Well this is *kind of* on topic for around here, so I figured I might as well post it. In a fit of creative drive, I wrote up a nice little short story over the weekend. And here it is!
Its adult oriented, full of big fatty things, general bigness, a little expansion, implied smexyness, and all sorts of other fun little tidbits of literary wank. You all enjoy now, provided you're into such flights of fancy.
Under the Bed.
Daylight. Even that managed to worm its way through cracks in the overhead canopy of tangled vines and thick leaves, giving rise to growing levels of steamy fog and the morning calls of hidden wildlife. It was another day in another swamp, bubbling with gases in the peat filled bogs. Little islands of soggy dirt and plant life gave shelter to many small amphibians and reptiles, plus avians and other creatures that called the swampland home. It was not a pleasant place for some, but for its main resident, the place was just perfect.
A reptilian visage broke the slime covered waters for a moment, large red eyes searching left and right for signs of breakfast. It appeared to be some kind of alligator, but far more saurian in nature. The size was all wrong too, possessing a much larger head than one might expect. Soon the differences were all the more apparent, as a large body started to rise up out of the muck, proving itself attached to the head. The creature was obviously gigantic, and rather well fed as well. This was one of the swamp monsters which called this place home. He was also hungry, and lumbered his bulk out of the goo to go find some place to eat.
Standing about 10ft in height, the creature was obviously very reptilian, and extremely burly. His hybrid head looked to be a cross between that of a legendary dinosaur of old, and a modern day alligator. His snout was large, and as he yawned revealed a rather impressive row of razor sharp fangs. The creatures head sported an impressive spread of horns in mixed sizes, sweeping up and out from his scalp at various angles. A row of wide but relatively blunted spines made its way down his rounded and bloated back, to a very large and extremely wide tail, capping off at a big flared spade. At shoulder height this one proved to be of an odd configuration, sporting two pairs of musclebound arms, all securely padded with rolls of thick blubber. Each arm ended with a very large three fingered paw, though in the case of the upper pair of arms, these paws were well out of proportion. If one were to look down his frame, he would notice that this creature was extremely rotund. It looked as if he'd swallowed an elephant at one point, and gone back for seconds. To say he was fat would be an understatement, so large did his bulk stick out. If he were not so tall, the mass of blubber would likely be dragging on the ground. As it was, it only cleared the muck buy a scant foot.
Finally the eye might be dragged to the creatures impressive legs, bloated both with fat and concealed muscle, proving to be as big around as tree trunks. They tilted forward and back again, ending at truly massive foot-paws, sporting three fat toes and equally large claws, looking somewhat blunted and worse for wear. With a final yawn and a curious swish of his massive bloated tail end, the creature finished walking out of the swamp, and headed towards what looked like a road-side diner. The road was in bad shape, full of cracks and pot holes, as if nobody had bothered coming down this way for some time. This was true, being one of the many forgotten places out here in the monster lands. A large sign sat glowing with neon brilliance above the 50's style diner, sporting the face of a particularly unattractive goblin, and the slogan of “Eat at Sticky's”.
The massive rotund beast screwed up his facial features as the neon sign flashed once more and popped in one quarter, sending up a brief flare of electrical sparks. Shaking his head, he took a look around the dawn flooded landscape of woodland scrub and swamps, and pushed his way through the massive double doors to the Diner.
Inside he was greeted by the usual morning group of fellow creatures, from other reptilian swamp folk to smaller frog like creatures, a flock of birds, several goblins waiting tables, and even a dwarf Dragon curled up with a book in one corner. Waving to Sticky, the establishments owner, he wandered over to one of the plus-sized booths, and squeezed his way in. He had to hand it to the goblin who ran the show, he certainly did know how to cater to his customers. The booth fit like a glove, with a table that came up past his massive bloat to sit just above his upper belly rolls. A little built in ladder along one side would allow the much smaller servers to climb up and serve him, without having much difficulty.
