Re: New TF Story
 

Thanks for continuing the story Soy!!! Luv how it's going!

Re: New TF Story
 

Whoop, sorry mate. I didn't even think to comment here on it. ^^;
You already know what I think and that's that it's spectacular. Again, I love the way Mary and the Body converse with one another. It's a very entertaining relationship! And that was one unique... bird she turned into. ;) Your writing never ceases to entice and enthrall!

heh ..still bugging about that dream, though...

Re: New TF Story
 

Hey Soy :D this is an awesome story :) you a genius at writing :D and Hmmm! makes great art for it :D

Re: New TF Story
 

This is a really great story, certainly worthy of continuation! Heck, I signed up for an account so I could comment.

Can't wait to see what'll come up next. :D

Re: New TF Story
 

Yeah! Now we're rolling again!

Re: New TF Story
 

Here's where things really start to turn ugly. Katie was okay with a little transformation between friends, but out-and-out kidnapping? Someone's going to notice the nurse's disappearance, and who's looking into the handyman's disappearance...?
=========================

"Fabulous," Mary fumed as she looked around for some other way to get down. "Just fabulous." There was no fire escape, no ladder, nothing short of walking off the roof to get down- which, Mary conceded, probably wouldn't hurt her any but she knew there were cameras around ground level; a video of her dropping into a twisted pile and straightening out like a slinky would be all the wrong kinds of attention.
Mary went back to the locked door, hands on her hips as she cocked her head and examined the door. She couldn't squeeze under the door and keep her clothes, and breaking the door down with some sort of spike or claw was out of the question. Mary scratched her lip, trying to figure some way to bypass the lock without breaking it...
Mary paused, pulling her finger back from her face and looking at it, then at the lock.
"If I can make a needle..." Mary said to herself as she walked back to the door, "what about a bobby pin...?"
Mary reached for the doorknob, the "bone" of her index finger already extending out past her fingernail, a long, flat shape that slimmed to fit indie the lock as she pressed it into the door. Mary shut her eyes, relying on her sense of touch alone to feel the tumblers as she moulded the sliver of bone into a key. One, two, three, four, each tumbler clicked into place as she jiggled her finger deeper and deeper into the lock. As mary bit her tongue in concentration, she idly thought back to her criminal law class and wondered if this would still constitute breaking and entering- after all, if you can push a door open with one finger, it's obviously not secured enough to be considered "breaking", right?
"Yes!" Mary exclaimed as her finger finally turned in the lock. She pulled the door open with her other hand, the bony "key" being reassimilated into her finger nearly instantly.

Mary's feet slapped against the steps as she hurried downstairs as fast as her feet allowed in their unaltered state. She all but burst out of the stairwell, quickly scanning down both hallways. Most of the university buildings were built like a figure 8 from a digital alarm clock, the hallways on the outside surrounding the classrooms in the middle and a layer of offices surrounding the entire facade. the stairwell mary just came out of seemed to be in the corner of the "8", and Mary didn't see anything unusual in either direction. She went down the halllway that was the long side of the 8, a light jog striking the balance between her urgency for speed while trying not to draw too much attention to herself. At the middle part of the 8 she turned and went down the shorter hallway, stopping at the T-juncture and looking both ways. When she saw a small knot of students huddled outside a door, she knew she'd found Katie.

Mary hurried over to the bathroom, seeing about six or seven other students huddled around the door to the women's restroom.
"Is katie in there?" Mary asked.
"Yeah, but she's sick or something," An asian student said.
"It's like, really gross or something," One of Mary's classmates echoed, a girl she recognized from her Mediation class. "Any time someone so much as opens the door she yells at them not to come in, something about it's too gross or whatever."
Mary grimmaced.
"Don't you carpool with Katie?" A third student asked. "I see you two together a lot."
"We're neighbors," Mary answered. "I, uh, I brought some medicine for her, it should help her-"
"Medicine?" Came a stern voice from behind her. Mary turned to see the school nurse, an olive-skinned woman in her 30's with her hands on her hips. "What kind of medicine? Let me see it."
Mary instinctively jammed a hand in her pants, knowing she had to fake like there was *something* in the empty pockets.
"It's, uh, organic," Mary said, backing towards the bathroom door.
"Don't give me that homeopathic crap. What've you got there?" The nurse asked, holding her hand out.
"Uh... Ah... It's kind of embarrassing..." Mary stammered, noticing all eyes were on her. Feeling the handle of the door against her back, Mary quickly pinched the skin of her back together where hopefully no one could see, doing a quick turn that pulled the door open just enough to let her spin inside, grabbing the inside handle and slamming the door shut.
"No!" Katie yelled even as the slam echoed through the restroom. "Please, don't come in!"
"Katie, it's me!" Mary yelled as she turned the deadbolt in the door, barely catching the lock before the nurse tried to pull it back open.
"Mary?!" Katie croaked. "Oh, Mary, thank God..."
Mary could tell by Katie's hoarse voice that she'd been crying. "Katie, where are you?" Mary asked, bending down to look under the stall dividers. She couldn't see Katie's feet anywhere.
"In the last stall," Katie sniffed. Mary went to the end of the restroom and opened the last stall.
Katie was sitting on the lid of the toilet seat, her pants bunched up under her knees and her legs drawn up against her chest. Katie's breasts flowed up and over her knees, completely filling the space between the narrow walls of the toilet stall, totally obscuring her arms save for where her hands covered her nipples, large wads of sopping toilet paper clenched in each.
"Oh my God, Katie..." Mary breathed as she approached. "Hold still, I'll fix you right up."
Katie simply craned her neck as Mary reached a hand out, the fang-like needle already protruding out of her fingertip.
"I'm sorry, Katie," Mary said as she injected her friend. "I tried my best."
Almost immediately Katie's skin began to return to its normal dark color, her enormous measurements shrinking down to a more manageable size. Katie sniffed again and put her feet down, standing up as soon as her bosom wasn't wide enough to jam in the doorway. Mary took a step back as Katie hiked her pants back up, pausing until her hips shrunk down to a size that allowed her to close them up. Katie wiped her eyes with a sleeve, fastening up her shirt again, though Mary couldn't help but notice there were a couple buttons missing.
"Three days..." Katie sighed. "Three days away from you the rest of my stinking life."
"I'm so sorry," Mary said again, picking up the wads of milk-soaked toilt paper and throwing them away.
"And what're we gonna do about them?" Katie asked with a half-hearted gesture to the door as she made her way to the sink. Mary could hear the irritation in Katie's voice, but more than that it was obvious she was just too emotionally drained to work up any genuine anger. "What're we gonna tell them? What're we gonna do?"
"Well, you said you were sick," Mary started. "did you, well... do anything in there that could be evidence of it?"
"Aside from leaking milk all over my hands, no," Katie said, turning the faucet on and running her hands under the water.
"Is there any way to fake it?"
"I'm not sticking my finger down my throat, if that's what you mean," Katie said, as sternly as she could muster.
"Well, no, I just meant, well..." Mary thought for a second, rembering what the Body had said about beign able to make things like the slime that had paralyzed the repairman.
"Hang on a sec, let me try something," Mary said, increasingly aware of the incessant pounding on the door. Sooner or later they'd get a janitor or someone with a key, they needed to get out of there fast. Mary focused on her thumb, watching it change shape, thinning and hollowing out until it looked like a leaf off a pitcher plant. She tried to picture in her mind the most foul--smelling thing she could think of, a miasma of the worst of the worst, hoping the Body would be able to interpret the request correctly. She felt a fluid begin to fill in her thumb, and she held it out at arm's length, the scent already beginning to irritate her nostrils. Mary pointer her thumb towards the toilet katie was using, grabbed her thumb in her other hand, and squeezed, a poof of liquid squirting out her transformed digit in a fine mist.

The result was instanteous. Mary flinched away as she turned her thumb back to normal, coughing as she waved a hand in front of her face.
"Pleh! Pwah! There's your evidence," Mary said as she waked over to Katie.
"What do you- or lordy, that's nasty!" Katie said, her face similarly scrunching up.
"Come on, let's get out of here," Mary said. "Fold your arms over your stomach and I'll put your suit coat over you so you can hide the button holes."
Katie nodded and shrugged out of her suitcoat, handing it to Mary as she wrapped her arms around herself. "It was so terrible, Mary..."
"Turning into something like that in the middle of class?" Mary asked as she placed the coat over her friend's shoulders. "I'll bet."
"Not just that," Katie said.
"Where're your car keys?" Mary interrupted, looking around. "Not still in class, are they?"
"In my purse," Katie said, pointing with one hand towards the corner of the restroom. "Dropped my purse soon as I got in here."
Mary found Katie's purse and slung it over her shoulder. "All right, let's go," she said as she went to the door, one arm around her friend. "Look sick."

