Chapter 3

I woke up to the smell of fresh coffee. Nat was sitting at her desk reading something, drinking down a cup fabulous smelling fresh coffee. My motions, or maybe my emotions, made her notice me.

"Hey Em, how's your head?" Nat said sipping her coffee.

I sat up and checked, the room wasn't spinning, neither was my stomach, and there was no headache in evidence, "Fine, I feel pretty good," I said.

"I was a bit worried you had drunk too much last night. You were out like someone had cracked you on the head, but I guess you were still tired from your change," she said. "How about some coffee?"

"Oh that'd be super," I said.

"I made a pot, so help yourself," Nat said.

I first got out of the crumpled clothing I had slept in and slipped on my bathrobe. I grabbed my mug from my stash of kitchen stuff, and poured myself some coffee, then padded downstairs to the little communal kitchen and grabbed some milk before taking a hit of the coffee. It was heavenly, Nat was a coffee lover and always made great coffee. While most students would make do on instant, whenever possible, she went for the good stuff. She could make a mean espresso, When we were up late studying, her spoon meltingly strong brews kept us awake till all hours. I turned and saw that Jenny and Laura were sat having some toast at the table. My focus on getting coffee had made me blind to all outside stimulus.

"Hey, guys," I said.

"Morning, Em," said Laura.

"Hey," said Jenny.

"Did you guys stay much longer after I left last night?"

"A little while, it was a shame you were so tired. We missed you," Jenny said.

"Yeah, there was a big table football game later on. I bet you would have been awesome at that with all those arms," said Laura, then she slapped her hand over her mouth, "Oh I'm sorry. That was really insensitive."

"That's OK. I know you didn't mean any harm by it. I doubt I'd be any good at it, I suck at it with two arms, I doubt having four more will help," I was trying to smile. "Anyway, I'm gonna go have a bath. See you guys later."

As I made my way up the stairs I made out the two girl's voices, "Nice going Laura. You know she's a bit sensitive about her new arms," Jenny said angrily.

"I didn't mean to hurt her. I was just trying to be friendly," Laura said.

"Well try and engage that brain of yours before you upset her again! Can you imagine the sort of spanking Nat would give you if she heard you upset Em like that?"

"Oh, if only," said Laura dreamily. "Er ... I mean, yeah I'll try to be more thoughtful in the future."

I wasn't sure if Laura was being sarcastic or maybe she liked girls, or maybe she just got off on people spanking her. Either way it was a slightly odd thought. It did seem that there were a lot of things I had been missing about my house mates. Nat's empathy and strength, Dave's weird tendencies beyond him just being an arsehole, and then what ever was up with Laura. I wondered what else I had missed. I had tended to be a bit closed in and shy. I went out with Nat and the rest of the house on occasions, but I was not what you could term a party animal.

"Maybe I should try and let my hair down more," I thought, then glancing at my waist length silver locks, "figuratively speaking of course, if my hair was any further down I would be constantly tripping over it."

I returned to the room and drank my coffee. I sat on my bed sipping the exquisite liquid and relaxing. As I sat there one of my new hands, obviously taking offence at the fact I was feeling relatively good and at peace, began flailing about slapping my legs.

"GAH! Stop that!" I exclaimed, grabbing it with my free hand only to cause the motion to move to the arm below the one I was holding, "Damn you, keep still!"

Nat had looked up and watched me wrestle with my own arms for a bit, "Do you want me to help you tie them up again?" she asked.

"No," I said downing the rest of my coffee, "I need to have a bath, so they may as well flap about a bit, it will stir the water."

"Well shout if you need any help," said Nat, going back to her reading.

I grabbed my wash kit and wandered over to one of the house's bathrooms. What with the number of people in the house, there were quite a few bathrooms, with several baths on the middle and ground floor, and a wash room, with sink and toilet, on the upper and middle floors as well. I selected my favourite bath and then proceeded to fill it. I locked the door and then disrobed. I checked to make sure the temperature was ok, shut off the taps, and paused for a bit to examine my freakish new body in the mirror.

"It wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for these damn arms," I thought, "Couldn't I have just got one extra set? Why two to make my life extra miserable."