Sticky himself came out today, all smiles between his angled features and huge pointed ears. Scratching at the tip of his elongated nose, he popped up to the top of the plus sized table, and dropped a menu in-front of the massive bloated reptile.
“So, what will it be this morning Tarsque? The usual dozen eggs and bacon? Or did you want to try one of the specials?”
It was obvious he'd been coming here for a long time, ever since he moved into that swamp years back. Sticky knew his menu choices by heart, and was eager to please. The big fellow meant a big bill at the end, and usually a fair sized tip. Flipping through the small menu with two fat claw-tipped fingers, he decided he was really quite hungry this morning. He ordered two dozen shell eggs scrambled up with cheese and house sausage, plus three 8 oz steaks and a few liters of orange juice. He never was quite sure where all this fine food came from, then again, they were fairly close to the Nexus.
Ahh, the Nexus. Home to Hedonism itself. One could get practically anything they wanted there, limited only to the current technology back in “reality”, and the various magical means available out here in the Outlands, or realms of monsters. It looked like a combination of the most technologically advanced city you could think of, combined with all the red light districts and sleaze pits thrown in for good measure. Tarsque contemplated taking another trip there sometime soon, perhaps even after breakfast. Things had been getting boring in the swamp lately. Tourism was down, and the adventuring training parties had been frequenting more dungeons lately, and less swamps.
Sticky had long since scuttled off with the menu and his order while he was lost in reflection. Soon the smells of breakfast snapped him back to reality, and he focused his huge red eyes down to the platters of food being slopped down before him. He paused to wipe some of the swamp slime off his multiple paws, and grabbed four sets of cutlery. Licking his chops with his large drool encrusted tongue, he tucked into the food with zeal. The steaks vanished with practically two bites each, and the eggs were shoveled down his gullet with quick and efficient gulps. Downing the two big pitchers of orange juice, he blinked as he felt his stuffed gullet rise up a tad and bump the underside of the table. Grinning to himself, he used his lower arms to reach down and rub his own further distended belly. With his uppers, he gathered up the plates into a nice stack, and put the used cutlery into the now empty pitchers. Belching loudly, he felt his bloat subside in size ever so slightly, and gave it a hedonistic rubdown while he waited for the bill.
Nobody thought this as strange, weird, or even sick. If anything, it was looked upon with smiles, both happy and lustful. Being fat was a sign of success, and most of the monsters out here wore it well. Looking around at the other patrons, he saw he'd attracted some attention with the huge belch. The formerly reading dwarf Dragon was giving him a thumbs up and a fang filled smile, while other patrons were clapping with appreciation. Even Sticky was laughing, climbing back up to table height with the bill.
“Well done old fellow! You always manage to get the crowd going in here. Why, I bet they'll all order a second breakfast now. Most of them are quite in envy of all that extra weight you're hauling around.”
Tarsque smiled at this, once again patting and rubbing his huge frame under the lip of the table.
“A life's effort, to be sure. I've been eating like a pig for decades, and this is what I have to show for it. I suppose its one of the perks of being successful in our trade, eh Sticky?”
The goblin nodded, making his huge pointy ears flop around from the motion. Tarsque reached into a little pouch kept hidden around his neck, and neck flab, and fished out a few golden coins. Handing them over to the goblin, he waited for the little fellow to scurry back down out of the way, before pushing out the table, and sliding out. He came away from the plastic and padded surface of the booth with a wet slurping noise, as all the swamp slime stretched out like rubber, and popped back into place both on him, and stuck to the seat. He noticed his previous few days worth of slime was still caked all over the place, and nobody seemed to mind. He had to hand it to his fellow swamp and near-swamp dwellers. They certainly didn't have any problems with a little slime.
As he was wandering towards the door, he stopped and thought upon his earlier reflections. Tail swishing and bumping into the back of another booth, he turned around again and called Sticky back over. His deep but flowing voice got the goblins attention as quickly as it always did.
