Empyrean Wear

Empyrean Wear

Body a day - #6: Mirror

“Looking good…” Ronald mumbled satisfyingly to himself, whilst snapping a photo in the mirror.

The employee benefits at this airport luxury boutique was something else… With the help of his manager and his colleagues, they had managed to turn browsing customers into skinsuits in the dressing room, they’d then let an employee put on the skinsuit and pay the exorbitant prices of these luxury garments, plus a little extra, then leave the boutique and resume the customer’s life.

Ronald was just the next in the long line of employees at Empyrean Wear, when he saw this guy heading into the dressing room with a thick leather jacket, he knew, he wanted him and he immediately informed his manager.

His colleague treated the customer with top-quality customer service as they guided him to the dressing room, not even mentioning the customer bringing his suitcase with him inside.

Ronald was too excited to be near the customer. Five minutes passed, then his manager came to him at the till: “The dressing room is ready for you now, Ronald. Better hurry.” The manager winked at him and Ronald hurried to the dressing room, where he found the unconscious body of the customer, completely hollow and ready to be worn.

Ronald exited the dressing room with a confident swagger, slowly getting accustomed to his new size. His colleague and manager smiled at him as he approached the polished counter. “Looking good, Ronald,” said the manager with a mischievous grin, “I take, it will be some time, before we see you again.” “His flight is not for another two hours,” Ronald answered, but he knew, that he would have to leave soon to catch this guy’s flight, not knowing when, how or if he would return.

“You look amazing, that’s for sure,” said the manager. “But you’ll need some high-quality jeans to go with your leather jacket, you can’t wear those track pants with that,” he continued with a wink and threw a pair of the most expensive jeans in the entire store at him. And he wasn’t done ‘selling’ him fine equipment.

An hour and a half later, Ronald had to bid farewell to his colleagues, and head for the gate for a future unknown, wearing a brand new jacket, jeans, dress shoes and sunglasses, an entirely new outfit, except the customer’s old hoodie, which Ronald had decided to keep. He may have left the boutique 13,500€ poorer, but he had gained so much more, which you can’t put a price tag on.

First ride

My flatmate Ricky had told me of the joy of the first ride of the season. When you can finally put on the gear, kick up the engine and hit the open road. So now I’ve got to try that.

I pulled on my Dainese leather suit, my boots, my gloves and grabbed my helmet. On my way out the door I stopped by the mirror and made certain my Ricky mask was still in place. I grabbed Ricky’s motorcycle key and his wallet from the table. Everything I needed to be him for today.

As I went into the parking lot in the basement, I couldn’t help but smile with Ricky’s dumb grin. Nobody was going to be able to tell the difference. It was gonna be a great first ride.

Fresh start

If I didn’t have a really good reason, I probably wouldn’t have kept this café job for this long. But now it gave me the opportunity to scout. I overheard the conversation between these two guys, new students at the university and new to the town. They were perfect.

I joined in their conversation, learning a bit more about them… Jordan and Liam… And now that I’ve gained a bit of trust with them, it was time to initiate the plan I had prepared for eight months. I presented them with two bright orange shots, which I told them was something we particularly offered new students. They downed them at the same time and dozed off almost immediately.

Now that they had drunk the bodysuit serum in the shots, it would soon be time for me and my old friend Markus to start a new life at the university. I managed to stuff the emptied Jordan and Liam bodysuits in a closet. Now all I had to do was text Markus… and quit this job. I held Jordan’s hollow face up and ran my fingers through the brown hair, that was going to be mine very soon.

The very next day Markus (or Liam) and I went for a long walk by the beach. Getting comfortable in our new skins, and preparing ourselves mentally for the new journey ahead.

Mason and the golden skin

A special thanks to @dulafer, who helped me come up with the idea after having hit a minor writer's block Body a day - #14: Battery

Mason had been envious of his classmate Chris since the first day he met him at Colchis University, so much so, that it had become an obsession. He envied him, he envied him so strongly that all he could think about was becoming him. Every thing about Chris, he desired and longed for, so much so that it became unbearable.

One of Mason’s former highschool classmates, Jed, was also studying at Colchis, studying both neurology and engineering. When Mason confessed his feelings towards Chris, Jed became lost in thought. The silence was eerie, but Jed was definitely contemplating Mason’s thoughts.

“If you really could switch places,” Jed said after the very long pause, “would you?” “Yes!” Mason blurted without hesitation. “Even if it meant giving your life to him?” Jed asked. Mason was a bit more reluctant this time, he hadn’t actually considered that, but if he had to swap places with Chris, it made sense, that Chris had to be somewhere else. But there would be no way, that Chris would ever accept that. “I’m sure, I’ll manage…” Mason said nonchalant.

Jed seemed very interested in the conundrum, but more out of curiosity than envy nor desire.

“If I come up with a solution – I want you to do something for me…” Jed said looking up at Mason. “What do you want?” Mason asked. “I want you, or rather you in Chris’s body as my boyfriend.” Mason blushed, “you have a crush on me?” “Maybe,” Jed answered clearly embarrassed and uncomfortable, not even looking at Mason anymore.

“Hey,” Mason began softly, breaking the awkward silence, he walked over to Jed, then pushed Jed’s chin up so that they had eye contact. “If you are really willing to do this for me… Then you might as well call me your boyfriend already,” he said, touched by Jed’s sentiment.

