taller than Zelda and overall had a more muscular and 'aggressive' build Zelda felt instantly attracted to. Despite the plain work clothes, this woman gave off a sort of weird vibe, a mix between goth and biker. When her sleeves lifted a brief bit of tattoos showed. Zelda couldn't make out details, but it looked like she had some sort of intricate designs around each arm.

Lunch ended and back to work, the horrible customers continued their assault. As she finished reinstalling a driver for one client, she heard a knock and saw Samantha outside her cubicle. "Hey, I saw you earlier and wondered if you'd like to maybe grab lunch tomorrow?"

Zelda smiled and agreed. There was no other choice. If her new crush asked for anything right now she'd probably agree. The rest of the work day was a haze as she tried to keep her roiling lust in check. She was embarrassed any time someone got close to her, sure they could smell her arousal or see her nipples poke through her bra. She even considered trying to sneak away to the bathroom for some 'private time' to help her focus, but resisted for fear of being overheard.

She still felt she was more knowledgeable than at least 75% of her coworkers even with her brain fogged by thoughts of undressing a tatted biker/developer.

She had finally calmed down as she returned home. Tonight was her regular night with GoGoGadgetD and a few others: She quickly changed into sweatpants and a comfortable shirt while making her salad and a bowl of microwaved soup. A bit of single player then some hard-core FPS action with the gang. Her online friends seemed surprisingly normal and unconcerned with her transformation. She noticed things she hadn't before: She was the only woman of the group, and she found a few members were perhaps a bit overprotective of her. Maybe too nice, but the condescension was better than insults. And RiotWolf seemed to take very possible shot to use the lines 'phrasing!' or 'pics?' he could in the text chat. Must have had them on macros for text or something.

That night's dream with Anna started as most had. They appeared in the small dream-space Zelda thought of as the 'confession room.' Anna seemed uncomfortable as she sat across from Zelda, who appeared in a disheveled version of her work outfit: Her shirt hanging half out, bra straps visible.

"You've had a rough day, Zelda."

A nod, "It had it's good points. I didn't get arrested because I stole a guy's life and claimed I was him."

"That's fair. You are, it seems, actually good at your job. I think even your boss sees that. You may even find that new opportunities open up since you're a bit less abrasive."

'New opportunities' sent Zelda's mind careening to more images of Samantha removing her clothes, but Anna's words snapped her back to the matter at hand. "Overall, I think you had a very justifiable rough first day back at work and it would be unreasonable of me to be inflexible and insist we discuss Danielle."

An image did flicker up behind Anna: Danielle was a year older than Johnny had been. She was an attractive, athletic, blond woman. Anna pulled the file from wherever they appeared from and both women were horrified to see the bulging file. This wasn't the thin manilla folders Angela and Beth had been, but an overstuffed folder with at least two inches of paperwork.

For once Anna looked embarrassed. "I want you to think about your relationship with Danielle, but that's it for the lecture for tonight. Anything you want to spend points on?"

"Actually, I'd like the 'Cooking Lessons' option. I think surviving on salad to help me avoid junk food may not be a long-term strategy."

Anna agreed and Zelda felt her mind flood with knowledge: She didn't merely learn the basics of cooking, but suddenly remembered taking a course a year before and knowing the basics of a few dishes she had somehow never learned.

—

LEVEL 4

Not even the rude callers could dent Zelda's mood this morning. She wasn't sure why, but she had even worn special bra and panties today. More free stuff she had gotten from some game convention: A pair of boxers from some biker-themed game turned into a cute black bra and her first thing, keeping the biker-game theme. Samantha came by a bit before noon, and they shared Zelda's car to ride to a local place that did 'gourmet' salads. Not Zelda's first choice, but at least she could get something tastier than her own salads she'd been living on.

"You've been in customer support for a few years, right? It's like I never saw you until yesterday" Her voice was a bit lower and huskier than Zelda's, and every word sent a tiny wave of passion through Zelda's body.

"I can be a quiet at times, I guess. Samantha, I don't remember you coming over to our area much either."