“Hey there Sticky, when is the next bus coming along to Nexus? I think I'm going to take a little trip into town.”
The goblin fished out a small ring binder from under his apron, and flipped through it to find the bus schedule. Finding it, he ran a skinny finger down the list to find todays date and time.
“Should be along in about 20 minutes actually. Looks like they've got a flat-deck too, for you larger fellows.”
Tarsque nodded his huge horned head, and thanked the shop-keep once more. Turning back outside, he walked up the road just a bit, and waited on the huge concrete platform that so marked bus stops. Soon he was joined by the dwarf dragon from inside the diner, as well as a few other patrons. There they waited, the odd one dodging slopping splashes of swamp slime as it finished all dripping off Tarsque's massive frame. Nothing stayed there for long, as his hide was very smooth in places, and good at getting rid of the wet. The Dragon shuffled closer, and snuck in a friendly nuzzle of the huge reptiles bloated frame. Yep, people in the outlands certainly did love a fatty.
It was only a few minutes before they could hear the bus coming, and in short order they could see the massive contraption coming around the bend. Perhaps “bus” is a bad term for this vehicle, but its simply what the thing is known as. If anything it looked like a huge diesel cargo train, towing several make-shift passenger cars, some enclosed, some not. Next it had a pair of flat bed decks for large cargo and larger passengers, with a caboose on the end for good measure. What was really strange was the multiple sets of wheels. At present it was being held aloft by many huge off-road rubber tires, all on the end of hydraulic pistons. Under those everyone could clearly see the classic train wheels, currently not spinning and held about 6 inches off the ground. The “bus” came to a stop along-side the concrete platform, and the smaller passengers paid the conductor and hopped into the enclosed cars. For Tarsque and the Dragon, they also paid the conductor a few coins, and climbed onto the exposed flat decks for transport. There they found piles of soft things to lay up against, and some cargo straps to secure themselves with. It was a bit of a bumpy ride at times, so it was best to be at least somewhat tied down. The Dragon curled up in a heap and leaned against the huge bloated belly of the swamp dwelling reptile, and promptly went to sleep. The engines horn sounded, and the Bus was off once again on its daily trip to Nexus.
The contraption really was a fine example of Orcish cobble-job skills. It looked a little worse for wear in parts, but the creatures out in these parts had different opinions of what was aesthetically pleasing. As they wormed their way up the curving and broken surface of the road, then came to a part where the asphalt suddenly ended, and a dirt road was all they had. Things were kind of random out in the Outlands, and nobody had really built the roads in the first place. They were just hold overs from a different age, bits and pieces from the other world mixing into theirs from time to time. Finally they left the unpaved portion of the trip, and drove along another broken down road for some time. Different swamps and forests passed by, providing at least a little eye candy to look at. At one point a flight of dragons passed by over head, descending somewhat to call down and wave to their smaller cousin riding the bus. He woke up and called back with a merry grin, babbling back and forth in their curious Dragon language. Tarsque did not know it well at all, and only caught the odd word. Apparently the dwarf dragon was going into Nexus to visit a shop keeper or two, and learn to fly. He wasn't sure how, as the little fellow had a very small wing-span, certainly not enough to get his hide off the ground into any form of sustained flight. Still, ultimately it wasn't his business, so the big fat fellow went back to sight seeing.
The Crossover-Point was up ahead, a final paved section of road that somebody had built train tracks into, right down the middle. The bus slowed down as it lined up and straddled the patch of roadway, and prepped the pistons. Slowly the series of train cars settled down on to the rails, smoothly and efficiently. The wheels tucked themselves up and out of the way, hovering just above the ground. Finally the engines horn sounded again, and they started picking up speed down the rails. Now they were a train again, doing what the big machine was good at. They picked up far more speed than they did on the wheels, getting up to several hundred kilometers per hour. At that speed, they were pulling into Nexus less than an hour later. After disgorging their passengers, the Bus would get turned around at the train yards, and head back down their route into the deepest darkest sections of the outlands. At parts they were completely without both road and rail, using the huge tires to navigate rock and sand to get to their farthest destinations. It wasn't pretty, but it sure as hell got the job done.
