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"Drink it, Kitten." Cheria Haredottir crossed her arms over her colossal armored bust as she glared mildly at the Warrior of Light. "Now. In front of us."

The towering Viera stood next to Y'shtola, boxing Lauden against the bar of the Rising Stones. F'lhaminn puttered around behind the Warrior of Light, ignoring the trio as she prepared dinner for the Scions and their guests.

Lauden Praud, the Elezen Warrior of Light, eyed the vial suspiciously. "Maybe tell me what it is first?"

"That would spoil the surprise," the tall blonde Viera smirked. Her eyes glinted; her barely contained excitement tugged at the corners of her mouth.

The Elezen bit her lip, and eyed the vial of amber liquid as if it might explode in her hand. She wasn't about to drink it. Not without knowing what it was. Well... maybe if the women in her life pressured her a little more. Maybe then. But still, she'd like to know what she was drinking. She uncorked the bottle, her nose wrinkling as she sniffed something indescribably chemical. She shifted her gaze from Cheria to Y'shtola, and pouted slightly.

"It's a long-acting aphrodisiac of sorts." The pale Miqo'te grinned heatedly. "We Sharlayans have alchemical concoctions to lay the need to couple low, so that we might focus on our studies. We have also developed concoctions to overcome that effect. Your need is low, Lauden. It might be more accurate to say that you have no need at all. You seem to have left it in the First, and even there it was... anemic. I thought that might be due to my size, but I am beginning to believe that is not the case. Drink the tincture, dearheart. Make your nights more enjoyable. Make our nights more enjoyable." She shared a knowing glance with Cheria; the women grinned, and gazed heatedly at the Warrior of Light.

"You... want me to become needful?" The gray-tinged Elezen gulped. "How long does this concoction last?"

"Long enough." Y'shtola's grin broadened.

Long enough for what?

Lauden looked to Cheria. The taller woman glowered down at her. She pointed to the little glass bottle with one gloved finger, and pointed to Lauden's mouth. "Drink. Now."

"As you wish." The Warrior of Light wrinkled her nose and downed the concoction in one gulp. She coughed, and wheezed, and the sour, fruity fluid slid down her throat. It left a trail of fumes not unlike spirits, prompting her body to instinctively fight to expel it. She weakly placed the empty bottle on the bar and fell to her knees, retching.

Y'shtola patted her on the back. "There there, dearheart. That's the worst of it."

"How long until it takes effect?" Cheria's thick accent sounded... softer. More comely. More attractive.

"It already has," the pale Miqo'te chuckled as she combed her fingers through Lauden's bangs. She grabbed the graying tail of the older woman's hair, and gave it a playful tug. "Though her fire burns so low that it may take some time to find an ember to stoke into a flame. Tonight perhaps, or maybe tomorrow. You know where to find us, dearheart. Don't be a stranger."

And with that, Cheria and Y'shtola walked out of the Rising Stones, leaving Lauden to her own devices.

She felt weird. She felt wrong, in a way that she couldn't quite put her finger on. The world was more colorful, more vibrant. Smells, particularly the scents of men, held more appeal for her. Men held more appeal for her. They were enjoyable to behold. Maybe a bit more so than women. Had she always felt this way?

Fatigue tugged at the back of her mind. The day had been long, and arduous, and she had been surprised and intrigued to find Y'shtola keeping company with Cheria again. The Gunbreaker had wandered off for work, and had returned to Revenant's Toll a few days ago, while Y'shtola was out gods knew where doing gods knew what. Lauden had been too busy to talk to either woman in anything other than an official capacity, but now that things had cooled down a good bit, it seemed that both women had designs on her.

The idea of Y'shtola making good on her wish to 'curse' her was arousing. More so than usual. It was arousing enough to bring her hen to readiness. She writhed awkwardly, and tugged at the hem of her armor, hoping to hide her discomfort, and her dainty little bulge. Not that she was that large. Not that she was that noticeable. But it was the thought that counted.

The Rising Stones was beginning to fill up for dinner. F'lhaminn was making some sort of seasoned wraps filled with meat and rice, and it seemed like everyone wanted to try them.

Lauden took a seat at the bar, and thanked F'lhaminn for her plate. Three wraps, and some sort of green chile sauce that looked unpleasant, but tasted amazing. As she ate she became more and more aroused. Her nipples hardened. Her cheeks felt flush. She frissoned at the slightest breeze. She found herself attracted to F'lhaminn's eyes. To G'raha's ears and tail. To Thancred. To all of Thancred. She couldn't decide on a particular point of interest. She was gazing at his ear when he turned his attention to her, smiling boyishly.

"Got any plans tonight?" He asked amicably.

"No!" She blurted. "But yes! I think! I'm not sure." It had been clear to her that Cheria and Y'shtola wanted to take advantage of the effects of the aphrodisiac, but they were nowhere to be found. How would they feel if she spent the night with Thancred? "Maybe tomorrow?" She smiled cautiously.

"Sure," he nodded. "I'll check with you then." And he was talking to Urianger, and it was quickly clear to her who he'd be spending the night with.

As dinner progressed she became increasingly alert. Increasingly sensitive. Increasingly aroused. Her hen strained at her trousers; she could feel her slickness soaking her ill-fitting smallclothes. She finished eating as quickly as she could and excused herself, retiring to her bedroom without another word.

Lauden changed into her blue survival shirt, and crawled into bed. An ancient memory, an ancient technique, surfaced in the back of her mind and a moment later she was rubbing herself against her pillow. It was silly, it was juvenile, but she craved a release and it had worked when she was younger. Would it work for her now?

It worked for her once. Twice. And yet she was still aroused, still too distracted to think about anything at all.

Anything but the curse Y'shtola wanted to place on her. That was extremely simulating. Too stimulating to think about directly. And so she moved her pillow to the head of the bed, and she rolled over, and she took herself in her hand. She thought of softness, and she rubbed herself until she felt raw. She rubbed herself until she hurt. She rubbed herself until she was afraid that she would bleed.

And finally, finally, that seemed to be enough.

But no, it wasn't. Her hen strained, and slickened, and demanded a sixth release. She thought of nothing; she thought of faces, and breasts, and lengths. She thought of bottoms, and hips, and tails. Nothing coherent. Nothing cohesive. There was no fantasy, no object of attraction. There was only a deep physical, mechanical need.

A need that seemed to be fulfilled, for now.

Her hand was sticky. Her smalls were soaked. Her length hurt to touch. She slinked into the bathroom and she washed up, careful to wipe her nethers down with tissue. This frustrating part of her body hurt to touch, and it felt satisfied for now, but she could tell that it was only a matter of time until she craved release again.

Why had she agreed to this? Why had they offered this foul-tasting drink to her? Why wasn't she swiving somebody right now?

Because she was afraid of her body when it behaved like this. She was ashamed of her body when it behaved like this. And it hadn't behaved like this in a very, very long time. Y'shtola knew that she was sensitive about this! Why had she given her something that felt like it focused her entire body on her discomfort?

There had to be a reason.

She'd talk to her about it when she could think clearly.

Sleep proved elusive. Lauden was fatigued; she felt tired in her bones, yet the accursed aphrodisiac continued to stimulate her body. She threw off the sheets, she pulled up her nightshirt, she pulled down her smalls. Even the air seemed to be too much for her. The mere presence of cloth aroused her, slickened her. The air brought some small relief, but not nearly enough.

She lay in bed, whimpering quietly. Waiting for the effect to pass. Waiting to take her ease. She barely reacted as the door latch rattled, as the door creaked. Y'shtola slipped into her room, and silently approached her bed. She knelt next to her, and she gazed at her throbbing, slickened hen.

"Why you would spend this time by yourself is beyond me," the pale Miqo'te murmured quietly. "We had thought that you might avail yourself of one of us. Perhaps both of us."

Lauden bit her lip, and closed her eyes. Y'shtola was right here and yet all she could see, all she could think about, was how she had appeared to her in the First. The Warrior of Light breathed a low, quiet whine as her hen throbbed, and pulsed. She thought of Cheria, and how her instructor and lover had grown a bit as well. Not as dramatically, but enough. Enough to notice. She writhed, rolling her hips as she thrust into empty air. She gripped the bedclothes as she struggled to control her breathing.

"Tell me, Lauden. What are you thinking of? What's on your mind?" Y'shtola sounded smug. The pale woman was proud of herself. Proud of doing this to her. To what end? Research? Science?

"Why are you doing this?" The older woman's voice came out strained, almost to the point of breaking.

"Cheria had thought it might be a bit of fun," Y'shtola chuckled. "I thought it might go this way, but I agreed to humor her for research purposes. You see, I am very serious about sharing my little 'curse' with you. I would remove your inhibitions, Lauden. I would allow you to enjoy life without fear. We both know what that means for you. Don't we, dearheart?" The pale woman's voice had an edge to it, an intent that the Elezen had never heard before. She leaned close. Close enough that Lauden could feel her breath. "Why don't you tell me? Tell me what it is that you think I want to do you."

Her hen slickened and strained. It hurt. The skin felt raw, to the point of bleeding. She knew that if she touched herself, she would hurt even more. She dug her hands into the bedding. She resisted the urge to roll over, and thrust herself into her pillow. She wished this would end... and yet she wished that Y'shtola would touch her.

The door creaked again. A grunt, and a metallic scrape, and Cheria was easing her massive armored breasts into the room. The door thumped closed; Lauden heard labored breathing and a straining grunt as the armored Viera settled onto the floor. She opened her eyes and glanced around. Her room was dark, lit by the Aetheryte bleeding through the blinds in thin strips of blue light. Y'shtola sat by the head of the bed; Cheria sat next to the pale woman, eyeing her throbbing hen.

Anyone else would invite them into bed with her. Anyone else would ask them to do something about her predicament. Anyone else might see this as a bit of fun, as a scenario out of a bodice ripper.

"I've told her that I would remove her inhibitions. That i would remove her fear. I have asked her to tell me what she thinks I want to do to her. We both know. We all know. I want to hear it." Y'shtola sounded... twisted might be the word for it. She sounded much like she had in the First. "What do we want to do to you, Lauden?"

"Answer Pumpkin's question, Kitten." Cheria whispered softly. Her armor squeaked and groaned as she shifted position, leaning back on her hands. Her bosom filled her lap; the curve of her right breast rubbed against Y'shtola's flank.

"Y-you w-want t-t-to s-soften me." Lauden stammered. Her hen throbbed; she felt her slickness drip and drizzle onto her depilated mound.

"You can see how she feels about it." Y'shtola observed clinically. "It is obvious that she's aroused. That she craves. And yet she cannot bring herself to indulge."

"We have our work cut out for us," Cheria murmured absently. "You've tasted milk, and length, and you've retained your confidence. Yet on this matter you cower. You want to become softer. Don't you, Kitten? You want your body to grow, and expand. You want your clothes to rip, and shred, until you've outgrown clothes entirely. The thought of expanding fills you with levin. The idea of your belly and mound growing until they consume your hen, the idea of your body expanding as your flesh fills with buttery-smooth softness affects you like nothing else. Let us help you, Kitten."

Y'shtola picked up the thread. "We'll find you a place where you can grow to your heart's content. We'll help you satisfy your urge. You deserve to feel sated, Lauden. You've done enough for the star. It's time to become who you were always meant to be."

By the twelve!

The Elezen gasped as her her hen bucked and twitched. She inhaled sharply and thrust into the air as her body tensed... and slowly relaxed. She moaned as her hen pulsed, releasing a modest flow of wet, milky arousal. Untouched. Unaided.

"Good girl," Cheria purred approvingly.

"You... don't seem to have changed much since the First." Lauden closed her eyes, and sighed as her length pulsed, and began to wilt.

"Oh, I have." Y'shtola chuckled. "I am no longer compelled to eat. My body has returned to normal. Yet my desire for you to grow as I did has become more than an idle fantasy. I would see thee become whole, Lauden. Whatever that looks like. If you overcome your fear and nothing comes of it, then so be it. If there is a larger woman inside of you, I would see her realized... and I would see her happy." The pale woman stood, and stretched.

"Hopefully the aphrodisiac helps." Cheria grunted loudly as she struggled to stand up. Eventually she managed the task, breathing heavily as she settled into a comfortable, well-balanced position. "Feeling aroused on a regular basis might help with those inhibitions, Kitten."

"How long is this thing going to last?" Lauden groaned.

"A fortnight, on average." Y'shtola laughed darkly. "Sometimes a moon. Tonight is yours, Lauden. Tomorrow we shall attempt to coax you out of your shell."

The door creaked; metal squeaked and squealed as Cheria pressed herself sideways through the doorway. Y'shtola followed silently, closing the door behind her with the quietest of clacks.

Lauden thought of herself softened. She thought of her body growing, and expanding, until her girth filled her lap. Until she couldn't reach her hen. Until professional clothiers had to be called in to cover her expanding bulk.

She moaned as her hen readied again, straining against its own skin like an overcooked sausage as need consumed her body for the eighth time since she'd fled to her room.

"You told me to hide the state player," Y'shtola huffed as she made her way down the stairs of the Forgotten Knight. "So I hid it. 'Take it away and hide it and don't tell me where it is.' Those were your exact words, Lauden."

Lauden groaned, and whined, and tried to figure out what to say next. She swept past the bar, nodding to Gibrillont, Ardolain, and Yolaine as she passed her fellow Elezen on the way into Cloud Nine.

"I know," she sighed as she slowed down, waiting for Y'shtola to catch up. "I know I said that. I mean I don't remember but it sounds like something I'd say and I know I was really depressed and needed it taken away from me but you want me to get fat and I want to have a baby. I want a big heavy baby belly. Gaining weight isn't going to change that. But playing the recording again might... sate both needs. Safely."

"I would see you freed, Lauden. Not chained to the same Allagan technology that has altered my mind." Y'shtola glowered coolly at her lover as they slowed to halt. "Is this it? The room plate is just a smear of cool blue to me."

"Room number six. This is where she told us to meet her. I would love to experience the recording again, Shtola. I think it might help! I think a state recording might be the way to go. It... sneaks around my fear by being impermanent." The Warrior of Light knocked on the door.

"How considerate of you to make my argument against it for me," Y'shtola smirked, and called out: "Cheria! You have visitors!" in a beautiful singsong lilt.

"Come in!" The Viera's thickly accented voice barely penetrated the door. "I am... indisposed at the moment."

Lauden and Y'shtola shared a look. Lauden raised her eyebrows bemusedly; Y'shtola smiled heatedly, and opened the door.

The Viera's enormous custom-built cuirass rested on the table beneath the window. Her milk tanks sat on the desk near the door. Her filthy heavy coat lay draped across the chair; her saddlebag and heavy exoskeletal boots lay near the foot of the bed. The blonde lapine Gunbreaker sat on the floor beside the bed, wearing nothing but her trousers. Her enormous breasts filled her lap; her enormous nipples dripped and drizzled milk onto the floor. Each droplet added to a puddle slowly growing on the floor beneath each teat. A basin lined with fire crystals sat on the floor next to her; the buxom woman was in the process of washing her filthy neck and collarbones with a washrag.

"You've started without us, I see." Y'shtola stroked her chin disapprovingly.

"Pardon me if I don't get up," Cheria chuckled. "I've had a rather messy day. I am in need of comfort, and I thought my Pumpkin and my little Kitten might be willing to tend to me this evening." The Viera smiled heatedly. "I've already eaten; this is what I had in mind when I mentioned dinner at my place over our linkpearls." She tapped at the row of pearls attached to the pale pink inside of her long furry left ear with her left hand as she swept the washrag over her enormous breasts with her right hand.

"You want us to drink your milk?" Lauden bit her lip, and sighed. Of course she did! The thrice-damned aphrodisiac had clouded her mind; she had been unable to think of anything but hips, or lengths, or bellies all day. Y'shtola had agreed to come; Y'shtola had agreed to bring her along. She had been eating a burger in the Rising Stones, and she had been so thoroughly hypnotized by F'lhaminn's tail that she hadn't been able to do more than grunt at appropriate-seeming points in the conversation.

"I want you - both of you - to walk out of here in the morning with rounder bellies, and satisfied smiles," Cheria grinned. "I could take a firmer hand, if you wish."

Lauden gulped. Y'shtola chuckled. The women took off their cloaks, and hung them on the hooks on the back of the door. Y'shtola popped into the bathroom to wash her hands, while Lauden shoveled a scoop of coal onto the fire. The Elezen cautiously approached Cheria, her eyes glued to the buxom woman's enormous, dripping breasts. She felt her body stir, and ready. She felt her length blossom, and slicken. She blushed, and she fidgeted nervously as she plucked at the straps and buckles of her magically climate controlled armor.

"Where is your collar, Kitten?" Cheria gazed up at Lauden disapprovingly. "Did you lose it? Do you need a new one?"

"I... uh. I took it off. Sometime between Croissance and the First. When I was gaining weight and feeling horrible. I was in a bad place." Lauden rubbed at her long bare neck with the thumb and forefinger of her left hand.

"I'll have to find you one that doesn't come off, then. I believe I know where to look." The large-breasted woman chuckled darkly. "Maybe with the aphrodisiac you'll feel good about gaining weight, hmm? Or am I being too optimistic?"

"I... uh. Uhm." The Elezen was acutely aware of the pale Miqo'te, observing them from the bathroom doorway. "The potion has given me an uncontrollable length. I want nothing more than to bury it between your breasts. I kind of can't think about anything else at the moment." That was a lie; she found her eyes drawn to the Viera's enormous length-like nipples. She needed to feel one of them in her mouth, right now. The thought made her hen strain against her trousers.

"Mmm." Cheria's wide lapine nostrils flared as she grinned heatedly. "I would like that, Kitten. I would like to be clean, first. And I would like to be fully expressed, to the extent that my breasts can ever be emptied. I do hope the two of you are up to the challenge."

"For a change, I share Lauden's trepidation." Y'shtola plucked at the lacing of her bodice as she approached the Gunbreakers. "I recently parted with hundreds of ponzes, Cheria. I am not eager to make their acquaintance again."

"Tut, tut, Pumpkin." Cheria waved a finger chidingly. "Don't you want to set a good example for Lauden? Don't you want to lead by example?"

Lauden carefully lay the wrap of her armor atop Cheria's muddy trench coat. She proceeded to work open her boots. She stepped out of them and lay them aside, and she lay aside Y'shtola's boots as the pale Miqo'te handed them to her.

"Don't I want to feel your teat between my lips. Your milk flowing down my throat." The blind woman lay her dress atop Lauden's armor. She stood before the Gunbreaker's in her smalls, flat as a board, with the thin white lines of stretchmarks gracing her flanks. "I have Lauden's proclivity, and none of her fear. I would give her my confidence, that we might enjoy you together." The small woman flicked her ears, and rippled her tail. She stretched, and sat before Cheria's left breast. The buxom woman's milk thickened from a drizzle into a stream as Y'shtola applied pressure to her soft, warm flesh.

Lauden was down to her trousers, her socks, and an undershirt. She stripped off her trousers, and knelt before her fellow Gunbreaker. She took the washcloth from Cheria's hand, and she began to dab at her face. She partially straddled the woman's right breast; her thick nipple rubbed against the Warrior of Light's straining hen as Lauden cleaned her broad nose, and her chin, and her cheeks.

"Kiss me, Kitten," Cheria murmured quietly as Lauden's face neared hers.

Lauden dabbed at her cleavage. She draped the washrag across the buxom woman's right breast; she bent down, and she kissed her deeply. She began to roll her hips, rubbing her hen against Cheria's soft, smooth flesh.

"Allow me, Kitten." Cheria brushed her fingertips against the band of Lauden's smalls. She gazed up at her lover heatedly, needfully, and Lauden was too addled by the aphrodisiac to decline her. She dropped her smalls, and straddled her lover's breast, her bad knee creaking as she awkwardly offered herself to the immobilized Viera.

Cheria took Lauden's length between her lips. She tongued the underside of her shaft with her thick, flexible tongue. She gripped Lauden's left thigh with her right hand, and she combed her fingers through Y'shtola's hair with the fingers of her left. She guided the blind Miqo'te to take her entire teat into her mouth, and for a long, lasting moment the only sounds in the room were the moaning of women, and the quiet crackle of the fire.

The bed was big enough for all three of them. It was big enough for a healthy Roegadyn man; it had plenty of space. Or would have, if Cheria's breasts were half their size. A quarter, even. The overdeveloped woman lay on her side in the middle of the bed, pinning Lauden to the mattress with her enormous chest. She was a heavy blanket, a weight that the Elezen found deeply soothing.

And she had needed soothing. Cheria had sucked on her hen until she had completed in her mouth. She had swived Cheria's breasts. Desperately, almost animalistically, she had suckled from her lapine lover's breast while Y'shtola had stroked her length with her hand.

She was hurt. She was crying. She was begging for the effect of the aphrodisiac to end, and that... felt good, in a very uncomfortable way. That felt like a measure of vengeance, a measure of payback, for what Lauden's proclivity had put her through in the First. Y'shtola still loved the woman, deeply, but she had been driven mad over a period of three years, and there was no coming back from that easily, if at all. She simply had to free Lauden. She had to see the voluptuous Elezen grow.

Cheria had put Lauden to bed. She had blanketed her upper body with her enormous, leaking breasts, and she had soothed her Kitten with sweet words, and kind caresses. Y'shtola had covered the two of them with blankets, and she had wriggled up behind Cheria, and she had massaged the heavy woman's incredibly muscular back. She was in better shape than a Roegadyn. She needed to be, to haul her gradually expanding endowment around.

Y'shtola spooned the much larger woman. She nuzzled her neck, and she stroked her thighs and her bottom with her tail. And Cheria soothed Lauden, and Lauden whimpered quietly as her hen tented the blankets. It may have been cruel to pressure her into taking the drug, but at the time it had felt necessary. At the time it had felt right. The pale Miqo'te had felt curls of sadistic glee as she had watched arousal blossom deep within the Elezen's aether. She had felt delight as she watched the fluctuations and flow of her struggle.

She would smooth her out. Somehow.

And then she could tend to her own damaged mental health. Then she could look for a way to cleanse Lauden's state recording from her mind. If it were at all possible, she would find a way.

But before that... she needed to do her business.

Y'shtola slipped out of bed, and padded quietly into the bathroom. She knew her bowels and F'lhaminn's cooking well enough to know that she should expect to take her time. She should expect cleanup to be rather a bit more involved than she'd like. By Nophica's tits those wraps were good. They were worth a little effort.

She had done her business; she was about to flush when she heard the pulse of a linkpearl. She wasn't sure which one; she was wearing two at the moment. One for Cheria, one for Tataru. Like earrings, only she had forgotten which one was which.

"Hello?"

"Shh, Pumpkin." Cheria whispered, barely audibly. A moment later she heard a grunt, and a heated snarl, and a low, hissing gasp.

What was going on out there?

She focused her aethersight through the stone wall, and she watched Cheria's creamy aether, wrapped around Lauden's slowly roiling dark red, shot through with streaks of umbral purple. If she focused through the thick mass of the buxom Viera, she could see Lauden's length - a bright spot of red, a tiny flagpole jutting out of the plane of her body, barely visible behind the swell of her milk-laden belly.

"Good morning, Kitten." Cheria purred. Her thick accent sounded heated. Smoky. A crackling fire on a cold winter night.

"Mmm." Lauden hummed, and rolled her head. She struggled a little, yet made no move to free herself. She rolled her hips, moaning as Cheria took her tortured length in her hand. Her aether flared a bright lusty red around her length, yet remained a darker red, wrapped in streaks of dark purple and blue, around her heart, and her head. She was aroused, yet it was only her length that felt stimulated. She was as tormented as ever, all but disconnected from her hen.

"I'm going to find you a collar. A nice black collar with a nice shiny metal ring that only I can take off. Will you wear it for me, Kitten?" Cheria's voice sounded odd. Y'shtola heard her muffled with both ears, through the bathroom door. She heard her clearly in her left ear, the ear that faced away from the bed.

The effect on Lauden was immediate. There was a shift in her aether as the warm, confident, buttery smooth Viera gripped her length, and began to slowly pump her hand. She was watching living butter embrace a storm of umbral flame. She could tell from the flares of white and creamy yellow that the idea appealed to Lauden, yet she was fighting it, the same way she fought the idea of gaining weight.

"I'll find us a little farm, somewhere nice and tropical. Someplace where we can spend every sun skyclad. And I'll give you a nice big dose of that serum my friend Trisha has been working on. And every time you complete you'll get a little bit bigger for me, Kitten. And I will complete you."

Cheria's hand was a blur now; a blob of creamy aether wrapped around vibrant red arousal. Arousal that spread through Lauden's conflicted heart, and her head.

"It'll be just the two of us. No conflict. No work. No responsibilities. You will never have to see anyone who doesn't understand you, ever again. And every day you will drink my milk, and I will complete you, and you will grow for me. Wouldn't that be nice, Kitten? Wouldn't it feel good, to be free of your fear?"

"Y-yes, Cheria," Lauden half-stammered, half-whimpered.

"Mmm," Y'shtola hummed in agreement as she slid her fingers over her pearl, and between her folds.

"Picture it, Kitten. Picture yourself growing, and growing, without a care in the world. You will be free, Kitten. You will be mine, and you will be free."

Lauden moaned loudly. Her aether swirled, a slow-moving storm of lusty reds and relaxed blues, shot through with streaks of creamy calm. Maybe it was the fact that she was half awake. Maybe it was Cheria's comely voice. Whatever it was, in the moment the Elezen's aether was remarkably consistent.

Cheria's hand blurred, and Lauden gasped and whimpered as she completed. Her bright white completion stuck to the blanket; it oozed over her lover's fingers, and dripped onto her mound.

Y'shtola adjusted her focus until she saw only the cool blue of the stone wall in front of her. She stroked herself, quickly ushering in a completion as she thought of Lauden, growing as Trisha had. Magically, without eating. Creating fat from aether with every completion. Trisha's serum, combined with the aphrodisiac...

"Retire with me, Kitten," Cheria husked needfully. "Wrap up your business, and retire with me."

"Do you want that, Kitten? Do you want to retire with me?"

"Y-yes."

The unseeing Miqo'te imagined visiting that tropical hideaway. She pictured Lauden and Cheria too big to move, tended to by a staff of mammets. Maybe the model that Trisha had brought to Croissance? They were industrious little fellows. Maybe they could rise to the challenge of ponzes inevitably becoming tonzes...

Her fingers were covered with slickness, with arousal. She was close. So close... She needed something to push her to completion. Some thought. Some concept.

And Lauden's proclivity whispered join them, and she saw herself over six hundred ponzes again and just like that she was moaning, she was screaming, she was gushing as her entire body tensed in the beginnings of an absolutely glorious completion.

The sensation washed over her, replete with memories of growth. Her years of eating, of expanding, compressed into moments.

Under normal circumstances she'd wash her hands, and return to bed. Under normal circumstances she might have fantasized about a slow, languid coupling with Lauden, or T'zuki. But these were far from normal circumstances. The proclivity that she had caught from the Elezen's state recording had reared it's head again, and now she wanted to drink Cheria's milk until she was a jiggling, waddling mass of soft, flabby flesh. Now she wanted to grow again, and some part of her hated the imposition. Some part of her seethed and sizzled around that comforting thought like butter in a frying pan.

Maybe she could record herself, indulging that proclivity. Maybe passing Lauden's proclivity back to her, stripped of the terror that she felt, was the way forward her. Maybe the Scions had just come into a large amount of white auracite that they weren't doing anything with at the moment. White auracite that could be milled or machined into media for the state recorder.

Maybe she could record herself indulging this beastly whim. Maybe she could pass it back to Lauden.

"Good, Kitten. In the course of my work I've saved a princely sum. I'll find us somewhere comfortable. Somewhere you can grow."

"B-but... your breasts! You'll eventually be too big to walk."

"Soon enough, Kitten. My fantasy is to fatten you up, as I slowly become big enough to join you. Would you like that?"

Y'shtola growled in frustration. She stood, and caught herself as she was about to wipe her hand on a towel.

No.

She slipped out of the bathroom. The aether of the inn room washed over her. The pink warmth of the fire. The cool blue-gray of the ancient floorboards, the walls, the desks. The dull steel gray-purple of her dress, the elemental red and blue of Lauden's armor, the foggy white cloud of Cheria's coat...

They had slept with their feet to the wall, and their heads pointed towards the bathroom, and the door to the room. They had slept backwards. Lauden lay between Cheria and the wall; Cheria's long lapine ears extended over the footboard, into the air.

Y'shtola approached the pair silently. She stroked Cheria's left ear with her clean left hand. The enormous Viera's aether brightened as she frissoned, murmuring "oooh, Pumpkin..." as the blind Miqo'te found a very sensitive spot.

Lauden yawned, and Y'shtola unceremoniously stuck her slickened fingers into the Elezen's mouth.

"This is what the thought of joining you did to me," she whispered. Her voice sounded distorted, almost broken. Stretched between delight and despair. "This is what softness has become to me." Flickers of anger, of a quiet rage. "Lick me clean, Lauden. Suckle my fingers as you would Cheria's teats."

The Viera chuckled heatedly as Lauden silently slurped and sucked. Without objection. Without any hesitation, or resistance.

"You're angry, Pumpkin. I had hoped that my milk might relax you." Cheria purred heatedly. "Maybe you need more of it. Would you like milk for breakfast, Pumpkin? Would you like to go home with a plump little belly?"

Y'shtola writhed, and slickened, and readied again. The idea of growing again made her furious. The idea of growing by Cheria's hand made her feel... calm. Calm and very aroused.

"Both of us will tend to you." Y'shtola grinned down at Cheria. "Both of us will go home with plump little bellies. And I shall see to it that Tataru knows that Lauden intends to retire. Would you like that, Lauden? Would you like your days in the Scions to be numbered, knowing full well what awaits you when you leave?"

"Mmmhmm," the Elezen writhed, arousal blossoming in her aether as she continued to suck on Y'shtola's fingers.

"Well, it seems that we have a plan to indulge these proclivities. Now all we have to do is guide our Warrior of Light through her inevitable second thoughts." Y'shtola chuckled. "She'll get cold feet. She always does."

She withdrew her fingers from Lauden's mouth. She was surprised when Cheria grabbed her wrist, and directed her hand into her mouth. Her tongue was wider, and thicker. Her saliva was warmer, and somehow a bit stickier. The Viera moaned contentedly as she sucked on Y'shtola's fingers for a moment, and then she gently guided her hand out of her mouth.

"If the two of you would help me up, we can see about breakfast," the buxom Viera purred in her warm, thickly accented voice. "I would have you drink until I'm nearly empty again, and I would watch as you drink my bottles for your second course. I want you to drink every drop before you leave, my loves. Do you think you can do that for me?"

"Yes, Cheria," Y'shtola and Lauden murmured in unison.

Cheria Haredottir squeezed through the entrance to the Rising Stones, grimacing as her cuirass scraped the door frame. The ceramic plating squealed loudly, announcing her presence to the entire room. A scrape, a scratch. She'd have to buff that out the next time she did maintenance. Or maybe her Kitten would polish her armor for her?

It wouldn't hurt to ask.

The usual looks, from the support staff in the great room. The usual wide eyes, sprinkled with heated embarrassment and occasional open arousal. F'lhaminn seemed to like her. Hoary Boulder was appreciative, though he had an admirer. She was closer to his size, she could probably have him easily, if she was ever in the mood for men, but the idea of taking him from another did not appeal to her. No, that wasn't why she was here today.

Her back ached. Exercise and well-fitting armor could only do so much. Her legs ached; she needed to see a smith about her armored boots. She was gaining muscle, and she needed her equipment to be adjusted. That was something that Tataru might be able to help with, should the people she worked with ever become unavailable.

She approached Tataru's desk, stopping far short of it so that she could see the little Lalafell over the horizon of her massive breasts. The Scion's receptionist and master of coin looked up at her with her usual mix of amazement and trepidation. Cheria couldn't help but smile as she gazed down at the tiny woman. She pictured her asleep in a cup of her cuirass, and repressed a giggle as she asked her "Is Lauden in, Miss Taru? I have something for her."

"Lauden is in her room." The feather in Tataru's cap bobbed wildly as she nodded to her right, in the direction of the Scion's rooms. "I don't know if she's taking visitors, though. You're welcome to knock!"

"Are you staying for dinner?" F'lhaminn asked from the bar and kitchenette across from the archway to the Solar, her voice pitched for Cheria's long, sensitive ears.

"I believe I will, thank you." The towering Gunbreaker offered the tiny elder Miqo'te a wink. She smiled warmly as the older woman smiled, her cheeks tinting a wonderful rosy pink. "I may be a bit late, though. We shall see." She rolled her shoulders, eliciting a sickening crack from her neck as she turned, and made her way down the hallway, to the third door on the left.

Cheria knocked on the door with a gloved hand, and waited patiently for an answer.

"Go away!" Came the muffled cry from inside the room.

"If you insist, Kitten." She raised her voice just a little, and hoped that it was enough. "I have something for you. Would you like to see it, or would you like me to leave you alone?"

A moment later the door eased open, revealing a softening disheveled Elezen wearing nothing but a baggy blue survival shirt. She blinked her eyes as the bright light of the hallway washed over her, and she gazed up at Cheria with a mixture of embarrassment and relief. "Come in, please." Lauden opened the door wide, and stepped back enough to allow the buxom Viera to ease herself in.

She had to enter sideways, and even then she had to contort herself, her armor squealing and squeaking as her cuirass scraped both sides of the doorframe. It was a perfectly normal door; a bit narrow for a Roegadyn, and impossible for her to walk through head-on. She was too big these days; there was nothing to do for it but squeeze, and hope that her armor was flexible enough.

Lauden closed the door behind her. Cheria spun around with surprising speed and grace; she stepped forward, pinning the Elezen to the wooden door with her breasts. The nervous woman visibly relaxed. The corners of her mouth curled, as if she were trying to smile.

"Thank you for inviting me in, Kitten," Cheria purred. She reached into the right pocket of her coat and drew out her gift. "I've brought you a new collar. As promised."

Before Lauden could say anything she reached out, and curled the shiny black leather-like band around the Elezen's long, graceful neck. The magical collar did what it was supposed to do - it merged with itself, melding into a seamless, claspless band. Just like the Leatherworker had promised it would.

"I... uh. Uhm." Lauden clawed at the collar. Her cheeks reddened as she felt around the front and back of it. "There's... there's no clasp?"

"As promised." Cheria pressed her chest into her lover's softened middle. She took off her gloves, and tucked them into her pockets, and she cupped Lauden's cheeks in her hands. "You're mine. You belong to me. How do you feel about that, Kitten?"

"I... Um." Lauden stammered. "I... I haven't talked to Tataru about retiring yet. I-I... I think they still n-need me."

"They will for awhile, Kitten." Cheria smiled warmly, knowingly. "And by the time they don't, you'll be nice and round for me. I have something else for you." She reached into her left pocket, and drew out another dose of the aphrodisiac. "I want you to drink this. Now. In front of me."

"Wh-what is it?" Lauden's room was dimly lit, almost dark. The amber liquid looked like molasses. "Is it that... serum you mentioned?"

"No, Kitten. Not yet. You want it though, don't you?" Cheria grinned heatedly.

Lauden blushed out to the tips of her ears as she nodded weakly.

"But only if I'm here to take care of you. Isn't that right, Kitten?" The towering blonde Viera chuckled darkly.

"Y-yes," Lauden nodded. "Only if the Scions don't need me."

"When the Scions don't need you." Cheria leaned forward, pressing her heavy armored breasts into the nervous Elezen's torso. Lauden's modest breasts rested on hers; she pictured them growing heavier, fatter, as the smaller woman softened and grew. "Drink, Kitten." She uncorked the bottle, and held it out to her lover.

Lauden gulped down the fluid, gasping and gagging as her face contorted. "Thal's balls," she hissed as recognition glimmered in her dark hazel eyes.

"Y'shtola and I have decided that we prefer you like this." Cheria accepted the empty bottle. She popped the cork back into it and tucked it into her pocket as she stepped back, giving Lauden room to breathe. "Take that shirt off, Kitten. Let me see your soft, beautiful body."

The Elzen's shoulders slumped. She tugged at the shirt, pulling it over her head, and tossing it atop a pile of disused Machinist equipment. Her belly was rounded and protruding, with a few angry red stretch marks on her flanks. Her hen was stiff, and readied. It looked thicker and sturdier than it had been the last time Cheria had seen it. Lauden's thighs looked a bit thicker, and her well defined arms were beginning to soften.

"You're smaller than you were the last time we were together, Kitten. Let's do something about that, shall we?" Cheria shrugged out of her coat, and lay it atop the Elezen's survival shirt. She swung her colossal bust over Lauden's messy desk, and leaned forward, resting her chest on the hard wooden surface. She didn't need to ask; she rolled her shoulders back, and Lauden helped her to unhook the heavy segmented ceramic armor.

Cheria breathed a deep sigh of relief as she stepped backwards. The nipple cups separated with a pair of wet pops, and she began to drip and dribble onto Lauden's floor. She sat heavily on the bed, and sighed happily as her submissive lover took off her exoskeletal boots. She barely repressed a growl as the Elezen set them out of her reach. She could stand if she had to, but without her boots she couldn't stand for long. Not anymore.