With her free hand, Mary undid the lock and opened the door, leading Katie through first with a soft push on her back. As Mary had hoped, any indignant anger over being locked out evaporated when they sak Katie, worn and tear-stained as her face was.
"...what happened in there?" The nurse finally demanded.
"I don't wanna talk about it," Katie said simply.
"Are you okay?" the girl from Mediation class asked.
"I wanna go home," Katie answered. "Katie, let's go home."
"Sure thing, Katie," Mary said, Leading her down the hall towards the elevators. They made it a few steps before the scent finally reached the door, a cacophany of "Eww"s and "Ugh"s leaving Mary with little doubt that their cover story would be accepted ipso facto, especially considering the actual cause of the stench would be left up the imaginations of the onlooker where it would certainly be more terrible than any explanation Mary could come up with.
"All right, all right, get out of here," Mary heard the nurse saying as she hit the elevator button. "This room's closed down until the janitor can go through it with enough bleach to kill a lake."
As Mary and Katie went into the elevator, they both breathed a sigh of relief.
"I'm so sorry, Katie," Mary said, leaning against the side wall.
"No, I was stupid," Katie said, shaking her head. "Just trusting- hoping- it'd work forever. 'Always do your research first', right?"
"Heh," Mary chuckled, smiling somewhat.
"Like I was saying before," Katie said, lowering her voice to a whisper as the doors opened and shuffling out with Mary beside her, "The actual change wasn't the worst part."
"What was?" Mary asked as she pushed open one side of the front double-doors.
"The worst part," Katie said as they got outside, "Was that it felt good."
"What?" Mary asked.
"I didn't *enjoy* it," Katie quickly clarified, "But it still felt good. Like, it tickled me in a way that those parts aren't ticklish in. It was really wierd."

Mary's repy died halfway up he throat as she heard the Nurse's pumps clicking on the asphalt behind her.
"I still want to know what you gave her and why you had to lock the rest of us out of the bathroom to administer it," She said as soon as she was within certain earshot.
"She said she didn't want to talk about it," Mary said as they closed in on Katie's car.
"I don't care," the nurse said, "not when you're administering who-knows-what on school grounds, on my watch. It's my ass if she gets some bad side-effect or whatever from whatever hippie crap you gave her."
Mary's blood went cold as she felt the first twinges of the Body deep within her. "So the pheremones you released to disperse the predators didn't work...?"
"No. NO.", Mary yelled in her head. "You can NOT eat her. Not here." She realized her fingers were digging in to Katie's arm. "Uh, katie, go ahead and get in," she said, handing Katie her purse and guiding her around to the passenger side.
The nurse went and stoop behind the bumper of Katie's car, hands on her hips. "Look, I'm not leaving until you at least give me a name," She said. "Something I can look up on the PDR and know whether or not you poisoned that poor girl."
"Is she a predator?" The Body asked as Mary went around to the driver's side door. "One like you warned us about?"
"No!" Mary said, "And she's not prey either!"
"A 'friend' meat?"
"No! She's, uh, a healer," Mary said, fidgeting from side to side as she waited for Katie to reach over and unlock her door.
"Hey, are you listening to me?" the nurse said as she came around to the driver's side.
"What is a healer?" The Body asked.
"It's, uh, nothing you've ever heard of, believe me," Mary said to the nurse. "They, uh, tend to the sick, help deliver babies- er, reproduce, I guess. Not a predator." She continued inwardly to the Body.
"Bullshit," The nurse said as Katie finally, mercifully got the lock on the car open. "I didn't go to school for six years to- hey!" She yelled, clamping a hand on Mary's shoulder as she opened the door to get in.
Maddi felt the needle pierce through her sleeve and into the nurse's hand before she'd even been able to react to the nurse's grip. As the nurse yelled "Ow!" and pulled her had away, Mary spun to face her, wide-eyed and mouth agape.
"What was..." Was as far as the nurse's protest got before her eyes rolled back in her head.
"Shit!" Mary yelled as she lunged for the nurse, grabbing her as she went limp. "Shit, shit, shit!" she continued, throwing her head forward like she was stamping her foot.
"Mary!?" Katie asked, leaning across the center armrest. "Mary, what did you do?"
"The Body shot her full of the same stuff it did you!" Mary said as she pulled the nurse's body towards the backseat. "Katie, Drive! I'll take care of her!"
"But Mary-"
"Drive!" Mary yelled as she grew another arm right out of her side to open the door and started to wrestle the unconsious woman into the backseat.
Katie scooted across to the driver's seat, shutting the door and putting the key into the ignition. Mary, meanwhile, was rapidly reverting to her tentacled form, arms and legs splitting as she pulled, pushed, and dragged the woman into the car, using all of her tentacles to situate the woman on her back, knees bent and feet wedged against the rear driver's side door.
"Go!" Mary yelled, Katie's tires squealing as she tore out of the parking lot and headed for the freeway.

Re: New TF Story
 

Nice story orange.

Re: New TF Story
 

Thanks, a thousand times. Nice plot development.
But please, post a txt attachment, I am lazy to browse the thread and copy paste it :P

EDIT : Did a very dirty copypaste, from the thread, with no special formatting, I'm attaching it if you want to use it.
It remains entirely yours of course.

Re: New TF Story
 

Well that's what you get for sticking your nose where it doesn't belong in a thriller story.

Re: New TF Story
 

Hey, at least she's still alive. Under normal circumstances, you lay hands on the Body and your ass gets eaten.

Re: New TF Story
 

Well, Soy, you've seen it from it's inception all the way to it's finish, but I've uploaded my picture of Tentacle-Mary to my previous post a few pages back.

Uh, care to direct-link it for anyone else who might want to see it, Soy? I still don't know how to do that.. :p

Re: New TF Story
 

http://www.process-productions.com/f...4&postcount=99

It's the little underlined number in the top right corner of every post. ;p

Re: New TF Story
 

OMG! Hmmm!'s drawing are so cool it's no wonder u left this story for Juggalos! :) Anyway, Hmmm! I was just wondering if u could perhaps draw a pic of her trying to stand up in the tentacle form cos I can't really see her "legs" from here. ;)

Re: New TF Story
 

Well, she doesn't really have legs t the moment, just a mass of tentacles...

But don't worry, you'll be seeing more of Mary and Katie in the future. ;)

Re: New TF Story
 

http://spiralingstaircase.deviantart...art-1-91416019 the story there reminds me of something xD
EDIT : oops didn't see SO's post.
So there is the DA link.


Great one.

Re: New TF Story
 

Ohhhh... the suspense is killing me! Can't wait to see the next part of the story! Soy, your writing's too good! I practically check this page every 30 minutes just to see if you've added content! Please oh please continue! :)

Re: New TF Story
 

Sorry about that- been devoting my efforts to finishing up the next part of the Juggalos story. I've done some work on Mary's story, but I'm in a bit of a creative jam at the moment over one particular scene. Once that's done, though, I should have some more to put up here. :)

Re: New TF Story
 

Yeesh, two weeks to get over my writer's block. >.<

Well, hope you enjoy! :D
============================================
"Go!" Mary yelled, Katie's tires squealing as she tore out of the parking lot and headed for the freeway.
As Katie sped up the onramp, Mary watched, hunched in the footwells, her arms and legs little more than masses of tentacles filling every nook and cranny under the seats as she "sat" behind the passenger-side seat.
"Mary, what did you do to her?" Katie demanded as she sped home in the left-hand lane.
"She grabbed me!" Mary said, flopping over into the front seat and re-forming her limbs. The nurse was hidden enough, but Mary's forest-green head and dreadlocks was just too noticable. "I didn't even get a chance to argue like I did with you!"
"But how- wait, argue?" Katie asked, stealing a glance as Mary's skin returned to its normal color.
"Er, yeah," Mary said. "I had to convince the Body not to eat you. Wasn't easy."
Katie was silent for a while, save for the click-click of her lane-change indicator. "...Thanks, Mary," She said after a while. "I don't know if I said it already, what with the boobzilla thing, but thanks for going to bat for me. I know it couldn't have been easy. I mean, I don't even know for sure if this 'Body' person...entity... *thing* exists, but if you kept it from killing me, thanks."
"Come on," Mary said, "What choice did I have? I couldn't-"
"Bwurrrrffffpaahhh," the nurse moand from the back seat, causing Katie and Mary to look behind themselves.
"Uh-oh," Mary said.
"Deal with it," Katie said, "this is our exit."
Mary slid into the back seat again, her torso and limbs sliding around more akin to a snake's body than anything with a human skeletal system.
The nurse was beginning to turn green, just like Katie had. More prominent, however, was her stomach, bloating like an inflating balloon under her clothes. Her limbs didn't seem to be affected much, though Mary did notice her hair being absorbed into her scalp, just like Katie. But then a wedge of green flesh started to grow out the back of her head, the wedge splitting into three ropes of green tentacle as the fused braid seemed to spool out the back of the nurses's head and come to rest in the footwell. The nurse's stomach, now a deep forest green, continued to expand, causing her shirt to ride up until it bunched up under her similarly-expanding breasts.
"Buwooooaaaahhh..." The nurse groaned again, squirming in the backseat. Mary bit her lip as she looked out the window and saw Katie was just passing the grocery store down the street from her apartment complex.
"I hope she doesn't wake up..." Mary said.
"What?!" Katie barked, looking into the backseat. "You can't mean-"
"-Until we get home!" Mary clarified. "Good grief, Katie, I'd never wish to kill someone, come on now..."
"...I think it all depends on who's at the wheel," Katie said. "What happens when the Body decides it doesn't want to wait around for you anymore?"
Mary shivered. "Just drive."