I shrugged 3 sets of shoulders and clambered into my bath, letting the warm water sooth my troubles. Since I had picked this bath specifically so all my additional limbs would fit, it was a nice old big tub which had plenty of room. I lay there just enjoying a nice soak for a bit, until eventually my new arms got bored and began splashing about. Damn things were like hyperactive animals or something, they wouldn't sit still for 5 minutes.

I reluctantly began cleaning myself off with some soap. My new hands found a new game to play, rubbing my body, mimicking my normal hands. Due to the way they were positioned they were doing some really naughty things, dirty little minxes. I checked to make sure the door was locked. I didn't want someone walking in on this. I managed to get them sort of under control and resumed cleaning myself. I washed myself off and soaked a bit more before finally deciding I had been lazy enough. I let the water out and began drying myself off. I wrapped the towel round me, which was a futile gesture, as my new arms freed me of it almost immediately. I guessed I should be grateful that they didn't do that when I was out in the open, leaving me naked.

I re-wrapped the towel around my middle and flung my bathrobe on again, then made my way back to the room. I hooked up my hair dryer and began to dry out my long hair, brushing it to avoid tangles. Some seemingly huge amount of time later, I was considering cutting off my long hair. It might look fabulous, but it was a pain to dry out, there was just so much of it.

Now I was clean and dry, I realised I had very little in the way of clothing to wear. This required desperate measures. I would have to phone my parents for money for a shopping trip.

I grabbed my phone and rang my Dad at work.

"Mr Owen's, Office," his secretary's voice answered.

"Hello, can I speak to Mr Owen please?" I asked.

"Who shall I say is calling?"

"This is his daughter."

"Oh, Alice. I'll put you right through," said the secretary.

"No I'm Emily," I said.

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't recognise your voice. dear, I'll put you through," she said. I doubted she had ever heard my voice before. I couldn't recall phoning my Dad at work.

Obviously my sister phoned Dad a lot. It didn't surprise me. She was always daddy's little girl, not that my parents had played favourites. But I was the quiet nerdy girl and Alice was the outgoing sporty dynamo. It was easier for them to relate to Alice. I didn't really take after either of my parents. My dad was a salesman for some big business, he was a larger than life character who always had a story to tell of some adventure or other. I'm pretty sure most were fabricated, or exaggerated to the point they might as well have been. He was also a keen sportsman, spending his spare time playing rugby, football, or any game that took his fancy. My mum was a sportswoman, she was an athlete at school and local athletics champion who had gone into being a physical trainer and ended up running her own gym. Alice took a lot after her. Mum was always full of energy and running around doing sports, seemingly always dressed in Lycra. Her body toned and well muscled, she looked several years younger than her age. She often joked she and Alice could pass for sisters.

I was the black sheep of the family, quiet and uninterested in sports. When the extended family gathered for the World Cup or the Cricket Test Matches or the Olympics, and shouted at the screen, I stayed in my, room reading a book. I had no interests that intersected with theirs. I found all sports boring.

Mum tried to interest me in things, but I didn't take to them, despite genuinely trying. In the end they stopped trying and let me just do my thing. They still loved me and I loved them, but we were always slightly distant from each other, not knowing what to say. I often envied Alice her close easy relationship with both my parents.

"Don Owen," my fathers gruff voice echoed on the line.

"Hi Dad, it's me, Emily."

"Oh, hello, pumpkin, how are you? It's not like you to ring me up at work. Is something wrong?" he said slightly concerned.

"Well nothing is wrong as such, but I need some help. You see I just had MORFS, and I need a load of new clothing. So ... I was wondering ... if you could send me some money?" I said, I hated asking for money.

"My word! MORFS you say? I thought you were too old for that. This is a bit of a shock, are you OK? Did it ... Did it ... Do anything to you?" he said hesitantly.

"Well, it did change me, I'm more or less how I was but well ... I," I wasn't sure how to say it.

"It's OK, Emmie you can tell me," he said gently.

"I've got six arms." I blurted.

Silence was the only reply, which made me so nervous I tried to fill the silence." I'm taller too, and have silver grey hair and eyes ... oh I don't need glasses any more," still silence, "And I've got bigger boobs."

