“I was about your age when I Twisted,” he said. “And it was a mental Twist, like yours... it was a couple of days after the Twist that I realized what my new obsessions and compulsions were. It was the day I went back to school, and I found myself looking at the girls and thinking about what I’d like to do to them... And I was horrified at what I was thinking, but couldn’t stop. I pretended I was sick and insisted on the school nurse calling Dad rather than Mom. And then I asked Dad to take me home and lock me up, and he did.

Betty

I was gasping, panting and sweating like a cross country runner in Death Valley. I was still too reactive and not proactive enough. So my next move still gasping the thin air around me was to alter the Barrier frequency just enough to create a slicker surface than it usually has. Reducing the purchase the wind could get on the fabric of the Barrier. Who ever was generating this storm was seeking blood, so if I don't think and act fast they may just have enough horses to pull it off., I could not flinch even once. I needed to act as my strength was depleting. Unlike Atlas I could not afford to shrug and wouldn't even if I could.

“I’m not sure, but I think I may have a clue about why your condition is somewhat different from many of my earlier patients. It seems to me that you may have Twisted based on your idea — much more accurate than it had been a few hours earlier, but still somewhat oversimplified — of what transsexuals are like.”

In the fifth chapter in the sequel to No Obligation, Becca earns an unexpected promotion and tries to explain why she does what she does to a curious kitsune. Chaos's champion comes to an understanding with her new ally, and Leander discovers why small towns may not be safer than big cities — where magic is concerned .

I tried to elicit clues that would help me figure out what he was thinking and feeling about me, without leading him on in a way that would mess up what I had — or might have — with Rob. It didn’t work; by the end of the meal I had no more idea than before what Vic felt about me, and had only succeeding in confusing myself about my own feelings.

“Vic, it’s just a game. And I’m not exactly Rob’s girlfriend, not yet anyway. Besides, when me and Laura were an item, that didn’t mean my character couldn’t flirt with girl NPCs... or even with other players. When Lionel was playing a girl alien in Schwarzschild Radius II —”

“There you go. He doesn’t care about you as a person; he just wants you because you’re pretty.”

Ingrid said: “I’m not going to ask you about your Twist. You’ve told me more than you really need to tell a stranger, already. But if you want to listen I’ll tell you about mine.”

This tale is a condensation of a much larger tale that was never posted, or completed for that matter. Parts of it are random but that's what happens when one attempts to condense 400 plus pages into...whatever. :) I wanted to include more artwork but due to having three faaaahhhhhhkn puter failures at once, I will need to post it at a later date. I simply ran out of time. :(

This tale is dedicated to all who have had, or are having, a difficult time with whatever; aren't we all?

“This sometimes happens with Twist compulsions,” Dr. Oldstadt said. “They are vague at first, and easy to ignore, but once they become more definite, they are harder to resist and one suffers more distress when trying to resist them. I’m sorry we did not realize that wearing feminine clothes was a Twist-compulsion for you, and not just an expression of your altered gender identity.”