Not that Lauden needed to know that.

"Drink, Kitten." Cheria leaned back against the wall next to the window. She relaxed; her enormous breasts filled her lap, and rested on the bed on either side of her. "This is your dinner tonight. You're going to drink, and you're going to grow for me. And then you're going to let me play with that cute little hen of yours. It's bigger, isn't it? All that stimulation is making it grow."

Lauden grunted an acknowledgement as she tossed a pillow to the floor. She knelt in front of Cheria's left breast; the buxom Viera gasped as the Elezen took her teat into her mouth. She pressed down on her full breast with both hands, forcing a thick stream of milk down her lover's throat. Lauden moaned quietly, and began to suckle.

Cheria had filled her bottles. She had intentionally allowed her breasts to fill until they hurt, knowing that she planned to feed Lauden. Knowing that she planned for Lauden to drink gallonzes of her milk. She wanted to see the chubby woman grow; she wanted to see her become fat, and wide, and soft. She had talked with Y'shtola; they wanted the same thing for the Warrior of Light, albeit for different reasons. Y'shtola's urge came from a place of anger, a place of madness. Cheria's urge came from knowing that her firm guidance, her dominance over the submissive Elezen, subdued the woman's fear and humiliation. As long as she was here to firmly order her lover to grow she would do it, and she would enjoy it.

During her conversation with Y'shtola they had agreed that a dominant approach would probably work until they could get the rest of their tools together. Y'shtola was currently working on getting more media made for the state recorder; her plan to somehow overwhelm Lauden's fear with her confidence seemed like it might work, and Trisha was working on a variation of her serum, but in the meantime...

In the meantime, a firm hand would keep the Warrior of Light on the path they had laid out for her.

A knock on the door. Cheria hissed in pain as Lauden started, briefly biting down on her thick nipple.

"Lauden?" Thancred, from the sound of it.

A wet pop as the Elezen disengaged, followed by a humiliated "I'm busy!"

"I shan't bother you, then." The muffled voice sounded disappointed.

Lauden latched onto her breast again, and continued to suckle.

Time passed, interrupted long moments later by the warble of a linkpearl.

"Cheria? I hear you're in Lauden's room. May I come in?" Y'shtola approved of the power dynamic; as far as she was concerned, Lauden's room belonged to Cheria for as long as the buxom Viera was in it.

"Yes, Pumpkin. Come drink your fill." Sharing with Y'shtola would mean less growth for Lauden, but it would mean some growth for both women.

A long moment later Y'shtola slipped into Lauden's room, latching the door behind her. She quickly doffed her tunic and her boots. She took a moment to pirouette slowly for Cheria, showing her fluffy love handles and a pooching belly, spilling over the waistband of her tights like a warm, delicious muffin. The Miqo'te tapped her chest, drawing the buxom Viera's attention to a silvery triangular pendant with a dimly glowing white bead in the center.

"Come, Pumpkin." Cheria smiled invitingly. "Kitten, do you mind if Pumpkin joins us?"

"Mm-Mm," Lauden hummed as she pressed her tongue into the bottom of the Viera's teat.

Y'shtola stepped forward, and knelt, and silently took Cheria's drizzling right teat between her lips.

The Scions drank, and the Gunbreaker relaxed. She wished that she could stroke their hair, but her breasts were simply too big. Her lovers were out of reach.

"Good girls," Cheria murmured quietly as the tightness and heaviness in her chest began to ease. "Both of you are such good, obedient girls..."

Lauden donned her survival shirt to go to the bathroom, emptying her bladder a couple of times as her belly and bowels filled and filled and filled with Cheria's fattening, aether-rich milk. Y'shtola stopped the state recording, and borrowed the shirt herself at one point. And then Lauden was full, she couldn't drink another drop, and her hen continued to throb with slickness, with readiness. She had completed herself several times as she drank Cheria's milk. She had thrust herself between Cheria's breasts, and while it was very awkward for everyone, she had managed to position herself for Cheria to tongue her hen again.

Now Lauden half-lay, half-sat on her bed, near the head, with Cheria's left breast flowing into her lap. Y'shtola could see her swollen, oblong belly with her aethersight; the Elezen looked like she had swallowed a good-sized melon, and gotten it stuck sideways.

Come to think of it she was beginning to look that way as well. She finished, and spent rather more time in the bathroom than she had before. She smelled a delicious dinner as she reentered the hallway; she nodded and waved to F'lhaminn as she slipped back into Lauden's room.

"Ugh," Cheria groaned tiredly. "I want to go eat but I do not want to put my armor back on. I need the boots, but the cuirass is just too much for me right now."

"I don't think I have anything... that'll fit," Lauden yawned drowsily. "I think I'mma stay here an' sleep."

"Let me see to that." Y'shtola shucked off Lauden's survival shirt, and squeezed into her tunic and tights. Her tights popped a couple of stitches as she pulled them up over her bottom, and her tunic felt very tight. She was reminded of her trip to Croissance, near the beginning of her entanglement with Lauden's proclivity. Around the time that she realized she had a problem. And here she was, growing again. Enjoying every swallow of milk. Enjoying every ponze of softness that filled her belly.

She would see Lauden pay for this, with interest.

A quick trip to the stalls before they closed, for the largest Roegadyn shirt they had. It managed to stretch over Cheria's chest, but it popped a few stitches and probably wouldn't last the night. She looked cute, though. Both Lauden and Y'shtola affirmed her as they helped her into her boots.

The lapine Gunbreaker heaved herself to her feet. "Rest well, Kitten." Cheria smiled warmly at her submissive lover. "And don't let this -" she rubbed the Elezen's swollen belly "- get in the way of this." She tugged the softening woman's firm, slickened hen.

Lauden grunted tiredly as she hugged Cheria, and kissed her. She burrowed under her blankets and turned away from the light spilling in from the hallway as Cheria sidled sideways through the doorway.

"This is just the beginning," Y'shtola whispered just loud enough for the Elezen to hear. She closed her door, and followed the enormous Viera into the dining area.

Dinner consisted of a thick and flavorful stew, with fresh bread on the side. Y'shtola enjoyed the richly blended smells of the dish, but she was too full of milk to partake. Cheria ate two bowls, and managed to do so without dripping any of the thick, viscous broth onto her shirt. That was quite a feat, considering that the massive woman sat sideways at a table, balancing her bowl between her breasts as she ate.

Y'shtola found herself growing needful as dinner progressed. As F'lhaminn fetched Cheria's empty bowl, as the large-breasted woman stood and stretched, the pale mage formed a plan for the evening, and the next morning.

Cheria groaned, and cast her gaze in the direction of Lauden's room, and her armor. Y'shtola tugged on her sleeve, and murmured "come with me," just loud enough for the Viera's sensitive ears to hear. She guided Cheria to her room, and helped her get situated on her bed. The Gunbreaker leaned against the headboard, with the pillows piled high behind her. Her breasts rested on her lap, and the mattress. There were two large wet spots on the front of her shirt; she giggled demurely and murmured "I seem to be leaking again" in her thick, honeyed accent.

The blind Miqo'te helped the buxom Viera out of her shirt, and out of her boots. She pointedly put the boots near the door, taking a brief moment of pleasure as a ripple of distress flowed through Cheria's aether. Y'shtola tugged at her trousers, and managed to get them off. Her pantalettes came away with some effort, and there Cheria lay. Skyclad, dripping liquid aether onto her bed.

"If this was regular breast milk I'd be dismayed at the amount of cleaning that your breasts require," the Miqo'te observed. "It is a good thing that your milk is odorless when it dries. Now, about that cage of yours..." She eyed the snarl of interlocking fields that covered the Viera's tiny penis. The ribbed metal chastity cage had always intrigued her, but it had never come up in conversation... until now.

"I would remain chaste," Cheria stated firmly. "Lauden may have my length, if she hungers for it. There are other ways you might fulfill your need, Y'shtola. Two other ways." The large-breasted woman smiled hungrily as satisfaction and desire swirled colorfully in her otherwise calm, creamy aether.

The pale woman eyed Cheria's thick, length-like teats. She enjoyed how they felt in her mouth. She enjoyed suckling on them. But... hmm. They were large, and thick, and firm...

She slickened and readied as she considered Cheria's proposal; she concluded that there was a certain undeniable novelty to the idea. And so she doffed the state recorder and her clothes, and she climbed onto the bed, and she worked with Cheria to get her left breast positioned so that her left nipple was over her left leg. Y'shtola straddled her lover's leg, and walked forward on her knees. She moved forward until her entrance was rubbing Cheria's teat, and then she wriggled forward some more. With a grunt and a moan she eased the thick rubbery nipple between her folds. She wriggled forward again, and again, until she had all but hilted herself on the enormous teat. She squeezed it with her muscles, and she hummed bemusedly as she felt Cheria's milk begin to build up inside of her.

The Viera beckoned her forward, but there was too much breast between them for them to kiss.

Y'shtola rode Cheria's nipple, moaning as her milk filled her, moaning as the length of her teat filled her. She was dimly aware of the larger woman's right breast dripping and drizzling onto her blankets; she wondered how long her sheets would take to dry. The slow sloshing of liquid deep inside her snapped her out of her reverie, and forced her to focus. She tightened her muscles around the teat and moaned loudly as she rocked her hips, pressing the warm, slickened flesh against her bud.

"You are so filling..." the pale Miqo'te moaned.

"My length would have disappointed you," Cheria chuckled.

"You cannot disappoint me," Y'shtola grinned confidently. And there. There. Just the right amount of pressure! And she was clamping down on the teat, she was sinking her fingers into Cheria's breast, she was gasping loudly as she collapsed backwards onto her bedding.

The teat slid out of her. Covered in slickness, drizzling milk. The milk inside of her spilled out, forming a growing wet patch on the sheets.

That wasn't going to dry anytime soon...

"And so my hen remains chaste for another day," Cheria chuckled. "That felt very good. Maybe one day I can convince Lauden to join you."

"I don't think you'd fit," Y'shtola laughed gently. "Though maybe we can stretch her, with plugs."

"Ooh, there's a thought!" Her lapine lover giggled. "I wonder if she'd agree to wear a plug for a sun or two? Or three? I could commission the artisan who made her collar to create a magical chastity belt..."

"She will need to fight again at some point," the pale Miqo'te acknowledged soberly as she sat up on her elbows. "While she did take the place of another, I doubt that the Scions will find a third Warrior of Light so easily."

"Hydaelyn will call another champion," Cheria smiled confidently. "Or she will render her champion fit for duty. I for one believe that if we can relieve Lauden of her fear, she may become a stronger warrior. Until she becomes to soft to fight." The buxom Viera's smile widened into a hungry grin.

"I like the sound of that," Y'shtola yawned. "The sooner she's forced to 'retire,' the better." Maybe then the darkness within her would be satisfied. Maybe fattening Lauden into immobility would heal the part of her that had broken in the First.

Until then... She was growing again. Her proclivity had changed in the First, and she had carried that change back with her. While she was no longer compelled to eat, she found softening to be deeply gratifying. So deeply gratifying that she looked forward to looser clothes, and drinking Cheria's milk for breakfast in the morning...

"You'll have to help her into it, Pumpkin. I don't have the flexibility." Cheria stood back with her arms crossed over her armored bust, blocking Lauden's doorway. "Come on, Kitten. Lay down and raise your legs, it goes on just like a diaper..."

Lauden flushed an alarming shade of red as she stripped off her smalls and stood naked next to her bed. Her blush extended down her neck, all the way to her shoulders. Her hen drizzled slick as it strained urgently, threatening to complete if Cheria or Y'shtola so much as blew on it. Her body had thickened considerably over the past couple of weeks, and the aphrodisiac continued to work it's magic. She was on her third dose now, and her hen was probably the most fit and toned set of muscles in her body.

"I don't want to do this!" The Warrior of Light impotently clenched her fists.

"Yes you do, Kitten." Cheria gazed pointedly at Lauden's slickened hen. "Y'shtola, you might want to do something about that before you strap her in."

"Good idea." Y'shtola wore a baggy, somewhat shapeless black dress. Her burgeoning belly overlapped the loosely tied rope she was using as a belt. Her soft middle was big enough to make squatting difficult as she dropped to one knee, then both knees in front of the Elezen. "Why don't you tell us about this magical device? I'm sure she'll find the description stimulating."

Lauden moaned as Y'shtola took her straining hen between her lips. She took the Miqo'te's head in her hands, and combed her fingers through her hair. She rubbed the roots of her ears with her thumbs, and wondered how much longer she'd be able to see her lover from this position.

"It's based on Sharlayan magitechnology developed by one of Trisha's colleagues." Cheria smiled wickedly, raising her voice slightly so Lauden could hear her over Y'shtola's slurping and sucking. "The plug is inserted, the cage is loosely fit over the hen, and the chastity belt is snapped shut at a point on either hip, rather a lot like a diaper."

That seemed to be the magic word. Lauden throbbed in Y'shtola's mouth; the blind woman hummed happily as she rubbed the bottom of her lover's tip with her tongue.

"The keys are pulled out, and the chastity belt shrinks - or grows! - to fit. The cage will shrink to fit the length exactly. The plug will slowly expand, up to about... oh... yea big." Cheria held up a gloved hand with her index finger and thumb spread about two and a half ilms apart. "And yea tall." She held her index fingers about six or seven ilms apart.

Lauden moaned as Y'shtola suckled her length. "H-how will I... use the bathroom?"

"You'll squat. Just like everybody else, Kitten." Cheria smirked. "You do have some control. The snap on the righthand side is a small knob. Twisting it one way opens the plug; twisting it the other way closes it. The belt can only be removed with both keys inserted into the slots in the hips. Oh, and by my request there's a levin crystal embedded in the outer framework of the cage, to spank you if you try to play with yourself."

"Oh gods," Lauden moaned as she rolled her hips. Her nipples stiffened as she completed, issuing a small amount of thick, sticky fluid into Y'shtola's mouth. They parted as her hen began to wilt. She tugged on her growing belly as if it was an ill-fitting shirt, and crossed her arms beneath her breasts. "How long do I have to wear it?"

"Oh... not long. A few days, maybe. It depends on how long my next job takes." Cheria chuckled darkly.

"And how long I'm at the Gubal library." Y'shtola beamed up at Lauden as she leaned in, and licked her hen clean.

"I really don't want to do this," the Warrior of Light whined. "How can I talk you out of this?"

"Our minds are made up. You will wear the belt while we're gone, Kitten. You will learn what it's like to be caged. Maybe you'll enjoy a break from constantly stroking your length, mmm?"

Lauden whined piteously.

"Lie down, Kitten. Let Y'shtola cage you."

Y'shtola lay the belt on the bed. Spread out like this it looked like a leather diaper, with a metallic plug near the middle, and a metallic cage a little further up.

The thickening Elezen hesitantly lay down on the bed. She grunted as Y'shtola inserted the plug; she moaned as her hen thickened, and slickened.

"Don't worry about that, Pumpkin. I'm told that the cage will shrink to fit." Cheria confided confidently. "It'll shrink, but it will not grow."

"I hope so," Y'shtola chuckled as she guided the cage over Lauden's length. She snapped the hips together; there were ilms of space on either side. The device was huge, and very ill-fitting. It looked like it was designed for a Roegadyn.

"Now pull out the keys, Pumpkin."

There was a loop of metal at each thigh, attached to a thin, flat strip of metal that was largely hidden in the belt. Y'shtola inserted her index fingers into the loops and pulled. The keys came out with a flash of aether, and the device creaked and groaned like leather as it quickly shrunk to a nice, snug fit.

Cheria clapped. Y'shtola stood, and handed her one of the keys.

"There you go, Kitten." The buxom Viera grinned confidently. "Enjoy yourself while we're gone."

And with that, Cheria squeezed through the door. Y'shtola followed, closing it behind her.

The belt felt like a diaper. Or how Lauden imagined a diaper might feel, if they made them in adult sizes. She stood, groaning as the thick band of leather pressed into her thighs. The plug was an immediacy, an urgency, that she could not deny, and yet her hen... refused to grow. In fact it pressed gently against the banded metal of the cage. It didn't strain. It slickened; slick dripped through the slit at the tip of the cage. Her hen ached... a dull, pleasant ache, a low counterpoint to the intense thickness of the plug.

She took a few tentative steps, and felt her cheeks burst into a blush as she realized that she was waddling. Maybe a stiffer gait. Maybe she could tell people that her bad knee was bothering her again.

Her smalls fit over the belt. The leather peeked out between the band and her soft, mooshy belly. She gripped her roll of fat and pulled at it, as if she could take it off. She had always been plump; she had grown on Croissance, she had grown more afterwards, she had managed to get down to her old size in the First, and now...

Now Cheria and Y'shtola were determined to fatten her up. Y'shtola seemed to be driven by vengeance. She wanted to do to Lauden what Lauden's proclivity had done to her in the First. That made disturbingly arousing sense. Cheria... Cheria knew she had a proclivity. She knew she had a fear. And she knew that she could order her to take actions that supported her growth. She had submitted to Cheria the night they had met; she had given the bulky, buxom Viera complete control over her, and... this was what Cheria was doing with it. She was feeding her aphrodisiacs that kept her too aroused to think straight, and she was fattening her up. She was trying to wear down her fear by making her too needful to feel fear.

It was working. She was growing, and she hated herself for it, but she felt resigned to Cheria's control. She felt safe under Cheria's control. She felt bad for Y'shtola; she had hoped that returning to the source would have healed her, but it hadn't.

Lauden donned her trousers, and her boots. She draped her armor over her thickening body and buckled it into place. It was probably good for another fifty ponzes; then she'd have to lose weight, or find something new.

And she wasn't about to lose weight, was she? Neither woman was about to let her get smaller.

She had a cage now. Just like Cheria's. Well... it wasn't some weird cursed Allagan thing, but it was a cage. A cage that she dripped and drizzled around; a cage that hurt in a way that felt very, very good.

Out of her bedroom, and into the bathroom. She examined her reflection in the mirror, and saw what she expected to see - a rounding belly. Heavier breasts. Her face, softening again. She knew, deep down, that she wanted this. She just couldn't get past the fear. Not consciously. She knew what to do, though. She knew how to give Y'shtola and Cheria what they wanted.

A test of the cage in the toilet, and then she was wobbling out, into the great room of the Rising Stones.

The time was somewhere around the tenth bell. The lull between breakfast and lunch. Fortunately, nobody was around. She walked briskly, and awkwardly, around the main room until she was confident that she wasn't waddling too much. She whimpered as the plug grew a little. She ached in anticipation of it growing again. She hoped it would grow while she was indulging in her mission for the day.

Usually she was feeling low when she comfort ate. Now... Now, she wasn't sure what she felt. She felt the need to eat. The need to feel full. The need to feel something soft and creamy filling her mouth.

And so she made her way outside, blushing as folks acknowledged her. Climbing the hill was stimulating; climbing the stairs from Rowena's workshops to the kitchens above was very stimulating. She ordered her favorite comfort food - half a dozen sticky buns to start, absolutely covered in thick, sugary icing. And to drink? Oh... hmm.

She wanted water. But the imp of the perverse spoke "heavy cream," and she blushed brightly as the clerk immediately poured her a large mug of the stuff.

Oh, that ache... She knew that if she wasn't caged she'd be completing right now. She wondered if Cheria ever felt this way.

A waitress carried her order to the terrace. She sat near the parapets, and she gorged herself. She chewed the soft, sweet treats with a plodding deliberateness as she reflexively tightened her bud around the plug. She watched the twins in the practice yard, and she wondered how they'd feel about her if she gained a hundred ponzes. Or two hundred. Or four hundred.

That was what Y'shtola wanted, wasn't it?

Hadn't she said she'd do anything for her? She had meant it at the time, but... gaining weight? Gaining a lot of weight?

Would that satisfy her?

Another mug of cream, and another half dozen sticky buns. She took her time. She paced herself. She watched Thancred and Urianger take to the practice yard. She thought about going herself, but this was her new exercise. Eating. Growing. Getting bigger, in the hopes of satisfying Y'shtola. This was her exercise yard, and capacity was her new goal.

Thanks to the aphrodisiac she was still extremely distractible. Hips caught her eyes. Bottoms caught her eyes. The rounded belly of a pregnant woman down in the stalls was enough to make her swoon. And yet all her hen did was ache.

Bells passed as she slowly worked her way through the buns. The twins popped by to say hello; as did Tataru.

"I probably shouldn't ask, but... is this like the time after you became a Gunbreaker and before you went to the First? Should I craft loose clothing that can accommodate a variety of sizes?" The Lalafell's intonation was carefully neutral. Lauden couldn't tell if she approved or not.

"Accommodating clothing would be good. For me, and probably for Y'shtola," Lauden smiled, and took a bite of the last sticky bun. "I have always eaten my feelings, Tataru. I'm trying to stop feeling ashamed of that fact."

"Well! Then I wish you luck, Lauden!" The young woman beamed and skipped away.

Between the cream and the buns and the cage and the plug Lauden was feeling like she needed to lay down. She heaved herself to her feet, and wobbled back to the Rising Stones to take a nap. First she tested the belt's ability to open the plug; she successfully did her business, and felt an absolute thrill when she closed it up again.

To bed, with an achingly full belly and an aching, dripping hen. A moan as she drew the blankets up, as the plug decided to expand again. A frisson as she realized that she enjoyed that part, that she was looking forward to feeling it happen again.

She realized, with some consternation, that she had quickly gotten used to being caged. While she could live with dripping and aching, being prevented from blossoming was a relief.

Maybe that was why they had insisted on the aphrodisiac? They wanted her so bothered by her constant need to tend to herself that she would welcome a device that alleviated that need.

Well, whatever their motivations, she was caged. And she might as well make the most of it.

Catacombs. Some desolate ruin somewhere in the backside of Eorzea. Lauden had no idea where they were. G'raha knew. The twins knew. That was enough for her.

Exploration of the ruin had been delightfully boring so far. Too boring for Alisaie, unfortunately.

"Why are you so deferential to Cheria?" The young woman kicked a rock, sending it skipping down a corridor, and into a brackish puddle.

"It's complicated," Lauden shrugged.

"Does it have something to do with why you're getting fat again?" The fiery Elezen poked her protector in her softening flank.

"It's really complicated," Lauden grimaced, and swatted at her young compatriot's hand.

"I'll bet it has something to do with that collar you're wearing. It's a weird looking collar. Like a fancy dog collar. Does she walk you around on a dog leash, Lauden?" Alisaie grinned up at the flustered Gunbreaker.

"I'll tell you about it when you're older!" Lauden fumed.

"Raha!" Alisaie whined.

"When you're older, Alisaie," G'raha chuckled. "Good of the moss to phosphoresce for us." He lit a torch that had flickered out centuries ago, marking their path deep beneath the surface. A point of yellow in the blue-green gloom of the moss that grew along the edges of the ceiling. "The path forks ahead. I don't want to split up, but it may be more efficient if we do so."

"I'll take the left-hand path," Lauden growled. She waved her magitek flashlight down the innocuous looking stone corridor. "The three of you can take the right. We'll keep in touch via linkpearl." The Warrior of Light stomped off, having completely forgotten what they were looking for down here. The thick leather of her chastity belt rubbed her thighs, and the plug, long at it's maximum size, caused her to waddle ever so slightly. She had spent plenty of time practicing walking around the Aetheryte plaza in Revenant's Toll, but no amount of practice could change the size of the magical steel plug embedded in her bud.

She had grown to enjoy it, to love it, even, though her odd gait made it obvious that something was going on with her.

Y'shtola and Cheria had been gone for days; this, whatever this was, had been proposed by G'raha, and it turned out there were only so many pastries she could eat. There were only so many days she could laze about with a full belly, and a fuller bottom. And so she had volunteered to accompany the Exarch and the twins. For a change of pace, and, hopefully, to work up an appetite.

She had not expected Alisaie to grill her like a sausage.

"I elected to stay at the intersection," Alphinaud murmured over their private linkpearl. "G'raha and Alisaie have gone ahead."

"Is there any particular reason you've decided to stay put?" Lauden walked past coffin after coffin after coffin. Some of them were open and empty; some of them were open and filled with the bones. Were these Elezen? Was this some passageway of Gelmorra?

"I've been thinking about Fantasia, and I didn't want Alisaie to needle me," the boy sighed. "I think she may have enjoyed having a sister more than I had enjoyed being her sister, if that's possible."

"I haven't found a phial," Lauden murmured. "When I do, I promise it's yours."

"Thank you, Lauden." Alphinaud sounded genuinely grateful.

"Feeling uneasy, huh? I am so sorry." Lauden happened upon a series of rooms with looked like wells in them, their mouths covered with ancient, crumbling wood. One of the rooms was still lit by the weak light of magical torches. She stepped inside, and looked around, passing her flashlight over ancient, dusty surfaces.

"I thought I could bear it," the boy sighed. "But now that I know what it feels like... I have an ache in my soul. An ache that won't go away."

"When we get home I'll ask Tataru to ask Fitz if he's got a lead on anything," Lauden promised.

A sound behind her. The clattering of boards.

Oh, shite.

Lauden turned, reaching for her gunblade, only for a shiny black tentacle to wrap around her wrist at lightning speed. She shifted to her off hand, and she was caught! Tentacles wrapped around her arms, her neck, and her soft, fattening belly. Tentacles probed her trousers. She felt them sliding up her legs, beneath the fabric. She felt them worming their way beneath her belly. She felt them probing at her chastity belt as one slid into her mouth.

"Lauden?" Alphinaud sounded distressed. "Is everything all right?"

"Mmf!" Louden moaned as the thick wet tentacle filled her mouth. They had found the fasteners of her chastity belt; they had figured out how to open the plug, and one was sliding inside of her. Oh gods one was sliding inside of her!

She was suspended in the air now, held aloft by tentacles as they probed at her body. The one in her mouth tasted... kind of like spinach, actually. Wet spinach. It should be gross, she should be gagging, but she was still addled by the aphrodisiac. And so she moaned, and she ached, and she wished she had an entrance for the tentacles to enter. She wished they could fill her. She wished for Fantasia as deeply as Alphinaud wished for it.

This felt so swiving good...

A sigh through her nose as she relaxed completely. She could see her glasses on the floor, lit by her flashlight. Her weapon was there, well out of reach. The inky mass of tentacles held her, and explored her, and she did her best to explore it in return. She rubbed the underside of the tentacle in her mouth with her tongue. She reflexively tightened her bud, encountering the magical steel of the plug.

Lauden enjoyed the embrace of the tentacles for several minutes. And then there was shouting, and the sound of booted feet on stone, and a moment later G'raha and Alisaie and Alphinaud were in the doorway. Their eyes wide, their mouths open in horror.

Well, G'raha and Alphinaud's mouths were open in horror. Alisaie was smirking. She drew her rapier and focus, and held her kit at the ready as she chuckled.

"Let me guess," the fiery young woman grinned, "It's complicated?"

"Mmhmm!" Lauden nodded her head, and closed her eyes as her face and ears turned red with embarrassment.

"Do you want us to free you, or should we... uh. Maybe come back in a few minutes?" G'raha smiled knowingly, mischievously.

The cage that surrounded her hen prevented any sort of release. She dripped and drizzled arousal into her smalls. She ached. But that was as much as the tentacles were going to get out of her.

Alisaie and G'raha shared a glance, and went to work. Black magic. Red magic. The mass of tentacles was frozen at the base, and Lauden was carefully pried free. The twins handled the top; G'raha, fortunately, handled the bottom. He said nothing about her chastity belt, even as she adjusted the control to close the magical steel plug.

She pulled up her trousers, and straightened her armor, and she put her glasses back on her nose where they belonged.

"We found what we were looking for," G'raha smiled modestly. "We need your help getting it pried loose. Then we can get out of here."

"Sounds good to me." The Gunbreaker secured her blade on her back, and followed her fellow Scions back into the corridor.

Following their adventure in the catacombs, Lauden was ravenous. Her stretched stomach was empty, and she craved the comfort of food. Truth be told she craved the comfort of a length in her mouth, but food was literally on the table in front of her, and she was hungry. And so she set about devouring another order of sticky buns, washing down with a mug of cream.

Gods, this diet. How had she convinced herself that this was a good thing?

Oh, right. The damned aphrodisiac. She could barely remember what it was like to be clear-headed. Her entire time in the catacombs she had been distracted by G'raha's tail, and ears, and his scent, and... Rrrgh. She had wanted to go down on him. She had almost offered to go down on him, more than once. She wasn't sure if she actually fancied him, or if he was just an eligible male, close enough to stir her addled mind.

Speaking of which.

There was Thancred, a few tables away. Chatting with Urianger. The two were all but inseparable lately. They made for a cute couple, and she loved that they were together, but their happiness did nothing to quench her hunger for him. She found herself admiring his ash blonde hair, his muscular shoulders, the curve of his nose... his hearty laugh... and as the wind shifted she caught his scent and she began to ache as her hen dripped and drizzled. Trapped in her cage, it couldn't blossom. It wouldn't blossom. There could be no awkwardness to hide, no awkwardness to tend to. Only the pleasant ache of her length, and the pleasant sensation of her bud, wrapped around the plug.

She wished the plug could vibrate. That was the one little detail that would make this moment perfect. To be teased, to be stimulated, to have her craving for something soft and sticky in her mouth fulfilled while her length could not possibly annoy her... this was almost perfect.

Almost.

The worlds "Y'shtola" and "Gubal" drifted across the tables, and Urianger was standing, and teleporting. With a quiet bang he was gone, off to wherever he was going. That left Thancred, with his meal, and his overcoat, and his eyes. His eyes, and his heated, knowing smile.

Lauden writhed. She wriggled her hips, and felt her smalls catch and drag. They were stuck to her cage now, stuck by her slickened arousal. She took a big, big bite of a bun, nodding to him as she chewed.

He picked up his plate and cup and sauntered over. He sat down across from her, smiling his lovely boyish smile. Five years in the First and he seemed to have come out of it the best of everyone. He was an accomplished Gunbreaker now; his techniques were strange compared to the profession that Cheria had taught her, but he was no less effective in combat. Ryne had imbued his ammo in the First; now, presumably, Urianger handled that for him. Or he bought it in bulk from the Ironworks or Stephanivien, the way that she did.

"How are you, Lauden? You've been busy the last couple of times I've wanted to talk to you. It seems I've finally caught you at a good time." He smiled warmly, and took a bite of what looked to be some sort of casserole - heavy on the pasta, the cheese, and the ground meat.

"I am... sating a hunger." She took a small bite of a bun, for emphasis. She chewed, and swallowed, and sipped her cream. "I am... sorely tempted to sate another." She grinned bashfully as she made eye contact, and glanced pointedly downward, towards his length.

Thancred raised his eyebrows, and smiled heatedly. "You do seem to be awfully hungry lately. Before I offer myself as a course, I would know why you have changed so much. I know it has something to do with what happened with Y'shtola in the first. She hasn't been the same since we returned. And it must have something to do with that buxom Viera friend of yours. She's the one who collared you, isn't she?" He nodded a slight upwards nod, indicating the ringed collar that hung around her neck.

Between the cage and the plug and the aphrodisiac, between the sweet chewy sticky buns and this wonderful smelling man, she was feeling pretty good. She was feeling... almost confident.

"Cheria and Y'shtola are helping me to... conquer a fear. A deep, nasty fear that swiving terrifies me." Lauden finished a bun, and took a bite of another. There was only one left after this one, and then she'd have to figure out what she wanted to eat next. She knew what she wanted to feel in her mouth. Hopefully he'd be amenable.

"And your fear has you comfort eating? Is that it? If so, I can empathize." He took a bite of his casserole, and washed it down with whatever he was drinking. "I put on a few pounds after I left the Lifestream, but... nothing like this, Lauden." He nodded in the direction of her thickening belly, presently hidden from his view by the table.

"I..." Lauden bit her lip for a moment. "I have a twisted proclivity, Thancred. A proclivity that has made me absolutely miserable, and Y'shtola and Cheria are... rather bluntly helping me to deal with it, in their own ways." She took another bite of a bun, another sip of cream. She rubbed and tugged at the roll of fat that was growing around her middle, and she decided to try to explain herself to him. "I want to gain weight. But I am swiving terrified. Whenever the opportunity arises I balk."

"It looks like you're enjoying yourself to me," Thancred smiled cautiously. "Unless this is your idea of balking?"

"Oh, I'm balking all right," Lauden mumbled around a full mouth. "But not with food. Cheria's got me on this long-lasting Sharlayan aphrodisiac. I can barely think straight. I'm locked in a chastity cage that keeps me from blossoming, and food is... a pleasure I can freely indulge."

"You're- " The blonde Gunbreaker's mouth dropped open. "A few days ago, I noticed that your gait had changed. The day Y'shtola left for the library."

"Mmmhmm." Lauden nodded, and finished her current bun. She took the last one in her hand, and eyed it hungrily.

"Your length is caged?" He nodded in the general direction of her chastity belt. "Combined with an aphrodisiac, that must be punishing."

"Constantly tending to myself was punishing. Constantly blossoming at the worst times was punishing. I didn't want the chastity belt, but now that I'm wearing it, I don't want to take it off. It is a relief, to not have to constantly tend to myself. Eating still feels good. It feels better, actually. I think I'm finally in the place Y'shtola wants me to be in." She gazed heatedly at the muscular Midlander. "But I'm not yet in the place that I want to be in."

"And where is that?" He grinned heatedly, knowingly.

"In your bed." She smirked confidently as she bit into the last of this batch of buns. "The only thing I crave more than food is length. I heard Urianger say something about the library. We have some time, if you would indulge me."

"Well." The ash blonde man blushed slightly as he grinned boyishly. "Let's finish our meals, and retire to my place for dessert, shall we?"

"Mmmhmm!" Lauden hummed happily as she chewed a mouthful of pastry.

The Rising Stones was empty, abandoned in the gulf between lunch and dinner. Lauden relaxed her gait, and waddled slightly as she followed Thancred through the great room, and down the hallway. She made use of the bathroom, and then she slipped into his room, stroking his cheek with her hand as he locked the door behind her.

They quickly undressed. He stripped down until he was skyclad, piling his clothes on his desk chair. She shrugged out of the loose set of town clothes that Tataru had recently made for her. She took off her ill-fitting brassiere and her soaked smalls and she stood before him wearing naught but her collar and her chastity belt.

He eyed her belt for a long moment, and murmured "That is damned fine work." He stepped forward and embraced her, leaning upwards to kiss her as he tenderly explored her growing breasts, her flowing belly, her burgeoning hips. "You are so soft..." He murmured appreciatively as he tentatively squeezed the thick roll of her middle. "Does this journey have a destination? A goal?"

"Right now the goal is to satisfy Y'shtola." She kissed his nose, his cheeks, his lips. "I would see her freed of her madness. If I have to gain five hundred ponzes to help her achieve that goal, then so be it." She rubbed his back, and gripped his bottom, and held his firmness close to her softness.

"I admire your dedication." He gripped her softening bottom, and rubbed either side of the belt strap with his thumbs. "For sake, I hope it doesn't come to that."

For my sake I hope it does. She kept the thought to herself. She was growing for Y'shtola, and Cheria, but part of her, the part of her that they were trying to free, was doing this for herself. Thancred didn't need to know that. Better to let him think that she was doing this as part of some queer effort to help her blind lover.

They kissed, and nipped at each others ears, and she felt his slickened tip pressing against the bottom of her belly. She gently maneuvered him towards his bed; she guided him down, down, until he was sitting on the edge of the mattress with his legs spread. He tossed the pillows onto the floor at his feet and she knelt, resting her knees on their softness as she placed her hands on his thighs. She smiled up at him, allowing her love for him to show through as she cupped his cheek, as she stroked his cheekbone with her thumb. He combed his fingers through her hair and he guided her down, down. Gently yet unyieldingly he guided her mouth to his thick, slickened length.

She took him between her lips. She hummed happily as she hilted herself, as his slickness coated her mouth, and her throat. She pressed her lips around his length and she stroked his thick vein with her tongue. She cupped her tongue, embracing his shaft, and she rippled the flexible muscle, luxuriating in his moans of pleasure as she relaxed, and fully embraced the moment.

He rolled his hips as she bobbed back and forth. She allowed her hunger to establish a rhythm; she allowed her hunger to grow, and grow, until he was all she could think about. For the first time in weeks, maybe moons, she wasn't distracted. She felt clear headed, and purposeful. She felt like she had what she wanted; she felt like she was where she needed to be. And he moaned, and his grip on her hair became stronger, more insistent. He angled her slightly; he lowered her slightly. His breathing grew heavier; he began to murmur "Oh yes... yes... yes, Lauden..."

Instinctively, she tried to touch herself. The levin crystals in the outer structure of the cage zapped her hand, leaving her tingling with pins and needles up to her wrist. A muffled "mmf!" and the discomfort was immediately forgotten. She continued to tend to her man, and he continued to guide her head, positioning her mouth for his optimal comfort and pleasure.

A loud moan filled the room as he began to complete. She greedily sucked, and gulped. She took all of his issue, and she wished for more. She wished to be filled until he was spilling out of her, onto the floor. He was healthy, he was satisfying, but he fell short of what she craved. He left her hungry. Hungry for his length, hungry for more pastries.

