Zaid was still trying to lap his drink when Jude answered the powers question. Tasting lies? Oh! That explained the sudden spit take when he walked past. ”I take it the bigger the lie the worst it tastes?”

Somehow he felt he was not getting this drinking thing. He pushed the cup up to his face to try to get closer to the liquid, failure.

Then Jude hugged him and....”Aces, Jude, when did you come up with that name for me? And, your drinking! Without me!” He wanted to feel offended, but the more he looked at Jude, the more ‘off’ he seemed.

The girl’s body saved him from being confused long. He had just tilted the cup to get the liquid closer, and the body swap comment made him loose focus and liquid sloshed against his face. He coughed, yanking the cup away before he could get anything on his suit, pressing a hand to his now juice covered chin.

”What’ll wear off? The swap? Why the heck is this dang thing so hard to drink out of!” he was going to drown himself by the end of the night. Or wear his beverage. Or both.

”I’ve had days where I never left the gym. I just swap and swap and swap. There is just something satisfying about the feel of lifting.” One of the reasons Rhia had taken to it like a fish to water. ”I’ve had a few times had class with someone the day after I worked out for them in their body. Some of them have tried to pay me to work through DOMs for them.” Rhia giggled remembering a boy in her Biology lab that could barely move two days after I did a workout for him… I told him no. Not sure I could trust him with my body for a couple days.”

When Zaid asked about bigger lies tasting worse, Rhia smiled and made a noncommittal noise. The nickname drew quite the reaction, Rhia smiled and looked from Zaid to Jude to judge how Jude was responding to the impersonation. Jude decided to be a stick in the mud and let Zaid know that they hand swapped bodies.

Rhia pouted and put one hand on his hip. ”Party pooper.” He said to Jude. There would need to be vengeance for this injustice! Jude killed the fun like a regular poopy pants. Rhia looked at Zaid and smiled… An idea blossoming but was waylaid as the juice Zaid has sloshed all over his face. Rhia laughed out loud. It was like she had no idea how to use a glass.

Jude let him know it would wear off, Zaid asked what. Jude knew the swaps had a time limit… But saying they were ‘temporary’ almost made them sound short lived.

Rhia smiled at Zaid and hugged him a little tighter for a moment before letting him go, ”Swaps only last forty-eight… Or until I end them. Not sure why you can’t use a glass… Does Noel do mind things?” Rhia looked to Jude.

Okay. Time to get his revenge on Jude. He took Zaid’s hand and placed his drink in it while making eye contact. ”Hold this for me.” Rhia triggered his power. He had the usual stretched out of body experience before he was suddenly staring at Jude’s body. ”Thank you.” Rhia took a sip of his drink and looked to Jude. ”This is for ruining my fun.” He smiled at Jude. the head bobbed toward Jude’s own body. The feeling of the bunny ears was odd to say the least. Rhia didn’t have experience in bodies that were human plus. He brought his hands up and felt at his ears then at his tail. It was all so weird!

---

Ranger’s greeting was met with a “Bless your heart.” with that plus how Zaid had tried to help with her makeup, Ranger knew exactly what she meant. Ranger weakly smiled in response. She had been drinking like she was her own male self who is used to drinking. The liver she had now was female, attached to a smaller body, and not used to drinking. Ranger had not considered the difference in tolerance when she started imbibing.

A giggle escaped at Noel’s reply. Noel leaving her alone in her current ‘state’ wasn’t what she had meant. She tried to contain the giggle as Noel worked to clean up the makeup mess that was Ranger’s face. Amidst it all Noel even commented on Ranger’s trying to drink the glass. WHich was going less well than planned. Ranger screwed up her face and let out air in a ”Psssh.” Then realized Noel had called her Noel. Which reminded her that she was supposed to be pretending to be Noel… Getting drunk and putting on clown makeup was not the best way to accomplish that. Eyes wide she replied,”I… Didn’ set out t’ be...This… … Mich- ...ael.” Drunk? Racoon faced? Ranger just gestured to herself. Her movement likely not making Noel’s job any easier and worked unusually hard to keep names straight. She was Noel and he was Michael. At least for that swapped moment.

