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Smoothing Things Out

Part 9

For Libra-11 and Harute11

by Draconicon

He was most thankful for the aid that the rabbit-wolf offered him. It took some effort to drag himself out of bed, and more effort besides to stay on his feet. His body felt new, different, off, and it didn't quite settle even as he wobbled from one foot to the other. One paw to the other, rather, as he was forced to acknowledge as he stood more on tiptoes than he did flat on his feet any longer. He looked down at his legs, saw that they were furred, if latex-furred, and shook his head slowly. One hand went back, down and around his hips to -

Yes, there was a tail back there, too, a tail that wagged ever so slowly as he took in what had been done to him, and how much different he was compared to what he had been only hours ago.

Was it only hours? He assumed it was, but he had no way of being sure. It could have been days, considering that he had passed out during the process, and he had no idea how long he had been wrapped up in latex.

No, no, wait. Wait. He brought his hand from his tail to his head to think it through again. Libra had said that he had been the last one left in the original body, and that this 'wasn't exactly' the original body. That was a good place to start his queries.

"Libra...where is my old body?"

"It's currently in storage, held in stasis just in case."

"In case...this goes wrong?" Blake asked.

"...It's a very small chance, but I wanted to make sure that there was something waiting, just in case. After all, this is brand-new technology, and there's a chance that any and all of it could go wrong at any point. I wanted you to be safe, wanted to make sure that you'd always have something."

The hybrid's foresight was something that he was grateful for, though it still felt rather odd to consider himself no longer in his own body. For all the differences with his headmates, for all the times that there had been arguments over what their body should be like, he had always been the one to call the shots and say that it was his. It might have been six people in a single shell, but the body had started as his, and it was the only one that he would ever have...until now.

Now...

Now he looked at himself, hardly believing just how different he felt with fur - yes, again, latex fur rather than proper fur, but close enough - and fingers that ended in claws and a proper muzzle and everything else. The whole situation felt like it was more right than his human shape had ever been, and he held onto that feeling, using it to maintain his sense of self as he wobbled about with every experimental step. Getting used to having a tail for balance, getting used to having ears that flexed on the side of his head rather than being settled in place, and growing accustomed to being a slightly different height were all weird enough that it would have been difficult enough with just one. He had to get used to all three of those things and more besides.

When he could walk around the exam table without falling flat on his face - which took a few laps and more than a few sudden lunges as Libra caught him before he could smash face-first into the floor - he was allowed to walk through the lab with the hybrid. They took it slowly, but they nonetheless moved away.

"How are the others?" Blake asked.

"They're adjusting," Libra said. "I think that most of them are pretty happy with their bodies."

"I think Toy's probably going to be the happiest...or Aries. Maybe both."

"I think both," Libra agreed. "Aries was the one bouncing around the most, but Toy was the one that was most sociable."

"...Really?"

"Heh, yes. Reaching out for hugs, touching people, doing everything that he could to stay close."

"...Huh."

That was something different than he had expected for the tulpa, but at the same time, he realized that it actually did make sense. Most of the stuff that they usually felt from the blob in the back of their head had been eagerness or curiosity. Now that he had a body of his own, he could reach out and touch and experiment as much as he could. That eagerness for attention and affection could be initiated now, too, rather than just waiting to reciprocate.

Yeah...yeah, that makes sense.

"And the others?"

"Well, Ptolemy refused to stay and wanted to go right back to the library."

"That figures. He's never happy without some books around, and I'll bet that he's still adjusting to his new headspace, too."

"Oh, that's right. How's yours?"

That was a hard thing to sum up. Blake considered it, thinking back to how he'd felt waking up without all the other rooms and other people in his head. It brought a sudden burst of loneliness, feeling like there was a phone in his headspace rather than other people. Sure, it wasn't that bad, and they were still connected to each other, but there was less of that immediate convenience, and that...well, that was going to be hard to get used to.

There was however -

Yes, that was something that he should bring up. He tapped his head.

"Um...there's still someone in there," he muttered.

"Rorshark?"

Blake nodded.