Thancred panted as he wilted. He slowly guided her back, back, until he slipped out of her mouth, leaving a thick trail of spend connecting her lips to his length. She sat back on her haunches and smiled up him. He leaned forward, and cupped her cheek. She stood up on her knees, and leaned forward, and kissed him deeply.

"So that's what I taste like," he chuckled. "I imagine I taste different to you."

"You taste wonderful," she smiled happily. "I'd like to do that again, if you're up for it."

"Maybe later," he grinned bashfully. "It's going to take me a little while to recover. How about after dinner? We can get to know each other again. You can spend the night, if you'd like."

"I'd like that," she grinned, and kissed the tip of his nose.

She was going to eat some more pastries. She was going to enjoy whatever F'lhaminn prepared for dinner. And then she was going to have Thancred for dessert.

If this was what Y'shtola wanted for her, then it was a life that she was happy to live.

The rest of the day had passed as planned. Lauden had eaten more pastries. She had eaten some sort of highly seasoned steak and popotoes meal that F'lhaminn had whipped up. She had stuffed herself until her thickening belly felt like it might burst. And then she had retired to Thancred's room, and she had taken him between her lips again. She had shown him how the control for the plug worked, and they had found a very comfortable setting for him. He had driven himself into her, and she had moaned loudly as she gripped the bedclothes. It wasn't him that stimulated her, not directly. His movement made the plug wobble around and that was electrifying.

She had taken him three times, and then she had taken him with her mouth for a midnight snack.

And now she was awake, and hungry, and needful. And he was still asleep next to her.

Lauden slipped out of bed, and shrugged into her oversized town shirt to go to the bathroom. The garment barely covered her belt; it wasn't something that she wanted others to find out about. Not yet. Her collar and her rapid weight gain were questionable enough. She sat, and she did her business, and she thought about her privacy, and who knew what about her.

Y'shtola knew everything. She knew that she wanted a child. She knew that more than absolutely anything, she wanted to become pregnant. Lauden suspected that her desire to gain weight, her desire to grow, was somehow linked to her desire to procreate. Her body twisted the urge into something it could manifest. And with no Fantasia around, fulfilling a twisted desire had turned out to be surprisingly satisfying.

Cheria and Thancred knew enough. She couldn't remember if she had told Cheria about her desire for children or not; either way, her lapine lover had latched onto fattening her up. And Thancred seemed content to enjoy the ride.

Maybe this was how she retired. Maybe she grew so large, so hungry, so needful that she could no longer perform her duties and the Scions asked her to leave. That seemed likely. If her lovers kept plying her with that aphrodisiac, she probably wouldn't even notice, or care. She had saved the realm more than once; she had a free inn room in all the major cities. She would never want for food, or shelter. She could grow in peace, wherever she wanted to.

Though the idea of Trisha's serum intrigued her. A body that grew with every completion, combined with the aphrodisiac... well, she'd probably have to give up the cage. That idea made her drip, and ache. She had resisted the cage, but at this point in her life she wouldn't resist Trisha's serum. She couldn't. She was too foggy. Too needful. She wanted to satisfy Y'shtola now. Almost nothing else mattered.

Almost nothing else.

She slipped back into Thancred's room. She took off her shirt and she beheld him, his legs covered by a sheet. His length throbbing, straining, as a man's length often did in the morning. And she felt a familiar hunger, a familiar desire. She felt a need that Y'shtola could not fulfill.

Carefully, she climbed back into bed. The bedframe creaked, threatening to wake Thancred as it took the weight of her heavy body. And then she was wriggling up next to him, and she was holding his length in her hand. She was tightening her fingers around him and she was stroking, stroking. She picked up his slickness with her thumb and spread it around his tip, and his shaft. He moaned, and gently rolled his hips, driving himself into her hand.

Slowly, lazily, she pumped his length. She fantasized about taking him between her legs; she fantasized about him giving her a child. She began to feel sad and so she focused on her hunger. She thought of another day of eating and lazing about. Another day of growing. She hoped that Y'shtola would be happy with her progress.

He was good and slick now. His length drove all thoughts of children from her mind. There was only his throbbing thickness, his pulsing slickness. There was only his body, his scent, his firm belly. He moaned and stirred as she brought him to release. He spurted spend all over his abdomen, all the way up to his sternum. He covered himself in thick white fluid, and her hunger grew. She was so hungry for him. She had to have his spend; she was too hungry to clean him with a towel.

And so she clumsily straddled him, and she lowered herself to his belly, and she began to lick him. He was wet and sticky; he was drying quickly. And so she labored as quickly as she could. She licked his belly clean. She licked and sucked his navel. She worked her way up, and as she lapped up the last of him he took her long pointed ears in his hands and he guided her upward for a kiss.

"Good morning, Lauden." He grinned boyishly, and kissed her nose.

"Good morning, Thancred." She kissed his nose, and kissed him deeply, sharing her spend-scented breath with him.

"Care to do that again?" He smiled charmingly, "Or would you rather have something more substantial for breakfast?"

"I'm all for a repeat of last night," she giggled. "Let's eat with everyone else, then we can come back here, and I'll lick you clean again. And again."

"You are one hungry woman," he chuckled.

"I am." She grinned heatedly, and licked his cheek. "I'm hungry for you."

A filling breakfast, followed by a fulfilling time in bed with Thancred. Around mid-morning Lauden finally showered, and donned her clothes, and made her way to the terrace as Thancred left to catch up with Urianger.

The Warrior of Light planned to spend the rest of the day stretching her stomach, and growing for Y'shtola. It was a warm, lazy day in Mor Dhona, and she had nothing better to do than eat.

Well, she had everything better to do, actually. Part of her was very insistent about that. But that part lay beneath the thick cottony blanket of the aphrodisiac. She could take to the practice field with Alisaie. She could do maintenance on her gunblade. She could turn some of this fat into muscle, to make her work easier.

Or she could sit on the terrace, gazing appreciatively at the other customers while she stuffed herself with pastries. Her hen continued to drip slickness, aching as she gazed at hips, and bellies, and ears. Everything attracted her; everything distracted her. Her constant eating was a background activity, something she barely paid attention to as she fantasized endlessly about coupling, about procreating.

Lunch was an extremely fattening pasta with white sauce, served with delicious garlic bread. Lauden arrived before anyone else, and she blushed vibrantly as F'lhaminn leaned over the bar, and confided.

"Your efforts of late have not gone unnoticed," the elder Miqo'te winked. "Consider this my contribution to the cause." And she placed a double helping of the thickest, creamiest pasta Lauden had ever seen in front of her.

"Eat up," F'lhaminn chuckled. "I promise it'll stick to you."

Lauden knew her body well enough to believe that without the belt, without the cage, she would have completed right there in front of everyone. Fortunately all her length did was ache, and drizzle. She tucked into the pasta, and found it to be delicious. It was creamy, it was flavorful, and the crisp garlic bread was the perfect complement. As she finished her excessive portion, F'lhaminn swept in, and gave her another bowl - the same size as everyone else's - along with two more pieces of garlic bread.

To her surprise, Lauden couldn't finish the bowl. She almost made it. She was down to one bite, maybe two, and she had begun to feel heavy, and groggy. "I think I need a nap," she murmured thickly as she sipped her water. She waited a few minutes, almost dozing off once or twice, and then she ate the last bite of her pasta, and excused herself. She wobbled past Tataru's desk and down the hallway; she did her business and then she took off her boots and she curled up in bed in her town clothes, and she took a nap.

"Wake up, Lauden. It's time for dinner." Y'shtola patted her lover's cheek, and kissed her tenderly as her eyes fluttered open.

The day had ended; Revenant's Toll was wrapped in darkness, and the soft blue light of the Aetheryte. The slowly moving light shone through the blinds, painting stripes across Y'shtola's thickening body.

Lauden sat up, and loosened her belt. She stood, and stretched, and blushed as Y'shtola clapped approvingly.

"I see you've been busy." The pale woman grinned heatedly.

"Looks like you've been busy too," Lauden eyed her lover's expanding body. Her belly was rounded, almost egg-shaped. She looked pregnant, and the clingy fabric of the baggy black dress she wore served to emphasize her growing curves.

"Regrettably," Y'shtola snorted. "Five days at the Gubal Library with Cheria as my bodyguard and the food supply for both of us. It's a miracle that woman can still walk." She rubbed her softened belly as she gazed appraisingly at her lover. "You're off to a good start. I think you've earned a reward. Come with me to Ishgard, Lauden." The blind woman grinned wickedly.

"I thought you said it was time for dinner?" The Warrior of Light could smell F'lhaminn's cooking through the door to her room. Whatever it was she was making tonight, it was bound to be delicious.

"Oh, it is." Y'shtola poked Lauden's soft belly. "We're eating with Cheria. Grab your cloak. Let's go."

Lauden put her boots on, and dug up her cloak. She donned the heavy garment, and pulled up the hood to fend off the frigid winds of Coerthas. Y'shtola began to teleport, and she followed, gasping as the icy wind belted her face.

She gasped again as Y'shtola pulled a leash out of a pouch, and clipped it to her collar.

"Come." Y'shtola ordered her. "Follow me to Cloud Nine."

Lauden blushed as the guards eyed her bemusedly. Her blush deepened as passing townspeople beheld her with curiosity and disgust. She was a strange combination for Ishgardians - there was the collar and the leash, yes, but she was a short Elezen, and she was chubby. In a land of tall, willowy Elezen, that made her something of a curiosity.

A few minutes later, they were descending into the Forgotten Knight; the staff gawked openly, chuckling and giggling as Y'shtola led Lauden through the bar, and into Cloud Nine.

The pale mage led her lover down the hallway, stopping in front of the door to room six. The blind woman opened the door, pulled Lauden inside, and closed the door behind her. Cheria sat on the bed, her breasts spread apart. She wasn't wearing trousers; Lauden assumed that her cage was visible, but she couldn't see it from here, as it lay behind the thick curve of the Viera's left breast. Her cuirass lay on the table beneath the window; her coat lay on the chair, and all four of her milk bottles sat on the desk. Her breasts dribbled and dripped, just like Lauden's hen. The pillows lay on the floor between her feet. Slowly growing puddles of milk threatened to soak the fabric as they grew, spreading out over the faint stains of previous spills.

Y'shtola turned, and quickly removed Lauden's cloak. As it fell to her feet she unclipped the leash and stepped behind her. She grabbed her arms, and bound her wrists together with the long thin chain. A strip of leather, presumably from her hip pouch, and the Warrior of Light's arms were securely tied behind her.

"You're looking healthy, Kitten." Cheria purred from the bed. "Why don't you come kneel, and taste me before I feed you your dinner, hmm?"

Lauden's pale lover guided her forward. She yanked on her bindings, forcing her to kneel before Cheria. The cage was still in place; Y'shtola removed it with a confident, practiced series of motions, and the Viera sat skyclad before the Warrior of Light. She supported herself with her left hand, and rested her right hand on her breast.

"I'm all yours, Kitten," the buxom Viera purred.

"Thank you." Lauden grinned hungrily as she leaned forward, and took Cheria between her lips. Her tiny hen quickly blossomed, and slickened. It firmed as it grew. It wasn't much compared to Thancred's, but Thancred didn't wear a cage.

"Mmm." The Warrior of Light noisily licked, and sucked. She stroked the length of Cheria's hen with her tongue as the massive Viera moaned, and sighed, and murmured "Yes, Kitten... Just like that, Kitten..."

Y'shtola straddled Lauden, and took her head in her hands, and guided her. Down a little. Forward a little. She held her steady as Cheria began to roll her hips, thrusting herself between Lauden's lips.

With an adorable "Oh, Kitten!" the lapine goddess completed, issuing a tiny, dainty amount of spend. She gasped, and moaned, and Y'shtola pulled Lauden away. She wiped Cheria down with a washcloth as she wilted, and she quickly put the cage back on. "I'd leave it off," the blind woman murmured, "But I don't want any surprises during dinner. I think Lauden will be surprised enough for both of us."

She chuckled, and Cheria laughed, and Lauden sat back on her haunches as she wondered what they had in store for her.

"Don't move, Kitten." Cheria slowly hauled herself across the bed, and made herself comfortable at the head of it, with her back to the wall. Lauden remained kneeling, and wondered what was going to happen next.

"What do you think, Pumpkin? Should we give Lauden her toy first? Or after we have her where we want her to be?" Cheria stretched her legs; Lauden appreciated a brief glimpse of her beautiful, well-manicured feet.

"First, I should think," Y'shtola chuckled darkly. She took of Lauden's glasses, and set them on the table next to Cheria's cuirass. The thickening Elezen heard the blind miqo'te moving around behind her, and assumed that she was looking through Cheria's saddlebag for something.

"Ah, here it is." Y'shtola bounded up on the bed, and sat down in front of Lauden with her legs spread apart, feet touching her knees. She held up a... Lauden didn't know what it was, but the sight of it made her hen ache.

"Take a good look, Lauden." The pale mage held the device up for her lover to see. She held it relatively close, so she could focus on it. The bulk of it was an exquisitely detailed flesh-colored length. A large, soft-looking tip, followed by a couple of ilms of thick, veiny shaft. There were metal hinges at the back end of it, with thick strips of soft leather attached to them, and an array of snaps that would allow for a very snug fit. The length had an impressive girth, and a hole in the tip about half an ilm wide, with a rim around it.

Y'shtola slowly turned the device, revealing a funnel shape in the back of it, tapering down to the hole in the front. "Open up, Lauden," she grinned heatedly. "Open wide."

Lauden gulped, and opened her mouth. Y'shtola carefully, firmly inserted the length, all the way to the straps. It filled her mouth completely; she could barely move her tongue. The blind Miqo'te leaned over her, and fastened the snaps, securing the length to her mouth.

"That's stage one complete, Kitten." Cheria's thickly accented voice washed over the Elezen's long pointed ears, calming her as anxiety threatened to rise within her. "Now get up here, on the bed. Face me, and tuck your feet under my breasts."

The Warrior of Light complied. She lay in the center of the bed, and allowed Cheria to pin her feet to the mattress with her heavy, leaking breasts. Y'shtola picked the damp pillow up off of the floor, and tucked it under Lauden's head. She rummaged around outside of the Elezen's field of view again, and a moment later she was tying her wrists to the low posts of the footboard.

"That length is a particular size for a particular reason," Cheria purred soothingly. "You see, it fits my bottles exactly. Pumpkin had fun trying it out for me. Didn't you, Pumpkin?"

"Not half as much fun as you had," Y'shtola chuckled.

"We want you to drink, but we don't want you to drown, so the length has an enchanted spigot that closes to give you time to breathe. Are you ready, Kitten?"

Why not let me drink? Why pin me down like this? Lauden wanted to ask, but the best she could manage was a muffled "mff!"

"First, let's prime our Kitten for pleasure." The massive Viera grinned heatedly as Y'shtola held up a bottle of the aphrodisiac for Lauden to see. She uncorked it, and poured it into the funnel. The acrid fluid slid down the Elezen's throat; she wheezed, and moaned, and groaned loudly as she realized that her lovers were never going to let her go without again.

"You like being too needful to think clearly, don't you Kitten?" Her lapine lover chuckled darkly.

"Mmhmm!" Lauden nodded in agreement. She frequently felt like she would trade anything for clarity, but the truth was that she had grown to love the fog. She had grown to love being easily distracted by pert bottoms and round breasts. Eating and ogling was a simple, animal life. A life she was growing to love.

"Good, Kitten. Now let's fill that belly of yours, shall we?" Cheria nodded to Y'shtola, and the pale woman slipped one of the buxom Viera's milk bottles into the funnel of the length. It socketed into place with an audible phup! and then chilled milk was pouring down Lauden's gullet.

She tried to take a breath, and it stopped. She held her breath, and the flow resumed. The milk came thicker and faster than it did when she drank from Cheria's breasts; the length felt more filling. It felt firm, yet just a bit soft, like a real length. She quickly got used to it; it felt comfortable, and relaxing. She found a good rhythm for her breathing, and she allowed the milk to flow down her throat in regular bursts.

"That's not all we have for you," Cheria chuckled. "Pumpkin?"

Y'shtola yanked Lauden's town trousers down, and her soaked smalls. She waved a long, thick, rubbery length in front of the Elezen's eyes, and she turned the control on her hip, opening the plug. Lauden moaned loudly as Y'shtola inserted the length; she moaned louder still as her pale lover began to slide the thing in and out, in and out. As with Thancred it wasn't the length that pleased her, it was Y'shtola inadvertently wobbling the plug as she moved the rubbery mass in and out again, and again.

Lauden drank the first bottle while Y'shtola slowly pushed the length in and out within her. The achingly pleasant sensation in her nethers paused as Y'shtola swapped out the first bottle for the second; then the thrusting and the gulping resumed. The thickening Elezen was in heaven. The heaven of flesh. Her stretched-out belly was filling. Y'shtola was filling her, and her aching, needful mouth was filled to capacity. Her hen was drizzling like a sink tap as she gulped, and guzzled, and sipped at the flow of cool, fattening milk.

She drank the second bottle, and began to slow with the third, as Y'shtola continued to tend to her. She began to feel painfully full with the fourth, and she wound up drinking the milk that it contained at a much slower pace as her body slowly, slowly made room for it. Her belly felt full, and tight. Her flanks itched, and she knew that she was growing new stretch marks as her stomach stretched, and expanded.

And then, as she finished the fourth bottle, the inevitable happened.

The Warrior of the Light needed to pass water.

Fortunately, Y'shtola could see her distress in her aether. The pale mage quickly took off the gag, and untied her.

"Ugh," Lauden groaned. She tugged up her smalls and her trousers and she sat up, and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. Her belly was full of liquid milk. It wasn't sloshing, not exactly, but it was moving just a bit slower than the rest of her. Another moment in which she'd complete without touching herself, were she able. She wobbled to her feet, and she waddled to the bathroom, where she did her business. She passed what felt like an ocean of water.

A little while later she emerged, exhausted and full.

"Take off your clothes, Kitten. Let me see that healthy body of yours." Cheria purred from the bed. Y'shtola glanced in her direction as she tidied up. She was putting the bottles away - two hooked up to the plumbing in the pouch of the cuirass, and two in the saddlebag.

Lauden disrobed and stood near the fire. For warmth, and so Cheria could see the thickening roll of fat that engulfed her middle.

"What did you do while we were gone, Kitten?" Cheria smiled impishly. "Y'shtola and I were curious about that."

"I ate sweet rolls and drank cream. I sat at the terrace and I ate, and I ate, and I felt... distracted by the customers, and the folks in he stalls below." Lauden tugged at her roll of fat with both hands. "I decided that since I'm now in a good position to grow, I... should get as big as Y'shtola wants me to get. So I did what I could to get started for her."

"That is very good news, Lauden." Y'shtola chuckled darkly as she sank her fingers into her partner's love handles. "Twelve willing, all of this milk will go straight to your belly. Keep eating. I would have you grow faster, but this rate of progress will do for now."

"Come." Cheria patted her breasts. "Both of you. Let's see how much more you can drink tonight, Kitten."

Lauden climbed onto the bed, next to the wall, and clumsily took Cheria's left teat between her lips. A moment later Y'shtola joined her on their lapine lover's right teat.

Deep beneath the fog of the aphrodisiac, Lauden's fear swirled and roiled. She wasn't over it, not at all, but her fear of growing was so thoroughly suppressed that for the time being, she was free. Free to eat, and to drink. Free to grow, to her heart's content.

Or until Y'shtola was satisfied.

Breakfast had teased Lauden with the possibility of fullness, but she wasn't really in the mood for breakfast mash. F'lhaminn complemented her growth, and the Warrior of Light blushed as she drank the last of her juice. As the elder Miqo'te began to clean up, the Elezen went to her room. There she applied a generous amount of skin cream to her flanks; F'lhaminn had told her that this stuff was good for stretch marks, and her recommendation had worked out so far.

She did her business, and adjusted her increasingly snug town clothes, and then it was time to get to work.

Work for Lauden meant another pleasant day on the terrace. Another day of eating pastries, and sipping cream. Another day of filling her stretching stomach until her flanks and belly began to itch.

By the twelve, she was getting big. The stairs were a bit of effort. Her bad knee creaked, even when she was walking around on a level surface. Alisaie had convinced her to spend time in the practice yard yestersun, and to her chagrin - and Alisaie's amusement - her belly was now big enough to get in the way of her basic forms. That was Gunbreaking as she had learned from observing Thancred, though. The forms she had learned from Cheria accommodated a bulky middle, and Cheria was considerably bulkier than Lauden. At least for now. The thickening Gunbreaker was able to adapt, impressing her young friend, and buying her self-worth some much desired breathing room.

It was time for new armor, and almost time for new town clothes. If she kept growing at this rate in a moon or two it might be time to retire. She had asked Cheria about the serum; Cheria had talked to Trisha via linkpearl, and had told Lauden that Trisha was experiencing difficulties. A dose would take time to brew.

Lauden was too deep in the aphrodisiac fog to be disappointed. She might need a knee brace soon, but other than that... things were going well. Things were apparently going horribly in the Empire, but that wasn't her problem, at least for now. For now her problem was filling her belly.

She settled into her usual seat on the terrace, and murmured a "thank you" as the waitress brought her half a dozen sticky buns and a mug of cream. She typically ate a dozen buns in a sitting; she had reached a point where she had room afterwards, and she was pondering trying for eighteen.

The morning progressed, and she spent a little time hazily fantasizing about what it might be like to be the increasingly pregnant woman in the stalls below. Her belly was big, and growing bigger by the day, and there was a pleasant fecund roundness to it that Lauden envied. Her own belly was wide, and sloping, with thick love handles. She was unmistakably fat, while Y'shtola - that was Y'shtola, threading through the crowd - was quite easily mistaken as pregnant. The pale Miqo'te looked up and waved, and Lauden knew that she'd join her shortly. She tugged at her collar, and took a big bite of a bun, and she wondered what F'lhaminn would make for lunch. The older woman had taken to making that creamy, fattening pasta for her several days a week, a turn of events that Y'shtola deeply appreciated.

"Lauden." Y'shtola grabbed the ring of her lover's collar and pulled her sideways, into a heated kiss. "Do you mind if I join you?"

"You are welcome to do so." Lauden gestured at the empty chairs around the table.

Y'shtola took a seat, and ordered a pot of tea, and half a dozen sticky buns.

"What?" The pale mage smirked. "It works for you, doesn't it? I don't know when Cheria will be back, and I don't want to slow down." She rubbed the dramatic curve of her rounded belly. "I know I'm going to widen soon, but for the moment it's nice to be mistaken as pregnant. People are so much more accommodating."

"I wouldn't know," Lauden grumbled. "I'd like to find out sometime, though."

"Well, until Fantasia turns up and turns you into a fertility goddess, you will grow for as long as I see fit," Y'shtola stated firmly. "You may have given yourself to Cheria, but while she isn't around you belong to me, and I would see thee grow fatter. You're too thin, Lauden. You can still walk around without huffing and puffing. I want to see you break out in a sweat as you waddle from your room to the bar. I want this gentle slope of a hill between us and the Seventh Heaven to become an insurmountable obstacle. I want you to grow too fat to teleport, if that's even possible. I don't know if it is and I want to find out. For science."

Lauden writhed uncomfortably as her hen drizzled, as her bud pulsed.

"Too much?" Y'shtola grinned hungrily.

"A bit," Lauden admitted sheepishly.

"Too bad." The pale woman snorted.

The tea and the platter of buns showed up. Y'shtola murmured a "thank you" and immediately inhaled one of the buns, and half a cup of tea.

The pair ate silently for a time. Thancred ventured onto the terrace; he saw them sitting together, and took a seat by himself a bit further away. Lauden had a good view of him and of Y'shtola; she kept glancing back and forth as she fantasized about Thancred's length. She wanted to feel him in her hands again. She wanted to feel him in her mouth.

"If only you looked at your pastries the way you looked at him," Y'shtola groused.

"I can't help it," Lauden shrugged. "His length is marvelous. And this aphrodisiac has me craving length as much as I crave food." A pause, and she decided to ask a question she'd been meaning to ask for awhile. "Why are you so... antagonistic lately, Y'shtola? I know your experience in the First continues to cast a shadow over you, and I know that influences how you've been treating me, but do you have to be so mean about it?"

"Yes." Y'shtola bit into another sticky bun. "Fattening you is a compromise, Lauden. I want to wring your neck for doing this to me. But you're too useful to the Scions, and the star, and so I must fatten you until you can't do your duty anymore. I know I did this with my own thrice-damned curiosity, but I've had years to stew, Lauden. I've had years to wish that you were as I had become. I have fattened three times! I hope I can find a cure. That's why I went to Gubal recently; I found some promising leads. I'll probably have to make another trip to follow up. And if I go, you had better be bigger when I get back."

"You know I will be," Lauden chuckled. "I think my stomach is too big to stop now."

"Good." The pale woman grinned heatedly. "Keep stretching it." She leaned back and sipped her tea, and enjoyed another bite of a bun.

The Elezen sat back and gazed at Thancred. He looked over; she made eye contract and grinned lasciviously, salaciously. Y'shtola raised her eyebrows as she observed the shift in her aether.

Thancred stood, and confidently approached their table. "Excuse me, Y'shtola. I have business with Lauden." He hooked a finger through the ring of the Elezen's collar, and half-dragged, half-guided her to her feet. He turned, and walked towards the stairwell, dragging her along behind him. Lauden's heart leapt; her excitement quickly grew to a fever pitch as her hen ached, as her bud throbbed. She glanced over her shoulder and grinned as she beheld Y'shtola, glaring furiously in their direction.

He guided her down to the ground level, and pulled her into the broom closet beneath the stairs. He pulled her close, and he showered her with kisses. She reached into his trousers, and grasped his shaft, and as she began to stroke his slickening length she whispered "what was that all about?!"

"Y'shtola's been really crabby lately." He kissed her ear, her cheek, her nose. "I thought I could give you a better deal. All that 'you're mine' business, and still, you crave length." His slickness drizzled over her fingers as he throbbed in her hand. He was close. She wouldn't have to do much.

"You want this," he whispered huskily.

"I want you," she whispered in return. She kissed him deeply as she fumbled with his fasteners. She managed to get his trousers open; she pulled them down, along with his smalls, and she took his slickened tip into her mouth.

He was rough with her. He was heated, urgent. He fisted her hair, and guided her to his preferred angle, and he rolled his hips as he swived her face. He completed with a grunt, and a sigh, and she murmured a quiet "thank you" as she swallowed his gift to her, and licked him clean.

"You're mine," he chuckled. "When you need length, you're mine."

And suddenly his finger was at his ear in the classic linkpearl position, and he had to go. And she was left kneeling in the closet, sweating, with a satisfied smile on her slickened lips.

A moment later the door opened and before she could react Y'shtola had clipped the leash onto her collar again. "Bad girl," the furious Miqo'te hissed. "Now get back up there and finish your meal."

She all but dragged Lauden up the stairs, back to their table. To Lauden's surprise a pitcher of cream and a fresh platter of sticky buns sat on her side of the table.

They sat, and Y'shtola held her leash, and she watched her eat.

"You need more than Cheria can provide. In terms of length, I mean." The pale woman observed calmly.

Lauden nodded as she chewed on her pastry. It was soft, and sweet, and it filled her mouth in such a pleasing, comforting way...

"I suppose I can forgive him being a little possessive, then." Y'shtola sighed. "If you crave length, I'm not going to get in your way. I strongly prefer that you keep company with him, instead of someone else."

"Funny," Lauden chuckled between bites, "He's of a similar mind."

She felt like a pet. A toy. She belonged to Y'shtola, and Cheria, and Thancred, and she wasn't entirely sure how she felt about that but it did feel good to have her needs met by competent people who could protect the star, when she was inevitably forced to retire.

"Of course he is," the pale mage chuckled darkly. "You're needful, and convenient. How could he possibly decline you?"

Lauden wasn't sure how she felt about being convenient. She could think about that later. Her brief moment with Thancred had awakened her appetite, and she was hungry.

More catacombs. These were arid, and reasonably well-lit by cracks in the ceiling. They had also been pretty thoroughly picked over, though it seemed G'raha wanted to look at the bas-reliefs on the walls. That was fine with Lauden. The day had been remarkably low-pressure; the only real problems she had dealt with so far were her bad knee, which was now contained in a brace, and her growling belly, which was proving impossible to fill with the rations that she had brought along.

"I'll have to ask F'lhaminn for something more filling next time. Ugh." She grumbled as she finished a fruit bar, and washed it down with a swig of canteen water. Her new armor had a similar design to her old armor; Tataru had claimed that it would last her another hundred ponzes, and she had taken advantage of the Elezens's increasing girth by including more pockets and pouches in the design.

The Warrior of Light was comfortable, and well-equipped for danger, but poorly equipped to meet her own needs. That was a mistake on her part; she had packed the way she had always packed, without taking her efforts to expand her stomach into account. Now here she was with an inquisitive Exarch and a half-empty belly that craved the comfort of fullness.

"What was that?" G'raha's ears perked up as he shifted his attention to Lauden. "Something about F'lhaminn?"

"Oh." Lauden blushed slightly. "I was just complaining to myself about not bringing enough food along."

"Ah. Your appetite has become rather a lot more... robust lately." The Exarch smiled weakly, as if he wasn't sure how she'd interpret his words.

"I'm eating for three," Lauden patted the growing shelf of her rounded belly. "And I packed for one."

"Oh! Well. Here." G'raha took off his pack, and handed it to her. "If you're hungry, you're welcome to whatever I brought."

"But then you'll be hungry, and we need your body to be sated so your mind can absorb whatever it is we're here for." Lauden pouted as she opened his pack, and examined the contents.

"I brought food for two days," he murmured distractedly. "I suspect we'll be here for far less than one. If this is right -" he waved his hand over a stretch of partially crumbled glyphs "- then what I'm looking for is in the next chamber."

"Mmm." Lauden pulled out a bag of trail mix. It wasn't much, not for her, but she could keep it in a belt pouch, and she could nurse it a tiny handful at a time. She tucked the bag into her belt and handed the pack back to her travelling companion. He slung it onto his back and set forth, in the direction of an ornate, half crumbled archway.

The archway led to a long, wide corridor. There was a large chamber in the distance, lit by large cracks in the ceiling. About halfway down the corridor light poured through a wide doorway.

Lauden stopped, and gazed through the small archway. A short stone corridor opened up into a wide, round space filled with a twisted tree... and dozens, maybe hundreds, of yellow flowers. The sun glared off of the rock face above, filling the space with a wonderfully diffuse golden glow.

An ancient stone bench encircled the tree. The ground around it was covered with the yellow flowers, and some sort of grass. The space looked warm, and inviting.

"Let's take a break." Lauden nodded towards the little parklet.

G'raha pursed his lips, and shrugged. "I suppose it would be nice to rest for a short time," he smiled warmly. "Lead on, my friend."

As she approached the bench she kicked up some sort of pollen; she sneezed, and she felt the fog of the aphrodisiac thicken. She had already found G'raha deeply distracting, but in a way that she was used to. Now he seemed more colorful. More vivid. His scent made her want to drop to her knees and take him between her lips, but no. No.

Unless...?

She set her bag and her gunblade down on the bench. She took off her belt, and unwound her armor. She set the heavy fabric down on the ancient stone, and she sat down in the flowers, and sniffed at the cream-colored pollen as it rose up around her.

"D-do you - Are you - Uh..." G'raha stammered as he sloppily set his pack down. He pulled off his tabard and sat down next to her. Before he drew his knees up she noticed his length, bulging in his trousers. "This pollen -" he sneezed "- seems to be some sort of... aphrodisiac. Are you... stimulated?"

"Kinda?" She shrugged, and laughed brightly. "I'm already stimulated, Raha. Shtola and Cheria have had me on some sort of Sharlayan aphrodisiac for weeks now." She rocked gently back and forth. The light felt lovely. The gentle caress of the pollen on her skin felt lovely. "I want to swive you, Raha. I always have, but you've been... distant, and prudish. It's cute. It's endearing, even. You're a lovely man." She placed her hand over his, and squeezed him gently. "I meant it when I said you don't have to be alone anymore, but you... prefer to be, don't you?"

"A century of habit is hard to break." He grimaced as his face became glazed in a light coating of sweat. "While I have long sought to keep a certain decorum between us, I must -" he sneezed again "- reconsider, in light of this discovery." He laughed. A silly, drunken laugh. He was doing his best to hold on to his dignity, but whatever it was they had disturbed had sparked his flame, and fanned it into a fire.

"Would you believe that my trousers are too tight?" He grinned bashfully as he kicked off his boots, and unfastened his belt. He opened his trousers and pulled them off along with his smalls, revealing a thick, glistening length with a base of curly red hair.

"I would believe anything at this point." Lauden felt like she was experiencing the good parts of drink. The parts she had chased, the parts that had made the bad parts tolerable for so long. "You have a very nice cock, Raha." She gazed rapturously at his length. "May I touch it?"

"I find myself... unable to decline," the Exarch grimaced bashfully. "I wish only for your lips to touch my tip, Lauden."

They didn't waste any time. He turned to face her; she turned to face him. She took his satisfying thickness into her mouth, and he slung his legs over her back, crossing his ankles and gently squeezing her neck as she bobbed up and down on his length.

He had a more arid taste than Thancred. He reminded her of Thanalan, and Gyr Abania. And yet he was slick, he was so slick. He was slick to dripping and she thought of her own hen, drizzling in her smalls, held small and steady in her cage. For a moment she wanted to touch herself, for a moment all she could think of was sliding her fingers between her folds, but she wasn't built like that. Not right now. Not until she found a phial of Fantasia that she could keep for herself. And so she focused wholly on his cock. She suckled him like one of Cheria's teats. She pressed her tongue into the base of his shaft and he moaned and tightened his thighs and mmmm... this was nothing like Thancred. She wanted to show him how her plug worked, but she was pretty sure he was too thick for it. He filled her mouth quite nicely. Almost as nicely as that gag Y'shtola had strapped to her face, but he was going to complete, and that edged him into the lead.

She moaned as he combed his fingers through her hair. She moaned louder as he fisted her hair, pulling her downwards, forwards. He moaned quietly as he completed. He bucked, he rolled his hips, he filled her mouth with an impressive amount of spend.

And she was sitting up, and she was wiping her mouth, and he raised his eyebrows as his wilting length sprang to life again.

Her hunger for him knew no bounds. He had no need to recover, not here. She took him in her mouth again, and again, and again. She sucked on his cock until the light began to fade. Until the hunger in her belly outgrew the need in her soul.

"I suppose we should probably... get out of here, huh?" He panted as she completed him for the seventh time. This one had been long, and slow, and lazy. This one had been marred by a growing hunger, a growing need to fill her belly with something more substantial than spend.

He managed to get his smalls and his trousers and his boots back on; she managed her armor, and her gunblade, and they struggled into their packs.

They gasped as they re-entered the corridor. G'raha sneezed again, and murmured a relieved "whew!"

They shared a look. He smiled boyishly, demurely. She grinned heatedly, hungrily.

"Not once did you desire to be satisfied," he observed. "I would have tended to you with my hands, or my tongue, had you wished."

"One day I will wish," She smiled warmly. "The pollen, or whatever it was, made me want to satisfy you. In satisfying you, I satisfied myself." Her distended stomach growled audibly. "Until I got hungry again," she groaned. "Can I see your pack? I think there were some fruit bars in there..."

"Sure." He handed it over. "Take what you need. If we make haste, I believe we'll be in Revenant's Toll before dinner."

Lauden grabbed half a dozen fruit bars; she handed the pack back and began to eat them as quickly as she could. They barely took the edge off. She needed something big, and thick, and substantial. A couple of steaks and some popotos. A couple of sheets of sticky buns.

By the twelve, she was getting fat.

"I hope so," she replied as she ate the last of the fruit bars. "I'm still hungry for you, but I am starving for food."

"Onward, then!" G'raha grinned as he walked quickly in the direction they had been heading before their detour.

"Onward!" Lauden agreed as she followed him.

He was upwind, and she very much enjoyed the scent of him.

Lauden came home weak with hunger. Fortunately for Y'shtola, F'lhaminn had cooked a special batch of her creamy pasta with white sauce, just for the Warrior of Light. The meal everyone else received was her regular pasta, and G'raha could tell the difference.

"Hmm." The Exarch glanced at his regular sized bowl, and Lauden's mixing bowl, and nodded to F'lhammin. "If I might ask, why is Lauden's meal so much richer? Or rather, how is Lauden's meal so much richer? It looks like you used the same ingredients."

"Almost, dear." F'lhaminn grinned wickedly. "I made the sauce for Lauden's meal with milk and butter from her friend Cheria. She's a growing girl, you know!" The elder Miqo'te winked at Lauden and wandered off to serve others from her big pot of rich, creamy pasta.

"Hmm." G'raha nodded thoughtfully as he took a bite of his meal. "F'lhaminn is... encouraging you?"

"I don't know why," Lauden shrugged. "But she is, and I'm grateful for it." The cook had taken to making Lauden special breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, all made with excessive amounts of butter, and heavy cream, and the fattest, juiciest cuts of meat.

"Hmm." G'raha repeated. "Does this have something to do with Y'shtola's behavior in the First? She appears unchanged, though I believe that she assured me that her affliction would disappear once she returned to the Source."

