Raveled 6
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Jess didn't so much wake up as blink into awareness.  The world spun dizzily, then settled.  It took her a moment to realize she was sitting up.

Her flat-mate Tess stepped into her field of view.  "So.  What do you think?"

Jess pondered that for a moment. "What?"

"Are you OK?  Oh, I shouldn't have ribbonized your head."

"What?  You... Why would you do that?"

"Well, it just looked so lonely by itself.  Plus, I figured you'd be safer while I was out."

"Out.  Where?"

Tess ticked items off on her fingers.  "The gym, to find a good workout for your body."

"My body... you took my body?"

Tess continued.  "Then a mani-pedi - you really should take better care of your nails."

Jess looked down at her hands.  Her nails looked perfect, and they had a lovely soft pink polish on.  "Thanks... I guess."

Tess laughed.  "Once you've been through one yourself you'll understand what a big favour it really was."  She ticked another finger down.  "Then there was a nice salad for lunch.  Which reminds me - are you hungry?"

Jess shook her head.  "I feel... fine.  Fed, not tired."

"Cool.  I'm not hungry either."  Tess ticked another finger,  "I also got you some decent outfits."

Jess looked down at what she was wearing.  "These are clothes to go outside in?"

Tess pulled Jess by the hand, leading her away from the couch and to the mirror in her bedroom.

"Holy crap!"  Jess turned back and forth in front of the mirror.  "You made me sexy."

Tess laughed.  "You always were. Just needed to let it show.  Come on, let's go out, show off a bit."

Jess squeaked, "Out?  Like this?  Where?"  She frowned.  "I don't even know what time it is."

"Well, if that's the only side effect of sleeping without a head, you're doing better than I am.  I still keep looking down and expecting to see breasts."

Jess laughed.  "Poor Tess.  If we could swap bodies we'd probably both be happier."

Tess considered that for a bit.  "Nah.  I could never dance at the level I do with your chest in the way.  But part-time for clubbing?  Heck yeah."

Jess was still staring at herself in the mirror.  She noticed Tess was too, and struck a few poses for her.

Tess grinned.  "We need to teach you how to move sexy, too.  That's why you're signed up for Saturday morning Latin dance classes."

"What?"

"Trust me, you'll have fun!"

"Fine.  I'll go once, anyway."  Jess sighed.


The next Friday night the magic ribbon came out as soon as the door closed behind Tess' magic-averse boyfriend, Don.  Both Tess and Jess wanted to try swapping heads.

Three turns of the ribbon around their necks made it possible to free both girls' heads from their bodies.  Tess was the first to pull her head free of her shoulders, of course.  Jess squeaked with alarm as Tess stumbled and nearly fell.

"Are you OK?"

Tess nodded her head, rocking it with her hands very slowly.  "Yeah.  Just be careful how you move your head, it'll throw your balance off."  She wiggled her head around to make the point, and nearly fell over again.  "See?"

Jess hesitated.  "Is this really a good idea?"

"If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well
It were done quickly," Tess quoted.

Jess shook her head amusedly, then tugged at the silk around her neck to detach it.  A moment later she was holding her detached head, cradling it carefully against her chest.  "This feels very odd.  My perspective is all wrong."

"Come on, try walking like that."  Tess led by example.  Soon both girls found it easy enough to move around with their altered perspective.  Before long, their talk turned to ideas for Anne Boleyn or Headless Horseman costumes for Hallowe'en.

"I know!" cried Tess.  "I want to put my head on a pike.  Can you imagine?  Kids come up to the door, and the head starts talking to them...  Where's the broom?"

Jess grinned.  Tess' enthusiasm was infectious.  "It should be beside the fridge, like always."

Before long, Tess had wedged the broom between the cushions and back of the couch.  It seemed fairly sturdy.  But when she stuck the open 'sleeve' at the base of her neck over the end of the broom, something went wrong.  Tess' body fell limply to the couch, like a puppet with its strings cut.

"Tess?  Tess, are you OK?"  Jess kept her head clutched in her left arm, and reached out with the other to check Tess' body.  It had a pulse, and seemed to be breathing, but when she lifted one of the arms, it fell back loosely.  "Tess?"

Jess looked up at her friend's face.  The expression on it was frozen into an unblinking, impish grin.  "Now what have you done..."  She gathered Tess' hair into her free hand and tugged.

Tess blinked a few times, and wiggled her face this way and that as if warming it up, or to be sure it worked.  "Well.  That was different."  Her body sat up, and held its arms out.  "Can I have my head back, please?  It feels very odd to have someone else moving it about."