There was a spluttering cough noise at the other end and my Dad said, "I ... see. Six arms you say," then almost to himself in a musing tone, "make you good at volleyball."

"Daddy!" I said a little outraged. Was that all people thought about, how good extra limbs would make me at sport?

"I'm sorry pumpkin you just surprised me is all," He said.

"Well none of my clothes really fit any more, what with the new appendages, so I was hoping you could help me."

"I can see how that could be a problem. You need all new clothes you say..."

"Yes..."

"Well I think I'm going to have to talk to your mother on this one."

"Why?"

"Oh pumpkin, if I were to let you go out and buy yourself a whole new wardrobe and your mother found out you went for that magnitude of shop without her, I'd never hear the end of it."

Damn! could this get any worse! Not only did I have to buy all new clothes, but I would have go shopping for them with my Mum, and no doubt my little sister. No way she was missing that sort of shopping trip.

"But Daddy, I need clothes now! I'm down to bathrobes and old t shirts with holes cut in them." I was hoping my urgency would sway him.

"Well I'll transfer you enough to get a few outfits, then your mother can come up on the weekend and sort out the rest. It's Saturday tomorrow and I'm sure she can make time to re-clothe her eldest daughter."

"Rats!" Now I would have my weekend occupied by running round all the stupid fashionable shops with my Mum and Sister trying to put me in pink frilly frocks. Well I guess I had a figure to show off now and looking on the bright side, my extra limbs would make most of the stuff they liked impractical. It had to be the first time I was glad to have my new arms.

"Bah! Fine, I'll see them tomorrow."

"That's the spirit pumpkin," Dad chuckled, "I'll transfer you some money straight away. It should be in your account shortly."

He went quieter and gently asked, "How are you doing though Emmie? Are you OK?"

"I'm not sure yet it's all too new. I'm still working it out."

"Well, if you need to talk, call me any time. That goes for your mother, too."

"I love you, Dad."

"I love you too, Emmie," he said as he rang off.

"BAH! Now I'm going to have to go shopping with my Mum and probably Sister. Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse," I said to my now disconnected phone.

"What's up Em? Shopping with your Mum can't be that bad." Nat looked amused.

"You've never met my Mum and sister, the skin tight Lycra twins. They have these fabulous sculpted bodies that they love to show off and then I'm there with the shapeless physique and bad skin. They tried to get me to dress more like them back in school, it was a total train wreck."

"Well Em, in case you hadn't noticed, you've got a pretty nice physique going now. So you have something to show off."

"I guess but who's going to notice, with these damn things," I said, indicating my new arms.

"You never know till you try, girl."

"I guess. Do you fancy helping me find a few outfits to cover me up meantime?"

"Sure thing Em, we've no lectures till the afternoon. Let's go shopping!"

Once we were both dressed, which for me took more creative rummaging, we headed out to the town centre. I hid my arms under a jacket so that no one would see them, as I was still quite self conscious out with all these people. Nat gently guided me through the shopping centre, looking for stuff that would fit me. First things first. I checked my accounts. My Dad had been pretty generous with the money, so I had some leeway in what I got. First Nat insisted we get me a new set of underwear.

This was very embarrassing, as the woman had to measure me, something I had never really had to have done before. I hadn't really had breasts as such, so I never really needed a bra. I kept my extra arms tied up in the hopes it would keep them out of trouble. The woman sorted out my size and found me a bra that would work with my oddly arranged chest. It was lucky my bosom hadn't grown more. Some of the more hefty bras had fairly thick straps that would have had likely been a pain what with my extra shoulders. I also got some new panties. My old ones just about fit, but my slightly larger bottom meant some new ones would be less of a squeeze and more comfy.

With a few unmentionables in the bag we went hunting for the rest of the things I would need, Nat joked that it was a good job it wasn't winter, as I would need a six pack of gloves. I gave her a dour expression at that and she told me to lighten up, so I stuck my tongue out at her. I got a couple of pairs of trousers, and then we went looking for the most difficult item, tops that would accommodate my extra limbs.

