I looked at Rhea and pointedly did NOT look at Nene. That was one problem I was so not up to facing, not yet. "Well, who's hungry?"
Rhea jumped up and twirled around to face me, raising a hand. "Meee!"
The masculine voice then came from her lips again. "Well, at least that's something that we do agree on."
Tam and Nene looked at each other then nodded at me in agreement.
"But there's no food left in the house." Brian's voice coming from the woman's body told everyone. "It was all fried by Rhea."
"Well then, I brought my car and it's got more than enough space for the four of us. There's got to be a burger joint open somewhere around
here." I stood up and shifted back to my human form and reached into my pocket for my keys, only to find them gone. All of my pockets were empty.
"Uhhh..."
Nene looked up at me. "What's wrong?"
"My keys." I was re-checking all of my pockets frantically. "I don't know where my car keys went. I know I drove up here and I had them when
I got here. But they're gone now."
Tam shrugged and began looking around the garage as Spud gave me a long look. "When you got here, you only were in the yard and garage. Do you remember
what happened after that?"
"Well, I always put my keys into my pocket. It's an ingrained habit now, I don't even think about it."
Spud shrugged in Rhea's body. "When you got here, what did you do?"
"Well, after pulling you down from the ceiling so to say, I..." My eyes widened as it dawned. "I changed to Nano. My keys must have changed
too... my clothes obviously did, but they came back." I pondered as I tugged at my shirt. I realized that while it looked and left like normal clothing, I
could tell it was made out of nannites, just like the rest of me. And if my clothes were now made out of nannites... "Wait, I've got an idea." I
held my palm out flat and concentrated for a moment, furrowing my brow. Internally I almost felt like I was troubleshooting a computer. Looking for a program I
knew was there, but couldn't find. Digging a bit deeper into recently added items folder, I saw Skin.exe, Eyes.exe, Clothing.exe, Wallet.exe, Keys.exe
"Found it!" An internal nudge later to execute the program and my keys sort of 'reverse-melted' out of my palm, taking a few seconds to
congeal and solidify into what I was looking for. With my other hand, I grabbed the largest key and jingled the rest, my grin huge. "That's more like
it."
The other three in the room were just staring at me, and I gave them an irritated look back. "What? It's not weirder than what else has been going on
tonight." I grumbled and took another second to recall my wallet and checked it quickly to make sure everything was still right inside before tucking it
into my back pocket.
"Come on, lets just go."
"Wait." Spud's voice caused me to pause and look back at Rhea. "What are we wearing?"
I had opened my mouth to respond but Rhea was faster. "What I always wear silly."
I finally got a good look at her and shook my head. The tight spandex wasn't going to work for going out in public. "Can you still do a costume
change? Put on some jeans and a t-shirt." I took that chance to look around at the others, really LOOKING at them. Tam was still in her PPD outfit and
Nene was wearing, ironically, Ben's "I like the little red one" t-shirt and nothing else. "You two are going to have to change too." As
I spoke Tam took care of herself with a flash of light, returning to Chris's look. Rhea did the same and wore a skin tight t-shirt and jeans that would
guarantee any masculine attention would be on her.
Nene just shrugged. "I don't have anything from my room that fits anymore. I know, I looked."
"Hmm... " I walked up towards her and plucked at her shirt. Could I do the same thing for her I did for my own clothes? "Hold still, this may
feel a little weird." I closed my eyes and pulled up the clothing program I had found earlier and opened it. Mentally I took her current clothing and
shrunk it down a bit, and also formatted her a pair of shorts and flip flops to go with it.
I didn't hear it due to concentrating, but Nene squeaked as her shirt seemed to come alive. It wriggled and shifted and shrunk, becoming tighter around her
form but not too tight. The part of the shirt that had been hanging down to mid thigh tightened around her and seemed to sew itself together around her legs.
Then the fabric itself changed, no longer being white t-shirt material, but becoming heavier and darker blue. A few scraps fell to the floor and began
wriggling themselves around her feet until they became a pair of thin sandals. I pulled back and opened my eyes, as Nene inspected her new outfit. "Oh,
nice. I like it, thanks Amy!"
"No problem. Though we'll probably have to hit a Wal-Mart soon to get you something a bit more normal." I jingled my keys and opened the garage
door to go out. On the way to my car, it gave a double beep and all the doors unlocked. I decided not to mention to the others that it didn't have that
ability before today. "Any ideas on places that are open this late at night Spud?"
"Yeah, there's that Zips just down road. It's open 24 hours and has good food."
"Perfect." All of us piled into the car, Nene in the passengers seat and Tam and Rhea into the backseat. I glanced at Nene as she buckled in then
stared straight ahead. My hands had a near death grip on the driving wheel. This was Nene, but this was also Ben. It sounded like Ben to me, but then Nene had
always sounded like Ben to me. I always told him that Nene's personality was nearly identical to his in real life.
But this was NOT what I meant!
I've known Ben for almost a decade, as long as I've known MD. Hell, I've been dating the guy for five years. But now, this was... gah. I
couldn't even process it. In the back of my mind an image popped up of a computer screen giving the "Fatal Error: Abort, Retry, Fail" warning. I
mentally swatted that away like I'd swat an irritating fly. I had to concentrate on getting us to where we were going. As I pulled out of the driveway I
couldn't help but grin to myself. One upside of being made into a living computer, I could pull up an internal GPS and would never need instructions on how
to get from point A to point B again.
