With Penance left to her own duties and some time yet before Spider can be expected to show up, Nicora has time to herself to see just what she can change given her current state of pseudo-pregnancy.
Nicora makes sure the door to her chambers is closed and barred, she does not need any mortal intrusions while experimenting ... that would be difficult to explain. She returns to her bed and sits down on it; a bit of a challenge, frankly, given the swollen condition of her multiple teats and her slightly swollen gut. "I will always pull out the chair of a pregnant woman from now on," she mutters. She then looks to her left arm, the one with the itchy flowering green fungus starting and flexes it. "So, maybe just one appendage. This one has fungus ... maybe I could try changing my left arm into Scourge's left forelimb," she mutters, drawing a breath. As she breathes out, out flows the shadow from her right hand, across her lap lime liking oil, to engulf her left arm.
There's numbness starting at the fingers.. but it goes all the way to the elbow soon enough. But there's also some resistance - the effect wants to spread to cover Nicora's entire body. It may be that Scourge-flesh is simply incompatible with Eeee-flesh.
Nicora spends some time trying to force it, but ultimately gives up when it just isn't working and seems to getting close to becoming a danger. "Grr," Nicora mutters, "So, no Scourge while ... egged."She tries to reverse it back to normal and targets something simpler, then ... Snowcora's left arm.
This works out much better, since.. well, there isn't that much difference in the first place. The bones are different lengths, so one arm is now shorter than the other, and the tattoos don't line up anymore.. but the left arm is now effectively human. Even though the Gorphat patterning isn't almost the same, there isn't any glowing fungus attached to this version.
Nicora wiggles the human fingers. "I suppose that would be one way to deal with the itch," she muses, "And it worked! But ... not much difference. Should try a male part, that is more different in theory." Shadow consumes the left arm again ... and her next target form, is Alptraum's left arm!
This time the results are a bit more.. unbalanced. Alptraum is bigger than Nicora, after all, and the arm feels heavy. And instead of mismatched tattoos there is mismatched fur - instead of staying dark and just ending it blends, along with the underlying skin color. This leaves a gray zone near the shoulder where the fur starts to thin before vanishing.
"Okay, funky ... but promising. Lets see if I can extend the shift to Alptraum a bit further," Nicora muses, the shadow drawing back, then coming to engulf her shoulders and upper chest only.
This feels odder. There's more 'blending' required due to size differences. The end result is a broader, deeper chest.. and partially furred lower breasts before the belly ones. It also hurts to breath. Apparently the diaphragm isn't quite large enough.
"Okay, works. Hurts, but works," Nicora winces and wheezes. She extends the shadow down now to work on her abdomen. This is where she has to be careful. She has to restore the outer structure, but leave her internals unchanged!
This is a lot more complicated, due to the many internal differences.. like the size of the bladder. It isn't like changing hair color, either. Even with a larger body to work with, finding space for something the size of two balled-up fists is difficult. The results are.. mixed. Since it's only affecting things above the hips, it does make breathing easier. But everything feels off, and pushed around. It doesn't help that the hips are still the wrong shape for the torso. There are other effects as well, such as throbbing in the legs and neck - the unchanged areas are experiencing higher blood pressure it seems.
One the outside, the breasts are gone, but the gray transition area has moved down further.
"Ugh, ow, this ... not so good," Nicora winces as she stablizes herself on the bed with her arms. Worried about her legs now, Nicora moves the shadow down further, engulfing hips, and legs this time. These she tries to restore to Alptraum's structure, but she tried to leave her vulva and surrounding tissues alone out of concern it may affect the eggs within.
Surprisingly, this is much easier. During the process, there's a brief memory flashback though - of Melusine 'removing' Alptraum's genitals. It may be that which forms the new blended template, along with the original Nicora transformation.
When it is complete, Nicora prods around that area to make sure the female structures are still intact. It's also probably to test if Gorphat's curses are still active in that region. "Guh, Melusine liked to mess with me. She would probably laugh now if she saw me," she thinks.
Since her head hasn't changed, there's still some throbbing up top. Things seem to have reverted to pre-blessing and pre-cursed levels as well.
Nicora tries to 'finish' off the shift by targetting the wings and head, trying to restore them to Alptraum shape.
Things seem fine at first. But then the hormones start actually doing thing to Nictraum's head. The muscles are male, and some of the organs. But the overwhelming number of actual glands are female. It makes for a slight headache at first.. and there's no way to tell if the Eeee is working off a male or female brain.
"Ugh," goes Alptraum as he gets up and heads to the mirror kept in the room. He?'s holding his head and he takes a full look at himself to determine if the form, clothed, could pass okay for Alptraum or not.
It should, at least with loose pants. There's still one issue though: the tail. It didn't go away. Given that it's supposed to be Alptraum's 'maleness' it may not be possible to have female internals without an external tail (even though this isn't an issue with, say, Nicorina.. but she already comes with a tail).
