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Happy Burstday

By Medley for Blitzkriegotter & Skycharger

“Hey, Medley!" The muscular black and white furred otter snapped his fingers in front of the short lithe skunk's snout. His coworker was a lithe, short anthromorphic skunk. Always a bit fidgety, and always a little smelly.

The skunk's glazed hazel eyes blinked a few times before focusing in on the otter's webbed fingers, a few inches from the skunk's round black snoot. He wrinkled his nose and gulped.

“Mhm, what?" The skunk murmured, his attention returning to the distant jars scattered around their mutual friend's living room. They were on shelves and tables, like a little reminder of something. His mind was in two places at once, first thinking about how guilty he felt for not picking something up for Marcus's birthday. The toned stocky twunk of a snow leopard had been a workplace friend for a full year, but all the same he knew startlingly little of what Marcus found interesting. The second was the mysterious jars filled with balloon scraps scattered around Marcus's place. To Louish and Blitzkrieg, they seemed like innocuous decorations. Just jars filled with party balloon scraps and a plastic tea candle light. Why did it seem so weird to him? Surely, his coworker wasn't secretly a looner or something…

But Medley was fixated on them, like he knew something the others didn't. His mind ruminated on some odd comments the snow leopard had made in passing. Right down to a weird slip-up when Marcus invited him to this party. He called it his “Burstday celebration", and now it dawned on the skunk. These aren't what I think they are, that's…

Blitz just gave the skunk a weird look and shrugged at Louish. “I don't know why he's acting weird."

Louish, their purple-furred bordercollie friend with a short shock of bright straw-yellow hair between his ears, sat on opposite side of the huge buff otter. He kept peering past his bulky coworker to peer at the skunk, catching him gawking at another nearby jar with a few balloon scraps and a cheap plastic tea candle light inside. These weird decorations were all over Marcus's place, but Louish just assumed it was a cheap way to reuse old party decor.

Medley's eyes settled on a nearby jar, filled with dull grey shrivelled up balloon scraps. It was impossible, but a friend of his with grey fur had disappeared last year after bragging about being invited to Marcus's birthday. The skunk's chest fluttered at the idea, the possibility!

“Attention everyone! I have an announcement to make!" Marcus announced to the surprisingly large crowd that filled his living room, kitchen and half his patio. The slim but toned snow leopard was keen to show off his build, wearing a dark grey tank top over his chest and a pair of denim bluejean shorts that did little to hide the chiselled build underneath his thick fluffy white fur. His unique pattern of spots always reminded Medley of a coffee mug stain. His fluffy tail was tipped with a dark grey puft of fur that looked almost like chipped ice.

More than the short but stocky twunk's musculature though, Marcus was renowned for his downright comically large handpaws and footpaws. He had these almost round, plush and leathery handpaws that Louish silently admired from afar. Medley found his footpaws more alluring, but regardless, they were a stand-out trait, by far.

“It's that time again! My annual burstday celebration! This time around, I've decided to go big! Three balloons instead of the usual two this year. Alright, who wants to go first?" Marcus asked with a wide, toothy grin. His grey-white eyes had an almost icy look to them, gleaming as he scanned the crowd, before his eyes traced the outline of the skunk from work. Him and his two buddies, that buff otter and the purple bordercollie beside him hadn't brought any presents… not that it was anything personal. Marcus just thought that it was a funny coincidence.

Annual birthday celebration? Louish thought, his floppy purple ears flicking up at the announcement. What's Marcus talking about? Didn't we already celebrate his birthday?

Louish had noticed Medley acting a little strange since their coworker invited them to this party, but now something was certainly odd. The skunk's large floofy black tail featured a prominent green stripe flanked by two white ones, but the way it fluttered back and forth excitedly made it look more like a waveform or some kind of abstract art. Loush snickered at the skunk and peered over at the large jock-y otter he'd come along with, expecting to have some kind of clue what the host was blabbing about.

Blitz was a big, jacked and casually dressed otter with ropy muscles beneath his black and white fur. He had a shock of bright fiery orange and red hair between his rounded ears, and his stern dark eyes peered at the bottle with a bit of a surprised look on his face. He was just as baffled as Louish was as Marcus held up a strange brown bottle. It had a label but he couldn't read the text, it was too fine.

“Yes, I volunteer!" The lithe skunk yelped excitedly, drawing Marcus's attention. The snowleopard approached the round dining table the three friends sat at and carefully placed a shotglass before the skunk. With a claw, Marcus removed the sealed lid off the odd medicinal bottle and filled the shotglass with the clear and runny contents.

