“And over here, we have Miss Katherine.” the guide came to a stop by a pedestal, atop which sat a beautiful ornate vase in the general shape of a woman’s lower body, with flower-pattern etchings all along the base, and around the upper lip. On a pedestal beside it lay another piece, the base in the shape of an inverted large flower acting as a dome. As the dome curved upwards, the upper half of the woman was sculpted out, her breasts along the center slope, and arms resting off the side. Flowing out of the peak of the dome was yet another, smaller flower, and in the center of its’ bloom, a girl’s head, smiling warmly to greet her new audience.

“Miss Katherine here sculpted herself into this gorgeous vase,” the guide said, gesturing to Katherine, “as well as the lid to seal the vase. A demonstration if you would, Miss Katherine?”

“Certainly, Mrs. Johnson.” Katherine said cheerfully, as she swung her arms up atop the vase, lifting her lid up above the rim of the vase. She gently lowered herself onto the opening, resting perfectly atop it, providing a solid seal. “Ta-da!”

“Now, Miss Katherine, no need for showboating.” The guide, Mrs. Johnson said, “We here in the art program of Riverbank University prefer to let our work speak for ourselves. Of course, it helps that more often than not, we are the work.” She chuckled. “Why don’t you tell our guests here about your process?”

“Oh! Well…”

~~~

“Hey, Jamie!” Katherine called across the art room, waving her friend over.

“Yeah, Kat?”

“Could you do me a favor and help me make my art final?”

“I don’t know… aren’t we supposed to make those ourselves?” Jamie wondered out loud.

“Yeah, but we’re allowed to use tools. I’m going to turn myself into clay and sculpt myself into a vase of myself… but I need some sort of mold or model of my body to do that.”

“Why?”

“Remember our first assignment with clay?” Kat laughed, “Where we were turned into lumps of clay and told to mold ourselves back to normal?”

“…oh yeah! Not a single one of us was able to do that.” Jamie giggled, “We were all misshapen and looked wrong… I remember not being able to remember what my own face looked like, so I just drew a smiley face instead!”

“Right? And Ashley couldn’t get her legs to look right, so she just left her lower half as a pile of clay.”

“…you were pretty good at it though, if I remember.”

“Nah, I couldn’t get a bunch of things right…”

“Yeah, but you still looked better than the rest of us! Some of us didn’t even look human!” Jamie laughed.

“I guess. But still, I need this to look perfect, so I need a molding.”

“…so where do I come in…?” Jamie asked.

“Could you turn yourself into me for a bit, so I can mold myself around you… well, me?” Katherine asked hopefully.

“…eh… I haven’t even thought up what I’m going to do for mine yet.” Jamie frowned.

“…well then you have free time, right? You can think it up while I work.” Katherine said.

“Alright, alright.”

“Yes!” Katherine cheered, and promptly pulled a small vial out of her backpack. “Here.”

“…what is this?” Jamie asked curiously, “…Polymorph potion?”

“Yeah, I had it made already.”

“Jeez, you’ve thought of everything.” Jamie said, taking the vial, “Wish I was that prepared.” She chugged the potion.

“…maybe you should’ve taken off your clothes first.”

“Why- oh.” Jamie’s question didn’t need to be answered, as her clothes began to tear as her body shifted underneath them. Kat was quite a bit taller than Jamie, and it was beginning to show as rips formed in Jamie’s clothes.

“Oh my god. I’m so sorry!” Kat said, “Uh… I’ll buy you new clothes?”

