It’s Monday, the last of September, and things are progressing as well as one may assume. My Sunday was restful, as in I had a long afternoon nap, watched The Big Short, and edited video for my upcoming freshie practice blog post, which may pop out tomorrow so I can write a bit more in this current scene.
Speaking of the current scene, before the party starts it’s time to leave the two soul mates along–well, kind of alone–so they can exchange a few words–
(The following excerpts from The Foundation Chronicles, Book Three: C For Continuing, copyright 2016, 2017 by Cassidy Frazee)
Annie faced Kerry and took her hands feeling how cool they were in hers. I’ve never felt this from her before—but then, she wasn’t a her until today. “Nervous?”
Kerry looked downward as her chuckle gave away her feelings. “A bit.”
“If this doesn’t work this first time, that doesn’t mean it won’t work later.” While Coraline mapped out the plan of how they would attempt the voluntary transitions every few hours, she could almost feel Kerry’s apprehension about the task. She’s worried; she’s concerned that she’s never going to change back and she’ll have to accept this new life.
“There’s no reason why it can’t work now, and if it doesn’t?” Annie smiled as she shrugged. “I’ll be with you the entire time so you don’t get lonely.”
When Kerry looked up a slight mist covered her eyes. “You don’t have to do that.”
“What sort of person would I be if I left my soul mate alone in a time like this.” She squeezed Kerry’s hands as she pressed her forehead to her, realizing that this was the first time she was the one who had to lean downward a little. “I’m not going anywhere, my love.”
Kerry seemed to breath a sigh of relief. “At least I know this part of my life hasn’t changed.”
“Nor will it ever.”
“Good.” She stood back, still holding on to Annie’s hands. “Well, I should do this. If I can transition back now, it means we can get on with our Sunday.”
“More or less.” Coraline pointed towards the small raised dais. “If you’re ready, we can begin.”
“Sounds good.” She gave Annie’s hands a squeeze. “Wish me luck.”
Annie shook her head. “Just do what comes naturally.”
“Whatever that might be.” Kerry stood next to the dais as Annie took her place with the others. “I guess I’m ready.”
So Kerry does have that fear, that maybe he/she’s gonna be the one for whom this Gift thing doesn’t work and she’s gonna have to get used to all the stuff us girls are used to doing. She’s not looking forward to this not working, let’s just say that.
Now that she’s ready…
Coraline nodded. “Then lets begin.” She stared off into the emptiness of the room as she spoke. “Sabrina, bring the recording media on line, please.”
The AI’s disembodied voice spoke a moment later. “Recording media is on line.”
“Thank you. Begin recording.”
“Recorders are on.”
Coraline activated a holographic terminal before her and began speaking. “Today is 27 October, 2013; the time is 10:39. I am Doctor Coraline Gallagher and I am here to document the use of the Bigender Gift, which has become active in a student at the Salem Institute of Greater Education and Learning. The student in question is Kerrigan Malibey, a thirteen year old C Level from Cernunnos Coven. Today at 2:28 Kerrigan experienced full activation of the gift which resulted in an involuntary transition from cis-male to cis-female, her current physical state. What she is going to attempt in a moment is to voluntarily transition back to cis-male, demonstrating that she has full control of the Gift.
“Witnessing this event are Jessica Kishna, Deanna Arrakis, and Erywin Sladen, all instructors, coven leaders, and counselors at SIGEL. Also witnessing this demonstration is Anelie Kirilova, a fourteen year old C Level also from Cernunnos Coven who has a special relationship with Ms. Malibey.” Coraline winked at Annie before going on. “All are vetted by myself, the headmistress of the school, and the Chief of Security of Salem, and I am assured they will keep the details of this demonstration secret.
“The demonstration we are about to witness is simple: the subject—whom I will refer to as Kerry from this point onward—will attempt to use her Bigender Gift to revert back to cis-male. This attempt will be performed under controlled conditions with full monitoring in place so every moment of this event is captured.” Coraline looked around the room. “If no one else has anything to say—” Knowing the others in the room would remain silent, she turned to her subject. “Kerry, please step up on to the dais.”
Technically Kerry isn’t cis-female, for she wasn’t born with that assigned gender, but at the same time she’s not cis-male, nor can she yet be considered transmale because Kerry hasn’t really indicated she’s identifying as a boy. Since Kerry seems comfortable hearing “she” and “her” as pronouns, the Brain Trust and Annie will keep considering her cis-female until Kerry decides otherwise.
That’s the thing about gender: you can pretty much sense what you are early on and you stick with that, and trying to be something you’re not tends to make people overreact so they can try and fit into a particular role. At least that’s how it was with me: every time I tried to be more of a “guy”, I usually ended up sucking at it hard, so I overcompensated by trying harder.
But Kerry isn’t trying to act like a “boy”, nor is she trying to act like a “girl”. At the moment she’s sort of stuck knowing she has a body that would classify her as female, but a few hours before she was for sure a boy.
Or maybe… given Kerry’s already done this gender swap things–she did it in B Level Advanced Transformation–she’s sort of the mind that her gender is fluid and she’ll adopt whatever pronouns are tossed her way. After all, Kerry knew before this day in the novel that changing genders was something the then he could do, it was something Kerry subconsciously dealt with. Which is why when everyone is calling Kerry “she”, um, she’s not freaking out.
It’s not going to be something Kerry’s gonna discuss in this scene, but you can bet someone is gonna talk about it–
But only after a few other things are mentioned.