Blitzkrieg and Louish exchanged confused looks, as the skunk shivered with excitement uncharacteristically. Medley giddily chittered as he thanked Marcus for the shotglass as he took it into his handpaw. “Thanks! S-so, um. What's after this?" Blitz asked as he slunk back the shot.

Marcus snickered. “I will find out who the other two balloons will be, that's what! Boy, you're sure excited about this… Probably the most excited I've ever seen anyone. Do you know what this is?" The snowleopard asked Medley skeptically as he showed the skunk the bottle's label.

Medley's eyes widened with recognition, but the onlookers just cheered and applauded the skunk's initiative.

Blitz's eyes traced the crowd around, watching various acquaintences and some strangers pulling out their phones in preparation to record what was about to happen. He rolled his eyes and whipped out his own phone, curiously browsing his social media as an effort to avoid talking to Marcus. The two weren't quite workplace rivals, but there was certainly an unspoken energy between them. Blitz thought the snow leopard was into him, but it was hard to say for sure. Outside of inviting the otter to this party, Marcus had hardly ever interacted with him.

“Mnnf, a-ack. Stuff kinda tastes… like rubber and licorice mixed together." Medley mumbled, as the crowd applauded the skunk.

“Medley here has wanted to volunteer for a while now, glad he's finally had the chance to take the plunge! Isn't this exciting?" Marcus teased, patting Medley on the back as he coughed and gulped hard, shuddering as the substance began to alter him.

Blitzkrieg and Louish watched Medley cautiously, unnerved as the skunk began to look a little confused, burping and belching.

“I, urrp! Feel bloated, all-of-a-sudden!" Medley grunted as he rubbed his belly through his purple v-neck t-shirt.

“Oh, really? No surprise there! You might want to avoid sharp objects for the time being." Marcus casually said back to the skunk. Louish and Blitz weren't sure exactly how to take what was happening, but from the casual way everyone was reacting, they assumed it was just a temporary transformation. Like a prank, or something.

Some of the people in the crowd reacted a little hysterically, saying things like “What's happening?!", and “Oh, wow! He's transforming!" as Medley pulled his chair away from the table. His coal-black fur was starting to matt, taking on a strange gleaming texture as he squirmed and shuddered, chittering uncontrollably from his excitement!

Blitz and Louish laughed as Medley whimpered and groaned, his voice growing increasingly squeaky and hollow as his body hollowed out. He hiccuped as his whole body stiffened and grew thin and shiny, his worried whimpers growing increasingly high-pitched until it sounded like indescernible squeaks.

What's happening, I can't understand myself?! Medley thought, his friends and the many familiar faces in the crowd smiling and laughing at him as he felt his body tighten from spreading internal pressure. The fuller he felt, the harder it grew to think coherently.

“Medley, y-your tail!" Louish yelped, covering his snout with his handpaws as the skunk's once floofy tail seemed to be little more than one large hollow balloon, tipped with a circular rubber balloon knot instead of the usual brush-like tip.

The skunk could only squeak back as Blitz yawned and leaned back. Mistaking the buff otter's movement for an eager hand signal for “Sign me up!", Marcus grabbed the bottle and pressed the mouth to the otter's muzzle as he yawned, a mouthful of the oddly flavoured liquid pouring down his tongue and into his throat.

The oddly sweet taste wasn't bad, Blitz thought as he gulped a mouthful back. He pulled back and glanced over at Louish, to find him gawking up at something.

Medley was floating about three feet in the air, now a fair bit smaller and… certainly less skunk-shaped. The skunk's head and arms had sunk into his rapidly swelling body, reducing the otter's friend into a weird slightly translucent rubbery ball, around the size of a yoga ball. His tail hung underneath him, weirdly swelling and morphing into the 'neck' of the balloon he was rapidly becoming.

Blitz didn't pay Louish's upward glance any mind, laughing it off cooly only to feel a strange bubbling coming from his guts. He belched, then burped again. Uh-oh, oh… no! This better be temporary… The otter thought, groaning as he tasted the hint of minty kombucha on his tongue as Marcus sat the bottle down in front of Louish.

The bewildered purple-furred bordercollie sat in astonishment, gawking as Medley's form shrank and grew less and less him-shaped. It shrank and creaked, becoming dominated by the white-green-white stripe that featured on the skunk, no… former skunk's tail. Louish blushed intensely as he gawked at the swiftly simplifying balloon. Soon, there was nothing to suggest the black, white and green party balloon had been anything else. He shivered, licking his lips in awe at the sight. Blitz's loud belch and the snap of a few photos caught Louish's attention, drawing him back to something especially surprising.