The nurse began to stir just as Katie pulled up, her belly huge and gravid, looking like one of those women you see on the news pregnant with sextuplets. Katie jumped out of the car and opened the rear door, looking around.
"Okay, coast is clear," She said. "Now what do we-"
"Move," Mary said, surging towards the opening even as the nurse attempted to sit up, being thwarted by her ponderous front. Mary flopped out of the car, her arms already masses of tentacles as she hit the ground. She rose up on her leg-tentacles, all the ropey appendages not used for support grabbing and pulling the nurse out of the backseat. The nurse began to struggle, but Mary quickly bound her in tentacles, taking special care to wrap one tentacle around her mouth as Mary lifted her bodily out of the backseat.
"Upstairs," Mary said, holding the nurse above her head. As she ascended the steps to what used to be Katie's apartment, Mary distractedly wondered how she was able to lift the struggling nurse so easily. She quickly forced the thoughts out of her mind as she opened the door with one of her tentacles and rushed inside. To her surprise, her lair was waiting for her, more or less, the mat of slimy tentacles huddled in front of the door. Mary let the nurse down on it, leaving her wrapped up in the tentacles. Mary knelt down close to the nurse, severing herself from the tentacles binding the woman and growing a new set of arms.
"Now look," Mary said in as reassuring a voice as she could manage, "I know this is scary, but I'm not going to hurt you. I'm going to let you go now, so please don't scream."
Mary stood up, a mental command causing the tentacles around the nurse to slacken and become re-absorbed into the lair. The nurse looked around fearfully, then slowly got to her feet.
"Are you okay?" Katie asked.
The nurse nodded, then broke for the door, her hand on the knob before anyone could even react.
"Hey!" Mary yelled, whipping a tentacle arm and catching the nurse in at the end of her fleshy braid just as she got the door open.
"Help! Helllp!" The nurse screamed out the door, until another of Mary's tentacles wrapped around her mouth, dragging her back inside as Katie shut the door, this time making sure to latch the deadbolt.
"Are you stupid?!" Mary hissed as she brought the nurse back to the ground again. "Look at you! Look at yourself! You think anyone's going to think you're anything but some kind of monster?" Mary huffed. "Okay, now, I can leave this on here as long as I need to," She said, tightening the tentacle gag just a little, "So either you agree to use your inside voice or I'll leave the gag in. Which do you want?"
The nurse tried to give a muffled response, but Mary couldn't make it out.
"All right, try again," she said. "Nod if you promise to be quiet."
The nurse nodded several times, and Mary stepped back from the nurse again, keeping herself between the nurse and the door.
"...What did you do to me?" the nurse asked as she got into a sitting position, her enormous belly forcing her to plant her hands behind her to keep from falling backwards.
"You've been infected by a semi-sentient parasitic organism from outer space," Mary said. "It landed during the meteor shower a few days ago and infected me. Katie's the second person to get infected, and you're the third."
"That's insane."
"And yet here you are," Mary said wryly. "Look, I don't think we've been properly introdused. My name's Mary. Mary Carver."
"Shandra Watterson," she said, though she didn't extend her hand. She looked down at her stomach again. "What did you do to me?" She repeated.
"I honestly don't know," Mary said. "That prick you felt on your hand was some sort of transformation shot, making you into what you look like now."
"Why did you do it?"
"Well, I didn't, really."
"Yes you did!" Shandra shot back.
"Look, if you hadn't grabbed me none of this would have happened!" Mary snapped. "Couldn't just leave well enough alone, could you? You just had to keep pushing."
"Me?" Shandra said, shocked. "I'm sorry, I don't think grabbing someone's arm is worth a death sentance!"
"Death sentance?" Mary asked.
"You said it yourself, it's a parasite," Shandra said. "Parasites only use their hosts for as long as the parasite benefits from it. Once you've outlived your usefulness, the parasite moves on. Hell, lots of parasites *rely* on the host dying!"
"That's- I don't think I have to worry about that," Mary said. "At least I don't think so."
"Well, that sure comforts me a whole lot," Shandra said, struggling to her feet. "What about me?"
"I don't know," Mary said. "Katie's been infected for the better part of a week, and she's okay so far."
"Her?" Shandra asked, looking at Katie. "How come she's not green?"
"She is," Mary said. "Er, usually."
"So why isn't she now?"
"Because I can give her an injection- of what, I don't know- that will turn her normal again for a few days."
Shandra's mood changed almost instantly, the edge in her voice withering in desperation. "You- you have a cure?"
Mary shook her head. "Not a cure, no," She said. "A treatment, at best. Temporary."
"Well... did you try going to a real doctor?" Shandra asked, the hope already draining out of her voice.
Katie barked out a laugh before catching herself, but Mary didn't find it particularly funny. "It's an alien parasite that came in on a *meteorite*, it's not like you can throw some penecilin in me and be done with it."
"You don't know-"
"I drank bleach yesterday, Shandra," Mary said, thowing her hands up in an exasperated gesture. "Straight-up *bleach*. *Drank* it."
Shandra was silent for a while, lowering her head. "You're... not going to let me leave, are you?"
"Well, I don't want it to sound like I'm kidnapping you or any-"
"But that's exactly what-" Shandra interrupted.
"I *know* what it is!" Mary snapped as she began to pace the room. "I'm a law student, hello? You think I don't know what kidnapping is? You think I don't know what murder is?"
"Murder?" Shandra gasped, and Mary froze mid-step from her pacing, cringing at her slip of the tongue.
"Look," Mary said, "the sort answer is no. No one can know about me- about any of us- until I've got a better handle on what's happening. I don't want it to be like one of those sci-fi movies where the whole town gets quarantined or bombed or something to kill off the alien or whatever."
Now it was shandra's turn to laugh. "Your idea for dealing with a completely new disease is to ignore it an hope it goes away? Are you kidding me?"
"Not when there's a chance I might be able to convince the disease not to spread," Mary said, crossing her arms. "This thing inside me is sentient, and I'm trying to get some control over it, but it's still at the point where it can take me over if it really sets its mind on it. That why you got transformed, you spooked it and it reacted."
"So nobody knows about this besides us three?" Shandra asked.
"Yeah," Mary replied, "And we need to keep it-"
"Then who's that looking through the curtains?"
Mary and Katie spun towards the window, and Shandra was already at the door by the time Mary could look back around, trying to turn the deadbolt.
"Hey!" Mary yelled, whipping her arm forward and grabbing Shandra by the loop in her fleshy braid. Mary gave a hard pull, and was surprised to see Shandra lifted entirely off her feet, landing hard on the floor and rolling backwards, coming to a stop sitting against the wall in the corner. "Sit!" Mary yelled, feeling the tingle on the back of her neck. "Quiet!" she added.

Shandra opened her mouth, but no sound came out. A look of horror dawned on her as she clamped her hands tightly over her mouth like something was trying to invade it.
"All right, I didn't want to have to do this..." Mary started. Shandra pressed herself into the corner, looking terrified. "I was trying to be nice. I'm trying to give you an option here. But as you can see, I have a much simpler way of doing things. Everyone the Body infects is linked to me, somehow. All I have to do is think it, and I can make you do whatever I want." Mary paused to let it sink in a bit. "Let me be perfectly clear: the will *not* be *any* informing *anyone* about what's happened to me, or any of us, until I say so. I *am* sorry you got dragged into this, but I can't let you leave, not yet. So given that you're staying with us, either you can agree to not shout and yell by choice, or..."
Mary let the "or" hang, and Shandra's frantic head-shaking proved she knew perfectly well what the alternative was.
"Fine," Mary said, drawing a long tentacle out of her lair and having it wrap around the end of Shandra's fleshy braid, effectively leashing Shandra to the Lair. "So you'll just stay here for a while and be nice, right?"
Shandra looked over her shoulder at the tentacle connecting her to the Lair. "...This is like rape, you know," She said, her head down. "Worse, somehow- you've violated me down to the cellular level."
"Shandra, this is bigger than you or me, do you understand? I am the only thing standing between this thing and the rest of the entire freaking *planet.* This parasite wants to kill and eat every single bit of organic life on the face of the Earth."
Shandra's head snapped up to look Mary square in the eye. "You think that makes it okay?" She asked, her voice quivering.
"No," Mary said, standing up and heading for the door, "But it makes it *necessary*."

Re: New TF Story
 

Hoowah! That sure was a fun little agonizing piece of writer's block, wasn't it? ;) Glad to see you found a way through it! It reads smooth as butter, Soy. This thing gets more enticingly involved with each new installment. :D

Re: New TF Story
 

Nurse doesn't learn easily. Stubborness got her mixed up in this in the first place so I doubt it's going to serve her well now. Tsk...

Re: New TF Story
 

I can tell it's going to be a long time before I start to like or trust the Nurse.

Re: New TF Story
 

I added up another drawing for this story if anyone's interested. :)

Here: http://www.process-productions.com/f...4&postcount=99

Re: New TF Story
 

Suggestion: TG. Great story btw.

Re: New TF Story
 

I was thinking about it, but TG just doesn't really seem compatible with the Body's goals. If the Body can't use you as-is, it won't waste energy converting you into something useful; it'll just eat you and look for a better-suited host.

Re: New TF Story
 

I did think about it. The Body needs are quite...needy. Ah well, I'm sure there's a way. Maybe copy 'friend' meat onto a male subject. Or maybe an officer accidentally drinks Katie's milk and becomes reigning Boobzilla. Just a suggestion.

Re: New TF Story
 

Epically done. Personally I'd recommend against new characters for now...give the relationship between the people in the house a chance to develop.

Re: New TF Story
 

Don't worry, there are only two major characters planned for the near future- a specialist from the CDC and the grocery clerk Test-0 came up with.

It'll be a pretty small cast through most of the story, don't worry.

Re: New TF Story
 

Ha not worried, just helping you get the most out of each bit ;)

Re: New TF Story
 

This story is awesome, so awesome in fact that I was wondering if it would be O.K. if I used The Mind, The Body, The Flesh thing in a RP. I?ve already thought up some mechanics to let it work in the home brew game I?m in, I?d have to tone down the great purpose part though, can?t be trying to eat everything.