"Call me Sammy. Everyone does." Smiles all around as both women ate their lunches.

They compared histories, and Zelda found it surprisingly easy to talk to this woman. Zelda, a 24 year old woman, was three years younger than the developer. Sammy had spent a year bicycling the country after college before getting a "real job" here. Despite a summer internship at a small video game company, Sammy wasn't a video gamer, but she did play tabletop games. She tentatively mentioned her group needed another member, then asked if Zelda be interested in giving it a try? Thursday night?

Zelda barely noticed the rest of the day. It wasn't a real 'date' perhaps, and she wasn't even sure if Sammy was into girls, but it definitely seemed likely. She was sure she saw her staring at Zelda's tits and that brief hand on her thigh couldn't have been accidental, could it?

The evening was laundry, gaming, and some cleanup. A bonus for the cooking upgrade was her kitchen had been magically restocked a bit, so she cooked a simple chicken breast and penne pasta dish that came to her. Enough for two meals, even. Maybe she'd try the recipe again if she could convince Sammy to come over sometime? The thought of cooking for the sexy goth/biker/gamer aroused her a bit.

Laundry was amazing. As she loaded her basket with dirty clothes scavenged from all over her apartment she felt many change under her touch. As Anna had promised, her style was only slightly different despite her changes: Zelda still preferred dark colors and mostly avoided pink, although a bit of underwear seemed to trend that way. At one point she simply ran her hand along a few coats in her closet to watch them all wriggle and transform.

A bit of gaming while the dryer ran, then she quietly sang to herself as she put clothes away. While arranging things in her closet she found a dark purple case hidden beneath a pile of blankets in the corner of the closet under a couple old yearbooks. She didn't remember owning this case, but suddenly remembered Anna's promise of a 'toy box' a couple nights before.

She looked around carefully as if she thought she was being watched, then pulled the plastic box from her closet. She sat on her bed, inspecting the case with curiosity. It was a locking hard-plastic case, but the combination was apparently her birthdate, the first thing she tried.

This was definitely the promised 'toy box' and the contents intrigued her. A magazine covered the rest: it looked like it was aimed at woman and full of pictures of naked men. All were quite handsome and most had massive, erect cocks. She flipped through it, but laid it to the side to inspect the rest of the box's contents. Next she found a dildo, also purple. It wasn't a simple penis-shaped item, but a complex thing with extensions and prongs in translucent purple that she hoped she could use correctly. Next was a vibrator, a bit simpler. She turned it on for a moment and listened to the hum. The box's contents also included some sort of cleaner for the toys, a towel, and a couple other magazines.

The magazines hidden at the bottom featured women. Zelda had already viewed porn and even masturbated to streamers since her transformation, but this was somehow more personal. This was something she had chosen in whatever Zelda's new history was. It wasn't just random video she found online, but something she had desired and worked to obtain. She spread the magazines and confirmed what she expected. The single magazine featuring men looked practically new , while the other two were creased and crumpled. Obviously well-loved. All three were several years old, the oldest (one of the women's magazines) nearly a decade old. Had she bought the magazine with the men in it because she was embarrassed by her attraction to women?

Leaning back on the bed she removed her panties and gave the vibrator a test run on her nether regions. It had multiple speeds, and she quickly rated them as "pleasant buzz' to 'serious business' ending at 'ow ow ow too much!' The last almost turned her off from using the vibrator, but she found a steady, familiar routine alternating with the lower two settings that brought her to a series of mind blowing orgasms and left her curled on her bed. The purple 'monster' got some playtime, too, and a brief fantasy about Anna morphed into Sammy as she worked herself into a second round of orgasms. She recovered and had to change the sheets. This was much better than the carrot. Looking through the magazines she saw a woman licking an erect cock, so she tried licking the dildo clean and figured she was at least sexy looking doing it now. She cleaned and replaced the toys in the purple box, then hid it back under the blankets.