“Mmn, look at you… All this muscle. It feels so thick, so ropey… like cables under fur." Marcus teased Blitz, massaging his shoulders. The otter snickered and belched again, feeling something ticklish happening to his lower back and rudder. His guts were gurgling like crazy, that bloated feeling Medley'd mentioned was starting to become obvious. It wasn't uncomfortable, but it left him feeling weirdly… hollow?

“Thanks, Hic! I worked Urrp! Hard on 'em." Blitz replied smugly, only to hear and feel Marcus's thick finger pad streak across a glossy part of his forearm. He shuddered and twitched his ears and tail in response.

“Look at that! Already turning into a balloon like your buddy. Isn't that cute?" Marcus teased, circling the spot with his claw. It felt so strange, dulled and yet highly sensitive at the same time. Blitz belched again just looking at it, unable to control this strange hollow feeling spreading throughout his body. He hardly even noticed that most of his right arm had already rubberized, a dull gleam spreading across his black and white vinyl torso, mostly obscured by his shirt.

The snow leopard's handpaw caressed Blitz's chest through his shirt, feeling the tense muscle start to give way to helium-filled vinyl, squishy and undefined. “All those years of hard work, erased… What a unique gift! I'll cherish you, Blitz." Marcus said as he rubbed the otter's abs, feeling them smooth away into nothing but squishy vinyl, smooth and devoid of any definition or fur.

“H-Hey, take it easy! Don't pop me before I transform, dude." Blitz said with a nervous grimace on his muzzle as Marcus's eyes gleamed with menace.

“I'll do what I want with my birthday present, Blitz." The snowleopard replied coldly, giggling as his enormous handpaws gently caught the bottom of the otter's shirt, peeling it up and over his chiseled abs and pecs.

Instead, the sleek and smooth glossy texture of vinyl had spread across the otter's midriff. His bellybutton was gone, along with his abs. Just smooth puffy bumps in the vague shape of them remained, but those too were fast vanishing into the simplified and slightly rounded translucent rubber his whole body was turning into. It felt exquisite, like this tingly liquid was soaking through his fur, into his muscle mass and bones, lightening him up and making the otter's body super sensitive and… vulnerable. He shuddered as his squeaky hollow tail rubbed against his back. It felt so amazing, yet so alien. Blitz whimpered as he felt those warm, plush leathery handpaws stroke his soft squishy translucent white chest.

“Doesn't that feel interesting? No taut muscles, no resistance… You're so squishy, like a stress toy." Marcus almost intimately pointed out as he stroked Blitz's shoulder, watching it deform under his touch with a strange glee.

Blitz couldn't help but whimper. Not only was he losing his hard earned muscle, his physique itself was shrinking away. He was already matching the snow leopard's height, shrunk down from being almost a full foot taller, but until now the changes had come subtle enough for him not to fully notice.

“Don't worry, pretty soon you won't even resemble a body-builder. Such a silly balloon you'll be, Blitz. I wonder why you volunteered? Guess all that desire to grow bigger was just training for this." Marcus riffed, to the appeal of his crowd of rowdy friends. They recorded Blitz's whimpering as he stroked his own chest, his handpaws deforming rapidly into shiny mittens as he touched his smooth, slightly translucent belly. It was becoming rounded, almost like a beer-gut. That effort to keep it thin, chisseled and ripped… for nothing. His expression shifted to one of shocked disappointment, then pleasure and awe as he felt his cheap rubbery handpaws stretch his vinyl thin shell of a skin. It felt amazing, mind-boggling so. The otter whined as his voice grew increasingly shrill and squeaky.

Louish couldn't help but blush wildly at the sight. Marcus was so close, those handpaws teasing at the otter's body, squeezing his thighs and stroking his once-toned arms, now just air-filled tubes. It was so hard to believe that a shot of that liquid had turned the most muscular guy Louish knew into a thin, hollow and rubbery facade of himself. The bordercollie yipped in surprise as Blitz's tumbled and seemed to nearly float, catching himself and visibly holding himself down as much as he could.

Swelling taut from the helium within, Blitz let out a shrill whimper and squirmed, his muscular thighs losing definition and shining, turning translucent and revealing the hollowness of them. He shuddered and whined as Marcus stroked his chest, rubbing it in that the otter's nipples were fast dissapearing, soon absorbed into the smooth glossy black and white sleakness of his chest.

“All that definition, all that work, for nothing." Marcus pointed out, stroking the middle of Blitz's chest with a claw. The otter squeaked as he shuddered, his shorts falling off his crotch to reveal the nothing between his legs. Nothing side from his rudder. It was tipped with a little balloon-like knot and pressed down between his thighs as his legs swelled into domes on his increasingly spherical body.