“That’s fine, you don’t have to do that…” Jamie said, her voice awkwardly shifting between her own and Kat’s.

“No, I insist! It’s my fault…”

“No, don’t waste your money like that, these are old clothes anyway.” Jamie waved her away with a transforming hand.

“I’ll make it up to you somehow, at least.” Kat said, biting her lip. “I know, I’ll be your outfit for the after-finals party next week!”

“…hm… that could work.” Jamie grinned, as her face shifted into Kat’s. “I think I’m done.” She said, looking herself over. “Man, it’s always so weird to be in someone else’s body… “

“Alright, perfect. Now, where’s that clay spell… Ah.” In a few brief moments, Kat had turned her body into clay.

“So, how’s this going to work? I just stand still and you rub yourself on me…? Wow, that sounds so wrong.” Jamie muttered.

“Sort of. I need you to be really still though, so I’m going to petrify your lower body, okay?” Kat said, either not hearing or simply ignoring the last comment.

“Sure, sure.” Jamie said, as everything below her breasts turned to stone. She rapped on her hardened stomach with her knuckles and giggled. “You’re not doing your breasts?” Jamie asked.

“No, I am, but not on the main vase. Here, watch.” Kat pulled out a line of piano wire and proceeded to slice herself in half, just beneath her breasts. “I’m going to use my lower half for the vase, and my upper torso as a lid.” She gently lowered her severed upper torso to the floor, resting on her abbreviated chest. Her legs sat down across from her while she cast another spell.

“What’s that for?”

“I don’t want to mess up my torso while I mold my lower half, so I turned it back to flesh for a bit, at least until I’m ready to mold my torso.” Kat explained, grabbing her lower body. She began to squeeze and massage it, compressing it into a large lump of clay. “Alright, I’m going to start molding myself onto you now.”

“Okay.” Jamie nodded, as Kat got to work.

It wasn’t long before Jamie’s lower body was covered in Kat, shaped neatly to look just like the body underneath it.

“Whew. Alright, now to get you out of there.” Kat grinned.

“…how were you going to do that, anyway?” Jamie asked, suddenly worried about ruining Kat’s hard work.

“Oh, I was just going to melt you and then pour you out of me. Is that okay?”

“Sure.” Jamie giggled, “I like melting anyway.”

“Okay, I’m going to turn you back into flesh so I can melt you. Don’t move a muscle while you’re in there!” Kat warned.

Jamie felt her body return to normal, and almost stretched out of reflex before she caught herself. Shortly after, she began to feel the familiar sensation of her body slipping apart into a liquid. She relaxed as her upper body began to slide apart, falling out of the hollow shell and landing in a puddle around it. However, the rest of her melted self stayed nestled in Kat’s vase body.

“You’re quite cozy.” Jamie’s voice came from the puddle of herself, “I’ve never been melted inside someone before.”

“Well, don’t get too comfy, you’re coming right out.” Kat said, gently lifting her vase and pouring the rest of Jamie out. “Alright, thanks for the help!” Kat grinned at the puddle of her friend on the floor. “I just have to do the etchings and finishing touches and what not now.”

“Mind if I stay and watch? Might give me some ideas.”

“Sure, as long as you don’t rip me off.” Kat furrowed her brow, “You know how strict they are about plagiarism.”

“Of course, don’t be silly.”

“…and uh… are you going to watch as a puddle?”

“Yeah, sure, why not? I don’t have anything better to do in the meantime.” Jamie giggled.

“Alright then.” Kat laughed, as she went to work.