"Yeah, I wondered if he'd stick around," the hybrid admitted, pulling his lab coat a bit tighter. "Cancer and Ptolemy told me that they're completely free of it, save for the stuff that he did to keep them from falling apart in their new bodies, but the others still have some bits of him."

"...Bits of him? But I thought -"

"It's not quite the same as cloning, but he can split his attention between people quite a bit. I think that the record has been twenty different people being 'bonded' to him at once, in the past. It might be easier with you four -"

"Me, Toy, Ryder, and Aries, yes?"

"Yes, you four. It might be easier for him with you four, since you're sharing far more similar brain make-ups than the others he's bonded with, but only time will tell."

"So..." Blake tapped his head again. "Is he going to stay here forever?"

"He's going to stay for a while. Forever would be a stretch, but I imagine that you'll be looking at sharing with him for the next month or so. He's not a bad guy, just quiet. And rather curious about everything that organic beings do, I have to admit."

That was the part that concerned him, if he was honest. The fun on the table had been rather strange, particularly considering the fact that it had ended with all of them in different bodies and different places, but there had been a lot of fun at the same time. Guiding someone that had never been through that sort of fun had ended up being more enjoyable than he had thought, and the idea of being a semi-mentor to someone that was that powerful, that talented, and showing them what it felt like to be dominated to such an extent...

Well, he could see that being enjoyable. He could see that being very enjoyable.

But until he had the full information of what had happened, he needed to keep his options open. He followed Libra through the lab to the stairs at the back, and then followed him up and out.

Gradually, he got used to the feeling of being all rubber and latex. He wasn't quite hollow, though he could feel an empty space inside of him that hadn't been there before. He imagined that was probably the space where...things...would be sliding into him later, if they were having fun. Everything else, however, was this strange blend of tight and flexible at the same time, almost like everything was pulled in close, but could stretch however far he wanted. Out of curiosity, the newly-made fox reached down to his hand, gripping one finger and pulling it.

He managed to stretch it out to nearly three feet long before he lost his grip and it went snapping back. His finger wobbled back and forth, doing things that should have been utterly agonizing to experience, only to finally settle back in place as if nothing had happened at all. Blake stared at his hand, not quite believing what he was seeing, and shook his head.

"This...this is going to take some getting used to."

"I'd have thought that your new hole would take more getting used to."

"New - what?!"

Blake whipped his hand down between his legs. Nothing behind, nothing under his tail, but behind his sac -

"Oh...oh!"

His cheeks burned as he realized that he'd been given something new down there, something rather...flexible, compared to the other hole. His face only got redder as he realized that he couldn't stop touching it, and that he had to yank his hand away with his free hand to avoid fingering and groping himself right there on the stairwell. Through it all, Libra only looked at him with a small smile, something indulgent without any blame or bad feeling.

Still bright red - or at least, feeling bright red - in the cheeks, he hurried up, doing his best not to cover himself as he ran up the stairs behind the rabbit hybrid. The fact that he was wandering around naked, something that he never would have done as a human, hit him at that moment, and he did his best not to feel even more embarrassed. He was a fox now, and a rubber fox at that. He was pretty sure that meant that there were other, new rules to be followed, and considering that he hadn't been asked to cover up, he imagined that he was well within his rights as a new rubber person to be doing what he wanted.

Even so, he was happy to see that there was a coat hanging at the top of the stairs, and happier still to have it offered to him. He took it and wrapped it around his shoulders, covering his tail and his ass, but not quite covering his crotch. He felt...not great, but okay allowing that to hang out in the open. Taking a few deep breaths, he nodded his thanks and allowed himself to be led further into the mansion.

**Ptolemy was deep in his research, finding that it was both easier and harder than it had been in the past. Easier, for the lack of distracting voices that had always been there despite the greatest of good will, and harder for the lack of extra minds to allow him to remember everything with greater ease. He still had his eidetic nature, able to remember anything that he read, but he had to focus rather than skim now, and that made things just a little bit awkward compared to what they used to be.