Rhea jumped up and twirled around to face me, raising a hand. "Meee!"
The masculine voice then came from her lips again. "Well, at least that's something that we do agree on."
Tam and Nene looked at each other then nodded at me in agreement.
"But there's no food left in the house." Brian's voice coming from the woman's body told everyone. "It was all fried by Rhea."
"Well then, I brought my car and it's got more than enough space for the four of us. There's got to be a burger joint open somewhere around
here." I stood up and shifted back to my human form and reached into my pocket for my keys, only to find them gone. All of my pockets were empty.
"Uhhh..."
Nene looked up at me. "What's wrong?"
"My keys." I was re-checking all of my pockets frantically. "I don't know where my car keys went. I know I drove up here and I had them when
I got here. But they're gone now."
Tam shrugged and began looking around the garage as Spud gave me a long look. "When you got here, you only were in the yard and garage. Do you remember
what happened after that?"
"Well, I always put my keys into my pocket. It's an ingrained habit now, I don't even think about it."
Spud shrugged in Rhea's body. "When you got here, what did you do?"
"Well, after pulling you down from the ceiling so to say, I..." My eyes widened as it dawned. "I changed to Nano. My keys must have changed
too... my clothes obviously did, but they came back." I pondered as I tugged at my shirt. I realized that while it looked and left like normal clothing, I
could tell it was made out of nannites, just like the rest of me. And if my clothes were now made out of nannites... "Wait, I've got an idea." I
held my palm out flat and concentrated for a moment, furrowing my brow. Internally I almost felt like I was troubleshooting a computer. Looking for a program I
knew was there, but couldn't find. Digging a bit deeper into recently added items folder, I saw Skin.exe, Eyes.exe, Clothing.exe, Wallet.exe, Keys.exe
"Found it!" An internal nudge later to execute the program and my keys sort of 'reverse-melted' out of my palm, taking a few seconds to
congeal and solidify into what I was looking for. With my other hand, I grabbed the largest key and jingled the rest, my grin huge. "That's more like
it."
The other three in the room were just staring at me, and I gave them an irritated look back. "What? It's not weirder than what else has been going on
tonight." I grumbled and took another second to recall my wallet and checked it quickly to make sure everything was still right inside before tucking it
into my back pocket.
"Come on, lets just go."
"Wait." Spud's voice caused me to pause and look back at Rhea. "What are we wearing?"
I had opened my mouth to respond but Rhea was faster. "What I always wear silly."
I finally got a good look at her and shook my head. The tight spandex wasn't going to work for going out in public. "Can you still do a costume
change? Put on some jeans and a t-shirt." I took that chance to look around at the others, really LOOKING at them. Tam was still in her PPD outfit and
Nene was wearing, ironically, Ben's "I like the little red one" t-shirt and nothing else. "You two are going to have to change too." As
I spoke Tam took care of herself with a flash of light, returning to Chris's look. Rhea did the same and wore a skin tight t-shirt and jeans that would
guarantee any masculine attention would be on her.
Nene just shrugged. "I don't have anything from my room that fits anymore. I know, I looked."
"Hmm... " I walked up towards her and plucked at her shirt. Could I do the same thing for her I did for my own clothes? "Hold still, this may
feel a little weird." I closed my eyes and pulled up the clothing program I had found earlier and opened it. Mentally I took her current clothing and
shrunk it down a bit, and also formatted her a pair of shorts and flip flops to go with it.
I didn't hear it due to concentrating, but Nene squeaked as her shirt seemed to come alive. It wriggled and shifted and shrunk, becoming tighter around her
form but not too tight. The part of the shirt that had been hanging down to mid thigh tightened around her and seemed to sew itself together around her legs.
Then the fabric itself changed, no longer being white t-shirt material, but becoming heavier and darker blue. A few scraps fell to the floor and began
wriggling themselves around her feet until they became a pair of thin sandals. I pulled back and opened my eyes, as Nene inspected her new outfit. "Oh,
nice. I like it, thanks Amy!"
"No problem. Though we'll probably have to hit a Wal-Mart soon to get you something a bit more normal." I jingled my keys and opened the garage
door to go out. On the way to my car, it gave a double beep and all the doors unlocked. I decided not to mention to the others that it didn't have that
ability before today. "Any ideas on places that are open this late at night Spud?"
"Yeah, there's that Zips just down road. It's open 24 hours and has good food."
"Perfect." All of us piled into the car, Nene in the passengers seat and Tam and Rhea into the backseat. I glanced at Nene as she buckled in then
stared straight ahead. My hands had a near death grip on the driving wheel. This was Nene, but this was also Ben. It sounded like Ben to me, but then Nene had
always sounded like Ben to me. I always told him that Nene's personality was nearly identical to his in real life.
But this was NOT what I meant!
I've known Ben for almost a decade, as long as I've known MD. Hell, I've been dating the guy for five years. But now, this was... gah. I
couldn't even process it. In the back of my mind an image popped up of a computer screen giving the "Fatal Error: Abort, Retry, Fail" warning. I
mentally swatted that away like I'd swat an irritating fly. I had to concentrate on getting us to where we were going. As I pulled out of the driveway I
couldn't help but grin to myself. One upside of being made into a living computer, I could pull up an internal GPS and would never need instructions on how
to get from point A to point B again.