Before Alptraum tries anything else, he pauses to insert some shadow tendrils up through the remaining female parts to make sure that the womb and eggs are intact, okay, and are not showing any signs of stress.
Since those parts haven't been changed, the eggs are still in place. What is off is Alptraum's balance, and the constant awareness of that mass in his abdomen, which is now very close to (but not quite overlapping) his new higher center of gravity.
"Okay, they're ... intact," Alptraum says with a sigh of relief. Now for the last part to try and deal with the tail in some manner ... Hips and waist are engulfed by shadow ... and he tries to reposition the tail so that it is the front, and attached above Nicora's vulva.
The results of this.. are a bit hermaphroditic looking. It's really just one of the female parts grown extra-extra large and long. And it doesn't have a face or a mouth, certainly. But it also feels denser throughout the entire structure.. and that structure seems to reach a lot deeper and wrap around things more than is normally apparent. It causes a tug-of-war on the center of gravity, pulling it a little lower.
Alptraum pokes and prods a bit at this odd amalgamation. "Okay, this is disturbing, and I thought things wouldn't disturb me any more," he mutters to himself. He even dares to ... caress the new structure.
It responds. But it's more or less the same tissue, male or female, just differently sized and fueled. The current hybrid form must still have a substantial testosterone load.. especially with the tail reintegrated instead of isolated. (And.. might that also explain Nikky's behavior a bit?)
"Ooookay," Alptraum says as he draws his hand away from this area, feeling rather ... weird right now. "Not sure I want to stay in this body for very long, it is ... conflicted," he admits as he rubs the back of his neck. He also turns sideways to see in the mirror if his gut 'shows'. At some point towards the end it will have to show most likely; plus it probably doesn't help Brutus's mucus balls are still deep inside that area.
At this point there's nothing to see in profile.. but that's mostly because Alptraum has more abdominal volume to hide things in than Nicora does.
"So, early on works at least. Close to term, females only or I'll look a bit disturbing," Alptraum says and sighs. He scratches the back of his neck again as looks up and down at himself in the mirror. "What have I become," he asks the reflection, "Everything about me is so ... fluid now."
There's a gurgle to go along with that sentiment. The uterus really does put some pressure on parts that generally aren't partial to it.
Alptraum sighs softly and goes to fetch the bedpan. It's at least easier in this form to squat down right now and try to relieve the ... issue.
There is some muscle-memory confusion, but eventually things flow. It still smells like pregnancy-pee however. This suggests that someone with a keen enough sense of smell may notice something off about the apparently male form (or else have an odd guess or two about his habits at least).
"Whew, that's ... better," Alptraum says as the pressure urges ease up. "This form is really confused, though. A form only Inala could love, I suspect," he mutters.
Even that may be best not to test. There of course plenty of female forms to choose from where the pregnancy might not be noted (or would be very exaggerated). Even Eeee don't normally show all that much.. but this isn't an Eeee pregnancy at all.
Before Alptraum can feel too weird about this body, he returns the bedpan to its place, then kneels back on the floor on hands and knees. Out comes the shadow to engulf and restore the body back to Nicora; the 'natural' state, if such exists. Hands and knees just make it easier to deal with the pendulous bits Gorphat bestowed upon that form.
There's some residual tingle, and the tail is a bit more active than usual for a few moments.. but at least nothing feels like it's about to burst or explode (breasts excepted).
"I should probably be more worried I feel better being in this form," Nicora mutters to herself as she has awkwardly get back to her feet. Those breasts really do make her look rather Magog-like; down to the slime they often produce. And speaking of that, she makes her way across the room to her potted 'child' and proceeds to slip the 'mouthed' tentacles one by one over her disturbingly large and bit long nipples so that he can feed and reduce some of the pressure.
There's that one nipple with the ring-worm welt surrounding it, which she is reminded of when Blarf begins feeding. Blarf has never exactly been gentle or restrained. But apparently he doesn't molest Penance when they 'work' together in the hospital tents. Or at least not that she mentions.
Nicora grits her teeth as the ring worm welt is irritated by the feeding. "Ow, ow, ow, ow," she mutters, "Why did I do this to myself?"
Blarf doesn't answer, but does his job as cleaner and sucker.
Since Blarf only has so many tentacles, Nicora has to have him work on the first six, then the last two.
Nicora walks a bit oddly back to her bed, complete with a confused expression. This mucus balls deep in her feel weird and very noticeable. She sits on the edge of the bed again and lets the shadow flow. Next target form ... Nikky! The crazy skreek and honorary whore of Inala; the only thing she has to be careful of it not disturb the uterus during the shift. So, it is shifting things around that alien core. Since the eggs aren't part of her, at least that area is easy to sense.