The rabbit enjoyed it, however, and breezed through the great library of their host at his own pace, taking his time to absorb and take in everything that he possibly could.**

He was just starting to take notes and compare them to the old latex formula that had been filed away in the corner of secret things - as he had taken to calling it - when he heard the door to the library open and close. His new, long ears twitched, and he put the books down, covering up the secret spot as if it had never been touched.

Ptolemy had just sat down when Blake - the rubber fox looked exactly as Blake had done during their time as headmates, though he had never seen him in this realistic fashion - and their host stepped around the corner. Libra glanced towards the secret area, eyebrows raised. Ptolemy shrugged one shoulder in microscopic fashion. The statement was as obvious as he could make it.

If you don't want me reading it, don't put it somewhere so easily found.

That was as much time as they had to communicate before Blake had run around the research table and stretched out his arms for a hug of greeting. Ptolemy waited, and was rewarded; the fox stopped just out of reach of the rabbit, holding his arms in place, waiting. Just as they had always done.

After a moment's delay, he stood up, giving Blake a tentative hug, more out of formality than anything else, and then let go. The fox smiled, and he had to admit that there was a hint of a grin on his face, too.

"It appears that you are finally awake," Ptolemy said. "It has been approximately twenty-nine hours since we were separated."

"...Thank you for the precision," Blake said, nodding slowly.

"It is my pleasure."

And it was, genuinely. He had always been something of a time-keeper, and he had seen that his services were still needed as such as soon as Blake had come around the corner. If there was one thing that had not changed, it was Blake's inability to keep his emotions off his face.

So, Libra hadn't told Blake just how long he had been out, nor had he likely told him of everything else that had happened since they had gained their bodies. He imagined that there was a bit of experimentation going on, what with the way that Libra tended to approach almost everything. The rabbit-hybrid had been quite keen on keeping a bit of information away from the rest of them, too, allowing them to experiment and figure things out for themselves.

In his case, Ptolemy had merely watched the others, observing their behavior and seeing what they were capable of before moving forward with the assumption that he was likewise physically capable. That assumption had borne fruit, and while he was markedly stronger than he had been in Blake's human body, he was otherwise quite similar in respect to their old physical attributes.

Plus or minus a few inches in a few places.

He sat down, and Blake obviously considered sitting down beside him, but the fox stayed on his feet. Instead of asking questions, he just sat there, staring down. There was a moment of silence, followed by a tenuous, tentative voice in the rabbit's head.

Can you hear me? Blake whispered.

Yes. I can.

Oh, good...good...

The rest of us can do the same.

How do I...do I just...

Think at them with their face in mind. That is how it works for me, at least.

Then...we're still connected?

In this odd way, yes.

That seemed to relieve their former 'face' personality, and Ptolemy realized at that moment just how much things had changed. There was less of Aries to bind them together, to leave them connected. There was less of Ryder to be cautiously distant and smirkingly austere, to allow that unemotional distance and logic that Ptolemy reveled in without consequence. There was less of everything.

They were still connected, but they were now their own people, their own selves, and would have to work harder to maintain that connection that had formerly been enforced by convenience and their previous limitations. The rabbit shook his head.

"Hmm...a conundrum."

"What is?" Libra asked from across the table.

"...Blake?"

"...I think we're thinking of the same thing. Go ahead."

"Our connections to one another as headmates," Ptolemy said. "They are...different. We are still able to speak to each other with ease, but the connection that we had -"

"It's kind of like family when they move out. You realize just how hard it is to stay in touch and be good with each other when it's not the everyday-normal, yeah?"

"...I suppose that it is obvious, in retrospect," Ptolemy said, shaking his head in mild irritation. "I would have thought that you would have done something about that."

"Well, I tried. And so did Rorshark. There's only so much that we can do to keep you separate and together at the same time, however. There are sacrifices that have to be made, and keeping you all telepathically linked this way allows that privacy without dragging you all back in as one singular being."

"Could you, um...could you have made the bond stronger?" Blake asked.

"Not without risking the lot of you collapsing into a single rubber entity the moment that you touched each other."

