Chapter V

 

    “Hey,” chirped a twangy voice on the front porch.

    “Hey girl,” Cecelia responded.

    “Kahri!”

    Giorgio and Zoe reentered the house as if on cue. He was always happy to see her. Kahri stepped inside to see Giorgio speeding from the back door to the front like a dog who’d been reunited with his best friend.

    They hugged tightly for a moment, then Cecelia’s arms wrapped around Kahri in a shared emotion similar to Giorgio’s. Cecelia gave the woman’s dark, wavy hair a flick as she turned, waving to Silver. Beers were drank, snacks were eaten, and cigars were smoked as the evening went on.

    DK arrived within five minutes of pizza and wings being delivered. “Always fashionably late,” teased Kahri through a smile as Cecelia poured herself some water from the pitcher she had crafted. They slapped up and embraced, only to dress their fingers with drops of hot buffalo sauce.

    Moseying over to the kitchen Cecelia looked for a paper towel to clean a puddle of beer off the coffee table, as well as some other messes on it from the food. She cursed under her breath upon finding an empty brown tube on the stand, immediately opting to use up a dish towel. But upon her soft hand’s touch to the fabric, it lost weight. Rapidly. The towel felt as if it could rise like a balloon. “What the...”

    “Ay Cici! You should come watch; the Packers are suckin’ harder than NFL commentators suck the Pats!”

    “Awwwgh! Ha!” the room responded in a gust of laughter.

    “Fuckin’ George; get a load o’ this guy!” someone yelled.

    “Uuuh berightthere!” she hollered back, only to swivel her eyes to the towel and find a paper towel. It was bleached white, textured, and even had perforation marks as if she tore it off a roll.

    Her brain bent and she started to sweat. Quickly she let go, picking the paper towel back up again and watching it. No change. Not at all.

    “Cecelia?” called Zoe.

    “One minute...!” Crinkling, folding and twisting, it seemed to her she could not solve this perplexing case. Placing the paper towel on the breakfast table she turned her back and looked away for some time, only to spin the other way and view not only the same paper towel but Zoe in the hall adjacent to the kitchen.

    “You okay?” “I... I think I might have eaten too fast. I just took some Pepto, but I gotta use the bathroom.”

    As Cecelia’s friends watched the game she ducked away into a short hall to her right. From there she scampered through her large bedroom and into the master bathroom suite after shutting the doors behind her. Locking herself in, she put herself to quick work as she recalled the paper towel and took hold of the hand towel hanging by the sink.

    It felt light and slightly abrasive. Before her eyes, the towel changed. A paper towel now sitting in her hand, she focused again, this time on the original hand towel. Its familiar fabric feel became apparent on her fingers.

    Her head spinning at this point, flinging sparks of joy, she focused on a plain piece of copy paper. As the towel shifted she heard crinkling under her palm, leading her to predict that the sheet would be balled once it formed from the towel. Cecelia opened her eyes and proved herself right.

    Dropping the paper to her feet she practically broke into a jig from her excitement. The scope of her abilities was indubitably widening — it seemed she could change not only herself but other things! Her arms stretched around her torso multiple times in a tight self-hug, then she got warm and melted into a small swirling puddle on the bathroom floor. Cecelia bubbled for a few moments, living in the moment. There must be so much more I can do with this!

    The circular puddle became hourglass-shaped as Cecelia pinched in at the center. As much as she was enamored with having a liquid body, she had friends to hang out with, so as she motioned on her fluid form, she pulled herself apart from each half to create two puddles. Mmmph... Cecelia whimpered internally, channeling the generated pleasure to ease one of the puddles into her usual human appearance.

    The second one gained a shiny luster as it lost its skin-tone coloration. Knowing she had some control over her temperatures, she heated her now-liquid metal half and slid it over to the paper ball. She enveloped the ball completely, hollowed herself out, and sharpened her edges into a cube shape. Jiggling to a rest, human Cecelia picked the metalwork up and placed it on the sink counter next to the soap pump so she could work on it sometime else.

    She almost opened the door and stepped back out to the living room, but Cecelia was giddy. Really giddy.

    Over the next minute Cecelia became many men and women. From a tall Brazilian mechanic to a cute Asian businesswoman, she took on at least 20 different human forms while she was in the bathroom. I know what I’ll be doing later tonight, thought Cecelia deviously as she finally reset to her native body.

    Perking up her breasts a little and gaining a few pounds of fat, Cecelia headed to the kitchen where she poured herself a tumbler of whisky. Downing it, she grabbed a beer and settled back down on the couch. She inwardly decided to take tomorrow off right then; this was bound to be a fun weekend.

 

 

Cecelia seems quite fond of using her shapeshifting powers as a way to hold things, from paper to hand soap.