~~~

“And then I finished up my etchings, had myself fired and hardened, and here I am! I was originally going to fire my entire lid as well, but a friend came up with the idea of leaving my arms so I could close myself. I thought it would be cool to be a vase that could seal itself, so I went along with it.” Katherine finished, to her audience’s applause.

“Alright then. Moving right along…” Mrs. Johnson said, guiding the group to the next showing.

“And here’s Miss Jamie, who’s made a lovely self-portrait. Jamie, why don’t you tell your audience a little bit about how you performed?”

“Sure.” the painting spoke. “I had a bit of a hard time deciding on what to do for my final project, so I decided to stick with what I know best and do something simple in execution, that I could really… pour myself into.” Jamie chuckled at her bad pun.

~~~

“So, have you decided yet?” Kat asked the puddle of her friend on the floor as she worked on the clay flower around her neck.

“Mmm… not really.” Jamie bubbled.

“Well, what are you good at?”

“…painting. But that’s so boring, compared to what all you guys are doing.” Jamie sighed.

“It doesn’t have to be exciting or anything…” Kat said, as her hand slipped. “Ah, damnit. I messed up.” She had gouged a large gash through her clay flower and neck. “It’s really hard to work from this angle…” she complained. Sighing, she squashed the ruined flower and massaged it back into her neck.

“I guess, but it’ll just seem lame, won’t it?”

“Not necessarily. As long as you show them your best, I’m sure you’ll get a good reception.”

“Yeah, but… how do I use myself for a painting?”

“…oh. That’s a good point, actually. You could flatten yourself and have yourself framed?” Kat suggested.

“That seems even lamer.” Jamie sighed. “…Oh, wait! I got it!”

“Oh?”

“Yeah.” Jamie exclaimed happily. She began to slowly rise out of her puddle, assuming her normal form. “I’ve gotta go check out some spell books. I’ll see you later! Good luck!” she called out, practically running out of the studio.

“You too!” Kat called after her, laughing. “Wait… how did she reform herself so quickly?” Kat wondered aloud. She shrugged her shoulders, as well as a pot lid could, and went back to work.

When Jamie got to the library, she made a beeline for the book she was looking for. She knew it was there of course, it was an old book that barely any other students had touched in years. “Here it is… Good old Melting Tips and Tricks.”

No one had ever bothered to look at the book because they had assumed it was the same old generic melting spell, but Jamie’s curiosity had gotten the better of her, and she now knew better. Not only did it contain a melting spell, but it also had numerous spells that controlled the degree of melting, as well as the user’s ability to control themselves as they melted.

To say Jamie had always had a passion for melting would be a bit of an understatement. In fact, she once spent an entire week’s break in a liquid, yet mobile, form, thanks to the book in question. Jamie blew the dust off the cover, and quickly went to check it out. “Time to get to work.” She grinned to herself.

As Jamie got back to the art studio, she made her way to a closed studio room. The studio was quite large and had plenty of room to begin with of course (Riverbank was one of the more prestigious magical universities with a very generous funding) but these rooms were reserved for some of the messier projects. Like Jamie’s was going to be.

As she closed the door behind her, she got out a large canvas, usually reserved for (smaller) murals, and laid it out on the floor behind her. Then, she began thumbing through the book’s index, looking for the spell in mind.

“Alright, I know it’s in here somewhere… here it is.” Jamie began the incantation. Her features began to soften as the spell worked on her body, but did not melt. Jamie had used a much slower melting spell on herself, one that liquefied only the outer layer of her skin first before continuing inwards. Then, she quickly cast another spell, one that altered her consistency and made her thicker. Finally, she cast the last spell, one almost every first grader knew by heart simply because of its’ simplicity and frequent use in pre-school as a prank, that turned her skin color from a regular pinkish tan to a striped, prismatic hue.

She slowly approached the canvas. Tentatively, she stuck her big toe out and swiped it across the white background, leaving behind a trail of blue. She stamped her foot, and left behind a gooey footprint of numerous colors. “Perfect.” She said out loud to no one in particular, smiling to herself. Then, she simply leaned forwards and let herself fall onto the canvas, rolling around on it, giggling, and smothering it in herself. As more and more of herself stuck to the canvas, Jamie felt herself, or at least, what remained of her physical body, grow smaller and smaller.

When she had finally covered the canvas in colors, she picked herself up off it, slipping a few times on herself, and stood aside. She was over two feet shorter than she was originally, and had lost most of her defining features like fingers, toes, and her face, making her a colorful blob in the rough shape of a person. Pausing only briefly to admire her work on the canvas, she reversed the rainbow spell on herself, causing her melty self to turn back into her normal skin color, but the rest of her that had already been painted onto the canvas stayed its’ rainbow hue.

She cast another spell to slow her melting down even farther; she had to be a bit more careful with this part than with the colorful but sporadic background. She carefully hopped onto the middle of the canvas, where she knelt down and began spreading herself, painting herself into the canvas.

Despite the delicate work, she didn’t need a brush, her melting body acted as a living brush and the living paint, all in one. She took her time with herself as she recreated a scene she knew all too well in her mind onto the canvas.

~~~

“…as I used up more and more of myself, I grew smaller and able to do more delicate work, so pretty much all the details were done at the end.” Jamie finished.

“So when you said you poured yourself into it and did what you know…” someone in the audience piped up.

“Yes, it was quite literal. Melting spells are some of my favorite spells to use.” Jamie said, only telling half the truth, “So I painted myself, melting, with myself, melted.” She giggled. The audience took another pause to examine Jamie’s self-portrait, depicting herself melting into a puddle on a kaleidoscopic background.

“A very creative take on an often-thought stale medium in our era, Miss Jamie.” Mrs. Johnson smiled. Murmurs of agreement rose through the small crowd. “Well, we should be moving on. This way, ladies and gentlemen, we have…”