Tarsque said goodbye to the small Dragon as he trotted off on his errands, waving with both of his right arms and paws. Turning his huge hide around, he looked about for something to do. A familiar building caught his eye, namely the “Under the Bed” Corporation. He used to work for them some years back, doing contract work for a while before he moved out to the swamps. He smiled at some fond memories he had from that time, namely of scaring the piss out of human children. They were so easy too, you just had to say “boo” at the right volume, and they'd wet the bed. He'd never been too sure exactly who paid the company to go about scaring humans, but it got him paid in turn, so he never complained. Feeling eager to do something fun again, at least for a while, he waddled up the ramps leading from the transit stations to the big high rise building. Pushing the front doors open, he noticed that he very briefly got stuck between both sides of the wide doors. Smirking to himself, he realized he must have gotten even bigger over the years of lounging in the swampland, eating everything that moved.
Waddling up to the front reception desk, what looked like an elf with fur glanced up at him, and broke into a wide fang filled grin.
“Tarsque! Long time no see! What are you doing back here, looking to get back into your career again?”
He smiled back and nodded, wincing somewhat as his largest horns snagged an overhead wire to some track lighting, and ripped the whole unit down in a flurry of sparks. Fortunately nothing caught fire, as most things were damp with swamp fog and cave mold. Grinning sheepishly, he untangled the wires and tossed the whole mess off to one side.
“Sorry about that. You built the ceilings too damn low in here.”
The furred elf creature laughed, slapping the desk with her mirth.
“Yep, just how I remember you. Huge, round, and as subtle as a kick in the face. So, what will it be? Another short term contracting job? Regular work? Perhaps something special? We've got a few interesting projects you might want to get in on.”
His interest was piqued, and he looked over the desk to see a portfolio containing openings of the sort. As usual there was the common “Monster under the bed” jobs, plus hauntings, making crop circles, and other things to fuck with the collective chi of humanity. The new project fell into the same category as the first lot, but it was not aimed at children. Curiously, it was aimed at teens and adults. He pointed at that one with a fat finger on one hand, and arched a spiked eye ridge.
“What's all this then? We've started directly going after the Adults now? I thought we were supposed to stick to kids.”
The receptionist shrugged her furry shoulders, and got out a little sheet for him to read over.
“Apparently the powers that be figured we could start messing with everyones heads again. Humanity has gotten too complacent, and barely anyone believes in monsters anymore. Hell, they don't even believe in magic, or anything supernatural! What lame ducks, I tell you. Must be so boring over there, with nothing but a little technology and other humans to keep you company.”
Tarsque looked over the information sheet, squinting a tad to read the small type face. Apparently the job was much like the one with the kids, popping out from under the bed or other handy bedroom point of entry, and scaring the shit out of everyone before retreating to the safety of the Nexus. The job carried some danger pay, as adults were likely to defend themselves when frightened. That combined with the possibility of getting shot by the more paranoid gun wielding sort, made for a larger pay rate than last time. Still, he was intrigued. Might be fun to frighten some adults for a change, or do other creative work of the sort. He wasn't worried about them defending themselves. Unless they had a tank on hand, they were going to have a hard time getting through his armored hide.
He wound up signing a short term contract of employment, working part-time mid day hours. He'd travel two and from his swamp, do a few scares, then go home at night. It was all fairly cut and dry, and would help rebuild his dwindling horde of coins and other shiny things. He decided to start right away, and at least get in a few scares before going home. First thing was first however, lunch.