I also thought up a character suggestion, but I don?t think you want to go to the dark places and questions of sanity that it would bring up. :l

Re: New TF Story
 

I'd honestly have to know how you were planning on using the setting first...

Re: New TF Story
 

No, no not the setting, more the way you did the whole body take over and TF part? You know now that I thing about it I guess I didn?t really need to ask, I?d mix in a lot from the game [Prototype] anyway, it just felt right to ask since you were the inspiration for me to do it. Having a second sentience in you to argue with and that tries to take over now and then could make for some good role play ya know? That and I want to be able to move my physical ability stats around at will. :D

Re: New TF Story
 

Ah, I see. Well, just make it so that once a person was "infected" they'd need to make a fairly decent Will save (Say somewhere around DC 18) in order to change into exactly what they want. ;)

Re: New TF Story
 

Mary Headed down the stairs, not even caring about her tattered clothes as she went into the lower apartment, hearing Katie's footsteps following her down as she opened the door. She started walking to the kitchen, then turned back towards the door, grabbing two big fistfulls of her hair and pulling her fingers through it. As she neared the door, she saw Katie come in, and spun on her heel, pacing back to the kitchen.
"...What the hell was that?" Katie asked as Mary reached the kitchen, her hands on her hips.
"I don't... Rrrgh, that bitch!" Mary said, switching from exasperated to angry. "Where does she get off?"
"Mary..."
"I didn't ask for this!" Mary said, gesturing towards herself. "I didn't mean to get you dragged into this! Or her!"
"Mary-"
"So where does she get off like I've wronged her, like she's any more a victim-"
"Mary!" Katie yelled, clapping her hands together loudly.
"Whaaaat?" Mary yelled back, throwing her arms to the side.
"Well, first off, sister, you need to calm down," Katie said, pointing to Mary. "You're hulking out."
Mary looked down at herself, seeing that her muscle definition had grown considerably, on top of her skin hardening into scaly plates like some sort of armored lizard.
"Rr-rr-rr-rrgh!" Mary said, growling as she shook herself like a wet dog, her body returning to normal as she willed the changes away.
"Sister, you need to chill. Out." Katie said. "Like, right now."
"What, I don't deserve to be upset about all this?" Mary demanded.
"No, but you're getting out of hand with this mind control stuff. What you did in there was over the line."
"What are you talking about?" Mary asked, her face scrunching up in disgust as she shook her head. "What was I supposed to do?"
"Something else," Katie replied, folding her arms and turning away.
Mary rolled her eyes and turned away as well, putting a hand to her forehead.
"You did it to me again in the car," Katie said.
"Do what?" Mary asked, turning back to Katie.
"In the car," Katie said, grabbing her sleeves. "When you yelled 'drive!'"
"No I- did I? Really?"
"Yep," Katie said. "For like a minute all I could do, all I could think about, was doing what you said."
"Katie, I-"
"You said you wouldn't do it anymore," Katie said, biting her lip. "You promised," She continued, turning to Mary. Mary balked when she saw tears in katie's eyes.
"Katie, I didn't mean to-"
"But that's what I'm so scared of," Katie said, wiping her eyes with a cuff. "It's... natural for you. You don't even think about it."
"Katie," Mary started, taking a step towards her friend. "I just- it was just because I was-"
"What? Angry?" Katie shot back, taking a step away. "Whenever something happens you don't like, you just yank on their strings?"
"*Distracted*," Mary pleaded. "I don't ever do it on purpose!"
"Except if someone's making too much noise," Katie shot back, nodding her head to the upstairs apartment.
"I- arrrgh," Mary moaned, putting her face in her hands. "What, would you rather I tied her up and gagged her?"
"Yes!" Katie said, nodding emphatically. "I get that we can't have her out running around, but I'd rather be physically restrained that turned into a zombie!" Katie put her hands back on her hips. "I'd rather be able to choose to scream futilely into a gag than to not be able to speak at all."
Mary plopped down on Katie's couch, resting her head on her hand, elbow on the arm of the couch. The room was silent for a moment, before Katie spoke again.
"You're different, Mary," She said finally. It was soft, barely audible if there'd been any other noise in the room.
"Of course I'm different," Mary mumbled into her hand. "I've got a para-"
"Not like that," Katie interrupted. "You. Mary. Not your guts, but you. The eager freshman that first introduced herself the day I moved in, who showed me around when all I knew of oregon was from here to the airport... you're not acting like my friend."
"Wh- Katie!" Mary said, sitting up straight. "What on earth do you mean? I'm still me in here, I'm still your friend!"
Katie was silent for a heavy moment before taking a step back and leaning against the wall. "I dunno. I know you've been going through a lot, but..."
"Katie, I came and got you at school just now, didn't I? I mean, you would not believe the kind of butt-ugly beast I had to turn into to get over there without a car!"
"But was that really for me?" Katie asked as she slid down the wall to sit on the floor.
"What do you mean, 'was it for you'?" Mary aske dincredulously. "Who else could it be for?"
"You keep saying how concerned you are with no one seeing us all green and tentacled. Can't see a doctor, can't go to the hospital. Why? Afraid we'll get better?"
"No!" Mary said, standing. "Katie, how could you say that? I just don't want anyone getting chopped up like some science experiment!"
"'Anyone' or 'The Body'?" Katie asked, bringing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. "Seems like all of this is mighty convenient for him."
"Katie..."
"Seriously," Katie said, looking up at Mary. "Mary, you don't have a brain anymore. You don't have a heart. How can I know- how can *you* know- that it's not effecting your personality somehow, or something? Don't you remember that chapter on what constitutes being altered to the point beyond criminal responsibility?"
Mary just cocked her head and gave Mary a disapproving look.
"I'm serious. Really, honestly, tell me how you'd know if you were being subtly coerced by this thing. Sure, it's okay to make people your slaves in a sudden burst of anger, but eventually, maybe it'd just be easier to take control of them at really importnt times. Heck, why stop there? Wouldn't it be more convenient to be in control of the all the time? Then you never have to worry!"
"Katie, stop," Mary pleaded. "I know you're still upset about the bathroom thing, but this is crazy. It's just crazy. I'm not a pod person, I still know who I am and who you are and I'm not going to make anyone my 'slave' because it's 'easier'."
"It just seems convenient everything that happens just happens to make life easier for the Body," Matie said, leaning her head against the wall.
"It's not, Katie, i's me doing my best to muddle through this." Mary said, sitting on the arm of Katie's easy chair.
Katie turned her head away from Mary, swallowing hard.
"Oh, c'mon, Katie!" Mary said, standing up. "What do I gotta- rrrgh!" She said, putting her hands over her ears in consternation. "Okay, look. Look!" She said, grabbing her head tightly between her hands and pulling her head completely off her shoulders. "See?" Mary said, somehow still able to talk. "There's no *hurting* this thing, there's no 'safety' for me to worry about." She pulled her head back down onto her shoulders, the flesh immediately knitting back together. "Everything- *everything* I've done has been to try and keep anyone else from getting hurt, because I *can't* be."
Katie held Mary's gaze for a few moments, then stared down at her knees.
"Mary, I'd kinda like it if you could go back upstairs," she said. "I have homework to do."
"Katie..."
"I'll probably come by tonight or in the morning for another injection," she continued, still as a stone.
Mary frowned, taking a step towards the door. "I'd never hurt you, you know."
"That kinda only counts for half of 'you', though, doesn't it?"
Mary looked away from katie and opened the door. "I'm sorry," she said.
"Yeah," Katie replied softly, hugging her knees to herself tighter.

Mary quickly headed up the stairs, trying to keep her shredded clothes inconspicuous. She knew the walls of the apartment complex were paper-thin, and though they had no immediate neighbors, the building Mary and Katie shared had eight aparments in it and she knew at least some of them were occupied. And while the repairman's corpse and effects could be disposed of easily enough, a vigorous shouting match would echo through the empty apartments next to them. Not enough to make out what was being said- she hoped- but enough to raise uncomfortable levels of curiosity.
"Don't even start," Mary said as she went into her apartment. Shandra was sittin on the edge of Mary's Lair, as far as her fleshy chain would allow. Shandra looked at Mary, scowling, but thought better than to instigate anything with her. Mary flopped down on her couch, putting her hands over her eyes. What could she do? Nothing seemed to be helping, and her control over her own body seemed tenuous at best. She wondered if Katie's words were true- was she really looking out for everyone else, or just herself? Mary considered just going right to a hospital, maybe a military one if need be, somwhere they could actually contain The Body.
"Nooo..." Mary grumbled, shaking her head. As soon as the Body got its first whiff of any real "predators", it would go ballistic. Mary was starting to realize just how strong and resilient the Flesh was- especially after ripping her own head off in a fit of frustration, Mary knew that there wasn't much short of nuclear holocaust that would truly harm the Flesh. The Flesh was like the AIDS virus or something, if even more malevolent- nothing hurt it, at least not enough to kill it.
Mary blinked and sat up, remembering her e-mail to the CDC the other day. Though she doubted a place as busy as that would have responded to such a vague message, it was worth checking. If nothing else it would keep her mind occupied for a few minutes. Mary trurned and stood up off the couch, only to fall flat on her face on her coffee table. As Mary rolled off the table, dazed but otherwise unhurt from the fall, she looked down at herself and found that in her frustration, absent-mindedness, or both, her legs had seperated into tentacles once more. Mary firmed her legs into something suitable for walking again and got up, shaking her head. She looked over to Shandra, who was attempting (though apparently not very hard) to hide a vindictive smirk at Mary's face-plant. Mary just sighed and went to her desk.

