The alarm clock went off with a sound between a buzz and a beep, though considering how soundly Shannon had been sleeping it may as well been something between a record scratch and a screaming toddler. She slapped the button, groaning as she sat up and rubbed her eyes before climbing out of bed, throwing on her robe and heading into the kitchen.
For her part Margaret was sitting at the table with a cup of coffee, reading the newspaper. "Morning, Shannon. Sleep well?"
"Kind of. I had a..." Weird sex dream, she almost said. Fortunately she caught herself in time; she didn't want Shannon interrogating her for details, none of which she felt comfortable sharing. "...weird dream. Do we have hot water?"
"For once."
Shannon nodded in approval, walking into the bathroom and shutting the door as she flicked on the light. She was not by any stretch of the imagination a morning person, but looking into the mirror she noticed that she looked better than she normally did. Her skin was clearer; surprisingly so, as it had a newfound healthy sheen to it the likes of which she hadn't seen since... well, ever, really. Not even that trip to the spa last year was this thorough. She felt better than she normally did, too, enough so that she almost didn't need a cup of coffee.
Almost.
*****
The day passed without incident, as did the next. Normally Shannon quickly forgot her dreams but this one stuck with her and, if anything, became more vivid in her mind, eventually culminating in her being distracted by thinking about it in class. She rubbed her eyes, trying to clear the thoughts from her head, when she detected a strange odor. Among the faint, barely-there traces of sweat, perfume and body spray, she picked up the scent of rubber. Part of her knew that it was weaker than the other odors, yet her senses picked up on it easily and found it unmistakably distinct.
Confused, she glanced around, sniffing the air. The room was large and filled with dozens of people, yet she could somehow trace the scent, following it as it trailed back towards the far wall and around a freckled short-haired redhead, clinging to her like an aura. Caitlin something-or-other, Shannon recalled. She remembered seeing her once or twice at campus parties, but aside from that didn't know much at all about her. Nor did she understand how or why she was able to track her across the room, much less through a strange odor, but as she turned back to her notebook the answer came to her in a flash.
-She's like me.-
Shannon cringed at the thought. No, she certainly wasn't, and it wasn't polite to project things like that onto other people. She was letting her mind get the best of her, and in class no less, a highly inappropriate time to obsess about shared sexual predilections.
Fortunately for her class ended soon after, sparing her any further opportunity to be embarrassed in public. As she was gathering up her supplies, Caitlin walked out behind her, and Shannon caught one more strong whiff of rubber as she passed by. Shaking it off, she hurried her packing. The sooner she got back to her dorm room the better.
*****
By the time evening came about, Shannon was running out of things to distract her from her thoughts. Fortunately Margaret was out, so she didn't have to worry about her roommate watching her slow descent from fantasy into outright hallucination. Her clothes had gradually become more uncomfortable, feeling strange against her skin, and she had undone the top few buttons of her blouse in an attempt to ease it. She had long since closed the balcony door in an attempt to blot out Caitlin's scent, which she was somehow able to trace across campus and pinpoint her room with despite never even being in the same building.
"Okay," she said to herself, "something weird is going on here." She plucked at the cuffs of her blouse as she paced her room. "I'm probably just stressed out or something." Frowning, she sat down on the edge of her bed and began unzipping her pants. "Or sick." Stripping them off, she let them fall to the floor, and almost immediately the skin touching her underwear began to crawl. "Geez, what's whats with me today? I must need another shower or something."
Shannon shimmied out of her underwear before undoing the rest of the buttons on her blouse. "She seems like a nice enough person, I suppose." Dropping it on the edge of her bed, she reached behind her and unclasped her bra. "Maybe this is some... subconscious way of saying I need to socialize more with new people. I should go out sometime and talk to her or something."
Standing up, she crossed her room, passing by her mirror. She glanced at it, did a double-take and stopped in her tracks, leaning in for a closer look. Her brown eyes were now a striking shade of deep purple. "What the...?"
She looked down at herself, and a sick feeling formed in the pit of her stomach as blotches of skin across her abdomen quickly turned a shiny candy apple red. She touched the slick patches fearfully as they merged together before spreading up and down across her body. As the color reached her shoulders and thighs a thin goo seeped out from beneath her breasts and around her hips, flowing up and down to form a strapless purple two-piece bikini that for all the world looked as if it were made of tight latex. It quickly covered her limbs, and as it progressed down her legs purple bands appeared around her thighs, oozing down and encasing her feet in thin, flexible stockings.
