[https://i.imgur.com/np1SHPp.png]

Drawn In

Part 5

My eyes trembled but no tears again.

"May I help you? You okay?"

I glanced up at a calm voice. A converted clerk smiled with massive brown eyes in a clear "anime"-inspired style. Nearly a third of her head was eyeball. Not that large eyes were a surprise anymore and hers, in particular, were a lovely, burnt brownish color. My skill with colors and their names had always been good with mom around but you get curious when the whole rainbow is spread out in people around you. Looking closer, there was a reddish touch too, more subtle than Allison's. Maybe burnt crimson. A lovely color.

Her hair was the color of glossy, metallic copper blended with a sharp, pink tint. It was literally like her wavy hair was made of pink metal. The locks were thick, falling past her back in a form like the noodly hair of my sister's old Raggedy Ann doll. A pink carnation, which had been influenced into a cotton candy puff, sat clipped to the side of her head.

She wore a white polo top with a collar that looked like a band of four-leaf clovers. A matching green, button stripe traced down to her forest-green skirt. My eyes flicked to her chest for a moment as I surveyed her clothes. I looked away quickly before returning to her burnt crimson eyes. She was easily one of the bustier converted girls I'd ever seen. Her clothes definitely flattered that aspect and her attractive, broad hips.

Her pale-gray line of a mouth flicked open and showed a cat-like smirk. Then she noticed my arm. She gave an obvious, dour expression and clenched her narrow, lightly-lined hands in front of her, and said, "Oh my. Is there anything I can do to help?"

Her grimace matched mine and I told her what I could about my situation. Then, I added, as a quick, self-separated mention, "And…all worried it might be a sex-altering…thing too."

Her eyes actually managed to widen more. She crouched beside me and looked at my arm. The conversion was nearer to my shoulder than my elbow. I presented both arms to her and remarked, "I'm not thinking of buying two different gloves." My best attempt at a joke. She gave it more of a smile than it deserved.

She looked over my hands and nodded as she saw a clear difference, especially when they were side by side. With a sigh, she settled next to me on the bench and asked, "How are you doing?"

I gave a shrug and told her, "Quiet panic and total confusion…thereabouts."

Another quick smile. She bowed her head and said softly, "I…can sympathize. And I don't just mean…how you'd expect." She fumbled with her mouth line a bit and whispered beside me, "But…gender…sex things too."

My eyes widened and she gave a nervous blush shading under her eyes like a dusty scribble. A 'sweatdrop moment', adopted from "anime" parlance. She brushed her knees.

Then, I heard Candace say, "Hey, Parker…oh shi…uh…" Her head popped up, smiled at the female clerk next to me, and then darted down when she saw me.

I gave my sister a little glare and Parker glanced around with a bitter grimace like she'd just missed a joke. After a moment of hiding, Candace reemerged with a sweatdrop look of her own and said, "Uh…hey Parker. This is my brother. Who I mentioned when I called…" She trailed off towards the end.

It made sense now. Candace had insisted on this store and made that suspicious call. She confirmed my theory by saying she knew that Parker worked here and was just calling to see if she was in today. Parker still looked confused but did so with a smile.

Candace darted in, apologized, and then finished by saying, "Now…IGNORE ME!" before rushing off.

That over with, Parker stammered before she said, "Uh…yeah. So, I understand. I guess. I feel like everyone's experience is different and it can be really rough but if you want to talk about it…I'll offer what I can."

I nodded slowly and glanced out to see if my sister was still hiding somewhere. That much seemed clear. I asked her, "Well, I guess all the obvious questions. Starting with how long since your conversion."

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

She raised an eyebrow and repeated "conversion" to me before noting, "That term always weirded me out, like it meant joining an anime change for world domination religious cult or something. For me, I like the term 'getting animated'. But that's just me. So far as how long ago…uh…well it's been about…I need to add. Roughly nine months." All throughout her answer, she fussed a bit, moving her hands and touching her cheek contemplatively. She even accented her term with quick air quotes.

I encouraged her to say more. She brushed at her rusty-metallic hair and dabbed under an eye. "It began on a Tuesday. Same day of the week the very first people originally got animated in the East. I first noticed it when I woke up. It was all over my left hand. I didn't freak out. I knew it happened to some people. But, soon I realized my hand looked like an anime girl's hand. Then, I freaked out." She presented her left hand by example and gave a chuckle.

All told, it took her six hours from first noticing to all the details finished. She told me, "The waiting was the hardest part. But…that probably doesn't help you. I buried myself in bed for a few hours when it got to my chest. I called in 'getting animated and changing sex' to work. Quick call, I slammed down the phone in embarrassment as soon as I said it. I have really supportive, crazy-hippie parents who offered me...various things to take my mind off it. But animating with a sex change was kinda… enough altered state for one day."

She really said a lot with her facial animation and little hand gestures. It was clear she didn't talk about this all that much. Brushing quivering noodles of hair back, she took a breath and said, "So, I looked at myself at the end of that day and…first of all, it was a relief to be done. Then I thought about those that shift form after their change but that didn't happen to me. Then I thought, 'holy shit…those are huge'…granted my mom is technically larger but…" She pursed her lips again and the blush returned before she confessed, "That's probably a weird thing to mention…"

I told her it was fine and encouraged her to be sincere. She took that to heart and immediately continued, "I really liked looking at my boobs. My girls. I got definite enjoyment out of mirrors, positioning, and clothes. However, seeing them every day can get old pretty quick. It's not just looks though." She gulped a squiggly face at that and her eyes flashed a little wider despite my assurance.

We both decided it was probably best that we move to a more discrete area to chat.

Once in a break room of the store with a lockable door, she let loose.

"The whole physical experience is indescribable. I also feel there's a mental aspect to it too. There's so much. It's like taking on an entirely different life, a whole new color palette of experiences. There are sucky things, especially from time to time. But I wouldn't be who I am right now if this didn't happen and I definitely wouldn't take it back. I don't even mind how long my hair tends to get."

I questioned her further. Gender issues? Did she want to be a girl as a boy? Did her feelings change much?

She took some time with these. "As I said, my parents are very open-minded. Very. Especially on gender roles but I was a normal guy, just under six feet, a little skinny. I sometimes messed around with clothes and colors but just because my parents were cool with it and I wanted to try it but I didn't really get any sense of my body fighting with who I felt I was. I was fine with my body then and I'm just fine with being a girl too, I guess." She gave a slow shrug.

I nodded and she continued, "I guess that probably doesn't help a lot either. Sorry. I think of the change as 'getting animated' because I feel like it stirs a part of ourselves to come out. It may be weird. It may contradict how we seem. It may be embarrassing. But it doesn't put something which isn't already there. I don't know why I became an anime girl. I don't know why I'm not someone who tries to look as manly as I can manage. But I'm okay. Happy even. I still prefer girls though."