Now, that would have been an interesting experience. Ptolemy wasn't sure what would have happened between them if they had stayed that connected and then touched each other - something that would have inevitably happened, considering the nature that Aries and Toy had - and he imagined that when they were added to one another, it would have been one of those situations that caused a collapse of personalities. Either one of the group would survive, or those that were collapsed into each other would become something of an amalgamation of the numbers that were absorbed. In either case, he didn't imagine that it would go well for those involved.

He tapped his fingers against the table, and determined that what had happened to them was the best case scenario, after all. There was less danger to the communal whole this way, and at least they were able to have some privacy. And if it meant that they had to work a little bit harder than they used to, well, he supposed he could live with that. There were worse things to do.

"Any idea of where Aries and the others are?" Blake asked.

"I believe that I left Aries running through the kitchen."

That prompted the expected expressions of fear and mild panic. Considering the way that the upbeat, bouncy wolf-fox could be with anything, the idea of leaving a rubber being around knives and heat sources seemed like a particularly bad idea. Ptolemy didn't think that it was particularly bad, considering that Aries had his own body to worry about now and would learn soon enough, but both Blake and Libra ran off almost immediately.

Shrugging, he turned his attention back to the books. He was halfway back to his place when the soft pressure of Rorshark down the shared headmate connection caught his attention. He sighed.

"Yes, yes, I will join them soon. I won't be leaving them alone."

There was a sense of a nodding head, the word 'good', and then nothing. Ptolemy shook his head, fashioning a few bookmarks. He would be away for a while, and even with his memory, he didn't know if he could trust himself to remember the exact place he'd left off without that.

#

_Aries was in the kitchen, alright, and standing well away from the pudding that was even now bubbling over the edge of a pot. He'd wanted to get some pudding made for dessert - maybe even as a gift for Blake once he was out of the sleep that they'd all shared, considering that Blake liked the taste of vanilla quite a bit, and there was plenty of vanilla pudding mix - but he hadn't really known what he was doing, and now -

"W-well, at least it smells like vanilla," he said, trying, as ever, to put the best face on things as the bubbling white goo ran over the edge of the pot and hit the burner. "Um...burnt vanilla, but still nice."

The wolf-fox was in the process of trying to find a fire extinguisher when the familiar face of Libra poked around the corner. The rabbit-hybrid ran for the red cylinder against the far wall, while a rubber fox followed. They shared a look, and after a moment, it clicked. Aries grinned.

"BLAKE!"

What followed was a flying tackle, something that he had always wanted to do in real life, and which went better than he expected, in all honesty. He went flying through the air, and then came crashing down before the fox could get out of the way. They rolled for a few paces, then came to a sudden stop. The wolf-fox grinned, leaning down and bumping noses with his former 'face'._

"God, I'm glad you're awake. I mean, it's been fun with Toy and Ryder and Rorshark, but it's so BORING without you around."

"You...know it's me?"

"Who else would it be?"

Whoosh, whoosh went the fire extinguisher in the background, blowing cold air and foam over the fire that had just started beneath the pot. As Libra pulled the dial down, shaking his head, Aries was already back to grinning and hugging his friend. Too long, too long since he had been able to do that.

"Hehehe, nicer to hug you in person than in our head."

"Or just hugging ourselves," Blake said.

"That too. This is better. MUCH better."

Getting one back was just as nice; considering the number of times that he'd wanted to get just that from Blake, and give him one, it was nice to finally do it. Squeaky, too, considering what their new bodies were like. He pushed forward, just enough to make certain parts squeak together -

"Eeep!"

And Blake jumped in embarrassment. Jumped...and then pushed forward, his cheeks all the brighter for it. Aries giggled.

"Rorshark getting you, too?" he teased.

"Um...yes, I guess so," the fox admitted.

"Hehehehe, he's very playful. I like him."

"That's what you call it?"

"Well, I think he's different for all of us. I bet you he's going to be REALLY different when he comes back together and stops being inside us."

Blake blinked, then looked down, then back, and down. Aries giggled.