Jess reached out to deposit her friend's head into her arms, but when she let go Tess bobbled it and her head tumbled onto the couch.

"I'm sorry!"

"Wheeee!  That was fun, do it again!"

"Wait, what?"

Tess picked up her own head, then tossed it back onto the couch.  "Aw, it's not so much fun this way.  It was like a roller-coaster ride for my head.  Pick it up and drop it again!"

Jess did as asked, to much giggling from Tess.  She even let Tess drop her head once.

"You're right, it is almost like a roller coaster.  Too short, though."

"I know," Tess replied.  "Hey, we could throw our heads further if we used my bed."

Both girls had fun tossing each other's head onto the bed.  On one toss, Jess' neck fetched up against the corner of a pillow just so, and she went limp.  It took Tess a little bit to realize what had happened.  When she saw the pillow in Jess' neck she decided to have a little fun.  She stuffed the pillow the further into Jess' head, and kept stuffing.  She was curious just how much would fit... it turned out that the entire pillow would.  And her spare pillow, as well.  "Huh.  You've got a big head, I guess.  Pity it's full of fluff."

Tess started pulling pillows back out.  When she reached in for the last one, she got an odd sense of double-vision, and realized she could see out of Jess' eyes as well as her own.  She also felt a sense of impatience tempered by amusement coming from the head.

Once the last pillow was out, Jess glared at Tess.  "What was that for?"

"Oh come on, it was funny.  You felt it too."

Jess grumped.  "Did not."

"Your head was a pillow.  How could it not be funny?"

Jess started to snicker.  "Full of fluff, was I?"

Both girls giggled, and went back to playing head-roller-coaster, only this time without pillows on the bed.  Before they knew it, their necks changed from cuffs back to solid (if still silky) flesh.

Tess touched the base of her neck carefully.  "Hm.  Seems like we're ready for the big swap."

Jess lifted her head up to inspect the stump of a neck between her shoulders.  "Yup.  Good to go.   Yeeek!"  Tess had just grabbed her head.  

Before Jess could protest further, Tess settled Jess' head onto her own shoulders.  She gave it a good push to get it to attach in place.  Jess yelped and flailed four sets of arms, dropping Tess' head in the process.

"Are you OK?"  Tess inquired from her perch on the bed.

"Sorry, this is very confusing.  I seem to have two bodies, and it's really tricky to move just one."

Tess laughed.  "Better than having no body.  Not that it's entirely unfamiliar.  Hey, watch that foot, you nearly kicked me off!"

"Sorry!  Still sorting this out.  Maybe if I get both bodies into the same position...  OK.  That's better."  Jess slowly sat up again, both bodies moving in sync.  Both reached down slowly and uncertainly, with the headless one picking up Tess' head.  There was some fumbling about in Jess' lap while she got Tess' head facing the right way, then another, steadier lift.

Tess cheered as she lowered her arms to her lap.  "Yay!  I have a body again."

Jess grinned.  "Yay, I have only one body again."  She got up and danced about the bedroom.  "And it moves so easily..."

Tess hopped up and danced with Jess.  Both of them giggled as they danced.  Tess made it clear that Jess' body could dance, and dance well - at least with an expert at the helm.  Jess' body was the first to tire, and Tess sat down with a thump.

"You really need to get this body in shape, Jess."

Jess spun in place.  "If I could feel like this, I would."

"We'll get you there.  If you work at it."

Jess stopped in front of her friend, and peered into her face to see if she was serious.  "You really think so?"

Tess nodded.  "Still want to dance?"

"Yes!"

"Then let's get dressed up and hit the clubs!"

Jess stopped, and stared down at Tess.  "I... really?"  She sat down beside her friend.  "What if someone bumps us too hard?"  She thumped the side of her head, and it fell to the bed.  "Ack!"

Now it was Tess' turn to flail.  It didn't take her long to sort out the two bodies and align them.  "I see what you mean.  Fooey.  We need a better way."  She scooped Jess' head up and set it back in place.

"Thanks.  I like the idea, it's just... impractical."

Tess hmhped.  "One day.  I will get you to dance with me like this."

Jess got up and pulled Tess to her feet.  "OK.  Let's dance!"

So they did.


The next day, it was Tess' turn to blink into existence.  She looked down, and saw the kitchen counter where she expected her body to be.

"Jess?"

"Um... how did you get out of my body last week?  You didn't ribbonize it."

Tess looked over at the source of the voice.  "Turn me so I can see you."  Once Jess was in view, Tess laughed.  "You went out in my body?  Dressed like that?  Gah, I need to teach you how to dress."

