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Description

Second place. Again.

The humiliation of failing to break her time was one thing, but getting the runner up’s medal in the second race of the month was just the last straw. These small bits of weight, crushing down on the pride the swimmer rabbit had built up over years, were starting to become unbearable. Doubts began to plague the competitive girl’s mind as she struggled with the concepts of having hit her peak, ran out of steam, or perhaps just wasn’t putting in enough work. Was there something holding her back from reaching that zenith of her career? The frustration had become so strong that she was even listening to the weirdo version of advice, something she had never put much stock into.

“So how can I do better?” she finally asked the strange fortune teller sitting before her.

A gloved hand slipped from beneath his starry night cloak to place three cards upon the table, face down. This seemingly otherworldly material shifted with the sound of a moving star, distant and practically impossible to notice even if it truly was there. Ruby’s sensitive ears, though still slightly clogged with water from her recent training, were just barely able to register. The sight of him placing the stereotype should have been enough to dismiss this mystery clairvoyant as a charlatan, yet the unknown fabric and strange aura were enough to convince her to at least see how this played out.

“Well, now.” the seemingly male creature spoke, his pointed teeth still the only thing she’d seen of him. The long cloak had maintained its place over his face, leaving the obscuring shade to hide his eyes. Nothing was visible, at all, save the grin. So big, so bright.

Predatory.

“Is that not what the cards are for?” he breathed, his voice hissing low. It passed through those needle-point teeth with the tiniest whistle, drawing her attention closer. Even just the act of breathing seemed so different. So unnatural.

His hand moved to wave over the cards in a slow swirl. The sleeve was a mere ripple, gliding over the heavy stock without disturbance. It moved like the night itself, a cloud of shadowy mist that teased the edges before moving towards the end of sight. They left behind nothing but the markings, a trio of glowing diamonds. The same from any card suit, though these glistened with an inner light that seemed to be drawn from the stars above.

“Ominious…” she whispered, doubting herself. Should she even reach out? Would her hand be there if she did? Or would the answers be what she had hoped? Perhaps it was the simple fear of knowing that paralyzed her for the briefest time, a second where she doubted the future itself? Maybe she should stop…

One second. One more second and I can make Olympic time.

A breath. A second to galvanize herself. And she reached forward and grasped the card, twisting it around.

“The Hierophant.” he whispered, his voice unsurprised. “A need for approval from someone higher. A desperation to seek that which you do not have, perhaps? The weight of doubt and fear can come from many places. There are many doors, Ruby. Many that lead to places unknown or come from those unwanted. Sometimes you must find a new portal. Other days, you must close it behind you.”

Weight.

That’s what she felt as her fingers ran over the smooth card stock. These ancient tablets felt like something out of an old movie, like the concept of black and white had decided to come to life and adopt dark blues and glowing purples. It felt heavy, in more ways than she could enunciate. Was it the age? Some ancient power hidden within? Or merely the gravity of her own misgivings?

“Now, the deck has been drawn. It cannot be stopped.” her predatory mystic companion spoke firmly, his voice finally grabbing the strength for a proclamation. His knowledge seemed absolute, moreso than she would have ever expected. Yes, confidence was part of the show. But this?

This was more.

“Right…” Ruby felt her hands move to the second card. Though they shook with a mixture of… something, she couldn’t stop them. Was it her own insatiable need to improve pushing them forward? Magic? Or simply her mind playing into the role she was given for this day?

The next card. A second. A flip and a flourish from the unnamed fortune teller.

“The Magician.” he chuckled a little bit, his finger tapping only the merest edge of the aged fabric. “a solution, as if by magic. Something true, something false. A thing that you can see, or maybe not. Is it a window to open or merely a trick of the light? The question is not one I can answer so easily, Ruby.”

His finger pointed towards the rabbit. She couldn’t read his expression so it came across as a taunt, an exultation to move forward.

“It is for you to answer. What is your reality, my dear swimmer? What image will push you to your goal?”

Her mind took a moment to pass through the last few months in search of the answer.

What was it that pushed her to grow? Was it the fleeting memories of her fellow racers just barely out-touching her at the wall? That pain that came from seeing her time a moment behind the last record? So many things in her past had come together to build up the competitor she had grown into. How could she choose just one single aspect of herself, one part of the past, that she needed to understand and change? Perhaps it was even the gestalt of so many failings thrown together.

This would require thought.