Noel guided Ranger though what she needed him to do. Shut the eyes, look up and so on. Then in the middle of it all someone decided to show up and ask what was going on. Noel, as both the drunk one and the one playing the part of Ranger, spoke to the interloper. Except… Had Noel said that she had lice? Ranger’s brain was churning through the much of alcohol.

”Lice? Y’… I have...Wait… heh… I get it.” Ranger said sounding as drunk as she possibly could before both taking a sip and trying to remedy the hand overburdening. Ranger slid her phone into a pocket. Only… There wasn’t a pocket! The phone just dragged against the dress for a moment and then fell to the floor. Ranger only noticed when she heard the sound of the phone striking the floor. This prompted a yell from Ranger, ”And I have no pockets!” What kind of tomfoolery was that!

To see himself giggle like that… did he giggle? Jude just wasn’t sure. But he was sure that he was taking no risks with his relationship. Yes. She pooped on that party straight away. Jude helpfully stuck her tongue out at Rhia for calling her out.

”Get someone you like and then start swapping around. See how long your party lasts.” She nodded in response to Noel doing mind things, but was no more forthcoming about it. Since it was temporary, there was no need to, really.

If Rhia didn’t like that then she could just… swap to Zaid apparently. Jude took a deep breath. He was all for mischief, but this was a bit much. Poor Zaid. He was still a bit concerned over not understanding how drinks worked… he also wasn’t having the best time with human ears. Now he was his own boyfriend? Jude would fully admit bias, here, but even so it seem like too much, too quick for someone unused to change.

”Hey! Zaid didn’t do anything to you. And if you think this is ruining your fun...” Jude initiated a swap with himself. She could, so why wouldn’t he be able to? There was a moment of lifting, a little Once he was Jude again he scooted toward Rhia’s body, where Zaid was if his mental jump math was right. Also the home of the power that started this all. ”I will show you ruined fun.”

Jude touched Rhia’s chin asking quietly if Zaid was okay in there and even more quietly for forgiveness for what he was about to do.

Every power felt like a tight bundle of cords at the core of a person. He let his power reach out, but instead of a gentle brush of his power to copy her body’s, Jude let the hand of his abilities take hold of that bundle of cords and pull. He pulled until the bundle stretched outside of Rhia’s body, not entirely sure what the fall out would be by fully cancelling Rhia’s power. He kept hold of her chin, watching to see if he could tell who was inside.

---

She giggled and dropped Noel’s phone. Noel rubbed his hand across his forehead. It was funny, but… borderline exasperating. That phone was important, but also she definitely had no pockets. So. Partially his own fault for having a dress with no pockets. Every girl knew she should strive for such a thing.

Noel reached down to get the phone at the same time that the Ranger in her body did which resulted in them smacking foreheads with a solid thok.

She looked up at him to tell him off and the move was enough to land Noel right on her ass, skirt flying when her legs decided to be dramatic and unhelpful.

She was… she was her. She was looking at him!?

”I’mma Noel and you have the- the- Ranger. He’s in you.” Oh! She still had a drink in her hand. Yes a little had sloshed out when she fell, but it surprised her that it was there at all. The man who she’d tried to ward off when she had been the Ranger laughed and Noel hated drinking all over again.

”You did this.” She sloshed accusingly at Michael.

Zaid was trying to keep it together, but so many things were happening at once. He couldn’t drink properly, then Rhia was Jude, and then...

That, certainly, did not feel normal. She had done something. The body-swapping minion of evil had done something and holyfrickin’staaaarssss he had human ears!

There was a rather impressive string of Japanese out of Jude’s mouth until he clamped a hand over it, then to his ears, or to his lack of bunny ears, then to his human ears. This...this was fine. This would be fine: never mind the sounds were weird and his nose felt stuffed now and he couldn’t smell and why did these ears not move.

Not to mention Jude’s body held a power, a bundled up cat he could accidentally spring at any moment. He was terrified of being in charge of that. What if he hurt Jude? What if he hurt himself? Stars stars stars SHIT!!!