The dull thud of vinyl swatted by a palm distracted Louish, peering over to see a couple of coworkers tossing Medley back and forth casually. The soft Dimp! As it was bounced into the air again and again, just a striped balloon. Loush blushed again, gulping as he tried to ignore how oddly enticing the offer was. Seeing Medley reduced to a mere ball was oddly welcoming. Even just a short while bouncing around in the air seemed like an interesting experience… All the same, his eyes flicked back to Blitz. The once muscular otter had shrunk significantly in the time since he was forced to guzzle back a mouthful of the solution in the bottle.

“What? How long is this going to last!" The squeaky otter's voice creaked. Just as the last word got out, his mouth opened and closed, but nothing but the soft hiss of helium escaping left his throat. He'd shrunk considerably, down to Medley's height. He could feel every bit of the displaced air, stretching him into an increasingly orb-like shape. He was getting tighter, swelling more and more, stretching out of his natural shape and into one that was significantly more akin to the former skunk's new appearance. He couldn't believe how far he was from himself. He was more like a blimp than an otter, now.

The otter squirmed, his burgeoning belly and chest creaking and groaning, translucent white and black allowing glimpses into the shrunken airhead's hollow body from several angles. Marcus stroked his squeaky red and orange hair, chuckling as Blitz's limbs began to recede into his shrinking and inflating body. He could hardly believe how fast he'd been reduced to a pathetic ball of a thing.

“That's so silly to ask… You're my birthday present!" Marcus said with a laugh to the cheer of the audience. Blitz's phone slid out of his rubbery handpaw, bouncing across the floor and splitting into two broken pieces as his whole body shifted, squeaked and shrank inwards. His body was becoming increasingly pear-shaped, his tail merged into his backside, poking out between his legs just like Medley's had been before he became a barely recognizable party balloon.

Louish couldn't help but gawk as his friend shrank and slumped towards him, falling into his hands. The otter was around beach ball size, his hand and footpaws wriggling out of the spherical translucent orb he'd been reduced to. His tail was uncharacteristically large, as his body shifted into the shape of a party balloon in the purple bordercollie's hands.

“Look at you, blushing up a storm. It must feel so weird to see your friends volunteer to become a couple of party decorations. But, I can tell you want to join them! Don't you?" Marcus teased, reaching down to stroke the balloon in Louish's lap.

As it creaked noisily, Louish couldn't help but pay acute attention to Blitz. The balloon was still slightly trembling as it's transformation continued, simplifying him into little more than a simple pattern. Black and white, with a little shock of orange and red on the top. The balloon had a smel to it, like cheap vinyl. Medley had a similar smell, although it was a little tangier.

Louish pondered Marcus's suggestion as he gingerly toyed with his friend-turned balloon, gently squeezing it, hugging it and stroking it. He wondered what it must feel like to be one, to be so taut and hollow and round and simple. The bordercollie shuddered, his tail wagging madly as Marcus crossed his arms. “Well?"

“I, mmnnf…" Loush huffed, only to gasp as Marcus batted the fully-transformed Blitz balloon out of his hands. It drifted into the air, only to be bapped by a distant handpaw, then another and another, until his friend was out of sight, just like Medley.

The thought of winding up like his friends was beyond exciting to Louish, but he had no idea if taking the dive was safe or not. The way everyone seemed to chill about filming it made him think it was going to be okay. Blitz and Medley went along with it straight away…

Louish shrugged and took Medley's empty shot glass, sliding it towards the bottle.

“That's the squeaky spirit! I think you'll make an adorable balloon." Marcus said with a wide toothy smile as he poured the liquid into the shot glass. Louish took it hastily, burping as he licked his lips of the odd lingering minty-fruity flavour.

“S-so, really, how long?" Louish asked as he felt this strange ticklish sensation up his spine, his tail wiggling excitedly as it's fur began to stick and flatten.

“Like it matters, you know what balloons are for don't you?" Marcus said with a snicker as he caught the Medley balloon as it was floating through the air.

Louish gulped as he felt his stomach gurgle, growing lighter and fuller. His belly swelled as he burped and hiccuped, his voice getting squeakier and squeakier, “What do you mean? You'll turn us back, right!?"

Marcus snickered as he gingerly squeezed the striped black balloon under his armpit. “Mmm, maybe. If I want to." He said, the crowd laughing like it was the punchline to a joke.

Mmnff, better just enjoy it then! Louish thought as his tail grew tipped with a rubbery purple knot. The same smell of cheap vinyl coming from him, now.