Shannon stared on in shock as the change consumed her head. As it spread up her jaw she clamped her eyes shut and accidentally bit down on her tongue; there was no pain, only a strange amount of give. The sickness quickly passed, and as she opened them again she watched her brown hair turning to deep purple, the strands thickening as the color flowed down them. Her back prickled, pulled into points before six slender red tentacles stretched into view, three on either side of her, waving lazily in the air. The transformation complete, she stared at herself, unhurt yet changed utterly.
"What...?" Speaking felt strange somehow, as if her insides were different. She turned away from the mirror, looking down at herself in trepidation as she wondered just what happened. Mentally she was the same - at least she thought she was - but physically she looked different and, as she gingerly touched her new body, she felt different as well. The word "elastic" came to mind most readily; as she pressed in on herself with her fingers her flesh gave way, but as she pressed more firmly there was a lesser but still noticeable give in her bones. Or rather, not bone, but simply a denser mass of... whatever she had become. She glanced at the tentacles on either side of her, and as she was wondering how much control she had over them and if she could make them go away, they retracted, disappearing into her back.
While she was afraid, not understanding what happened to her so suddenly, more than that she was confused. Asking someone for help was out of the question; this was something entirely unheard of to her, and even if it wasn't she couldn't imagine going out like this.
...but no one would recognize her. Heck, she barely recognized herself after transforming into... this. As she tried to figure it out something seemed to click and open to her - not a door in her head, but a gate in her heart - as she realized the details of what she could do before what she was.
A wicked smile crossed her lips. "Yeah. I should go out sometime and talk to her... or something."
*****
The building was quiet and calm when Caitlin returned from the library. It was Friday, so there wasn't much of a question as to where everyone else was; lucky for her she was in a position to enjoy it. Unlocking the door she entered the dorm, and as she was debating whether or not to study a bit more when she froze before closing the door behind her.
The floor was littered with balloons.
The sound of another being blown up in her bedroom caught her attention, and she quietly set her bag down before creeping towards the door and peeking in. Reclining on her bed was a woman - certainly not a human one; no person she had ever seen was shiny red with purple lips and hair - in a purple latex two-piece and thigh-highs inflating a balloon using the tip of a red tentacle protruding from her back. The two locked eyes, and the woman gave her an inviting smile as she shifted, turning and sitting on the edge of the bed.
Caitlin looked around as she stepped into her bedroom. She didn't seem dangerous. Nothing at all about this situation seemed dangerous to Caitlin, just... surreal, like she was suddenly part of a secret. "Who are you? What are you doing?"
"Redecorating." Shannon knotted the balloon in her hands and let it drift to the ground, watching it as it fell before taking another balloon out of the bag by her side. "To something a bit more to your tastes."
To anyone else she would have merely looked surprised, but to Shannon, Caitlin wore her guilt like a mask. "What? No, no, this isn't... I mean, I'm not-" There was a loud puff of air and Caitlin cut her words short.
"It's odd, you know. You get along at parties, but at some of them you're so... apprehensive. Like you're trying to keep a secret." She gave Caitlin a knowing glance. "Like there's something in the room that you see differently from other people."
"I- I don't know what you're talking-" Caitlin cringed at the sudden hiss of air as Shannon finished inflating the balloon.
"We both know that's not true," she said, tying it off. "Besides..." She bopped it towards Caitlin, and it floated lazily through the air, stopping just short of her nose before drifting to the floor. "Where do you think I found these?"
Her jaw moved wordlessly as she tried to formulate an explanation, an argument, anything. Shannon simply smiled and stood, gently silencing her before she spoke by putting her finger to her lips. "Don't worry, I'm a friend. Unless..." The tentacle protruding from Shannon's back snaked around, pressing itself into Caitlin's hands. Caitlin looked down at it; the tip had changed, hollowing out and looking like the mouth of one of the many balloons littering the floor. "...you'd like to be more than that."
As Shannon took a step back, Caitlin's eyes nervously flitted between her and the tentacle. She stared at it and, noting Shannon's expectant look, gingerly raised it to her lips and blew.
A small gasp escaped Shannon's lips as her abs billowed out, quickly losing definition as her stomach grew larger than the balloons littering the floor. She ran her fingers across its surface, smiling at Caitlin. A wave of relief visibly washed over Caitlin and, smiling, she blew again; her belly and breasts gained in size, bobbling gently, and her arms and legs visibly thickened.
Caitlin extended an arm, pressing a finger into Shannon's stomach. Despite looking pregnant she felt stretchy and hollow, and she wondered how large she could get.
"Well?" Shannon said. "Don't tell me you're content with just this."
