Pick Your Poison

Heat 5.9

[Sunday, December 12, 2010]

Rachel was supposed to be the next one to spend time with me. But when I got to the bbq party, she seemed more interested in eating than paying attention to me, so I joined her.

The reconstituted pork was beyond delicious. I had no clue Adam was a grillmaster. I scarfed down grilled pork steaks soaked in a tangy sweet sauce practically whole I was so hungry. Seated next to me was Rachel, practically slathered in sauce herself as she tore into her food as fiercely as I did. We both took a break, belched, and then continued as people cheered us on as if we were competing. Well, I wasn't, I don't know about Rachel though, and she was already eating like a starving dog by the time I got here.

By the time I was done, I'd eaten maybe 10 thick 4 ounce steaks. "Oh~ that was good…." I rubbed my distended stomach, eyeing Rachel as she viscerally tore into her plate, literally scarfing it down with just her face as she used her arms to balance. Her formerly white, now brown and orange halter-top clad H-cup breasts were pressing into the edge of the table with a shockingly distended pregnant-looking belly bulging below them, and her small tail was practically whipping the sides of her lower back and tight jean-covered huge bubble butt in joy.

Dear god...I know canines can eat dozens of pounds of food when they're starving, but she's putting away way more than that! There's no way she needs this much food! I'm only guessing she's able to down so much is because of her canine attributes combined with Surge and Stim. She was also putting on a show, and I felt oddly attracted to her as I watched her belly swell.

After the last steak was brutally murdered by the ravenous dog-girl, she panted as she looked for more, even sniffing around and licking her plate, only to realize we'd both run out, and she suddenly looked adorably sad for a moment with pitiful doggy whines and her floppy ears tilting back. "Damn girl! You're a real fucking dog ain't ya?" One of the crew, likely one of the surviving Jeepers or a Creeper due to the lack of professionalism stated as he slapped her ass, which made me see red, and then scratched her head, getting her to pant some more and bark happily as she turned to him and started giving him doggy kisses on his face.

"Okay, that's enough of that." I growled, getting out of the bench and pulling the far-too amorous Rachel off of the cheerful guy as I snarled at him, feeling my quills flare up. The way he paled and backed away in surrender oddly satisfied me as I pulled Rachel away towards the water. "Bitch. Calm down." She whimpered, nosing me and licking some of the sauce I'd gotten on me off my chest, and I gently pushed her back. "Rachel!"

"What?" Rachel asked, blinking as if she'd just come to her senses. Damn it. I knew she was damaged in the head, but I think Lisa downplayed how bad me giving her Primal hit her psyche. "Oof...fuck." Rachel burped a bit, rubbing her food baby of a full-term tan belly which was even peeking out below her halter top. She'd been eating before Pantera and I got to the bbq party, and she was gleefully gobbling down meat that the crew was shamelessly tossing at her while I was joining her. I figured they were just serving the food, but now I figure they were reinforcing Rachel's negative impulsive behavior.

"Do you have this much trouble controlling yourself all the time Rachel?" I questioned as I gently pulled her closer to the water and a few towels, watching as she whimpered and sniffed towards the food. "No. Bad." I booped her snoot, and she scrunched up her face, whimpering some more and looking down at being chastised. "Okay, that's it. When we get back, I'm going to give you some Addictol, maybe cook up something to help with your impulsiveness."

"Don't have to." Rachel weakly protested, looking away from me. "Just keep me away from meat." Avoiding the problem doesn't mean you don't have it!

"Rachel. I did this to you. Were you like this before I changed you?" I insistently questioned, and she looked visibly sadder. "Rachel. Girl, I care about you. At least as much as you care about me. Let me help you." I insisted, and Rachel looked even more sad for some reason.

"You probably care more." Rachel's words stung a bit, getting me to pause as we'd reached the towels near to the waterline.

"What?" I can get that she'd impulsively attach herself to nearly anybody if her mental state was so easy to manipulate, but she was almost always around when I or the others needed her.

"I've been looking around. I need a mate. Not a...whatever we are." Rachel's statement was punctuated by her nuzzling me and licking my cheek as she pressed her belly and boobs into me. "But I still care. Don't hate me." Aw...Rach….