“The last one.”

The simple command was imperious enough to drag her forward, moving the rabbit to grasp her final card. A ripple of doubt came through her mind as she tried to get control of herself but it came to nothing. There was no force of will she could muster that would prevent her dull claws from going between the card and table, nothing that would stop her from flipping it over in one, smooth motion.

“The fool.” the magical male spoke redundantly, as if the grinning jester wasn’t enough to tip her off. “A simple card but full of chaos. To some, it means change. To others, it means stability. Something different. A thing lost, a thing gained. A personality that needs to shift.”

And he paused for a moment, letting the words sink in.

“But for you? The meaning is oh so simple, Miss Steengroeve.” the fortune teller spoke with a soft chuckle. This small display of emotion, muted as it was, was more vibrant than the rest of his tenure in her life. Simple, but off putting. “In your pride, your rush to glory, you have simply forgotten why you swim. Why you work. You’ve forgotten the lesson.”

In a flash of cyan light, something slipped from beneath his cloak. It seemed as if one of his many stars that lined his outfit had come to life and landed upon a golden scepter. The blazing gem took the shape of a diamond, mirroring that from the cards obverse. Its inner fire seemed to grow unnaturally powerful as the second stretched into an eternity, matched only by its almost literal gravity. The weight she had felt this whole time was quickly forgotten under the onslaught of the Diamond.

“Lesson…?” she whispered, her eyes inextricably linked to the gemstone before her. Its light lashed towards the swimmer and wrapped itself around something deep within, passing through the window of the soul to find its natural prey. More fire, more light. So powerful.

“To remember what fun is. To dance, to enjoy life. You’ve grown so prideful that you forget your place in this world.”

What is he- dance dance- saying?

She struggled to think as the diamond continued to coat her mind with its magical essence. Splatterings of blue hit her soul like a modern art piece, dotting everything they could with the same colors of the still nameless male before her. Her little gasp of shock was timed with the growing intensity of his invasion, though she was having trouble focusing on that beyond this strangely growing urge within the very deepest recesses of her mind.

A bubbling giddiness, a growing need to have fun. She could feel the pumping of something as it continued to flow into the corners of her exhausted mind. The little crevices were filled with putty and pushed smooth, crafted with an energy unnatural to her own. A manic, growing, completely wrong sort of self. A mentality that was not Ruby. Wasn’t her.

Dance dance dance.

“And so you will learn.” he chuckled, his hood still so firmly in place. Her changing mind was denied even the shape of its new captor, the name or face of who so quickly had lashed her into place.

But she couldn’t speak about it. Couldn’t fight it off, not when the assault was so unending. The endless parade of positive thoughts, built as if from the circus of old, were piling up higher and higher. For every one of her own ideas and each attempt to resist, they seemed to double. Triple. Quickly growing and outnumbering those of her true nature. They were so hard to separate out from her own, practically burying them under the deluge of ditzy dancing happiness.

What should have worried her more was when her hand went to her face and felt… bigger. Inflated? Like a glove that was too large but filled with air? It felt so odd, but she couldn’t look. Her eyes were too focused, her mind too stolen.

Can’t look away from the diamond.

Dance dance dance dance dance stop dance dance please dance!

Light grew and fired, a blast of light hitting her chest. It carved the equal shape of the diamond along her bust, searing through the swimsuit even as it was consumed in some material that was almost rubber but not quite. The not-latex was perfectly suited for designing and cutting without damaging. Building the sign of her leader without losing itself. A new part of her body that soon became the whole, a creation through invasion.

“So you will have fun now. It’ll be all you do. Everything, forever, will be happiness and joy. A blissful life for a new toy like you. Does that not sound so fun?” Leader said in a much happier tone, his voice showing his own excitement at his newest acquisition. He watched with shadowed eyes as the glow suffused Ruby more and more, pushing into her mouth.

And stretching it so wide. Bigger, wider. A manic grin befitting someone who could find nothing wrong in life. A powerful blast of pure bliss that anyone could see, no matter what she was feeling.

It sure felt permanent, Ruby realized, as she felt her teeth gloss over and become smoother. Shinier. Like they were the same material that now made up so much of her body, perfectly made to reflect light and love to those around her. A toy doll face that didn’t express so much as showed off. Why be anything but happy, anyone but a toy? The Leader wanted her to be one of his toys! His boppers.

