The city view was... Actually, disappointing. Smog clouded the streets below and the harsh sun was biblical in severity. A wildfire, one of many in fact, seemingly held up the sky with a pillar of suffocating black. That construction project a few blocks away had caused several accidents and had ruined. David flipped the perfectly balanced pen clumsily between his fingers - the weight of it was unnerving. It must've been a coincidence, such power in a small thing could make gods out of mortal men; and even if magic existed no being of such merit would allow it to go unchecked. A phone call with a terrible jingle made him jump with anxiety, and he almost dropped the pen onto the hard, "clean" carpet.
David was quick to answer: "Hello?"
"Oh! Hi, it's me Jodie. I just called to tell you that I'm your new secretary and that there's a meeting on 3:40. 20 minutes from now, for courtesy." Jodie's playful voice was a pleasant surprise. She's one of the people who came around earlier to ask if David was okay after Jenny's unprofessional behavior.
Oh how sweet it would be to fire that bitch, but he had no time to dwell on that. There was no point anyways, but he decided to take a note on it anyways. He pulled out a small scheduler - an old school notebook with fine black leather and the dates and times of the full year by hour. It was a very useful tool for planning, and it was unfortunate that Alphoogle Excel didn't have it as a default format. In any case he put, as a joke to his own inner demons, "Jenny will get herself fired during today's meeting." at exactly fifteen minutes from now.
"Uh, sir?"
David jumped, realizing he had said nothing for five minutes "Yes, yes, thank you Jodie. I will be there soon."
Jodie just giggled "Alright, good luck and congrats on your promotion."
David hung up the phone and sat down with his planner, writing down the meeting, but then another call came in; it was Jodie: "Sir, human resources is calling for you. I told your colleagues that you probably will have to miss this meeting."
Jodie was damn good at her job, but that didn't sound very good. David just hoped the board wouldn't hold anything against him. "What do they want?"
"Oh, right, you've never been promoted. They just need you to fill out a form for benefits and the like. I can go get it for you, if you'd like." Her voice was slightly worried and rushed, almost as if she thought she did something wrong.
"No it's fine. Keep handling... Everything, I guess, and I'll be back later. I'll buy you a coffee, okay?" David was quick to reassure her, Mike had a bit of a stick up his ass.
She sighed with a bit of relief: "Thank you, David."
David hung up with a sort of triumphant face. He had no idea what he was doing, but the job didn't seem like it'd be too hard. His hand grasped the planner and pen as he strode out of his office and into the now plebian cubicles. On his way, David was congratulated by his former peers, putting a spring into his step - not very common for management. He walked in, got his papers with a few congratulations and left with as few words as possible. He had to admit that the respect he was getting was pretty nice to hear, for once his smile was not a manufactured visage. David re-entered his office and began filling out this paper. All of these benefits... Dental, health, a new car with insurance, vacation days out the ass... It was beautiful. The paper was like signing a contract to be king, or at least in comparison to his previous position.
Another call rang in, from his personal phone this time. It was his wife Alyssa, 18 weeks pregnant - she his sunshine and carried more of that sunshine in her. Alyssa was getting an ultrasound and NIPT today and his hours were forced to today by Mike - but now he could see her. He could see his baby too, hopefully a son, and feel like a father. He quickly answered as he began filling out his paperwork.
"Hey babe, how's my family doing?" He said, not even caring how "daddly" he sounded, nor that he just put his nickname "Dave" under his first birth name.
"Dave, I'm not saying I told you so, but I told you so." Alyssa sounded playful and a little smug.
Dave chuckled and put in his general information, though forgetting his gender, age, eye color, race, weight and height "Oh yeah? What's the news?"
"She's a girl!" Alyssa screamed into the phone with excitement "We have a baby girl! And she's perfectly healthy!"
Dave smiled in a thankful defeat; they were getting a son, but there was nothing wrong with a daughter. Just might be a little more dramatic... "Aw, I'm glad, honey. I'm sorry I couldn't be there with you. The good news is that I just got a promotion."
"Oh my god, really?! Dave, this is the best day in years!" She sounded genuinely happy, and that made Dave happy "You'll have to tell me about it when you get home. Then you can say 'hello' to Maria."
He smiled and "Said, okay. I'll be home at 4:00." whilst pulling out his planner and wrote it down "Love you."
"Love you too." And with that they both hung up.
Dave looked down at the paper and realized he forgot to put in the details. He shrugged and started filling in the rest of the blanks. 6'1, weight 160 pounds - about ten pounds lighter, 28 years of age and brown eyes and black hair. Dave's suit felt a little loose, nothing too bad, but not comfortable. Before trying to get comfortable, he just checked off the "white" box for his race. He then took off his jacket and without thinking about it checked the "Female" box on the form. Dave blinked once and felt noticeably different. His pants were now especially tight around the hips and thighs; his shirt had also seemingly tightened around his chest.
"Jesus, I've been hitting the gym, but what the hell is this all about?" His voice was far from his own, a contralto voice. "What the...?!" Dave jumped out of his seat and took a look at himself. "This... This isn't just a voice crack..."
Dave quickly undid his belt and felt around his now smooth crotch. His delicate fingers confirmed his fears, as he began to in a stomp around the room. He was still 6'1, still had the same hair, even remained the same race - but it was undeniable that he was now biologically a woman. Quickly, he looked around for anything that may have caused that; after checking the walls, the seat, the desk and the windows, he saw his paperwork and the error he made.
"Holy shit... It's... It's actually a magic pen." Dave picked up the pen with his delicate fingers, admiring it.
It's gold engravings were masterful; despite it's weight it was master crafted. Suddenly, some shouting was heard outside of the office, and somebody was coming for Dave. He mind raced to a conclusion: "Okay, the pen is real, I'm a woman and I don't know the rules yet. I can't remember being a girl before this instance, so reality likely didn't change with me. Outside is probably Jenny, maybe she figured out who it was. Okay... If I double down and make it so I was always female, I can get out without breaking continuity. Or, if I rush things with another piece of paper, I can try to make myself a guy again."