300 Rains By Heather O’Malley Geoff was an Anthropologist studying a newly discovered tribe in the Amazon. After getting a bit more involved in the tribe, he joined in on a sacred ritual. That is where things began to go very wrong and spiral out of his control. Now the tribe is gone and he is left with making sense of this until the tribe returns in 300 rains.

May 9

Sitting through the tediousness of the Graduation ceremony was one of the longest and most arduous things that a professor had to endure. The speeches were always interminably long and for the most part boring, filled with clichés and the line of students to get their diplomas seemed to go on forever. If she had not been asked specifically by two students she had helped with their Master’s theses to hood them, she would be at home spending time with her family before taking off for Brazil. This particular trip, the time away would be more painful than before, and the gender change was not the only reason for that. Melanie had gotten a lot closer to Fae in the last school year, regaining an intimacy that they had not had since they were newlyweds or earlier. One good thing about this transformation was that her relationship with Fae was far stronger now than ever before. Since the change, the trip to Brazil would be the longest time apart and it would seem longer than this never ending graduation ceremony.

The hooding had occurred earlier, as Graduate students went before Undergrads, but the number of students left to go through was still pretty large. She looked to the side and saw one of her tormenters glaring at her from the stands. It took some effort but she refrained from flipping the older man off. What a fucking jackass he was! The Provost had returned his verdict on the issue, saying there was no merit to the charge and that all those involved in leveling such a serious charge would lose tenure. The one teacher involved in the debacle who did not have tenure with the school had been fired. Apparently, the President of the College had gotten involved and had lowered the hammer. That was a surprise but given that they had been aiming to get her fired she did not mind all that much. His stupid choice to freak out over this non-issue.

Despite the end of the semester and getting ready to go to Brazil, Melanie did not really spend much time in her office anymore, as the Department was kind of in shock over what had happened. This had clearly been a more severe sentence than Russell had been expecting and he had not been ready to deal with the fallout. So, for the time being, Melanie was working from home, emailing Russell, the National Geographic team, everyone involved with the trip, ironing the last minute changes and details, anything she could do to avoid being around the rest of the Department. More than anything, Melanie wanted this trip to go right, so that there would be less chance of anyone saying that becoming a woman made her less of a scientist. She would show them that she was still a great Anthropologist.

The Os were finally reached. The end of the ceremony was closing in, but there was still a sea of black robes yet to walk. It was hard not to groan. Once Graduation was done, she would be free from any other school responsibilities until the team met before the trip for the pre-Brazil Barbeque. After all, tradition was tradition and every expedition that she had led since she had worked here had eaten at her house the night before they flew out, making sure everyone was in the same place. This ensured an easy departure the next morning. Too many misadventures in the first two years of her doing these trips had taught her several dozen valuable lessons on how to do this. Besides, it would be the last time they could have hot dogs and bratwurst until they came home. The food they were going to eat down there was not even remotely going to be the same, though she was a fan of a lot of Brazillian cooking.

She ran over her packing list again in her mind, making sure that she had not forgotten anything. It took a while but she made it through it and could think of nothing new that she needed to add. Fae had helped her and Maggie make sure they knew what they might need while camping as there were a number of things that might not have occurred to her. It was very helpful and made Melanie’s life easier as the transformation forgot to give her the cultural and practical information being a woman entailed. If it had not been for her sister, Fae, and a number of other women that she had turned to for role models during this, she would really have been a freak, basically a man in a dress.

This whole transformation and her becoming really drove home the role enculturalization played in daily life. When this had started she had only known the information that men knew but since the process really started becoming visible she had been paying more and more attention to how women did things, and not just the whats they did but often the whys as well. Her brain had soaked up this new information like a sponge and had taken in everything she had been exposed to. Could there be something in that crazy concoction that increased brain function? That might explain why she had been able to learn so much so fast about what she needed to know to be a woman. It was almost like the plasticity of her brain had changed, becoming closer to a young child’s with its amazing ability to change and absorb an incredible amount of information.

If that were true, then maybe some of the components of that goo might be able to help with something like Alzheimer’s patients? Maybe. She was not even remotely sure what the possibilities were, as this was outside her field. That field of inquiry opened up a whole Pandora ’s Box of questions that would put that whole tribe at incredible risk. Was it even right to ask these questions and watch a culture die as a result of her questioning? If that were even brought up as a possibility the big Pharmcoms would be down there, raping the Mother’s Children for their Ethnopharmacological knowledge without mercy. It would destroy the tribe and their environment. The last of the Ts were being called.

What else was there that she could do? She and her team had made an incredible discovery and now they had to lie about the truth in order to save a people. Maybe looking at their notion of gender would be a good idea? Because of their ability to alter a person’s sex, how did that change things? Did that make them more or less gender balanced? Was their greater gendering of roles because of this or less? There were a lot of medical questions that she had about what they could do with their botanical knowledge, but their answers were the problem, especially with the National Geographic crew there to record everything. That would make getting answers a bit tricky, in light of the need for secrecy. She needed a plan and at the moment she had no idea what she would have to do.

