Skin

"Rob. I ... I need help. I need to get out of here." She told him, pulling his head up to look at her.

He didn't talk. He simply walked over to his pants and grabbed his cell phone. He dialed a number and spoke to the person that answered. His voice was back to the way it was before he came to her room but his eyes were still dead flat. "Hi! This is Rob Poole. Listen, I need access to the freight elevator to bring some presentation material up to my room. Yeah, just the code for it is great. Uh-huh. 5166. Right, got it."

He knelt before Victoria, bowing his head. "I have a van in the parking garage, mistress. I will take everything out of it and you can lie there comfortably. I will bring you to California and do whatever you need me to do."

"Rob, don't... Rob, stand up. It's 'Victoria', not 'mistress'. And..." But a cry stopped her and she looked over at the woman. She'd forgotten her.

The skin on the woman's face was cracking. Raw, red flesh showed through the cracks. Victoria could only watch in shocked silence. Rob glanced over without emotion.

One by one, the woman's fingernails popped off. She was curling into a ball and uncurling, her face a snarl of pain. The was a small cracking sound and then faint 'tic' noises as her teeth fell out. The woman swallowed some and spit the others out. Her bloody gums healed over quickly, leaving her toothless. Her eyebrows rubbed off when the woman turned over to rub her face against the carpet. When she turned back to her side, pale white skin had grown from small holes above her eyes. Her face elongated with a small 'pop!' sound. When she opened her mouth, her tongue unrolled out of it. A small cut on the tip of her tongue split it in two while it flattened.

The woman was rubbing her head over and over on the carpet. As she did, she left curls of her blond hair behind. She tried to bring her hands up to scratch or pull or do something but the skin from her armpit was grown down the side of her body, keeping her arms to her side. There were patches of skin showing through her hair and Victoria watched as the rest fell out when the woman's face flattened slightly.

Another line of skin grew down from her pussy, pulling her naked legs together. Her pussy lips are pulled out and up before being closed over. The woman thrashed and jumped as the line of skin locked her knees together. Mottled white skin grew in patches between the splits in her skin. It looked pebbled and pale in the light.

There were more cracking noises. The woman's head was thrown back, rotated ninety degrees on her neck to stare straight up. Her tongue was darting out ceaselessly. From the cracked, raw skin on her head, small scales were growing and now they were growing all over her body. The line of skin from her arms pulled and ripped the woman's shirt down the side as it connected both arms to her sides. Her bra strained and broke against the pressure. The webbing between her fingers grew out to seal the fingers together into one solid lump.

Victoria watched as lumps shifted below the woman's skin. Lumps where there used to be solid bones. The lumps moved and the skin of her arms and hands suddenly hung limp against her, turning her skin a deathly shade of white. The woman vomited blood and there were small bits of bone in the mess.

Now her whole body was connected as one piece, down to her toes. Thin white rubbery looking skin was growing from the cracks in her skin, growing to cover her body. The woman lay still, moving only slightly from side to side. She closed her eyes and when they opened again, they were amber with a black slit running vertically where her round pupil used to be. Small, baby fangs broke through the gums on the top of her mouth, dotted with clear liquid. They grew slowly as other tiny teeth grew along the gums.

The woman's bra hung limp against her chest, empty now. The fabric of her shirt made scratching noises against the growth of new skin.

In the sudden quiet there comes a noise like stretching rubber mixed with small rocks breaking. The woman's body stretched, her shoulders popping and pulled into her body. Patches of raw red skin are quickly covered in a milky white paper thin covering. There was more popping and the woman's slim hips broke, the skin hanging loose before being pulled as her feet stretch out. Her old shirt and bra settled against her shrinking chest.

More popping sounds were followed by a sound like thick liquid being poured and the woman's body stretched into a perfect tube shape, her feet coming to a single point. Her eyes closed but her tongue continued to flick in and out. Her lips puffed out around her mouth, pulling her limp and boneless nose flat against her face. Her face stretched, moving her eyes and nostrils toward the front of her face. The snake that used to be a woman opened her mouth to stretch her jaw.

There was no more cracking sounds but the woman continued to grow, pulling into herself as she did. From five feet thick, to two and then one foot thick. Her body convulsed in a wave from her head to her tail and then again the other way. Slowly, she slithered out from under her old clothes, curling herself in a stack near the heater. Her smaller eyes watched Victoria while her tongue darted from her mouth.

