Encounter 4 - Surface
I ended up spooning Rebecca in my sleep; we were both on our sides when I awakened to find her curvy little body tucked against mine in this adorable manner. I couldn’t resist, so I whisked her hair and pet her hip with a soft hand. “Glad to have you back.”
I was fairly certain that she was truly in slumber. She didn’t respond to my movement out from under the covers or my touches and compliments. Plus, when I felt her, her body had that natural warmth that she could (maybe?) only produce in her base form. But I couldn’t shake the question from my brain... Is she really human?
Stretching out with my feet on the floor I went about my daily wake-up routine. Allowing my girlfriend to sleep I slipped on a pair of flannel pants, then I headed to the bathroom to brush my teeth. Once done with that I debated preparing breakfast for her, but in the end I nixed that idea because she was still sleeping and I wasn’t even that hungry. So I figured I’d start a pot of coffee for the two of us.
===
Thank the lord it’s a Saturday, I thought to myself as I quietly yawned, awakening without Mark as I soon discovered. I rolled around on the extra-comfy bed, frolicking in the extra space. I almost fell back to sleep but the aroma of coffee drew me away from this. “Ooh,” I chuckled, sniffing up as much of that scent as possible.
It kept itself suspended in the air for a good five minutes before I actually got out of bed. Though, I wasn’t exactly in the mood to stand, plus I had some more unique ideas on how I’ll greet Mark this fine morning.
My skin fading to turquoise, I melted my human shape into a puddle of see-through marine-colored goo, followed by my form spawning an eye on one side and coalescing into a blob. Keeping the eye stable while I moved was tricky but it’s a skill I’ve grown quite competent with. Sliding down the hallway I peered around a corner to find my boyfriend in the kitchen preparing to pour out the coffee he’d seemingly just finished brewing. Well he’s already seen me in blob form... I should give something else a shot, I thought as I lost my translucency and recolored to matte white, initiating further changes...
===
The amazingly pleasant sound of java filling the two ceramic mugs I’d laid out for myself and Rebecca was music to my ears as I prepared these drinks like Sleeping Beauty’s birds prepare their crafts. It felt effortless, and this feeling was only augmented by Rebecca’s presence. Though I did begin to wonder if she was awake...
Knowing she and I both took our coffees the same — a drop of creamer, a stevia packet, and a dash of vanilla extract — I finalized my barista duties and allowed our beverages to cool on the counter. Stepping down the hall I checked the bedroom. Nothing. I had a guess this was gonna happen... I internally muttered.
My first thought was to examine the furniture. Feeling and carefully inspecting the dresser, nightstand, bed, and even the lamp, all looked completely normal and orthodox, plus none responded to my touch in any way. My clothes from last night were also totally unchanged and unmoved. My next area to check would be the hallway; it was right along the path to the kitchen. She must have smelled the coffee.
===
So far he’s only walked by me once. Wait... make that twice. I liked how calm this position is. I felt stretched out like I sometimes do in certain forms, but this was perfectly vertical. Not to mention perfectly hidden. I could still hear Mark via the ear hole I had cleverly placed in one of my lower corners... Ooh, he’s coming closer again!
I assumed I’d get away with this spot once more but I was proven wrong thanks to Mark’s touch. It was somewhat ticklish to me and I didn’t even know why. Stop! Heehee don’t tap on me there! I commanded internally, but he wouldn’t quit, so I gave up the act and formed my face on my 2-dimensional body. Mark stopped tickling me.
“Aw you got me,” I grumbled in a semi-guilty tone.
“W-whoa. You literally became my wall.”
“Nope. I became paint that dried on your wall. Good guess though. How’d you find me?”
“Your coloration was off. The white you made was a bit... dingier... than that of all the other walls in my house,” he admitted.
“Okay, then I did it right. I wasn’t gonna make it impossible.”
“Hmhm, verrry funny. Wanna get down from there now?”
“Yeah. Still got that coffee ready?”
“Made you a mug Rebecca, just like you like it.”
“Good.”
===
Her visage melted away into the wall, and then the wall melted off... what looked like itself. Backing up, a large but shrinking pool of paint began to collect at my feet, building upward into the silhouette of Rebecca before taking on her colors and textures.
“I love how you flow like that,” I cooed to her, grinning with a closed mouth. “Your coffee’s on the counter.”