Jude caught his attention. Zaid looked back with all the rabbit panic he was feeling and wanted nothing more than to be out of that body. Jude needed to be back in his own body. In control of this power Zaid was NOT ready for.

Then, the movement again. The out of body floating. And...

He was... Rhia.

Further Japanese cussing.

He looked at Jude and while he wanted to throw a giant tantrum about things, relented and let the power stripping take place. It...well, it wasn’t comfortable. Much like walking into an adapted field and having everything suddenly gone. He didn’t feel the powers. But he also didn’t feel his ears, or tail, and he was in a dress, and ”I’m still a girl...” he complained. ”I don’t even like girls normally.... why do I have to be one now?!” he complained, rubbing at his ears in discomfort. He found his own body and gave it the dirtiest look he could muster. He was NOT happy with this.

Rhia realized she may have overstepped with her latest swap. In her experience when she swapped with someone there was an initial shock, but not evident panic. She felt that if she gave it a moment and let Zaid settle the three of them could have a moment they could all laugh about later… and Jude would see being a poopy pants had repercussions.

There wasn’t much time for Rhia to enjoy the Japanese speaking chaos she had created before Jude protested, saying Zaid didn’t do anything to Rhia. There was mention of ruined fun and then… Jude must have swapped back to his own body as Jude’s body finished the thought. He would show Rhia ruined fun.

Did he mean by moving around Zaid? Because Rhia watching her own body speaking Japanese was a wild trip. First time for it . Jude again looked to poop the party. He, in his own body, touched Zaid’s chin and spoke quietly to her. Rhia frowned and bounced a little on his toes while touching one of his ears.

Then… Things happened. Rhia felt the loss of the swap on Michael and Noel. It was gone, not there, like they had unswapped. He also lost the awareness of her swap from her own body to Jude! He could still feel the control of the swap that brought him into Zaid’s body.

Zaid, speaking English again, complained that he was still a she. Rhia frowned at that, She could have complained about not being in the correct body at all but instead chose to complain about being a girl. Like that was something inherently wrong. Was it so much worse than simply not being in your own body? Maybe… Rhia realized she had an odd perspective on the issue.

”What… What just happened?” Rhia was no longer bouncing and touching an ear. He looked from Jude to Zaid and back to Jude ”Did you… Turn off my power?!” There was a brief moment where Rhia felt his own panic. The only swap he felt in place was the one putting Rhia into Zaid’s body. If Rhia undid that and returned to Jude… There was no way to return to the correct body. Rhia felt trapped. ”Did you… I can’t undo all the swaps I did now! I can only go back to your body and… Zaid is trapped with mine!” Rhia worked to contain his volume. Rhia liked her body! There was nothing wrong with Zaid’s but it wasn’t her own.

---

The phone on the ground. Ranger didn’t want Noel’s phone to be crushed by someone stomping on it. Especially not Noel himself! Ranger looked at the phone and then knelt to pick it up. Her head collided with Noel’s head. The impact hurt more than Ranger had expected. Ranger thought that the alcohol would have numbed some of the pain from the impact. Ranger looked up, hand rubbing where their heads had collided… And saw Noel’s body flopping backwards onto her ass.

Ranger blinked a few times and looked at his own hands and then at Noel. The alcohol induced haze was completely gone from his mind. Noel must be feeling the effects of Ranger’s overconsumption. He felt sorry for that when she spoke and confirmed it. She sounded as lit as Ranger had felt.

”Yeah… It’s me in here.” Ranger said before turning to face a man laughing at them, Ranger, wearing a displeased look on his once again man face, waved the man on. The man scrunched up his face, shrugged, and went about his business.

And Noel accused Ranger of doing…”this.” From the sloshing of the drink in hand, Ranger assumed she meant being drunk.

”I… Yes. That’s my fault. The drinkin’ didn’ help so much with the lies, but it made the crowd somehow more tolerable.” Ranger reached for the drink, the last thing that they needed was Noel to keep going where Ranger had been driving her body. The drinking had beget more drinking as he had lost the ability to make the most sound of decisions. Sober Ranger in his own body on the other hand, could.

