Comm: Becoming Clay: A Popgum Story (Part 1)

Summary: When Popgum can't stop a mutation beam from changing an innocent woman into a being of clay, mud and sand, she takes it upon herself to show her the ropes of being a malleable girl. Commissioned by jack2112

[Story Listing]

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Popgum, the amorphous bubble gum superheroine, knew she messed up big this time. Sure, she managed to put the bad guy away, but an innocent woman got caught up in their big fight, and was hit by a stray beam of an experimental mutagenic ray gun.

When the dust cleared and the police were bringing the mad scientist, the woman was nowhere to be found. Popgum knew something was wrong when she investigated where the woman had been before. Her clothes were discarded entirely, caked in sand, mud and clay.

Popgum searched and found a cute little purse. Popgum didn't like the idea of rummaging through someone else's purse, but she wanted to help this woman. She had a hunch that she was alive, but the fact that her things were left here was greatly concerning.

She rummaged through the purse, pulling out what appeared to be a passport, as well as a wallet with several credit cards and lots of cash. The passport wasn't one Popgum recognized at all. It must've belonged to a different country.

Popgum studied the passport, trying just to make out a name and face for now. Sonja Petrovich... it was a delightful name.

An examination of the wallet revealed an important clue: a keycard to a room at the Upstate Hotel downtown. And it came in an envelope with the room number... eureka!

Popgum decided to head straight there, but not before gathering up her things. If this lady was from out of town, maybe out of the country, she would probably want her things... but as Popgum cradled a pile of clothes to her chest, something came loose, thunking into the pink, gummy puddle at her feet. Popgum blinked and glanced down; a tendril clutched the keepsake and raised it up so she could get a better look...

Popgum's heartstrings tugged when she pulled out an elegant, silver hairpiece, resembling a swan. It was covered in sand granules that clung to the enticing metal. It looked like an heirloom, or maybe a generational hand-me-down...

There was a trail streaked with damp mud and clay leading away from the scene... strange, considering the battle took place in the city. Popgum grimaced. She had a terrible feeling, but she would have to be quick if she was going to catch her before she disappeared.

Popgum twisted her legs into a coil and sprung into action, leaping towards the roof of a nearby building, her ponytail zipping to any surface it could adhere to; acting as a third arm, she swung through the city towards the downtown core, careful not to drop any of Ms. Petrovich's valuables.

An austentatious building rose over the rest. Yeah, this was the place. Popgum tumbled to the ground, hitting the ground with a wet splat, before recovering and hurrying through the lobby. Though her glossy, curvaceous pink body invited some gawkers, she ignored them and made for the stairwell, where she relied on her prehensile ponytails to clamber up the steps.

Before long, she staggered out onto the 12th floor. "1248, 1248..." She muttered to herself on repeat as she hurried, grunting as the soles of her feet kept gumming up the carpet beneath her in a melty, oozy fashion. It wasn't long until she had finally reached the door she wanted...

...And if the envelope wasn't enough evidence, it seemed the handle was caked in mud splatters. Popgum carefully pressed an ear against the door...

...It was faint, but she could make out the sounds of a woman sobbing, and running water. She grimaced, knocking at the door.

"Sonja?" Popgum called out. "Can I come in?"

The sobbing stopped sharply, and Popgum overheard a choked up. Then there was silence... the water had been turned off.

"!" Popgum surpressed a yelp of surprise as, from underneath the door frame, sand pushed out in a small wave. Popgum knew something was wrong... maybe it was something she could help with.

"Sonja, I know you can hear me." She reached for the keycard, pressing it against the reader. "I'm coming in, okay?"

No response. Popgum decided to risk being rude, and opened the door. The door resisted, pushing against a pile of sand on the other side.

Popgum gawked at the state of the fancy hotel room. Wherever she looked, there was at least an inch of sand piled along the floor. A full-sized mirror had mud splatters all over it.

But Popgum knew the sounds she heard were coming from a bathroom. She extended her arms to plot Sonja's things onto the foot of the bed. She wasn't sure what she'd find in the bathroom, but she had to be ready for anything.

Popgum turned to her right, her body oozing forward. She slowly slid open the partition, peering inside. Her attention was drawn to the mud splatter along the walls, floor... and the bathroom itself, which was filled with mud.