"Rachel. I can't bring myself to hate you. But what do you mean a mate? You're what, 15?" I looked down at her belly, and how she was rubbing it. I felt warm again. The look suited her somehow...oh god, do I have a pregnancy fetish?! How fucked up am I?!

"In dog years I'm already dead." Rachel growled as she began pulling the straining halter top up over her tan belly, which considering how tightly packed it was, seemed as firm and as shaped as if she was pregnant, her tan fur even shined in the sunlight. I have such an awkward urge to rub it now. Wait, no, back up you perv. What she just said makes no sense.

"W-what?! Rachel, you're effectively immortal like the rest of us. You don't have a biological clock or anything stopping you from waiting." I pulled my eyes up from her belly, and saw she was leering at me in a mixture of frustration and longing as she slapped her firm stomach.

"I don't want to wait. I need a pack. A family." She hugged her belly, looking fierce and intent. "I want you to fuck me, give me pups I can raise to be strong. It's what drew me to you, besides the fact I trust you." I gawked at her simple reasoning. This is absolutely no way for a human being to think. She's practically on a rail for being a simple dog rather than a person.

"...Yeah. You're right. I can't give you that. Not for years at least. But Rachel, before you go too far and make a mistake, let me at least help straighten out your head." I insisted, desperate to help the girl I'd hurt so much. I've hurt her so badly, she doesn't even realize what I've done.

"...Only if you give me pups later." Rachel demanded, and I felt sick at the thought. We're nowhere near close enough to be talking about children, let alone that we're far too young.

"...As sick as this sort of bargain is, sure. But it'll be years before I do that." If I can get her head on straight, maybe I can even talk her out of having kids to just have kids. If there's one thing I understand, it's that babies should only be born out of love. Rachel doesn't...doesn't feel that. She just knows she Wants me, not any Good reasons. Maybe she could learn to love, in time.

"Better help me with the dogs I've been training then." Rachel huffed, and ripped her ruined top off, getting my quills to flare and me to clutch my groin with my hands to withhold a sudden boner at witnessing the black micro bikini barely covering the similarly colored nipples on her tan H-cup melons. She then grunted as she shimmied her jeans off of her butt and down her wide hips, kicking them away to reveal a matching black micro bikini bottom barely covering her groin. "Stop watching and help me lay down."

"Y-yeah." I helped her down onto the large beach towel on the sand, and she hummed as she rubbed her belly contently. I wasn't sure what to do here. Fur, so no sunscreen. "Um...so-?"

"Shut up and nap with me." I barked as she pulled me down atop her, and she tugged me towards her side with me laying on my right side facing her. She then put my left hand on her belly and wormed her arm under me to squeeze my butt. "Rub." At her order, I did so, and she relaxed as she closed her eyes. "Good boy." I felt a smile creep onto my face as I kept rubbing her bloated belly, snuggling into her and getting reciprocation before I dozed off….

[Pick Your Poison]

"This is just too damn precious!" I jolted awake, snarling as I bolted to my talons, standing over my mate to protect her and-whoa. Whoa! Back up the primitive thoughts! Fuck! Am I regressing too? Are we Primal users all regressing?! "Whoa Predator! Chill! Nice as it would be to have a rough tumble on the sand, I don't exactly feel like losing any blood right now." Sophia playfully snarked.

"You're the idiot who poked my Alpha. Least you'd get." Rachel huffed from her place on her towel, tongue lolled to the right side of her open maw as she groaned and rubbed her belly, which, considering how much she'd packed into it, was only slightly smaller from digestion. Knowing my perverted mind and powers, the excess nutrition and calories would probably go to her boobs and butt. It'd suit my sick, depraved nature. God I hate myself…. "Now fuck off."

"What the beached whale said." Sophia eagerly agreed, grabbing my left hand and practically dragging me away towards the trees.

"W-wait. Sophia, where're we going?" I questioned as she quickly pulled me to a small footpath through the tropical forest. I could barely manage to maintain direction even with this being the only path, but soon we entered a small clearing with a nearly collapsed old hut in the middle. Before I could inquire, Sophia literally threw me over her shoulder at it, wrecking the small structure as I smashed through it, hissing in pain as I felt bones fracture. "What the-?!"