”Maybe not the best place f’r this, but… Did we hit heads at the church… While we kissed?” Ranger asked. They had swapped back when they had a mutual percussive maintenance. It didn’t make any sense that hitting heads would cause a swap nor cause a swap back… But they had and there they were… And bodys wapping itself made no sense! It was like the plot to some cheesy Disney movie

Jude held Rhia’s chin watching her eyes and unsure of how it was going to shake out until Zaid spoke. He’d hoped that his power would send everyone home, but some powers were just exceedingly difficult to predict. He sighed and let his forehead fall against Zaid-in-Rhia’s forehead.

”Hold on. We’ll sort it out.” He pat her on the hair and turned toward the body he’d come to know and love. Jude didn’t mind Zaid being a girl, but Zaid sure did. He’d do it for her.

Though, hearing Rhia-in-Zaid’s panic almost made it worth it all on its own.

”I’ll make you a deal, Rhia.” Being back in his own body was surprisingly nice. Jude rolled his wrist and it popped in a satisfying way. ”You help me put everyone back where they belong and don’t mess with Zaid any more. In return…” He weighed his options and settled quickly on something they both might think was fair. ”I’ll keep swapping Boots and Ranger every time the swap is up for one week.”

He offered his hand toward Zaid’s body so that Rhia could shake on it. ”Deal?”

---

The crowd was more tolerable than the weird numbness in her face. Noel squeezed her eyes shut and tried to put her hands over her eyes, but there was a bit of a dink the way. Thankfully Micahel slid it out of her hand.

”Help me up?” Sitting up right was enough of a chore, she wasn’t sure she could stand consistently. He prompted her to think back to their dalliance during the wedding, but there were no goose eggs beyond the one she’d just earned. And of course, Michael seemed headbutt proof.

Hehe. Butt proof. She snort-giggled.

”No. I only have th’ one bonk.” Also the word ‘bonk’ was pretty funny. More funny than the way standing up was making her feel. Her knees wanted to go toward each other. That wasn’t helpful!

”Y’ could try bonking again. Or a kiss. Kiss then bonk? F'r science?” That was the definite order of how things had gone.

Jude was trying to reassure him, and Zaid wanting to feel comforted when he said they would sort it out. His, no, her ears wanted to perk up, but these ears didn’t move. How could he convey anything with this unmoving ears?

Zaid is trapped

Trapped. That unraveled the confidence Jude tried to create. They were still negotiating when his stomach decided it had enough with the stress. No, her stomach...

"I...don't feel so great." The statement was too much for her to handle. Being trapped without ears or tail just felt like she suddenly looked down and was missing a leg. She kept trying to move her ears, but Rhia didn't have ears. Zaid had ears. Zaid in Rhia's body just had useless human ears and no tail and...

Oh...no.... "Your...your body can throw up, can't it?" He realized far too late. He wanted to run to the bathroom, but had no idea if he could manage a few steps in this strange body. He looked down and was holding a cup still, the punch he had tried so awkwardly to drink before.

Well, no need to try further. The bile that hit the back of his throat was quickly spat into the cup and he cursed in furious Japanese at the world's most awful taste. He hated this body. With a livid passion. "I don't care who does it, someone get me back in my own body or I am not responsible for where I throw up next." He trembled, looking around desperately for a napkin or something to wipe his mouth with. Her mouth with.

His brain couldn't take this anymore.

Things went from bad to worse for Rhia. Not only was Rhia now in Zaid’s body and only able to swap back as far as Jude’s… but it looked like Zaid was feeling sick in her own body. Zaid had better not throw up in her body! Rhia really didn’t want to finally get back to her own body and have to deal with a vomit colored dress.

Jude offered Rhia a deal; help everyone get back to their own body and he would keep swapping Michael and Noel for a week. That… Was a fantastic trade! Except, ”I think you get the most out of that trade…” Rhia was prepared to negotiate further but a look to Zaid when she asked if Rhia’s body could throw up put a stop to that right quick. In a different situation she might could have found a deal that was more entertaining, but she needed to undo this before his dress was a different shade of green. ”Deal!” Rhia shoot Jude’s hand, ”Now quickly before Zaid… … Gross….”