To her surprise, there was a response from the CDC, equally as brief as Mary's initial message:
"Thank you for bringing this to our attention. If you could send a sample of this parasite to our headquarters in Atlanta we will provide a diagnosis as soon as possible. Please refer to our *common parasites* and *collection guidelines* pages for assistance."
"Well, that's a whole lot of help..." Mary muttered to herself as she composed another message.

"To Whom it may concern:

I regret to inform that I cannot acquire a sample of the parasitic organism without damaging the host. Although the parasite does not appear to be harmful in its present stage, attempting to seperate with the host appears as though it could be injurous or even fatal. I checked with my local doctor and he said he'd never seen anything like it before." Mary paused for a second, before shrugging her shoulders and going for broke. "Worse, it appears as if the parasite *is* contaigous, as it has passed into two other people I've come into recent contact with. Please send a representative as soon as possible." Mary put in her address and sent it off. Underneath it in her inbox was a letter from her mother, which Mary skimmed through before deleting. There was no point in even trying to talk to her at this point; Mary would rather face a lecture for not talking to her mother in a month than have her find out what she'd become.

Mary tried to amuse herself on her computer, but remained restless. She had too much to do, too much to think about, and the only people she could talk to about it either distrusted her or openly hated her. Mary sighed as she pushed away from the computer, the familiar grumblings of her stomach (or what passed for it) prodding her towards the kitchen. Mary ate, the familiar swelling focusing once more on her breasts, and though she stopped after ingesting what she considered a generous amount, she was still a little bit hungry. Mary reluctanly closed the refridgerator door, knowing neither she nor Katie had the funds to support how much she'd like* to eat- the trick was just keeping the Body satiated enough so it didn't need to start improvising things and people to make food out of. Mary looked down, seeing her breasts hanging nearly to her waist, bulging with the raw material of her tentacle-filled body. Mary bit her lip as she looked at the dividing wal that seperated the kitchen from Shandra and her Lair. Hefting a breast in each arm, Mary took a deep breath and squeezed, hugging her breasts to her as hard as she could. A moan escapped unbidden from her mouth as the tentacles began to spill out of her nipples, the thrashing and squirming tendrils sending shivers through her whole body. She jerked as the tentacles landed on the floor with a wet slap, immediately writhing their way around the dividing wall to join the rest of her Lair. Another squeeze, and Mary's knees buckled, a gasp turning into a cry of ecstacy as she landed breasts-first on the floor, the sudden weight and impact sending a gout of slimy tentacles spraying across the kitchen floor.
"Hey...hey!" Shandra called out. "What are you doing over there? What are these things?!"
"Uhhh..." Mary moaned, the last of the tentacles squirming free. Mary panted a few times, awash in the pleasurable tingle that started in her nipples and permeated her entire body. "It was... it was the parasite," Mary said as she got to her hands and knees, "Making more of itself."
"Well why do they have to come towards me?" Shandra said, disgusted.
"It's... trying to build a Lair," Mary said as she stood, re-adjusting her top and pulling her hair back behind her. "They won't hurt you."
"Any more than they already have?" Shandra shot back. Mary rounded the dividing wall to find Shandrea pressed into the corner of her Lair, looking disdainfully at the new tentacles that were winding their way into the outside edge of the fleshy mat, expanding the boundaries of her Lair by a few more inches.
"Don't worry about it," Mary said, trying to wave Shandra off. "Look, are you hungry? I've got food."
"No," Shandra snapped. "I'm not hungry."
"Okay, okay," Mary said, putting her hands in the air. "You know what, fine, I'm going out." Mary started to turn away, then paused and turned back to Shandra. She pulled one of the tentacles out of her Lair with a thought, wrapping it around Shandra's mouth in a gag despite her attempts to hold it off.
"There," Mary said. "Yell and scream however much you want now." So saying, she shed her clothes and reached up for the hole in the roof, pulling herself through with that same topsy-turvy feeling squeezing one's head through a hole the size of a tea saucer always brought. She laid out on the roof, trying to clear her thoughts.
"You are perhaps the most unusual mind we have encounterd in all our great purpose," The Body said.
Mary sighed and slowly shook her head back and forth. "What do you want?" She said aloud.
"Of all the minds that have ever led the Flesh to glory," The Body said, "None have ever had so difficult a problem with predators."
"That's because it's not so black and what here," Mary thought to the Body.
"What does this mean, these 'black and white'?" The Body asked.
"Predator and Prey," Mary clarified. "You think that's all there is and it's just not that way."
"How is it not? Either meat is a threat to the Flesh and is a predator, or it is no threat and is prey. What other purpose does meat serve us?"
Mary put a hand to her face. "It's not about what purpose it serves 'us'..." She said. "They have their own purposes."
"What purpose could be greater than the great purpose of the Flesh?" the Body asked. "To grow and feed and thrive. What is greater than this?"
"There's more than just eating!" Mary said. "There's learning and having a family, and friends!"
"There is no greater knowledge than the knowledge of the Flesh, for what one Flesh knows all Flesh knows," The Body said. "There is no greater means of reproduction than that of the Flesh, for perfect Flesh begets perfect Flesh. There is no greater intimacy than that of the Flesh, for one Flesh is all Flesh."
Mary sighed again.
"So why do you resist? Can you not see the beauty and strength in our great purpose?"
"I don't *want* your great purpose," Mary thought, her brow furrowing.
"Want? What does this mean, 'want'?"
"It means, what if I think this 'great purpose' isn't so great?"
"That... that would be gaind against the will of the Flesh," The Body said, confused. "It would be hindering its growth. It would be against the the wellbeing of the Flesh. It would be a threat."
Mary felt a chill as the Body's tone changed to a decidedly darker shade. "Okay, okay, nevermind," She quickly said. "Just forget I said anything."
There was silence for a few seconds, Mary opening her eyes to stare up at the stars, wondering which little blip of light out there was the one she should wish had gone into a supernova before this damnable parasite ever came to be more than a one-celled organism.
"Such a strange world..." The Body finally said.
Mary shook her head and rolled over, squeezing her way back down through the hole in her roof, leaving behind a small wad of tentacles in case it rained again.

Mary found Shandra sitting cross-legged on her Lair, rocking back and forth as best she was able with her huge stomach. Mary loosened Shandra's gag, the tentacle flopping to the floor and re-assimilating itself into the green fleshy mat. Shandra scowled at Mary, but her eyes said something altogether different, nearly pealding in their sadness.
"...Do you need something?" Mary asked, a brow arched.
"N-No," Shandra said, looking away and clutching her stomach tightly in her arms. "Nothing."
"I'd, us, offer you a pillow or a blanket or something, but I'm pretty sure they'll eat it," Mary offered, gesturing at the tentacles.
"I don't want to- want anything," Shandra said, still rocking.
"You're sure?" Mary asked, noting Shandra's odd behavior.
Shandra just nodded vigorousy.
"All right," Mary shrugged, before heading for her bedroom. "Now don't forget, I can hear, see, smell, everything through those things, so don't try anything funny or I'll know about it," She warned. When Shandra didn't reply, Mary went ahead and got in bed, leaving her bedroom door open just in case.

Re: New TF Story
 

Incredible, can't wait for more!

Re: New TF Story
 

First, this is an awesome story. Thank you for allowing us into your world. I would have gotten in on this thread earlier but I didn't realize that you were posting the story here. I was following the updates at http://spiralingstaircase.deviantart.com/

It reminds me favorably of an old SF book I picked up in a used book store some years ago where the female main character was slowly transformed into an alien lizard-like creature. Yours is far more dynamic and engaging.

I love the way The Flesh is portrayed as not evil but simply inhuman. That it has no sense of morality or decency to appeal to, just practicality.

Mary having moments of fun with the whole thing makes the serious moments hit that much harder. Since we are seeing things from her perspective and know what The Body wants we, like Mary, can fail to appreciate how alien and frightening it is for everyone else.

Katie being decidedly *not* OK with the whole part-of-the-collective mentality as well as being Mary's conscience, with the whole kidnapping the nurse turn of events. That being in a tough situation does not excuse you from doing the right thing is both great and realistic. It really grounds the story and draws the reader in.

I also enjoy the way things go from Funny -> Annoying -> Scary so quickly. It has kind of culminated with both Katie reverting while at school and coming to the realization that she can never be more than 3 days away from Mary for the rest of her life. I mean they're friends and all but forever?

As well as the whole subservience thing. No matter how much you know or trust someone you would never give them that kind of power over you. And made doubly scary by Katie's accusation that Mary is no longer acting like the Mary she was only two days ago. She tells Katie that she didn't do it on purpose but how can Katie be sure what Mary is saying is the truth? How can she be sure that this really is Mary at all? As she demonstrated to Katie she is just a bunch of tentacles and when she no longer has a heart, bones or a brain is it really her any longer? Is she really Mary or just a pile of tentacles that looks and sounds like Mary? What was initially funny when Katie called her 'silly putty' has now become very frightening.

Mary is still holding on to the notion that she can somehow be cured when physically there is nothing left of her old form. Despite the facts that when she moves there are no bones involved, when she speaks she isn't using lungs and when she thinks there are no longer a brain or synapses there. I can't wait to see how she reacts when she realizes this. Whether the story ends happily or tragically it will be eagerly read.