That was what she was now. She knew this. She felt this in the core of her rubbery shiny glossy being. That word fit her so well. So perfect and happy and silly. That putting dripped from her exhaustion and into her thoughts, the diamond cut a hole through her ability to think clearly. Everything at once crashed into itself, a compression of who she was and should be.

DANCE! I’M GONNA WIN! DANCE! I’M GONNA WIN! DA-

“So? What do you say, my little Bopper?” Leader Curse chuckled as he threw back his hood, finally revealing his visage. Supernatural and strange, it would have elicited worry in anyone.

Anyone who didn’t already belong beneath his thrall.

“I’m gonna win! I’m gonna win!” Ruby-Bopper kept her eternal grin as she spoke through her ears. They had been reduced to mere speakers so she could talk without a mouth, repeat herself forever. And ever.

And ever.

The unspoken music went through her mind as she hopped to her squishy paws, creaking upon the tiled ground. A million thoughts went through her head but were basically all the same ones. Repeated ideas of how to dance, how to win, and how to show others how much better this was. The manic happiness burned so hot that very little of who she had been could withstand its endless fires. Why be anything when the fires of conviction, of glory, were so fundamental to her identity now?

Boppers should share this. She realized this automatically. Not so much a thought as an instinct, an urge over a conscious act. A need to find her competitors and show them how to enjoy the world again.

“That’s a good girl. Go and have fun, my dear. I’m sure I’ll see you and your… friends soon.” Curse chuckled and rose, his staff once more obscured by his voluminous cloak. No need to steal every mind on his way out, no?

And as he left, Ruby started to hop down the hallway. They had only done this in the private rooms of the pools, so she could quickly find her way to the locker rooms. Her competition might even still be there, toweling off after a day of long workouts. They must be exhausted, distressed. She could help!

Dance! I’m gonna win! Dance! I’m gonna win! Help me. I’m gonna win!

---

Please please please remember to give credit to Zyla for this incredible story he wrote in an hour as a warmup. Zyla has an incredible sense of detail when it comes to describing transformation sequences and is something that shouldn't be ignored. Also, a really fantastic characterization of Curse.

Ruby belongs to :buffbumblebee: who allowed us to use her for this story.

Posted using PostyBirb

Description

Second place. Again.

The humiliation of failing to break her time was one thing, but getting the runner up’s medal in the second race of the month was just the last straw. These small bits of weight, crushing down on the pride the swimmer rabbit had built up over years, were starting to become unbearable. Doubts began to plague the competitive girl’s mind as she struggled with the concepts of having hit her peak, ran out of steam, or perhaps just wasn’t putting in enough work. Was there something holding her back from reaching that zenith of her career? The frustration had become so strong that she was even listening to the weirdo version of advice, something she had never put much stock into.

“So how can I do better?” she finally asked the strange fortune teller sitting before her.

A gloved hand slipped from beneath his starry night cloak to place three cards upon the table, face down. This seemingly otherworldly material shifted with the sound of a moving star, distant and practically impossible to notice even if it truly was there. Ruby’s sensitive ears, though still slightly clogged with water from her recent training, were just barely able to register. The sight of him placing the stereotype should have been enough to dismiss this mystery clairvoyant as a charlatan, yet the unknown fabric and strange aura were enough to convince her to at least see how this played out.

“Well, now.” the seemingly male creature spoke, his pointed teeth still the only thing she’d seen of him. The long cloak had maintained its place over his face, leaving the obscuring shade to hide his eyes. Nothing was visible, at all, save the grin. So big, so bright.

Predatory.

“Is that not what the cards are for?” he breathed, his voice hissing low. It passed through those needle-point teeth with the tiniest whistle, drawing her attention closer. Even just the act of breathing seemed so different. So unnatural.

His hand moved to wave over the cards in a slow swirl. The sleeve was a mere ripple, gliding over the heavy stock without disturbance. It moved like the night itself, a cloud of shadowy mist that teased the edges before moving towards the end of sight. They left behind nothing but the markings, a trio of glowing diamonds. The same from any card suit, though these glistened with an inner light that seemed to be drawn from the stars above.

“Ominious…” she whispered, doubting herself. Should she even reach out? Would her hand be there if she did? Or would the answers be what she had hoped? Perhaps it was the simple fear of knowing that paralyzed her for the briefest time, a second where she doubted the future itself? Maybe she should stop…

One second. One more second and I can make Olympic time.