"To make a long story into a short story, I have a proclivity, and a great fear of it." Lauden ate a forkful of pasta. "Thanks to Allagan technology, Shtola has acquired my proclivity, but somehow she doesn't have the fear. She was... enjoying herself, and fantasizing, when she was taken to the First, and that had a permanent affect on her self image there. By living like that for so long she became twisted, and she seeks to visit her fate upon me. And between her and Cheria, I am well on my way." The thought made her length ache, and her nipples harden. She felt like rubbing herself, and she very nearly did. Her hand stopped less than an ilm from her cage. She didn't know if the levin crystals would zap her through her trousers and smalls, and she didn't want to find out.

"May I ask what this proclivity is?" The red haired Miqo'te smiled boyishly, curiously.

"Some small part of me has always wanted to grow softer," the thickening Elezen mumbled around a creamy chunk of chicken. "Y'shtola and Cheria have suppressed my fear with a long-lasting aphrodisiac, and they have suppressed my libido with a chastity cage. Food gives me pleasure, and I crave food. Length gives me pleasure, and I crave length." She smiled hungrily, and winked at the smaller man.

"Ah, so part of why you didn't wish to be satisfied in the ruins is that you are prevented from satisfaction? Interesting." G'raha nodded thoughtfully, and tucked into his pasta.

"The cage is a blessing, given how much my nethers bother me." Lauden smiled beatifically. "I thought I'd hate it, but it's the best thing that's ever happened to me."

"Hmm." G'raha nodded. "And your goal, with your increased appetite, is to...?"

"I will grow until Y'shtola is satisfied," the chubby Elezen shrugged. "Hopefully that will unravel whatever it is that's still bothering her." She dunked a piece of garlic bread into the sauce, and bit into it.

"So you're doing this to help a fellow Scion? Fascinating." G'raha glanced around the room as he continued to eat his meal.

"And myself," Lauden admitted. "But telling myself I'm doing this to help Y'shtola helps to quiet my fear. I barely feel it now." She pointedly took a large bite of her pasta, and a bite of her bread. She chewed, and swallowed, and took a drink of water.

"Hey, butterball." Alisaie wandered over, and poked Lauden in her expansive love handle. "Settle a bet for me?"

"Hmm?" Lauden regarded the young woman as she chewed another bite of her pasta.

"Alphinaud thinks you're going to top out at three hundred ponzes. I think you're going all out, and won't stop until you hit six or seven. So which one of us is right, fatty?" Alisaie grabbed Lauden's love handle, and squeezed it playfully.

"I am all but certain that Alphinaud is wrong," Lauden blushed. "He's probably been wrong for a few suns."

"Hah!" The fiery young woman pulled on her protector's roll of fat. "I win! Unless he wants to make a new wager. How big to you think you'll get, Lauden? If you tell me, I'll cut you in for a share." The young Elezen winked, and poked the older woman's flabby flank again.

"I really don't know, Alisaie." The fattening woman smiled bashfully. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

"Well, hurry up!" The young woman laughed. "Don't give my brother time to weasel out!"

She turned, and headed back to the table she shared with Alphinaud.

"That was... encouraging." G'raha observed. "Would you like more encouragement? I'm not sure how I'd go about, but if you do, I'm sure I'll figure something out."

"Do what you think is right, Raha," Lauden's lips curled into a small, cryptic smile for a short moment, and then she tucked into her meal, and focused wholly on eating.

It was a heavy meal, and the encouragement felt... strange. Being teased by Alisaie had felt oddly validating. It felt like she was officially fat now. She was fat for real. There was no going back. She was committed to playing this out until something changed with Y'shtola.

She did her business, and she was washing her hands when the linkpearl she shared with Y'shtola toned.

"Hello?" She answered in her usual fashion.

"Come to Ishgard, Lauden. We have something for you."

"Hello?" Lauden opened the door to room number six of Cloud Nine, and peeked inside.

Cheria leaned against the wall, still wearing her armor. Y'shtola had grown visibly since Lauden had last laid eyes on her; her belly now drooped heavily over her rope, and her hips had begun to swell.

"Disrobe. Lay down on the bed, and spread your legs." Her pale lover spoke firmly, commandingly.

"Do as she says, Kitten." Cheria smiled cryptically.

Lauden stepped inside, and closed the door. She walked over to the desk, where she took off her boots, her snugly fitting town clothes, and her smalls. She crossed the room to the bed, where she lay down with her head on the pillows and spread her legs, as instructed. She wasn't skyclad; she still wore her chastity belt, and her socks, and her glasses.

Y'shtola reached into a pouch and pulled out what looked like a thin brass plug. She stepped close to Lauden, and showed it to her. She hopped on the bed, and used the knob on the right side of the belt to open the plug. She slid the brass plug into the steel-like plug, and tightened the steel-like plug around it.

"What are you doing?" Lauden wondered as she felt a surge of aether between her legs.

"Ooh, it's growing!" Cheria cooed happily.

"So it is," Y'shtola observed. "It's bonding with the plug. Blending with it." She stood, and fished around in her hip pouch. She drew out a bracelet that looked like three bracelets glued together - a thin silver band with a thinner metal band around the center of it, made of the same brass as the plug.

"I wanted a ring, but fingers get fat. Wrists do too, but a little growth on a wrist doesn't make a big difference. This -" the pale woman held up the bracelet "- controls the plug. Like this." She twisted the inner band.

"Shite!" Lauden gasped as the plug began to vibrate.

"It can vibrate a lot." Y'shtola twisted the band sharply; Lauden whimpered as she felt like she was being torn apart from the inside.

"Or a little." The blind woman twisted the band the other way, and the vibration subsided to a pleasant thrumming.

"She is drizzling slick, Pumpkin," Cheria chuckled. "Can you see that with your aethersight?"

"No, but I can see her arousal," Y'shtola giggled. "The vibration draws a trickle of aether. It will not stop. There's a range on the bracelet. I can use it to wake you up in the Rising Stones, but if it gets twisted while I'm out in the field, you don't have to worry about any unpleasantness. How do you feel, Lauden?"

"Hnnnnnng." The thickening Elezen groaned. "This feels swiving amazing."

"Good." The pale woman grinned. She twisted the bracelet, and the vibration ceased. "I'll set it for you tomorrow morning on the terrace, before we leave for the library again."

"How long will you be gone?" Lauden's eyes widened at the thought of the plug vibrating for suns, or weeks.

"Honestly?" Y'shtola's grin widened into wickedness. "I have no idea. A couple of suns. Maybe a week. If you need relief just open the plug. I know you just had a big meal; we dropped off the dairy products for F'lhaminn earlier this sun. Go home and sleep. Eat a big breakfast, and I shall meet you on the terrace in the morning."

"Good night, Kitten," Cheria purred. "Sleep well."

Lauden got dressed and teleported home. She returned to her room, where she changed into her blue survival shirt, and curled up in bed.

She had trouble getting to sleep. Her hen ached, and continued to drizzle. Her imagination was alive with thoughts of Y'shtola, and Cheria, and what they might do next. She thought of Alisaie's teasing, and F'lhaminn's encouragement, and she realized that this was her life now. She was a growing woman, with no end in sight. Her suns as a Gunbreaker were numbered. Her suns as a Scion were numbered. But until she retired, F'lhaminn would fatten her, and Alisaie would poke her, and G'raha would probably be adorably awkward about complementing her.

How would Thancred feel about her, as she grew fatter? She hoped that he'd continue to appreciate her. She was convenient, after all.

The Warrior of Light tugged at the thickening roll of her belly, and eventually she went to sleep.

Breakfast was a stack of pancakes, drenched in Cheria's butter, along with a cup of fruit juice, and a glass of water. Lauden ate quickly, and made her way to the terrace to begin her sun's work. She grew winded as she walked up the hill, and her knee gave her trouble on the stairs again. She was getting fat, and her body was beginning to complain.

She pondered her knee as she ordered her usual mug of cream and tray of sticky buns. She sat in her usual seat, and gazed down at the Aetheryte plaza as she ate, and ate. Eventually, she saw Y'shtola's flabby form teleport in. The thickening Miqo'te strode directly towards Rowena's workshops, and as she drew closer she waved, and held up the bracelet, and twisted it.

Lauden yelped as the plug began to vibrate.

A long moment later Y'shtola appeared on the terrace, smiling expectantly.

"I don not have long, Lauden. I must pack my things and leave shortly. I want to make sure you are comfortable before I go. Would you like stronger vibrations, or weaker?"

"Uh... Weaker, please." Lauden grimaced bashfully. "I don't think I could handle this setting for very long."

"Very well." The pale woman twisted the bracelet slightly.

The vibrations quieted, but continued. The sensation was very pleasant. "Mmm!" Lauden nodded as she took a bite of her sticky bun. "That is nice."

"Hm." Y'shtola twisted the bracelet very slightly in the other direction. The vibrations strengthened, just a bit. "I shall leave it here," the pale mage grinned. "I must go. You will continue to grow while I am gone. You will get bigger for me. And you will drink this before I leave." She tucked the bracelet into her pouch and pulled out a bottle of the long-lasting aphrodisiac.

"Yes ma'am." Lauden nodded. She plucked the bottle out of her lover's hand, pulled the cork out, and downed the concoction without complaint.

Y'shtola tucked the empty bottle into her pouch. She kissed Lauden on her forehead, and headed down the stairs.

Lauden watched her make her way to the Seventh Heaven, and hummed quietly as the plug vibrated deep within her body. She wriggled, and wiggled, and struggled with the strong urge to touch herself as the fog of the aphrodisiac thickened, and swirled.

Even with her bud wrapped around a gently vibrating plug, sitting on the terrace all morning eating pastries wasn't particularly exciting. The aphrodisiac helped. Thanks to the aphrodisiac she was little more than a needful animal, and she liked it that way. Her mind was unclouded by thoughts. Thanks to the belt and the cage her body was unclouded by urges that made her uncomfortable. Instead it was clouded by urges that she was very, very comfortable with. She loved the idea of length in her hands, and her mouth. She wanted to be with G'raha and Thancred at the same time, though they proved mutually exclusive. She wanted to wrap her softening, thickening fingers around their lengths, and she wanted to tug and stroke until the men in her life painted her face with their spend.

Unfortunately the only Scions in residence this sun were her, and Alisaie. Everyone else was off gathering information about this thing or that thing. She should know what, she had been told, but she had been too busy luxuriating in Thancred's scent, and in G'raha's eyes, to really pay attention.

She ate her usual two trays of sticky buns, and drank her usual couple of mugs of cream, and she heaved herself to her feet and stretched. She stepped to the parapets, wincing as her bad knee creaked, and she looked down at the practice yard. There was Alisaie, laboring with her rapier and her focus. Flawless. Dedicated. She had been like that once, during her time as a Machinist. She had been eager to please; she had been focused on mastering her weapon, and her support hardware. Now she felt like she could barely swing her gunblade. She should get down there and practice, but that was time she could use to eat. To digest. Time she could use to hopefully soothe Y'shtola's rage.

Time for a short nap, before lunch. She had her rhythm down. She had eaten breakfast. She had exercised by laboring up the hill, and the stairs, to the terrace. She had eaten her 'snack.' She was about to nap. Then she would move her bowels, and eat lunch, and then she would exercise and snack again, and nap before dinner.

It was a simple, remarkably stress-free life.

There was one other thing that she had to do this sun. She needed to talk to Tataru about new town clothes. Her trousers were tight in the bottom, and she couldn't pull her top down over her belly. A crest of flab peeked out from beneath her shirt, and every sun it grew larger, and softer, as her shirt rode higher, and higher. She was half-tempted to wear a brassiere and nothing else. She was due for a larger one of those, too.

The waitress bussed her table, and asked her if she needed anything else. "No, thank you," she smiled warmly, and felt her hen drip as she watched the young woman's hips sway on her way back to the kitchens.

Heavily, she walked down the stairs. Each step drew sparks of pain from her bad knee. She could barely see her feet; habit carried her through as she wondered what navigating stairs must be like for Cheria.

Where was Cheria, anyway? She had to talk to her and Y'shtola about a flaw in the belt. Her hair had regrown; it had quickly become thick, and unruly. She needed to depilate again. Permanently, if possible.

A few people used the stairwell as she plodded down to the ground level. She drew looks - curiosity, derision, disgust. Arousal, in one case. She offered that woman a wink and a smile, and received a bright blush in return. And then she was on the ground floor of the workshops, and she was slowly making her way out, and to her left, to the practice yard. She had no intention of practicing. She was rather hoping that Alisaie might tease her a bit, before she headed home.

The young woman was remarkably consistent. She worked through her forms again, and again. She threw her rapier up in the air with as much force as her tiny body could muster, and she caught it before it hit the ground. She turned to Lauden, and leered happily as she leaned lightly on the weapon. Her focus drifted into her hand, and onto her hip; she slipped her blade into her belt and she pranced over to her fattened protector like a gazelle.

"Come to finally get your exercise, fatty?" The fiery little Elezen poked the thick crescent of Lauden's belly with a finger. Once, twice.

"I got all I needed... with the stairs." Lauden was surprised to find herself short of breath. While she hated it, she knew that Y'shtola would appreciate watching her struggle.

"Did you now." Alisaie smirked. "Lugging that expanding gut around must be good exercise for those chubby legs of yours. Alphinaud is holding steady at four hundred. I know you can make it to four hundred ponzes. Think you can make it to six?" She grinned expectantly, and poked the older Elezen's middle again.

"It might be awhile." Lauden swatted playfully at Alisaie's finger. "I think four hundred may be awhile."

"Not at this rate!" The young woman cackled. "You're growing like you were born for it. I have never seen so much fat in one place! Not even in Eulmore! I know you can do it, Lauden. I know you can make my brother go triple or nothing!"

"What did you wager, anyway?" Lauden blushed brightly as Alisaie grabbed her belly with both hands, and tugged at her growing arc of flab.

"Oh, you'll love this," the tiny young woman grinned maniacally. "The loser has to eat your diet for a moon!" She laughed wickedly. "Only now it's double or nothing, so two moons. I think at the rate you've been fattening up I can get him up to triple or nothing. Anything more than that would be cruel."

"You... want to fatten your brother?" Lauden's brow crinkled in bemusement. Her hen ached, and drizzled. The thought that Alisaie might have thoughts in line with Cheria and Y'shtola was electrifying. It should have been obvious from her teasing, from her constant touching. Now her proclivity was clear.

"I want him to get it through his head that he's shite at gambling, and shouldn't indulge in it." Alisaie chuckled.

Lauden was half tempted to stop at four hundred ponzes, just to teach Alisaie a lesson. But the young woman knew she wouldn't stop there. She knew she couldn't stop there. She was committed to satisfying Y'shtola, and that meant... well, she wasn't sure what that meant, not exactly, but she knew that it meant gaining more than that.

"We'll teach him a lesson," Lauden grinned, and patted her expanding belly. "Now if you'll excuse me, I was heading home for a naaAAA- " she yawned into her hand "- nap. I've gotta rest up for lunch."

"Have fun, fatty." Alisaie turned, and drew her rapier, and flung it at a striking dummy. She hit the target squarely in the head - right between the eyes, if it had eyes. "I'll see you at lunch."

Lauden laboriously worked her way down the hill, and across the Aetheryte plaza. She blushed slightly as she realized that she had developed a slight waddle, to keep her growing thighs from rubbing too much as she walked. The hill was enough to work up a little bit of a sweat now; maybe Y'shtola would appreciate that.

Between her clothes and her knee and the hill and the fog of the aphrodisiac... she was confident that Alisaie would win her bet with her brother. And she wondered what sort of effect that might have on Alphinaud. Hopefully she'd find him a phial of Fantasia before he had to make good. He deserved to be as comfortable with himself as possible, especially if he was undertaking such an endeavor.

As she heaved her way into the Rising Stones she caught the scent of lunch, and her mouth began to water. Whatever it was, it smelled amazing. The air smelled of a mix of casserole and cookies.

"Oh! Finally, someone tall! Come here, Lauden!" F'lhaminn was flustered, and clearly overworked. Lauden made her way to the counter, and gazed at the older woman quizzically. "Put these on." She handed the fattening Elezen a pair of oven mitts; Lauden slipped them onto her hands. "And hold this." She handed Lauden a cookie sheet, laden with fresh chocolate chip cookies.

"Uh. For how long?" The counter was covered with mixing bowls, and flour, and cutting boards, and bowls of ground meet and shredded cheese. There were cups and mugs and plates and there was no place to put the baking sheet. Not on the bar, anyway.

"Hold it until I tell you to put it down." F'lhaminn grinned wickedly, and began to clean.

Holding the tray felt good. It felt right. It was Lauden's first contribution to lunch in awhile. For the past several weeks all she had done was eat; she hadn't helped to clean up, she hadn't washed the dishes. F'lhaminn hadn't said anything, but she knew the older woman needed help, and she knew that not a lot of Scions volunteered for cleanup detail.

Not a lot of Scions cleaned, period.

"Ah. Hello?" A hand waved in front of her face. She blinked rapidly, and shook her head.

"You were somewhere else." F'lhaminn smiled gently. "You can put it down now."

Lauden put the tray down on the counter, and took off the oven mitts. She had about two bells before lunch, and a dozen sticky buns no longer filled her the way they once did. Alisaie's teasing had invigorated her. She was going to get a little wholesome exercise before lunch - she was going to clean.

Y'shtola's room was postcard perfect. There was nothing to clean here. She could root around for the state recording, but she was beyond that now. Playing back Marielle would probably make her feel small, and that wasn't what she wanted. Not until Y'shtola was well again.

Alphinaud's room was cluttered, but clean. She straightened out his books, and made his bed.

Her room was a sty, and always had been. It was beyond redemption. Still, she managed a bit of lifting exercise by hauling her old Rook Autoturrets over to the Ironworks. The turrets, her Aetherotransformer, her old carbine... all of it could be scrapped.

A load of laundry. Her blankets and sheets, and Thancred's blankets and sheets. The Ironworks laundry device was amazingly fast, and efficient. While it ran she poked around the basement; her old room was under the space they had used to build the bath, and by giving him her old room, Lauden had inadvertently granted G'raha a space barely larger than a closet. She tidied his things, and made his bed. She cleaned and organized tools in the workshop while she waited on the laundry device to run through its program.

"Look at you," Jessie smiled winsomely. "Acting all domestic. You should come 'round more often, Lauden. We could use a maid!"

The thickening Elezen laughed, and blushed, and pondered what she might look like in a service uniform.

She organized the screwdrivers by blade and size, and the chisels by size. The hammers by type and size. By the time she had finished the laundry was done, and it was nearly time for lunch. She lugged the sheets and blankets back to her room, and sorted them into hers and Thancred's. She made her bed, then she made his bed, and tidied his room.

Alisaie's room was almost as perfect as Y'shtola's. Lauden straightened her desk chair, and folded her socks.

Urianger's room was remarkably spartan. She squared a few books, and went over it with a feather duster that she borrowed from Tataru. She went over every Scion's room with the duster, even hers, and then her stomach was rumbling, and it was almost time for lunch.

Ten minutes or so in the Solar, dusting here and there. The space was remarkably free of dust, as it was remarkably free of people. They'd have to start using it more, at some point.

She returned the duster, and washed up. She spoke to Tataru about new town clothes.

"I think your top looks cute," the little Lalafell winked. "It's like your belly is happy to see me!"

Lauden blushed brightly. "I'd like a bit of modesty," she groaned. "At the rate I'm growing my belly will be bare before the end of the moon."

"I'm tempted to wager with Alisaie, but... I'll see what I can do." Tataru grinned. "Maybe it's time for a dress, hmm? Like the one I made for Y'shtola, maybe?"

"I'll think about it." Lauden's blush deepened. "In the meantime, I'd appreciate it if you'd plan for trousers and a shirt."

Tataru scribbled a few notes, and nodded enthusiastically. And then F'lhaminn was calling for her again, and people were beginning to trickle in for lunch.

Lauden held the cookies again while F'lhaminn filled bowl after bowl with some sort of delicious-smelling casserole. Finally she had counter space; finally Lauden exchanged the tray for a mixing bowl filled with a triple helping of the delicious, mouthwatering dish.

It took her awhile to eat. She fended off a fresh round of teasing from Alisaie, and it seemed that she was attracting more than the usual amount of glances and gazes. As she ate her belly filled, and as her belly filled it expanded, pushing her shirt up further, and further. She unbuttoned the bottom two buttons of her shirt, shifting the shape of her exposed flesh from a wide crescent to a narrower expanse, shaped like a slice of pie.

"Mmm." Alisaie grinned as she poked Lauden's exposed navel. "I'll bet you could eat a lot of pie."

"One day we'll find out how much she can eat." F'lhaminn grinned as she emptied the last of the casserole into Lauden's bowl. "What's your favorite kind of pie, Lauden?"

"Pecan," the fattening woman was feeling full, but she was certain she had enough room for the half-helping of casserole. She dug in, groaning as she felt her shirt ride up a little more.

"Hmm," the elder Miqo'te smiled impishly. "I'm tempted to hold a pie eating contest. I'll bet you could hold your own against the Boulder brothers."

"Oh, she'll win! No contest!" Alisaie laughed confidently. "Look at her! She's been training for moons!"

"So she has," F'lhaminn grinned. "A little help with the cleanup, please?"

Alisaie suddenly had a thing she'd forgotten about, as did most of the folks who'd come in for lunch. And so Lauden cleaned tables, and helped F'lhaminn with the dishes. She dried and put away while the elder Miqo'te washed, and then she was sipping a mug of heavy cream leftover from breakfast while the smaller woman wiped down the counter, and cleaned the oven.

"You've been extra helpful today," F'lhaminn smiled warmly, happily. "Thank you, Lauden. It means a lot to me."

The fattening woman blushed, and smiled, and sipped her cream.

"You love having a full mouth, don't you Lauden?" Thancred gasped and grunted as he rolled his hips. He fisted her hair, holding her in place as he swived her face. He thrust again, again, and again, and every thrust was perfection for her. Every thrust fulfilled her need. He filled the aching emptiness in her mouth in a way that food couldn't, no matter how much of it she ate.

The same was true for food, though. It satisfied her in a way that length never could. Here she couldn't chew. Here she couldn't dig in with her teeth. Here she was a tongue, and lips, and a pair of long pointed ears that he liked to pull on.

"Mmmhmm!" She hummed in agreement as he continued to thrust. He was slick, he was drizzling down the back of her throat. He was close.

She rubbed the skin cream he had given her into the stretched, itchy flesh of her fattened middle. Rubbing her belly heightened her pleasure; focusing on how much bigger she had grown over the past few weeks made her hen ache. Thinking about her growth filled her smalls with thin, drizzly slick. She knelt in her room, wearing her trousers, her soaking smalls, and socks. She knelt on a pillow as he stood with his back to the door, the wood banging rhythmically every time he drew back to thrust again.

He was making a lot of noise. It was clear to anyone with ears that they were swiving, and neither one of them cared who knew it. His need was too great, and her need... her need was all that remained of her. She lived to eat, and suck length. That was who she was now; that was the woman she had always been afraid of becoming.

And now here she was, sucking on Thancred's cock as she rubbed skin cream into her bloated, fattened belly.

"I'm... close..." he grunted, and he pulled on her ears as he thrust forward, and his throbbing length completed. He spent in her mouth and he pushed her back, freeing his cock as it began to wilt.

But she wasn't done. Not yet. She leaned forward again and licked him clean. She licked the last bit of spend from the tip of his length before it could drip into her lap, and she continued to rub the cream into her thick, flabby love handles.

"I love your mouth," he grinned down at her as he tugged up his smalls, and his trousers. "How's the skin cream?"

"It feels pretty good. I'll let you know if it's better than the stuff I've been using." Lauden wiped her hands on her trousers and screwed the cap back on the jar. She grunted, and wheezed, and heaved herself to her feet in front of him.

He pulled on the ring of her collar, bringing her forward, downward. He kissed her deeply as he sunk his fingers into her softened bottom with his free hand.

"I have an airship to catch," he grinned boyishly. "Thanks for the quickie. I'll be back for dinner."

And with that he was out the door, and walking down the hallway.

Lauden placed the jar of cream on her dresser with the rest of her growing collection of skin care products. They were all effective to varying degrees, but none of them had been designed for how fast she was growing. She picked up her new brassiere and old top from the floor, and tossed the shirt onto her desk. She squeezed into the brassiere, and tugged on the top, grunting as she tried and failed with each of the last four buttons. Her gut was simply too big for her shirt now.

Tataru had promised her new town clothes; she had apologized about the supply problem. Fabric was in short supply at the moment, especially for such a large order. The tiny mistress of coin had carefully emphasized the word, making her situation painfully clear: she was too fat to clothe for the moment.

And so she slipped into the hallway with her belly hanging out.

Into the bathroom, where she did her business. She washed her hands, and gazed at herself in the mirror. She beheld her round face, and her thick double chin. Her neck was still thin, and graceful, but the rest of her body...

Well, she was fat. That was the most accurate way to describe the thickened form that she saw in the mirror. She was beyond curvy. Beyond voluptuous. Her thighs rubbed together. Her hips and bottom were expanding, and her magical chastity belt was expanding right along with them. Her belly flowed over the leather band, all but engulfing it. Her thick love handles jutted out from beneath the hem of her shirt, while the wide, soft, jiggling roundness of her oblong belly made a joke of her shirttails.

Nophica's tits, she was fat.

"Where will this end, Nymeia?" She whispered to the goddess of fate. She really wanted to know. She felt she had a right to know. But that would spoil the surprise, wouldn't it? Her goal wasn't a number on a scale or a measuring tape. It wasn't to get up to eighteen pastries for her morning snack. It was to satisfy Y'shtola... and Y'shtola wasn't around to satisfy. She had been gone for days. She had been gone for so long that the aphrodisiac was beginning to wear off. Her head was beginning to clear, and with clarity came fear, and disgust.

She tore herself away from her reflection and slipped into Y'shtola's room. She got very, very lucky - one of her desk drawers held half a dozen bottles of the aphrodisiac. She drank one, and left the corked empty on top of her desk. She sighed with relief as the fog thickened and swirled, as her hen ached and dripped.

Thancred was gone for the day. He had approached her after breakfast; he'd probably be back for a late dinner. She made her way out of the Rising Stones and laboriously walked up the hill, groaning as a light glaze of sweat covered her forehead. Her knee hurt, and the pain stiffened a waddle that was slowly growing more exaggerated as her thighs continued to swell, and press together.

"Go fatty go! You can do it!" Alisaie jeered as she walked past Lauden as if she were standing still.

She was short of breath by the time she reached the top of the stairs. She took her ease at her usual table, and smiled kindly as the waitress brought her usual order. And so she slipped into the comfort of a full mouth, and a slowly filling belly. She slipped into the comfort of her animal haze as she gazed appreciatively at hips, and bottoms, and bellies.

After a few buns her mind began to drift. She thought of Thancred, and tried to hang on to the taste of his cock, but instead she found her mind drawn to G'raha, and their time in the ancient temple.

He was bigger than Thancred. He was a bit longer, and he was considerably thicker. He had a bit more of a curve, and she liked how his slickness tasted.

She wanted to swive him again. But where was he? He had been present for breakfast. Maybe he'd be around for lunch. That might be nice. Maybe she could get her fit, teasing little friend to check around for him.

With a wave and a nod Alisaie was sprinting for the archway. A moment later she came bounding up the stairs and onto the terrace. "What is it, fatty?" She grinned hungrily. "Do you need some help? Are you finally too fat to stand up?"

"Not yet," Lauden smiled, and shook her head. "Not for awhile, anyway. I was wondering if you'd seen Raha? Do you know if he's here today?"

"I bumped into him in the stalls after I ran past you on the hill," Alisaie nodded towards the marketplace below. "He said something about catching up on his reading. My guess would be he's in the Solar, or maybe his room at the Ironworks. Or he could be up there." She glanced upwards at the towering ramparts of Revenant's Toll. "But... probably his room. I dunno. I'm guessing. Do you want me to find him? Are you too fat and lazy to look around? Is that it?" She playfully poked Lauden's exposed navel, wiggling her finger before withdrawing it.

Lauden squirmed, and felt grateful for her chastity cage. Alisaie did not need to know how stimulating that felt. "He's here somewhere, then?" She raised her eyebrows expectantly.

"Mmhmm," the young Elezen nodded.

"Finding him will be my exercise, then." She smiled at Alisaie, and took a big bite out of a sticky bun.

Lauden ate her first order of buns, and her second. As the waitress came around again she ordered two more sticky buns, and she took her time eating them. She had plenty of room for the thirteenth bun, but the fourteenth was a stretch. Her belly grew, and her shirt rode up some more, and she undid yet another button before it popped.

She really needed a new town shirt.

The latest development in her routine was to sit on the terrace rubbing her belly for a time, while she digested enough to make the trip back to the Rising Stones. This seemed to take a little bit longer each day; she found herself getting drowsy, and almost dozing off. Today she fought through the fatigue, and she made her way down the stairs, and down the hill. She was moving slower, and more awkwardly. The friction of her thighs felt unpleasant, and there was only going to be more of it.

Her plan to find G'raha was a simple one. If he was in Revenant's Toll, then he'd come to lunch. She could proposition him then. In the meantime she made her way to her bedroom, where she rubbed more lotion into her itching flanks, and took a nap.

The Warrior of Light awoke hungry, and needful. She did her business, and washed her hands, and made her way into the big room for lunch. Everyone was having sandwiches, except for her. F'lhaminn had made another big bowl of her special creamy pasta with white sauce. She was out of Cheria's milk; she confided that she used the most fattening dairy products that she could find. Lauden blushed, and smiled, and thanked the older woman. She sat at the bar and ate, and as she ate she looked around. She spotted G'raha at a nearby table, chatting with the twins. She ate as quickly as she could, which still took some time given the size of her portion, and as she finished, lunch was breaking up. She tailed G'raha out of the Rising Stones and into the Aetheryte plaza, where she watched him enter the Ironworks.

She took a minute to find her courage. Her lunch had been quite heavy; she needed to sit down and rest. She needed another nap. But more than that, she needed G'raha's cock in her mouth.

And so she waddled into the Ironworks. She nodded to Jessie, and she smiled as she beheld the tool racks, still neatly organized. And then she was making her way down the stairs, into the basement. G'raha's door was open, presumably for ventilation, and a nice warm glow of a reading lamp poured out of the crack. She knocked gently on the doorframe, and smiled heatedly as he opened his door to her.

"Lauden!" He smiled warmly. "I'd invite you in, but I don't have much space. What can I help you with?"

"You have all the space I need." Lauden felt like she was swimming in the aphrodisiac fog. "You can help me with my hunger, Raha. I was thinking about our time together, and I have need of you again." She smiled invitingly, and sincerely hoped that he wasn't disgusted by a fat Elezen who was rapidly growing out of her clothing.

"That afternoon remains a very pleasant memory. I promise, the next time we travel I'll make sure to bring enough food for the journey." He chuckled warmly, and opened his door all the way, inviting her in. "While I have the capacity to decline you now, I shall not do so. How wouldst thou have me, Lauden?"

"Drop your trousers and your smalls, and sit on the side of the bed," She grinned heatedly. "I would have you in my mouth."

He was limp; she teased him to readiness with remarkably little effort. Soon he was slick, soon he was moaning heatedly as she stroked his length. She pondered tending to him with her softening hands but no, she needed to feel him in her mouth. Part of her had to have him right now; some smaller part, beneath the swirl of the aphrodisiac, wanted to compare him to Thancred.

And he was so much bigger. He was girthier. He made more arousal, more slickness. He filled her mouth in a very satisfying fashion, and he tasted a bit like the desert. A wet desert, if that was at all possible. He groaned quietly as he combed his fingers through her hair, and she moaned happily as she sated her hunger for him. She wanted to invite him into her bottom, but she knew that the plug was too small for him.

Maybe she could convince Cheria and Y'shtola to provide her with a bigger one...

That didn't matter for now. He filled her mouth, and that was all that she needed. He filled her mouth, and soon he was filling her throat and her cheeks with his completion. She almost spat him out, but she managed to keep him in, she managed to swallow. She swished her mouth with water from the bottle on his nightstand, and she kissed him deeply.

"Thank you," she whispered lovingly.

"You're welcome," he smiled kindly.

"I'd like to have you again soon," she smiled bashfully. "I'd like to have you more often, if you're amenable."

"I think that can be arranged," he grinned boyishly. "If ever you need me, you may have me. You need but ask."

"Thank you," she repeated with a loving smile.

She wiped her lips with the back of her hand, and she slipped out the door, hissing in pain as her knee complained about the stairs.

After her visit with G'raha, the rest of Lauden's day passed uneventfully. She retired to the terrace to snack, and she tried some more of the skin cream, and then she napped for a bit. She awoke for dinner, and was disappointed to find that Thancred was a no-show. She showered, and donned her big blue survival shirt (which still fit, and was - fortunately - still baggy). She curled up in bed, ready for a long night of digesting. She'd be starving in the morning, and then she could repeat her routine again. Maybe with a visit to G'raha after lunch.

She lay in bed half awake, caressing her belly. She wondered how much firmer her flesh would be if she was pregnant. Maybe one day she'd find out, but this was how she was growing for now. She wondered how big she would be when she finally plateaued. She wondered which of the twins would win the bet. She pictured Alphinaud, stuffing his face with sticky buns for three solid moons. In her mind he quaffed Fantasia first; in her mind Alphinaud enjoyed every minute of her three month growth spurt. She pictured Alisaie, growing furious as her waist expanded, and she chuckled quietly as she pondered how she might tease the fiery young woman if it turned out that pastries were written in her stars.

Of the two of them, Alphinaud was more suited for growth. And, at the rate she was growing, he was likely to lose the bet. She wondered if he'd hold his wager at four hundred, or if Alisaie would talk him into wagering a higher number, at triple or nothing.

The encouragement she received from her friends was quite validating. They helped to keep her on her path; their positive reinforcement effectively countered Y'shtola's darkness. And yet she craved orders. She craved the simplicity of obedience, the simplicity of being told to eat, and to grow. She hoped that the blind woman would be impressed with her softness. She hoped, but she doubted. It was far more likely that Y'shtola would spur her to eat more. To grow faster.

Retirement loomed in her mind. She had been out twice since she had dedicated herself to growing, and both times had been relaxed, and low-stakes compared to the usual fare that the Scions dealt with. They were capable; she was confident that Thancred and Urianger and G'raha and whichever of the twins won the bet would make an effective team against any threat. She was effectively soft-retired now. All that it would take would be a big threat. Some big bit of nastiness that she couldn't rise to, and then she would be out. She would be free, of all but the last thread of her obligations. Her obligation to satisfy Y'shtola.

The pale Miqo'te was on her mind when she heard her door rattle open. She sat up, instinctively reaching for a weapon that wasn't there as she heard boots in her room, and then a finger was looping through the ring of her collar and Thancred was grunting as he hauled her up, into a forceful, needful kiss.

"Well hello," she purred happily as they parted for air.

"Shut up," he whispered huskily. "And come with me." He held onto her collar and pulled, dragging her through her room, through the hallway, and into his room. He kissed her, her squeezed her love handles and oh. Oh! He was looking for the control for the plug. "Take off your smalls," he rasped as he pushed her deeper into his room.

He disrobed quickly. His equipment clattered and clanked to the floor as he peeled off his armor. She stepped out of her smalls, and took off her survival shirt, and she eyed him needfully as he finished up. She hugged him, and they kissed each other deeply as he tugged and pulled at her flabby flanks. He squatted, and reached into a pocket of his armor, and when he stood he was wrapping a blindfold around her eyes. He kissed her harshly and pushed her back, onto the bed. She clambered into position, bumping her head against the headboard as she tried to figure out where she was, and then he was gripping her softened hips, and he was thrusting into the opened plug.

She had long since gotten used to the vibrations; now she felt them anew. Now he murmured "what in the seven hells?" and she laughed, and told him "that's the low setting." And he was driving himself into her, he was pounding away at her, and the hum of the plug was deeply satisfying. She dripped and drizzled and flowed like a river. She ached, she ached so much that she tried to touch herself, hissing as the levin crystals numbed her hand halfway up her forearm. She pushed back against him to keep him from banging her head into the headboard. He moaned, and she could tell from his breathing, from his gasping, that he was close.

With one final, deeply masculine grunt he shoved himself into her. And he was gasping, he was leaning over her, he was supporting himself with one hand as he squeezed and stroked her flabby flank with the other. After a moment he pulled back, and dismounted the bed. She collapsed, and rolled over, and she sighed happily as she felt his gift to her drizzle out of the plug, coating her bottom and dripping onto the sheets.

One day she'd have an entrance, and one day he'd pound her like that, and she'd feel him inside of her and - "Ow!" - she wouldn't get zapped when she touched herself. Seven hells, that was annoying.

"You can stay," He murmured offhandedly as he rapidly dressed again. "But I have to go. I don't know when I'll be back."

And he was gone, and she was laying in his bed, in his spend. Finally she took the blindfold off, and she decided that tomorrow, she would wash his sheets again.

"Oh, Thancred..." She moaned heatedly. "If only I could be my true self for you..."

