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Rated: XGC · Interactive · Adult · #2231951
The eighth installment of the trait swapping series.
This choice: A magical totem  •  Go Back...
Chapter #5

A magical totem

    by: Unknown
“What do you think it is?”

It’d been Mark who’d spoken at that moment. Right now he was standing inside one of the little storage rooms inside the warehouse out back at Wilko, this particular one being a long forgotten area that many of his fellow employees snuck off to to goof around whilst still being on the clock. One of his gangly arms reached up and scratched his short black hair in confusion.

Beside him stood Darrell, his face contorted into an expression of equivalent puzzlement. He and Mark weren’t exactly what one would call best friends but the repetitive daily slog was long and boring and a shared dissatisfaction of it all had brought them together. Plus they were both due to be married; each was the other’s sounding board for all their gripes about the tedious eccentricities of wedding planning, whether it was about co-ordinating seating arrangements, trying out cakes until they were sick or just trading quips about the double edged sword that was the question, “Does this dress make me look fat?”

Before the both of them was what could only be described as an oddity. The closest comparison the two of them could make of it was to one of those tiny Buddha statues with an unnaturally wide grin and a portly stomach with a cute bellybutton right in the middle of it. It was covered in what seemed like cheap gold that barely reflected the dim yellow light of the room. Rather it absorbed it all, drawing any semblance of brightness into its eerie jade eyes.

“What do you think it is?”

Mark sighed. “I don’t bloody know, that’s why I was asking you.”

“Well, it’s definitely...something.” Darrell gave a dry chuckle. “Where did you say you got it from again?”

“Vicky’s grandmother from Romania gave it to me as some type of weird ’engagement present’. Apparently she was some kind of travelling gypsy when she was younger yonks ago, using crystal balls and all that crap. She said she wanted to ‘test my inner character’ and giggled as she handed it off to me.”

“Well that’s never a good thing to hear from your in-law’s family.” Darrell bent down and picked up the totem, his clumsy hands gripping it from one of its chubby legs with little respect. He rubbed the little man’s bulging stomach with his fingers and, with a cheeky grin on his face, shook its head like a slag and pepper shaker.

“Stop screwing around man, I need to keep that in good condition!” Mark pleaded as he reached to grab it back from Darrell. Darell chuckled as he held the figure just out of Mark’s reach.

“Why? What are you, scared?” Darrell shrugged off Mark and juggled the totem in his hands. “Relax, mate, it’s all bull. This things just some weird relic that your girlfriend’s granny gave you to make you paranoid. Whatever.” Darrell snorted as something strange came into his vision. “Damn thing doesn’t even have a penis!”

He chuckled strangely as he rubbed his fingers around a small slit tucked underneath. Though it was hard to see considering its petite diameter, there seemed to be a perfect replica of the female reproductive organs. Whatever designer had made something like that was either a stickler for details or just a perv. Nope, definitely a perv. Mark tried to protest again as Darrell faked arousal as he plunged his fingers into the gaping hole beneath the totem’s stomach. He pumped his fingers inside and fluttered his eyes jokingly until a weird liquid seemed to start seeping out.

Darrel moaned in horror and forcefully pulled his fingers out. Unfortunately this meant that the totem was now in mid-flight, spinning in the air with its jade eyes shining brighter than ever, with both Darrell and Mark following its path of flight in abject horror. The sound of the totem’s China surface shattering was painful and each crackle felt like a shard shot and punctured Mark’s heart.

“I told you not to shake the damn thing and put it down, but you didn’t listen!” Mark scuttled on all fours, picking up what he hoped were the salvageable pieces and trying in vain to slot the uneven edges back onto one another. After a few more moments of frantic scrambling he gave up and sighed dejectedly. He raised his arms up in exhaustion and said, “Damn, you’ve done it now...”

Mark dropped the shards he’d collected back onto the ground, unaware of an eerie green wisp that’d begun to curl upwards from the shattered statuette.

“C’mon Mark, that thing was gross, that... thing it had between its legs, it was all wet and...ugh. Trust me, I did you a favour by smashing that... that...” Darrell’s eyes seemed to flutter as his speech became drowsy and his mouth seemed to begin to betray him.

“D-Darrell?” Mark rushed across just as Darrell’s legs buckled and he collapsed to the ground. Mark shook his pseudo-friend hard, terrified at the sudden onset of exhaustion that’d seemed to have gripped Darrell. He’d been CPR certified a few months back but he was still reluctant to have to use that learned skill practically. He leaned in close, closing his eyes and pursing his lips in preparation, when he heard a booming and sudden exhale. Mark wiped sweat from his brow.

“Thank God you’re alright, Darrell. I really wasn’t in the mood to have to give you the kiss of life.” He chuckled softly. Darrell meanwhile didn’t seem to pick up on the joke. His eyes still hadn’t opened. Mark noticed something out of the corner of his eye; a tiny trickle of smoke seemed to stream out of Darrell’s nose. This wasn’t smoke Mark had ever seen before though, it was faint and tinged a luminescent green and seemed to coil and twist its way out, as if it had a consciousness of its own. He reached to touch it and marvelled as it seemed to curl around his hand and crawl underneath the doorframe.

“Weird...” he mumbled to himself.

“What?” Mark turned back to Darrell. His mouth stretched into a comforting grin.

“You awake now mate. Had me scared for a...?”

Mark stopped mid-sentence as Darrell’s eyelids snapped open. His friend’s soft chocolatey eyes rolled into his skull, coming down a second later with piercing blue irises and a scared gleam inside.

“D-Darrell?” he repeated.

A look of confusion flashed over Darrell’s face. “I... I’m not Darrell. I’m...”
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