We hunted around without much success. There were a few things that would do at a pinch, but nothing that didn't need some tweaking to make it fit. Then Nat had an idea and led me out of the centre down a side road, where she had heard about some specialist place that did items for people like me. After a few miss tries and dead ends we finally found the place, a shop called "wings and tails". It was reasonably busy. There were girls with tails shopping for miniskirts, and guys with wings buying suits. It seemed like the sort of place that would have stuff for six armed girls. I didn't see anything obvious on first glance and our poking around seemed to attract one of the shop assistants.

"Can I help you girls find something," she asked. She had a tail that flicked around seemingly at random, it was kind of like what my arms did. She saw me staring and gave me a look, so I looked away and tried to think of what to say.

Nat leapt in first though, "I hope so, my friend here needs some tops and has rather special requirements," she said.

I fidgeted uncomfortably, "What sort of requirements," asked the sales girl. When I hesitated, she tried to set my mind at ease, "I assure you, there is no need to be shy we see all sorts here."

"Well ... I'll show you," I said and tentatively undid my jacket.

She stared for a bit and said, "I don't see..." then my arms twitched and she spotted them, not having noticed them with the bandages holding them in place, "AHH! Ahem sorry, yes I see your problem." she said trying to compose herself. Then under her breath she whispered, "and I thought I'd seen it all."

I shuffled uncomfortably a bit, not liking being treated like some sort of weird freak, even in a room of weird freaks!

"I don't think we'll have anything off the rack that will suit you, but we do have some tailoring facilities that may be able to help," she said, recovering her composure.

"I don't have a lot of money," I said.

"Not to worry this is fairly affordable, we have an automated process. It can't turn out much in the way of variety, but it is reasonably good for basic garments with special modifications such as you require. Follow me and I'll see about getting you a quote."

She lead us into a back room where a small woman, maybe a few years older than me and Nat, with wings sat typing on a computer, "This is Charlotte, the genius behind this contraption, I'll leave you in her capable hands," said the girl.

The girl turned and offered her hand to us. "Hey, I'm Charlotte but everyone calls me Charlie." We shook hands and she continued, "Now, what can I do for you girls?"

"Well my friend here needs some tops and we were hoping you could help us," Nat said.

"Right ho, let's take a look see what we are working with, slip off the jacket and let's take a gander," said Charlie. As she stood up I saw a tail flick out from behind her, it curled over to the desk and wrapped around the grip of some device, then flicked it forward so Charlie could grab it. Then the tail curled round the young woman's, waist out of the way.

"How do you control your tail like that?" I asked.

"Practice, honey. When I first got it, it was up to all sorts of mischief, but I eventually worked out how to get the thing to play ball. Now it's like having another arm. I wouldn't be without it, you wouldn't believe how wonderful having an extra limb can be," Charlie said, beaming.

I paused stiffening slightly at her comments and then said ruefully, "Well, I have some idea." I slipped off my jacked and handed it to Nat, "I have four of them. Mine aren't very useful though, up to mischief is right."

"Oh dear you got it bad," said Charlie, "Well, I can see why you need my help, as for controlling them, it'll come with time. If you keep trying to use them your brain will learn how to wrangle those things into order. Now let's just untie them for a bit so I can see what we are dealing with."

She undid my bandages and freed my additional limbs. They flailed around a bit and eventually seemed to settle down, only twitching occasionally. Charlie took the device she had picked up and began using it, it seemed to be some sort of measuring device. She measured me at various points and around my new arms which got all excitable and in the way, much to my annoyance. Eventually we were done and Charlie began tapping away at the computer.

"Now for the magic," she said with a grin. "After I changed I found trouble finding clothes that fit me. Sure I could have stuff made, or modified, but it was pricey and sometime not quite custom enough. So being somewhat of a technical person, I designed this. It's a program that, given the required dimensions, designs clothes to fit them in a few styles. Then I coupled it with some mechanical stuff to automatically make the clothes. All it needs is a ream of fabric, a bit of shifting stuff about, and it can turn out custom stuff quick smart. I'm not much of a fashion designer, so it's a touch utilitarian but I'm gradually improving it. Pretty neat huh?"