Two semesters later they came up with a prototype for a body-swapping device, technically it was a mind-swapping device. It would carry the full neurological pattern between two brains within a very short distance. Mason had to get Chris somewhere secluded, so that no interference was possible, and he had to take a clean shot. Jed was confident, it would work, but there were many potential risks. The device looked similar to a tablet with a camera attachment, except for the fact that the tablet part mostly consisted of batteries in a series. The device took an unbelievable amount of power, 75% of the device’s weight consisted of the batteries powering it.

Jed somehow managed to arrange a meeting with Chris at a remote part of campus. Mason wouldn’t have been successful if he had tried, after all Chris knew him, but Jed didn’t actually tell Mason, exactly how he managed to convince Chris to turn up at that place. But he did, and armed with the tablet-camera-thingy, Mason was prepared to welcome the unsuspecting Chris, who arrived on his bike.

“What are you doing here?!” Chris drawled as he noticed Mason, “is this some kind of joke?!”

Mason was nervous, almost afraid, but still infatuated and smitten with Chris. Mason let his envy consume him, he took some big steps directly towards Chris, aimed the device at his face, and pressed the button. There was a blinding light, and they both felt like they had been electrocuted, their bodies were shaking, but they couldn’t see anything.

Then Mason could see again, no longer blinded by the light, he could see himself, but from a taller perspective. He wasn’t looking in a mirror, the device had worked.

Mason’s body was still dazed and confused, the device fell out of his hand and hit the ground.

Mason was in awe. Chris’s body was all his, this perfect body was all his. He didn’t get to enjoy the moment for long however, he was ripped out by his stream of consciousness, when he heard his old voice shout at him: “What the hell have you done?!”

Chris had apparently already figured out exactly what had happened, there was a look of pure hatred in his eyes.

Mason’s body picked up the device. “You aren’t getting away with this. I’m gonna take my body back, and then… And then you won’t even live long enough to regret this!” Mason’s voice snarled, his words dripping with loathing and vindictiveness. Mason had a feeling something was wrong, he could smell burnt ‘something’, rubber or plastic maybe, the smell definitely came from the device, it was about to break down. Even a single use had put massive strain on the batteries, the device couldn’t handle another swap.

Mason in Chris’s body froze, blinded by the bright light, but also something else, it was like his mind was clouded by all sorts of unrecognisable impressions.

Mason’s body fell unconscious to the floor, but Mason was still looking at it from Chris’s perspective, he felt a bit of satisfaction seeing his former body collapse. But to make sure nobody would accuse him of anything, he picked up the foul-smelling device and stuffed it in Chris’s bag, then he begrudgingly called an ambulance. Then he went over to his unconscious body and more by instinct than choice began to perform CPR on it, then it dawned on him… He did not know, how to perform CPR, but Chris did. The faulty device must have transferred parts of Chris’s consciousness to him. He was still Mason at heart, he knew that much.

Mason’s body was taken away by the paramedics, as Chris explaining something about having witnessed Mason having a heart attack or something. With the ambulance gone, Mason could finally wrap his head around the other dramatic events. The faulty device had transferred Chris’s memories to him, he wouldn’t have any problem fooling everyone, he didn’t have to pretend to be Chris, he was Chris.

Done my homework

Body a day - #11: Studies

”It was true, when I said that the last year I’ve been busy with my studies… I’ve been studying you, brother. Learning everything there was to know about you – your friend Tony even helped me out, installing a keylogger on your computer, so I could access all your files and everything, and providing heaps of information about you and your life, I've done my homework.

You look surprised? Tony had a crush on you for ages, did you really not know that? Hah! Now I can be the boyfriend, he always wanted, he’s a lovely fellow, and without him, I’d never have come this far. Is that the look of betrayal on your face? Or are you just getting cold? Well, I had to see if your clothes fit me, and they do, don’t they? But sure, we can go back inside your roomy penthouse – I mean ’my’ roomy penthouse apartment. You can stay in the study, whilst I figure out what to do with you, brother.

Three months ago you didn’t even know you had a twin, and now you’d probably wish you had remained blissfully unaware. Is there anything you need? Are the ropes tight enough? And the gag isn’t bothering you? Good… Then I better call Tony, and tell him the plan worked like a charm.”

Third ride

”You’ve gotta be ready in 10, champ.” said the manager before disappearing, I  nodded silently.

It was my third ride on a motorcycle, if you can believe it, but I’m already racing in real competitions… Well… Alex is racing in real competitions…

I have only worn Alex for three days, I turned him into a bodysuit you see. I could barely believe that it worked, but I have worn him ever since.

He was a race champion, not one of the big ones, but still very talented, and I wanted to be him so bad. So with a little help from the infamous and mythical bodysuit formula, I have been inside Alex’ skin for three whole days now. And I don’t think I’ll ever take it off.

Being Alex is so amazing, being big, strong and handsome like him and I can even do anything he can. Even winning races despite knowing nothing about motorcycles, except that they are cool… And I love those sweet tight leather suits that comes with it.

Well I’ve got to go change into Alex’ official race-suit. I got some points to score and trophies to win, so catch you later.