The crowd cheered as Marcus gingerly teased the Medley balloon, squeezing it and flipping it around. Medley was struck by his utter lack of autonomy, only able to barely wriggle, the helium inflating him keeping from moving. He felt so full, he couldn't think clearly. Just air-headed thoughts of how taut he was and how good it felt to be squeezed were all that came to mind, even as the crowd cheered Marcus to pop him!

Marcus held the balloon to his muzzle, his teeth resting gently against the taut cheap vinyl. “It wasn't hard to find out about your interests, stinky balloon. You made it all so easy, spelling out exactly what you wanted in your writing. Well, I hope it's as fun in person as you make it sound!" Marcus said with increasing volume and enthusiasm, as he pushed the balloon to the floor and pressed his paw against it.

Medley had enough give in his rubbery body that he didn't immediately pop, but he was cheap. So cheap, the pressure alone made helium hiss out of his knot. The living balloon was incapable of anything but observing his own dire fate, at the massive round plush pawb of his coworker. The black paw pressed into him, squeezeing him against the floor. The pressure pushing out into all directions felt amazing, as did being marked by the enormous heavy leather pillow of a paw pinning him to the ground.

Louish squirmed and whimpered, his voice getting shrill and squeaky as his rubberized body began to swell. He felt oddly dazed, like being so hollow was making thinking difficult. This constant hiss between his ears distracted him as he pulled out of his seat, almost launching himself towards the ceiling! The bordercollie's handpaws grabbed the edge of the table, keeping himself from floating away and granting him an unusual vantage point, viewing Medley from above.

The striped balloon didn't even parse as possibly conscious to Louish, but he knew the skunk was likely very aware of his situation. The balloon was deformed under the weight of the snow leopard and with a little more effort than usual, the enormous clawed footpaw of Marcus bore down on the translucent black balloon.

“Like what you see? Think, all this pressure… pushing outwards, stretching your little skunk friend so thin… so translucent."

It bulged, stripes stretching absurdly before strangely fading away, leaving nothing but a solid black balloon. The transluscent bubble swelled and groaned, squeaking noisily beneath Marcus's enormous plush hindpaw. Louish coil;dn't help but stare, his squeaky voice letting out pleas for the snow leopard to quit stomping his friend, but as his voice narrowed to a shrill hiss, the fast-transforming border collie realized it was too late.

“All balloons are a novelty, you know! Just little dumb bubbles of rubber filled with helium… Won't be long now before you start wiggling those hindlegs of yours as you float up to the ceiling! Don't be so shy, Louish. I can tell you're excited." Marcus teased, gingerly pumping his paw against Medley's diminutive form. The small black balloon bulged as more pressure was applied, the balloon deforming around the snow leopard's enormous paw until-

POP!

Medley! Oh, no! What have I gotten myself into? Louish thought in shock, covering his squeaky shiny and slightly translucent purple snout with his puffy handpaws. His helium-filled body drifted immediately to the ceiling, brushing the purple dog's sensitive shiny back against the white stucco above him.

A few scraps of the cheap black balloon soared over the heads of guests as the pieces got caught on furniture, stuck to people's fur and scales, and fell to the floor to be stomped on. Soon, Medley's sentient but thoroughly scrambled pieces were put into a jar, given a tea candle light and left amongst the other twelve or so scattered around Marcus's place. The balloon turned black rubbery confetti had not a single coherent thought left, now thoroughly absorbed with its new life as scraps.

Louish trembled, his hollow limbs squeaking against his swelling midriff. Already, all of his starry purple fur had been replaced by a dull gleam of translucent purple, spreading across his waist and over his thighs and forearms. He was swelling, wider and wider, but shrinking, making his shiny purple skin tighter and thinner, more translucent.

His arms and legs sank into his increasingly rotund spherical body, his tail strangely positioned as if it was merging with his rump the same way he'd seen happen to Blitz and Medley.

It felt so strangely pleasant, to be hollow and thin and taut. Shrinking smaller, the crowd and Marcus grew larger. Those enormous plush handpaws all that Louish could think about, even with the looming threat of being burst between them!

Blitz couldn't focus much, too full and too preoccupied with being dizzingly tossed back and forth, each slap reverberating off his hollow vinyl interior, wobbling him and sending him surging through the air. It felt crushingly humiliating to be so powerless, and it seemed like Marcus was intent on demolishing the black and white party balloon's ego. The familar round plush palm of the snow leopard grabbed the balloon out of the air.

