Raveled 2 (aka Mixed Drunks)
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Two giggling, rather drunk girls stumbled in through the apartment door.  "Come on, Jess," the taller one said.  "Stay the night.  It's late enough you'll need a cab to get home, and that'd be a waste."

Jess nodded, then clutched her head in both hands.  "Thanks Tess.  Ugh.  I had too much to drink.  Coffee?"

Tess had already wobbled her way into the kitchen, and had the kettle on. "Instant OK?"

"I'd take anything right about now."

"Poor baby.  At least it got you dancing."

Jess groaned as she slumped on the couch.  "Don't remind me.  I must have looked like a headless chicken out there, next to you.  You make it look so easy."

Tess laughed.  "Years of practice.  Not to mention dance classes.  I'm majoring in performing arts, remember?"

Jess mumbled a reply.  Tess went on about how she looked like she was having fun, and should really try some dance classes.  She was busy pointing out how they'd be a good way to meet guys as she brought two cups of coffee to the couch.  And discovered that Jess was already slumped over, asleep.  "Lightweight."

Tess pondered the snoring form of her friend.  Jess was going to have a bad enough hangover tomorrow without adding sleeping half-upright on the couch to her troubles.  Tess wanted to move her friend to the guest bedroom, but didn't think she could carry her - especially not given she was having a little trouble with her own balance.

Then she looked up and saw the magic ribbon Jess had given her a week ago, and a grin spread across her face.

* * *

In the morning, Jess yawned, stretched, and rolled carefully out of bed.  She could hear Tess puttering in the kitchen, and hoped that there might be some coffee or other relief for her pounding headache to be found.  Nudging the bedroom door open with her foot, she stumbled out into the hallway and on to the kitchen.

Tess looked and grinned up as she noticed her friend's entrance.  "Morning.  You look a bit worse for wear."

"Just a bit achy.  I'll live, if I get some of that coffee I smell."

Tess poured another mugful and set it on the kitchen counter in front of her hungover friend.  

"Could I get it in a saucer?" asked Jess.  "You know that works better for me."

Tess blinked at the request, then shrugged.  "Sure.  Wow, you're really playing along with this."

Jess looked at her friend with a face full of innocent confusion.  "Playing along with what?"

Tess didn't answer.  She poured half the mug into a salad plate, and set it in front of her friend, who proceeded to lean forward and lap at it like a cat.  "Ohhh, so much better.  You're a life saver, Tess."

Jess worked her way through the entire saucer, as if she'd been drinking that way all her life.  Tess watched in bemusement, sipping occasionally at her own coffee.  Jess looked so graceful like that, and that wasn't a word one would usually associate with her.

Jess sighed in contentment once she'd licked the saucer clean.  "I don't suppose I could beg some cereal off you?  Now that my brain's no longer in revolt, I'm starving."

"Beside the fridge.  Bowls are in the cupboard above the cereal."

Tess leaned against the counter and watched.  Surely Jess would have to...  nope, she got the cupboard door open using her lips.  Jess proceeded to pick a bowl up with her teeth, giving it a bit of a flip so most of the weight got carried on her forehead.  She set it down beside the cereal with practiced ease.  Tess watched in amazement, coffee forgotten, as Jess used her teeth to pick up a cereal box, give it a shake and squeeze to pop the top open, and poured the cereal into the bowl without losing a single flake.

It was only when Jess was leaning into the fridge that Tess spoke.  "Let me handle the milk, Jess.  It'd be a bit unsanitary if you opened it with your lips."

"You're right, sorry.  I'm the only one who drinks 1% at home, so I'm used to having the bottle to myself."

Tess poured milk over Jess' cereal, and leaned back to once again watch her cat impression.  Graceful to the last - even the slight dribble of milk on Jess' chin was more cute than messy.

"How?  Did you practice eating without arms as a kid, or something?"

Jess laughed.  "Well, duh.  I've had to do it all my life.  What's with you this morning, Tess?  You're acting all weird."

"I'm acting weird?"  Tess shouted.  "You're the one parading around with no arms as if it was the most natural thing in the world."

Jess' eyes hardened.  "What the hell, Tess!  I've been like this as long as you've known me - you were always OK with it before.  Was that just an act?  What's wrong?"

Tess touched Jess' empty shoulder.  "This is what's wrong.  You remember the magic ribbon you gave me, right?"

Jess nodded, eyes still flinty.

"I used it on you last night.  Took you apart so I could put you in bed.  I thought it'd be funny to keep your arms off, and see how you handled it.  But now you're starting to really freak me out."

Jess stomped to the door.  "Not funny, Tess.  Not funny at all."

Jess tried to open the door by turning the knob with her mouth.  But both door and knob were rather old and stiff, and the knob simply wouldn't turn.  Her lips skidded off several times, then she backed up a bit and tried to turn the doorknob with her toes.  That met with even less success.

"Why can't I open the door?"  Jess' voice quivered with uncertainty.  "I've been in and out this door a half dozen times at least."  She stared at it, brow furrowed in concentration.

