Duality - Chapter 21 (Novel Commission for Code-Shark101)

TAGS: Anthro, Transformation/TF, Slice-Of-Life, Milk/Lactation, BE, Hyper, F/F

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This turned out to be much easier said than done. As much as Linda herself wanted to get her problems done and over with, she was still attached to that body, and had to suffer through the consequences of actively fighting against it on a daily basis. She was initially quite enthused about the prospect of finally going back to a more manageable size, at least after Beth and herself had some more time together to work things out through snuggling and mutual reassurance that things were going to turn out just fine, but as soon as things actually began to happen, the panda gal had immediate regrets. The first step in her intensive, multi-stage “normality plan”, as Rue had taken to calling it, was as simple as plugging her nipples so that milk would stop flowing and instead build up inside of her; this would’ve been unbearable even under the best of circumstances, but her tits were the size of large aircraft hangars and produced countless gallons every minute, which made it excruciatingly hard on her to even so much as consider the possibility of not getting any release. Unfortunately, it had to happen, and seeing as she was literally unable to put up any resistance from atop her bed of breasts, the many workers attending to her, terrified as they may be, adjusted the nipple clamps around her colossal teats, locked them down, then brought the plus-sized metallic plugs and spent a couple of hours trying to fit them into position so they wouldn’t slip off from all the milk flow. Once done, the ringlets were welded to the plugs and the assembly was complete; the only way those things were coming off was if Rivtech cut them off.

The pressure build-up was immediate… after the nipple clamps. Despite their immense struggle, the flow that the workers were battling against was already a diminished one compared to Linda’s usual productivity, with the panda having been made to suffer through a spike in tightness the moment the rings were placed on her teats and closed off; despite still being able to vent some of it, a vast majority of her cream was now being forced to remain inside of her, and seeing as how she was still producing, her body kept trying to expel it, forcing the currents inside to grow stronger by the hour as the amount of churning milk just kept growing and growing, until it reached a point where she could take no more. Linda knew that it was over and that she was about to explode, she knew that she had reached her peak and couldn’t go further than that, and in fact, immediately began screaming for someone to help her get the plugs out of her… before the plugs were even on. The work crew had to resort to using noise-cancelling headgear, seeing as most of them were getting seriously distracted from the pained cries of the person they were, frankly, beginning to outright torture, and a few excused themselves before leaving the warehouse altogether. It was mentally taxing on all parties, though moreso on Linda when she was informed the plugging procedure was complete a good hour after she had already decided her peak had been reached; the ensuing confusion and lack of understanding was enough to keep her distracted from the mounting pain inside of her chest, at least for a few minutes.

That night, everyone in the complex heard her. If not her cries for help, then her screams of despair, or failing that, the interminable sloshing of the milk building up inside of her. It was particularly hard on Rue, who had a live broadcast open on her work computer at all times, kept mute just so she’d have enough peace of mind to be able to think; she hated having to resort to such extreme measures as these, but it truly seemed as if there was no other way for them to go. It was either force Linda to reach her true limits, the real edge beyond which she couldn’t go any further, or risk losing her forever; it pained everyone, not just the panda, and the night wouldn’t end without Rue’s whiskey bottle going half-empty, a stark contrast to what was going on with her test subject in the lower levels.

As the hours went by, it would be disingenuous to say that Linda got used to what was going on, as much as her body simply gave in and lost any ability to keep working; the panda collapsed from exhaustion sometime around four AM, with Dr. Adams breathing a sigh of relief, turning the sound back on after noticing her vital signs had begun to stabilize, then promptly muting it again right afterwards. The cacophony of churning emanating from her speakers was loud enough that it risked blowing them up from the strain, and suddenly Rue understood what that weird rumbling noise she’d been hearing all night was coming from; the thought that it was a byproduct of Linda’s productivity, audible even several stories above, was… frankly frightening. There had been some growth, yes, but nothing that would suggest something as powerful as what she heard in those three or so seconds before turning the sound off; it could only mean that her body was truly reacting to being plugged, because at no point had the panda been that loud before.