Too late. Zaid was spitting bile into a cup. Rhia twisted up his face seeing it happen. At least Zaid had avoided getting sick on herself.

”Okay… This’ll be rough for everyone, but… Give me back my power and then whoever is holding a swap needs to let them go while I let mine go. I don’t know what will happen. I’ve never released two at once while someone else let go of one.” Rhia was the most at risk of having a rough transition. He held two swaps and someone else held one to her own body. Rhia hoped she wouldn’t have to move between them all in a series before settling into her own body.

Rhia waited or Jude to return his power. It would help no one for Rhia to undo the one swap he still had access to. He suspected it would put him back in Jude’s body and he didn’t know how to use Jude’s power to undo it.

---

Ranger helped Noel up. She stood like a newborn deer, legs and knees going every which way until she came to a rest in a mostly normal standing position. It was a good thing she was not wearing her heels. When she randomly snorted and giggled Ranger gave a small grimace. He had gotten her that drunk and she had to deal with it.

There was only one ‘bonk’. Ranger smiled slightly despite himself. Sure it was his fault Noel was so drunk and he felt bad about that, but it sure was amusing anyway. One bonk meant them hitting heads wasn’t the cause of the swap, maybe just the ending of it? Noel then suggested bonking or kissing again. For science.

Ranger gave an, ”Ehhh.” Swapping again wasn’t exactly his idea of a good time. Yet, they were in a decent enough space to test to see if kissing then smacking heads controlled some kind of body swapping between them. It made no sense… but Noel could do things with memories. Maybe her power had just grown. Instead of just taking memories she swapped them across two minds.

Were people just the sum of their memories?

”We could. Just in case… Uh… Think of grillin’.” Ranger said before placing his hand on the back of Noel’s head and going for a kiss. Kissing Noel was worth running the risk of a body swap… Especially when they had an idea of how to reverse it.

Rhia agreed. Jude had a few additional tactics he'd been willing to try, but as it turned out, Zaid's well timed vomit threat was convincing enough. They were shaking on it when the threat became reality. Eeeeeeeew. At least it was only into a cup. Jude gave Zaid’s lady shoulder a rather distanced pat. Yes. More vomit should be avoided.

”Okay. I’m gonna put it back and we’ll see where we end up.” One last Lady Zaid pat. ”Er. Just. Hold it. Until then. If you can.”

Jude let go of Rhia’s power. That was the easy part. Powers didn’t like not being where they belonged and the effect was immediate: he had a sort of swimming moment where his head disconnected and then snapped back into focus. But that wasn’t all he had to do. Rhia had coached them that they needed to let go of all their swaps. All of them. All at once.

With one glance at Whirlwind’s body getting awfully cozy with a ladyfriend, Jude wished grandpa (and grandpa’s heart) all the best, and let that go too…

---

Everything was funny. Michael wasn’t laughing, and she was pretty sure that was because it wasn’t really funny. Except, it still kinda was.

Noel blamed Michael. Yes. Michael was the blaming one even if he did like her idea of trying to swap around again.

He wanted her to think of grilling. Grilling like- like- yeah her head swam as she flobbed her arms around his neck and a leg, also, for good measure. Except the leg didn’t go that high. The leg went around his leg. He didn’t need that-- For a moment and she was almost certain she’d never seen a grill. She’d seen plenty of people who were grilled, though. She kissed him with every ounce of whiskey.

Interrogation was kind of a buzz kill.

Zaid was relieved when a truce was called, and listed to the instructions, which proved to be a good distraction from the queasy feeling he was experiencing. He noted a nearby trashcan, and managed to dump the cup into that before any power swapping took place. He decided the risk of dropping the cup of sick was a sure way to ruin the wedding even further. With luck, he would not be the one dealing with the horrible taste in his mouth for very long. Although, his bunny nose would likely still get a whiff of it. At least he knew he wouldn't get sicker from that.

There was a moment of floating, weird out of body sensations, and finally.