"Oh, god, that's so much funnier seeing it from outside."

"What - oh, that...that..."

"Yeah. It's HILARIOUS."

"Guys."

Libra pulled their attention back to the stove, gesturing at the mess that had been left behind. Aries blushed, rubbing the back of his head.

"Uh, um...heh...that's my bad."

"Yes. Yes, it is. No more cooking until you figure out how to do it without making a giant mess, okay?" Libra asked.

"...Yeah, okay, that's fair."

"Let's get the others."

It didn't take long for Blake to run into the other headmates, nor long for them to all be gathered together in a much larger bedroom. They found Cancer in a sparring training pattern in the mansion gym, and they found Ryder getting a work-out in the same place. The pair of them had quickly found out that they couldn't really 'work up a sweat', but that didn't stop them from pushing their new bodies as hard and as fast as they could. They wanted to find their limits, and it was clear by the time that Blake and Libra and Aries showed up that they hadn't.

Ryder had some to say, Cancer less, but they all chatted together as they went to find Toy. That had taken all of five minutes, as they found the blank-faced rubber tulpa splashing around in a bathtub, looking for all the world like a child in a grown man's body. The fact that he was as endowed as any of them were did not make that any less strange. Toy happily joined them, the water sloughing off his body with ease, and before they could think to go get Ptolemy, the rabbit joined them, too.

The bedroom itself was rather crowded with seven people - six former headmates and Libra - taking up space. If Rorshark had decided to leave them at that moment to take up more space, it would have been almost unbearable. As it was, they could just about make it work.

As Libra sat down on the bed, Blake couldn't quite shake the feeling of being called to a parent's bedroom for a late-night chat, combined with the feeling of being somewhere with someone that he cared deeply for. The intimacy that they had shared time and time again kept the feeling of 'sharing' as they might be doing from feeling awkward, but it was a near thing. The fact that they had shared their own body for so long and had learned workarounds to allow physical pleasure to happen meant that this wasn't as bad and as hard as it might have been, but knowing that they might have to all be in bed together, that they would have to take different positions and sometimes just watch without feeling anything made it more difficult than Libra might have guessed.

The rabbit-hybrid looked between the six of them, a small smile on his face. He pulled his lab coat off, and almost as if that was some hidden signal, the six headmates did the same, pulling off lab coats, jeans, sweats, and more that had barely covered bits that didn't require covering. They were all naked in short order, six rubbery individuals and the one person that had made them.

"I know that there's probably a lot of questions in your heads right now," Libra said. "And I plan to answer each and every one of them. But until then, I want to make sure that we can all still feel comfortable with each other."

"...And how do you plan to do that?" Cancer asked.

"I was thinking that we could all spend the night together."

"...The bed may be a little weak for seven people," Ptolemy said.

"I've had it checked and rechecked. It'll fit."

"..."

"Only if you're comfortable, of course," Libra said. "I don't want this to be something that anyone feels forced to do. This is not something that you have to do to pay me back, or anything stupid like that. This is just...something to enjoy for the night, and again, only if you want to."

Even Ptolemy seemed to be getting the same idea that Blake was. This wasn't meant as something sexual, nor something that would turn into some grand orgy. They weren't here to fuck, though some of them would be up for that, and Blake knew that he wasn't the only one that felt grateful enough to be more than willing to throw something kinky in as a way to pay the rabbit-hybrid back.

But that wasn't what Libra was asking for. Just company. Just time. Just...cuddles. And they were all willing enough for that.

Unsurprisingly, Aries was the first one into bed, and Blake followed. Cancer came next, possibly out of being a guard dog, possibly because the red wolf wanted to be there in case anything went wrong, and possibly he just wanted to be held, though he'd never bring himself to say it.

Toy followed after that, sliding through the others to intertwine himself with Libra's legs, and Ryder followed after that, hopping around until the roo could take a place at the head of the bed, becoming something of a pillow with his belly being under Libra's head, and his head down at the other end where others could lay against his chest. Ptolemy was left a place by Blake's legs, leaning on them and even leaning back, almost as if even here he would take time to study and observe.

