The Belonging Kind by John Shirley and William Gibson

The reality in The Belonging Kind seems similar to our own, it even includes bar hoppers who just also happen to be chameleons on crack.

I really enjoyed reading this short story. I was ridiculously curious as to what was going to happen next the entire time, and even now I'm still curious. These strange creatures that the narrator encounters are really fascinating. Their transformations sound haunting to the narrator but go unnoticed to everybody else around them. There are so many questions unanswered and yet the narrator just accepts their way of life easily. He was so starved for acceptance and just being able to fit in that all the terrifying aspects of these creatures was easily overlooked.
I am particularly curious as to how these humanoids are able to transform the way they do. The descriptions of how the dress fell off and dissolved like foam, and they could pull money out of gills in their skin sounds too organic to be a technological body modification. Since these transformations also tie into the way they sleep and live, I wonder if they're an alien life form or a product of genetic experimenting.

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