The Change
The characters and settings are the property of Square/Enix. The plot is mine.
A widely used, extremely useful database of human traits with a genetic basis is Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM. This database has entries for devastating neurological disorders, such as schizophrenia and autism, but also things like pathological gambling, attention deficit disorder, eye color, arm folding preference, and homosexuality. Some of these conditions are things we obviously want to 'cure'. Others are not. Regardless, information on all of them is accumulating to the point where drug treatment approaches could be designed.
As for our ability to switch homosexual behavior on and off in flies, a Harvard study this past summer showed that it could also be done in mice (interestingly, it, like our study, also involved changing the ability to sense pheromones).
So the question is not if we will understand the biological basis of homosexuality enough to alter it, but when. And what people will choose to do with the knowledge. If there is a demand, I guarantee some pharmaceutical company will make the stuff. Or will the government outlaw treatments for behaviors that are obviously no threat to the individual or society? Would this imply that the government officially thinks that homosexuality is no one's business but one's own?"
It had been a full month since they had sat across the table from one another and swallowed, simultaneously, the large lavender tablets. They had indulged in days of discussion before deciding to take the medication, knowing that its effects could probably not be reversed. Neither was entirely certain of why he had chosen as he did. It simply seemed to be one of those things which once offered could not be easily refused. Baralai justified his choice as a part of the religious continuum. He had been becoming more and more involved with faith-related matters and increasingly divorced from the secular world. He swallowed the bolus with the air of one taking communion at the altar rail rather than sitting in an ordinary chair at an ordinary table.
Gippal was more conflicted. His life seemed quite satisfactory to him and he had neither need nor impetus to change it. True, his passions lay less on the exclusive side than did those of Baralai. He had found equal pleasure in the arms of women and men, so he did not anticipate much of an alteration in his orientation. However, his curiosity was such that he found it entirely beyond his powers to resist the possibility of a radical change with all the adjustments that would dictate. He had never been able to corral his herd of inquisitiveness. He choked down the dry pellet with more curiosity than fear.
"Well? Feel anything yet?" He asked his lover.
"No. Do you?" Baralai had to clear his throat to answer.
"I'm not sure how long it's supposed to take before... Hey! Do you have any feelings about me?"
"I love you."
"But how do you love me? Want to go to bed?"
Baralai blushed darkly under his dark skin. "Yes, to tell the truth, I do."
"Then we'd better get at it. We may not have long to do this." Gippal reached under the table and fondled his paramour.
Baralai crossed his legs, trapping Gippal's hand and rubbing against it. "I guess you're right. I'm going to miss you."
"Hey, it may not work. Think positively."
-X-
The two stayed together for the following four days, enjoying those games of a carnal nature which they found to be most delicious. About midway through that fourth day, Gippal noticed a distinct decline in his level of interest.
"Hey, 'Lai, you know something? I'm getting pretty bored. How about you?"
"Yes, I am too. I didn't want to say anything and hurt your feelings."
"Actually, I'm not enjoying this any more. Let's stop."
"All right. I have some things to do in the temple and - well, you know." Baralai began pulling on his robes and tying the various sashes around his body.
Gippal reached for his own clothes. "Ok. I'll be seeing you around. Bye."
"Goodbye."
Without a single gesture of affection or a last lingering look behind, the two men parted and went their separate ways. One of the unrevealed effects of the preference switching medication was a limited form of amnesia. Those who took the drug mostly forgot they had ever been lovers of those of their own sex. This was intended to make sure no one tried to reverse the action of the pills.
-X-
Now a month later, Gippal ran an appreciative hand over the well-upholstered rump of his bed-mate. "You've got it all, babe. Now come share it with me."
Afterwards, he relaxed with the woman pressed warmly against him and wondered why he had a distant feeling of something missing. Try as he might, he could uncover no reason why he sensed a loss, a vacancy. He had no memory of a relationship of souls as well as bodies and had never dreamed of having one. With a sigh, he pulled his companion nearer and fell asleep to dreams he would not recall when he woke.
Baralai lived a totally celibate life in the great temple. He never thought of taking a lover; such acts were discouraged amongst the senior clergy. When the pressure within his body became too great, he eased himself and thought nothing more of it. His work inside the church was demanding, requiring most of his time and energy. If he gave a passing consideration to the desires of the flesh, it was to be grateful than he could resist them with so little effort.
It is true there were moments when he felt a distant memory stir and then sink down again but he dismissed them as fugitive patterns more like dreams than actual happenings. At such times, he would bend to his work more fiercely and force his mind to sing hymns inside his head.
So the months passed. Then the years. The two men did not meet, there being no occasion to since their occupations took them on different paths. Over time, the little whispers that might have reminded them of their once passionate need for one another faded and finally disappeared altogether.
Gippal married, well but not for love. He fathered a boisterous brood and became both wealthy and influential in his tribe.
Baralai rose steadily in the hierarchy of the Church. He devoted himself to scholarship and gradually became disassociated from the more human aspects of his profession. He did not miss them.
-X-
The time came when a great celebration was planned. Sin had been driven from Spira for twenty-five years and it was considered appropriate that the people give thanks and rejoice. Ceremonies were set at each of the remaining temples with the grandest to be held at the central edifice in Bevelle. Baralai was dragged from his books and studies to be held up as one of the heroes of the day since the defeat of Sin and the vanquishing of Vegnagun had become conflated over the years. Likewise all the other surviving members of the small group which had fought against the two monsters were unearthed from their private pursuits and pressed into service as centers for the galas.
Thus Gippal was pulled from the bosom of his family and summoned to Bevelle since Djose was no longer a functioning temple. He was not reluctant to go.
And so they met again, the two who had been amongst the first to take the readjustment pills. On a bright windy day, atop the upper walls of Bevelle's main structure, the two met. Gippal wore the garments of a successful merchant clinched around his portly form, his eye-patch embroidered in gold and set with small, precious stones; Baralai was as lean as ever, his body swathed in the brilliant colours of a high prelate, wearing chains and ornaments as befit his office.
"Baralai! It has been so long." Gippal felt a stirring in his mind.
"Gippal! Why have we let it be so long?" Baralai was moved as well.
Simultaneously, memory returned to them both as the secondary effect of the pill began to wane.
Gippal walked closer to the priest and spoke softly so no one else could hear. "We were lovers once. Do you remember?"
Baralai answered in the same tone. "Yes, but that was long ago when we were different men."
"Yes. I know. I regret doing what I did, not loving you but stopping."
"It's too late to regret. We had some happiness which is more than many people ever have and we have been useful these last years."
"Still I would rather have had your love than to have been useful."
"And I yours." Shielded by their voluminous robes, the two men brushed their hands together for an instant and then parted, turning to the cheering crowds below. Tears glittered in their eyes.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
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