"I have ears!" He practically purred when his hands shot to his head and felt fur. The odd muted sensation was gone, he could hear normally, he could smell--okay, that smell wasn't great, but there was Jude, and Jude's scent was back. He felt his tail wiggle once out of sight but enough to verify that it too, was where it belonged.

Once he verified Jude was also back, he tightly hugged his boyfriend, exhaling with relief. He was a bit embarrassed for his reaction, but his cheeks were flushed with a mixture of frustration as well. He took the chance to hold out the cup to Rhia to take the alcohol away, nose wrinkled with annoyance. "You're lucky I didn't inherit a rabbit's susceptibility to black out as well! I'm sorry I threw up in your body, but stars! You don't know anything about my mutation, you can't just go jumping into someone's body like that." He hated sounding like a stick-in-the-mud, but having his conscious thrown through a cycle of firsts before being thrown back by this woman crossed a line.

The deal struck, Jude released Rhia’s power. He could feel it the moment it returned. There was a sensation of swapping bodies, but Rhia remained in Zaid’s body after it was done. All of Rhia’s swaps were back in play in addition to Jude’s power’s swaps. Additionally, Rhia felt the swap on Boots and Michael return. Unswapping back to herself felt like a killjoy, but the thought of that pair reswapping after a moment as themselves made it almost worth it to Rhia.

”Okay. On three, we release the swaps we’re holding.” Rhia said, bringing the swap from herself to Jude and from Jude to Zaid to the front of her mind. ”One. Two. Three.” As he counted, Rhia held up fingers. He was unable to talk without his hands.

When Rhia said three, he mentally released both swaps simultaneously

It was the worst of all possible swaps Rhia had ever experienced. Instead of the stretched moment of incorporeality Rhia was used to there was a long stretching feeling as if Rhia was being pulled to and fro. When she finally settled into herself she felt uneasy from the rocky transition. On top of that, she could taste bile in her mouth.


Rhia’s eyes bugged, and her hand went to her mouth. Immediately she turned to the trash can Zaid had dumped the cup he had thrown up in as her. She all but sprinted to it, making it just in time to lean over and finish what Zaid had started.

After wiping her mouth with a napkin from a nearby table, she slunk back to Jude and Zaid. The good humor she’d had a few minutes ago lost in the trash along with the contents of her stomach. When she returned, Zaid returned Rhia’s drink to her. She wrinkled her nose at the alcoholic drink when she took it back. Suddenly underage drinking had lost its charm. Oh! And Zaid was rightly chastising her.

”I’m sorry, Zaid.” Rhia said, deflated as he was essentially throwing at her what she had thrown at Jude ”You’re right. I shouldn’t have used you to get at Jude… Both the swap and the drinking.”

---

Ranger went in for a kiss. Noel wrapped her arms around his neck and a leg around his leg. They locked lips. The next thing Ranger knew, the fog of alcohol was back and her body was going through the act of kissing Noel on its own as Ranger slipped into a memory.

A man stood before Ranger, drink in hand. Ranger had met his eyes and was walking toward him. Ranger reached up and brushed auburn hair out of his face. When he did he caught sight of his nails. Incredibly long, drawn to a point, and holo. It was at that moment that Ranger realized he had been expertly walking in heels.

It took a moment for Ranger to realize that he was seeing a memory. Which meant… The kiss had swapped him and Noel back!

Ranger felt like a toddler with an original Xbox controller. The buttons were there but Ranger was unsure how to use them to control anything. Instead she had to ride out the memory. Watch herself flirt with the man. Preening, placing her hand on him, changing her posture. All the cues. As the man was leaning in to kiss, Ranger found the rewind button and got to experience proper heel walking and flirting with the man all over again. As the kiss approached Ranger figured out fast forwarding. And quickly found herself leaving the club with the man.

When they hit the street to catch a cab, Ranger finally found the eject button and returned to the world outside. Where Ranger was clearly Noel again. Her eyes opened and there was her own face. Her arms and leg were wrapped around Noel in her own body.

Ranger broke the kiss, and slid along her arms further away from Noel. Her leg still wrapped around Noel’s leg. So she hang off of his neck.