She idly flipped through the yearbooks she had discovered when looking through the box. This gave her a glimpse into how different Zelda and Johnny's lives had been. The two were similar: Zelda was apparently a bit of a tomboy. She didn't look that different in high school than she did now, although the different books showed she was a bit late to develop breasts until her senior year when they sprouted with a vengeance. She had a mostly similar life, still active in the computer club and similar. She also apparently won an award for some sort of home economics project, but she couldn't remember the details. It looked like she had helped some other girl with a sewing project?

"Anything you want to spend coins on today?"

Zelda hadn't even noticed slipping off to sleep. She was in the 'confession room' dressed in what could only be described as a 'schoolgirl uniform.' It wasn't really her style, although she had to admit it was kind of cute. She focused on it and it turned into her work clothes, which was at least better. So she had some control here.

Zelda was relieved. She was not looking forward to the discussion of her ex, Danielle. "Actually, yes. What's this 'Save from a Bad Situation' thing do?"

Anna looked surprised. "Not where I thought you'd go. I borrowed the menu from a list of things I've had to do in past interventions like this, and sometimes the subjects get in a little deeper than expected. You probably don't need it, but the Save is a sort of one-time get-out-of-jail card. If you're in way over your head, use it and you'll turn things around, although you may find things are a bit out of control for a bit."

Zelda smiled, "I'll take it! Also, 2 coins for a tattoo."

"Understood. The Save is ready. For the tattoo, just imagine it into place while you're here and it will carry over to your real body." The points drained away. After days of taking phone calls and getting insulted online, Zelda was down to only four points remaining. No hearts, though. "Zelda, we need to discuss Danielle."

"The file, as we saw is quite involved. Danielle was your girlfriend for nearly two years and lived here for most of that. You met in college and got the apartment together shortly after you got your current job while she was finishing her degree. She lived here because she said she loved you."

Zelda saw the 'file photo' images of Danielle cycle through behind Anna. Danielle as a college student, then peeking sexily around the door of the new apartment. Dressed in old clothes and moving in boxes of cookware and textbooks from her dorm room. Dressing in lingerie to surprise Johnny as he came home from work. "Danielle was nice. She was... interested in me. Pushed me a bit."

Anna's turn to nod. "I won't dispute that, and it appears you were very nice to her. When you graduated and got an apartment, she moved in. She bought food and decorated, but you paid the bills. Several months later she graduated and got an office job of her own."

Anna continued, flipping through the thick folder. "Honestly, I think Danielle nearly deserves a visit from me or one of my sisters. She found you at a low point and made you feel special. When she graduated, she aggressively tried to make you what she wanted from a boyfriend. I see here that one day you came home and found an entire shelf of collectibles had been thrown out. She said the shelf fell and they broke, but you always suspected she just tossed them because they weren't her style."

Zelda remembered that 'incident' which had ended in a huge fight and sleeping on the couch for two days. It wasn't the only time.

"Scheduling so you couldn't game with your friends. Making you go to a book club. Golf? I have nothing against golf, but it seems like a weird choice for the two of you. And you spent money, even sold some old games and such to pay for it."

Zelda cleared her throat, "I wasn't exactly the victim here, though. I wasn't great to her, either."

"Correct." Anna sighed. " You started drinking quite a bit and gained some weight. You gamed more at night, so your work suffered a bit as you were tired. Your friends and hers didn't want to be around a couple that fought constantly. A few friends drifted away because they just couldn't stand her. Fight after fight after fight."

Anna flipped through the papers. "From what I can tell, you both were making each other miserable. You were fundamentally dishonest to her about who you were, and she tried too change you in ways that made you uncomfortable. "

Anna and Zelda spent what seemed like days in the dream going through the cycle of verbal and mental abuse between Danielle and Johnny. Each won battles, but no one won the war. Finally Johnny came home and found much of her stuff gone, and a note on the table explaining that she had been sleeping with their friend Rob for a month and they were moving three states away.

"Zelda, I think it is clear that both of you were not ready for this relationship. You were actually improving yourself before you got involved with her perhaps, but her betrayal is a definite factor in your later misogyny and other behavior. Perhaps if you two had never met you'd have been less bitter and found a way to interact that didn't involve lashing out at everyone around you."