Re: New TF Story
 

I think that's the best compliment/critique of the story I've had yet. :D

I'm glad to see someone recognize and appreciate the emotional and moral complexity I'm trying to work into the story. It's hard to balance trying to make the transformations sexy and interesting without having the story suffer for it. Thanks a lot. :)

Re: New TF Story
 

I have really been enjoying your story. I especially like how your try to avoid mental conversions. I agree with you that it is worse than rape in some ways. I personally would rather have my arms and legs chopped off rather than have my mind tampered with. I am wondering though, The Flesh seems to have the ability to reason and has some base emotions such as fear, do you plan on making The Flesh a dynamic character with the possibility to get complex emotions such as jealousy, or leave it as a static character only wanting more food and begrudgingly following the will of The Mind?

As for the recent turn of events concerning the nurse, I don't see her really going anywhere, as she most likely will always be stuck inside the apartment unless her mind is change even more. But considering how you have worked with the characters so far I assume that you have a plan for her.

I also would like to ask, have you addressed or plan too address what happens when the entire food supply of a planet is consumed by The Flesh? Would it become self sustaining, turn cannibalistic or just escape the planet leaving it an empty husk barren of life bar microorganisms?

Keep Up the good work.

Re: New TF Story
 

When the Flesh has consumed everything it can on a planet, the mass forms into several volcano-like "Launchers" that spit the meteorite "seeds" into deep space. While it's inevitable that most of them will impact on liefless planets or be sucked into the gravitational pull of a sun, eventually one of them will peg into a life-sustaining world and the process can begin again.

Re: New TF Story
 

Sneak peek at an upcoming character:

http://test-0.deviantart.com/art/Someone-New-97250955

Re: New TF Story
 

Interesting...teh nurse is comin' !

Re: New TF Story
 

Close, but no cigar. ;)

Re: New TF Story
 

Well I'll just keep waiting eagerly for the answer in the next installment !
Back to Spore, maybe I'll try designing the flying creature from the past chapter...

Re: New TF Story
 

Awesome! I love multi-boob. I can't wait to see this new character!

Re: New TF Story
 

She makes a cameo in the naxt chapter's picture, but she mon't be a regular character for a little while yet. :o

Re: New TF Story
 

Not the longest update, but we finally get to see what The Body did to Shandra... :D

And what happens when you try to deprive The Flesh of food for too long. @_@
=======================================
Mary woke to the disorienting sensation of recieving two different sets of sensory input, the detatched sensation of impacts and yelling being picked up by her Lair. As her senses cleared, she could hear Shandra in the living room, making unintelligable yelps and snarls like some sort of raving lunatic. Mary lunged out of bed, wondering what on earth was going on. When she came into the living room, she halted in shock, not knowing how to process what she was seeing.
Shandra was thrashing around in a veritable frenzy, reaching, straining towards the kitchen like she was posessed. She was reaching, pulling, the fleshy, looped appendage coming back off her head pulling mightily against the tentacle "leash" that tied her to Mary's lair. Mary could see scratch and maybe even bite marks on the corner of the dividing wall, as Shandra tried desperately to pull herself around it and into the kitchen. Shandra snarled as she whipped back around to the wall of her lair, grabbing her tentacle-leash and pulling on it as hard as she could, yanking on it with her entire body. In the early-morning light coming through her blinds, Shandra looked like some kind of monster, any semblance of control or restraint in her movements obliterated in her feral urgency.
"Shandra!" Mary said, taking a cautious step forward.
Shandra's head whipped around to look at Mary, Shandra diving for her bodily until her leash yanked her head back. Mary jumped back as Shandra reached out to her, practically snarling out her words.
"Hungry!" She gasped, reaching out to Mary. "Please! So hungry..." Shandra lost her footing and slipped to the floor, scrambling back to her feet and lunging for the dividing wall again.
"Shandra, calm down!" Mary said, agog at her struggles.
"Please..." Shandra moaned, looking around the dividing wall. "I- I'm so hungry. Can't stand it! So hungry! You've never been this hungry..."
Mary could see tears in Shandra's eyes and drool streaking the corners of her mouth. She was desperate, wild, and worst of all frightened. Mary snapped the leash loose with a thought, and Shandra dove for the refridgerator, throwing the door open with such force a few of the condiments in the door jumped out of it, clattering to the ground as she grabbed whatever was closest to her, stuffing it in her mouth with the kind of urgency Mary would expect out of someone who had been starving in the desert. Mary watched, awestruck at Shandra's fervor.

It was a good five minutes before Shandra slowed down, and Mary's refridgerator was almost cleaned out- just about everything within arm's reach of the floor where Shandra had fallen was gone, a mess of wrappers and containers pooled around her. Shandra wiped her face on her sleeve, apparently back to her senses now that she'd been fed.
"Are... are you okay?" Mary asked.
Shandra slowly shook her head back and forth, looking like she was drunk or otherwise impaired.
"I..." She started, running her hands over her face one more time. "I've never been so hungry. It was all I could think about, all I could work towards."
Mary frowned. "That's the parasite."
"Did- did you ever-"
"See for yourself," Mary said, pointing to the chewed-away countertop. Shandra just stared, slack-jawed. "Here, lemme help you up," Mary said, reaching a pair of tentacles around Shandra's wrists and hoisting her to her feet. Shandra, apparently still too dazed to resist or complain, just stood there, rubbing her stomach, which was now so Distended it looked like she was attached to a large garbage bag that had been inflated. Mary reached a hand up to comb it through her hair, but paused when she remembered pulling Shandra up with her tentacles. She hadn't thought to make her arms into tentacles. They just did it automatically, as soon as she though "Pull Shandra up" her arms had changed of their own volition. No, that wasn't right, not their own volition- hers. Mary shivered as she realized using the tentacles had seemed the natural thing to do.

Mary's introspection was cut short when Shandra suddenly doubled over, or at least as doubled as her huge stomach allowed, groaning in pain.
"Hnnnng!" She said through gritted teeth, grabbing her stomach. She rocked back, thudding against the dividing wall and sliding down to the floor as another jolt of pain made her moan again. Mary's eyes popped as she saw ripples run across the green flesh of Shandra's belly, like something moving just underneath the surface of a lake.
"Uhhh... Uhnnngghh!" She groad, her hands snapping from the stomach down to her pants, the zipper for which had to be excavated from under her ponderous midsection. She hurriedly scooted out of her pants and underwear, the garments bunching up around her knees.
"Urrr!" She grunted again, before she began taking deep breaths through her mouth, just like she was going into-
"Labor," Mary breathed as the pieces fit in. "You're going into labor."
Either Shandra didn't hear or was too occupied with the turmoil in her abdomen. Mary could see the outline of tentacles buldging against her skin from the outside, as the food she'd eaten was being turned into tentacles at an astonishing rate.
"Ohhh God," she moaned, both hands disappearing beneath her stomach, "Somethings-nnngh- something's coming ouuuut!"
With a wet splash, a literal torrent of tentacles surged out of Shandra, the slimy, worm-like appendages flattening against the floor and pooling, twining together into a patch of lair-floor a few feet from the original. Mary looked at Shandra sympathetically as another contraction birthed more tentacles, the mat of ropey green flesh growing outwards. Shandra's face was contorted as only the emotionally overloaded could manage. Pain, fear, disgust, shame, and- if Mary's own experiences expelling tentacles was any indication- perhaps a bit of pleasure.
"Urrgh! Hrnnngh!" With every push, more and more tentacles flooded out of her, their numbers astonishing Mary.
"Ah, so the meat is well-suited to aiding reporduction. Your counsel was most helpful." Mary heard The Body say. She winced as she recalled what she'd said to The Body to keep her from eating Shandra at Katie's car and sighed. At least she was alive...
"H-h-ho-oh my God..." Shandra whimpered as she rocked back and forth, clutching her stomach, which while now less ponderous still appeared as though she were smuggling a mid-sized beachball under her skin. The torrent of tentacles had slowed, though Mary could see Shandra tensing up occasionally, heralding a lone straggling tentacle joining the growing expanse of her lair.
"Ohmygod... ohmygod..." Shandra repeated, breathing the words out as tears ran down her face. Mary took a tenative step toward Shandra, which caused her to flinch away, curling up into the fetal position as best she could given her stomach.
"Shandra...?" Mary asked, bending over her. "Shandra, are you okay?"
"Wha' didja do ta me?" Shandra whimpered, mouth still pulled tight in a sobbing grimmace.
Mary sighed. "The same thing the parasite did to me," She said, sitting down next to her. Mary reached a hand out to Shandra's head, but she recoiled away at the touch. Mary heard shandra grunt as her knees pressed up against her stomach, followed quickly by the wet slap of another tentackle escaping her body. Shandra sobbed, and Mary reached out again. This time, Shandra didn't tense up at Mary's touch, and she ran her hand along Shandra's bald head, petting her like one would a skittish dog.
""I..." Shandra started, before taking in a long, shuddering breath. "I'm sc-scared."
"I'm here," Mary whispered, petting her head.
"But it's- it's your fault," Shandra said, still hitching breaths, if a bit slower than before.
"I'm still here for you," Mary whispered, continuing her gentle minstrations.
Shandra didn't reply, but Mary saw her shoulders relax a little bit. Mary gently pushed at her lair, a lump of tentacles slowly pushing up to support Shandra's head where she lay. Mary leaned back against the dividing wall herself, closing her eyes. As she was about to go back to sleep, she moved one of her teneacles back around Shandra's braid- tight enough to keep her from fleeing, but long enough to allow her to get to the refridgerator by herself.