”Kiss worked… Now bonk!” Ranger said before pulling her head straight into Noel’s. Instead of swapping back, Ranger just managed to give herself one hell of a painful hit on the head. Bouncing off Noel’s Rangerhead, Ranger drunkenly lost hold of his neck and fell straight backwards.

Zaid was definitely Zaid again. Some small knot of worry loosened. It was almost like they could do a thing right. He chided Rhia and Rhia took it like a champ, better than Jude would have for sure.

It wasn't every day that someone said they were sorry. Maybe it was working with the Incredibly Buff™ and Rhia's similarly impressive Swol®, but Jude hadn't expected it. Maybe she wasn't bad. Maybe she just got a little carried away. Which reminded him...

"Oh. Grampa!"

Jude ditched his party momentarily to go find gramps and make sure he was still in his chair and back in his body. The body was dozing off. Whirlwind was saying something slap-worthy that got him slapped so Jude felt rather safe in assuming that Jonas was quite himself.

"Hi, I just wanted to check if you needed anything." One charmed grandmother and two freshly fetched beverages later, Jude was back and satisfied. "You know it’s funny, that old guy thinks he had a dream.”

---

He noticed that he had her arms in his hands. Her lips against his and his tongue in… ”Oh!” He pulled back quickly, but didn’t get far at all. If he hadn’t been supporting her body then he would have jumped straight up like a cat. But people were relying on him. Michael, specifically, was really incredibly relying on him. And re-leaning into him. And sort of snuggling with her eyes closed?

”Hey. Hey!” He shook her, but nothing was working. He panicked for a moment. She wasn’t passed out. Micahel’s eyes were closed, her body was moving, and… oh. She was stuck in a memory. Noel twisted to push Michael up against the wall. When that was her body, she’d always wanted someone to snap her out of it. To bring her back into the here and now…

He pinched her. Inches from her face, he pinched her where she should have slapped him for pinching her.

Her eyes fluttered open. He wasn’t even sure she’d felt it.

> ”Kiss worked… Now bonk!”

”No wai-!” Too late. He grimaced, it hurt but… not enough to swap them back apparently. Just enough to bounce her backwards, into the wall, and all the way down it.

”Y’r gon’ give y’rself a concussion.” He frowned and helped her up. The bonk had seemed like a good idea when it’d been alcoholically fueled. And when it’d been Noel’s idea. Now, it didn’t seem like a good idea at all. ”I don’ wan’ t’ switch back. Y’ did this. Y’ can suffer it.” Was she… looking a bit green?

Zaid had a momentary fierce expression (or as much as he could muster when he had bunny ears again. Really, hard to be intimidating as a bunny), and then Rhia apologized. His ears relaxed one at a time, and he sighed, pushing a hand through his hair. Before he could comment, Jude ran off to deal with something. Zaid, having missed the grandpa swap, just assumed it had something to do with the wedding and his usher duties.

That left him and Rhia. "I guess we're even this time," he flicked one ear in the direction of the trash can. Staff was sneaking over to deal with that, but thankfully no one ratted out who actually had vomited. They were spared that embarrassment. "I guess you wouldn't know it would be that dramatic. Just, the mutation, I was born with it. It's more than ears. Tail, legs. Being part prey animal just makes me very susceptible to damage it seemed." He rubbed his forehead, the comment very casual. He had long since accepted the fact he was a magnet for disaster.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is, I wasn't trying to be a stick in the mud. We are generally very open minded to a bit of fun. Just, within reason." He felt like he was really failing to say what he meant and muttered a little more in Japanese. This whole experience gave him a headache.

Jude finally returned and spread Zaid from more awkward babbling. He looked over hopefully, ”Everything’s fine then? That’s good.” it felt like all the body switching had managed to take a chunk of the reception and blur it for Zaid. Not that he had ever been to a wedding reception, but this one was very casual it felt like. Almost like a big party where several people were clearly making the most of the free booze.

Following Rhia’s apology, Jude ran off. Rhia watched him for a second and saw him heading off to check on grandpa. Which was good. Make sure he didn’t have a heart attack from the swap back to himself. This left Rhia alone with Zaid. Who thankfully seemed appeased by Rhia’s apology.