"Sonja?" Popgum called to the bathtub quietly. "Are you in here?" She extended her arm to prod at the tub...

"A-ah!" The ooze convulsed and trembled, rolling waves of mud and clay folding over each other. Popgum recoiled her fingers, watching the display unfold as, at the head of the bathtub, a figure rose, as if sculpted from... well, clay. She shuddered, the mud shifting and bubbling as if she were in a spa...

"Why did you come!? Do not look at me, I am not presentable!" The mud woman in the tub cried out. The top of her head was sleek, shiny, seemingly bald...

"I-I'm not gonna hurt you, Sonja!" Popgum waved her hands. "I'm a friend, I'm here to help!"

"Y-you can help...?" Sonja paused. "Y-you know who I am?"

"Yes, Sonja Petrovich." Popgum nodded her head. "You were there when I was fighting-"

"You can fix this!?" Sonja reached for a bathsponge nearby, its fibres darkened by general filth. "I scrub and I scrub but the mud does not come off!"

Sonja turned the shower back on with a boneless arm, before going back to her frantic motions. Sonja's desperation struck a chord with Popgum, and she frowned to herself, watching Sonja splatter the walls with mud and wet clay. As she shifted in the tub, she produced wet sucking noises, water mixed with mud spilling over the sides of the tub.

"I am at the end of my rope here, I, I can't find my skin, it-it keeps oozing from me and I-"

Sonja's frazzled panicking was interrupted as Popgum reached for her arm. The pink superheroine shook her head.

"Sonja, you... you were hit by a mutation ray." Popgum explained sadly. "It... it doesn't come off. It... it's you. It's all a... a part of you now."

Sonja stared into Popgum's eyes, the sponge slowly slipping from her hands. It floated along the surface of the tub.

"It... it cannot be fixed?" Sonja's head lowered, dejectedly. "I... I am forever a... a monster...?"

"No! Not a monster! You're still adjusting, but please, listen to me-"

"I cannot live like this!" Sonja wailed, entering a fetal position, the soft claw swishing around her, her lower body filling out as she hugged her body. She could feel her fingers sink and merge with her viscous flesh.

"I am fashion model, accepting the invite to perform, but I am hideous, and melty, and oozy, and... h-how will I get home to see my family!?" Sonja wailed. "I am alone, marooned in this country...!!"

"N-no! You're not alone, there..." Popgum reached out to take Sonja's oozy hands into her own. "There are others like you!"

"...what...??" Sonja gawked. Her expression was obscured by mud, but she was shocked.

"We call ourselves the Squish Sisters..." Popgum nodded. "A bunch of us girls who, well, are like you. Still human but... not exactly. We've been together a while and I... I want to help you, Sonja."

She squeezed Sonja's hands tight. "If I didn't have my friends with me, who went through the same thing I did... I'd probably go mad. But... you don't have to do this alone."

"...Th... thank you, miss..." Sonja trailed over. She didn't even know this woman's name. She lowered her head.

"Call me Penelope." Popgum smiled. "Come on, I'll help you out of the tub."

She wrapped her arms around Sonja. Popgum wished superstrength was one of her powers, because mud personified was pretty heavy and awkward to lift. As Sonja's liquify form spilled out of the tub in a wet slop, one of her limbs clutched at the side, watching as she flooded the floor.

"...It gets everywhere..." Sonja muttered. "I can feel it... touching everything..."

"Yes, you can feel it. It's all part of your body." Popgum explained. "It's hard to get a handle on, but pretty soon, you can do things you could never dream of before. Like this..."

Popgum demonstrated with her ponytail, having it reach over to the handle. A hand formed at the tip, which clutched and turned it off. Sonja watched with amazement.

"Your body, it is moving so... elegantly. So confidently." She said, eyes wide. "Are you famous performer?"

"N-no, just, um, your friendly neighbourhood sugary-sweet superheroine..." Popgum explained with a chuckle. "Okay, so back to you, um... so you can feel your body across the floor? Focus on a particular part of it..."

"A part?" Sonja wondered. "Which part?"

"Any part. How about... underneath the toilet paper roll?" Sonja's puddle-like lower body had spread to encompass the whole porcelain floor, spilling into the hallway. Sonja focused her attention.