It made sense, in a way. All other incidents had been the result of her ability to produce milk going wild after either stimulation or a stress-based reaction, climbing upwards ever steadily until finally she inevitably hit a wall of sorts and burst forth into a climax; never before had her productivity been forced to remain at a constant level while also being unable to vent itself to alleviate the pressure, which went a long way to explain why exactly Linda’s bust hadn’t completely destroyed the building, and instead was only pushing against the walls on either side of it. Rather than an exponential growth, the panda was experiencing a linear one, which was genuinely a novel experience for her; Rue could only hope that the depressants she was dosed on would keep her stress levels from getting too high, because if she triggered a reaction like that when she was already that big… well, Adams was quite certain that her new models, built on her better understanding of Linda’s conditions, were reasonably accurate, and even the lower-level estimates placed her next hypothetical “empty” size at a level where the whole compound would be necessary to house about three-quarters of a single breast. It was insane to even consider, but that’s what the numbers told her; the worst-case scenario saw each tit become massive enough to wipe out an entire city block and spill over to the ones around it.

Maybe she should share some of that whiskey.

The morning came, and with it a new series of concerns. Linda woke up feeling like she hadn’t actually slept at all; if anything, she was more exhausted coming back to consciousness than she was going away from it, leaving her immediately grumpy and uncooperative, not to mention giving her an endless wellspring of reasons to start complaining about everything happening to her. At the very least, this signalled to the crew tending to her that things might actually be getting slightly better, as Linda spent more time arguing about how badly she was being treated than actually complaining about it viscerally, which given everything that happened, was a genuine improvement.

As soon as the panda got done returning to a wakeful state, she came to realize that the need for release had transcended the bounds of the physical and went straight to the psychological, as her body had, somehow, somewhat acclimatized to this new normal being imposed upon her… though not enough that it still wasn’t immense uncomfortable. As much as she wanted the physical release to come, for it to get rid of the unthinkably high pressure she was feeling, the panda needed the mental high more than anything else; months of free milking and draining had gotten her accustomed to the endorphin rush that came along with it, to the point where it simply became a part of her daily life. To now have it denied created such an enormous sense of backlash that she wouldn’t be surprised if it qualified as clinical withdrawal; everything felt terrible, and even the breakfast didn’t help.

As per Rue’s new instructions, Linda was not served the usual hearty meal to help start off her day with several times more calories than she should; in fact, she wasn’t even given a regular snack, but some sort of diet cereal that tasted like dry cardboard and was just as hard to chew down. She protested, and quite loudly at that, only be told in no uncertain terms that “Dr. Adams mandated the new diet plan”, and that if Linda wanted to complain, she should complain to Rue… who, quite fortuitously, was too busy trying to explain herself to the Board of Directors again to be called aside and listen to a very mad, very stuffed panda demanding to be given her customary bacon, eggs, fries and salad starter. Thus, the boob monster had to spend her whole morning feeling utterly famished, her body demanding that she feed it more than the meagre scraps it was given, her tits especially feeling like they were dreadfully empty, even when the exact opposite was true; was this what it felt to have her productivity strained? To feel this interminable hunger, this ravenous need to consume something in order to fuel the furnaces burning within her? Well, if that were the case, she didn’t like it one bit; and with no one there to stop her, she was going to make everyone’s life miserable until they caved in.

It was childish, pointless, and bound to get people around her irritated more than anything else, but it was the only thing that Linda had left. It was either lie there and feel like utter crap or externalize it and take the chance that at least one person would be so upset by her constant needling that they’d break and sneak her some proper food, maybe even a hefty dose of junk from the nearest drive-through… but no one did. Maybe it was the noise-cancelling headgear, maybe they were just too terrified of both Rue and the consequences of disobeying her (and what that meant in practice), but no one seemed all that willing to go the extra mile for her, which was disconcerting, to say the least. They even refused to let her phone Beth without them being next to her, outright telling her that they were under strict orders not to allow anything more than what was allotted to her as per the dietary plan, and thus couldn’t just trust her not to ask her partner to bring something in.

Not that they’d have to worry too much, as the last thing on Beth’s mind was to do anything of the sort. She had been released earlier that morning, before Linda woke up, and asked to take a few days off in order to adjust to her new life, even if the plan was for it to not last that long anyway. One of the first things she did was clear out the secret compartment she kept next to the fridge, the one where she had been sneaking away bottles of Linda’s milk; not once had she touched them, but the mere thought of them being there was now too much for her to bear. The transformation into a big-breasted half-panda half-human hybrid had shocked her out of her cream-obsessed state, funnily enough, and possessed of a newfound clarity, Beth knew for a fact that it was better for her to just get rid of her “emergency supply”, not just for herself, but for Linda as well; after all, what kind of disservice would she be doing to her partner by sinking deeper into the depths of depravity? If Linda couldn’t count on her to be there next to her, to be the strong pillar she needed her to be, then what could she count on her for? No, that milk had to go, and Beth had to abandon the dreams of overdosing on it; the transformation was too much for her to handle right now, and she didn’t need more of it clouding her judgement.