"Because you need a strong grip to open it.  You had arms last time you were here."  Tess stood next to her friend, and held her arms out to offer a hug.  "I'm sorry."

Jess sniffled softly, and leaned into Tess' embrace.  "I'm really confused.  Are you sure I used to have arms?"

"Absolutely.  I mean, how did you hold your drinks last night?"

Jess giggled.  "Badly, it seems."

Tess laughed as well.  "Yeah, no kidding.  Three drinks and you fall asleep on my couch?"

"Four.  One of the guys brought me a refill."

Tess stepped back from Jess and put her hands on her hips, fixing her with her best glare.  "You let someone you don't know bring you a drink?  Are you nuts?"

"You seemed to know him pretty well.  The redhead, with the cute... eyes."

"Yeah, he's mostly harmless.  The worst he'd do is get you a triple."

Jess sighed, and slumped back against the door.  "That'd explain it, yeah.  Sorry, I'll be more careful next time."

"So you'll come out with me next time?  You had fun once you stopped worrying so much."

"Yeah!"  Jess bounced on her feet.  "I'd love to go dancing again.  I feel much lighter on my feet today."

Tess snickered.  "That's because you don't have arms weighing you down."

Jess blinked.  "Huh?  Oh, right.  That."

"Wait, you'd forgotten already?"

Jess wiggled one shoulder at Tess.  "This just feels... natural.  Like I'm supposed to be this way."

"It does suit you.  You've been moving gracefully all morning."

Jess shrugged.  "I've always had to be extra careful doing everything."

"No you haven't."

"It feels like I have.  Maybe that's enough."

"Whatever works, winsome wench."

"Wench?"

Tess waved the comment aside.  "You'll find it a lot easier to take notes in class if you have hands.  Not to mention tests."

Jess sighed deeply.  "If I must."

Tess shook her head.  "Weird.  OK.  Now can you feel your arms?  They should be around here somewhere."

"Nope.  I can't even imagine what they'd feel like.  Wait, you took them off - don't you remember where you put them?"

Tess blushed.  "I kind of don't remember the last little bit last night.  Wasn't quite as drunk as you, but seeing you lying there without arms I got a bit distracted."

"Oh."  Jess looked anywhere but Tess' face.  Her gaze ended up settling on Tess' arms.  "Um, Tess?"

"Yeah?"

"You keep in shape, right?"

"I have to - dancing is hard work."

"Why are your arms all pudgy, then?"

Tess sighed. "I really need to up my upper-body workout.  I've been slacking off over Christmas...  Wait a second.  No I haven't."  She stared down at her arms in shock.  "These aren't my arms."

"But they feel natural?"

Tess nodded, silently.

"So I guess the question isn't where are my arms," Jess continued, "but where are yours?"

Tess shucked off her shirt, revealing that she was only wearing panties under it.  Jess blushed, but didn't turn away.  She could see the lines that Tess was tracing around her shoulders - just a very faint difference in skin tone, but it was there.  "I guess these have to come off.  Is this a ribbon which I see before me, the handle towards my hand?"

Jess just laughed.  "How are you going to do both arms?"

Tess proffered the ribbon's stick to Jess.  "Why don't you do the honours?"

Jess got a good grip on the stick with her lips, then proceeded to run it over Tess' arms - once, twice, thrice.  She put the ribbon down, and when she turned back, Tess was holding out silky hands to her.  Jess leaned in and tugged at one thumb.  Even though she was expecting the unravelling, seeing it from such close range made her yelp and drop the ribbon.  She blushed a bit, and resumed her task.

Tess shuddered as Jess worked.  "I still love how this feels.  All wriggly and tingly and gone."  And her arms were, indeed gone.  Just two little piles of ribbon.

Jess kicked through one of the piles, and bent down to look at it more closely.  "Hey, there are two ribbons here.  I guess one of 'em is your arm, and the other the one you were wearing."

"You mean yours."

Jess shrugged.  "If you say so."

"Seriously, Jess.  You had arms."

Jess picked up a ribbon between her toes, and began separating the piles by the slight difference in the skin tone on the ribbons.  "Well, it looks like you're right.  There are two sets of arms here.  You're sure one of 'em is mine?"

"I get less sure every time I watch you move.  Your balance is beautiful."

Jess grinned.  "Thanks.  Um... now what do we do?  Neither of us can open the door."

"Think you can turn the TV on with your toes?"

"Of course."

An hour later Jess squealed in alarm as she felt something wriggling.  It took some time to connect the strange slippery skin-on-skin feeling with her reforming arms.  Meanwhile, Tess had walked over to the pile of limbs to sort out which were which.

"So the pudgy arms that feel familiar are actually yours," Tess mused.  "While these other ones  that are long and limber look like they're logically mine.  Does that seem right to you?"

Jess shrugged, "The long ones look like yours, yes.  The little ones... meh.  Are those really my arms?"