"I was just trying not to be noticed."

"Like always,"  Tess sighed.  "Stop it."

"Never mind that," said Jess exasperatedly.  "How do I give your body back without us spending an hour as a heap of ribbons?"

Tess laughed.  "You say that like it isn't any fun.  I like being a pile of ribbons.  It feels slinky, silky, sexy and skittery."

"You forgot scattered."

"And sensual, shuddery, slippery, sublime..."

"I get it!" Jess panted, blushing slightly.  "I still want to know what you did."

"Bah, humbug.  Just ribbonize the seam.  Two turns, and it'll stretch like a turtleneck."

Jess did so, and Tess was then treated to the sight of her friend wriggling out of her body.  Tess tried not to giggle too much, until Jess realized that the squirming process had left her quite naked.  Tess laughed and laughed as Jess ran for her room.  She was still giggling when Jess came back out dressed, and helped her get her head on straight.

When Tess went outside to take the warning ribbon off the doorknob, Don was outside, waiting.

"It's about time," he grumbled.

"Sorry.  I didn't exist for most of the day."

Don snorted.  "It left me lots of time to think."  It was Tess' turn to snort.  "Hey!  I do think.  And what I think is that it's the end of March, and I haven't had my boob time yet."

"Your boob time?" Tess asked, visualizing Dan with breasts and trying oh so hard not to giggle.

"Remember Jess' promise last month?  She gets to stay, you get Friday night 'ribbon time'", he even added the air quotes, "and once a month you get her breasts and I get to play with 'em."

"Oh right.  That.  Jess!  Time to pay the piper."  Tess headed to her friend's room, ribbon in hand.

Twenty minutes later she re-emerged in the sexy red top, with a purple bra peeking through.  Don grinned broadly at his newly top-heavy girlfriend.  "Now that's more like it!"

Jess didn't see either of them or her breasts until Sunday night.


The next Friday, Jess stopped Tess before she started pouring drinks.

"I... I need to ask a favour."  Jess said with a blush.

"Ask away, angel of augmentation."

"I need your body."

Tess grinned saucily.  "I thought you'd never ask!  Finally, she comes around."  Seeing Jess' puzzlement she frowned.  "Wait.  What did you mean, then?"

"I need to borrow your body like last Saturday."

"But it's my turn," protested Tess.

"I know, I know!  But I really need this."

Tess appraised her friend.  Jess looked truly desperate, almost begging.  The puppy-dog eyes got to her.  "Okay, okay.  I'm going to need something in return."

"Anything."

Tess' eyes widened.  "Anything?  How about your breasts, for the balance of the weekend.  Not counting against your once per month."

"Done."  Jess said without hesitation.

"And your bum.  I know Don looks at it a lot."

"Just my bum, not my... bits?"

"Of course!"

"Okay."

"Wow...  What's this all about?"

Jess sighed, then smiled so sweetly at Tess she thought her heart would melt.  "I met a guy at that dance class you made me to take."

"Details girl, details...  And why am I only hearing about this now?"

"Don wanted your breasts, then you two..."

"Oh, yeah.  Tell me tell me tell me!"

Jess held her hands up defensively against Tess' intensity.  "We met at the dance class."

"You said that already.  How'd you connect?"

"Well... someone said 'it's cold outside', and I sort of sang 'there's no kind of atmosphere'.  Then the guy next to me added, 'we're all alone, more or less'...  We ended up singing the whole Red Dwarf theme song together."  Jess grinned as she recounted the moment, singing the relevant bits.

"You and your crazy old British shows."

"The instructor wasn't a fan, either.  He used the two of us to demonstrate dance steps for the whole class."

"Harsh," Tess sympathized.

"Luckily, Ed knew the steps pretty well, and I know how to follow a lead.  We had fun.  So we talked during the class, and after the class.  And over lunch."

"What's he like?"

"Smart, sweet, funny..."

"Cute?"

"Well... in a geeky kind of way, but yeah."

"Ah,"  Tess sighed.  "Are you going to see him again?"

"We kind of made a date to do it all again this Saturday."

"Jess has a da-aate," Tess sang.  "Congratulations.  So that's why you want to call off the pranks?"

Jess buried her face in her hands.  "When he met me, I was wearing your body, remember."

"So you want to... right.  That's why you need my body."

Jess peeked between her fingers.  "Please?"

"Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom."  Tess quoted.  "Of course.  But what if he wants a date mid-week?"

Jess curled up into a ball.  "I don't know," she whispered.

Tess hugged her friend.  "This is going to get complicated."

"I know."