Lauden had long since become used to the low thrum of the vibrating plug. A sudden increase in the strength of the vibrations was enough to wake her up; a further increase elicited a yelp.

She was in Thancred's room. The sheets were a mess and she was very stimulated.

As she closed the plug the door squeaked open, revealing the fattened, widening form of Y'shtola. The pale woman held the bracelet up, and slowly dialed the vibrations back to something a little less distracting.

"I knew that would get your attention." The blind woman smirked. "I see you've grown. You haven't grown enough. I would have you grow more. I would have you look back on this flabby, fattened form and think of yourself as skinny. You are a waif, Lauden, and I won't have it." She tucked the bracelet into her pouch and pulled out the leash. She snapped it, tugging it taught in her hands. "Teleport with me to Gridania. Now."

"B-but -" I'm skyclad!

"Now, Lauden."

Lauden gulped and followed Y'shtola into a teleport to the New Gridania Aetheryte plaza.

As she coalesced she beheld curious eyes, astonished eyes, disgusted eyes... and no small number of aroused eyes. She tried to tune everyone out; she tried to focus on her lover. Y'shtola made it easy on her; she snapped the leash to her collar, and pulled. Lauden followed her down the wooden platform to the west, hissing and moaning as the ground tore at her feet. "Slowly!" She whined. "My feet can't handle this!"

"I am already slowed by my growth," the blind Miqo'te huffed. "But very well. I shall move slower still."

And with that she slowed to an easy, sedate walking pace. Lauden beheld her clingy black dress, her rope belt, her pouch. Her thickening love handles and her wide, round, undulating bottom. Between the roll of her cheeks and the sway of her tail and the fog of the aphrodisiac, the Warrior of Light was dimly aware of her hen dripping onto the ground between her feet.

They walked clockwise, past the Leatherworker's Guild, and into the market stalls. There they slowed further, and Lauden realized that Y'shtola was allowing everyone - everyone - to get a good long look at her. "Why are you doing this?" the fattened Elezen whined.

"You are retiring, Lauden. Everyone should know that you are done adventuring. Everyone should know that you've embraced a soft, slovenly, sedentary existence. Everyone should know that you've grown fat, and will grow fatter still. Don't you think?"

"I... uh." She was torn between screaming NO! at the top of her lungs and doing whatever she could to satisfy Y'shtola. And so she took in the eyes, and the looks, and the general bemusement of the crowd. She tried to unhunch her shoulders, and stand up as straight as her body and the leash allowed. She grimaced and smiled weakly as she waved tentatively at traders she'd been doing business with for years.

One thing was consistent - nobody recognized her at first. As realization dawned on them, people became surprised. Astonished. More than a few gaped openly at the fat Elezen - a sight never before seen in Eorzea. And never again, until the twins settled their bet. Y'shtola keenly read the aether of the merchants; as they realized who they were looking at she would smile, and nod, and say "she's retiring" in a firm, clear voice.

Y'shtola marched her south; back to the Aetheryte plaza. "Ul'dah," she stated flatly as she unclipped the leash. "The cobblestones should be easier on your feet."

As they coalesced, the chubby Miqo'te clipped the leash back onto her lover's collar.

Y'shtola escorted her out of the Aetheryte plaza and then clockwise around the city at a slow, sedate pace. The cobblestones were in fact hot for the morning, and very uncomfortable. Lauden passed her optician's office, and realized that she needed her glasses. She saw recognition in the faces of the guards, and she waved at one who didn't bother to hide his arousal. Her lover pulled her jiggling body through the market, repeating "she's retiring" to anyone who recognized the Warrior of Light. As they neared the gate she stopped, and turned to face her. She looked up at the Warrior of Light with a dark, sadistic grin, and she told her "Limsa Lominsa" as she unhooked the leash.

They had no sooner appeared than Lauden was leashed again, for a short, slow trip through the market stalls, to the docks. She had spent a lot of time here over the years. She was well known, and recognized, and Y'shtola didn't have to wait for people to figure out who she was. "She's retiring. She's retiring. She's retiring... Yes, she's done adventuring. This is what she wants to do with her life. She's retiring."

As they reached the docks, Lauden felt like she was about to burst into flames.

"Your blush covers your ears, and your neck," Y'shtola chuckled as she unclipped the leash. "Kugane. I know you can make it from here."

They circled counter-clockwise through the streets of Kugane as they repeated the ritual, telling traders she hadn't seen in awhile that she was done, she was quitting, she was retiring.

"Is there anywhere else you would humiliate me?" Lauden gazed at Y'shtola pleadingly.

"The First, if I could travel there. Sharlayan, if you were attuned to that Aetheryte. Ishgard, if the temperature ever rose above freezing. I would parade you around the Source, Lauden. I would parade you around the reflections." Y'shtola glared up at the leashed woman. "This will do for now. Revenant's Toll has watched you make a pig of yourself; now the word of your transformation will spread. The word of your retirement will spread. Isn't that what you want, Lauden? To retire, with Cheria?"

"Y-yes," Lauden stammered. "Can we go home now? It's kind of chilly here. And I'm... uh." She gulped guiltily as her belly rumbled. "I am starving."

"Are you now." Y'shtola grinned wickedly. "Why don't you prove that to me?" She unhooked the leash, and tucked it into her pouch. She ordered Lauden to "Revenant's Toll," and she began to teleport.

This time, Y'shtola didn't leash her. This time, Lauden walked into the Seventh Heaven, and the Rising Stones, and she blushed brightly as a room full of familiar faces looked up, and beheld her wearing nothing but her chastity belt and her collar.

She silently walked past Tataru's desk and down the hallway, to the bathroom. She took a quick shower, and washed her feet clean. She toweled dry, and entered her room for her snug town trousers and the town shirt she had grown out of some time ago. She put on socks, and her boots, and her glasses. She tied her hair back with a gasket from a Rook Autoturret, and she silently made her way back to the main room for breakfast.

Y'shtola had saved her a seat at the bar. Everyone else had breakfast mash; F'lhaminn had made her a thick stack of pancakes, drowning in fatty butter, with a mug of cream and a glass of water on the side.

"What was that about?" F'lhaminn gazed at Lauden, ignoring Y'shtola for the moment.

"Shtola wanted to... announce my retirement," the overweight Elezen sighed. "She seemed to be in something of a hurry about it."

"And why's that, Y'shtola?" F'lhaminn gazed warily at the younger Miqo'te.

"I didn't want to give her time to change her mind. Or to say no." The blind woman smirked.

"You hauled her around skyclad without her consent?!" The older Miqo'te's mouth dropped open, aghast.

"Word gets around fast," Y'shtola laughed.

"We had... talked about my retirement," Lauden felt the need to reduce F'lhaminn's growing ire. "I'll be retiring, soon. Y'shtola knows I'm a workaholic; she knows it's going to take an act of the twelve to get me to actually quit, so she... took the initiative." The fattened Elezen tucked into her pancakes. "Mmm, these are good. Thank you!"

"You're welcome." F'lhaminn glowered at Y'shtola, and wandered off to tend to the other Scions.

The lovers shared a look. Lauden smiled meekly, and focused on her food.

"I found the empty bottle of aphrodisiac in my room," Y'shtola mumbled around a mouthful of sticky bun. "I can see that the drug is still affecting you strongly. I figured now was a good time to plant some seeds without you balking." The fattened Miqo'te took another bite of her bun, and washed it down with some tea.

"Did you have to do that?" Lauden was either aroused or enraged. She couldn't decide which. The rage floated around beneath the fog of the aphrodisiac. There was a lot of it; enough to shine through.

"Yes." The blind Miqo'te chuckled. "I would have ridden you on a saddle if I wasn't too fat for you to carry me."

"You've certainly expanded since last we talked," Lauden smiled warily. "How do you feel about it?"

"I am swiving furious." Y'shtola sighed. "I hate my empty belly. I hate how much I have to eat to fill it. I hate how good filling it feels. It's like I never left the First. I'm not compelled to eat, but fullness feels so good that I may as well be." The fattened woman rubbed her belly with one hand as she ate a sticky bun with the other.

"I know that feeling," Lauden nodded sympathetically. "Fullness does feel good." She ate another sticky bun as she gazed down at the training grounds. Alisaie was at it again; she wondered if the fiery young woman would tease Y'shtola. Would she start another wager with Alphinaud?

"How is your research going? Any leads on a cure?" Lauden stuffed her face with most of a warm, soft, delicious sticky bun.

"It goes poorly," The pale mage huffed. "So far as I can tell there is no cure. My mind is changed. There's no easy way to change it back. Speaking of expanding... you are doing well, Lauden. I would have you do better. I meant what I said when I woke you up. I want you to look back on today, and think 'how was I ever so thin?' I want you to become so used to being fat that you forget what agility feels like. I want fatness to become your life."

"If that's what it takes to satisfy you." Lauden bit into another sticky bun.

"That's why you're doing this, isn't it? You're indulging your proclivity, but you're not doing it for yourself. You're doing it to try to help me." Y'shtola took a bite of a bun. "What will you do, if I can be cured?"

"Well, you've set me on the path to retirement." Lauden licked icing off of her lips. "And I've stretched my stomach so much that keeping my belly full means I probably have hundreds of ponzes on my horizon." Lauden gazed down at the practice yard. "The aphrodisiac keeps my fear suppressed. It's still there, I can still feel it, but it doesn't matter so long as I'm foggy. As long as I have a supply of that I'll be... as big as you want me to be."

"If I can be cured, I won't want this for you anymore, Lauden." Y'shtola sipped her tea. "I will doubtless accept you as you are, but I won't be pushing you to grow."

"Cheria will be," the fattened Elezen observed. "I know it's a fantasy, but retiring with her... resting with her... is something that I'm looking forward to." She stood, and sunk her fingers into the soft flesh of her exposed middle. She pulled on her fat and groaned as her belly jiggled dramatically. She picked up a bun, and leaned on the parapet, gazing down at Alisaie in the practice yard. "Alisaie has a bet with Alphinaud about how big I'll get. The loser has to eat my diet for at least two moons. It seems there will still be a fat Elezen in the Scions after I'm gone," she chuckled. "She teases me. I... Honestly, I kind of enjoy it."

"I would observe this teasing," Y'shtola smiled cryptically. "I would see how it affects your aether."

Lauden waved to Alisaie.

"When I'm done!" the young woman shouted, and returned to her forms.

Lauden and Y'shtola finished their sticky buns. They both ordered a second platter, and they were both enjoying their third bun when Alisaie came charging up the stairs.

"And how is my fatty this morning?" Alisaie swiped Lauden's platter of sticky buns, and moved it out of her reach. "Or should I say, how are my fatties, plural? How big do you plan to get, Y'shtola?"

"Pick a number," the blind Miqo'te snarked. She finished her ninth bun, and rubbed her soft, round belly with both hands as she licked her lips. "Seriously though, I have no idea. I shall eat for as long as fullness feels... agreeable."

"Two fatties, making pigs of themselves," the young Elezen giggled. "What do you think, Lauden? Should I include your fellow fatty in my wager with my brother?" She poked Lauden's thickened belly. Once in her jutting love handle, once in her navel.

"I think if you do you could both wind up eating my diet for moons," Lauden chuckled as her hen ached and dripped. She reached for her platter of buns, grunting as it remained frustratingly out of reach.

Alisaie plucked one of the three remaining buns apart from the other two, and handed it to Lauden. "That's a risk I'm willing to take," she grinned. "So, why'd you bring me up here this morning?"

"Honestly?" Lauden blushed slightly. "Y'shtola wants to observe you teasing me."

The young woman cocked an eyebrow. "Aaand of course I can't think of anything," she laughed nervously.

Y'shtola chuckled, and sipped her tea.

"I'm not going to sugar coat this for you." Alisaie waved a finger at her fattened protector. "If I did, you'd eat it. You're fat. You're so fat, you could sell shade! But you're a light eater, aren't you Lauden? When it's light out, you're eating!" She paused, and laughed haltingly. "That's all I've got. I'm more of an in-the-moment tease, I guess." She grabbed a handful of Lauden's belly, and gave it a jiggle. "Look at you, fatty! Are you part flan? Was your mother a mousse? Are you related to gelatin?"

"Very amusing," the blind mage observed dryly.

"I'm glad you think so." Alisaie bowed. "Now if you fatties don't mind, I have forms to run. And I know you two have sticky buns to eat. Don't let me get in your way! Oink oink, fatties!" And the young woman skipped off, back to the practice yard.

"She's right, you know." Lauden munched on her tenth sticky bun. "When it's light out, I'm eating."

"Good," the pale woman gloated. "Very good." She reached to her side and scooted Lauden's tray of buns over just a bit.

The overweight Elezen grabbed the lip of the platter with her fingertips and pulled it the rest of the way over. "I'm up to fourteen of these now," she bragged. "It takes awhile, of course, but last time I was up here I ate fourteen buns."

"I am surprised I have managed ten," Y'shtola mumbled around a mouthful of pastry. "I do see why these are your preferred food, though. They're soft, and chewy, and sweet, and they fill the mouth quite nicely."

"That they do," Lauden nodded. "I think after this I'm going to take a nap." Or take G'raha's length. "What are your plans for the day?"

"Funny you should ask," the blind woman smiled wickedly.

"Why the Hourglass?" Lauden looked around at the brown stone walls as Y'shtola secured the last of her restraints. They were in an inn room above the Quicksand, Ul'dah's premiere tavern, and the blind woman had tied her ankles and wrists to the posts of the big, Roegadyn sized bed.

Y'shtola had used the leash again. She carried a pack, and the leash, and she had dragged a poorly clothed Warrior of Light along behind her. Lauden was used to her flab sticking out for the residents of Revenant's Toll, but to show herself in Ul'dah like this felt... well, it would have felt undignified, but the silvered mage had just paraded her through the city all but naked earlier in the morning. She was still drawling looks. Y'shtola was still smiling, and nodding, and saying things like "She's retiring. She's done adventuring. She's embarked on a new life."

The residents of the city had reacted to her pronouncements with bemusement, amazement, and arousal.

"The Quicksand has excellent burgers." Y'shtola set her bag on the foot of the bed, between Lauden's ankles. "And we are going to get hungry at some point..." She trailed off as she looked around the room.

"I'm hungry now," Lauden whined. She was always hungry. That was a recent development. She knew the moment her stomach had more room for food, and waiting for it to develop enough room for a proper meal had become agonizing. She preferred to sleep while she digested, to minimize the discomfort. But now Y'shtola had interrupted her daily routine. She had brought her to the Hourglass to be tied up, instead of to the terrace for more pastries. And her burgeoning belly wasn't happy about it.

"Tough," Y'shtola snorted. She locked the door, and opened her bag, and drew out... the belt keys! "It's time to take your cage off, Lauden." She lay the keys down, one next to each ankle. "Wearing such a thing long term is bad for you. Non-magical chastity cages are supposed to be checked over or taken off every sun or half-sun. I want to do a little maintenance... and I want to see how well your length is working after being caged for so long."

A chill ran down Lauden's spine. "Can we put the belt back on afterwards?" She whimpered.

"Perhaps." Y'shtola drew the bracelet out of her pack. She turned the vibrations off, and suddenly Lauden's bottom felt empty. Achingly, devastatingly empty. "I want you to live without it for at least a few days. So that you appreciate it when I return it to you." She placed her pack on the floor, and leapt up onto the bed. She took the keys in her hands and wriggled forward, until she was positioned over the belt.

"Oof," Lauden grunted as Y'shtola pressed into her fattening thigh.

"I think if we revise the design, we'll ask to have the key slots directly beneath the snaps," the pale woman observed. "The current design does not account for your fat thighs." She grunted, and slipped the key into the slot. Lauden yelped and whimpered as Y'shtola unintentionally pinched her skin.

The second key went in with just as much effort as the first. With both keys in position, the belt seemed to... melt. It spread apart at the waist, and Y'shtola unsnapped the snaps, and folded the leather-like material down, removing the loosened cage in the process.

Lauden whimpered as her length twitched, and pulsed. She whined as the plug shrunk; she whined as Y'shtola pulled the belt away, pulling the plug out.

"I have accounted for this," the pale Miqo'te noted clinically. She hopped off of the bed, and rummaged around in her pack. She hefted a large steel plug with a curved T-shaped handle attached to the base, and held it up so that Lauden could see it. "You'll need to take it out to move your bowels, but this should help ease that horrible feeling of emptiness." She climbed back onto the bed, and carefully inserted the plug.

The overweight Elezen sighed with relief as she felt fullness in a place that she really needed to feel it. The lack of vibration was a bit disappointing, but she could live without it. The plug was the important part. She was, she realized, probably going to be wearing one for the rest of her life.

"Now, before I see to your length, I would see to your hair. I know you used to wax. If memory serves you had to switch to shaving in the First. Your hair bothers you, does it not?" The pale woman pointed at Lauden's mound.

The fattened woman couldn't see her hair or her length; her belly was just a little bit too big. "The hair is ridiculous," she admitted. "My length got tangled in it all the time until I started waxing. It's growing back; that's my one complaint about the belt. Well... that, and the plug isn't big enough."

"Oh? Hmm. I shall have to talk with Cheria and the Leatherworker about that, then. You've been a good girl, Lauden. You've dedicated yourself to softening for me. I think you've earned a plug that can shift size, as well as vibrate. I'll see about a bigger model, and get back to you. How much bigger would you like it to be?" Y'shtola smiled coyly.

"Big enough for -" Raha "- a Roegadyn," Lauden laughed lazily. "Adjustable would be nice. And if the plug opening formed a rounded lip when it was open, that would be excellent." A little something to make it easier for Thancred and G'raha. "If it softened when it was open that would be amazing, but I don't know if that's possible."

The blind woman smiled triumphantly. "If I had known that long term exposure to an aphrodisiac would have this effect on you, I would have included it with our state player experiments. I'll see what I can do about the plug. Now, as to your hair... I have acquired a levin-enhanced epilator. It will hurt. And it will permanently remove your hair. I wanted to give you some options for how to deal with the pain, but I think a numbing cream will do most of the work. This will do the rest of it." She hefted the length-shaped gag that she had last inserted into the fattening woman's mouth in Ishgard.

"Oooh," Lauden cooed, "Please!"

The overweight Elezen opened her mouth widely, invitingly. Y'shtola chuckled quietly, and smoothly inserted the length between her lover's lips. She snapped it secure, and tugged at the leather straps, making sure it would stay put.

Lauden closed her eyes, and hummed happily as fullness soothed her mouth.

A moment later she felt Y'shtola placing something over her eyes. She opened them to find blackness. She had been blindfolded!

The flabby woman tried to relax. She tried to focus on the pleasing fullness in her mouth, and her bottom. She tried to ignore the feeling of air on her length.

"Oh my, this is thick hair." Y'shtola began to work in a numbing cream the way one might lather shampoo.

"Mmhmm," Lauden sighed in agreement.

Eventually the blind woman had covered Lauden's entire lower pelvis - from hip blade to hip blade, and down to her hen.

The numbing cream worked. Somewhat. The epilation was still an intensely unpleasant experience. Lauden tried to scream, and she cried, and she felt grateful for the plug, and the length in her mouth. The epilator crackled and snapped as it did its work. The buzz became so regular, so omnipresent, that after awhile she only noticed it when it ceased.

"That should be that..." Y'shtola murmured absently as she cleaned up.

They took a break to do their business. Lauden admired her epilated mound in the mirror for a moment, and wondered how much she'd weigh when her mound finally engulfed her length.

The lovers shared a long hug, and a deep kiss. Lauden played her fingers over Y'shtola's softening body, squeezing her belly, her love handles, and her bottom as she kissed her cheeks, her chin, her lips. Y'shtola explored Lauden's wide, flabby hips and belly with her hands and with the flesh of her bloated midriff, and after a long, long moment of intimacy, the blind woman murmured "You're ready. Get back on the bed."

Y'shtola tied her fattened lover back up, and reacquainted her with the plug and the blindfold. The bed groaned as the blind woman hopped onto it again; Lauden felt her knees rubbing her flabby thighs as the smaller woman got settled in a relatively comfortable position.

The overweight Elezen groaned as she felt fingers around her length. Stroking gently, carefully.

"Hmm," her pale lover murmured after a few moments. "Are you still hungry, fatty?"

"Yes." Lauden moaned as she felt blood flowing through her length. Between the tease and her fingers, Y'shtola was beginning to get results.

"You like that bet, don't you? That wager the twins have. You want to see one of them get as fat as us." The blind woman's voice was clinical, detached. Her touch was gentle, caring, and persistent.

"I d-do!" The fattened Warrior of Light stammered. "F-from what Alisaie told me, Alphinaud will probably lose. I th-think if I m-make it past six hundred p-ponzes he'll have to eat my d-diet for th-three moons!"

"You'd like having a little butterball to mentor, wouldn't you?" Y'shtola was now stroking a small erection. Lauden was squirming, and writhing; she was trying to wriggle away from her lover's touch. Y'shtola's hand remained wrapped around her length, just as steadily as the cage had.

Lauden thought about it for a moment. The idea of Alphinaud quaffing Fantasia, then eating bigger breakfasts, and struggling with a single sticky bun. Working her way up to two, then three... celebrating her first hundred ponzes with a full tray, and her second hundred with two... That made her feel warm, and maternal, but it wasn't the kind of thought that went comfortably with what Y'shtola was doing to her. No, for that... Someone she had fancied would have to lose a bet. Lyse Hext, maybe. She was fit, she was fiery... soft wasn't a word anyone would choose in relation to her. What if she lost Alisaie's wager? What if she had to eat big special meals and sticky buns for three moons, while swimming in a fog of aphrodisiacs?

Another groan, as Y'shtola coaxed her to fullness, to readiness. Slickness drizzled onto her mound; she writhed and rolled her hips as she imagined Lyse gaining a hundred ponzes. Two hundred. She imagined coupling with her - how awkward it would be, how animal...

"Good girl," her blind lover murmured quietly. "Gooood girl..."

The fattening Elezen remembered what Y'shtola had looked like when she had met her in the First, all six hundred-plus ponzes of her. She remembered how she huffed, and puffed. She remembered how she sweat, and how her bottom rolled as she waddled. She remembered her stuffing herself with length-like sausages. She remembered wondering what that must have felt like, what that must have tasted like...

Sausages and Y'shtola and Lyse mixed together in her head. A jumble of thin and fat. A jumble of arousal.

"Aaah!" Lauden gasped as she completed with a tortured sigh. She frissoned as her flabby body tensed... and relaxed.

"Well, that was disappointing." the silvered mage observed clinically. "Your length has reverted to it's atrophied state. I suppose it is to be one state or the other. I'm going to untie you now, and we're going to go downstairs, and eat until we cannot eat any more. We shall return here to sleep. Together. I would share a bed with you, Lauden. Are you amenable?"

"I am," the blindfolded woman nodded weakly. "Let's eat first, though. I am starving."

The fat couple drew a lot of looks in the Quicksand. The tavern was full of fit adventurers; the closest anyone got to chubby was a pregnant woman who was just passing through with a delivery. Y'shtola brought Lauden in on the leash, and unclipped her once she was seated where everyone in the tavern could see her thick, flabby belly and her jutting, jiggling love handles.

The overweight Elezen dearly missed her chastity belt. Now that her hen was free, now that it was in use again, she could feel it. The familiar ache of the cage was gone. Instead, her hen grew, and grew slick, and the thought of eating Quicksand burgers until she popped another button off of her increasingly ill-fitting town shirt made her spring to an urgent, straining readiness.

This was who she was now. Y'shtola had reduced her to nothing more than a pig, wallowing at the trough, and she didn't mind at all. She knew it was the fog of the aphrodisiac that made this enjoyable, and she wondered if there was any way to make the state permanent.

"Not that I know of," the blind Miqo'te frowned. "Like your depression medicine, you'll need to take it regularly for the rest of your life. I might be able to find something longer lasting, though. It would be interesting if we could combine the effects, and give you a depression medicine that makes you sensual and euphoric for moons at a time."

"I like feeling foggy," the fat, long-eared woman admitted. "I like feeling like I'm in control of my fear. It's numb. It's still there. But I can focus on what stimulates me instead."

"Pray, what stimulates you, Lauden?" Y'shtola smiled coyly over interlaced fingers.

"The thought of growing larger," her lover admitted. "The thought of you growing larger. I love the idea of filling my belly. I love that every time I fill it until I'm uncomfortable, it gets a little bit bigger." She wriggled as her hen throbbed, and slickened. She clamped down on the plug, and luxuriated in the fullness that she felt behind and below her hen.

"I love that for you," the pale mage smiled. "Three burgers each, to start. No popotos." She nodded to the waitress, and patted her belly for emphasis.

The burgers were huge. When they showed up, there was nothing else to talk about. The fattening women dug in and ate with gusto. Lauden found herself all but ignoring Y'shtola as she focused on the meat, and the grease, and the cheese. The buns were delicious, the tomato sauce was delicious. One burger definitely wasn't enough for either of them. A second wasn't enough. They slowed as they worked their way through their third burgers, then Y'shtola ordered two more for each of them.

Lauden began to feel pleasantly full as she finished her fourth burger. She slowly worked on her fifth, eating small bites, trying to gauge how full she truly was as her hen twitched, and coated her smalls with slick. She had never reacted intimately to food before; weeks of aphrodisiac-induced haze and eating until she was ready to burst had conditioned her, and it was a conditioning that she enjoyed. About halfway through the fifth burger she finally felt full, and rather than stop, she slowed to a crawl. She ate smaller bites; she chewed more thoroughly. She waited for her digestion to work, for her belly to free up just a little more space. She kept her belly full throughout the remainder of the fifth burger while Y'shtola struggled with her fourth.

They cut the blind woman's fifth burger in half, and they ate their halves over the span of a bell, watching the crowd watch them.

The crowd was extensive. The Quicksand was the most popular tavern in Ul'dah, yes, but the Warrior of Light was here! She had gotten fat! Look at her! Look at how fat she is! I heard she's retiring? Oh yeah, from who? Why don't you ask her, then. She's right there! Yes, that is her. She's piled on a hundred ponzes, easily. Nah, it looks more like one fifty. Are you sure? You know fat isn't as dense as muscle...

The Warrior of Light listened to the chattering of the crowd. She murmured "I'm retiring," and "I'm done adventuring," and "I really just want to sit here and eat, thank you," in response to polite, cautious inquiries.

"No, I'm not done adventuring," Y'shtola told a curious onlooker. "It's more difficult now, but I have much to do."

The crowd was hard to ignore.

She's over three hundred ponzes, for sure. How do you know? What? That blob of fat is the Warrior of Light? More like Warrior of Lard, am I right? Hahahah! Ouch! Hey! It was just a joke... She's so fat. How'd she get so fat. I didn't know there were any fat Elezen. How is her neck still so thin? Look at her arms, you can see the flab jiggling! Look! Oh wow I'll bet that shirt looked good on her fifty, maybe sixty ponzes ago. Looks like it's all going to her hips and her gut. Look at those love handles. I've never seen them sticking out like that, her belly is so wide...

"I'm stuffed." Lauden rubbed her heavy, burger-filled belly with both hands. "I need to rest, and digest. Preferably without an audience."

"Mmm," Y'shtola agreed as she cleaned her hands with a napkin. "I take your point. Let us adjourn to our room."

The lovers waddled up the stairs cradling their big, heavy bellies, feeling every bite of their meals as they huffed, and puffed. They strained, and both of them were sweating by the time they made it back to their room.

They stripped, and they showered separately. Lauden thought about showering with Y'shtola but the fact was they were too fat to fit in the stall together. She found that realization stimulating, and as the pale woman bathed she lay on the bed and stroked her length while she thought about what life would be like at four hundred ponzes, at five hundred, at six hundred.

How big would she get? How big would whoever lost the bet get? How big was Y'shtola going to get, if fullness made her feel good?

Fullness made Lauden feel good. Fullness in her bottom. In her mouth. In her belly. Keeping her belly full made her grow, and that made Y'shtola happy, so fullness gave her two reasons to feel good. Maybe three; Y'shtola may have told Eorzea and the Far East that she was retiring, but that was still in the future. She still had at least one more fight in her. It was a fight she would probably lose, but she had to fight it nonetheless. She had to definitively prove that she was too fat to adventure.

To do that, she'd have to gain at least another hundred or so ponzes. She was still reasonably agile, when she had to be. Yes, she tired easily. Yes, she huffed and puffed a lot. Yes, she could barely swing her gunblade. But she could still work through the forms. She could still work through the techniques that Cheria had taught her.

It helped that a fat woman had created the soul crystal she had used. Certain positions, certain swings, felt right with the weight of her belly jiggling in front of her.

She continued to ruminate as she showered. What would Lyse think of her? What of Estinien, or Aymeric? Would she grow so fat that her friends didn't recognize her?

Would Lyse tease her, the way Alisaie did? She seemed like the type.

The fat Elezen toweled off, and turned down the lights, and curled up in bed with her fat lover. They cuddled for awhile, and then Y'shtola reached for her length. She relaxed, and she thought about her growing, and growing, as her soft hand teased her to readiness. She moaned quietly as her lover struggled to mount her; they moaned almost silently as their lower bellies pressed together.

Soon they would be too big for this.

Not that she minded. Right now her length was a toy for Y'shtola to play with. That was all. She looked forward to putting the belt back on. She looked forward to taking it off after changing her body with Fantasia. Until then she would wear the belt, and she would suck Thancred's and Raha's cocks. She would wear that gag Y'shtola had found for her while she wasn't eating. She would be full, and she would stay full, for as long as she could.

What would she do now, without the belt? She'd invite Raha to thrust his length into her bottom. She'd drip and drizzle and probably complete while she was eating. That might feel good.

Y'shtola rode her in near silence; her labored breathing and the creaking of the bed were the only noises in the otherwise silent room. Lauden kept herself readied by thinking about their continued growth. Would they continue to grow together, or would she pull ahead? Would Y'shtola find a cure? If she did would she slim down, or would she maintain her softness? Would feeling full still feel good for her? How much effort would it take to get up the hill, and the steps, at four hundred ponzes? At five hundred? How heavy would she have to be to ask the kitchens to deliver, and then how long after that until she couldn't fit through the door to her room?

And there... there... she was building, she was tensing, she was releasing... and Y'shtola was sighing, ever so quietly.

A wet squelching noise as she dismounted. A wet slurping noise, and a delightfully ticklish sensation, as she licked her clean.

And then they were cuddling, and it didn't matter what time of day it was. They were going to sleep, and they were going to digest. And they were both going to wake up fatter than they had been this morning.

Tomorrow, Lauden would strive to achieve that goal again.

Lauden woke to Y'shtola murmuring quietly into a linkpearl.

"Mmm. Thank you, Cheria. That sounds good. That sounds very good."

The pale Miqo'te gazed down at her lover. She placed a hand on her shoulder, and gently rocked her back and forth.

"Wake up, Lauden. It's time to grow."

The overweight Elezen struggled to roll onto her back, and struggled to sit up. She urgently looked around the room for her clothes, and tensed herself to scramble out of bed. And then Y'shtola's hand was on her back, and her lover was laughing, and telling her "I said it's time to grow, Lauden. G-r-o-w."

"I swear I heard you say 'go,'" Lauden chuckled. She was awake now. She may as well make the most of it. She struggled out of bed, wriggling out over the foot so Y'shtola could stay put on the outside. She heaved herself to her feet, and winced as her bad knee cracked.

"Wow. That was loud," Y'shtola observed sympathetically.

"Yeah. It's... not happy with the last fifty ponzes or so," Lauden shrugged, and made her way to the bathroom.

She did her business, and as she moved her bowels, her stretched-out belly began to feel achingly, painfully empty. She needed something to eat, a lot of something, and she needed it soon. She gave Y'shtola the bathroom, and proceeded to don her clothes. Her smalls fit, and felt queer without the chastity belt. Her new brassiere was already feeling a bit tight. Her trousers were about to split at the seams, her boots were getting tight in the calves, and her shirt...

Well, she could fasten two whole entire buttons of her shirt. Two measly buttons, between her breasts and increasingly heavy, increasingly jutting belly. Her gut drooped over her belt, thoroughly engulfing it. She needed new clothes; she really needed a dress like Y'shtola wore, but her trousers gave her thighs some protection from each other. And, if she was really, truly being honest with herself, she liked how she looked. She was a work in progress, and she was dressed to reflect that reality.

There was no denying how efficient Y'shtola's outfit was, though. The flabby Miqo'te left the bathroom, and donned her smalls, and she threw the dress over her head and the belt around her girthy waist, and that was the end of it.

Well, sandals. She had taken to simple sandals of late. They were easy to put on and take off without having to bend; something that Lauden was beginning to deeply appreciate.

Y'shtola packed her bag, and the lovers were about ready to teleport when they heard a knock at the door.

"Get that," the silvered Miqo'te ordered.

Lauden blindly obeyed without a second thought. She opened the door, and yelped with surprise as Cheria Haredottir heaved her chest through the doorway. Her armored bodice pressed into her thickened belly; Cheria moved forward and Lauden had to step backward or fall over. And so she stepped backwards again, and again, as Cheria forced her deeper into the room, pinning her to the wall next to the desk.

"You dress to tease me, Kitten," the giant Viera purred in her thick, honeyed accent. "I love how hungry you look right now. I've brought you some special treats. A little help, Pumpkin?"

Lauden was pinned in place. She could move her arms, but her lapine lover's enormous breasts were pressed firmly into her wide, soft belly. She wasn't moving any time soon. Not until Cheria wanted her to.

Y'shtola brought in a basket from the hallway. She closed the door, and placed the basket on the desk, within very easy reach of Cheria. Lauden glanced down, and realized that the Viera's positioning was very, very deliberate.

"Why don't you let me watch you eat this, Kitten?" Cheria pulled a large breakfast wrap out of the basket. Sausage and eggs and popotos, wrapped in a lightly toasted pita, wrapped in wax paper. "I love watching you eat. Knowing you're getting bigger for me makes me feel... Mmmmmmm." The large-breasted woman purred happily as she peeled down the wax paper, and thrust the wrap into Lauden's mouth.

The overweight Elezen tried to take the wrap, but Cheria slapped her hands away with her free hand. "Let me feed you, dearheart," she grinned heatedly. "Eat up. Grow nice and big for me. This basket is all for you, Kitten, and we're not going anywhere until you've eaten every last crumb."

"Ungh," Lauden grunted as she bit into the wrap, and began to chew. Her length blossomed, and slickened, and throbbed urgently against her smalls. She writhed, and wriggled, and tried to find a more comfortable position. Y'shtola laughed, and ducked beneath Cheria's breasts, and Lauden gasped as she felt soft hands reaching under her belly, tugging at her belt, and the fasteners of her trousers.

"Uh-uh. Up here, Kitten. Where I can see you." Cheria purred, and pressed the wrap further into her mouth. Lauden took another bite, and chewed. She moaned weakly as Y'shtola pulled down her trousers, and began to stroke her length.

"You're such a good girl," Cheria smiled warmly as Lauden finished the first wrap. "Why don't you have another, hmm?"

Y'shtola's hand pumped slowly, deliberately. Between the plug, and her lover's hand, and the feeling of an enormous pair of armored breasts pressing into her belly, Lauden was barely able to focus on eating. She managed it, somehow. She focused on Cheria, on the Viera's smile. She rocked her hips, and she tried not to focus on her length. She quickly ate the wrap that Cheria held out to her, and then she ate another, and another. Finally, her belly had something to work with. Finally, her stomach was more than a howling void. She sighed contentedly as she ate a fourth wrap. About halfway into the fifth she whimpered, and murmured "sorry" around a mouthful of meat and eggs as she completed in Y'shtola's hand. She slumped, she wanted to slump to the floor, but her lapine lover leaned forward, holding her in place.

"You'll rest when I say you can rest, you sweet, obedient woman." Cheria grinned wickedly. "Pumpkin, do you think she'll be ready again soon?"

"Hmmm." Y'shtola sounded muffled from beneath Cheria's breasts. "Complement her some more. Tell her how beautiful her love handles are."

Lauden writhed as she continued to eat. She whimpered as she felt Y'shtola teasing her overstimulated length.

"Your body is a soft, beautiful temple, Kitten. And we won't stop until you're big enough to worship in." Cheria licked her lips. "These are special wraps, Kitten. Very special. I'm so glad you like them. Would you like to know why they're special?"

"Hmm?" Lauden mumbled around a mouthful of food.

"The grain the pita is made from is a very special grain, Kitten. Farmers feed it to their livestock to fatten them for market. They only have to feed them a tenth as much as regular grain. The eggs are very nutritious, and the sausage is extra fattening. Eating one of these wraps is like eating five of the wraps they made for everybody else. Do you know what that means, Kitten?"

Cheria paused for dramatic effect.

"It means you're getting extra fat today!"

The fattening woman moaned meekly, and slumped bonelessly against the wall.

She found that thought to be... very stimulating.

"There we go," Y'shtola chuckled as Lauden's length blossomed, and slickened.

Lauden moaned contentedly as she chewed on the fattening wrap. She moaned heatedly as Y'shtola began to stroke her length again.

"Now, open that beautiful mouth of yours. That's a good girl... You are such a good girl, Kitten..."