A breath. A second to galvanize herself. And she reached forward and grasped the card, twisting it around.

“The Hierophant.” he whispered, his voice unsurprised. “A need for approval from someone higher. A desperation to seek that which you do not have, perhaps? The weight of doubt and fear can come from many places. There are many doors, Ruby. Many that lead to places unknown or come from those unwanted. Sometimes you must find a new portal. Other days, you must close it behind you.”

Weight.

That’s what she felt as her fingers ran over the smooth card stock. These ancient tablets felt like something out of an old movie, like the concept of black and white had decided to come to life and adopt dark blues and glowing purples. It felt heavy, in more ways than she could enunciate. Was it the age? Some ancient power hidden within? Or merely the gravity of her own misgivings?

“Now, the deck has been drawn. It cannot be stopped.” her predatory mystic companion spoke firmly, his voice finally grabbing the strength for a proclamation. His knowledge seemed absolute, moreso than she would have ever expected. Yes, confidence was part of the show. But this?

This was more.

“Right…” Ruby felt her hands move to the second card. Though they shook with a mixture of… something, she couldn’t stop them. Was it her own insatiable need to improve pushing them forward? Magic? Or simply her mind playing into the role she was given for this day?

The next card. A second. A flip and a flourish from the unnamed fortune teller.

“The Magician.” he chuckled a little bit, his finger tapping only the merest edge of the aged fabric. “a solution, as if by magic. Something true, something false. A thing that you can see, or maybe not. Is it a window to open or merely a trick of the light? The question is not one I can answer so easily, Ruby.”

His finger pointed towards the rabbit. She couldn’t read his expression so it came across as a taunt, an exultation to move forward.

“It is for you to answer. What is your reality, my dear swimmer? What image will push you to your goal?”

Her mind took a moment to pass through the last few months in search of the answer.

What was it that pushed her to grow? Was it the fleeting memories of her fellow racers just barely out-touching her at the wall? That pain that came from seeing her time a moment behind the last record? So many things in her past had come together to build up the competitor she had grown into. How could she choose just one single aspect of herself, one part of the past, that she needed to understand and change? Perhaps it was even the gestalt of so many failings thrown together.

This would require thought.

“The last one.”

The simple command was imperious enough to drag her forward, moving the rabbit to grasp her final card. A ripple of doubt came through her mind as she tried to get control of herself but it came to nothing. There was no force of will she could muster that would prevent her dull claws from going between the card and table, nothing that would stop her from flipping it over in one, smooth motion.

“The fool.” the magical male spoke redundantly, as if the grinning jester wasn’t enough to tip her off. “A simple card but full of chaos. To some, it means change. To others, it means stability. Something different. A thing lost, a thing gained. A personality that needs to shift.”

And he paused for a moment, letting the words sink in.

“But for you? The meaning is oh so simple, Miss Steengroeve.” the fortune teller spoke with a soft chuckle. This small display of emotion, muted as it was, was more vibrant than the rest of his tenure in her life. Simple, but off putting. “In your pride, your rush to glory, you have simply forgotten why you swim. Why you work. You’ve forgotten the lesson.”

In a flash of cyan light, something slipped from beneath his cloak. It seemed as if one of his many stars that lined his outfit had come to life and landed upon a golden scepter. The blazing gem took the shape of a diamond, mirroring that from the cards obverse. Its inner fire seemed to grow unnaturally powerful as the second stretched into an eternity, matched only by its almost literal gravity. The weight she had felt this whole time was quickly forgotten under the onslaught of the Diamond.

“Lesson…?” she whispered, her eyes inextricably linked to the gemstone before her. Its light lashed towards the swimmer and wrapped itself around something deep within, passing through the window of the soul to find its natural prey. More fire, more light. So powerful.

“To remember what fun is. To dance, to enjoy life. You’ve grown so prideful that you forget your place in this world.”

What is he- dance dance- saying?

She struggled to think as the diamond continued to coat her mind with its magical essence. Splatterings of blue hit her soul like a modern art piece, dotting everything they could with the same colors of the still nameless male before her. Her little gasp of shock was timed with the growing intensity of his invasion, though she was having trouble focusing on that beyond this strangely growing urge within the very deepest recesses of her mind.

