Todd pulled up Netflix at Nancy's request and they spent a short time scanning through the listings.
"I just want something where I don't need to think," she said.
"How 'bout a cartoon, then? Maybe something you used to watch as a kid?"
Nancy nodded. "Yeah, that sounds good."
Searching through the offerings, they were unable to find one Nancy asked for. Todd waved the issue away though, switching the television feed to his computer so that he could navigate to a pirating website, where he had no issue finding the cartoon in question. Once set, he sat back and the two fell silent as the show started.
Nancy remained seated forward, resting the elbows of her normal arms on her knees so that she could rest her chin in her hands. Her new arms were still, the fingers laced together in her lap. Her body was stiff, her eyes fixated on the show as she tried to lose herself in the mindlessness of a nostalgic children's show. She was not having a good time, however; obviously she was not getting distracted from her ongoing transformation issue.
An issue he was causing.
Somehow he needed to set her at ease. It would be so much better if she started enjoying the changes.
"Hey," he said. When Nancy looked back at him, he patted the back of the sofa behind her. "Sit back. Relax."
Nancy sighed and her gaze fell. "I'm trying. I just can't stop... thinking..."
"Try getting comfortable, first," Todd suggested. "If you want, lean against me."
Nancy raised an eyebrow at him. "Lean against you?"
Todd shrugged. "Basic psychology. Human contact is calming."
She considered it for a moment before letting out a long breath. She sat back and shifted over closer to him, drawing her knees up to her chest as she leaned into his shoulder, all four of her arms wrapped around her legs to hold them against herself. Todd pulled his legs up as well, though not as tightly as she was but enough that she could press her leg up against his.
"Mind if I...?" Todd asked, slinging one arm around her shoulders.
She shook her head. "No, that's fine," she said quietly. He could feel her body soften slightly as she forced herself to loosen her tense muscles. "It's nice."
They fell silent as their attention returned to the cartoon. Todd did not follow it much though, instead focusing on the girl pressed up against him. Slowly, as time went on, her breathing was slowing and becoming calmer. Her heartbeat, hard and fast at first, steadily leveled out. Though she still held her legs close, she was more like Todd now rather than squeezing them against herself. It was when her head lulled to rest on his shoulder that he knew she had relaxed sufficiently. Now he needed to change her mind on the whole ordeal.
As the second episode of the show came to an end and they waited for the third to start, Todd took his eyes from the television and glanced at Nancy. "So... what's it like?"
Nancy was silent for several seconds as she looked down, considering her answer. "It's scary," she said. "I don't know what's happening to me."
"Yeah. But, I mean, like..."
Nancy shrugged. "It's... I don't know. It's hard to describe. It all feels... normal. I can move my new arms like I've had them all my life. And my breasts... I wasn't even thinking about them."
"So, beyond it happening being odd, they themselves don't feel weird?"
She shook her head. "No. I mean, if..." She gave a short laugh and shook her head. "If I knew why this was happening, it might have been fun. Exciting."
Todd looked at her with amused interest. "Exciting, huh?"
She blushed. "Well..." She pulled her knees back up close to her chest and buried her mouth against them, allowing her to mumble something without it being clear.
"What?" Todd asked, grinning with a slight laugh.
"There's a lot I can do with four arms," she said quietly, smiling sheepishly.
"Like what?" When she did not say, he nudged her softly. "Come on, I won't laugh."
"Just... lewd things." She glanced at him and, when she saw his obvious interest, she took a long breath. "I could play with a lot of things at once." She looked at her four breasts. "Hell, I *have* a lot of things to play with."
"You'd probably have a good time with a boyfriend," Todd said.
She rolled her eyes. "If I still had one." She glanced over him. "Though I might have one now."
Todd raised his eyebrows. "Oh?" he asked. From his arm wrapped around her shoulders, he reached to one of her hands holding her legs close. She responded by taking his hand and weaving her fingers with his. "I'm cool with that," he said.
"You've just been level-headed about this, and you're not making me feel like a freak," she said, resting her head on his shoulder once more. "You've been really nice, Todd."
"You're not so bad yourself," Todd replied, grinning.
He had not gone into this experiment with a girlfriend in mind. That it had gone that way was a surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one. With as much time as he had been putting into completing the remote, he had not really been available for the dating scene. All things considered, if he and Nancy worked well together, then the whole experiment would be a much greater success than he had ever expected.
Todd was not sure at what point Nancy fell asleep against him. But not even halfway through the next episode of her cartoon, Todd realized Nancy's breathing had slowed to that of a deep slumber. He could only imagine the stress of experiencing the transformations had to have worn her out. Maybe, once she was rested, she would be feeling a bit more amiable about the situation.
Then maybe they could start having some real fun.