Caitlin resumed puffying away, her breaths magnified as Shannon grew in surges. Her form changed from plump, to fat, to a bouyant caricature of fatness. The shapes separating chest from abdomen disappeared, replaced by a single smooth curve from underneath her arms to her hips. Shannon ran her hands across her taut surface, letting out a moan or gasp with each breath as she grew rounder, her breasts larger, and her limbs thicker.
With another breath, her arms and legs took on a bloated conical shape, swelling up around her wrists and ankles. Her arms were forced straight, resting on either side of her. The next puffs set her body growing in pulses, aborbing more of her limbs as they sank into her and pushing her crotch closer to the floor. By the time Caitlin's breath game out, all that remained of Shannon was a shiny red sphere that rose higher than Caitlin, with two massive domes that were her breasts, faint curves that belied the former presence of arms and legs, and her clothing stretched across her surface.
Caitlin let go of the tentacle and it retracted as she took a weak step back, panting in exhaustion. She looked up at Shannon - all of her - and hesitantly touched her. Shannon's stretched skin let out a quiet series of squeaks as Caitlin ran her hands across it, and Shannon herself let out an, "ooh." Caitlin gave a little breathless laugh, and gently rolled her foward. Her body had swollen up around her neck, her head sunk slightly into her form. Her eyes twinkled with mirth and she smiled. "I hope you're not too tired after all that."
Caitlin let out a loud laugh, wrapping her arms around Shannon as best she could as she buried her face in her canyon of cleavage. "Ohmigod, this is -amazing!- You're a balloon! You're just a giant balloon and- and you feel like it and you -smell- like it and I actually blew you up and you're really -real- and pretty and..." She trailed off, and from between Shannon's breasts she looked up at her, blushing, before rolling her forward. Their lips met, and Caitlin closed her eyes and let out a little moan, melting into her as Shannon kissed her deeply...
...just before blowing into her.
Her cheeks puffed up and her eyes went wide as her body began to grow, straining against her clothes. Her pants were the first to go, the button and zipper forced open as her belly surged forth. The popping of stitches came next as her legs swelled, tearing the fabric apart from her hips down to her ankles. Up top her bra popped open, followed by her t-shirt ripping. Her bra fell free of her body as the shreds of her shirt sliding off her bulging shoulders and over and between her newfound, ballooning breasts.
The rush of her growth was exhilarating. Caitlin tried to reach up and cup Shannon's face in her hands to keep from being pushed away, but her arms were now so plump that she could only reach halfway, and were quickly being forced straight from the growing pneumatic force inside of her. As if sensing her intentions, two tentacles snaked out from Shannon's back and wrapped around the back of Caitlin's head, holding them together. Finding movement difficult, she simply let the warm air fill her, swirling about inside of her body. As she grew and Shannon shrank their size matched briefly before Caitlin began to eclipse her, and she watched as she rapidly grew slimmer, eventually regaining enough of her mobility to cup Caitlin's cheeks in her hands.
Soon Caitlin felt her belly touch the ground just before her feet left the floor, and seconds later her limbs swelled up around her wrists and ankles. There was a quiet creaking and Shannon pulled away, her stomach, breasts and thighs bulging with air and larger than any that Caitlin had seen on a normal person. Her tentacles waved lazily, hissing and expelling air as she blew it out, returning to her normal trim form. She approached Caitlin casually, tracing a small circle on the shallow dome of her left breast. "Well. You probably never imagined that you'd become a balloon."
Caitlin took a few breaths before speaking, taking in the experience. "This is so weird."
"Do you not like it?"
"No! I mean, I- I love it! It's like... everything is tensed up but still relaxed. I'm so full, and yet I can still feel myself swelling up a little every time I breathe." Her eyes went wide. "My toes are touching my shins. This is so -weird-."
"I'm glad you enjoy it." Shannon placed her hands on her, gently rolling her back. "It's an experience I like sharing with people."
"Hey, what are you-" Caitlin shivered and let out a throaty moan as Shannon leaned in, her tongue flicking out as she slowly ran it up the curve of her belly beneath her navel. "Ohmigod."
"Are there any other... experiences you want to share?"
"Oh god, anything."
Shannon laughed and tipped her further back, her tentacles appearing behind her. "As you wish."
*****
The alarm clock went off with a sound between a buzz and a beep, though considering how soundly Shannon had been sleeping it may as well been something between a circular saw and a wailing cat. She reached for the covers, only to find that she was sleeping on top of them. Confused, she opened her eyes, only to find that she was sleeping -naked- on top of them.
Then she remembered why, and spent the rest of the day wishing she hadn't.