"Really, they are.  Can you give me a hand... er, a foot with one of my arms?"

Jess flipped one of the longer arms up into the air with her foot.  They were still hollow, and light, thus it lofted easily.  She caught it between her chin and her chest with what looked like practiced ease.  "Here you go," she said blithely, offering the open end of the limb toward Tess.

Once Tess had one arm in place, the rest of the reassembly proceeded quickly.  "Yay!  I am again armed."  Tess rubbed them against each other.  "Mmm, soft and silky, too."

Jess just stared down at the appendages dangling at her sides.  "Uh... what am I supposed to do with these, again?"

Tess sighed softly.  "Still?  I hope you don't need physical therapy because of a drunken prank."

Jess laughed wryly.  "I guess it wouldn't be the first time, though."

"Might be a bit hard to explain at the clinic, though."

"Heh, yeah.  I don't think I have arms, so I need to relearn how to use them.  Can you help?"  Jess twisted back and forth and her arms flopped back and forth.  "Whee."

"Maybe they will feel more natural after they turn solid?"  Tess suggested hopefully.

They didn't.  Tess was all in a panic about it, and insisted Jess stay Saturday night as well.  Jess fretted about Don coming back, but he was away all weekend to watch his brother play at some football game or other, Tess wasn't really clear on the details other than when he'd be back.

Sunday morning Jess woke to the feeling of someone's arm draped across her.  She yelped, loud enough to wake Tess, who rushed into the guest bedroom from her own.  "What's wrong?"

Jess blushed as red as a beet.  "I, um, felt an arm touching me."

Tess looked around, puzzled.  "But nobody's here."

Jess held her arm out to Tess.  "This arm.  I can move them today, it seems.  But... I still hate 'em, and I wish you'd just take them off again."

Tess examined her own arms critically.  "Huh.  I feel mostly normal again."  She tried touching her nose, and managed to get it first try - unlike the previous day's hilarious attempts.  "Reflexes are fine.  So while sleep knitted the raveled sleeve of care, there's more afoot."

Jess got up and hugged her friend awkwardly - she still wasn't really used to having arms, after all.  "It'll be OK.  At least I can use them again, even if I'm pining for my carefree armless days of yore.  And maybe another night's sleep will fix that, too."

It didn't.  Jess struggled through her classes for the following week.  Taking notes was a nightmare, she had to focus much of her attention on her hand just to make sure that it would continue to grip the pen.

Thursday night Jess and Tess walked back to Tess' place, chattering about their classes.  Jess also had an ulterior motive, which she revealed once they were inside.

"Take your arms off?" Tess exclaimed.

"Yeah.  I just... need a break from them, OK?  I want my pretty armless shoulders back, I miss them.  Just for a few hours, pleeeease?"

Of course, Don got home shortly afterward.  At least this time he didn't scream at the sight - possibly because there were no disembodied arms involved, just two little piles of ribbon.  He sighed, and shook his head.  "I thought you two had learned your lesson after this weekend."

Tess and Jess tag-teamed the explanation of how they both still had lingering self-image issues thanks to Tess' drunken prank.

Don thought for a bit - it was obviously an effort.  "Drunk, huh.  Maybe you need some hair of the dog."  He laughed, and went to fetch a beer from the fridge.

Jess sighed, and rolled her eyes.  "Men."

Tess shrugged.  "Can't hurt to try.  Drink does more than provoke nose-painting, drink and urine - it also makes a merry mess of memory.  Mix in magic, and..."

"So we should get drunk and mess with the ribbon again?"  Jess asked, worriedly.

Tess indicated Jess' empty shoulders.  "Sleep has not further balmed our hurt minds.  Perhaps sleep plus drink will do it."

Jess shrugged.  "When?"

"Don'll be off drinking with his buddies tomorrow night, why don't we do the same?"

"Or we could just drink here."

"Aww, I was hoping to see you dance again."

Jess stuck her tongue out at Tess.  "Only if I can do it without arms."

Tess grinned.  "Promise?  Then we'll stay in and you can dance drunk for me right here."

Which is exactly what Jess did.  She actually had a lot of fun once a few drinks had loosened her inhibitions, and her insecurities about her appearance were removed with her arms.  Tess joined her, and at her urging tried dancing armlessly as well.  Luckily for both of them, Tess didn't drink quite as much as Jess, and remembered to put the right arms on the right bodies before they went to bed.

The next morning Jess checked herself out in the mirror.  She made sure to compare herself against her notions of what a normal person looked like - two legs, two arms, two eyes, two ears - check.  Nose, mouth, hair - check.   She dressed, and emerged timidly into the common space of the apartment.

Don whistled softly at Jess.  "Nice hair.  Go team!"

Jess shot him a confused look, then shrugged.  "Thanks for letting me sleep here, you guys.  And for not taking advantage of me.  I mean, imagine how embarrassing it would be to walk around campus with green hair instead of my usual blue...  Wait a minute."

Tess couldn't stop giggling for at least half an hour.