"There? So... how do I focus?"

"Your mud is an... an extension of your body. And your body is constantly shifting. So what if you could shift into any shape you wanted?" Popgum smiled encouraging. "Try thinking about an arm, reaching for the roll..."

"...O-okay..." Sonja didn't fully understand. She tried to focus, narrowing her attention, ignoring the sensation of her body rubbing all over into a single point on the floor.

Shlurp... the mud coalesced, oozing together, sprouting an appendage. Fingers wiggled, brushing against the paper. Sonja realized what she was doing, what she had felt, and gasped! The arm splattered to the mud...

"Good, good, keep going! Can you raise it again?" Popgum clutched her hands into fists.

"I... I can..." Sonja focused again. The arm seemed to wave around the room. She could turn it towards her. She slide forward along the floor, kneeling down... and gave herself a dainty little high five.

"Haha! You're a natural!" Popgum applauded. "It took me forever to make a convincing hand like that, and you- wh-whoa!"

Popgum yelped as the mud shifted around from underneath her. She paused, staring as it all shifted in pulsating pushes towards the center of the bathroom... towards Sonja.

It sunk into her thighs, filling them out, creeping up her form. Her sad, melty form began to bubble outwards, a proud chest pressing forward... as Popgum recognized the D-cup breasts forming, she could feel her cheeks flushing...

Strands of hair-like ooze sprouted from her previously balled head, flowing into light brown flaps that stretched down to her upper back. As the disparate sensations settled into her core, Sonja turned to the mirror to look at herself. She didn't look like she was falling apart, she looked like... a beautiful clay sculpture of herself. As she remembered.

"...I have... control." Sonja uttered, astonished at herself. Popgum peered into the rest of the room, marveling at the transformation.

"You reabsorbed all the dirt and mud... wow... you really are a fast learner." Popgum was amazed.

"But I am still strange, golem creature..." Sonja fidgeted with her hair, her hair stretching like dough. "I cannot be going outside like this... I am still freakish..."

"What do you want to look like?" Popgum tilted her head. "Like yourself again?"

"Yes... I was most beautiful women. I try not to be modest, for too much modest is unbecoming..." Sonja prodded her fingers together. "I-I try not to be too proud, but I love my body, my career, and-"

"I think you can still pull it off." Popgum nodded encouragingly. "Just imagine yourself as you were... like you're modelling. What did you see in the dressing room?"

"...hm..." Sonya closed her eyes, trying to recall. "I was in new, flowing yellow dress, ready for spring season show. I had my blonde hair done in bouncy curls at the tips. My lips are ruby red, to accentuate and entice. And I slip into these eight-inch heels, that I was training 12 hours to wear..."

"Okay, okay... now open your eyes." Popgum whispered. Sonja did as she was told, and...

"Wh-what!?"

She was herself again! Just as she was at the show! Her tan-brown clay form, previously muddled with brown mixture patterns, ebbed away to perfect peach skin, and gorgeous blonde hair!

"We're looking pretty good, right?" Penelope leaned in, her pink glossy skin now as human looking as Sonja was... though her hair had some extra sweet looking pink highlights.

"...You..." Sonja stared.

"Well, I don't look as good as you do, but I'm no professional model..." Penelope beamed. "Well? Are you settling into your body a bit better?"

Sonja pinched herself to see if she was dreaming; the illusion of her humanity was broken by the sight of her stretching cheek, pulling and bending like dough... Penelope hurried over to take her hand and bring it back.

"I-it's not foolproof though... you're still made out of clay, and mud, and definitely not bone, but..." Popgum meticulously pressed and kneaded Sonja's' face until she had been sculpted right back into shape. "But hey! You still have your beauty!"

"...Yes... I have my beauty..." Sonja admired herself. "I can... live my life..."

"Do you wanna learn more? Having a body that can stretch, and stretch, and streeeetch..."

Popgum demonstrated, stretching her torso out playful, her body producing a pleasing creaking nose.

"...Can take you all sorts of places~" Penelope chuckled.

Sonja gawked. Penelope was like one of those American cartoon. She covered her mouth, stifling a laugh.

"...Yes, I... I would be liking that very much." Sonja admitted, her cheeks blushing slightly.

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