"Cool," said Nat, "Is it some sort of Cartesian robot then?"

"Yeah pretty much, the clever bit is assembling the fabric, that took a load of head scratching I can tell you. A few groups had mastered it a few years back, so I used some of their ideas and a few improvements of my own to make it work. Automated clothing manufacture was always somewhat of a holy grail of the clothing industry. The whole industrial age was kick started by automation of weaving and the like. Load of peeps tried it and eventually mastered it, but it was much more pricey than traditional mass production techniques, so it never got off the ground before. Now what with the requirement for much more custom stuff cheaply for MORFS survivors, it's a viable technology again. So, you girls techie types then?"

"Yeah, we are both doing an engineering masters at the uni."

"Nice! Oh, here we go," she said, tapping the screen.

Displayed was a shirt with six arms to it and a sort of exploded diagram of how to make it next to it.

"This is the basic shirt shape, but I can do you variants with shorter arms, more t-shirty types of things, or something with a lower neckline for a night out on the town," Charlie said.

"How much will it cost?" I asked.

"Well depends on the amount of material and the type. For that shirt there, this is a list of prices for the types of materials we have in stock." Charlie handed me a print out.

The prices were surprisingly reasonable. They were a bit more than really cheap clothes would cost, but not a huge amount, "OK, that looks affordable, I only need a couple of things now, but I may well come back at these prices."

"Repeat business is how we make our money here," grinned Charlie, "We like to think we offer a service you can't get anywhere else. So, what sort of thing do you fancy?"

"I guess maybe one shirt type of thing and maybe a t shirt sort of arrangement," I said.

"Cool, OK what sort of material do you want? Hold on, I'll grab my samples so you can get a look."

She handed me a book of fabric swatches and we flipped through the various materials, Charlie commenting on what the materials were best for. In the end I settled on a thin light yellow fabric for the shirt. For the t-shirt, Nat spotted this wonderful sparkly material that seemed to have silver metal added to it so it shimmered. The underlying fabric was deep red so it had a nice contrast. It was fairly pricey, but Nat insisted that it was the one for me, as it would match my hair and I quite liked it, so went for that.

Charlie keyed in the choices and produced some designs for me that looked pretty good. She then set the machine up to make them. I paid up and she gave me the paperwork, as well as a little card with the shop's address and phone number.

"Anytime you need something more, feel free to call. I've got your measurements stored, so I can run you off stuff no problem. I've got a few other things in the pipe, so it'll be about an hour to finish this lot up," she said. We thanked her and headed off to kill some time.

We went for a coffee and some cake, and while waiting, we sat chatting.

"So you coming to lectures this afternoon?" Nat asked.

"I guess I better, I've missed a whole weeks worth. Even if I want to just stay inside and hide away, I can't afford to get that far behind," I said.

"Yeah, don't worry too much, you'll be fine," Nat said. I gave a weak smile.

I was curious about some of the new things I had learnt about her, so I leant over and whispered so no one would hear me, "So what's it like feeling other people's emotions?"

"Good and bad. It nearly drove me mad to begin with. I couldn't go out without being bombarded by stray emotions from all sides. Plus the way I looked, I got guys checking me out and feeling their emotions made me feel really icky. It meant no one can lie to me any more which is a plus at some times. After a while it just became part of who I am. To tell the truth, the strength thing took longer to adjust to. I was this reasonably little girl who was suddenly stronger than any of the big guys at school. It frightened me a little. I had to learn a lot of control so I didn't hurt anyone ... well unintentionally," she said with a wink. "I think you may well be a fair amount stronger than before, judging by yesterday. We should go to the uni gym and check out what your capabilities are now."

I thought for a bit then said, "I guess that makes sense. I'll need some sports wear, but no doubt Mum will be happy to pick that sort of thing out for me tomorrow." I wasn't too thrilled about the idea of going to a gym, but I could see the advantage in learning about my new body. It might even help get my wayward arms in check.

We sat sipping our coffee for a bit, watching the world go by. Eventually it was time to pick up my new shirts. We finished our coffee and wandered back over to the shop. The sales girl took us into the back where Charlie was sitting, fiddling about with some bit of machinery.

