Latexia knew the feeling of something sliding through the bar when she felt it. There were enough superheroes and supervillains that had the ability to change their forms, even their material state. The gaseous ones could be something of a pain, but liquid? There was no way for liquid to hide from her.
The hippo nonchalantly looked over the bar towards the door. There, among the many pounding feet of the latest rush, was the source of the disturbance. A little puddle of bubblegum-pink ooze that was just avoiding being sucked into her floor. As she realized that it wasn’t unsentient, she directed the floor to stop its security measures, and then waited.
She didn’t have to wait long. It blossomed, if such a rather...unpleasant process could be called that, into something oozing, pustule-like, and then further into a more living creature. Pink, still, but living, looking like a twisted, half-hearted version of a dragon, something that had been twisted up and then spat out. The hippo woman shook her head a few times as it continued to grow, seeing the winces that came when people looked at it and looked away, the hunched shoulders that never quite went down, the smile that died before it could even start.
Oh, dear. Another one.
Shaking her head, Latexia waited for the pink thing to walk over to her bar. It sat down, head turned away, almost as if it knew that it needed to do this but didn’t really want to. Latexia sighed.
Well, this is my night now.
The hippo bent down, sinking her hand through the latex floor and rooting about until she felt one of her helpers down below. Dragging him up - and making sure it was the one she thought it was - she set the formerly-white-scaled dragon to work before reaching into another shimmery cabinet to pull out some snacks. She found a couple of packs of Reeses, a few pretzels, and some popcorn. The first two were thrown together and then held under a latex pressure cooker she formed out of her hand, while the last was given a shake and then dispensed into a fresh-hardened bowl.
She carried them over to the pink thing, tapping the bar in front of it.
“Hey there. You new?”
The pink thing nodded.
“Yeah, figured. Looks like you’re just making the rounds? Trying to make sure that nobody thinks you’re here to cause trouble?”
Another nod.
“You know, this goes a little better when you talk.”
“...meh.”
“Let me guess. Nobody pays attention to what you say, so why bother talking at all?”
“...”
“Well, if you want to just listen, that’s fine. Ain’t had a willing ear that’s not been wedged open in a while. And hey, you’re pretty; gives me candy for the eyes, too.”
There was a very slight smile at that, though it didn’t last long. Latexia chuckled, tossing the candy bowl over. The pretzels had been well-mixed with the peanut-butter and chocolate candies.
“Hey, take a couple bites, huh? I’ll be back with you in a second. Just gotta make sure that everything’s running -”
She saw it a second before it happened. One gecko villain about to shoot his electro-tongue at a water-wielding wizard hero. Latexia raised her voice to a booming shout on instinct.
“HEY!”
It was followed by a crack as the latex floor rose up, forming a box around the gecko. Everyone froze as the villain was yanked back, bounced around, and then lodged into an empty spot beneath the bar. She reached through it, pulling his head out, holding him under the chin and turning his head up to face her.
“You know the rules, Lightning Toad.”
“Nnngh. It’s...um…”
“Hon, it’s me. No talking while I’m talking, hmm?”
“...Yes, ma’am.”
“Now, I’m busy talking. So, I’m likely to give you a small pass on this. But you better be on your best behavior for the rest of the night, or I’m going to really, really have to hurt you later. Okay?”
“...”
“You understand me, hon?”
“I understand, I understand!”
“Good boy.”
She smiled, pushing him out. He landed right on his butt and scurried away, running off into the crowd. Latexia chuckled, shaking her head before turning back to the pink thing. It had turned away, its hands just starting to come down from over its ears. The hippo shook her head a few times.
“Sensitive?”
“Mmm…”
“Yeah, shoulda guessed…”
Latexia sat down, a bit of latex dropping from her butt cheeks and some rising from the floor to form a stool on her side of the bar. She leaned forward, shaking her head.
“Look, hon. I know you’re here just because someone said to. Or maybe you just heard that I’m the big bad girl that will fuck you up if you step outta line. Something like that?”
The pink thing shook her head.
“Huh. First time someone’s come around for some other reason. Gonna tell me what it is?”
“...Same…”
“Hmm?”
The pink thing looked around. It took a second for the hippo woman to get it, and she chuckled.
“Oh, because of that, huh? Haven’t gone that far in a while, but lemme see…”
Latexia pulled at the latex matter that made up her body. It took more effort than she expected, but as she yanked in her stomach, pulled in her thighs, dragged in her butt, and shoved her tits from the fat things they’d become into something more modest, she found she had a lot of mass to work with.
Of course, redistributing it took a few tries, and looked more than a little cartoonish, but she eventually bounced herself into a rough semblance of the same dragon creature that sat before her. Black, of course, rather than bubblegum pink, but it was a reasonable imitation.
The smile came back, and this time it lasted for a few seconds before fading away. This time, Latexia wasn’t about to let that happen.
“Hey, girl. Boy. Thing. Whatever you are. Whatever you wanna be.” Latexia shook her head. “You obviously got the chance to bounce around here. Why do you want to be this?”
“It’s what...everyone else sees, isn’t it?”
“Oh, please. You think I see this -” She gestured at her rough, admittedly ugly dragon face. “- when I look at you?”
“...Yes?”
“Not a chance in the world, hon. Let’s see...can I still do this? Haven’t tried it since that robbery a couple decades ago, but...gimme a second.”
The dragon-returning-to-hippo stood up, shaking her head a few times. She’d done the species shift well enough, but this was a much harder thing. Generally, she kept to the same mass, but she’d found this little trick useful once upon a time. She pulled at her bits and pieces, twitching them around, gradually twisting bits and pieces off until -
Plop.
The hippo collapsed into a puddle of her own goo. Latexia grumbled behind the bar, but at least the pieces were split up. The bubblegum pink thing looked down at her, eyes boggled but a giggle just barely hidden behind its snout.
Well, that was something.
Wriggling her will through the various detached parts, she meant to put together a bundle of bunnies, but she ended up with something more akin to cat-puppies with long ears. Good enough.
Hop-bounding around the bar, Latexia swarmed the space just under the bar stool. The various creatures looked up, giving her a view through all their different eyes. It was giving her a massive headache, but it had done something. Some small little thing.
And then came the waterfall of pink puppies and cats.
“GAH!”
The beyond-strange hybrid hodgepodges that Latexia had become were buried beneath the puddle of pink bubblegum kittens and puppies. They jumped and grabbed and hugged and licked in ways that the hippo hadn’t seen for a very long time, and hadn’t expected in the slightest. She’d just been hoping for a laugh, not a giant cuddle pile.
Well...guess this is my life for the next few minutes…
The bar owner allowed herself to be smothered beneath the bubblegum thing, letting it just take a bit of love. She’d need to get back to work before too much longer, but for the moment, it was good enough to let the newcomer get some attention. Maybe it’d come back next time starting with a smile.
“Gemini.”
The puppies and kittens all said the word at the same time, giving a weird echo-stereo effect that rippled through her latex body. Latexia, in return, offered a mass eyebrow raise.
“Gemini. That’s my name,” said the bundle of kittens and puppies.
“...Well, at least you got one that makes sense,” she said back, chuckling.
