The Gig [Finished]

[accalia]

'Ain't no good choices here kid." Tony admits "And ain't none of them mine to make. I'll help, I'll show you options, I'll show you what i know of the consequences of the choices, but they're yours to make. No matter what you do, it's gonna hurt someone in the short term, but long term... that's maybe a different matter."

[yamikuronue]

Vic's shoulders sag, and his face falls. Was he really hoping Tony had a good answer for him? I'm an idiot. Of course there's no good options.

"Still.. skirts aren't a big deal."

[accalia]

"If they are who you want to be." Tony says, with the clearly unspoken rider of 'but if they're not then they are about the biggest possible deal.'

[yamikuronue]

Vic nods, slowly. "So it's... bad for you to wear them? I mean, for most men? It's... uncomfortable?"

[accalia]

"It's not who I am." Tony's agitated all of a sudden, but it's pretty clear it's at the thought of wearing a skirt again, and not because Vic asked the question. "I am a man, the mixup of birth that gave me the wrong body doesn't change that. If I wore skirts I would be saying that I am not a Man, and that's not who I am."

[yamikuronue]

Vic nods, slowly. "I wear trousers... so I'm a man." says Vic, testing out the sentence, as if weighing it against a feather to determine its truth. Or something like that.

[accalia]

"If that's who you are. Things don't have to be that simple." Tony replies, turning back to finish the dishes "And you don't have to decide today. The important bit is that you decide who you are, not let others tell you who you are."

[yamikuronue]

Vic sits back, his mind working furiously. What am I? he keeps asking himself, and yet...

Abruptly, he gets up from the table. Without bothering to say anything to Tony, he heads upstairs, back into the room he'd spent the night in, pulling open the closet.

[accalia]

The first thing that assaults Vic is dust, It's plain Tony hasn't been upstairs in years, and the dust has gotten everywhere.

After the assault of dust clears the second assault begins. Pink. just about everything in the closet is some shade of pink, often a garish one too. Dresses in many styles, blouses with lots of lace, skirts ranging from demure to the ground, all the way up to a decidedly racy just below the knee length. There's some white garments, and a couple of green ones, but most of them are pink and lace. at the far right side of the closet are three plain white shirts without any frills, and the same numebr of slacks in a washed out tan. They are the only garments in the entire closet that have any evidence of wear..

[yamikuronue]

Vic takes a deep breath in, trying to get the dust out of his lungs... and Victoria breathes out, slowly and controlled, and allows herself to relax outside her bedroom for the first time in years.

She runs her fingers over a bit of lace, astounded by the extravagance. There's so much here; she expected a few skirts perhaps but this... this is a little girl's princess fantasy writ large, a wonderland of lace and fabric she could only have dreamed of as a girl. Of course it would need to be tailored; she's much smaller than Tony, but then again, this stuff is old, from when Tony was her age, so maybe some of it will do?

She pulls out one dress, a floor-length gown in white-and-pink, something less garish but still very feminine: soft and modest and demure. She holds it up against her body, hoping it will fit well enough...

[accalia]

It certainly looks like it will fit, even today Tony's roughly the same body shape as Victoria, It's clear he had bigger breasts than Victoria when this dress was bought, but that's the only place that obviously won't fit, and there at least it'll be too loose rather than too tight.

[yamikuronue]

She lays the dress on the bed, closing the door to the room before she removes her shirt and trousers. She takes a deep breath, looking down over herself. Automatically, the usual thoughts start up: He's right, my hips are too wide. My breasts are growing in, it won't be long now before I have to figure out something for that. She runs her hands down her body, trying to picture it as a girl's body, rather than a boy's. Trying to picture it as the right body, and not a series of flaws.

It's not a very good body, she concludes, cynically. Boyish, straight up and down. Tiny breasts, not much in the way of curves to flaunt. Gawky, a bit too tall. Large hands. She makes a face, looking up. At least it was the right type of criticism now?

She pulls the dress over her head, biting her lip as she does. The fabric settles around her; it's weird not to have anything touching my legs, she reasons, giving her hips an experimental swish. Too big in the chest. There's gotta be three layers on this skirt. I'll want a slip? And a girdle? And a bra? But... it was a good dress. I'm just not good enough to wear it.

She pushes the door open, heading to the bathroom to take in the effect in the mirror. My hair.. she whimpers, realising the biggest problem. She'd been keeping it chin-length; there were flapper women who wore their hair that way, but this wasn't some cute stylist-approved look, this was a boy hacking at his hair with scissors and letting it fall where it might. It's awful. I'd be stared at.

[accalia]

Downstairs the sounds of Tony cleaning up stop, after a long moment the sound of the downstairs bathroom door closing can be heard, and the plumbing clanks as the downstairs shower starts.

[yamikuronue]

Victoria sinks down to sit on the toilet, burying her face in her hands. I can't really do much of either, can I? Too feminine to be a boy much longer, too masculine to be a girl. I'm just... nothing. I'm awful.

[accalia]

It takes a while but eventually there is another THUNK from the plumbing as the shower downstairs stops running, shortly after Tony can be heard moving about, but he's pointedly not coming upstairs, giving Vic time to think probably. By the sound of it he's pacing nervously though.