Re: New TF Story
 

Nothing short of brilliant, you are. ;)

Now here's my contribution; a new picture uploaded to my previous post!

This one: http://www.process-productions.com/f...4&postcount=99

Re: New TF Story
 

What, no one has anything to say about Shandra? :(

Re: New TF Story
 

To be honest I saw that one coming. Not that it wasn't an unwelcome turn of events. :)

Re: New TF Story
 

Definately waiting on the next installment...

Re: New TF Story
 

I'll be honest, work's been hell these past 2 weeks. I've got some progress on the story so far, but not a lot... :(

Re: New TF Story
 

I just finished reading the story so far, and am bloody impressed. This is really good stuff. I can't wait to see what happens to the CDC representative.

I did notice a few typos, though- while they aren't bad enough to actually ruin it, they do detract slightly from the flow of the story.

Also, Hmmm, I'm liking the pictures. They really capture the feeling of it.

Re: New TF Story
 

I think it is awesome how you have all these details already figured out about the parasite even though it hasn't come up in the story yet. And the story is awesome as well.

Re: New TF Story
 

This was such a good story. Is it not going to be updated anymore?

Re: New TF Story
 

Sorry, been super-busy. I'm actually close to done with the next Juggalos update, and then there's a small standalone story I've been working on, and then I'll be back with MAry.

Plus, I've been super, super busy with non-process stuff recently. Once I'm off for the holidays I'm sure I'll be getting a lot more done story-wise. :)

Re: New TF Story
 

well no worries if its just the real world thats slowing you down. must be hard to work on all those projects at the same time. I was just worried that this was forgotten.

I'm sorry for my selfishness for wanting more and my rude impatience that couldn't last longer that 2 months.

Re: New TF Story
 

*blows dust off of thread*

Hey, I know it's been a long while since Soy or I have done anything for Mary, so have this picture we just finished!

The other pictures can be found here: http://www.process-productions.com/f...4&postcount=99

Re: New TF Story
 

For anyone scratching their heads, this is how Mary sees herself in her dream, the hypothetical ending if Mary just let the Body do whatever it wanted. Sort of the "Game Over" screen, if you will. ;)

Re: New TF Story
 

First saw this on DevArt. Nice to see it's expanded a bit. The new art is nice too. Much better than the Zerg-like thing I imagined! Keep it up, cause this, like other art, with this quality, I can afford to wait!:D

Re: New TF Story
 

Ah, that looks great, hmmm! I think that picture captures Mary's dream quite well!

Soy, any chance we'll see that next chapter up anytime soon? :)

Re: New TF Story
 

Man, it should NOT have taken this long to get any further on this.... -__-

Ayways, here's the next chunk. Things are about to get real ugly in oregon...
===================================
When Mary woke up, she found Shandra's leash draped over her head, Shandra herself rooting in the refridgerator. She'd taken off her long coat and wrapped it around her waist, making a kind of skirt out of it. Turning her head towards the front, Mary saw Shandra's pants being slowly digested by her lair. As Mary sat forward, the large tentacle that leashed Shandra to her lair dropped halfway to the floor before the slack ran out. Shandra took half a step back and turned her head, her tentacle-braid pulling tight behind her.
"Oh," was all she said as she closed the fridge, the skin on her cheek darkening slightly. "You're awake."
"There's nothing to be embarras-" Mary started as she rose to her feet, stopping as she realized she was just plain rising. Mary looked down to see she was supporting herself on eight large tentacles, and her arms were similarly split into a quartet of tentacles each. Mary scowled and turned herself back to normal before continuing. "You don't need to be embarrassed about having to eat so much. We all do," she said, trying to sound empathetic.
"Well, it's not just- hrrk!- that..." Shandra said, another tentacle falling out from under her skirt. Mary and Shandra both looked at the tentacle for a moment as it began slithering towards Mary's lair, before looking back up at each other.
"They pretty much never stop," she continued, putting a hand on her stomach. "I can feel them in there all the time."
"I really am so sorry..." Mary said, frowning.
"Well, if you want to make it up to me, get me those fruit cups in the back of the fridge," she said, gesturing to the door. "I can't reach that far back there."
"Oh, sure," Mary said, stepping past Shandra and opening the door. "Here, take a seat at the table- it reaches that far, right?"
"O-okay," Shandra said, easing herself down into the chair closest to Mary's lair. Mary bent down and grabbed a pair of fruit cups from the back of the refridgerator and set them at the table, almost taking a seat herself but stopping in mid-sit.
"Oh, right," Mary said, going to the back of the kitchen and pulling out the silverware. "Forks."
Mary brought the silverware back to the table, handing one to Shandra and setting her own by her cup. Mary had just peeled the foil back from her cup when Shandra perked up.
"So- so you have any paprika?" She asked.
"Paprika?" Mary echoed as she popped the cube of canteloupe in her mouth.
"I always liked to put paprika on melons," Shandra explained. "Could- do you have any?"
Mary put her fork down and looked over her shoulder at the kitchen. "YOu know, I think so," She said, standing and walking towards her cupboards. "Let me just take a-"
But Shandra was already on her feet, grabbing her fork in a fist and driving it into the back of Mary's neck, the force of the blow knocking Mary to her hands and feet.
"Hey!" She exclaimed, wobbling back up to her feet. Mary heard a scraping sound, and turned just in time to see the tines of her fork sink into her right eye, Shandra burying the fork up to its hilt in Mary's face.

For a moment, time seemed to stop in place. Mary just stood there, frozen in shock, her one intact eye looking at the contorted grimmace of fear and anger in Shandra's face. Eventually, shandra let go of the fork, taking a step back as her rage faded into confusion. Mary, for her part, sighed and shook her head.
"Now what was that for?" she asked, shrugging and putting her hands up.
"You... you..." Shandra started.
"Nooo, this isn't about me," Mary retorted. "I'm asking why you stabbed me."
Shandra backed up a step, tripping on her chair's seat and dropping clumsily back into it.
"Look," Mary said as she grabbed the fork in her eye and pulled it out, the eyeball still speared on the tines like a white cherry tomato, "if you wanna take a stab at me for getting you involved in all this, sure, I can understand that." The eye on the tines began to turn green and unfurl, even as Mary felt The Flesh re-forming a new eye inside her head. "But none of this actually hurts me. If you wanna blow off some steam, be my guest, but if you're looking to actually hurt me, you should probably just give up now." She flicked the fork towards the ground, flinging the speared tentacle off the fork before tossing it back on the table. "Now eat your damn fruit cup."
Shandra just stared, alternately at the fork and at Mary. Thankfully, Katie coming through the front door trying to hide her slick green bosom behind her sleeves gave both of them something else to stare at.
"Maryyyy," Katie whined as she staggered forward, "I thought you fixed this yesterday!"
"I- I thought I did!" Mary said, turning to Katie, her brow furrowing.
"Well, stab me again before I bust my pants!" Katie said. I'm already late for class as it is!" Katie pulled her arms away, catching sight of a dark spot on her sleeve. "Dammit!" She exclaimed, arms falling violently against her expanding hips.
"Wait," Mary said, cocking her head to the side as the needle-fang was about to pierce the skin. Mary slowly placed her palm against the burgeoning flesh, her hand sinking into it ever so slightly.
"Sister, tell me you're not copping a feel while I'm late for school, or so help me..."
"You're ripe," Mary blurted out.
"Huh?" Katie replied, the left-field answer catching her too by surprise to come up with an angry retort.
"I can... read you, or something," Mary said, taking her hand off Katie. "I could smell your heart, hear your guts- I don't even know."
"Focus, Mary," Katie said, snapping her fingers in front of Mary's face twice. "What do you mean, 'ripe'?"
"You- It means you need to get rid of your milk. You're filling up and it's pushing against my shots. And, believe me, when the flesh pushes against you, you lose," She said.
"Okay, so I drain these dumb things and then the shot will work?" She asked. "So get some pots or something, I'm late if you forgot."
"Oh! Right, let's see-" Mary said, turning and looking back at the kitchen.
"Whoa!" Katie exclaimed, her eyes going wide.
"What?!" Mary said, snapping back to look at Katie.
"You've got a fork in your neck!"
"...Oh! Yeah, that. Kinda forgot." Mary turned back to the kitchen, pulling the fork from her neck as she did so. Mary saw the detritus from Shandra gorging herself, and inspiration struck.
"You know what, go to the bathroom," She said to Katie.
"I don't have to pee!" She said, arms now cradling her breasts as she tried to keep her balance.
"No, the tub!" Mary said. Just lean on the rail and empty yourself into the tub!"
"Oh!" Katie said, brightening. "Great idea!"
"Just remember to stop it up!" Mary called after her as Katie waddled towards the bathroom as quickly as she could. "Don't want any of that winding up in the ocean!"
"Right!" Katie yelled, followed shortly thereafter by the sound of a popping seam. "Dammit!" She cursed.