Zaid didn’t apologize for Rhia’s vomiting, but Rhia wouldn’t have expected one. She had swapped him and then somehow he ended up in her body all the while being overwhelmed by what was happening. Rhia held back her knee jerk reaction to Zaid’s comment about being part prey animal. On the heels of an apology was likely not the best time to preach the gospel of the holy church of iron. Even if doing reps for Jesus helped make sure the predators had to think twice.

”I get that. I will make efforts in the future to limit the fun I have.” Rhia said with a smile. ”To make up for it… You can have an IOU for a swap. I swap with someone, swap you with someone, or swap two other people for you. No questions asked… Just… uh… Don’t use it for something weird. Oh, and if you want two others swapped, you’ll have to wait 48 hours.” Rhia cast her gaze around looking for Noel and Michael. Where had they run off to? ”Can’t cut into the swap time of Jude’s work friends.”

When Jude came back he commented that the old man thought he had just had a dream. ”That’s for the best. Giving him such a brief taste of youth and then taking it away… I’m not sure if that’s nice or cruel."

---

Ranger’s head hurt and she was sitting on the floor with her. She rubbed the back of her head. It hurt too. Had she bonked the wall as well as Noel? Ranger looked up at Noel. Noel was still him. Ranger frowned at Noel who was frowning at her. ”I’m st’sill you. Bonking didn’t work.”

Noel said that Ranger was going to give herself a concussion as he helped her to her feet. ”No, ist fine. Just have t’ bonk… better. Be better at bonkin’.” Ranger pointed back and forth between their foreheads with one hand while holding onto Noel’s arm with the other. The floor was too wobbly. It needed to stop that.

Noel did not want to swap back. He said that Ranger had done something and could suffer it. ”I didn’t swap the swappin’! Oh, wait, y’ mean the drunk. I did drink the drunkin’. I’ve drunk this much an’ more, I’m fine.” Ranger pat Noel on the chest and then noticed the glass in his hand and reached for it. ”An’ besidses. It makes the head less hurtin’... Head the hurt less… Head. Hurt. Less.”

Having only heard a snip of the conversation before, Jude had to guess they were talking about making amends. He had to keep his dirty mind in check, however, when Zaid said they were 'openminded to a little fun.' Pansexuality was Jude's cross to bear, not Zaid's.

"Maybe... a gym session? A real one. To work out form and what to do since I'm pretty sure we couldn't afford your main services?" Jude elbowed Zaid to indicate that now was his chance to say if that was a good idea or not. Probably only one of them could go and if Jude had to pick, he'd volunteer Zaid. Jude had more than enough people trying to get him swol on company time. But if Zaid didn't want to turn into a gym rat, that was understandable, too.

As for gramps, Some things were just more romantic said in French.

"Vouloir, c’est pouvoir." He glanced over his shoulder to see the old geezer put his hand over his wife's. She'd been fussing, but decided to melt at the sweetness instead. "Where zere is a will, zere's a way." he translated for himself. The words following his French strongly tainted by proximity. "I sink he will be inspired."

---

No. Bonking did not work. He really, really regretted choosing "bonking" for what they'd just tried, but what was done was done and it just plain didn't work.

"I'll work at gettin' bett'r at bonkin', but this really innit the place. C'mon. On y'r feet." He relocated the shoes and tried to tuck them into Michael's hand again. Only, he had to close her hand around the back strap of the heel at least three times before it seemed to stick. Even then, he didn't trust it. He doubly did not trust her with the rest of the whiskey in his glass. He held it out of her reach. It might've help numb the headache. It also probably helped create it.

"Maybe let's go dance some o' this off."

A delicate ting, ting, ting brought everyone's attention to the elevated platform of the bride and groom. Noel brought the glass down, ready for the toast so they could escape already.

"For those who don’t know me, my name is Chris' brother and I’m today’s best brother. I say best brother as there’s less competition in that category than in the best man competition. So if you like the next speech better then at least I still win something... Because my brother wins at everything else."

Oh... well that sounded like an exaggeration and some half truths... and it definitely devolved from there...