It turned out that Y'shtola hadn't overpacked for a night of fun; she had packed for a night of fun and a third trip to the Gubal library, with a side trip to Idyllshire. Something to do with the primal Alexander that dominated the river next to the entrance to the library. They were trying to move it? Or dismantle it? Or salvage it? Whatever it was they were doing, it hadn't registered. All Lauden knew was that Cheria and Y'shtola were away again, and they'd be back whenever they got back.

She felt left out, but she didn't allow the feeling to get to her. The fog of the aphrodisiac helped. A bottle seemed to last about a week, and Y'shtola had a drawer full of them, so she was set to keep growing for a couple of moons, at least. As long as she felt foggy and needful she didn't have to deal with her fear. She could easily ignore the feeling of being left out. She could focus on keeping her belly full, and her mouth full, and her nethers full.

Back to Revenant's Toll, in her ill fitting clothes. A talk with Tataru, about a new outfit. Something that would last her another, oh... fifty to a hundred ponzes. It was quite clear where her weight was going; Tataru knew the challenges she faced, and she told Lauden that she looked forward to overcoming them.

The wraps had been incredibly filling. They made her feel warm and feverish as she digested them; if she closed her eyes, and held her breath, she could feel her body growing. They made her feel sleepy; she took a nap, and slept through the rest of the morning, and lunch. She woke up in the early afternoon feeling ravenous. She had slept in her ill-fitting town clothes; as she bent to sit up the seat of her trousers ripped open, and she spent the rest of the sun in her increasingly snug blue survival shirt while Tataru expedited her new suit of clothes.

Lauden sat in her bedroom and moped until F'lhaminn coaxed her into the common area with a delivery of sticky buns from the kitchens. The fattening Elezen gorged herself, and didn't care who saw her sitting around in her nightshirt and smalls. The wraps were still digesting; she headed back to the bathroom to do her business, and then to her room for another nap.

Sleep refused her; after tossing and turning fruitlessly for a time, she gazed at the ceiling and carefully tended to herself. She focused on the fullness of the heavy plug inside her bud. She focused on her growth, and she wondered if there were any ways to hasten it that didn't involve attaching herself to Cheria's teat until she was too fat to move anymore. The Viera was a working Gunbreaker; her milk supply was delicious, and fattening, but it was, unfortunately, unreliable.

Tataru had a basic no-frills suit of clothes ready by dinner. The blouse was loose and flowing, with plenty of room to grow. The trousers were a bit more snug than she would have liked. Her opinion changed when Tataru showed her that the outsides of the legs were pleated, and could be easily expanded by unsnapping the snaps that held the pleats together. She wasn't sure how long the older woman would have before the trousers snapped open; rapid weight gain wasn't a state of affairs that she had much experience with. She was learning quickly, though! This pair of trousers had special panels on the inner thighs. A smooth, low-friction material that made it easier for the fattening Elezen to move her thickening legs.

The Warrior of Light put her new trousers through their paces, and was quite surprised to find that the pleats held through standing, moving around, climbing stairs, and, most importantly: they held up while sitting. They were surprisingly roomy, and they would hopefully last as long as the shirt. Tataru was confident that her client could gain another hundred ponzes without splitting a seam; the overweight Elezen chuckled, and told the little multi-disciplinarian that she hoped she'd get at least a few weeks out of her new clothes.

Lauden was kitted out for in time for dinner, and another mixing bowl filled with F'lhaminn's contribution to her cause. She ate every bit of the creamy white pasta, and she ate a bowl of the regular red sauce pasta the cook had made for everybody else. After that she went back to her room, and she tended to herself.

Life without the chastity belt wasn't as... convenient. With her hen locked up Lauden could focus wholly on her mouth, and her belly, and her bottom. With her hen unlocked she felt like she had another mouth to feed. She felt distracted. She felt needful in ways that she didn't particularly enjoy, and that led her to thinking about the kinds of needfulness that she did enjoy. She needed length. In her mouth. In her bottom. She needed a man to drive himself into her with his cock, while he tended to her distracting hen with his hands.

And right now, with the belt off, and the steel plug in place... she was hopefully stretched enough to take G'raha.

She'd have to broach the subject with him first. Their arrangement, as she understood it, was for her to tend to him with her mouth. He did not expect her to ask to be satisfied in turn.

Hopefully, he would be amenable.

In the meantime, the plug felt comforting, and her hand felt comforting as long as she treated herself carefully, and tenderly.

How long would Y'shtola be gone this time, and how much bigger would she be when she returned?

She looked forward to finding out.

Breakfast consisted of waffles, drenched in butter. Lauden told F'lhaminn about the special grain that Cheria had mentioned; the elder Miqo'te's eyes widened in surprise.

"I had completely forgotten about that! I'll see about commissioning pasta noodles and pancake mix for you, dear." The gray-haired woman smiled kindly, and patted Lauden's hand affectionately.

For as big as it was, breakfast wasn't particularly filling. Not now, anyway. Not with her stomach so stretched out. Lauden was hungry for length, but she wasn't about to let that need disrupt her priorities. She was growing for Y'shtola, and that meant developing and maintaining a full belly for as much of the sun as possible. She'd talk to G'raha when she was good and stuffed. Maybe instead of her morning nap, she could sate her need to feel her bud wrapped around his length.

That was a pleasant thought.

The trip to the terrace was becoming more daunting by the ponze. The hill was rough on her, even using the stairway that covered part of it. She was sweating when she reached the market stalls now - her face was glazed, and she could feel a wetness between her breasts and belly. That was a recent development - her breasts had never been particularly impressive, but thanks to her rigorous and determined growth they were now large enough to rest on her protruding gut, and that... reminded her of Marielle's state recording.

The hill was rough. The stairs were difficult. She had been lazy about her knee brace, and now she needed more than a bandage. She needed something metal, and jointed, and designed to accommodate her expanding girth.

Another reason to stop by the Ironworks, then.

For as much as ascending the stairs hurt her knee, she knew descending would be worse. Not for the first time she pondered teleporting, even if it would be a waste of anima from this distance. Less exercise meant less food converted to aether meant more food converted to fat, right? The opposite of her experience on Croissance. There she had grown, and she had dutifully worked to turn that growth into muscle.

Her mind was wandering. She had plenty of time to think during her morning commute these suns; a trip that had once taken a handful of minutes now seemed to take at least half a bell.

She was huffing and puffing when she reached the terrace. She was sweating. She felt fat, and slow, and gross. She'd feel better after a couple of platters of comfort food. She nodded to the waitress as she passed her, and she made her way to her usual table near the parapets.

To her surprise, Alisaie was there, watching the practice yard.

"Hey, fatty! Finally waddled up here for your morning time at the trough?" The young woman turned, and snickered as she looked her over. "How long until you outgrow this set of clothes, piggy? A week? Two weeks?"

"Are you... wagering... on it... with your brother?" Lauden struggled to catch her breath as she stopped beside Alisaie. She leaned on the parapets, and gazed down at the practice yard. There she could see Alphinaud, working through the combat forms of a Sage.

"No but I could," the fiery young Elezen laughed. "When we saw you at dinner last night, we revised the bet again. He thinks you'll plateau around five hundred ponzes. I think you're determined enough to make it past seven. If you top out close to six, we both lose and have to eat your diet for three moons. What do you think, fatty? Do you think you can win this for me?" She poked Lauden's fully clothed belly once, twice. She grabbed the overweight Elezen's jutting love handle and jiggled it, tugged at it.

Lauden writhed as her hen blossomed and strained, slickening her smalls. She was glad that her belly was big enough to block her view of her trousers; hopefully Alisaie interpreted her blush as embarrassment and not arousal. "I'm confident I'll pass five hundred ponzes at some point." The thought of the number thrilled her; the realization that it was all but inevitable thrilled her even more. Her hen throbbed as it strained against the sturdy fabric of her trousers. "Seven hundred seems like a lot, though. I honestly don't know when I'll slow down, or stop."

"Well, you've got me helping you now, fatty." Alisaie tugged on her flab again. "By the twelve you're jiggly. If I come across anything that'll make you even fatter, I'll pass it along. Gotta grow my fat little butterball until she's nice and round!"

"Oink, oink." Lauden snorted, and stuck out her tongue at the young woman.

"That's the spirit!" Alisaie laughed, and slapped the overweight Elezen's belly playfully. "Now get to work, fatty! Eat those buns! Fill that gut! Waddle home and sleep it off and do it all over again!" She laughed again, and gracefully slipped away, past Lauden's usual waitress, carrying Lauden's usual order of sticky buns.

The Warrior of Light thanked her waitress for her snack, and took her time getting situated. She groaned as she sat down. Her gut rested heavily on her thighs; as she spread her legs apart it pressed down on her stimulated length. She stifled a moan and gripped the table as she completed in her smalls. She felt a blush heat her face as her body frissoned, and shuddered.

Alisaie had wound her up like a cheap chronometer. The young woman knew that her teasing was encouraging her. And she had bet her brother that their protector would grow to more than seven hundred ponzes. By the twelve, that was a lot of eating. A lot of growing. If she wanted to grow for Y'shtola, if she wanted to hit Alisaie's goal for her, she'd need either patience, or innovation. She'd need the young woman to find something that would fatten her faster.

She had no idea how much she weighed now. She had been at least two hundred and thirty when she'd started. Three hundred had come easily. She had to be around four hundred now. Alphinaud's goal was within reach. Making both twins fat was within reach. That idea had a certain charm to it. Would they grow in unison, or would they gain wait differently? Alisaie would certainly fight to keep in shape...

A quiet moan escaped her lips as her flabby gut pressed down on her overstimulated length. She'd need to lie down to take the pressure off of it, and that wasn't happening until she had achieved her goal for the morning. And so she began to eat. She began to focus on the pleasing fullness in her mouth while she watched the twins practice and spar down below. She ate, and she ate, and before she knew it she was on her second platter of buns, and she was ordering two more after that.

Her full belly strained snugly against her shirt. She knew it was only a matter of time until it started riding up. Until she was unbuttoning it. She'd have to. Fat liked to settle in her belly, and her hips, and her bottom. It liked to settle everywhere, but it liked those places the most. She asked for a fifteenth sticky bun, and she took her time eating it. Finally, her belly was nice and full. Finally, she could begin her suns growth in earnest. Now she could focus on her other needs. The ache between her legs. The plug felt good, it felt very good, but she needed to feel flesh. She needed to feel G'raha's thick cock.

And so it was time to proposition him.

The excessively overweight Elezen struggled to her feet, and made her way to the stairs. She hissed and groaned as her knee complained about the descent; she began to sweat again as she waddled laboriously through the market stalls, towards the hill. She was used to the looks now. The curiosity from the little girl that ran the book stall. The disgust from the armor smith. The eternal shock of the jeweler.

Come to think of it her boots were tight in the calves. She'd have to talk to Tataru about sandals, or slip-ons, or some other footwear that would accommodate her rapidly changing body.

The hill was a struggle; she regretted not teleporting to the Aetheryte. She turned to her right, and waddled into the Ironworks.

Jessie Jaye sat at the drafting table behind her desk, working on something. She spun around as the door opened, as Lauden huffed and wheezed her way inside.

"Lauden!" She exclaimed. "You're looking... ah..." She grimaced amicably as she searched for the right words.

"I'm fat, Jessie. You can call me fat. I don't mind." Lauden laughed gently as she patted her wide belly affectionately. "I have two requests and a question for you, if you have a moment?"

"Sure!" Jessie leaned forward, and picked up a notepad. "What are the requests?"

"First, I need a knee brace that can accept the fact I'm getting bigger. Second... does the Ironworks have a scale that can measure up to... oh... a thousand ponzes?"

"First, I can make some quick measurements this sun and maybe have you something in a couple of suns," Jessie scribbled a note. "Second, we do not, but we can certainly build one easily enough. I'll put Biggs and Wedge on it. What's your question?" She reached into a drawer and pulled out a measuring tape.

"Is Raha in? I... ah. Have need of him." Lauden felt her cheeks heating up again.

"I believe he's downstairs, reading." Jessie came out from behind her desk and knelt before Lauden. She measured her knee in two places, and her calf about two ilms below the knee and her thigh about two ilms above it. "Is that all?" She gracefully trotted back to her desk, and wrote the numbers down.

"That's all," Lauden smiled warmly. "Thank you, Jessie."

"No problem! I'll let you know when the brace and the scale are ready. Mind if I ask you a couple of questions?"

"No, go for it." Lauden waddled over to the desk, and leaned heavily on it, bracing herself with her hands. This much standing up was getting to her... and that made her hen throb again. Y'shtola and Cheria had very successfully conditioned her to find her own growth stimulating. How would that work, when she drank Trisha's serum?

"This isn't a curse or anything, is it? You know we've got equipment that can analyze all sorts of magical ailments." Jessie smiled cautiously.

"I'm not cursed," Lauden chuckled. "I'm gaining weight for Y'shtola. She... ah... had problems in the First, and she blames me for them, and I'm hoping that I can soothe her." She was cursed. Cursed with this urge since childhood. But the Y'shtola story sounded better. It made her growth seem more noble.

"Now I'm even more confused," Jessie chuckled bemusedly. "If mobility becomes a problem we might be able to help you out with an exoskeleton or some other form of mobility aid. Would that interest you?"

"Mark me down as interested. But let's try the knee brace first," the overweight Elezen smiled demurely.

"Duly noted." Jessie scribbled a note. "Careful on the stairs!"

The fat woman wheezed and winced as she descended into the basement. This flight was a bit steeper than the stairs that led to the terrace, and it hurt a bit more. As she neared G'raha's room, he opened his door all the way and smiled up at her invitingly.

"Lauden!" G'raha grinned. "I heard you coming down the stairs. Have you come to sate your need? I could use a break from my studies."

"I'm here to sate a need," she admitted cautiously. "I'm currently wearing a plug. I believe I'm stretched enough to accommodate you, and I need you, Raha." She was sweaty and probably smelly but she didn't care, and hopefully he wouldn't either.

"I see," he nodded. "I had thought of such an activity, but I was under the impression that your chastity belt prevented it."

"The belt is off for now, Raha." She smiled cautiously. "I would have you inside me, while one of us tends to my hen."

"Your... hen?" He raised his eyebrows bemusedly.

"A man's length is a cock. Therefore a woman's length is a hen." She smirked confidently.

"Oh! Yes, of course! I shall see to it!" He laughed gently. "Do you think we'll have enough space in here?" He nodded to his closet of a room. "Or should we go somewhere else?"

"I think we can manage here." Lauden stepped forward, and embraced the smaller man. She pressed her burgeoning belly into him as she bent down, and kissed him tenderly.

He reciprocated smoothly, unbuttoning her shirt as they kissed, and kissed. They sloppily undressed each other, their clothes piling in the hallway as Lauden laboriously freed herself from her town clothes and her smalls. She thrilled at his touch; as they became skyclad her hen throbbed, and her watery slickness dripped freely onto the floor.

Her man for the morning took her hand, and guided her into his room. She barely fit through the door; she knew she'd have to squeeze soon, and that made her even more aroused, more needful. She climbed onto his bed as he moved books off of it, and she took up a comfortable position on all fours. Her knee hurt a bit, and her flabby arms were already trembling - hopefully with excitement.

She presented herself to him, and she gasped as he rubbed his thick, slickened length between her cheeks. He carefully pulled out the plug, and murmured something about laundry as he lay it aside, and then he was teasing her bud. He was pushing at her bud. She cried out "oh, RAHA!" as he entered her bud. She moaned as he bent over her, she moaned as she felt his firm, muscular body on her softened back. She whined happily as he squeezed his hand between her plush thighs and the thick roll of her gut. She moaned some more as he took her length in his hand, and began to stroke her.

Completion came quickly. But that wasn't what she wanted; that wasn't what she needed. She spilled her spend over his fingers, and heard it drip to the sheets between their breaths. She wriggled her bottom, and pressed against him, and she whispered "I need your spend" needfully, desperately. And so he rocked his hips, and they established a rhythm, and she enjoyed every moment of the fullness she felt with him inside of her. She loved him, she loved his thickness, his fullness, and she loved that she was finally able to take him in a way that she wanted to. In a way that satisfied her deep, primordial need for length.

Her hen rejuvenated as her fat body jiggled and shook. She readied again, and his hand was there again. Stroking her. Teasing her. Her second completion was almost as quick as her first, and still he remained. Still he thrust himself into her steadily, steadily. He wiped her spend on her thigh, and gripped her jutting love handles with both hands. He hilted himself deep within her and finally he was speeding up. Finally he was grunting, he was pushing, he was thrusting, and he whispered "oh, Lauden!" as he completed inside of her.

They were sweating. He panted; she gasped. He felt so good. She didn't want him to leave. She moaned piteously as he wilted, and withdrew. She collapsed onto the bed with her bottom in the air and she sighed contentedly as he slid the plug into her, sealing his spend inside her body where it belonged.

"Mmm," she rolled onto her back, and hummed contentedly as he began to massage her wide, full, flabby belly with practiced hands. "That felt very, very good. Thank you, Raha."

"You're welcome, Lauden," he chuckled bashfully as he leaned down, and kissed her cheek.

She needed him to breed her, but until she had an entrance, her bud was her gateway to heaven. She tightened herself around the plug, and she sighed contentedly at its low, heavy fullness.

"So my weight gain isn't a problem for you?" She murmured quietly as he curled up on her left side, squeezing her right breast with his left hand.

"Why would it be?" He chuckled warmly. "The bigger you get, the more of you there is to love." He let that sink in for a moment, then he chuckled again. "Though in another fifty ponzes or so we'll have to start meeting at your place."

"I'd like that," she smiled as she thought of Raha behind her, and Thancred in front of her. To have both at once would be divine...

No one had seen Y'shtola in a fortnight. Word had come through Tataru that she had finished with the library, and was supporting Cheria in her work as a Gunbreaker.

Lauden continued to eat. She continued to grow. She continued to dutifully drink a vial of the aphrodisiac once a week, and she continued to meet with G'raha to tend to her needs. Her new knee brace worked beautifully, and according to the carefully calibrated scale recently installed in the Ironworks, the overweight Elezen had passed four hundred ponzes. That was last week. This week, she was closing in on four hundred and fifty.

Thanks to pasta and pancakes and sandwiches made from the special grain, the pace of Lauden's weight gain had increased dramatically. It was time for new smalls, and new clothes, and... the Warrior of Light had a bashful, girlish request for Tataru.

She wanted lingerie.

"Soon I'll be too big for it to be practical," she smiled nervously, girlishly. "I want to observe this malmstone... privately, if you catch my meaning."

Tataru nodded vigorously. She took some notes, and they worked out a style that would accommodate the Elezen's flabby body. A few suns later Lauden had a fresh set of town clothes, and a lovely piece of intimate apparel.

Now she just needed to assemble the rest of her fantasy.

A room in the Mizzenmast, in Limsa Lominsa. One of the few with a balcony. She talked to the staff, and had the curtains and drapes replaced with diaphanous white fabric. She had the bed moved and temporarily converted into a canopy, draped in the same translucent material. Thick white rugs, and several vases of local wildflowers. She opened the balcony doors and let the warm sea breeze blow gently through the drapes.

The room smelled beautiful. It was late afternoon, and she had just filled her cavernous belly with an enormous twelve-course lunch at the Bismarck. Her new shirt was snug in the middle, her new trousers were snug in the seat, and her length strained and slickened with anticipation. She was full, and she felt heavy. She was panting and sweating as she entered the room. She paused, and wiped her brow, and beheld the scene in which she hoped her desire would play out.

The room was beautiful. Like something out of a bodice-ripper.

A shower, followed by an enema. After carefully toweling dry, she admired her body in the full length mirror beside the sink. "So this is four hundred and fifty ponzes," she murmured quietly, just above the whisper of the breeze. "This is halfway."

She had become wide, and heavy. Her flabby body jiggled with the slightest motion. Her belly had grown into two thick rolls, separated by the deep, wide well of her her navel. The top roll was firm; the lower roll was soft, and poured over her mound like an apron. Her breasts had grown to the size of melons, and her bottom had grown to resemble a pair of watermelons. Her thighs and calves had thickened, threatening to swallow her knees. Her arms were quite a bit flabbier, and her hands and feet had become thicker, and softer. Gazing at her body with her hands at her sides she realized that the fat around the sides of her breasts was forcing her arms outward, at an angle. Which was just as well, really, as her hips were competing to produce the same effect. She gazed at her round face and her thick double chin, and she wondered how she would look at nine hundred ponzes.

She had no goal, other than satisfying Y'shtola. Until she had crested four hundred ponzes, and realized that four hundred and fifty was coming up quickly. That solidified something hazy, something deep down in the part of her that had always wanted to grow. Nine was a good number. Nine hundred was an amazing number. She could see five hundred from where she stood. She knew six hundred was inevitable. But nine hundred felt like it could be an accomplishment. She had doubled her weight; she would double it again.

But first, she wanted to celebrate.

A small amount of a light, airy perfume, and then she slipped into her lingerie. The garment was white, and lacy, and translucent. It hid nothing. It was a very simple design; cut to accommodate her large breasts, with a high waistband just beneath them. From there it flowed outward, caressing her wide, heavy, protruding belly and her soft, thickened love handles. The garment was just long enough to cover her length.

Her length had grown. She tended to it several times a sun. It tended to itself several times a sun, pressing into the underside of her belly as she ate, and ate, and ate. The increase in exercise made it firmer, and thicker, and longer, as long-atrophied muscles redeveloped. As she stood gazing at her reflection her tip kissed the lower roll of her belly, leaving a thin trail of slick along the underside. She focused on the heavy fullness in her belly as she tightened her bud around her plug, luxuriating in its fullness, it's heaviness.

The chronometer told her that it was almost the seventeenth bell, or the fifth, for those who split the sun in half. Her guests should be here at any moment.

And so they were. She heard a knock on the door, followed by "Lauden?" in G'raha's muffled voice.

She positioned herself on the balcony. She soaked up the sun, and her length blossomed as she realized that she was putting on a bit of a show for the citizens below.

"Come in!" She called in the loudest, softest voice she could muster.

The door creaked open.

"Lauden, why did you want to - oh. Oh." Thancred sounded like he was blushing.

"Oh my." G'raha murmured.

She drew one of the curtains aside, and gestured to the men in her life to join her on the balcony.

"You're beautiful." Thancred said simply, with a boyish smile.

"Indeed," G'raha chimed in. "You are quite pleasing to the eye, Lauden. If I might ask... If we might ask..."

"Do you need to ask?" She laughed gently.

Both men shook their heads, and blushed.

"I would have you both, at once. Thancred behind me, and Raha in front of me." She smiled nervously, winsomely. "I love you both. I need you both. I have doubled my weight, and I would celebrate."

"You may have me," Both men said at once. They laughed; G'raha awkwardly adjusted his trousers, revealing an erection. Thancred was rather more subtle, but she knew what to look for, and she could see him swelling beneath his belt.

She guided them inside, and she helped each of them undress. She took a long moment to appreciate their toned, fit bodies. She kissed each of them deeply, and she hugged both of them together. "Thank you," she murmured quietly. "This means the world to me."

Thancred carefully removed her plug, and he and G'raha guided her onto the bed. She piled up pillows under her breasts to help support her, as she was unsure of her arms, and she presented herself to the men in her life.

She moaned an enthusiastic "oh, yes," as Thancred guided himself into her bud. She hummed happily as she took G'raha between her lips, and she uttered a muffled "mmf?" As the two mean leaned forward over top of her, embracing each other.

"Oh, nothing," Thancred laughed.

"We're just kissing," G'raha giggled. "I've always wanted to do that."

"Mmmf," Lauden moaned approvingly as she began to press her tongue into G'raha's tip. She wriggled and rolled her hips, inviting Thancred to move closer and there, there, she was tightly sandwiched between both men. She reached around her belly, and was surprised when Thancred gently shooed her hand away. He took her length in his hand, stroking her carefully as he began to thrust.

Slowly, they coordinated their dance. Lauden rolled her head, and her hips. She squeezed her pudgy knees against Thancred's, and she gripped G'raha's firm, slightly hairy thighs with her hands. She moaned loudly as Thancred played her fattened body like a violin; G'raha was a bit rougher, a bit rawer, and no less enjoyable.

"I heard... you... broke four hundred," Thancred panted. "Would you like us... to tease you? To complement you?"

"We can validate you, or denigrate you," G'raha laughed gently. "Or we can keep quiet."

She responded by thrusting her hips backwards, hilting Thancred within her. At the same time she clamped her lips tightly around G'raha's length, and pulled him forwards. They took the hint, and quietly continued to thrust into her in a delightfully asynchronous rhythm.

"Whenever you're ready, Raha," Thancred grunted confidently. He increased his pace slightly; he gave his right hand a break as he began to gently tug at her length with his left.

"Mmm," G'raha grunted. He took her long pointed ears in his hands and pulled as he thrust himself into her faster, and faster. "Soon! Very soon!"

And he was completing, and Thancred was completing, and his hand sped up on her length, and she was completing.

They carefully withdrew from her, and she collapsed onto the bed, panting. A moment later she moaned a quiet "thank you" as Thancred reinserted her plug. She rolled over, and stared emptily at the ceiling as her overstimulated body quivered and shook.

"Now what?" Thancred lay down on her right side, and cupped her left breast with his right hand.

"Would you like us to leave?" G'raha lay down on her left side, and cupped her right breast with his left hand.

"I... would like you to feed me," Lauden laughed hungrily. "In a bell or two. I had a late lunch, I need to rest a little."

"What do you think, Raha?" Thancred grinned eagerly.

"I think we should accommodate the lady, and help her along on her journey," G'raha chuckled warmly.

"Mmm." The Warrior of Light purred in agreement.

They kissed her, and they took turns playing with her length. She tended to both of them with her hands, and she coaxed G'raha to a second completion shortly before Thancred. They tried an awkward three-way kiss, and wound up laughing so much that Lauden's belly hurt. Thancred took her between his lips while G'raha massaged the thick rolls of her belly, and she took his length between her lips again as Thancred rubbed himself between her cheeks.

On Thancred's whim the men thrust themselves between Lauden's belly and her thighs. Her gut was more than big enough to accommodate them; the sensation was quite novel, and she wound up with a spend-covered belly for a time as they kissed her, and massaged her, and smothered her with affection.

The men got dressed and left. She cleaned herself up, and sat on the bed, awaiting their return. They reappeared a short time later carrying baskets of mouthwatering food from the Bismarck; the most fattening dishes that the restaurant had ready to carry out. They took turns feeding her while she relaxed in bed. She ate, and she ate, and they had brought just enough food to fill her for now.

Thancred and G'raha disrobed again, and the three of them crawled under the blankets. Thancred promised Lauden that she'd have breakfast in bed, and then they slowly dozed off, one at a time. G'raha fell asleep first, purring quietly. Thancred followed shortly after, leaving Lauden to gaze at the top of the canopy bed as she pondered how she might celebrate her next malmstone.

"Hey, piggy," Alisaie laughed as she approached Lauden's table. "I intercepted your feed, piggy. What are you going to do about it?" The fiery young Elezen held a tray of sticky buns and a big mug of cream just out of her fattened protector's reach. "Are you going to squeal, piggy? Huh? Are you going to squeal for me? I know you're not getting up to grab this. Can I get a squeal out of my big, fat, prize-winning pig? Hmm?"

Lauden squirmed and writhed uncomfortably as she completed, soaking her smalls. She had grown considerably in the last week; her shirt was riding up again, and the thick crescent of her soft, flabby belly covered her length, hiding her embarrassment from her young friend. She frissoned, and shuddered, and reached for the tray as her nipples hardened.

"Nuh-uh, piggy! No feed for you until you squeal for me!" The young woman grinned wickedly, continuing to hold the platter just out of reach. "Don't tell me you're too fat to make noise, Lauden. I know you can do it. I know you want to do it!" The lean, fit mage cackled sadistically.

The grossly overweight Elezen blushed brightly, and sighed. She bit her lip, and closed her eyes, and squealed timidly.

"Louder, fatty. You're a pig! A big fat sweaty pig! Act like it!" Alisaie balanced gracefully on her right foot as she poked the soft flesh of Lauden's gut with the toe of her left boot.

The Warrior of Light felt like her face was going to burst into flames. She squealed a little more loudly, but just as timidly.

"Good, butterball. Very good. Now give me one more. Squeal like you mean it, you fat, jiggling pig!" The young Elezen swept the platter almost within Lauden's reach, making her chase the tray around in circles. The fat woman's arm jiggled and shook.

The enormous Elezen squealed loudly, and threw in a trio of oinks for good measure. She glared at Alisaie, and continued to reach for her platter of sticky buns.

"Very good, piggy," Alisaie chuckled condescendingly. "I hope you're enjoying that reinforced chair they made for you. I can't believe you're so fat you need your own chair! I would love to see you try to work through your forms now, Lauden!" The young woman placed the tray on the table next to her fattened protector, and snagged one of the six buns. "I am going to exercise. Like a good little Elezen. Keep eating, fatty! I know you'll make seven hundred eventually!" The fiery Elezen took a bite of her stolen bun and trotted away before Lauden could say anything.

The fat woman sat in her custom built chair with her flabby belly filling the space between her thighs. She inhaled the first sticky bun, and chose to nibble on the second as she glowered at G'raha, seated several tables away.

He raised his eyebrows and approached, carrying a single scone and a mug of tea.

"Nice of you to defend me," Lauden huffed.

"From what I could tell you were enjoying yourself at least as much as she was," G'raha shrugged. "Do you enjoy being called a pig?"

"Yes." Lauden murmured in a small, almost silent voice. "I completed when she started teasing me. I always do lately. It's... very stimulating. She doesn't need to know that, of course."

"Of course," G'raha nodded sympathetically. "You're going to make sure she wins her bet with her brother, aren't you?"

"I just passed five hundred," The fat woman looked down at the broad expanse of her gut, partially covered by an ill-fitting town shirt. "I don't think I could stop before I hit seven. I don't want to stop. So... yes, I'm throwing the match for her, I guess."

"And you enjoy it when she calls you a pig." G'raha sounded deeply thoughtful.

"Yes," Lauden repeated a little more confidently. "The three things I look forward to every day are filling my belly, her teasing, and your length." In that order, actually.

"Would you like to... role play as a pig?" The red-headed Miqo'te ventured cautiously.

"Uh..." Lauden felt a jolt of levin shoot down her spine. "Maybe? Probably? She's called me piggy enough times that I'm starting to believe her."

"Well," G'raha smiled awkwardly. "I may be able to indulge you. I'll get back to you in a few days."

"Hopefully I can still walk by then," The fat woman snorted, and dug into her sticky buns.

"Where are we?" Lauden wondered as she stepped off the back of the wain. "I know we're somewhere on Vylbrand, but beyond that I am lost." She tugged her shirt tails down over the broad apron of her gut. The weather was nice; she was probably a bit overdressed. She was already sweating, though it was hard to tell if that was due to the temperature, or her ever-increasing weight.

"Does it matter?" G'raha chuckled as he hopped off the front of the wain. "The farmer has gone to market. It just rained, and he has just set up a fresh sty he has yet to break in. It's good, clean mud, Lauden. You can play to your heart's content." He took her fattened hand and led her around the farmhouse, towards a barn. In the shade of the barn lay a patch of mud, and a pair of troughs. One was full of water; the other was empty.

"That's all well and good, but it was a long ride and I am starving." The growing woman slapped her growling gut with both hands. "I need to fill my belly. Not to be difficult about it, but what's keeping me from teleporting home for lunch?"

"I imagine you'll appreciate the feed." G'raha pointed to a pile of filled burlap sacks. "It's that special grain F'lhaminn is using to fatten you up. If you want to indulge yourself, I'll pour some of it into the trough for you."

"You're kidding me." Lauden shook her head, and sighed. "Why did I agree to this?"

"Because some part of you enjoys being called a pig. Isn't that right, piggy?" G'raha smiled bashfully.

Lauden oinked, and began to take her clothes off. She folded them into a neat pile next to the gate to the sty. "How do I clean off afterwards?" She gazed pointedly at the red-haired Miqo'te.

"There's a shower in the mud room of the farmhouse." The smaller man pointed to the house, not too far from the barn. "The pipes have fire crystals in them, so the water's nice and warm."

The Warrior of Light gazed at the fresh mud, and thought about moving around in it on her hands and knees. Her length firmed, and blossomed, and began to drizzle.

"What do you get out of this?" Her final question, or so she thought. She grunted as she carefully removed her plug. She wiped it on the grass, and set it on her trouser leg.

"I get the satisfaction of helping a friend." G'raha smiled gently. "And I... might enjoy seeing you embrace the role of a pig. I don't know for sure."

"All this for a maybe?" Lauden took a tentative step into the mud. She felt a burst of euphoria as the wet earth squished between her toes.

"Get in the sty where you belong, piggy." He smirked, and closed the gate behind her. "Get on your knees and wallow like a good little pig, while I serve you lunch." He chuckled, and sauntered over to the bags of feed while she dropped to her knees, and took her first tentative steps on all fours.

Her gut was so big that her bottom roll dragged in the mud. The mud was cool; it felt good on her shins, and her knees, and her hands. She meandered around the sty for a time, cautiously oinking and snorting. She imagined herself with a pig snout, and two rows of pig teats as she rolled around, covering herself in mud. She wondered how Alisaie would react; she wondered how she'd react to Alisaie the next time she was teased. Her length rubbed her mound as she wandered around; she touched herself, and discovered that mud wasn't the best lubricant.

G'raha pouted a bag of the feed into the trough. "Here pig!" He laughed. "Her pigpigpig! Sooeee!"

Lauden made her way over. She eyed the feed; she sniffed it cautiously. It looked clean; she didn't see any bugs running around in it. It wasn't moldy. The trough was more than big enough for her head and her long, slowly thickening neck. She took a cautious bite.

The feed was a little moist, and it tasted like the ghost of whole wheat bread. She took a bite, and another, and another. She dipped her head into the water trough for some water, and then she returned to her feed.

"Good pig," G'raha laughed. "Keep eating, piggy. Grow even fatter for me. You know you want to. You know you're a pig, don't you piggy?"

The Warrior of Light oinked, and continued to eat. She let G'raha's teasing wash over her as she gorged herself. She ate as much of the grain as she could; she drank as much water as she could. The ingredients mixed into a thick slurry in her belly. She was full, but she wasn't full enough. She needed something more. Her stretched stomach had all the feed it could take, at least for now. And so she went for a couple of laps around the sty, and she wallowed in the mud for a bit, and she came back, and she tried again. This time she was full enough. This time her belly had that familiar feeling of being stretched to the limit. She felt warm; she felt sweaty. She realized it was the magic grain doing it's work, and she wallowed again to cool off.

She lay in the mud, staring up at the sky, and for a moment she was very comfortable. For a moment, everything was right.

And then she was sticky and gross and she felt bloated. She felt fatter than she actually was, and she was ready for this little experiment to end. She stood, and she walked across the sty on her feet, and she exited through the gate. G'raha silently showed her to the shower, where she washed herself clean, and dried off.

"For a moment it was very nice," She smiled down at him. "But it's... not to my taste. I think I'd rather be called a pig than act like one."

"That makes sense," he nodded graciously. "Would you like some help with the plug?"

"I'd like you to swive me right here," she grinned heatedly. "And then we can talk about the plug."

They coupled, and they took the wain back to the farmhouse G'raha had borrowed it from. They teleported back to Revenant's Toll, and from then on whenever Alisaie called her a pig, she remembered the sensation of mud on her belly and between her toes, and she'd oink, or snort, or squeal. She did it to make the young woman smile, and she did it because some small part of her had enjoyed her afternoon on the farm.

Y'shtola woke up hungry.

That wasn't new; she woke up hungry every sun. And every sun for the past fortnight and change, she had suckled from Cheria's breasts. She had lived on a diet of the massive Viera's milk for so long that her continued growth had begun to affect her work. More accurately, she was now too fat for the field, and Cheria had continued on without her. Her lapine lover would be back tonight, she could have a liquid dinner tonight, but this sun... this sun, she had to figure out breakfast and lunch for herself.

And that required getting out of bed.

The fat Miqo'te grunted, and heaved, and rolled her massive, jiggling body into a sitting position. She rubbed her soft, empty gut with her fattened hands; she cupped her continually growing breasts, and tweaked her nipples. She grunted, and wheezed, and strained, and finally she managed to get her fat feet on the floor. She managed to heave herself to her feet, and waddle over to the bathroom. She had grown enormous over the past fortnight; she had almost reached the girth she had attained in the First. Cheria's milk was so fattening, and it seemed like the more she drank, the fatter she became. That made no sense to her, but there was no other explanation.

She laboriously did her business. She shrugged into her skin-tight dress, a dress that now barely reached her knees, and she grunted and swore as she struggled to tie the rope around her waist. She just... couldn't... close the gap.

Shite.

Well, the room in the Roost was paid for, and the meals at the Carline Canopy were complementary. She could leave her bag and her belt here, and come back for them later. Not that they would ever fit again, but one could hope. Her dress was good for maybe another couple of suns; she had given up on her smalls, and on boots, and then on sandals as her feet and ankles had swollen, and bloated, and fattened. She waddled down the hallway barefoot, and she was sweating and wheezing when she reached the stairs to the tavern.