Victoria went to her, her eyes brimming with tears. She couldn't trust herself to talk so she reached her arm out to the snake. It raised its head to rub itself against her hand with its eyes closed.

"Mistress, we must go." Rob clothed himself, not caring what was happening with the other woman.

The snake uncoiled and slid next to Victoria, pressing against her. "Damn you." Victoria whispered but her own snakes are silent.

Rob left, walking to the end of the hallway. Victoria watched him type in the freight elevator password. When the large doors were completely open, Victoria took a deep breath and then, ran for it. At least, in her own mind she was running. In reality her tail undulated and she was lightning fast -- she crashed into the side of the elevator before she realized what she'd done. The huge snake followed her but more slowly.

The freight elevator groaned under their weight and began its ponderous descent. Victoria could feel herself getting more and more nervous the longer it took. So many things could go wrong between here and the van Rob had waiting for her. Her tail thumped against the side of the elevator as she grew more agitated.

When the elevator stopped, Victoria pressed herself in the corner as much as she could. Rob took a step out and then walked around the elevator, checking for other people. When he was satisfied, he found his van and backed it up to the large double doors.

Victoria watched as Rob opened the back doors of the van. He stooped down and stepped in, tossing out boxes and expensive equipment. When the back was empty, he held the doors open for Victoria.

Victoria glanced out of the elevator and moved carefully. She was halfway to the van when she heard a sudden voice. "Hey! What the fu...!" She whipped her head around and her snakes were instantly up. She felt a pulse of... something and the man froze. He started a scream but it died on his lips as his skin turns from tan to light grey and then the dark grey of concrete.

"...usssss.... Ssssscared ussss..... know... ssssscared... didn't.... ssssssscared ... know... usssssssss..." Her snakes told her frantically.

She didn't even know who this man was.

"GODDAMMIT!" She yelled, loudly. The man was ten feet away but Victoria whipped her tail at him, catching him with the middle of her length. He shattered into a million pieces and her tail crumpled the car next to where the man stood. The car alarm beeped once before falling silent.

The snake that used to be a woman coiled itself in the back of the van. Victoria said a silent prayer for the unknown man before pulling herself in as well. It was a cargo van so there's thankfully enough room for her and no windows in the back. She asked Rob to turn on the heater after the engine roared to life.

Nobody challenged them as they leave.

It will be a long drive to California but Victoria doesn't mind. She needs the time for some soul searching. If this was her life now then, so be it. But, she would learn to control this. She would find a way to bring back Rob and, if she could, to help the poor nameless woman. She may look like a monster but she'd be damned if she'd become one.

BEHIND THE SCENES

Welcome behind the scenes!

This is something new I'm trying where I show the sketches from the fabulous Bruno:

http://arqueart.deviantart.com/

The story started at on The Process Transformation Forum. I asked for short story ideas while I was waiting for Bruno to finish the illustrations for The Change. Quite a few people wanted a gorgon or a snake so I obliged. I had to make it up as I went because I'd never read any snake transformations and the only thing I knew was Medusa from movies and mythology.

A little after the story was done, I decided to bring Victoria into the universe behind The Change and she's in a sequel titled Unchained that brings her closer to that world.

When I work with Bruno, I will pick out scenes from the story and give him details on how I'd like it to work. He'll typically sketch it and then we'll go back and forth until it's how I imagined it. I'm a little picky but, thankfully, he's great to work with. I asked for 9 scenes and the cover in this story.

So! On to the sketches.

The first round of sketches. Here were my thoughts after receiving this:

1. Make her more chubby. Victoria was never meant to be the typical skinny girl. I wanted her to have a little meat on her bones with a nice ass and thighs. Not fat but not skinny, either.

2. Again -- make her more chubby. She's supposed to be in slightly better shape than the first illustration as the changes take place but not so much immediately. I also requested a more clear shot of her vagina. Fan service. Hah. But smaller boobs. They're growing but not so fast.

3. Smaller boobs again. I wanted them straining against her shirt but still with room to grow. And also a better angle for the toilet.

4. Nothing to add here. I asked for the boobs to be noticeably large against her upper body so that her upper body still had room to grow into her new size.