Mary sat back down, using the removed fork to continue eating her fruit cup.
"What strange rituals this meat has," the Body said, causing Mary to bite down on her fork in surprise. Correction, Mary thought as she felt the four loose scraps of metal in her mouth, it caused her to bite through her fork. "It is almost as if the meat were trying to harm the Flesh- but nothing of the Flesh would wish to harm the flesh?"
Mary swallowed the tines, and used the nubs to stab a strawberry half. "Yes, uh, a ritual. It was an expression of dominance. By proving that I could not be hurt, I proved my capability to lead the Flesh on its great purpose," Mary said, wary of their conversation on the roof the night before. "Had I lashed out and harmed her, it would have proved my weakness."
"Interesting," the Body said as sounds of splashing milk echoed from the bathroom. "But if that was the nature of the test, why didn't the meat use something that would actually harm the Flesh?"
Had Mary a gag reflex still, she likely would have choked on her grapes. It was a feat of restraint to not actually ask the Body outright what could hurt it, because she was wary of raising its suspicions. But it was enough for now: by its own admission, the Flesh knew it could be *hurt*.
Mary looked at Shandra, who appeared to be in shock; she was staring dumbly at her fruit cup and fork, mouth hanging slightly open, hardly even blinking, except for when a slight twitch heralded the creation of another tentacle from her stomach.
"All right," Katie said as she shuffled her way out of the bathrom, her pants around her knees while her breasts hung down to her waist. "Gimmie the shot and let me get out of here," Katie grumbled. "I'm going to show up looking like a bag lady. Or go change again and be even later..."
"Sorry, Katie," Mary said, standing up and giving Katie the shot.
"Guh, that's worse than a tetanus booster..." Katie said, wincing. As her curves began to shrink back down to normal, Katie fidgeted her clothes back over them. "Oh, so how'd you wind up with a fork in your neck, anyways?"
"Oh, well, uh, Shandra sorta stabbed me," Mary said, sitting back down.
"She what?" Katie said, pausing with her blouse half-buttoned.
"It's not like it did anything," Mary said, shrugging. "Remember the head thing yesterday? A fork is nothing."
Katie's lips pulled tight as she exhaled sharply out her nose. "You ungrateful bitch," She said, looking at Shandra.
Apparently that was enough to snap Shandra out of her stupor; she turned to Katie, mouth open in befuddled outrage, one corner of her mouth crooked down while one eyebrow furrowed in confusion. The slight tilt of the head completed the ensemble, looking to Mary like a puppy trying to decipher a legal brief.
"You have no *idea* what she's saving you from, do you? That thing inside of her could EAT you in a couple seconds, and you'd be nothing more than a chunk of that green rug over there. Yeah, I know the green thing sucks- hell, do I look like I'm enjoying myself?- but for you to actually take a hand to her like she's not doing you a huge favor just keeping your sorry ass *alive*-" Katie let the words hang as she finished the last button on her blouse. "You've got some real nerve, sister, that's all I'll say about that. If it wasn't for Mary your ass would be dead."
Katie frowned once more at the milk-spot on her sleeve and turned on her heel, stepping over Mary's lair and heading out the door.
"I'll just, uh..." Mary said, gingerly stepping over Shandra's leash and headed for the bathroom.

Mary whistled as she came into the bathroom, seeing her tub filled with a pool of milk. Mary knelt down and stuck her finger down in tub, her brow wising when the milk rose all the way to her top knuckle on her index finger before she hit the bottom.
"Okay, how to do this..." Mary thought, pulling her finger out and putting her hands on her hips. Sighing, she let herself change back the the tentacled shape she had woken up in. For what she was about to do, the thought she needed to go au naturel. Or, unnatural, as the case may be, Mary thought as she dipped one of her tentacles into the tub. Instead of just "drinking" the milk, Mary sucked it up near her shoulder, the tentacle fattening as the liquid filled it. The tentacle bloated, filling with milk like some kind of big green waterskin. Mary moved the end of her tentacle around the bottom of the tub, sucking up as much milk as she could, until she was confident she had gotten it all. She could feel the weight of the gallons and gallons of milk in her tentacle; it looked like she was sporting a duffel bag attached to her shoulder. Gently, Mary pulled on the end of the tentacle, the engorged appendage seperating from her body, another tentacle quickly growing to replace the one she removed. The myriad of senses Mary was expeirence bordered on disorienting. In the same breath, Mary could feel the milk inside of her tentacle-waterskin, her hand gripping the end of said waterskin, as well as Shandra standing on her Lair and ever the tentacle leash wrapped around Shandra's braid. It was a bit like unfocusing one's eyes- she was able to "see" everything around her, but it was indistinct, all the sensations running one into the other. Mary shook her head, trying to focus herself into the here and now, or rather the *her* and now.

Mary formed herself back to normal and carried the sack of milk into the front room, dropping it down in the corner of her lair next to Shandra.
"Wh-what's that?" Shandra asked, eyeing the sloshing green sack suspiciously.
"It's milk," Mary said as she crossed the room to her couch and flopped down.
Shandra's lip curled. "Milk? In *that*?"
"Yup."
There was a brief pause as Shandra let out a small grunt, and Mary felt the presence of the newly-birthed tentacle joining her lair. "You... You don't seriously expect me to drink that, do you?" She asked, regarding the milk-sack with disdain.
Mary thought for a second, arms folded behind her head as she stared at the ceiling. "I guess so," She finally said, putting her feet up on the armrest. "I'm sure you're not thrilled at the prospect, but if it comes down to drinking the milk so you have something in your stomach or starving and going crazy again, you'll take the milk."
Shandra's face immediately dropped, her lips tightening, but Shandra wasn't stupid. Mary knew Shandra's pride and fantasies of resistance wouldn't be enough to allow her to slip back into that feral state. No one would; Mary, certainly, wouldn't ever let herself be reduced to that state. Although, it did bring up some uncomfortable questons. Mary turned on her side, staring into the back of the couch. If, as Katie had talked about, the Body tried to alter her perceptions, would she be able to tell? She'd already used her tentacles when she'd mean to use her regular limbs- could the body do the same thing to her sense of logic, her feelings of right and wrong? Shandra was convinced she was going to starve if she didn't eat immediately- could Maddi somehow be convinced that eating somebody wasn't a bad thing?

Maddi sat up from the couch, looking down at herself. And why wasn't she wearing any clothes, she thought as she stood up and made her way to the bedroom. Sure, she was having a hard time staying the same shape for any appreciable length of time, but that didn't mean she should just give up on clothes. Mary shook her head as she stepped into her panties; there had just been too much going on too quickly. She was losing her head. Got to keep focused, got to stay sharp, she chided herself as she pulled her top over her head. She had a renewed purpose, now; the Body admitted it could be hurt, and now Mary needed to explore that, gently, carefully, so as to not arouse suspicion. Mary was adjusting her top, wondering why it felt smaller than normal, when she realized she was still "using" Katie's measurements from when she'd worn her clothes to the supermarket. Mary quickly deflated herself to her original measurements, sighing a bit at the much less dramatic profile she cut now.

Mary slapped herself in the face, the blow stinging a bit but, of course, doing no lasting damage. "Stop it!" She said to herself. "Stop changing yourself like it's normal! You need to be *you* as much as possible, you've got to hang on to what makes Mary Mary, or else you're gonna get lost in the Flesh!" Mary shook her head once more, clearing her head. Mary took a deep breath and smoothed her clothes, crossing from her bedroom to her bathroom and checking herself out in the mirror. Normal. Human. Looking good. Except...
Mary leaned in close to the mirror, looking at her reflection. Around her pupils, faint but noticable, one could see a green tint in the whites of her eyes. Mary tried to return her eyes to normal, to will away the color, but it stubbornly refused.
"Like a serial killer's calling card..." Mary mused before she remembered she was talking about herself. She smiled at the mirror, happy that at least her teeth were staying white and cavity free despite all the strange things she had been eating.

Mary's self-examination was interrupted as she felt Shandra grab the sack of milk. Apparently she was willing to give it a shot so long as Mary wasn't there to see it. That, or she was beginning to get hungry again and wasn't taking any chances reverting to that feral state. Still, it seemed like it could work out. Katie needed to drain herself regularly, and shandra could use the milk to stave off her cravings. It was almost like two pieces of a jigsaw that fit together- though knowing the Body, that's probably exactly what it was, given that the end result just meant more and more tentacles to build its "lair". Mary shook her head for what felt like the hundredth time. She was getting cabin fever. She needed to get out and go do something or she'd go nuts. But what about Shandra? She couldn't leave her unsupervised.

Then again...

Mary Closed her eyes, and reached out with her consciousness. When she opened her eyes again, it wasn't the ones in her head she was opening; Two eyeballs formed inside the mat of tentacles halfway up her wall, and found them flexible enough to look at Shandra, who was chewing on her lip as she looked at the milk-sack, obviously trying to resist drinking it all down at once. Mary closed her eyes and re-opened them to find herself back in the bathroom where she'd been standing. "Oaky, this wouldn't be so bad," she thought as she stopped in her bedroom to grap a sweater, "I can handle this."
"Okay, here's what's going to happen," Mary said as she walked into the front room, picking a pair of shoes up from the cubby by the door and heading over to her chair. "I'm going to go out for a while, and you're going to be very quiet. You've got two choices: I can gag you, or just keep you from talking. Your choice."
"Do I have to?" She asked.
"Yes. You're on, what, your third escape attempt already? Sorry, you used up all your freebies." Mary said as she slipped her shoes on.
"...I'll take the gag," Shandra said, cringing as a tentacle detatched from Mary's Lair and wrapped itself around her mouth.
"I'm just gonna be gone for a little bit. You just ate, so you should be good to go for a litle while. And remember, I can see, hear, smell, taste, feel, everything in here. You try anything- anything- and there *will* be repercussions."
Shandra just bowed her head, wincing as another tentacle squirmed out of her. Mary opened the door, took half a step out, and turned back to Shandra.
"...Do you need anything while I'm out?" Mary ventured, trying to be diplomatic. Shandra shot her an incredulous look. "Just asking," She shrugged, closing the door behind her.
=================================