All right, here we go. Sorry if it's a bit slow here; we're in the calm before the storm, it's gonna get alot more interesting soon enough.
Next update- a new character joins our intrepid duo!
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After satiating The Body on plants and insects again (And an unlucky squirrel she accidentally snared in one of her tentacle-whips before she saw it) Mary made her way home. Midway there the cloud cover stopped letting the sun through entirely, turning dark briefly before starting to rain.
"Better get inside..." Mary mumbled as she looked up at the sky, wincing as a drop of rain landed in her eye. Mary went to wipe her eye, but by te time her hand reached her face she'd already "drank" the water. Mary noticed with a start that she was "drinking" the water as soon as it landed on her- even as the rain began to get heavier she was more or less dry. But where The Flesh drank...
Mary broke into a run for her apartment as the skies rumbled. She knew if it started raining in earnest she'd bloat up like a balloon, and she culdn't afford to let the flesh-tentacles out in the wild. She could taste every drop of rain as it fell on her, and it was starting to build up- already she felt the undersides of her arms getting baggy, her stomach buldging only just noticably with fat.
"Come on..." She muttered to herself as she ran, her apartment complex a swatch of peach-colored stucco between the pines and firs. She willed her body to be faster, uncertain of how or what but just wanting to be faster. "You're supposed to have the knowledge of all these different animals, right?" She said to herself as her face filled out with fat, jowls bouncing slightly with every stride. "So make me fast!"
Mary was almost thrown into a tree as her strides suddenly became great bounds, each step launching her over a dozen feet forward. Mary could feel that her feet and legs had changed somewhat, but with the momentum she'd built up she didn't dare stop to look for fear of running headlong into a tree. The trees thinned as she approached the parking lot, but Mary didn't slow down; the water-weight was beginning to strain at her clothes, she needed to get inside pronto. With a few strides across the parking lot, Mary closed the distance to her apartment, leaping bodily all the way up to the second-floor hallway and going into Katie's old apartment.
Mary had already begun to shed the tentacles as she shut the door behind her, the pockets of fat bunching up and dripping off of her to go help expand her "lair". Once again she noticed they'd curled up around her furniture, and Mary mentally pushed them back into the corner. She stopped for a second and looked down, realizing she'd reverted back to her human feet without even noticing it. She was also aware that for as hard and fast as she'd ran, she wasn't out of breath in the slightest. She was, however, hungry. Mary went to the fridge and gorged herself for a few minutes, being careful not to lose herself in the sensation. She pulled herself away from the food, if a bit reluctantly, and went to check on her laundry. She took the sheets from the washer and shoved them in the dryer, her hands and fingers spreading to grab all the laundry at once. "Boy this is handy, except for the whole 'Parasite' thing," Mary chuckled as she grew extra arms to turn dials and push buttons and toss in fabric softener as needed.
Laundry done, Mary went into her bedroom, turning on her computer. She had an idea about who to ask about her little parasite problem. Firing up her intenet browser, she went to the website for the Center for Disease Control and looked around for contact information. After a bit of searching, she was able to find a link that would allow her to send an "alert" for dangerous infections or plagues. "I suppose this counts as a plague, though a well-contained one... so far." Mary wrote the message out, trying to sound as specific as she could without sounding crazy:
"To whom it may concern:
I have recently come into contact with a parasitic organism that affects human hosts. While it does not appear to be lethal or contaigous, the effects are nonetheless serious and... disturbing. No ordinary remedies appear to be helpful. What can I do to get the CDC to study this new parasite?"
Mary sent the message along with her contact info and stepped back from the computer. She hoped she'd be able to find some sort of answer while she was still able to keep it more or less under control.
Mary passed the rest of the day uneventfully. The rain was a minor annoyance, the hole the parasite-laden meteorite had punched in her room was patched up by commanding a small clot of the lair tentacles to cover the hole and stay there. It was a good enough temporary fix, and Mary had to admit she liked the sensation of the rainwater hitting her, even if the piece of "her" that was getting wet was little more than a wad of ropey flesh. When Mary heard Katie come home that night, she stuck her head down through the hole in the ceiling to see how she was doing.
"Hey there," Mary said, causing Katie to jump back and grab her bag to her chest.,
"Oh! Oh, it's you. Good grief, girl, don't do that to me!" Katie said, setting her bag on the table and running an hand back over her hair.
"Ooo, haunted apartment..." Mary countered, making a goofy face and shaking her head back and forth. "You're looking good- glad to see that last injection took."
"Yeah, looks like it," Katie said, looking down at herself. "Haven't felt anything wierd at all." SHe looked back up at Mary and frowned. "Too bad you can't do it for yourself."
"Well, I wrote to the CDC today, asking for advice."
"Say what?" Katie snapped.
"Don't worry, I was vague enough so they shouldn't be coming around looking to lock me in an oversized test tube or anything. Hopefully they can at least point me in the right direction, because something needs to happen here. I drank bleach this afternoon for crying out loud."
"Bleach?" Katie asked. "Bleach. You drank bleach."
"What?" Mary said, feeling like she was being picked on. "It was just a little bit..."
Katie just shook her head. "Can you come down here? It's wigging me out to have to talk to you through the hole in the floor."
"Sure, I'll just-"
"NOT through the hole." Katie orderd, and Mary stopped her attempt to push herself through the hole in the floor.
"Okay, okay, geeze..." Mary said, pulling her head into her own apartment and leaving out the door.
"So what's this nonsense about the CDC?" Katie asked once Mary was back inside her apartment.
"Oh, nothing really. Just a quick e-mail question about parasites. Hopefully I'll get a response back and we can start figuring out how to get rid of this stuff."
Katie took her mug of tea and sat at the kitchen table. "I've been thinking about that, Mary..." She started, sounding particularly serious.
"...Thinking about what?" Mary said, taking a seat across from her.
"'Getting rid of it', as you said. After what you did to me earlier-"
"Katie, I said I swore I'd never do that again!" Mary said, frowning. "You've got to believe me!"
"I do! I do!" Katie quickly assured her friend. "It's just... well..."
"Well, what?"
"I don't know if Mr. Body will let it be up to you if it comes down to it."
A chill ran over Mary's skin, like she'd been immersed in cold water. "...What do you mean, Katie?"
Katie took a big gulp of tea before rising from her seat and pacing the small kitchen. "Let's say we find a way to kill this... whatever it is."
"Without killing me," Mary added.
"Right," Katie continued, "But even if we do, it's going to fight back. Nothing wants to die, it'll try to stay alive."
"And?"
"And, well, what if it tries to use me? Like, in a bad way?" Katie asked, still pacing. "I know you've got some protection as the 'brain' or 'mind' or whatever, but you said it yourself, this thing sees me as little more than a walking lunchbox. If that thing somehow took me over and sent me after you..."
"what, you'd smother me with your giant boobs?" Mary said, trying to make light of the situation.
"I'm serious, Mary!" Katie said, stamping her foot on the ground. "If it can change me one way, what's keeping it from changing me another? All fangs and claws and stuff?"
"Katie, Katie," Mary said, rising from her chair and taking Katie's head in her hands. "Look at me. We're friends. I'd never let that happen. I'd toss myelf in a furnace before I let anything bad happen to you."
"...You mean it?" Katie said, eyes brimming with tears.
"I promise," Mary said, taking Katie's head to her shoulder and hugging her.
"We'll figure this out, Katie, you'll see. Everything will be fine."