A bubbling giddiness, a growing need to have fun. She could feel the pumping of something as it continued to flow into the corners of her exhausted mind. The little crevices were filled with putty and pushed smooth, crafted with an energy unnatural to her own. A manic, growing, completely wrong sort of self. A mentality that was not Ruby. Wasn’t her.

Dance dance dance.

“And so you will learn.” he chuckled, his hood still so firmly in place. Her changing mind was denied even the shape of its new captor, the name or face of who so quickly had lashed her into place.

But she couldn’t speak about it. Couldn’t fight it off, not when the assault was so unending. The endless parade of positive thoughts, built as if from the circus of old, were piling up higher and higher. For every one of her own ideas and each attempt to resist, they seemed to double. Triple. Quickly growing and outnumbering those of her true nature. They were so hard to separate out from her own, practically burying them under the deluge of ditzy dancing happiness.

What should have worried her more was when her hand went to her face and felt… bigger. Inflated? Like a glove that was too large but filled with air? It felt so odd, but she couldn’t look. Her eyes were too focused, her mind too stolen.

Can’t look away from the diamond.

Dance dance dance dance dance stop dance dance please dance!

Light grew and fired, a blast of light hitting her chest. It carved the equal shape of the diamond along her bust, searing through the swimsuit even as it was consumed in some material that was almost rubber but not quite. The not-latex was perfectly suited for designing and cutting without damaging. Building the sign of her leader without losing itself. A new part of her body that soon became the whole, a creation through invasion.

“So you will have fun now. It’ll be all you do. Everything, forever, will be happiness and joy. A blissful life for a new toy like you. Does that not sound so fun?” Leader said in a much happier tone, his voice showing his own excitement at his newest acquisition. He watched with shadowed eyes as the glow suffused Ruby more and more, pushing into her mouth.

And stretching it so wide. Bigger, wider. A manic grin befitting someone who could find nothing wrong in life. A powerful blast of pure bliss that anyone could see, no matter what she was feeling.

It sure felt permanent, Ruby realized, as she felt her teeth gloss over and become smoother. Shinier. Like they were the same material that now made up so much of her body, perfectly made to reflect light and love to those around her. A toy doll face that didn’t express so much as showed off. Why be anything but happy, anyone but a toy? The Leader wanted her to be one of his toys! His boppers.

That was what she was now. She knew this. She felt this in the core of her rubbery shiny glossy being. That word fit her so well. So perfect and happy and silly. That putting dripped from her exhaustion and into her thoughts, the diamond cut a hole through her ability to think clearly. Everything at once crashed into itself, a compression of who she was and should be.

DANCE! I’M GONNA WIN! DANCE! I’M GONNA WIN! DA-

“So? What do you say, my little Bopper?” Leader Curse chuckled as he threw back his hood, finally revealing his visage. Supernatural and strange, it would have elicited worry in anyone.

Anyone who didn’t already belong beneath his thrall.

“I’m gonna win! I’m gonna win!” Ruby-Bopper kept her eternal grin as she spoke through her ears. They had been reduced to mere speakers so she could talk without a mouth, repeat herself forever. And ever.

And ever.

The unspoken music went through her mind as she hopped to her squishy paws, creaking upon the tiled ground. A million thoughts went through her head but were basically all the same ones. Repeated ideas of how to dance, how to win, and how to show others how much better this was. The manic happiness burned so hot that very little of who she had been could withstand its endless fires. Why be anything when the fires of conviction, of glory, were so fundamental to her identity now?

Boppers should share this. She realized this automatically. Not so much a thought as an instinct, an urge over a conscious act. A need to find her competitors and show them how to enjoy the world again.

“That’s a good girl. Go and have fun, my dear. I’m sure I’ll see you and your… friends soon.” Curse chuckled and rose, his staff once more obscured by his voluminous cloak. No need to steal every mind on his way out, no?

And as he left, Ruby started to hop down the hallway. They had only done this in the private rooms of the pools, so she could quickly find her way to the locker rooms. Her competition might even still be there, toweling off after a day of long workouts. They must be exhausted, distressed. She could help!

Dance! I’m gonna win! Dance! I’m gonna win! Help me. I’m gonna win!

---

Please please please remember to give credit to Zyla for this incredible story he wrote in an hour as a warmup. Zyla has an incredible sense of detail when it comes to describing transformation sequences and is something that shouldn't be ignored. Also, a really fantastic characterization of Curse.

Ruby belongs to :buffbumblebee: who allowed us to use her for this story.

Posted using PostyBirb