“Mmm, time to play with your other friend. It's kind of a shame that you and that skunk weren't more colorful!" Marcus teased, to the encouraging cheers of a few of his work friends. Blitz couldn't help but worry if he'd survive his coworker's teasing, or if he'd be doomed to wind up in a jar like Medley had. Either way, it sounded like Marcus was already viewing him more as a decoration than as a former friend. It only chuffed the otter more, but there was nothing he could do to resist his workplace rival.

The otter-turned-balloon had only seen brief glimpses of the skunk before and after his unceremonious detonation, catching a glimpse of a sliver of black rubber hanging from a ceiling lamp as he was tossed over a former work friend's head.

Louish squirmed as his body grew tighter, fuller. He drifted against the ceiling, shivering as his tail's knot sprouted a silvery ribbon, tied to the tip. He was swelling rounder, his clothes having left his body long ago, in a heap where he sat. The straw-yellow shock of hair between his ears flattened against his helium-filled head as it too began to creak and swell, making complicated thoughts harder by the minute.

Marcus's teeth pressed against Blitz's vulnerably tight surface. The taste of cheap vinyl filled the snowleopard's mouth as he teased at the rubber knot with a sharp tooth. One slip and the black and white party balloon would be reduced to scraps, just like his thin skunk friend moments ago.

“Pah! You balloons always taste so cheap!" Marcus exclaimed as he pulled away from the knot, struggling to undo it with his clumsy paws. Blitz wobbled and squeaked in the thick, warm pads of his coworker's giant round paws. With a ticklish touch, the otter felt the knot come undone.

For a split second, Blitz's thoughts returned to normal. But as the balloon shrivelled, turned dull and opaque as the helium inside rushed out, Blitz found himself overcome by a sense of deep relief, as air noisily emptied out of his body. Once again, reminded of his utter helplessness the former body-builder could do little to prevent Marcus's degrading treatment of him.

“Grab me the hand-held tank, I wanna help this former body builder get nice and big!" Marcus called out, a friend of Medley's was the one to hand the small red tank of helium to the birthday man.

“You always worked so hard to make yourself as big as possible… Bet you never thought it'd be this easy." Marcus said slyly to his toy as he slipped Blitz's rubbery nozzle over the tank's release. With a gentle twist, helium streamed through the cold metal nozzle pressing into the soft vinyl bubble. Blitz felt himself stretch immediately, the almost euphoric sensation of growing thinner, spread taut around the gas filling him, distracted his mind from the possibility of bursting.

Louish could barely keep his eyes open, so full and so round that he looked more like some weird shiny mimikry of himself than a living person. The rotund sparkly purple balloon drifted against the ceiling until a scaly handpaw reached up and yoinked him down by the string attached to his balloon knot.

“C'mere, ya silly balloon! I wanna toy with ya before Marcus gets to you." The chubby gator said with a snicker. It was another acquaintance from work, Louish realized as he grew closer and closer. His own shiny translucent handpaws and footpaws squeaked as they sank into his swelling form, leaving no trace of his appendages behind.

“You're more balloon than person at this point! Look at you, so round and taut…" The gator teased, nuzzling Louish's taut squeaky belly against his long snout, avoiding a sharp tooth by a centimeter. He'd never felt so vulnerable and yet so excited at the same time. As long as the transformations were just temporary, Louish reasoned, there was point in worrying. After all, Marcus was right. Balloons were a novelty, made for a short amount of fun and not for much beyond that.

The thought that Louish was now functionally a novelty made him squirm and squeak as the gator's rough hands raised him into the air and gently bapped the still-transforming spherical purple translucent orb. The slap hollowly resounded in his empty body, sending him surging into the air over a few other furry heads, landing on a kangaroo's shoulder. With a swift bap, the disoriented balloon was sent hurtling over another few guests' heads, narrowly avoiding a mane of spikes from a porcupine guest.

Marcus snickered as he waved a few friends with phones and cameras over, holding Blitz aloft as the balloon's white and black pattern stretched. A small patch of red and orange in the style of Blitz's hair distorted, stretching across the helium pouring into him. He could feel his flexible cheap vinyl body thinning more and more, the helium pushing outwards in all directions from within. Thinking was getting harder and harder… Blitz couldn't help but yearn to grow bigger and thinner. It felt so inexplicably pleasant, like testing the limits of his newfound elasticity was equivalent to skydiving!

“I feel silly talking to a balloon, but ah… You're getting pretty swole, Blitz. Might have to take you off the routine before you burst." Marcus teased to the laughter of some of his personal friends; Other slim but deceptively muscular feline predators, like Harvey; A spotted cheetah that ran a sister branch of the company. The feline was watching the black and white balloon grow increasingly translucent like a dog watching a bowl fill with fresh food.