"FUCKING FINALLY!" Sophia declared as she phased through the wreckage, jumped on me, and we began to violently make out even more brutal than normal. "I've been waiting for this for a long damn time!"

She just wants sex?! "W-wait! Sophia, aren't we supposed to-?!"

"Fuck that! I've already basically told you what I'm after on our date. I've talked to the girls, and we're all fine with me just being your friend with benefits on the side, or even fuckbuddies. I'm not exactly a touchy-feely kind of girl." She practically ripped her jean pocket off to reveal several condoms clutched in her fist. "Now fucking put one on and let's go!"

I felt a little sad at her simple demands. "Y-you mean there's no deeper-?"

"Fuck! Fine! I like you because you're probably the only type of guy I can do things my way with, without ending up alone and needy my whole life! Now shut up, and FUCKING FUCK ME!" Sophia ripped open her shirt in frustration, revealing she was wearing a simple white bikini top and exposing her washboard eight-pack abdomen as she grinded on my pelvis.

"Y-yes ma'am!" God I fucking hate. But damn it, it's why I like her….

[Pick Your Poison]

I stumbled and groaned as I leaned against a similarly stumbling Sophia out of the trees. She was down to her basic white bikini, her shirt and jeans not having survived our violent tryst. We were both sore, aching, and satisfied if the way I ultimately felt and the absolute glow on Sophia's usually angry face meant anything. "That. Was. Fucking. Awesome."

"Agreed. Next time though, not in the dirt." I snickered, dusting said dirt off of her back.

"Sure thing, Predator~." Sophia cooed as she squeezed my ass. "If I wasn't so tired, I'd want another go."

"You're worse than Pan." I mean really, we've been at it for maybe an hour without any breaks. I'm lucky I have such endurance and stamina or Sophia might've just gotten even more violent.

"Only because I was a virgin and I wasn't getting any before." She chuckled and pulled on my tail. "This thing is a surprisingly good toy. It's cool it's so snake-like."

"The word you're looking for Sophia, is prehensile. Most reptiles tend...to...oh god." I paused, Sophia bemusedly looking where I was looking. Rocksteady, who had been at the bbq party thus far was at the edge of the trees we were emerging from. He was scraping his horn, since regrown since the battle with the Teeth, against a tree, stripping it of bark. "Rock...what're you doing?" He didn't respond, he just snorted and kept up the action. "ROCKSTEADY!"

"Hm-huh? What?" Rocksteady questioned, ceasing his activity. "Sup boss. You and Miss Universe have fun?" Nope. No deflecting Rocksteady.

"Rock. What were you just doing?" I felt the pit in my stomach growing.

"Huh? I was...sharpening my horn?" Like a wild animal you mean Rocksteady….

"You do that with a mirror and tools already." I could practically feel the dread building.

"Well...uh...it just felt right? I mean, it also takes a lot of the work out of it." Rocksteady's answer just cemented it.

"Has Bebop been doing anything pig-like? Mud baths, foraging, more vocal grunting and squealing?" Bebop's always been damaged in the head since Lung. Rachel was always mentally/emotionally hindered in comparison to a normal person and she's showing advanced regression.

"Uh...yeah? But he's a boar, isn't that his thing?" Oh god Rocksteady. I've done something atrocious to us. It also explains why even though I have my emotions back, they're so rampant and usually beyond my control or ability to restrain.

"This trip is over, at least for our group. Gather up Bebop and Tie-Dye of he's here, I'm going to go fetch Bitch and Pantera. We're having an emergency meeting with the crew." I sprinted towards the beach, spotting Rachel still sunning and heading straight for her. I've wasted enough time already.

[Pick Your Poison]

"Well shit." Squealer succinctly summed up how bad this scenario was. Clad in her pink micro bikini and rubbing her temples back at my apartment in my recliner as I paced in the middle of the room, surrounded by our core members, my Primal-afflicted crew, and Katherine. "That explains why Pantera's been sharpening her claws on the telephone poles."

"Hey~! That's fun!" Pantera protested, only for me to glare at her and she shrank in on herself a bit. "Sorry...I didn't notice anything off…and I didn't want to ruin your furniture."

"I've been eating bugs. Just figured it was okay." Tie-Dye added.

