strangerdays-outline
Characters
Basic Concept
Advanced future technology allows humans wearing a 'squid' device on their head to have not only video, but their entire senses recorded straight from their brain. Our main character's wife is addicted to the clips.
Deep addicts can be triggered into "acting out" the clips, and take on the persona of the character. The husband "made his peace" with the addiction, and uses it to his advantage, by feeding her particular types of clips to alter her behavior. She's become almost a robot of "scenes" from her clips, which he uses to his delight when out with his friends.
His wife experiences a rare 'bad trip', causing her to respond physiologically as well, altering her body shape. First painfully, dangerously, then enjoyably, then disturbingly.
The physical shift begins
The first experience is painful, and they bring her into a hospital. They treat her in a dismissing and derogatory way, as an "addict". They explain the condition and experience, and that it's very rare. (apparently it only happens when the addicts become so tuned to the clip stimulus that their bodies try to re-align) They explain that the complications are rare but can be severe, and they recommend cutting her off from clips (though they laugh about this as they know addicts can't be stopped). Long term prognosis is poor -- she'll probably die either way. They recommend throwing away that specific clip, turning down the fidelity, and trying to control her appetite to extend her life.
At home, he talks to her about the recommendations. Tries to impress on her how serious this is, accidentally triggering some of her sexy robotic-ism.
He comes home the next day to find her unconscious on the couch. He calls 911, they take her to the hospital, give her fluids, get her back to stable. (misc hints during her stay about her changed physical characteristics, some by her own observation) It isn't until she's into her street clothes and ready to go that he realizes she's changed quite a bit. (bust, height)
In a few days, she's in pain due to the changes. They take her to the hospital again. The hospital gives him medicine to make clips cause her pain (to stop her) and quite an unpleasant prognosis. They also tell him not to bring her back. They give him the name of an 'addicts clinic'.
Fringe benefits of the change...
She picks out clips based on the star... in a few days they can see pieces of resemblance. She enjoys the change to her body. He enjoys the sexual escapades.
He catches her in the throws of pain... tries to get her to take the anti-addiction pills. She's now just as 'addicted' to the body changes.. hides the pain, flaunts the results. More escapades..
Rabbit Hole
She connects with a subculture of 'metamorphs', who seek out this change, and try to avoid the negative effects. The clips isolate stimulus areas and thus where the changes occur, minimizing impact to organs and preventing health problems.
She seeks out painkillers, which allow her to max-out on clips much more than before, causing her to change and 'distort' much more drastically. The custom clips make her incredibly sexy, but in a very unnatural way. Unreasonably wide hips, shoulders, bust, thighs - dis-proportionally long legs, tiny waist.
He's blown away by her look, and makes use of some of her sexy robotic 'programs' to really enjoy it.
She starts pushing for better accommodations for her new self - for them to move to the 'addicts ghetto'. He resists, but she says she has to leave, that she can't even leave the house here. That she's going with or without him.
Visit to the 'ghetto'
He can't do it, so he visits here after she moves. His first visit to the ghetto is bizarre... seeing all manners of exaggerated caricature proportions. There are also many caricatures on the street taunting him to 'experience metamorph x or y' for a good price. When he finds her place, she's even less recognizable as his wife. Even her face looks almost like the girl from the clip.
She takes him for a 'special treat', to a bar where all the women have meta-morphed closer to the same character. It's racy and exciting. She gets attention because of how unusually tall she is, while he gets attention for being a 'normal' in the ghetto. The girls are all simultaneously acting out her character in a very sexy and disturbing way. He starts to loose track of 'who' his wife is and ends up just going with the crazy experience. Wakes up at her place with two other similar metamorphs.
The next time he visits her, the same three are at her place, and he can't even tell which is his wife. They all are fully 'in character'. They ravage him, which he only resists a little. He eventually identifies which one is his wife, which makes him feel better about it.
Lost...
The next time he comes to visit her, there is a pay station at her apartment, charging for an experience with three pure meta-morphs.
He resists, then finally pays. The experience is surreal and sexy, but he's really trying to figure out which one is his wife. Finally he figures it out, amidst the sexual advances. At first she doesn't respond at all. The's just a robot of behavior.
Then she starts to take on his wife's old personality. He thinks he reached her. She plays the part, the other girls join in. When they finish their carnal acts, he tries to take her away from there. She stops short of the door and robotically falls back into the "metamorph" persona, insisting that the role of "his wife" was just a character. He argues with her about it, until his time runs out and the administrator removes him from the premises after he doesn't buy more time.
Ending..
Close on a scene of him noticing how everyone in the ghetto is a shallow clone of some character.