She felt better about herself after that decision. Not much… but just enough to smile before heading to the milking machine herself; one of the unfortunate byproducts of her transformation was that she’d begun to lactate as well, though nothing compared to what Linda was capable of; the suction cups were oversized and a constant reminder of what her partner had to go through, and now that she herself was experiencing the same thing, it was hard to feel anything but regret. Regret at the choices that led to Linda overindulging like she did, regret at her own inability to control her urges, regret at everything that led up to her current situation… but not regret over meeting Linda. Not regret over having gotten to know her, over getting close to her, over those days they spent together, warm and close, over the furtive kisses and the exchanging of dreams, over the fantastical imagination spots they’d share about a domestic life together, over how wonderful it would be after everything was resolved. No, she had no regret over that; in fact, she had every intention of recovering it, of bringing it back so it could be their new normal again… with some more tit size, but that was a given.

Linda needed her to be strong. To be there for her at all times and become the solid pillar that she needed to get through Rue’s incredibly difficult regimen, and the panda gal wouldn’t have that if her partner was too busy drinking her milk and mooing over how good it felt to be a titty monster; no, Beth had to focus, and thus she did, possessed of a brand new sense of willpower that she could only hope wouldn’t magically vanish on her as quickly as it had appeared. Screw her job, screw her life prospects; she was going to dedicate her entire life going forward to Linda, and Linda alone, she was going to drive over to the complex and demand to be next to her, if only so she could constantly reminder her chosen life partner that she, that Beth, her Beth, was there next to her and would never abandon her in a million years. Now, more than ever, she was determined to see this through to the end, even if it killed her. Especially if it killed her; Beth would absolutely re-manifest herself as a ghost just to make sure her beloved had a good life without her. But it wouldn’t come to that, because she didn’t want it to; as far as Beth cared, her dreams of having a normal life together with Linda weren’t dreams, they were plans. Plans that they were going to very much go through with, so help her God.

The sight that met her eyes on arriving at the compound itself was, if nothing else, entirely expected. A good chunk of the crew were outside the main storage warehouse, conspicuously dry, shooting up to attention on seeing Beth arrive from the front door. Not a single one of them so much as dared to try and stop her, as most were too far gone by that point to care that much; a few even had a betting pool on whether these new extreme measures would ever work, or if they’d all have to go look for a job within a month. Once inside, Beth was ferried over to the small crane used to transport assistants to the top of the bloated breast bed; those things were stuffed, but not as much as the half-human expected them to be, and certainly not enough to completely dampen Linda’s spirits. On approach, the full panda gal rolled her eyes and loudly demanded to know what took her so long, in a tone that made Beth flinch, and immediately had Linda regret her choice of words.

“... I’m sorry, it’s been-”

“Tough?” Beth completed the sentence, kneeling down and holding her beloved again, “I know hun. I know. Now shut up, please.”

So Linda did. She shut up and remained shut up, as her body was made warm and fuzzy in all the right ways all over again. For a few brief, saintly moments, the endless sloshing and churning quieted down enough that the assistants in the room noticed, the panda gal’s vital signs stabilized, her seemingly endless stress reaction went down… and she began sobbing.

“That’s alright, hun,” Beth whispered into her ears, “that’s alright. It’s ok. Let it all out.”

She did. In fact, she let a lot more out than Beth could’ve expected, as the panda gal broke down into a torrent of apologies in between bouts of inelegant blubbering and profuse sobbing, which quickly infected the much smaller of the hybrids, and before long both of them were crying their eyeballs out in perhaps the only true display of sadness they’d truly had in months. But it wasn’t bad; far from it, actually. Though the experience of tears was misery incarnate, the results of it weren’t, and it wouldn’t take more than ten minutes before their heaving and sobbing made way for cautious, if pained, giggling and then eventually triumphant laughter, the two women’s tears becoming those of pure, untainted joy, washed away by the flood of despair and depression that had run down their cheeks. They were free now, free from everything they had bottled up so far, free from their own, self-imposed shackles, and so they laughed; they both knew the worst was yet to come, but could it really be that bad now that they had finally found one another? Now that the curtains were lifted and everything was made clear again? It was as if the previous months hadn’t happened at all, and the two were finding one another after a long absence, the true them, the ones that hadn’t been tainted by corporate greed and poor scientific rigour.