"Hey, girls just perfect timing. The last item finished a few minutes ago. Let's see how they fit," She handed me a bag with the two garments and showed me to a changing room.

I selected the t shirt and slipped it on. It was slightly stretchy fabric and clung to my new figure. The small sleeves fit perfectly once I had wrestled my new arms through. I came out and showed it off for Nat who thought it looked pretty good on me. I moved about to get the feel of it, the fabric seemed to fit pretty good. It didn't pinch anywhere and I had enough space to move around. I manipulated my extra arms just to check they seemed OK. I decided to try the full look and slipped one of my outfits from the shopping trip, swapping the t-shirt for the shirt. That which took some more arm wrangling to get on, but seemed to fit pretty well. Now that I had properly fitting clothing, I was much more comfortable. I also didn't look like I had just grabbed items at random when dressing in the morning and inadvertently got some from the fancy dress box. I came out and gave Nat a turn in my new outfit.

Charlie looked in on us, "How's it fitting? Pretty fine by the looks of things. I did you a little modification to the shirt free of charge for until you get the hang of these things," she said indicating my arms, she reached down and pulled two strips of cloth on the shirt free. They attached with poppers and secured my lower arms out the way. She fastened the grips that held my lower arms and with my jacket on, it looked pretty normal.

"Cool!" said Nat.

"Thank you, Charlie, these are great! I may be back later for more stuff," I said.

"No problem, kid. See you around."

We left and made our way home, just managing to get back in time for lunch. We dumped my purchases in our room and made out way to the canteen. We were a bit late, so we had little choice of what to eat. We grabbed what there was and sat down to eat.

We had to get up to campus fairly sharpish, so we didn't have too long to hang around chatting. We wolfed down our meal and were about to head off when we were accosted by one of the administrative staff, a smartly dressed woman who was accompanied by one of the student union people.

"The Warden would like a word with you two," she said.

"We have lectures to go to, can't it wait?" complained Nat.

"I'm afraid not, follow me. please!" The woman led us out of the canteen into an office somewhere, where a middle aged man was sitting behind an old wooden desk.

"Please, take a seat," he said. "I have heard some disturbing stories about the two of you fighting in the canteen with two other students. In the interest of fairness, I thought it best we meet and you tell me your side of the story."

"Are you referring to the incident yesterday, where Gary and Dave attacked us after verbally abusing Emily?" Nat said.

"Yes, though they didn't phrase the event in quite those terms, as you would imagine. They are known trouble makers, but they made a complaint, so I have to check it out. Tell me what happened from your perspective."

"We had just got our dinner and were sitting, eating with our house mates. Gary came up and grabbed Emily, making some fairly unpleasant comments," Nat said.

"What sort of comments?" the warden asked.

"He called me fat and made several suggestive comments, then called me an animal freak," I said.

"He demanded she take off her jumper so he could get a better look at her changes, at which point I asked him to leave," said Nat.

"What changes?" asked the Warden.

"I've just had MORFS and ... well," I hesitated then deciding I just wanted to be out of here blurted out, "I've got six arms!"

"I see," said the Warden.

"Then Gary jumped on Nat, holding her down," I said. "Dave ripped my jumper, I pushed him, and he tumbled over a table. Then I pulled Gary off Nat."

"When Gary tried to hit her with a chair, I persuaded him to drop it," said Nat.

"How did you do that?" asked the Warden.

"She kicked him in the ba... ," I started.

"Somewhere sensitive," finished Nat.

"Right ... I see. Do you have any witnesses to these events?" asked the Warden.

"Our house mates saw, Jenny, Laura, John, Steve, and Tom. Plus most of the hall," said Nat.

"Well it certainly sounds like you girls were acting in self defence. I will confirm your version with your house mates, but right now it seems like there is no need for any action against you two. As for your assailants, well, I will be having further discussions with them. We don't stand for this sort of personal attack. They will be properly punished, you have my word. If there are any further problems, don't hesitate to inform me or my staff. It's about time we stamped out this nonsense once and for all. Now then, I've kept you long enough you'd best be off, I'm sure you have lectures," he said.