Casper thought some more, seeing the zebra and cheetah family squeak their way down the street.
"Ashley, would you like to see me become a Synthetic like you?" he asked.
She stared at him for a moment, eventually finding her words.
"Are you sure? As you mentioned before, there is no going back, no undo button."
"I know," he replied, "but a part of me really wants to join you, to become a latex animal anthro. Maybe its just the ring wanting to be used."
She stepped up to him, putting her rubbery hand to his cheek. She looked at him and smiled.
"If you wish it, who am I to stop you?" she said.
"But I have no way of knowing if the ring would still work after I changed," he said, hesitation in his voice. He could hardly believe that he was contemplating this course, but his conscience said that if he was going to make other people into creatures of living rubber and air, he should know first hand what he was putting them through. He really did desire to go through the change himself though, but was that desire strong enough to counter his fear?
She smiled at him again, "There will be no way to know for sure, unless you do it, I guess."
He had to admit that even though she was with him, he was starting to feel a bit lonely. It seemed the more people he changed, the less connected to humanity he felt, and the more rubber anthros he surrounded himself with, the more lonely he felt, the only human among them.
He brightened up a bit, remembering that the people he changed genuinely seemed happy in their new lives, and remembered the voice of the ring, the thought in his head, 'Each reality is as legitimate as the one before or after.' The ring was creating memories and events to work the newly changed people into proper lives that were no less and no more than before.
"Come on," he said, "Lets go get something to eat."
The two of them made their way back towards the center of town, and the small cluster of restaurants there. They chose a different one than before, curious to see if any other restaurants had adopted a 'synthetics menu.' They were in luck, they chose an Americana style bar & grill place, and they too had a menu for Ahsley's kind. They also saw one of the swim team otter boys with his still human parents, and one of the football team's bull players was there with his family too. Casper wanted to try something, so he concentrated for a bit, and the otter boy was joined by another otter, female, his mother, all pink with light grey on her front, barcode in light grey, mold lines and nozzle in her stomach. Like all the others, she too was sealed up between her legs and behind, which Casper spied when she bent over to pick up a dropped utensil. He wanted to do something different for the father, and he already knew that avians were possible, so soon the father was bedecked in brilliant blue rubber, his arms coated in inflated looking 'feathers, each ending in a shiny black four-fingered rubber claw, as were each of his legs. There were some white and black markings on his chest and throat, and a fan of brilliant blue feathers sprouted just above his rump. His face had elongated into a shiny black beak, and his ears had vanished into the rubber of his head, the feather pattern seeming to form a point at the rear top of his head. He sported the same barcode, nozzle and lack of genitalia as the others.
Ashely looked at this, her eyes going glassy for a moment.
"Ohh, time for new memories...the species of the offspring can be decided upon by the parents." she said, as Casper heard the ring speak into his mind.
He concentrated again, this time towards the football player and his parents...he changed the mother into an anthro cow woman, horned, hooved, and barcoded, with a white coat and black splotches. The father, he changed into another cow woman, an almost mirror image of the mother, but black with white splotches. Both cow women lacked udders, but retained the same features common to their new status as living inflatable anthro animals. The football player did not vanish or change in any way that Casper could see.
"It seems that Synthetics of any sex can have offspring," she continued, "I'm getting flashes of memories from a sex-ed class."
Casper and Ashley watched all this, and the waiter came to their table to take their order, though he left, if you'll pardon the cliche, a yellow rubber duckie.
Casper had ordered a burger and Ashley had ordered a 'salad' of latex gloves and balloons, with some cut up bouncy-balls.
They ate, made small talk during the meal, but Ashley could tell that Casper seemed distant, like he was lost in thought. She decided to let him have his time to think.
They finished up and paid, as Casper stated, "That was delicious, and I could not have asked for a better last meal, last human meal that is."
"You've decided?" Ashley asked, excitedly.
Casper smiled, nodding, "Yes, though lets go somewhere private. I know the transformation will just make my clothes vanish, but I'd rather not they do, and I don't want to be arrested for indecent exposeure."
Ashley thought for a moment, "Your place or mine?"
"My place," said Casper.
The whole walk back to his place, his stomach was full of butterflies. Yes, he thought, he was really going to go through with it. They arrived at Casper's apartment, and went up the stairs to his floor. Once inside his apartment, he drew all the blinds closed, and asked Ashley to sit on the couch for a bit. He went into his room and a few minutes later, came out with nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist, and the ring on his finger.
"Okay, any particular species you'd like me to be?" he asked nervously.
She shook her head, "No, you choose what you want to be."
"Okay," he said, "I'm ready when you are."
"This is your show, you call the shots." she replied.
With that, Casper steeled his nerves, and concentrated on his reflection in the mirror down the hall. The first thing to happen was he began to feel warm, all over. Not hot, not uncomfortably so, just warm. Then a stretching sensation in his feet. He looked down and watched them stretch and elongate, toes pushing together and forming into shiny metallic purple cloven hooves. His skin took on a glistening finish, changing to a deep fire-truck red as it traveled up his legs. He felt a pressure building in his groin and also at his tailbone, not unpleasant, actually quite pleasurable, building and building until a pair of pops were felt, one after another. Casper dropped his towel, knowing he no longer sported anything but a bulge at his crotch, as he looked over his shoulder to view his new stubby tail. He felt another odd sensation, slithering up the cleft of his rear, and he knew that he had no opening between his cheeks anymore. The warmth continued to build, as the rubber climbed up his frame, fading into a blazing orange on his belly and front. He felt another stretching and looked down to watch his nipples fade into the shiny orange skin surrounding them. His arms followed soon after, his hands fusing and merging into three thick digits per appendage, each ending in a metallic purple 'hooflet.' His ears stretched and took on a longer shape as his face pushed out into a ram's muzzle, the whites of his eyes turning purple as his irises turned red and the pupils square-shaped. His new rubber nostrils flared as his forehead erupted into two metallic purple horns, one from each temple, growing swiftly and spiraling aound and behind his head, to curve under his ears. Another pressure followed by a pop in his stomach announced the arrival of his air nozzle, and he arched his head over his shoulder to look at his new barcode, tattooed on his rump. He let out a small bleat of pleasure as his transformation finished, seam lines appearing down his middle on the front and back, and each arm and leg, rubbing one tri-fingered hand over his new skin, feeling the pleasure of the latex of his body, under his fingers. His hand drifted down to brush over his nozzle, and he was surprised at how good it felt. His hand went lower, to rub over the bulge that used to be his penis and balls, and it too felt good, but not like it used to, and not like playing with his nozzle.
He closed his eyes, breathing in through his changed nostrils, as new memories flooded his brain. He had always been this way hadn't he? He was adopted, like Ashley, because he could still remember his human parents, but examining his memories, every one showed him in this form, albeit smaller when he was younger.
He opened his eyes, turning to face Ashley, herself staring wide-eyed at him.
"Casper?" she asked, tentatively.
"It's me," he said, "ohhh, but this feels good."
She bounded up from the couch, throwing her arms around him, their rubbery bodies squeaking as they slid together.
She giggled as they hugged.
"Welcome, Synthetic." she said.