"I can't believe this. I knew this was too good to be true. We're regressing, and I have no clue how far it will go or if it will even stop. Considering our bodies are altering our brains on the assumption it's putting us 'right' then we could start turning into humanoid animals." I snarled, noticing the hissing rasp as something truly inhuman for the first time in a long while.

"Aren't we already?" Bebop questioned, and I felt a sudden spike of self-loathing at hurting him more after he'd just barely recovered from having a chunk of his damn brain blow off.

"I mean in the philosophical and psychological manner. If we lose our humanity we're no longer people." I looked down at my claws, no longer pleased with their strength, their sharpness.

"Well then just have us dose with Addictol." Pantera huffed, and I groaned.

"Addictol restores what your brain is considered to be functioning normally. For all I know it would worsen this! I've got to figure out how to isolate the genetic information for the human brain so Primal doesn't progressively adjust the brain beyond the initial transformation." What makes this worse is, I don't think I can fix this. My power is microbiology with touches of biochemistry and chemistry. I'm not fucking Bonesaw! I can't just alter something that nuanced without a lot of trial and error, and even if that wasn't morally degenerate, I'd never get it done in time if just several weeks was enough to start primitive impulse and reaction.

"Just get Amy to help." We all looked to Katherine who was still in her Mouse-Protector themed grey one-piece which had her former likeness amusingly stretched over her bust.

"But she doesn't do brains." Skidmark commented, having come with everyone else this immediately impacted while most of the crew stayed in Hawaii for now.

"Yeah. She couldn't do nothin' for boss before he went dino. Why could she help now?" Bebop snorted, and I had to agree, but Katherine wasn't put off.

"No, she can do brains. She just doesn't out of principle. The same principle I bet ran through your head." Katherine stated while looking at me, and I nodded. "But, for this situation, I think she'd be able to better understand what's doing this to us, isolate it, and help you come up with a solution your Tinker power can work with." Huh, didn't consider that. MP is a veteran for a reason I suppose. You don't stay Independent so long and be dumb about it.

"Good plan, you go bring Panacea into this. Go about your business everyone. Dealer, Pantera. Stay." Squealer declared, and everyone that wasn't Pantera and I filtered out of my apartment, not even Skidmark stayed. Once they were gone and my front door closed, Squealer bolted to her feet, and slapped us both so hard we spun around. "WHAT WERE YOU DOING?! I thought you two were working your stuff out before spreading it to others!"

"W-we did though! Everything seemed fine besides my new instincts. I didn't notice they were getting worse or more common." Pantera whined as she rubbed her cheek.

"It's also an oversight on my part I admit. I was so eager to spread my work, to see it in action." I think that might be my power talking over my common sense. I didn't test it enough and moved onto the next project as soon as I could. "Damn it, then theres the Mannus to consider, and the fact that they're base animals before gaining human attributes. They could very well be worse than us, or be evolving more in the other direction for all I know." Damn you Coil….

"This is a disaster! We just managed to cement ourselves as a publically acknowledged mercenary organization. If those rats, turtles, and snake show up now they'll ruin everything! Everyone knows you're the only person in town who does things like that!" Squealer fretted, pulling on her blond hair. "You are going to fix this. You're going to work with Panacea and find a way to stabilize your brains, or outright reverse your transformations. We're going to increase our search through the sewer and other underground systems searching for those rogue Manimals before everything get's shot to hell."

"Shouldn't we tell the authorities? I mean, it's kinda their fault that Dealer's pets and test rats got loose in the first place." Pantera questioned, and Squealer bit her index finger in consideration.

"It would make it less damaging when, not if, those Manimals show up. I'll give Militia a ring, let her know the situation on that front, but let No One beyond our immediate group know you're turning into Animals." Squealer hissed, and then stormed out of my apartment. I moved to my now empty recliner, and slumped into it, my elongated face pressed into my hands as Pantera moved behind me, rubbing my shoulders.

"I'm so sorry Pan." I didn't have much else to say right now. This was just too much.

"I'm sorry too. For pushing you too hard." Pantera leaned down and hugged me. We stayed like that for a while until we dragged our respective walking implements to the bedroom and went to sleep in a depressed malaise.

Today started out so well too.