Slowly, she made her way to a table. She waved to a shocked Mother Miounne, and asked the waitress for five helpings of breakfast mash, a mug of cream, and a glass of fruit juice. That might be enough to fill the yawning void that howled between her breasts and her mound.

Five helpings wasn't enough. She ordered two more, and drew the attention of some of the patrons with a loud, reverberating belch. She had eagerly tucked into her sixth helping, anticipating a fullness that she knew she'd find sometime this sun, when T'zuki Tia walked into the Carline Canopy.

She hadn't seen him in moons. Her eyes widened in surprise; his eyes widened in shock. He cautiously made his way over to her, and tentatively asked "Y'shtola? Is that you?"

"In the expansive flesh," she nodded. "Have a seat. There is plenty of space."

He sat down across from her, and set his bag on the floor. "How did you get so big?" he wondered.

"The why is a much better story than the how," she smirked, and tore into her sixth helping of breakfast. "I would tell you, if you will wait until I am full enough to think clearly."

And there it was, with the seventh portion. Finally, she felt full. Her needy belly was sated. She had eaten enough food for an entire adventuring party, and now her body was going to set about turning as much of it as it could into thick, buttery flab. And by evening she'd be starving, and she'd repeat the process again, and she'd grow again, and the vicious cycle would continue.

Without Cheria she'd weigh maybe three hundred ponzes by now. Thanks to her lapine lover, she was now, she estimated, closer to five hundred than four hundred. She was fat. She was huge. And she had been here before. She couldn't bring herself to hate Cheria for her girth; she could have eaten a solid meal at any point over the past two weeks but she had chosen to drink the Viera's milk because it was so filling. So fattening. She had intentionally fattened herself to near immobility, and she would probably do it again if she was given the chance.

She finished her meal, and she finished ruminating. She sipped the last of her juice, and she gazed at the short black hair and bright yellow eyes of T'zuki, the only man she had ever loved.

"It began with a state recording of Lauden Praud..." She told him the story. She told him of how she had acquired Lauden's proclivity, and how she had embraced an exploration of softness. She told him of how she had been fantasizing when she had been taken to the First, and how her queered self-image had altered her body. She told him of how she came to blame Lauden over the years as she grew, and grew. She told him of how her proclivity persisted in the Source, and how she had worked with Cheria to try to free Lauden from her fear, so that she could grow, and grow, and grow.

"So you're not cursed anymore? And yet you keep eating?" T'zuki scrunched his brow bemusedly.

"In the First I was compelled to eat, and fullness resulted. Even full, I hungered. In the Source, fullness feels good. I eat to feel fullness. I drink to feel fullness. By the twelve, I was a hundred and fifty ponzes lighter a fortnight ago. All I've done is drink Cheria's milk all sun every sun. The poor girl had to start eating solid food to accommodate me," the fattened Miqo'te laughed. "I have never gained weight this fast."

"And this is because of a state recording? I don't see how there could be a cure for what you're going through. Unless..."

"Hmm?" Y'shtola rubbed her belly thoughtfully.

"There was that recording that you made when we used the double-ended toy. The sun you found the pregnant Elezen. Here, in Gridania."

"Nophica's tits!" the pale woman swore. "I had completely forgotten about that recording! That was more than three years ago for me! I don't know if there's enough information in the media, but if there is... maybe I could... replace my corrupted mind with an older version of my own personality! Of COURSE!" She pounded the table with her fists. "Of COURSE!" She bellowed maniacally. "T'zuki if I could stand up I would come around the table and kiss you. I don't know if it'll work but it's a possibility, and that's more than I had when I woke up this morning. How can I ever thank you?"

"I can think of a few ways," T'zuki grinned hungrily.

He helped her back to her room. Somehow. He was a master aether manipulator; with her permission he subtly altered the discomfort she felt. Walking became pleasant. Erotic, even. The pressure that her body exerted upon her mound was quite stimulating. So much so that she was near completion when they reached her room. He helped her out of her dress, and he kissed her nipples. He kissed her cheeks, and her nose, and her lips. She spread her legs a bit and he ducked beneath her belly to kiss her mound.

"There is another possibility," he stood, and smiled as he guided her towards the bed. "If your problem is a matter of aether, I might be able to... adjust it. The way I've adjusted your aether previously."

T'zuki had guided her through heat, and back to normalcy. She had no idea how he had done it, not exactly, but she could theorize, and her theories were fascinating. He massaged her aether, working out kinks in it, adjusting the flow of it. Heat was a sort of knot that he had untied. The effort involved had been considerable.

She flopped heavily onto the bed, and began to ilm her way back, towards the middle of the mattress. "If it is a matter of aether I would ask you to address it. I know of no other who can do so with such precision. I cannot examine my own aether. I strongly suspect that the state recording may be the answer, but I would have you examine me, to rule out aether, as I cannot do so myself." She chuckled warmly, as she gazed at him lasciviously. "While science is the primary consideration, I would like to feel your presence again, Zuki. You are a source of great comfort and joy to me."

"I like you too, Shtola." T'zuki pounced on the bed, and crawled forward. It was impossible for him to straddle her and kiss her; he couldn't quite reach. And so they lay on their sides, and they clumsily embraced. They closed their eyes, and they allowed their aether to commingle.

Y'shtola could feel her lover now. She could feel him combing through the aetheric filaments of her body, and her mind.

"You are encased in almost pure aether," he noted, "If you could safely release this energy you could slim down considerably. It looks... like it's slowly becoming fat, but until it does it behaves like fat. Fascinating."

"You can tell the difference?" She remembered examining Lauden, but that had been more than three years ago. Three years of an unending ordeal of eating. The memory was faint, and faded, if she was remembering it correctly at all.

"The colors are subtly different," he acknowledged. "Hmm..." He cupped her breasts, and walked his fingers down the arc of her belly. He scooted down the bed until he could comfortably reach beneath her, to her mound, and he began to stroke her pearl and her entrance with his fingers. He knew exactly what he was doing. She began to writhe, and roll her hips. She began to moan, and slicken. She had been ready for him for some time. She was relieved, she was grateful, and she was hanging on to every word of his analysis.

"The aether of arousal is stronger in your belly than it is in your nethers. I can redirect that flow of energy, but I don't know how long that redirection will last." He sounded dry. Analytical. He mechanically, expertly, manipulated her pearl, exciting her in ways that she hadn't felt since last she'd been with him.

"By all means, redirect it," she moaned. "I would feel this sun as I have felt in the past. Maybe the change of context will help."

She groaned as her belly began to feel... well... it didn't feel pleasantly full anymore. It felt like a heavy lump of flesh with too much food in it. Her entrance, though. Her pearl. Her folds. Her nethers felt slick, and vivid, and amazing. She felt every fine detail of the treasure that nestled between her legs, and she hummed, and she screamed, as T'zuki played her body like a violin. He redirected the flow of her aether to focus pleasure in her most tender place, and he kept the energy flowing through her, allowing it to dissipate into the rest of her body.

Completion came, and he kept his fingers inside of her. He drove her to completion again, and again, and again. She saw satisfaction blossom and spread within his aether as she shuddered, and quivered. She felt like an overstimulated puddle of goo. He had wrung every onze of pleasure out of her. She had nothing left to give, nothing left to feel.

He examined her as she slowly calmed. "I can see the flow redirecting to your belly," he noted. "It looks like my adjustments were temporary. That means the adjustment needs to be made to your mind, not your aether... and your state recording is probably your best hope of that."

T'zuki looked accomplished. He looked satisfied. His aether was calm, and clear, and untroubled. He was worried about her, yes, she could see traces of that, but he had helped her to more clearly define the problem, and he had helped her work towards a solution, and she was grateful to him for that.

"Now, Zuki..." She struggled to sit up on her elbows as her unseeing eyes gazed at him heatedly. "Is there anything that I can do for you?"

Arousal blossomed deep within his aether. Amusement, and impishness percolated and swirled. "Well," he chuckled, "I haven't felt your tongue in awhile..."

Lauden's newly reinforced bed creaked and groaned as she struggled to sit up. She made her way to her door, and opened it wide enough to squeeze through. She was about to repeat the process with the bathroom door when she caught sight of a dark shape in her peripheral vision. She turned, and saw a familiar figure emerging from Y'shtola's room.

"T'zuki?! The last time I saw you, we were in Shirogane!" The massively overweight Elezen was still groggy, still thick-headed from her morning nap. She had to squeeze sideways through her door; she found that fact very stimulating, and she felt very conflicted about her situation. Her predicament, even. She was so hung up on being fat enough for doors to be a problem that the fact T'zuki might not recognize her didn't even occur to her.

"...Lauden? By the twelve!" T'zuki gasped. "You're just the person I was looking for, actually. Y'shtola wanted me to give you this." He set his bag on the floor outside of Y'shtola's room, and knelt, and fluidly pulled a small square wooden box out of it. Lauden heard glass rattling as he picked it up, and walked down the hallway to hand it to her.

The Warrior of Light accepted the box into her pudgy hands. She held it between her left hand and her gut, and pulled the lid off with her right hand. Inside were sixteen vials of the aphrodisiac that had kept her fear at bay for the last several weeks. A four moon supply.

"Thank you, T'zuki." She smiled warmly at the much smaller man. "I take it Y'shtola's not going to be home for awhile, then?"

"She doesn't know when she's going to be back. She sent me to pick up the state player and all of the recordings." T'zuki turned, and briefly eyed his bag. He turned back to Lauden, and smiled warily. "I had the thought that she might be able to restore, or at least reacquaint herself with an older recording that she had made in Gridania. It might help with her proclivity. But it might not. I really don't know the technology, I'm just guessing really, but she wants to try and so I'm here to humor her. How are you, Lauden? You've... ah... gained a few ponzes since last we met."

"More like a few hundred." Lauden smirked as she slid the lid back onto the box. "Has Y'shtola mentioned me? I'm getting fat for her." The truth was that she was getting fat for herself now. Cheria and Y'shtola were helping her along, sure, but at this point in her growth she was determined to reach a goal that she had set for herself. Using Y'shtola as her excuse felt a bit dirty at this point, but she had to admit, it sounded much more selfless, much more in line with the legend of the Warrior of Light, to be doing this for somebody, instead of herself.

"She told me her story, but she glazed over your changes. If anything, she downplayed them. But she told me she hasn't seen you in nearly a moon. Maybe longer." T'zuki looked like he wanted to be somewhere else. "I... need to get going. Y'shtola is quite eager to get to work." He gave Lauden a little wave, and he picked up his bag. "I'll see you around!" He proclaimed as he slung his pack onto his back, and headed out.

"Hm." Lauden pondered Y'shtola as she watched T'zuki leave. What was she up to? Why hadn't she come to drop off the aphrodisiac herself?

As he disappeared, she grunted, and squeezed herself back into her room. She set the box on top of her dresser, and slipped her fat feet into her sandals, and then she turned her attention to the bathroom. She laboriously squeezed through her bedroom door and the bathroom doorway. She eyed her fattened form in the mirror for a long moment, and then she did her business on the recently reinforced toilet. She did her best to clean up, and then she was eyeing her body in the mirror again.

She was growing out of this top pretty rapidly. She couldn't fasten the bottom two buttons, and the heavy arc of her belly hung well beneath her shirttails. Her knee was stiff, as she had slept with the brace on. Just getting around the Rising Stones was a challenge now; making it to the terrace and back twice a sun was all the exercise she was capable of lately. Her hips and thighs were huge now. Huge, and very soft. They had grown a lot this week; her hips were finally wider than her jutting love handles, and she had to admit... she liked the look. She really liked the look.

At some point the fear had disappeared. She was no longer afraid that she would be called upon to do her duty; she was so fat that her retirement wasn't in question. The rest of the Scions had made it clear that they supported her, and that she would not want for food, or clothing, or shelter. As her hips expanded the self-loathing that swam beneath the fog of the aphrodisiac dissipated, leaving a big, confident woman that smiled when she saw her reflection in a mirror.

With a deep breath and a straining grunt she pulled herself through the bathroom door. She waddled heavily down the hallway, and into the great room of the Rising Stones. Tataru labored at her desk; F'lhaminn labored at the bar. Scions and support staff milled about the great room, waiting for the elder Miqo'te to ring the lunch bell. She was cooking some sort of goulash, and the smell was mouthwatering.

"Oh, Lauden!" Tataru perked up as the Warrior of Light lumbered in front of her desk. "I have a proposition for you!"

"Oh? What might that be?" Lauden backed up a couple of fulms so she could see Tataru over the horizon of her full breasts and protruding belly.

"As you're outgrowing your bedroom and the bathroom, I'd like you to consider taking up residence at the Waking Sands. It's still ours; I still hold the title. The doors are nice and wide, and I can have the bathroom rebuilt, grab bars installed, and so forth. It will be a lot easier to make the Waking Sands accessible than it will be to continue to retrofit the Rising Stones." The little Lalafell smiled cautiously.

"The stairs would be a problem." Lauden rubbed her expansive gut with both hands. "Descending is pretty hard on my knee."

"That is a consideration," the master of coin mused. "I suppose I had gotten it into my head that we'd make the Sands nice and comfortable for you, and then you wouldn't need to leave. You could stay there, and get as big as you want!"

"Hmm... So long as I have regular visitors and plenty of books to read, and a regular food supply..." Lauden thought it over. On the one hand, it sounded like Tataru wanted to convert the Waking Sands into a dungeon. A prison for the ever-expanding Warrior of Light. On the other hand... The Waking Sands was very accessible. The only wide doors in the Rising Stones were the entrance and the door to the Solar.

"I'll find you an assistant!" Tataru clapped her hands. "Someone to bring you food and correspondence and keep the place clean. Someone to keep you company! I'll ask around Revenant's Toll; I should be able to find a couple of people for you to choose from. How does that sound?"

"It sounds like a good plan, Tataru. Thank you." Lauden smiled warmly. "Let's make it happen. Let me know what you need from me."

"Right now I need you to be patient for a week or two. And I'll need you to interview your prospective assistants, once I've found some prospects. I'll handle everything else. Don't you worry, Lauden! We'll make you nice and comfortable!" Tataru pulled out a notepad. She dipped her quill, and began to write rapidly.

"I'll try not to outgrow the doors for a couple of weeks," Lauden chuckled, and waddled heavily towards her table near the bar - the one with the newly reinforced chair.

"What's this I hear? You're planning on slowing down, fatty?" Alisaie perked up as Lauden lumbered past her.

"Never!" The overweight Elezen laughed. "I doubt I'll go through a big growth spurt within the next fortnight, though."

"Well... push that gut of yours past seven hundred already. This bet is really hanging over me." The young Elezen pouted. "The sooner you hit the magic number the sooner I can start stuffing my brother. We're going to need another fat Elezen around here if you retire to the Waking Sands!"

Alphinaud overheard her, and groaned. "You could always make sure it's the two of us," he chuckled darkly as he gazed at Lauden's heavy, jiggling body.

"I don't think I could slow down if I tried, Alphinaud. I'm sorry, but it looks like Tataru will be upgrading your wardrobe soon." She giggled, and made her way to her table. She sat down heavily, and wondered if she should talk to Jessie Jaye about the exoskeleton she had mentioned. Something to make standing and sitting easier. Her knee had held out so far, but she lacked confidence in it. She knew it was only a matter of time until it gave out, leaving her bedridden indefinitely.

F'lhaminn served up her usual double portion of creamy, fattening pasta in white sauce. Lauden sat back, and balanced her bowl on the heavy curve of her gut. She had to admit, being her own table was pretty convenient at times. Even if Alisaie liked to move her mug of water and her plate of garlic bread just out of reach.

She was just finishing up when G'raha and Thancred walked in, wearing greasy Ironworks uniforms. They grabbed bowls of goulash and mugs of water from F'lhaminn, and they eyed the overweight Elezen expectantly. She nodded to her table, and smiled at the men in her life as each of them took a seat.

"The Ironworks staff is at the Castrum today, helping with a tricky bit of salvage work," G'raha opened with an eager smile.

"We've been thinking about the time you invited us to Limsa Lominsa." Thancred grinned boyishly.

"The Ironworks has a block and tackle in a track on the ceiling, and plenty of rope and chains. And I found some padded mats." G'raha grinned. "We just got them moved upstairs."

"I've studied rope work, and I'm confident that I can harness you, and lift you with minimal discomfort." Thancred's smile became warmer, more heated.

"We want to lift you about, oh... just about hip high." G'raha winked.

"You want to..." Lauden blushed vibrantly.

"Tie you up." G'raha grinned.

"And swive you." Thancred smiled around a spoonful of goulash. "What say you, my lady?"

"I think I was going to huff and puff up to the terrace for sticky buns, but this will be better exercise," Lauden smiled heatedly as she squeezed her bud around her plug.

"This will be no exercise for you," G'raha laughed gently.

"As I was saying," the overweight Elezen beamed. "When do we get started?"

The Ironworks was in fact empty for the day. Thancred and G'raha had cleared a space between the work tables, and had laid down enough padded mats for the floor beneath the block and tackle to at least look comfortable. The ash blonde Midlander worked with the Red-haired Miqo'te to lay out what seemed to be dozens of lengths of rope, in a pattern that roughly corresponded with Lauden's thick legs and enormous torso. The men helped their lover disrobe, and then they helped her to lay down on the mats.

"Gods you're heavy," Thancred grunted.

"Maybe Tataru should weave some air crystals into your next set of smalls," G'raha murmured in a strained tone of voice.

Lauden sighed, and did her best to make herself as comfortable as she could on the mats. And then Thancred went to work with the rope. He tied multiple strands around her calves, her thighs, and her pillowy hips. He tied multiple strands above and below her breasts. He tied her arms behind her back, and routed the breast strands between her torso and her flabby upper arms. He tied two strands around her long neck, and tugged on them carefully.

"Wow," G'raha murmured appreciatively, "You've got them all tied up in a single harness. Were you a sailor at some point?"

"Just observant," Thancred sounded distracted. Lauden heard the metal squeal of the block and tackle; she heard the rattle of chains, and then she felt tightness all over her body as Thancred hooked the harness to the chain. A loud grunt reverberated as he tugged on the chain that raised the block. Lauden heard chains rattle; she felt tightness throughout her fattened body. She murmured a quiet, appreciative "oh!" as her flabby form raised one ilm off of the floor, and then another.

"I can handle this. Get her some sticky buns. I'm sure her afternoon order is ready." Thancred's voice was strained; he continued to pull on the chain as G'raha left the Ironworks for the kitchens above Rowena's workshops. Slowly, he raised Lauden's gut off of the floor. Slowly, he raised her to his desired height.

"Well, look at that." He knelt beside her; she felt his hand caressing the fat roll of her belly; she felt his finger probing her navel. "How do you feel, Lauden?"

"The harness is tight, but it's surprisingly comfortable," she observed. "I can feel all of the ropes pressing into my fat, but there's no ouch. I don't want you to cut me down. I could probably hang here for awhile. i think the only real discomfort is my arms are too fat." The overweight woman laughed nervously. "Now what?"

He walked around in front of her, and he dropped to his knees. He closed his eyes, and he kissed her tenderly. He reached out with both hands and he teased and tugged her nipples; she moaned as her soft flesh tightened. She moaned as her body readied for him. "Pretty soon this will be the only way to swive me," she observed. She wanted to kiss him, to thank him. She strained her neck as she reached for his lips; he teased her by staying just out of her way for a moment. Then he ducked in, and kissed her deeply.

"Once you've plateaued, the Ironworks crew and Tataru can take their gloves off and design you some really useful mobility devices," Thancred smiled encouragingly. "I think everyone's waiting to see how big you'll be when that happens. I know Alisaie and Alphinaud have a bet; I think other folks are wagering. Ah, there he is!"

The front door squeaked and banged, and G'raha returned with a bag of sticky buns and a carafe of cream. The men took turns feeding her the pastries; she blissfully ate half a dozen, and washed them down with cream. G'raha dug into the bag for the rest of them, and she murmured "save them for dessert, dearheart."

"If you insist," he grinned heatedly.

Thancred made a minor adjustment to the harness. G'raha brought over a small step stool, and placed it in front of Lauden. Neither man disrobed; instead they opened their trousers, and they pulled out their lengths. G'raha rubbed himself on her cheek as he blossomed and slickened; she closed her eyes and smiled as she felt Thancred, rubbing himself between her cheeks. She gasped as he slowly removed the plug. She felt empty now, so empty... her mouth was empty, her bottom was empty, her belly was nowhere near full yet... and there he was. His tip, teasing her bud as G'raha teased her lips.

They coordinated, and entered her simultaneously. Thancred rested his hands on her bottom; G'raha combed his fingers through her hair. She began to rock slightly, back and forth, taking one to the hilt and then the other. She closed her eyes, and she luxuriated in her confinement. She luxuriated in her softness. She luxuriated in the absolute trust that she held for each of them.

And she luxuriated in their hot, throbbing lengths, and the love they held for her.

G'raha completed before Thancred. He withdrew, and he knelt before her, and he gently stroked her cheek with one hand while he held her steady with the other. "You're such a strong woman," he murmured quietly, for her ears alone. "Thank you for indulging us."

She smiled sweetly and puckered her lips, prompting him for a kiss.

Thancred completed with a loud, satisfying moan. Lauden shuddered, and frissoned, and sighed happily as he slowly, slowly withdrew. Her hen strained and dripped as it pressed against the fat of her belly; he knelt, and tugged on her slowly, then a little bit faster, and a little bit faster. Gently, he prompted his colleague: "Raha, would you complement the nice lady?"

"Hmm..." G'raha smiled cautiously. "It would be inappropriate to bring Alisaie in to tease you," he observed. "Would you like me to try? Or would you prefer earnest, mushy, romantic complements?"

"Tease me," Lauden hissed heatedly with closed eyes. "Make fun of me. It won't take much."

He leaned close, and whispered into her long, pointed ear.

"One day we're going to need ladders to swive you. Aren't we, piggy? You'd like that, wouldn't you? You want to be the fattest pig in Eorzea, don't you fatty? You want to do nothing but eat all day, every day." The paper bag of sweets rustled, and he was pressing a sticky bun to her lips. "Eat it, piggy. You know you want to. Eat it, and grow fatter for me, piggy. You know you want to."

With every utterance of the word 'piggy,' Thancred tugged on her slickened hen just a little bit faster, a little bit firmer.

Lauden bit into the bun, and chewed, and shuddered as she completed.

"What a queer proclivity," G'raha smiled cryptically as he continued to feed her the bun. "How are you feeling, Lauden?"

"Deliriously happy," the fattened woman mumbled around a mouthful of pastry. "Thank you."

"Are you ready for round two?" Thancred walked around into Lauden's field of view. G'raha moved over; Thancred knelt, and offered Lauden his spend-covered fingers. She took them into her mouth, and she licked herself off of him.

G'raha fed her the last of the bun, and then Thancred took over in front, and he made his way to the rear. She watched with eager eyes as Thancred teased himself to readiness, then she smiled, and moaned happily as she took him between her lips. She moaned loudly as G'raha squeezed into her, and then she was rocking back and forth again, ever so gently.

Thancred held onto her long pointed ears. G'raha held onto her fattened thighs. He completed quickly; he was a tight fit, and she loved him for it, but maybe she was just a little too tight...? She gasped around Thancred's cock as G'raha withdrew, and she squealed like a piglet as he began to tongue her bud. He continued to lick, and poke, and probe until Thancred completed with a deep, pleasurable sigh.

"What do you think?" Thancred asked G'raha as he stepped back, and slipped his slickened length back into his trousers. "Should we lower her a few ilms and leave her for Jessie? Or should we raise her a few ilms and leave her for Biggs?"

"Maybe we should leave her where she is, for Cid." G'raha chuckled warmly.

Lauden wriggled and writhed at the thought of being a receptacle for the staff of the Ironworks.

"I think she likes that idea." G'raha reinserted her plug and gently stroked her throbbing, slickened length.

"Seriously, though," Thancred grinned. "We're not letting you down until you have a full belly. I do hope you're comfortable, Lauden."

The men in her life sat on the floor in front of her, and took turns telling her what a big fat pig she was while they fed her sticky buns. They were so earnest, and the pastries were so good that she completed again, without being touched.

Eventually they ran out of teases, and food, and it was time to let her down.

"You're an amazing woman. It has been an honor to aid you in exploring this very unexpected side of you," G'raha smiled down at her as he combed his fingers through her hair.

Thancred lowered her onto the mats, and cut her free. She donned her smalls and her trousers, then the men helped her struggle to her feet. She donned her brassiere, and her ill-fitting town shirt, and she thrust her feet into her sandals. She wanted to help with the cleanup but she was, simply, too fat to help. And so she leaned against her old workbench, and she watched the men in her life clean and tidy the work area.

They left the Ironworks together. She gazed up at the terrace, and pondered lugging her fattened body up there for a few more sticky buns. G'raha told her that he'd grab her another half dozen; he ran up the hill while Thancred escorted her back to the Rising Stones.

"I know you enjoy being teased, but just this once I'd prefer to tell you how beautiful you are." He took her pudgy hands in his, and he stood on his tiptoes. He leaned forward, and he kissed her deeply, eliciting a round of applause from the handful of folks idling in the main room.

Lauden blushed, and smiled, and murmured a quiet and earnest "thank you."

"So, what do you think?" Tataru beamed excitedly. "This is only your second time here, isn't it?"

The Waking Sands had been extensively reworked by builders over the past fortnight, while Lauden had continued to grow, and grow. The entire space had been cleaned out, and thoroughly scrubbed.

"I was here a few times while Urianger insisted on using this place for his primal research," the girthy Elezen clarified. The lanky mage had been the last of the Scions to fully relocate to the Rising Stones; she had wondered why for awhile, and she had received her answer in the First. The man quite simply hadn't become himself yet, and the Rising Stones was, from what she had been told, rather more intimate than the Waking Sands, which had only minimal support facilities.

The great room had been cleared out; partitions had been set up, splitting the room into a sleeping area, a kitchen, a living area, and a private space for Lauden's pending assistant. The bed was good up to 1,200 ponzes; the couch and armchair were supposedly rated for a thousand. The living area was well appointed with a number of rugs, more fragile furniture for visitors, and a wide pressure plate scale that could accurately weigh anything up to 1,500 ponzes. A number of bookshelves had been moved in, along with a great number of books. There were a few Gunbreaker and Machinist manuals, but by Lauden's request most of the tomes were bodice-rippers. She wanted her retirement to consist of laying around reading romance novels, growing fatter and fatter as she waited for Cheria to return and sweep her off to a tropical farm.

That seemed increasingly... fantastical. The Waking Sands, however, was a very real place to retire. All she needed was an assistant or two to handle the endless task of filling her nearly bottomless belly.

The rooms were warmly lit. There was plenty of pantry space, and a wardrobe, and Minfilia's old office had been converted into a room for Ironworks laundry machines, and dry goods storage. The bathroom had plenty of grab bars, a toilet that was extremely comfortable and sturdy, and an Ironworks shower stall with spray heads along the floor and ceiling. The shower stall was big; big enough for an assistant to help scrub those hard to reach places. There was even a section with vents and fire crystals in the floor and ceiling; to dry off all she had to do was waddle on top of a pressure plate and wait a moment.

Lauden had realized on her way down that she'd be lucky to make it down the stairs again. Her knee screamed, and wobbled, and the brace felt like it might give out if she sneezed too hard. Once she moved in, she quite simply wasn't moving out.

She could teleport, yes, but the bigger she grew the harder teleporting became, and the more her range contracted. She could barely sense the Mor Dhona Aetheryte right now; she couldn't reach all of Eorzea, and she had barely made it to Limsa Lominsa. Tataru had wanted to teleport to Horizon and walk or take a wain, but Lauden remembered the journey and knew that she was simply too fat for it. And so she had insisted on the ferry.

The Waking Sands was hard to get back to, and if her teleport range contracted enough, she wouldn't be able to leave. It was a prison. An oubliette. A place to keep her away from the prying eyes of Eorzea. Considering that Y'shtola had announced her retirement by marching her flabby body skyclad through the major cities, that was probably for the best.

Truth be told she wasn't much of a people person. She was looking forward to some alone time. If she could find an assistant that she liked, she'd be set. Tataru had even acquired a steady supply of the aphrodisiac for her. She could stay here, foggy and happy and huge, and maybe one day Y'shtola would come by. Maybe one day Alisaie would bring a fattened Alphinaud.

"Well?"

Lauden blinked as she felt a tiny poke near the bottom of the flabby apron of her belly.

"Sorry, Tataru. I got to thinking about what living here will be like. I think it's great. I think I can move in as soon as we hire an assistant - or assistants. Two might be nice. A cook and a helper."

"There should be a few 'helpers' ready to interview at the Rising Stones when we get back," Tataru beamed. "Are you ready to head home?"

"Sure." She was hungry. She was always hungry, but the ferry had given her more time to digest than usual. "I think I'll grab a snack first."

"Let me handle that for you; I'll have your sticky buns delivered while you interview candidates!" Tataru grinned, and began to teleport.

The fat Elezen grunted, and struggled, and strained to follow along.

As Lauden coalesced in Revenant's Toll she looked around to find Tataru, walking up the hill to the kitchens. The little Lalafell turned and waved to her, and continued on her way.

"Get a dozen!" Lauden yelled after her.

"I'll bring you a score!" Tataru laughed knowingly.

A score was probably a better number. She could eat fifteen or sixteen buns now, easily, and she'd want to be able to offer one to a candidate.

She gazed longingly at the terrace. She could probably make it up there, if she tried, but she'd sweat through her town clothes. She'd strain her knee. And she'd be tired and sore when she woke up from her nap. Better to let Tataru fetch her some buns; the little Lalafell was faster, and more agile, and was likely to stay that way. She turned towards the Seventh Heaven, and groaned as her knee complained. She took a deep breath, and began to waddle heavily towards the entrance. Her hefty hips grazed the door frame as she eased her way into the tavern. She nodded and smiled at the looks she drew; she even had a wink for the awed little Au Ra in the corner.

By the time she made it to the door to the Rising Stones, she was breathing heavily. One of the patrons opened the door for her; she murmured a grateful "thank you," and eased over the threshold, into the great room.

There were a number of unfamiliar women sitting at tables dotted around the living area. Candidates for the position of assistant, probably. There were a few familiar faces and there, in the back - Alisaie was chatting with... "Lyse Hext?!" Lauden gasped. She couldn't remember the last time she had seen the muscular blonde pugilist. She was still lean, and well-built, and dressed in her usual red vest, white crop top, and red trousers.

The former Scion turned at the sound of Lauden's voice. Her jaw dropped open; she stared in disbelieving amazement for what felt like an eternity as the Warrior of Light slowly waddled forward.

"Lauden Praud," Lyse finally managed. "What in the seven hells happened to you? Were you cursed?"

"Not exactly," Lauden grinned sheepishly as she stopped in front of Alisaie and their guest. "I'm.. ah... gaining weight. Intentionally."

She gulped as Lyse's eyes gleamed brightly. The younger woman stepped forward, and grabbed the lower roll of Lauden's enormous gut with both hands. She squeezed, and jiggled, and whispered "you are so swiving soft..." She looked up at the fattened Warrior of Light, and grinned heatedly. "You're a swiving pig, Lauden. A big, fat, swiving pig. You're a flan! A blob! I've never seen anyone so fat! And you did this to yourself on purpose?! You can't even blame the Empire, or an Allagan trap, or an Ascian plot? This big blob of blubber is your choice?!"

"Y-yes." Lauden blushed brightly. She frissoned; her nipples hardened, and her hen firmed, and slickened. She took a tentative step back. She needed to sit down. She needed to go to her room and tend to herself.

"Oh my gods you're stimulated?!" Lyse poked at Lauden's enormous flabby breasts. She tweaked her nipples, now visible through her flimsy brassiere and her town shirt. "You actually like it when I call you a big, fat, jiggly pig?" She pulled on the fat woman's breasts as if they were a cow's teats.

"Oh yeah," Alisaie chuckled proudly. "She loves it when I tease her. Don't you, piggy?"

Lauden's blush deepened. She felt paralyzed. She wasn't sure what to do. The pressure on her breasts felt amazing. The throbbing of her hen felt like pure, wet levin. She contracted her bud around her plug; she took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "I do enjoy it, Lyse," she admitted. "I enjoy it a lot."

She had to be careful with Alisaie, but Lyse was an adult. An adult that she had pined for at one point. An adult that had never noticed her. Until now.

Lyse groped Lauden's chest. "Let me get a look at this gut of yours, piggy!" Her hands wandered downwards; she quickly unfastened the fat woman's shirt and spread it open, revealing her thick, soft rolls. The fit woman groped her upper roll, probing and squeezing as she explored her body, oblivious to the looks they were drawing.

"If you fancy her that much, you should get a room," Alisaie snorted.

"The Solar," Lyse murmured absently as she squeezed Lauden's rolls with both hands. "Get the door to the Solar."

Alisaie scrambled down the hallway, and opened the door to Minfilia's old office as Lyse quickly moved around behind Lauden, and began to shove her forward. "Move, piggy! Oh gods your arse is so swiving fat! It's like a pair of watermelons! And these! Are these love handles?!" She gripped Lauden's thick, jutting flanks, squeezing and pulling as she continued to shove the fattened woman forward, forward. "Why don't you oink for me, piggy. Come on. You did this to yourself, pig! Be proud of it! Oink for me!"

"Thanks, Kid," Lyse murmured as she shoved Lauden into the Solar. A couple more shoves and she closed the door. A metallic clatter as she locked it.

"I can't stand it, Lauden. You are so swiving fat I can't swiving stand it!" Lyse continued to shove the fattened Warrior of Light deeper into the room, and onto the rug. "By the twelve, I can hear your thighs rubbing together! You are the fattest woman - the fattest thing - I've ever seen! And you did this on purpose?!"

"I d-did," Lauden stammered. "I've always w-wanted to."

"You've always been a fatty? You've been holding it in this whole time?! Bad piggy! Bad!" Lyse clamped down on Lauden's shoulders. She forced her downwards; the fattened Elezen knelt , and then Lyse was in front of her, shoving her some more. Lauden took the cue and lay down.

"Thal's balls you're so fat I can't even straddle you," Lyse moaned. "Oh, you're so fat. You're so fat. How did you get so fat?! Gods, if I'd known you were fattening up I would have visited sooner! I would have fed you slops myself! You were always fat, Lauden! You were always fat and I always thought you could be fatter! You could be so much fatter! Oh, you're a dream come true, fatty!" Lyse had kicked her boots off, and had taken her trousers off. She pulled off her smalls and she climbed over top of Lauden. She lowered herself onto the fat woman's face; she was careful to pull the Elezen's long ears up so she didn't press them into the floor.

"Oh, lick me, fatty! Lick me with that fat tongue of yours! I know you can do it! Come on, piggy! Eat your meal!" She rubbed her entrance over Lauden's mouth; the fattened Elezen obediently opened her mouth, and began to pleasure Lyse. "Oh yes! Yes, piggy! Give me that fat, piggy tongue of yours! Come on! Come on! Good piggy. Good piggy. Oink for me! I know you can oink for me!"

Lauden obediently oinked. Twice, for good measure.

Lyse moaned loudly as she rocked her hips. She was gushing slickness; she was coating Lauden's tongue, she was smearing her lips and her chin. Lauden tongued her pearl; she thrust her tongue between her folds a few times but she knew from her time with Y'shtola that she should focus on her pearl and so she focused. As she focused on Lyse she rocked her hips, rubbing her length against the underside of her gut.

"I cannot swiving believe how fat you are Lauden you're so swiving perfect you're a fat sloppy slovenly dream come true." Lyse sounded manic. She looked manic. "I want to watch you eat. I want to watch you grow. I want to watch you make a complete pig out of yourself, piggy! I want you to get so fat you can't even swiving move and I'll visit you and I'll sit on your face and you'll take me with that fat tongue of yours and yes! Yes! YES! YES!" The fit woman screamed, and bucked, and gushed all over Lauden's face as she completed.

With a final thrust of her hips, The Warrior of Light completed in her smalls.

"Whew!" the pugilist exhaled heavily. "I meant every word that I said, Lauden." She was panting now. Her body was lightly glazed in sweat. "I really mean it. You're the fattest pig I've ever seen. You are perfect. I think I need to go, or I'm going to swive you again."

"I always wanted to get together with you," Lauden laughed tiredly. "I never thought it would happen like this."

"I always thought you hated me," Lyse laughed warmly as she eased herself off of the Warrior of Light's face. "I've always found softness appealing. I have never seen so much of it in one place. You are so swiving fat, Lauden. Good work. Keep going. Become the fattest woman on this star. Keep growing, and I'll swive you again. Keep growing and I might swiving bond with you. Gods." Her voice shifted to a husky whisper. "You are so fat."

Lauden lay on the floor as Lyse tugged on her pantalettes, and her trousers. She watched as the pugilist donned her boots.

"You're not going to help me up, are you?" She laughed.

"Absolutely not," Lyse grinned down at her sadistically. "I'd stay and watch you struggle, but if I did that I'd complete in my pantalettes. You are too much, Lauden. You are too big, and too much, and you are too damned fat. I think... I need to go home, and figure some stuff out. I'll see you again, fatty."

Lyse teleported. The bang made Lauden's ears pop; it rattled some of the stuff on Minfilia's desk.