Feels, mnnff! Tight, can't focus… nnggh-anymore! Blitz groaned as his signature reddish-orange hair faded, the white patch leaving a few seconds later. The buff otter had been reduced to a largely spherical, ultra-taut and glossy black balloon. The gleaming surface was drum-tight, maddeningly so to the barely conscious bubble of rubber.

Prrt!

A bit of gas escaped in the process of tying up the balloon's knot. Marcus was extra careful in tying it, not wanting to prematurely pop his new toy. “My, you're gassy! Hard to believe this dumb black bubble was anything else!" Marcus teased, to the encouraging applause and laughter of his coworkers and friends, some of them still recording his treatment of the former otter.

“Sheesh, what was even the point of going to the gym all that time? Thanks for volunteering, Blitz. Sure to help us end the night with a blast!" Marcus said as he stroked the surface of the balloon. The squeaky noise reverberated within Blitz's ditzy helium-filled mind, feeling so tight that any little poke could probably pop him. It felt extraordinarily liberating to be such a simple thing, not a single stray thought occurring in the taunt black balloon's cavernous mind… But all the same, deeply humiliating. Blitz could hardly accept how far he'd been reduced, only vaguely aware of the reality he'd left as he bounced over the heads of various guests, narrowly avoiding popping on an elk's antlers.

Sailing overhead, the purple balloon that Louish had become remained thankfully sparsely inflated, maintaining a deep rich grape purple hue in the cheap vinyl his body had become. Just a little patch of yellow remained an indicator of what the balloon had been before, as it landed on the nose of the cheetah. Before he could reach up, claws out to stroke Louish's vulnerable form, Marcus batted him into the air. He soared straight up and spun around, landing with a gentle bop in the enormous leathery handpaw of the snow leopard host.

“Mmm, glad you could join us, Purple! Alright everyone, place your bets. Who's gonna win, Big Black or Little Purple?" Marcus teased, raising the two hapless balloons into the air, showing them off to the meagre crowd of around twenty four or so people. A betting battle ensued, most seemingly voting for Blitz. The two balloons couldn't help but eagerly await their future, curious to see what it'd feel like to burst but simultaneously frightened by the possibility that it might inhibit their ability to turn back…

Of course, Marcus knew reversal was never in the cards. The solution they'd drunk was a one-way-trip to a life as a cheap party decoration. There was no way to recover the DNA of someone transformed into a toy, either. They technically ceased to be a person legally once the transformation was over, and that took only a little over fifteen minutes at most.

The snow leopard couldn't help but keep up the tradition he'd started back in his early university years, when he turned his dorky roommate of a cow into a cute simple white and black balloon. It lasted only three days before getting all wrinkly and deflated.

From that point on, he popped his birthday balloons during his parties. Each year, he invited some 'fringe friends', with the intent of scoping them out and 'volunteering' them to take part in his fun little annual burstday tradition.

Now, he had well over twenty plus jars in his collection. And soon, the snow leopard would have two more.

Blitz and Louish couldn't help but be momentarily lost in the bliss of being held aloft by those pillowy leathery paws. Marcus's handpaws felt like warm leather cushions. Just the lightest fragrance clung to them, but the cheap balloons reeked of latex that smothered any other aroma.

Nnfff, C-can't… last much longer! Blitz struggled to think. He was spread so tight around the gas filling him that it was like each thought took all his focus, an uphill battle to avoid slipping back into that strangely mindless bliss of being too full to think.

Similarly, Louish found himself utterly enamoured with the sensation of being such a small, vulnerable thing. It was delightful, blissful but… strangely worrying. The knowledge that all balloons didn't last long made the purple balloon hope the transformation would be reversible even if they popped, but the thought of those jars and Medley's interest in them made him all the more nervous about his place in Marcus's welcoming handpaws.

He admired the spheres, pressing them gently against his chest. The smell of their cheap vinyl, the texture of it clinging to his fur. He purred as he gently patted his large pillowy handpaws against the taut surface of the two friends turned balloons. Marcus adored the cheap quality of the resulting transformations caused by the bottle his uncle gifted him, wondering how it must feel to be so taut and easily burst.

He teased the overinflated black balloon with a gentle squeeze, but gulped. The balloon groaned like it was fit to burst, but luckily it held up. “Heh, that's funny. So big, you're about to burst yourself! I hope you look forward to being scraps, tough guy." Marcus teased.

The two creaked, feeling the pressure inside themselves growing as they were forced against one another, Marcus's enormous leather cushion-like handpaws pressed them together gently, playfully at first.

