Lauras have layers

Once Chloe and Ela finished their discussions and tests, a smiling Ela and a content Chloe strolled over toward the couches where you remained with Zoe. "Everything works perfectly," Chloe stated, tapping her tablet. "Ela can make a human body do anything I can, and clearly more. Her manipulation of living tissue is astounding, she's able to present astounding strength in a body while minimizing impact on the body structure. Hiding part of oneself in an upper dimension is a clever trick. On top of that, her cellular regeneration abilities are... I couldn't even measure them fast enough! In theory, as long as she's got air, food, and water, Ela could keep a host as well as herself alive indefinitely when present in their body. She could in fact restore life in older beings, she recovered a few years for Laura even."

Ela took a seat next to you, still smiling in her usual joyous fashion, which was strange to see Laura do. You looked carefully at Laura's face--she did appear younger, now more in her mid-to-late twenties. It also helped when she wasn't scowling at everyone. Ela nudged you. "I think she's even cuter now, but I kept her body at the same fitness level for you!"

You looked over at Chloe. "About Laura--"

"Oh, I know. Ela filled me in. I'm fine with it, and assuming you told Zoe, it doesn't look like she's protesting." Zoe quickly shook her head, so Chloe continued. "Great, so let's get this done! Ela should be able to do a lot of this, and we'll keep tabs on her progress. We're so far ahead of schedule of what we were expecting to test with Ela, this is amazing, really. Now, just a quick question. How much physically are we merging you and Laura? Are you intending to look exactly like her, or more fifty-fifty, or..? Ela can change the mix over time, but a starting point helps."

You glanced over at Ela, looking at Laura's body. "I'd like to look mostly like her... but just hints of myself? How about ninety percent Laura? At least in appearance."

Chloe nodded, carefully examining Laura's form and yours. "Think you can do it, Ela?"

"Of course!" Ela pointed to her face and body, indicating various things about Laura's form that were part of her procedure. "Emily is smaller than Laura, so I will be able to easily integrate her into Laura's body. I'll evaluate each organ group, I'll make sure to use the best parts of either being as the primary functioning components, and then I'll begin the tissue weave. As far as the brain goes, Emily's will be at the fore, Laura's will be used as an extension, and the nanites shouldn't be disrupted or anything. Since there will be excess matter, I will absorb any excess matter into my elastomer structures to put into the upper-dimensional structure for safekeeping. It's also worth mentioning that the more matter I have there, the easier it is for me to stretch my seemingly separated components further and do more with them--if I get pretty big there, I could maybe have multiple full bodies!"

That was a lot to take in, but you nodded. Zoe tapped Laura's shoulder. "A very good explanation, but you'll want to stay focused on the task at hand. Growing your elastomer self can come later." Ela nodded, and then grabbed your hand. "Are you ready?"

"If you run into any troubles, Ela, let us know so we can help," Zoe said. Everyone was so calm about performing a medical procedure that, to the best of your knowledge, had never been attempted.

Laura opened her mouth, and out poured the elastomer structures that made up Ela's taffy-like appearance. It fully exited the body, and for the briefest of moments, Laura was conscious again--just in time to see this pink material swirl around both you and her, tightly binding you together! The pink color turned to darkness, and you were compressed tightly against Laura's body, who did not seem happy about any of that. While you remained still, Laura thrashed about, until Ela was able to begin the combination process.

This was far more pleasant than when the nanites were injected, but it in some ways was more frightening. You could feel yourself dissolving, almost--getting shoved in between the cells that made up Laura's body. She stopped squirming after a while, when Ela had really taken a firm grip on her from the outside. The combination of yourself into someone else was something you'd wished you'd been knocked out for... but it helped when you could give thoughts to Ela to have her to slower, or more carefully, at certain points. It didn't feel painful, but it felt bizarre, in ways you couldn't even really recognize as sensations you'd felt before. Once Ela finally started integrating your mind, however... you passed out, drifting into an **** state for who knows how long.

You woke up some time later, still on the couch, but feeling incredibly sore. You didn't move much at all, you just opened your eyes and grunted.

Chloe and Zoe, as well as Ela, were not far, watching something on the TV apparently, when you awoke. Ela had left your body some time ago so you could sort of naturally finalize some bodily bonds, so you didn't always have to be held together by her living elastomer. Chloe was the first to glance over. "Oh, she's awake. How are you feeling, 'Laura'?"

Ela picked up a pocket mirror that had been in Laura's purse. She held it over your face, since at the moment you weren't moving much at all. You had your particular shade of green eyes, and a little splash of blonde mixed in to your auburn bangs. The face was definitely a match for Laura though, so you would look like your identification card. Your changes were easily explained by some contacts and a little bit of an adventurous streak at the hair salon, but you smiled a little because you recognized those little traces of you in the mix.

"Perfect. But I don't want to move for a while."

Zoe nodded. "You're probably going to be bedridden for a few days, to be fully honest. Or, well... you don't technically have to be. But unless you'd like to be creative, it's wise to rest and simply continue remotely moving Ela for now, maybe for some time in the city."

You blinked a little. "What's the other option?"

"Well, just like before, Chloe and I could use our techniques to stabilize you during the healing process, so while you're healing you could still be active and not even feel like anything's wrong. Ela could join in as well, if she wished, either on the inside or outside, or stay an independent body as she is now, or if you're more comfortable with just her inside and outside your body then that's fine as well. Though, it's coming up on the weekend, so no tests until Monday--we're thinking about a family road trip, if you're okay with our inclusion in your body while you heal. We'll only go if you'd want to come along, due to signal ranges and such for the nanites."

Rest sounded great. But a trip? Depending on how you were combined with the others, that trip could be very interesting. You and Ela could be combined and play daughter together with two loving moms, or you could be the mom body taking your remote-controlled 'daughter' around, our you could all be mashed into one body and enjoy a trip that only appears like a solo vacation--you could have a lot of fun with everyone all in one body, after all.

You felt pretty lucky that you were allowed to make all these choices, as everyone in this group seemed so easygoing as to go along with whatever you preferred.