Getting up without help might be possible, but Lauden felt that she needed to lie there for a minute, and process what had just happened to her.

A long moment later a key rattled in the lock. A moment after that Tataru, Alisaie, and a large, muscular Roegadyn woman were standing over her, looking down at her.

"What was that?" Alisaie wondered. "Pretend I wasn't listening at the door, piggy."

"I'll tell you... when you're older." Lauden licked Lyse's slick off of her lips, and smiled.

"My name is Surging Waves." The Roegadyn held up her hand, and wiggled her fingers in a wave. "I'm here about the assistant position. Would you like to ask me questions from down there, or would you like me to help you up first?"

"Here is good," the fat Elezen laughed. "But seriously, help me up. Please. We can talk here, or in the main room."

The interviews went well. Lauden and Tataru went through several candidates, and ultimately hired a Roegadyn named Surging Waves to help the retired Warrior of Light and an Au Ra named Sayo Oshiga to cook for her. Surging was a big burgly woman, seven fulms tall with raven hair and taut muscles. Sayo was a tiny little waif, barely five fulms tall, but to F'lhaminn's grateful surprise, she really knew her way around a kitchen. She worked in the kitchens, you see, and her specialty was pastries. Surging promised to keep Lauden mobile for as long as she could; Sayo promised to cook with the special ingredients F'lhaminn had shipped to the Waking Sands.

The incongruously overweight Elezen couldn't fit into her room anymore. Her hips were too wide; her gut was too deep. She thought that she might be able to wriggle in somehow, but she doubted she'd be able to get out again, and she wasn't replenishing anima like she used to. Teleporting had become difficult. She didn't need anything from her room, really. It was filled with old Machinist equipment, and Gunbreaker ammo, and clothes that barely fit four hundred ponzes ago. The Scions agreed to leave everything in place, as a reminder of her contributions.

Lauden had worked with Jacinthe to defeat Gaius van Baelsar and the Ultima Weapon. She had saved Ishgard. She had helped liberate Gyr Abania and Doma. She had returned darkness to the First, and she had vanquished Emet-Selch, and other Ascians. She was an accomplished adventurer, an accomplished Warrior of Light, and now it was finally time for her to retire.

The only things she took with her when she left were her glasses, and the ill-fitting clothes on her back. She teleported to Limsa Lominsa with Surging and Sayo, and the three of them took a heavily laden ferry to Vesper Bay. She barely made it into the Waking Sands without falling over; her knee was done with stairs. Surging's first task was to find her an analgesic; Sayo's first task was comfort food. Pastries, made from the fattening grain that Cheria had brought into Lauden's life.

And so over the next fortnight or so Lauden Praud settled into retirement. She outgrew her clothes, and lazed about reading and eating pastries skyclad while Tataru made her a new set that she promised would last her for another hundred ponzes. Sayo joked that Lauden would outgrow her new shirt in a week or two, and after Tataru left the little Au Ra earnestly asked the massive Elezen if that was something that she wanted to do.

"I don't know," Lauden mused. "I think I'm big enough, but I've stretched my stomach too much to stop growing any time soon. I'm in no hurry to see where my growth takes me."

The Waking Sands settled into a routine. Lauden sat around and read books and ate. Sayo cooked pastries and delicious Au Ra and Ul'dahn cuisine. Surging helped Lauden out of bed and out of her chair, and she scrubbed her down in the shower every few suns. Mostly, she ran errands for ingredients for Sayo, or for bodice rippers for Lauden.

One day, just after dinner, Thancred and G'raha visited. Lauden hoped that they were here for coupling, and so she instructed her assistants to take the rest of the night off.

"They seem nice." Thancred glanced over his shoulder as the door to the stairwell thumped closed. "We come bearing gifts." He reached over his left shoulder, and drew Lauden's freshly sharpened Crownsblade. "I wanted to bring you this." He held it up and lay it across the arms of the lightly built rocking chair. "You should hang it above the archway. I have to get going; if I don't catch the ferry back to Limsa I'll miss the boat to Sharlayan. It's good seeing you, Lauden. You look happy." He bent down, and kissed her tenderly, and then he was striding quickly out the door.

"I think he left because he knew I'll upstage him," G'raha laughed gently as he shrugged out of his bag. He set it down in Lauden's reinforced armchair. "I should probably tell you the story first, I guess."

"Mmm?" Lauden gazed at her visitor as she chewed on a sticky bun.

"I ran into Y'shtola a couple of weeks ago. She is very busy; she hopes to visit you soon. But she wanted you to have this as soon as it was ready, and so she gave me the Leatherworker's contact information, and tasked me with picking it up and bringing it to you." G'raha opened the flap of his pack.

"I guess that wasn't much of a story," he laughed gently. "Anyway. Cheria and Y'shtola commissioned a new chastity belt for you." He lifted the device out of his bag. It looked much like the original; soft black leather, a bright metal cage, a bright metal plug. Each side had two snaps on the hips, and a slot for a key in between them.

"This material stretches when it's near flesh, so... it will fit. No worries there." He tugged on one of the waist straps, pulling it several fulms away from the rest of the belt. Lauden nodded approvingly, and gave him a thumbs-up with her free hand as she continued to eat her sticky bun.

"The cage is electrified, as it was in the previous model. This model is sensitive to your aether, and will only zap your hands. If your belly presses down on your cage, you'll be fine." He smiled winsomely; she nodded enthusiastically. "All four snaps are controls. The right side top opens and closes, the right side bottom controls horizontal vibration strength. When the plug is open the base softens, and the opening develops a lip." He held the plug up, and demonstrated. He brought the device close so that Lauden could see it; the fat Elezen nodded approvingly.

"What do the left-hand buttons do?" She nodded at the other side of the belt.

"The top one controls plug size. The bottom one controls vertical vibration strength. I am told that a high vertical and low horizonal combined with a large plug can simulate a length." He grinned amicably. "I am assured that this model is very accommodating. I'd like to try it out with you."

"I want you to hold the keys," she smiled earnestly. "You'll never lose them, and I know you'll come to my aid if I call for you."

He blushed brightly, and smiled boyishly.

"The material breathes and is self-cleaning. You can wear this indefinitely. You will never need to take it off again, unless you want to." He nodded towards the gap in the partitions that led to her bedroom. "Shall we?"

"Absolutely." She finished her sticky bun; she grunted, and wheezed, and finally heaved herself into a standing position. Her gut didn't make it easy; for now it was resting just above her knees. "You might have trouble with my belly," she laughed gently as she began to waddle laboriously towards her room.

He helped her undress. She lay in the middle of the bed and pulled her gut towards her breasts with both hands. Her mound had puffed up considerably; it had engulfed her length, which looked like it hadn't been used in awhile. G'raha got to work; he used the belt's stretchy nature to pull the straps along her backside like taffy. He pulled out her plug, and adjusted the settings on the belt until the belt's plug was the same size as the one he had just removed. She gasped as he inserted it; he fumbled about with the cage, and managed to get it loosely tucked into place. The halves of the belt snapped together easily; he pulled out the activation keys and watched as the whole thing shrunk and expanded into place.

"Ahhh..." Lauden sighed with relief as she felt the cage tighten around her length. "I have wanted to feel this feeling again for so long..." She released her gut; her belly came crashing down like a flesh avalanche, engulfing the belt. "So, my hips are only getting harder to reach. What do I do about that? Have my assistants adjust the controls?"

"Oh, right!" G'raha darted out of the bedroom, and came back a moment later with a simple thin leather cuff with four knobs on the outside of it. "I'm told that this will stretch to fit." He slid the magical device over her fat left hand, and they both giggled as it shrunk just a little bit, comfortably embracing her wrist.

"So now that I can control the size of the plug, I can make it big enough to accommodate you?" She grinned eagerly.

"Yes," he nodded eagerly.

And so she adjusted the controls until the plug felt as filling as he did, and then she adjusted them a little more. She opened the plug, and laboriously wriggled over to the side of the bed. She dangled her fat legs over the side of the mattress, and grinned up at him heatedly. "My knee is too sore for all fours." Her smile became weak, and apologetic. "I hope the bed's a good height for you."

It was, with a couple of pillows. They combined their strength to push her soft, pillowy gut away from her thighs, and he slid into her, and she was in heaven. She ached, and she dripped, and she could focus wholly on him. On his thick, throbbing length, thrusting in and out of her. She adjusted the vibrations just a little, and now she was truly in heaven. She writhed; she rolled her hips. Her fat body jiggled and shook. She tightened her elephantine thighs around him, she held him close, she could feel his hands pressing into the thick roll of her belly, and as she slid slowly towards ecstacy the foremost thoughts in her mind were I did this to myself, and This feels really good.

Through the thick fog of the aphrodisiac, she couldn't feel her fear anymore. She had overcome it, or it had disappeared on its own. Either way, the result was the same - an immensely fattened Warrior of Light, coupling with the former Crystal Exarch.

She couldn't complete anymore. She had voluntarily given up that pleasure, for the joy of fullness. For the joy of completeness.

They lay together afterwards, cuddling as the sweat cooled and dried across the vast expanse of her quivering, jiggling flesh.

"I'm sorry, Raha," she murmured quietly. "You asked me to bring you along on an adventure and instead I hauled you through five hundred ponzes of fat and my retirement. You deserve better."

"Oh, we had the bit with the tentacles, and the bit with the pollen," he laughed gently. "And something tells me that the life of a Scion is bound to get interesting eventually. Watching you grow has been it's own adventure, Lauden. It's been worth it, to see you blossom into a happy, contented woman. You were so... tormented when we met. I always wondered if I could soothe you. It turned out all you needed was sticky buns, length, and time." He laughed again, as he stroked her belly with his hand.

He walked his fingers up to her collar, and tugged on the ring. "One day your princess will come," he smiled. "Cheria will return and she'll take you away and that will be the last we see of you. Until then, we'll drop by regularly when we can, and I for one will happily give your staff a regular night off, if it means I get to spend time with you."

"Thank you, Raha," she smiled gratefully. "Thank you for everything."

As Lauden Praud adjusted to life in the Waking Sands, she decided that it was finally time to slow down. She requested that Sayo use regular grain and flower in her bread and pasta from now on. She was fat enough; she was happy to continue growing, but she wasn't in a hurry. She would achieve her goal in time. She had already passed seven hundred ponzes; that settled the bet in Alisaie's favor, and caused some consternation in the Revnant's Toll betting pool. New goals were set by the gamblers; Lauden was pressured to weigh herself weekly, for the good of the Eorzean adventuring economy.

Around seven hundred and fifty ponzes she lost her ability to sense Aetherytes. Limsa Lominsa faded, and Horizon faded. The Waking Sands had truly become her gilded cage.

Sayo came up with a diet that filled Lauden's cavernous stomach without being outrageously fattening. Once a week the little Raen indulged her instinct for decadence as she cooked up a wonderfully fattening dessert for her client, to celebrate her continued growth. And so the obese Elezen's weight gain slowed from a sprint to a stroll. She couldn't stop. She didn't mind; she didn't want to stop. Slowing down was more than enough for her.

And so her clothes began to last longer. Tataru visited fortnightly to take her measurements; Surging would pick up Lauden's new clothes on one of her many trips to the Rising Stones. The Hellsguard became intimately familiar with the commute, both via ferry and from the Aetheryte at Horizon, and she spent at least one sun a week in Revenant's Toll. She'd gather gossip, and she'd update the gamblers on Lauden's progress. She'd pick up new clothes from Tataru, and she'd tell the little Lalafell how the last set had met their end.

While the staff considered it unprofessional at first, Lauden convinced both women to tease her. Deep in the fog of the aphrodisiac their pet names for her felt warm, and comforting. Their gentle mocking made her hen ache, and frequently gave her cause to adjust the settings on her plug.

Every sun, Surging would wake up her Warrior of Lard. She would help her get dressed, and she would escort her to the living room, where Sayo would bring her breakfast on a tray designed to balance on the slowly broadening shelf of her gut. After breakfast she would cook a score of fresh sticky buns for her little piggy while she read bodice rippers. Lauden would eat the buns one at a time, and then she would nap in her reinforced reclining armchair while Sayo prepared lunch. The afternoon was spent reading and grazing on pastries, and then after dinner, Surging would help her into bed.

At various points during the sun Surging would escort the fattened woman to the bathroom, and the Hellsguard made sure that she showered at least every other sun.

It was a good life. A slow life. Lauden kept out of sight of Eorzea, and she grew, and grew. She was closing in on her goal of nine hundred pounds, and she was confident that she'd get there soon. The fog of the aphrodisiac was warm, and pleasant; she spent several hours a sun with the plug set to a large size, and a persistent vibration. She'd drizzle slickness into her smalls (which her caretakers called her bigs) and she'd close her eyes, and she'd blissfully exist.

She still had the wrong body. She still needed Fantasia. But the drug dulled that need, and allowed her to appreciate what she had. And what she had was a body encased in several hundred pounds of buttery smooth blubber and a magical chastity belt. Her fingers had bloated into barely flexible sausages. Her arms had grown thick, and heavy, and jiggly, and they were forced out to her sides by the thick rolls of her chest. Her breasts were larger than watermelons, and they rested on either side of a truly massive protruding belly. Twin rolls of soft, pliable blubber engulfed her pillowy thighs, and had begun to encroach on her knees. Her bottom and hips were wider still; her thighs had expanded to impractical proportions, and the last time Tataru had measured her calves, they were as thick around as her waist had been when she was young. Her neck and shoulders were covered in thick sheets of blubber, and at some point during her adventure, her heavy double chin had creased, giving birth to a third.

Her collar had grown to accommodate her; it continued to rest comfortably at the base of her neck, with the ring dangling just above the hollow of her collarbones.

At least once a sun she'd look in the bathroom mirror, and she'd murmur "I am so swiving fat," and she'd smile. Surging would agree that her Warrior of Lard was in fact swiving fat, and she'd smack her bottom and drive her back into the living area like a farmhand, tending to a stubborn sow.

One sun Alisaie came to visit between lunch and Lauden's afternoon snack.

"Hey, piggy!" She jeered as she skipped into the living area. The young Elezen was willowy, and fit, and couldn't weigh more than ninety ponzes. She was a single fried popoto stick; Lauden was an entire popoto. "What's it like being so swiving fat that you need help to get up?"

"Relaxing," Lauden smiled contentedly. She tucked a bookmark into her bodice ripper and lay it aside. She dialed down the vibrations of her plug, and gave the young woman her full attention. "What brings you here? I haven't seen you in awhile."

"Oh, I'm just in and out. I wanted to say hi to the fattest piggy in Eorzea. While I've been looking forward to poking your big, blubbery belly, the real reason I'm here is to tell you that Alphinaud has postponed his three moon diet. He claims he's waiting until after a phial of Fantasia turns up. I told him he should get started, and he agreed to defer the matter to you. Give me your judgement, piggy. Unless you're too fat to think clearly, in which case I'll ask one of your helpers."

The fat woman felt that the fog of the aphrodisiac was thin enough around this subject for her to adjudicate in good faith. "Women grow differently than men, Alisaie. The two of you should be hitting your final growth spurt at any moment. Alphinaud isn't comfortable in his body. Do you think he'd be comfortable in a bigger version of it?"

"No, I suppose not." Alisaie kicked a leg of Lauden's reclining armchair as she moped. "He says he'll do it! He promises he'll do it! He just has to, you know... become a girl first." She sighed. "I still can't believe you shot past seven hundred ponzes. I've got nine fifty in the pool now. Alphinaud has changed his tune; he thinks you'll break a thousand. I think if anyone could pull off weighing a thousand ponze, it would be you, piggy, but I think nine fifty is more realistic. You are so much prettier than Vauthry, piggy!"

"Thank you!" Lauden laughed. "Oh, I forgot about him. Mister 'I am righteousness!'" She giggled, and guffawed.

"What a shite," Alisaie snorted. "You've slowed down lately, piggy. Why is that? Are you getting tired of being fat? Or have you finally gotten too fat to eat?"

Lauden writhed as her hen drizzled slick into her bigs. "I'm... not in a hurry. I'm marching towards my goal; and when I realize it... I'm going to keep eating. And growing. Because this gut is just too godsdamned big to fill for long." She slapped her belly with both hands, and kneaded her top roll. Mmm, that felt good...

Alisaie poked her clothed navel, and the bare strip of heavy flab that peeked out from beneath her shirttails. Lauden giggled and murmured "quit it!" as she playfully swiped at the young woman. Her gesture missed by fulms; there was no way she could possibly make contact without getting up.

"Can I get a hug before I leave, fatty? Or are you too fat to stand up?" Alisaie grinned eagerly.

"Yes, and yes," Lauden chuckled. "Watch this." She pressed a control on the arm of her reclining armchair. The device whined, and hummed, and helped her into a standing position.

"Hahahah!" The young Elezen laughed, and shook her head. She stepped forward, and hugged Lauden's belly. "Oh gods I don't think Alphinaud and I could wrap ourselves around you. You are swiving fat, piggy!"

With a grunt, Lauden leaned forward and patted Alisaie's shoulders. One of the few genuine downsides of her condition - she was too fat for proper hugs now. Her belly stuck out way too far.

Alisaie realized that. She walked around to Lauden's flank, and rested her head on the Warrior of Lard's colossal love handle while Lauden hugged her with one fat, jiggly arm.

"You're so warm..." the young woman murmured.

After a moment she stepped back, and waved. "I've gotta get going. I'm meeting Raha and Estinien about the Empire. Me! Going to serious meetings! Can you believe it?"

"I can," Lauden smiled, and nodded. "You're certainly mature enough, Alisaie. Take care. And tell your brother he can wait!"

The young woman winked, and teleported.

Lauden eased herself back into her chair. She readjusted her plug settings to something firm and pleasant, and she resumed reading her bodice ripper as Sayo puttered about in the kitchen, preparing her a hot platter of sticky buns.

An afternoon alone. Surging was out gathering something; Sayo was out for her daily walk around Vesper Bay. She had made sure that Lauden was well stocked; the fat woman had plenty of her favorite treat, and plenty of time to eat as her plug throbbed deep within her.

"Look at you, Kitten. All big and soft." Cheria Haredottir purred in her thick, strange accent as she sauntered into the great room of the Waking Sands.

"Cheria!" Lauden mumbled around a mouthful of sticky bun. The entire platter rested atop her gut; she was maybe a third of the way through her afternoon snack.

"I wanted to see you for myself, Kitten." Her lapine lover smiled hungrily as she caressed her massive armored breasts with both hands. "I heard you got fat. I heard the numbers, but I didn't believe them. All this without me... Good job, Kitten. You did a very good job. You are such a good girl." She slung her saddlebag onto the couch beside Lauden. She bent over, and opened the flap, and pulled out one of her milk bottles.

"Imagine how much bigger you'll be with my help, Kitten." She popped the bottle open, and handed it to the fat Elezen. "Drink. Wash down those sticky buns."

Lauden slowly and noisily worked her way through all four bottles of Cheria's milk. As she guzzled the thick white liquid her lover murmured "a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips, Kitten," and "you're such a good girl. Yes you are. Yes you are!"

Finally the fat woman had finished fattening herself further, and Cheria tucked the last bottle into the belly pouch of her armor. She closed the flap of her saddlebag, and picked it up again. "I'm busy earning enough for retirement, Kitten. I'm glad you're safe. I'm glad you're someplace where you can grow big and soft for me. As soon as I can afford a proper place I'll come get you... and as soon as Trisha develops that serum, I'll come give it to you."

"I don't know how that will work," Lauden chuckled. "Growing with every completion when the cage prevents me from completing?"

"Oh, I'll build you a new cage, Kitten. One that keeps you constantly stimulated. And you'll wear it for me, until you're too big to care anymore." The massive Viera cocked a heated, confident smile. She leaned over Lauden's massive gut, and she hooked a finger into the ring of her collar, and she kissed her tenderly. "This is just the beginning, Kitten. You're still too thin. I'm going to fatten you up until you can't even move your fingers. It's just a question of when." She stepped back, smiled confidently, and murmured "Goodbye for now, Kitten."

And she teleported, leaving Lauden with a belly half-full of her milk, and a drizzling, aching length in her bigs. She knew she'd grow too fat to move her fingers eventually; for her the question was would she do it to herself before Cheria did it to her?

After dinner, the sun of her weekly weigh-in. Surging had teleported to Revenant's Toll to report her Warrior of Lard's numbers, and Sayo was out chatting with the merchants. G'raha had called ahead; her helpers knew she'd have a visitor. Lauden didn't anticipate Sayo's chocolate fudge cake being so rich, and so filling, and so she had asked Surging to help her into bed before the Hellsguard left. Sayo had turned the lights down low, and so the great room was nice and dim, and perfectly conducive to romance. Or sleep.

Right now, Lauden was leaning towards sleep.

Then she heard the door, and voices - a man and a woman.

"Lauden?" G'raha called out quietly. "Maybe she's asleep... She does go to bed early."

"I don't care. I have got to see how fat she is now." Lyse Hext?!

Lauden reflexively took a deep breath, and licked her lips. "I'm in the bedroom!" She called out. She was still clothed; she was laying on top of the bed, with her vast gut sticking out of her shirt.

"Wait here, this probably won't take long," Lyse murmured mirthfully.

Footsteps, and a moment later Lyse was in her room.

"Gods you are so unbelievably swiving fat! I still can't believe it!" Lyse bubbled. "You're easily a two hundred ponzes bigger than you were the last time I saw you. Gods, what a swiving fatty you are."

"Hello to you too, Lyse." Lauden waved a fat hand at her interlocutor.

"Oh wow your fingers are fatter than sausages! I was gonna sit on your face again but I have got to have one of those big, thick lengths inside me!" Lyse promptly kicked off her boots, and dropped her trousers, and stripped off her smalls. She knelt on the bed, and took Lauden's fat wrist in her hand, and guided her thick, blubbery fingers to her sopping wet entrance.

"Ohh... your finger is as thick as a cock I LOVE IT! I swiving love it! You know what to do, piggy! Root around in there! Rub my pearl! Swive me with that fat finger of yours!"

Lauden chuckled as she stroked Lyse's folds. She curled her fat finger, and rubbed the fattened pad of her fingertip against her pearl.

"Oh gods you're so fat you're so fat you're so swiving fat! Bond with me, Lauden! Be my partner! Bond with me. You can live in the palace and your every need will be seen to and you'll get so swiving fat you can't even move and yes!" She desperately ground herself against Lauden's hand. "Yes! YES!! YES!!!" And she was gushing down Lauden's hand, and the Warrior of Lard was laughing helplessly as the younger woman slumped forward, panting.

She leaned down and covered Lauden's fat face in a smattering of butterfly kisses. "Promise me you'll bond with me, Lauden. Promise me you'll at least think about it. Gods you're so fat. You're the fattest woman I've ever seen you are so stimulating I can't even think straight Nophica's tits you are perfect. How are you so perfect? How can such a fat swiving pig like you be so swiving attractive?! AUGH!"

And she was stepping into her pantalettes, and she was pulling up her trousers, and she left the bedroom with her boots in her hand. A moment later Lauden heard the bang of a teleport, followed by G'raha, knocking gently on the partition support that passed for a doorway.

"Come in, please," she smiled up at him. "Lyse sure is... intense."

"My read of her is that she is deeply conflicted about you. Fitness is a big part of her life, so finding you attractive is... causing some dissonance for her." G'raha sat on the mattress near the head of the bed. He gently stroked Lauden's graying hair, and he smiled down at his lover.

Lauden thrust her finger into her mouth, and licked it clean. "I'm glad you visited tonight," she smiled gently. "This is a fine life, and I have plenty of visitors, but I do get lonely sometimes."

"What would you like to do tonight?" he cupped her cheek, and stroked her chins with his fingertips.

"Honestly?" She giggled demurely. "I'd like to cuddle. I'd like to lay in bed, and cuddle with you. I'd like to wake up beside you, just this once."

"I like the sound of that," G'raha smiled warmly, endearingly.

One morning, Urianger and Alphinaud paid Lauden a visit. Sayo provided them both with tea, and told them that pastries would be ready soon. Alphinaud sat on the couch, squeezed in next to his mountainous mentor, while Urianger paced around, eyeing the partitions, the decorations, the furniture. The great room had been his space for a time, and it had been something of a spartan mess under his care.

"I like what you've done with the place," Urianger nodded approvingly to his fat hostess. "It feels like a proper domicile. A question, if I may?"

"Sure." Lauden nodded, and glanced furtively at Alphinaud. The boy smiled knowingly.

"Why is your gunblade hanging over the stove? Cyclic exposure to heat may affect the cylinder timing, rendering the weapon ineffective in the event that you need to use it again." The lanky mage nodded at the partition that separated the kitchen from the living room.

"Oh, that was my idea!" Sayo held up a tray of pastries, urging Urianger to take one. He did; his expression indicated that he did so just to humor her. She offered one to Alphinaud, and then she gently set the platter down atop Lauden's gut. "Here you go, piggy." The little Au Ra patted Lauden's flabby rolls affectionately. "Eat up!" The retired Warrior of Lard didn't waste any time; she picked up a bun in her fat fingers and tore into immediately.

"Lauden's retired, and she loves to eat. It seemed like the perfect place for it." Sayo bowed daintily to Urianger, and sauntered back into the kitchen.

"Such trophies typically grace doorways, or mantles," Urianger quirked an eyebrow.

"Then I'd have to look at it," Lauden mumbled around a mouthful of delicious pastry.

"Ah." Urianger's terse response indicated that Lauden's reply required elaboration.

"I'm retired, Urianger. This is my life now. Reminders of my old life might give me second thoughts, and I don't want that. I want to be confident and secure. I want to wake up every morning knowing I made the right decision as Surging hauls my fat bottom out of bed. That's a big part of why I asked Sayo and Surging to tease me. When they do, they're reminding me of who I am. Not who I was." Lauden paused to finish eating her first bun. She held up a fat finger as she took a big bite out of her second, indicating that she had more to say but hunger - or the desire for pleasure - was getting in the way.

"Did I tell you that Lyse proposed to me?" Her cheeks and chins jiggled as she laughed. "It would be horribly unladylike of me to relate the circumstances, but she's asked me twice now. I'm not sure if she's serious or not."

"I believe Lyse Hext to be truthful in all matters," Urianger smiled cryptically. "Please, tell me when you've set a date. I'm sure Alphinaud would appreciate being the maiden of honor."

Alphinaud blushed brightly. "About that..."

"Yes?" Lauden gazed down the blubbery slope of her fat arm at the young man. "Has something changed?"

"Not quite. More of a missing detail. Well, there are two missing details, actually, the first being a phial of Fantasia." Alphinaud smiled sadly as he reached into his pouch, and drew out a notebook and a stylus. "The second would be knowledge of your diet. If I'm not mistaken... F'lhaminn cooked for you personally, separate from the rest of us. She cooked you your fattening favorites, and after breakfast and lunch you would journey to the terrace to eat as many pastries as you could. Am I missing anything?"

"Ah, yes. You are!" Lauden took another bite of her bun. "I drank cream with the pastries. And F'lhaminn used flour made from a very special grain." This was her chance to fatten him up. "It won't be my diet without that grain, Alphinaud. Have you talked to F'lhaminn about your bet?"

The young man made a couple of notes, and tucked his pad away. "I have, actually. It seems that she enjoyed cooking for you, and she looks forward to carrying on the tradition." He sighed wearily. "I can't believe I agreed to this." He picked his bun up from the plate on the end table next to him, and nibbled on it. "I was so confident that you'd slow down. I didn't think it was possible for someone to weigh five hundred, or six hundred, or seven hundred ponzes. And here you are, on track for a thousand."

"Surging and Sayo think I'll get too fat to eat around twelve hundred," the Warrior of Lard smiled sadly. "Then we'll have to decide if my assistants feed me. Fair warning about that diet, Alphinaud. It's high in fiber. You'll be spending a goodly amount of time in the bathroom."

"Oh, I know. We all remember." The quiet young man laughed gently.

"Oh, there's one more thing. This began when Y'shtola and Cheria made me drink a Sharlayan aphrodisiac. I think you're a bit young for that, though." Lauden pressed her lips together and thought for a moment. "Their goal was to repress my fear of growth. Are you afraid of gaining weight, Alphinaud?"

"In the wrong body, yes," he nodded. "In the right body, mother will be very surprised."

They shared a laugh, and then Lauden was filling her mouth again.

Urianger looked up from a book he had taken from one of the shelves. "Am I meant to believe that this is a romance between a dragoon and a dragon?"

"Oh, that's only the first volume of Coerthan Heat!" Lauden giggled. "It's a ten volume series, each more improbable than the last. Estinien has a small part in it, as do I, in one of the later books. I was surprised to find myself described as 'voluptuously lethal.' Can you believe that?"

"Absolutely," Alphinaud nodded, and smiled.

"Might I borrow these?" Urianger grinned sheepishly. "I find the publisher's summary to be... delightfully salacious."

"Of course!" Lauden smiled invitingly. "Take whatever you'd like. Bring them back when you're done, and we'll talk about them!"

Dusk, according to the large phasmascape of Vesper Bay that Surging had hung high on the wall above the kitchen. Lauden's helpers had turned the lights down low, and had retired to their private quarters for the night. Surging had tucked Lauden into bed; the Warrior of Lard lay all but skyclad beneath the sheets. Thanks to her collar and her chastity belt she'd always be clothed.

She had worn a nightshirt for awhile, but in her opinion she had been too fat for one for the last two hundred ponzes or so. Beyond a certain point they had become uncomfortable, dragging on her gut, or her breasts, or her arms. The reality was that they just couldn't make one big enough, and baggy enough, to fit her properly. That was one of the little details that she missed about her old life.

The details were adding up lately. She missed regular meals with the Scions. She missed Alisaie teasing her every sun. Sayo and Surging more than made up for it, but they weren't willowy young Elezen. She missed waddling up to the terrace every sun, even though she knew for a certainty that her knee couldn't take her weight in a climb anymore.

The Warrior of Lard was feeling lonely. She had adjusted her plug to a high thickness, a moderate vertical vibration, and a low horizontal vibration. Her hen ached and drizzled, staining her bedspread. It was a rare night, a night in which she wished for release. While she had a full belly and a full bottom her mouth was achingly empty, and she wished only for someone to fill it.

"Hello, Lauden." Thancred whispered quietly from the partition that formed her doorway.

"Thancred!" She gushed. "Come to cuddle with me?"

"If that's your wish." He began to disrobe.

"Actually..." She struggled to roll onto her side, and fought like a demon to push her head and shoulders to the edge of the bed. "I would take your length first, if you're willing."

"Of course, dearheart," he smiled warmly in the dim light as he dropped his smalls, revealing his slickening, blossoming length.

She turned up the vibrations of her plug as she took him between her lips, and for a time she was full. For a time she knew nothing but bliss.

He completed in her mouth, and as she was struggling back into the center of the bed with a contented smile on her face, he received a call on one of his linkpearls.

The ash blonde man listened for a moment, and replied "I'll catch the first ferry in the morning."

And then he crawled into bed with her, and he nuzzled her, and he kissed her tenderly on the lips.

He was gone when Surging came to help her out of bed in the morning. Her mouth felt empty, and she spent the entire sun trying to fill it. She ached for him, and through her ache she grew more in that sun than she had in any one sun since Sayo had helped her to change her diet.

Food had always been a source of comfort for her. Food had always helped her with loneliness. With depression. She had just received a new dose of her depression medicine and a new batch of aphrodisiac, and yet... well, she was lonely. She ached for companionship. She needed more than occasional visits but this was her role now. Staying out of sight, staying out of the way, while she continued to grow, and grow, and grow...

Another sun in the Waking Sands, and Lauden's thousandth ponze was fast approaching. She struggled in the bathroom, even with Surging's help. She had been struggling for awhile, actually.

"We should combine the bathroom and the bedroom somehow," Lauden grunted as Surging helped pull her to feet. "If immobility is inevitable, we should get in front of it."

"You are not immobile yet. I'll keep my Warrior of Lard moving for as long... as I can!" Surging grunted as she helped Lauden with her bigs, and her trousers. "You really should consider a dress."

"But my trousers have low-friction paneling on the thighs!" the burgeoning ball of blubber whined. "If I wore a dress I'd still need low-friction tights. It's a miracle my thighs haven't chafed!"

"Fair point," Surging grumbled. "Come on piggy, let's get you back to your sty." She opened the bathroom door, and walked around behind Lauden. She began to playfully poke at her flabby bottom and jutting love handles, driving her forward, through the hallway and into the great room.

"Ah!" Sayo exclaimed. "There she is! You have a visitor, piggy!"

Lauden looked up from the hypnotic swaying of her jiggling gut. Her mouth dropped open as she beheld Y'shtola Rhul.

This wasn't the chubby, rapidly fattening Y'shtola that she remembered. This wasn't the woman who had seemed to gain two ponzes for every ponze that she had grown. This woman was lean, and fit, wearing a black feathery dress that showed off her modest hips, her modest bottom, and, as she turned around... her modest bust. This was Y'shtola before the state recorder. This was Y'shtola before Cheria. This was Y'shtola sitting on the terrace with her, reminding her that some parts of the world considered Alphinaud to be a man at sixteen.

"Lauden!" The blind mage exclaimed with a smile. "My, how you have grown! Sayo, and... Surging Waves? Can we have some alone time? We are old friends, and lovers. I would speak with Lauden privately."

"Let me get her situated first," Surging insisted.

"This batch of buns are almost done!" Sayo chirped.

And so Surging helped Lauden lower her vast blubbery bulk into the creaking, complaining reclining armchair, and Sayo set a tray of sticky buns atop the shelf of her gut, and both women trotted upstairs, to bask in the sunlight.

The blind woman sat in a spindly rocking chair across from Lauden. They eyed each other for a time as Y'shtola sipped a cup of tea, and Lauden filled her mouth.

"I'm told you've passed nine hundred ponzes," the pale woman nodded at the fat woman's vast gut. "It seems I have missed around four hundred of them. I have been busy. Scion's business, primarily, but also... thanks to T'zuki, I am... not as I was, but I am close. Close enough that when he gave me a phial of Fantasia I knew that once I returned to the shape that I am supposed to be, I will stay here indefinitely."

"You... used Fantasia?!" Lauden gaped. "Where did T'zuki find a phial? Are there more where yours came from?" Alphinaud deserved one!

"T'zuki insisted that a Moogle gave it to him. His aether was so earnest, so truthful, that I did not question him. While it pleases me to see you Lauden, I no longer wish you to grow for me. With T'zuki's help I have managed to... overcome my hate, and my desire for you to share in my fate. I would see you as you were, if you are willing."

"Around the time I hit four fifty I started growing for myself." Lauden filled her mouth with half of a sticky bun and chewed for a good long time. She thrilled in the fullness of her mouth, in the throb of her plug, in the deep ache of her dripping length. "Pleasing you was the original goal. My personal goal was nine hundred ponzes. I have achieved that, and now I seek to find my plateau."

"Congratulations." Y'shtola smiled earnestly, and sipped her tea. "There is Fantasia, Lauden. We are managing, but we could use your help. I would like you to consider ending your retirement, and... becoming who you were when you returned to the Source."

"If you've found more Fantasia, give it to Alphinaud," Lauden was surprised by the steel in her voice. "If the need is great enough, another phial will find me. I am certain of that. In the meantime, I'm going to stay fat. I'm going to keep growing. This is who I am, Y'shtola." The fat Elezen patted the upper roll of her gut with a flabby hand.

"This is who you wanted me to be. A woman who isn't afraid of herself. A woman who has grown, and who will continue to grow. I'm happy, Shtola. I'm satisfied! You and Cheria pressured me into this. You set me on this path. You made me become who I was always meant to be. I'm fat, I'm happy, I'm retired, and I plan to stay that way. Are you satisfied with my growth, Shtola?" She shoved another bun into her mouth and chewed, knowing that her need for Y'shtola's approval would be visible in her aether. She had always been an open book to the blind woman.

Y'shtola eyed Lauden critically for a long, long moment. She beheld the enormous, bloated woman in front of her. She beheld the thick rolls of her protruding gut, now sticking out past her knees. She beheld her jutting love handles and her colossal thighs. She beheld her fat hands and the enormous drooping watermelon-sized blobs of her upper arms, pressed up against her enormous breasts. Almost half a tonze of fat, stuffed into town clothes tailored to emphasize every ponze she had gained since she had returned from the First.

"Yes, Lauden." Y'shtola smiled, and sipped her tea. "I am satisfied."

"Good," the immensely fattened Elezen mumbled through a mouthful of pastry. "I'm glad to hear it."

She had no intention of coming out of retirement, for any reason. She had no intention of giving up her growth, or her lifestyle. She was perfectly content to remain a willing prisoner of the Scions, tucked away in the Waking Sands until Hydaelyn herself had need of her.

Until that sun came, she had a goal to work towards. She would grow to a thousand ponzes. And then eleven twenty-five, five times her starting weight. Then six times her starting weight, then seven. Ten times, if she could manage it. She would grow until the great room became her entire world, and then she would grow some more.

This was what Y'shtola had wanted for her. More importantly, this was what she had always wanted for herself. To be fat, and full, and content. To be soft, and needful, and happy.

To be free of her fear.