As her mind searched for any answer, the alphabet finally reached the end and the Chancellor stood, ending the graduation ceremony. She rose with the other faculty and followed everyone out. Now for the somewhat annoying part of the meet and greet, saying goodbye to students who were off to who knows where. The few graduate students she was familiar with had let her know what they were up to, a few even staying there for a PhD. But the Undergrads were basically a faceless mass and to see them, smiling and having fun just reminded her that Evan would never graduate and never get to truly be herself. Evan’s dreams died before they really had a chance to go anywhere. She dabbed lightly at her eyes, to catch the building tears before they affected her makeup. That thought made her snerk.

She was on autopilot through the whole thing, responding politely to any conversation directed her way but inside she thought about the lost girl who had come to her in her pain and failed to make it. The drive home was quiet; her thoughts wandering over well-traveled territory, still trying to see what she could have done different in that painful situation. Pulling into the driveway, she lowered her head onto her arms and tried to keep from crying. It took a while but she was able to calm down. When she walked in, Fae called out, “Mel, your mom called. She and your sister will be coming to visit in a few weeks. They wanted to see you before you leave.”

“Really? That should be a lot of fun.” replied Melanie, her voice kind of flat. “We haven’t seen them since Thanksgiving.”

“Are you okay love? You sound rather down.” asked Fae, clearly aware of what sorts of things were going through Melanie’s head.

After a short pause, she answered, “Not really. I was thinking about the tribe and how we could destroy them if we don’t keep things secret. That and I was thinking about Evan as well as.”

Fae came up and hugged her wife comfortingly, “You do know it’s not your fault… right?”

“Yes, but I keep thinking that there may have been something more I could have done to help her, him… Evan. There should have been something.” Melanie rested her head on Fae’s shoulder, closed her eyes and sighed.

Fae rubbed Melanie’s back soothingly. “There wasn’t.” She kissed her troubled wife’s cheek. “That you still care shows how good you are but don’t get too tied up in it.”

“Are we still good with having the trans kids come over?” asked Melanie quietly.

“Absolutely. Why would I have a problem with it?” Fae seemed honestly confused by this and leaned back, to get a look at Melanie’s face.

“I don’t know. This is something we have never done before and I guess I wanted to see if you were still okay with it.” Melanie blushed and looked down. She did smile slightly at the view of her wife’s cleavage. It certainly gave her a few ideas on how to cheer up.

Fae caught this glance and smirked, “Oh really now Mrs. Greenfelder? Is that the way it is?”

Melanie’s blush deepened and she was unable to meet her wife’s eyes, saying, “Yes, that is the way that is.”

“Well then…” Fae leaned in and began to nibble on Melanie’s neck. The sensation was wonderful and Melanie realized that more and more Fae was becoming the dominant one in bed, starting a lot of their play. What’s more, Melanie realized that she was okay with that, enjoying someone making love to her rather than the other way around. She smiled and moaned appreciatively.

After leaning Melanie’s head close to hers and kissing her deeply, Fae said in a rather seductive tone, “Shall we move this upstairs so you can get a better view of my cleavage?”

Melanie grinned happily, nodding as she said, “Yes please.”

Fae took Melanie’s hand and led her upstairs, putting some extra sway into her walk and capturing Mel’s attention. Once in the room, with the door closed behind them, Fae pushed Melanie back onto the bed. Then she turned, so her back was to her wife and let her ass sway back and forth, turning the movement ever so slightly into a figure eight. She bent at the waist and looked between her legs at her enraptured wife, smirking mischievously.

She then stood upright and leaned down, tugging her shirt down as well, showing even more cleavage than before. “Like this?”

Words failed Melanie and she just nodded, her mind clouding in a fog of lust. Fae smirked and then let go of her shirt, stepping closer to her wife. “Well, before I go any further, let me make you more comfortable.”

The dress that Melanie had been wearing for the graduation ceremony was pulled over her head and tossed off to the side, to crumple in the middle of the floor. Melanie was not wearing hose so she was left sitting there in her bra and panties, shivering as Fae kissed and nibbled allover her neck, the sensations rolling through her.

As Melanie reached for Fae, intent on undressing her, Fae skipped back, shaking her finger. “Uh-uh. No touching. Not yet.”

With that she pulled her t-shirt over her head and flung it in the direction of the dress. She leaned down, shaking her breasts slightly while she undid the clasp of her bra. With one hand across her chest, Fae turned, smiling impishly at her wife. She raised that arm, carrying the bra with it, and tossed it towards the growing pile of clothes. With her back turned, she undid the closure on her pants and slid them down, bending at the waist, so that her ass was prominently displayed as it cleared the denim.

Melanie groaned in appreciation. She wanted her wife and badly, her nipples growing tight and a dampness growing between her legs. Fae stood upright, pivoting on the ball of one foot, exposing her naked self to Melanie, with a playful smirk. “Well now… is my dear sweet Melanie all wet and ready?”

The great warmth and damp she felt right now was enough to make her nod her head, eyes locked with her wife’s, her need plain on her face. Fae leered happily and stalked closer. “Well then, let me see what I can do to take care of this little bit of… tension.”