Squirk-grrrn! Krrrk-squeak!

“C'mon, Blitz! You can last longer than this, can't you?" Marcus teased, as the black balloon vibrated, on the cusp of turning into black rubbery confetti. Blitz couldn't even parse what was said, his mind lost in the sound of its taut cheap black vinyl body stretching to accomodate the purple balloon pushed against him, into it. Blitz felt itself reach its limit, then surpass it. For a few milliseconds, Blitz wondered if he was going to outlast the purple balloon.

Squick! Krrrrk-rrrrt!

“Oh-hoho! Louish, sorry pal, maybe you won't make it after all!" Marcus teased, squeezing extra hard and flexing his muscles as he pressed the two against one another, squeezing them between his arms. Louish felt himself stretch too far, his hollow rubbery body squeaking in resistance as it felt the soft cheap vinyl of the black balloon ripple apart against it!

POP!

Blitz's mind blanked in bliss as the black balloon burst apart into a few large pieces of shrivelled black dull vinyl, scattered across Marcus's shoulders, the floor and the table.

“Hahah, wow! I wasn't expecting Blitz to be the first to pop… What a blowover. Oh well, looks like purple wins everybody!" Marcus exclaimed, gently tossing the remaining purple balloon into the air, only to catch it again a few seconds later.

Louish was shocked and surprised by his survival, his emptier hollow body retaining enough elasticity to avoid bursting against his overinflated friend! The black scraps of the former otter were scooped up by the hands of some of Marcus's longest-term friends, the ones who'd seen others pop but hadn't said anything. Others still recorded the show, unswayed by the unceremonious bursting of the former otter.

With just the diminutive purple balloon left, Marcus snickered and squeezed Louish playfully between his round, thick handpaws. The sensation was oddly intimate and teasing, feeling the air pressure warp and stretch, his balloony body squeezed and let go, tossed gently into the air.

“Hard to believe you beat Blitz, but I guess I can see why. You're pretty durable when your not so full, despite how cheap you are. Well, let's test out your durability, Louish!" Marcus teased as he tossed him into the air one more time.

I can turn back, he's going to turn us back, this can't be permanent! Louish thought frantically ashe was flung into the air, disoriented as the purple balloon spun above the heads of various coworkers. All of them recognized the purple balloon for who it had been, a few snickering at the sight of them rotating before the large leathery paws reached up and caught him, dragging him down to Marcus's chest again.

“Bye bye, balloon~" Marcus said without warning, squeezed the purple balloon as tightly as he could muster between his handpaws. With a grunt, the purple balloon's starry pattern faded as Louish felt himself go impossibly taut! Marcus's arms wrapped around him, compressing the purple balloon until it bulged transluscently through his thick handpaws.

CRRRK!-SQUIRK! Grrrrnn...

Mmmnff! C-can't, huff… nnff!

Krrrk-grrrn!

“Mnnff, you're a durable little toy, I'll give you that!" Marcus grunted as he squeezed a little tighter. Louish felt shocks of euphoria spread across his simple vinyl bubble of a body, cracking apart as he anticlimatically burst into a few generous shreds of purple.

POP!

Louish's essence burst to cheap shrivelled scraps of dull purple vinyl, one landing on Marcus's head between his ears. He picked the scrap off his head and snickered at the mindless scrap between his large fingertips.

“I hope you all enjoyed yourselves, that's that! Guess everyone who voted on the big black balloon loses, you guys can pay for us winners' drinks when we hit the club!" Marcus shouted as he twisted the lid onto the last of the three jars. This one contained the shredded purple rubber of Louish, still in explosive bliss after bursting into pieces. Unbeknownst to him, he was sitting next to two jars filled with black scraps. Medley and Blitz, respectively.

After the party, the jars were labeled with some masking tape and sharpie, but Marcus would eventually strip the simple labels when he packed up his collection for the night. The adorable decorations would be pulled out for every one of Marcus's future birthdays, but that wasn't the only time they'd be seen.

No, far from it! The videos recorded that night were spread across the net, shared with dozens of Marcus's friends and beyond. Uncut footage of Medley, Blitz and Louish turning into party balloons and being burst unceremoniously by the birthday boy would crop up regularly on a ton of different sites, the balloons mocked for their cheap quality. Comparing them to how the last ones held up, complaining about how two of them turned into simple blank black balloons.

Of course, Marcus never cared about the social media publicity that much, he just liked to revisit the nights he turned certain friends into balloons…

And that night wouldn't be quickly forgotten. At least, not until he burst five of his “friends" in a modified game of truth or dare.