It was a tight fit on the bed, but they all managed to make it work. Blake didn't know if the others felt the same thing, but he was pretty sure that he could feel Rorshark spreading through them, encouraging greater and greater closeness, making them hug a little tighter and taking that little bit of body-control to ensure that they were all pushed together tight enough to not fall off the bed.

There was only one body that was naturally warm with biological heat, and they all clustered to Libra, pressing themselves against him, hugging him, tugging him between them. The rabbit chuckled, grunting occasionally from the constant repositioning, but didn't seem to take any issue with being dragged around like a doll.

Soon, they were all positioned as happily as they could be.

"Goodnight, everyone," Libra said.

One by one, they sounded off the same, from the gentle happiness that Aries put off to the programmed-sounding response from Ptolemy to the soft grumble-happy-sound that Toy let out. Blake squeezed at the rabbit-hybrid, pulling himself in close, feeling his head nudged against Ryder's chest, feeling Ptolemy at his legs. There was this sensation of a community there, still, and this close, it almost felt like they could mentally reach out and touch each other. They couldn't, as that part had faded with their shift to other, real bodies, but it was still a rather pleasant feeling.

And in the background, Rorshark was there, learning, taking in the feeling of cuddling the others. The shark spirit was a very strange creature, present and absent at the same time, and it was hard to tell just what he wanted at any given time. All that mattered, though, was the happiness that they all shared at being together and the feeling that they got from being in contact with one another.

It was warmth, it was bliss, and it was right.

One by one, they slipped off to slumber, and not one of them let go.

The morning came, and Blake woke up as Libra stirred. The rabbit and the fox slid out of bed together, and they went to shower. Not that Blake needed it - his latex body seemed to repel dirt in a way that his old body would have envied - but more for the sake of being a bit more intimate with the rabbit-hybrid for a little bit. They shared some simple gropes with one another under the water, but no more than that before they were both out and drying off and getting ready for the day.

They needed to get some stuff from the store, and after some short chatting it over, they decided that they'd make a bit of a date day out. Not much of one, since they didn't want to make the others jealous, but enough for them to set a baseline for themselves so that they didn't feel bad about anything.

As they gathered up the human suits that they would wear, Libra smiled at him.

"Just don't be disappointed in how you look in this one," he said.

"Why would I be disappointed?"

"Some of the stuff you have now is going to be covered up."

"Oh, well...I don't mind the new hole getting covered up for a bit."

"Not just that."

"...What, you mean -"

"Yep. Gonna be smaller again."

"...Just for this. I swear, though...Mmmph. Never thought that I'd find something about a rubber suit that I didn't like..."

It was a silly thing to say, but it was still the truth. He had a great fondness for rubber, but this was the first time that a suit was actually downgrading him in that department. Then again, as a human, he'd had very little to offer down there. As a rubber fox, there'd been a bit more. It was...weird, really, to think of going back to that.

But the moment passed, and he slid the tight suit over his features, smoothing it out to make sure that there was none of the rubber fox beneath showing through the suit. Libra had already put his on, looking just like the oddly-handsome, too-smooth human that he had met at the convention...god, he didn't even remember how long ago that was, now.

With the pair of them dressed up, they went to the garage, grabbed a car, and headed out. For a moment, Blake swore that he saw Rorshark in the backseat, but the image faded when he tried to get a better look.

"Did I..."

"He'll be around. Don't worry about that."

"...I wasn't until you said that."

"Seriously. Don't worry. He's just around to watch..."

The way that Libra said that implied that he only hoped that was the case, rather than knowing it for sure. Blake chose to feel the same, and put it out of his mind...well, as best as he could. For now, he'd just focus on the fun that they were going to have, and hope it was as good as he imagined it would be.

The End

Summary: And here we have the end of the transformation sequence, as well as a start of the new life of the various headmates.

Tags: No Sex, Nudity, Embarrassment, Fingering, Various Species, Rubber Body, Herm, Hugs, Affection, New Stuff, Series, Cuddles, Rubber,