With the shift complete, Nikky feels slightly more pregnant than Nicora did, but that's mainly due to being shorter. The plug, however, feels less noticeable, and the swollen womb itself also a bit more comfortable. Skreeks tend to have more offspring at once (up to four!) than Eeee, who max out at two.
Nikky ooos, cackles, and pirouettes about the room, feeling better! She even probes into herself with a few fingers once the spinning stops, verifying the plug and additional mucus balls are still in her. She is not disappointed; it is more Inala's gift to this form that lets her take pretty much anything. This form can still enjoy all sorts of debauchery; Nicora has to suffer through alternate ways during her pregnancy.
Her naturally lower center of gravity helps as well, so there aren't any balance issues with the extra central mass. Nor does it really show that much - Nikky is lean, but also very fluffy in the tummy area, whereas Nicora is completely exposed.
Shortly after the little dance-and-cackle, the voice of Sil asks through the door, "Is everything alright, High Priestess?"
"Ratty works, this makes me happy," Nikky giggles as she slides herself back down onto the bed edge. She's about to disappear into shadow ... the next target form will be the naga. Oop! No, it'll have to be back to Nicora so that she can reply to that.
Given the time it takes for a transformation, Sil is already trying to get the door open by the time Nicora can reply.
"Sil, I'm fine. Just working on some rituals," Nicora says rather hastily when the shadow drops and she can hear the servant working furiously at the door! "You may here strange sounds, pay them no mind!"
The rattling stops, and Sil asks, "Is there anything else you need then, Mistress?"
"Not at the moment. Just notify me when Spider arrives, I will wish to induct him," Nicora calls back as she places her hand over her heart, trying to calm herself down. Well, as much as she can place her hand there given the humongous primary breasts Gorphat bestowed her with.
"Of course, High Priestess," Sil says, and then Nicora can sense her moving away down the hall.
Nicora takes several deep breaths. "Okay, naga, I shall try that, and if it works the forms are functional; even Alptraum ... just disturbing," she murmurs as she disappears back into shadowy comfort. This one she is careful with as she applies it; making sure that if she senses any changes start to happen to the womb, that she can stop and back off before the 'cargo' is threatened.
Nagas tend to be.. well.. larger creatures. Even with a same-sized torso, there's plenty of abdominal space, especially given the way the reptiles eat. Since there's already an 'egg womb' of sorts, not much changes for the eggs. The main difference is that they're harder to feel at all in the bulk.
The naga slithers about a bit, marvelling at the oddity of the form; she has rarely used it after all. But, once it seems everything is fine with it, it is time to return to Nicora. When the shadows draw back and she's properly swollen, itchy, and incredibly randy ... she thinks of trying one or two more things. Just partial transforms; one or two limbs.
There is one side effect of all this - Nicora's energy level is dipping low. The Alptraum hybrid form took up more power than a single full-body transformation. Much more and she'll need to 'recharge' herself one way or another.
Nicora flexes her right hand a bit more, pondering if she should risk a thought. She was going to see if she could giver herself a rather alien limb, like a horrib claw ... but that may be too risky at this point.
Nicora, as an experiment, tries to reshape her right arm into a horrib claw, similar to that which Hosheb carries. If it works, she better not let Penance see it, else she may start worrying about turning into a horrib again!
It's much easier than making a piecemeal Alptraum. The hand curls in a bit, and it feels almost like wearing a hard mitten. Her fingers are all still there, just wrapped in a longer, curving blade that is a bit thicker on the inner ledge and sharp and serrated on the outer curve, while the flesh of the thumb expands into a complimentary pincer that is only about half as long as the main one.
Nicora actually rolls and flexes it, then snaps the pincher. "I have to admit, this is ... I rather like it," she admits with a bemused sort of smile.
It looks nasty. She's been held by Hosheb's enough times to know how 'gentle' it can be (not very), and she could probably easily injure herself with it if she's not careful.
"Hosheb would like it, I bet," Nicora admits as she keeps the arm held away from her body. She rolls and snaps it again, deciding this can be done easily enough. So, it is a matter of reverting it back to normal now.
The flesh of the shadow-hand still writhes a bit after returning to its usual shape.. but at least Nicora doesn't feel it.
Nicora lifts up right left hand and pokes at the shadow-flesh with her left. "What is your problem?" she asks of it.
Nicora, satisfied for now that everything will work ... awkward as it is, and she can remain safely broodhosting, goes back to settle herself down on her bed. The pleasures from the body shifting have made Gorphat's curse all the more worse in that she's incredibly randy ... and unable to actually engage in any copulation. But, there are always old solutions that work, and the Yodhgorphat settles back to relax and enjoy the gentle rubbing and exploration of her own fingers. Well, until she gets to the point the second curse kicks in and everything cramps up on her! Such is the price for giving into Inala's urges.