by pinkhippo99 » Sun Jul 02, 2017 3:53 am
The way I understand how the ring works, is that it creates a glamor around the user so that anything they say or do becomes acceptable. You can behave as rude as you want and people will still behave as if you are the most lovable person they have ever met. But the way it does this seems to be not to change your behavior, or even make people hear what you say different. Instead, it recontextualizes your behavior. It takes the idea of "fitting in" to mean molding you into someone who could get away with more in the same circumstances. This is why all of Taylor's coworkers behaved as if he were already a large girl even before he started physically changing. It was because now when he makes a rude joke about large girls, its not a sexist comment from a skinny man, but self deprecating humor from one of their peers. Also, it seems to never compel you to do anything. It slowly changes your body and behavior to fit the perception that it is already laying onto people, but it cannot force you to change how you dress or behave. Instead, it compels those around you to "suggest" these changes, while at the same time reducing the glamor so that you have to do as the ring wants to get the same instantly popular effect.
One thing I'd like to see more of that your haven't addressed very well so far is why Taylor is still using the ring even after he changed locations. I'd imagine it would be because he has become addicted its power. Using the ring for so long has probably made his already problematic lack of tact even worse from having to go months without any filter, to the point where he regularly says things which would likely get him fired without the ring. I'd like to see him struggle a bit more with wanting to not use the ring, especially now that his larger fingers are making it harder to take off and he has probably considered that it will soon reach the point where he can no longer change back.
Also, I'd like to see how the ring's power changes based on his new job. The ring seemed to make him a fat women because it was the easiest way to get his old coworkers to like him and overlook his flaws. How would that work now that he is in an environment with mostly men? Maybe the reason his new boss is letting him get away with the same behavior is because the ring is turning him into an object of sexual desire. It could start to compel him to dress in more revealing women's clothing, wear heavier makeup, and start adopting feminine grooming habits like shaving. This could in tern lead to his coworkers openly flirting with him, making suggestive comments or accentually touching him in inappropriate ways. Given how his female form is starting to make him more emotional, I could see this behavior leading him to go back to Torrid, even if it means giving up the job he worked so hard for.
The addition of Emily and the pen creates a lot of opportunities. Taylor could have a confidant now, someone whom he could share his experience with and talk about his problems. Maybe the ring will compel Taylor to try and date her, with her friends from work suggesting that she just come out and "admit being gay" the way they suggested wearing makeup and such. You could even have Taylor use the pen at some point. Maybe he forgets to fill out an important stack of paperwork and needs to have it done in less time than it would actually take to finish or he forgets to study for a test. He could use the pen Emily shows him and instead of adding to his weight, it gives him a larger appetite and eating problems like Cynthia so that fat Taylor stays fat.
One idea for an ending could be that Emily and Taylor keep looking for the shop owner to change her back. Meanwhile, Taylor is finding it harder and harder to take off the ring. One day, it takes him so long to change back that he realizes he has maybe one or two uses out of it before he is stuck as a girl. However, that day he encounters the old man from the store, but the man is somewhere where Taylor can only get to by wearing the ring. He manages to convince him to change Emily back, but the old man reveals that Taylor has worn the ring long enough that the power has completely transferred from it to him. Even when he takes it off, the effects, for good and for bad, stay with him and Taylor has to get used to the fact that he is stuck as a very well liked fat girl.