They were happy. That was all that mattered.

“Y’all are alright?”

The voice had come from somewhere down below, where a large group of assistants had congregated as soon as they saw and heard the two women bawling loudly enough to be heard through the solid steel doors. Their looks of worry and concern were enough to melt Linda and Beth’s hearts, but they didn’t say anything; rather, they looked at one another again and just went back to their happy cry-laughter, hugging each other tighter than ever before and bringing so much relief to the group of staff members that many of them were openly congratulating one another over a job well done, the first they’d done that ever since Linda had first been moved in after her initial growth spurt. It was good to feel like some progress was being made, even if they all knew it was but the first step of potentially hundreds, if not thousands; the hardest part was about to come crashing down on them, and the two partners’ resolve and determination was going to be tested by the most gruelling crucible imaginable.

But for now, they rested, and waited until Rue was done and lunch was being served.

Things began to calm down as the morning carried on and Beth spent her time making sure Linda was distracted from what was going on with her. It was the only thing she could do at that point, and though the full panda gal was still clearly reeling from the occasional pangs of pain and pressure crashes from the milk inside of her, having someone to just vent to made it surprisingly more bearable than she expected it to be; the two weren’t even talking about anything in particular as much as simply bringing up whatever happened to come to mind, as was the whole point of Beth’s presence there. Seeing as the smaller woman couldn’t really do anything about her lover’s biology, she could at least keep her stable mentally… so that’s what she did, for hours on end, until finally Rue showed up just before lunch was served up.

“Beth?” she asked, surprised to see her there. On being lifted to where Linda and Beth were, both of them noticed that the bags under the doctor’s eyes were far deeper than they were just the night before, “I thought I asked you to get some rest, what are you doing here?”

“I needed to be here,” the half-panda replied, looking at Linda, “for her. For us.”

The two exchanged another silent smile, and though Rue was about to say something, that moment was enough to convince her to just stay quiet until she was spoken to again. At least her ideas were working, if not her plan; having Beth there wasn’t necessarily unwelcome, just a surprise, and if she helped to keep the mountainous udders attached to Linda’s chest as quiet as they were, then the good doctor wasn’t about to send her home anytime soon.

“I’ve been speaking with the Board all morning,” Rue groaned, sitting down a respectable distance away, “things are on the breaking point, but I’ve been keeping them from fully rupturing so far. I’m sorry for the shit breakfast Linda, I really am” - the sudden use of profanity was surprising enough that both test subjects raised their eyebrows - “but we really can’t afford to keep feeding you the way we used to. Literally, at that; the Board is slashing the budget down so hard that we can barely afford to keep the machinery running at all, so I’m afraid that, even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t be able to give you the same meals as you’re used to.”

Linda’s disappointment was palpable, but all it took was for Beth to place a single hand beneath her chin and hold it there for a few moments for the panda gal’s expressions to smoothen. This didn’t go unnoticed by Rue, who felt it best to keep driving the point home while she still had the advantage of Beth there to help her through.

“Additionally, this means we literally do not have any other choice but to proceed with the plan we drew up initially, though at least we’ll provide more depressants and sedatives if you ever need us to… though not too much, we don’t want to trade milk addiction for painkillers,” the doctor was quick to add, “and… unfortunately, we can’t really keep covering for your missed work anymore, Beth. I’m afraid that if you want to keep coming here, then you’re on yo-”

“That’s fine,” Beth instantly said, “I don’t care if I lose that job. Not as long as that helps Linda get better.”

The panda next to her was already tearing up again, but the hand around her mouth kept her from saying anything; Beth knew full well that if her partner said anything to thank her, they both would start crying again.

“Well… b-be that as it may, we also can’t provide for your meals either,” Adams clarified, “so again, if you’re going to keep showing u-”

“That won’t be a problem, Rue. Please.”

It was a plea. More than anything, Beth wanted Dr. Adams to drop the subject and accept that things had to move on, instead of prodding at a wound that had just barely been stitched up. Rue, not being that much of a blind fool, picked up on the cue and resolved to change the subject completely, hopefully to a better one.

“So Linda, how’re the boobs?”