Poem: "Xenotransvestism"

[ysabetwordsmith]

This poem came out of the January 8, 2013 Poetry Fishbowl.  It was inspired by prompts from wyld_dandelyon and rhodielady_47.  It fills the "cross-dressing" square on my Trope Bingo card.  Thanks also to haikujaguar, who has done a number of charming illustrations of her characters swapping clothes across species.  This poem has been sponsored by the general fund.

Format: Poetry
Title: "Xenotransvestism"
Fandom: Original (stand-alone)
Summary:  Soldiers have a way of relaxing by doing outrageous things, such as wearing each other's clothes.
Required Warnings: No standard warnings apply.  

Xenotransvestism

Shore leave planets
provide a place where soldiers
of all species can blow off some steam.

This is strictly neutral territory,
no fighting allowed --
but it's rarely a problem
even between those currently in conflict.
Most of the soldiers are mercenaries
and only fight when they're paid  for it.

What they do instead is just as outrageous,
or would be considered so on any other planet:
they dress up as each other.

Here you can see a human man clad only
in the filmy strands of Cancri mating clothes.
Meanwhile a Cancri night-female is dancing around a pole
with two human bikinis covering her anterior and posterior hips
and all four amply endowed mammary glands.

A pair of scorpionlike Orthosterni from the HD 159868 system
wear what looks like bioluminescent pink feather boas
borrowed from the black hulk of a Chan,
who is attempting to apply Orthosterni body paint to its carapace
while the two scorpion-mercenaries recite heroic poetry.

A Keplerian gunnery sergeant is wearing
a petite Gliesh officer as a body-wrap,
since the hirsute species does not use clothing,
and the Gliesh himself has his buddy's rank ribbon
woven into his bicolored fur.

The latrines are always crowded
with people yelling "Pass me the lipstick!"
and "Don't pee in the sink!"
Someone's panties hang from the ceiling fan
and there is a cock-sock dangling from a water faucet.

There are no "♂" or "♀" rooms here,
no "☺" or "∞" or other species markers.
The latrines just have an assortment of facilities
(usually draped in someone's underwear)
not intended for the faint of heart.

But nobody, of any species
or activity preference,
ever has to worry about
getting beaten up for going in there.

Mercenaries don't do that for free.

Comments

[zeeth_kyrah]

Hah! I loved this.

Mercenaries don't do that for free.

Unless they've got a really, really big grudge. And then they don't spend ammo unless they have to.

[westrider.livejournal.com]

Ever since reading Jerry Pournelle's Falkenberg's Legion stories at a young age, I've had a fondness for stories that don't paint mercenaries as villains.

This is a particularly wonderful example :)

[baaing-tree.livejournal.com]

:D Sometimes I wish all your writing was on tumblr, just so I could retumble it and spread the joy.

[fayanora.livejournal.com]

LOL! Sharing that!

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

Heh. I really like the ending of this.