She stepped into the kitchen on tiptoe, still naked. No objection needed or desired from me, I let her take her drink as I picked up mine. We didn’t leave the room or even talk as we sipped; I guess I had learned to make it just that good. But alas, once we were finished we placed our mugs into the dishwasher and closed it up.
I took a deep breath. “Such a nice morning... what’s the mood?”
“Hmmm... don’t really know yet... do you have anything you’d like to see, Mark?”
My mind began to wrack itself with ideas... I never thought I’d find myself attracted to the process of transforming from one body to another, regardless of the life or lack thereof in the end result. “Okay... hold on. Is there anything you won’t turn into?” I inquired.
“Yeah. For starters, nothing dead. Like meats or zombies or skeletons. I don’t like to mess with my age, and oddly enough I don’t enjoy turning into sex toys. Oh yeah, if I’m going to be an animal it’ll be the feral animal. I just... eeeh... anthropomorphic stuff isn’t my thing. But that’s about it for restrictions. And no insects please.”
“Hm, good to hear. Alright let’s start off with something typical... mimic the dining table.”
===
“Can do. Your living room is big enough I think.” I put down my coffee and meandered toward the table. It was certainly large, with enough seating for 8, and maybe it could even be expanded with leaves. I took notice of every feature the table had, from the slight bulges on the ends of its rectangular top to the silver accents around its legs. “Okay, I think I got it,” I said to Mark.
“Alright cutie, do your thing,” he responded.
“It’s not the first time I’ve been a table.” I walked over to the open area in the middle of his living room. “This will be my biggest one yet though, so let’s see how I do.”
Closing my eyes and allowing my conscience to slip and reshape, my body followed suit. My torso shot forward as I fell onto all fours. I set my arms and legs equal in length, about ninety centimeters each, and made sure they were perpendicular to my torso. I rushed them with a black coloration and a sturdy, wooden texture as my hands and feet folded away into flattened stubs for ends. Shaping my new table legs to more square frames, I made sure to duplicate the silver bands that looped around the areas where my elbows and knees were.
===
“Wow... you’re looking great, Rebecca,” I complimented as she continued to focus on her changes. Like a turtle, she shut her eyes and erased any facial features plus her hair as her head and neck retracted into her torso. Rebecca smoothed away the small hole left where her throat was. From here the shapeshifting seemed like it was even easier. Drawing her breasts up toward her chest they became flat as they did wide. Suddenly this effect was repeated all over her torso which spread it into a large, broad surface, proceeding to recolor it and apply a texture in the same manner she did with her legs.
I assumed it was hard for Rebecca to check just how smooth she made the edges; I was pretty sure she couldn’t see in that shape, but she seemed to guide herself by feel in her decision that she replicated those of the true table well. She then chose to subtly curve the edges at the front and rear of the table top for extra realism. Extendable black support beams bolted themselves to her underside and her top split in two, right down the middle, completing her transformation. Rebecca had become a perfect copy of my dining table.
===
Minutes passed. My guess was that Mark was examining me; knowing him and his habit of high attention to detail, this was quite a plausible theory. Though at one point he did tap me near the corner and so I constructed my face out of malleable wood in that spot.
“Ok that goes in the creepy folder,” he said as soon as I completed the visage.
“What? It’s just my face... my face made from stretchy black wood, but still my face. Are you calling my face CREEPY?!” I joked in response.
“So scawwwy.” At this I giggled. “Hey I’ve become curious: you can obviously hear me with that face there, and I know you always have a sense of touch, but can you see and smell things? Can you taste?”
“I can see because I’ve created these... gosh how do I explain it... faux retinas? Like I’m looking up at the ceiling right now, and I can do that because I’ve instructed my body to place a binocular sense of sight where you see my carved eyes. I can do the same with hearing, taste, and smell but I can’t turn off my sense of touch. It’s just always there. Though the less powerful my other senses are, the more sensitive my touch is. And before you ask, I can speak only because I designed a mouth that can echo sound waves just like a real one can. It doesn’t take much thinking at all.”
“Oh. Well I suppose... that actually makes a fair amount of sense, or rather, enough sense that I can understand, speaking with a shapeshifter here.”
“Wanna see something that doesn’t make sense?”
“I’m looking at one right now!”
“Oh you and your practical humor. You should go get breakfast ready.”
“Aaagh fiiine,” he moped with a chuckle. “Nice job on copying the table by the way.”
“Thank you. Come back once you have a minute and tap me, I wanna show you what I’ve been practicing.”
//