5. Also a really, really good first shot. Asked for the boobs to be larger to match scene 4. And more muscular as her body grows larger. I really liked how her stomach looked.

Initial drawing for her face. Here I asked that she be more fleshed out with a less defined chin. Looked kind of like Amelia from The Change. For the gorgon part, no scales on the head at all. I know that's probably not classical gorgon shape but my gorgon I wanted to be a little more human. I also wanted her to have actual human ears, some normal teeth and a thicker tongue. I also wanted the snakes to be skinnier -- more like dread locks than large snakes. And eyebrows. I wanted her to have eyebrows.

So here's the next version of the face. Fuller on both the human and gorgon side. She just looks more ... lovable? Less a monster and more a woman inflicted with a curse. The snakes are also less creepy when they're smaller. In my weird, twisted mind anyway.

Scene 1 take 2. More plump. Only I felt bad because I remembered that she was washing her shirt at this point so she needed an actual hotel sink and not this standalone thing. I felt like a jerk mentioning it to him after he already put it in like this.

Shower scene take 2. Smaller boobs and visible vagina. I thought the shampoo and conditioner were a nice touch.

And then scene three. Kind of an awkward angle still but that's my fault. You can now see the hair and bandaid in the toilet and her boobs are larger but not as huge. Had him remove the necklace here. I asked for the claw to be shorter and the left hand needed to be covered in scales.

Nothing to add at this point. I really liked it.

For this one I reminded him the scales ended at the elbow. I still really, really liked the pose. Her head made me sad, though. She looks kind of... I dunno. Bad. But, again, that's my fault for how it happened. The snakes haven't grown out yet. Her boobs are fantastic.

The last half of the sketches. I had more to say about these.

6. I wanted her hands around her crotch as if she was pulling away dead skin from thighs and crotch. Also, she still was supposed to have pants on (partially shredded) and her vagina hadn't changed. I also wanted her upper body to be physically larger.

7. Here I wanted her on her back to show her stomach. Her legs should be joined from hips to knees and the pants should be pushed down as the legs join together. Her upper body should be completely muscular.

8. I liked the sketch but I wanted a shot of her from behind while she looked into a full length mirror. This way we could see her back and her front in one shot.

9. I kind of didn't want to do this scene but I figured why not. Also, I wanted a subtle little reminder of what's about to happen to the other woman with a little snake bite. I had to remind him to put it in. Also asked that Victoria be noticeably larger than either of the two. Oh, and I thought I wanted to show them more from the side so you could see the front of the other woman so I asked for that.

I didn't have anything to add here. Just amazing to see how he takes it from the one to the other with something like the sink.

Only one small thing here -- that the pants shouldn't be completely destroyed.

Bruno's test covers. I had wanted more of a sexy but serious shot. The typical shot of the woman from behind, looking over her shoulder at the reader. So, these didn't fit but it's amazing to see how he went from this to the final cover.

Changes in the later scenes.

6. I wanted her more on her back and for her pants to still mostly be there. I know some people have a certain fetish with exploding or ripping clothes so I wanted a bit of that for them.

7. Again, ripped pants but still there. In this case they should be pushed down below her knees. I also asked for the slit for her vagina to be hidden. My theory is that it's moved in front but her scales keep it hidden. Same for her ass.

8. I didn't have anything to ask for at this point. It was exactly how I was hoping it'd look.

9. Turned out I didn't like this position, either. I had to ask him to go back to the original one but show the snake biting the lady's thigh.

I had absolutely nothing to change for these. They're really close to how the final images turned out.

This was perfect for me. Took a bit to explain how the pants should work but he finally got it.

Really, really close to the final image. Only thing I asked for here was to show the legs as separate below the knee.

Here I asked for the scales on her back to be more flat. Otherwise, perfect. Definitely how I envisioned it, down to how the scales dip down on her hips.

Nothing to change again. I like how she is very noticeably larger than the two. Not just muscular but actually larger because of the transformation.

His newer cover sketches. I told him that I liked B but I wanted her turned a little more towards the viewer. A mix between A & B. Unlike The Change, I wanted actual nipples and stuff to be visible on the cover.

So this is what he came up with. I only had two things -- no "butt crack" and to not forget the scales on her as well as the fancy back scales.