Going to the buildings cafeteria, he helped himself to one tasty delight after another, and wolfed it all down. Some folks he recognized amongst the lunch crowd, and many were new faces. This wasn't a problem, as he really didn't actively socialize with all that many in their world. Tucking away a final sandwich, he walked upstairs and found a free room to do his thing. The wizards that had set this place up really knew what they were doing. Basically he'd walk into a small cubic of a room, and from there walk through a nearly invisible portal to the other world. Really, the two realms of reality were connected, just most people didn't know how to get from one to the other anymore. The most some managed was exploring the Monster realm in their sleep, dreaming away and drifting on the astral.
Taking a big intake of breath, he decided to go see who he'd be scaring the piss out of today. The system was random, setting up a list of people they'd frighten on a regular basis, and mixing it up. They'd always get the same few people every night, then change groups so as not to get bored. Squeezing through the portal, he found himself compressed under a large double bed. The magic really was something, squishing his massive bulk in such a way that he fit under the bed frame, no matter how low it was. Sliding forward, he emerged into a dark room, and stretched back out to his normal massive size. He turned his nose up somewhat at how clean and boring the place was. White carpets, white walls, and brown stained wooden furniture. How dull.
Still, he had work to do. He wasn't really here to admire the decor, after all. Clearing his throat, he thumped his tail heavily down on the carpet to get the attention of the sleeping figure. Blinking, a white skinned human in his early 30's opened his eyes to stare up at the looming face of a monster, whom was trying to hide a fang filled grin. All four arms crooked against his flabby frame, the beast took in a huge gout of air, and suddenly roared with blood curdling volume. Four arms ending in lethal looking claws hooked into place, making a canopy of horror over the formerly sleeping mans bed. The little lanky fellow let loose a horror filled scream of his own, and fell scrabbling from the bed, practically falling over himself in his haste to exit the bedroom. Tarsque laughed with jubilation and gave chase, crashing through the narrow doorway and leaving a huge round hole in his wake. He chased the man through his own house for a few minutes, not trying really hard to keep up with the smaller creature.
Finally after up-ending a lot of furniture and breaking a few windows, the fellow exited via the front door and went screaming into the night. Chuckling at the mess he'd made, Tarsque retreated to the kitchen, and helped himself to cookies and some milk. Gulping down whatever looked tasty, he lumbered back to the bedroom, and squished back under the bed. Again, it looked like he was deflating to do it, but he managed to squeeze down there effortlessly. Emerging back into his cube in the Nexus, he laughed and dusted himself off of stray crumbs. He pushed a few buttons on the wall, and the portal flickered over to his next location for the day. Again he emerged from under a bed, this time scaring a husband and wife out of their wits. After making sure they'd soiled themselves, he came back to his cube, and once again switched location. All told he scared the crap out of 6 different households, all over the world. Finally he was on to number 7, his last house for the evening. He emerged from under a large metal framed bed, tucked up against the wall of some secondary internal structure. He paused and looked around, thinking he'd been perhaps routed to the wrong place. This looked like a warehouse more than anything, or at least a large storage unit. But snores below him confirmed he was in the right place, as he gazed down on the sleeping form of another human male, this one looking to be in his mid 20's.
As he prepared to do his roar and chase thing, his wagging tail knocked over a night-stand, smashing a small glass lamp stored there. Wincing at the unexpected noise, he turned to see the damage, and turned back to get a pillow smack in the middle of his muzzle. Blinking at this turn of events, he removed the squishy missile and gazed back down to the pile of sleeping human, who'd apparently thrown it. Blinking sleep filled eyes barely registered his presence at all, and the fellow managed to slur out a badly spoken “Shaddup, sleeping”, before falling back into a snore filled slumber.
Well, this certainly wasn't the usual fellow, now was it? As he was about to do his thing, more points of interest caught up with both his senses and his vision. Magic was at a high pique here, even more than what was made from the portal currently under the lads bed. He wondered why that might be, and took a moment to look around. After all, it didn't look like this guy was going anywhere. And he woke up to see a fat four armed Godzilla rummaging around his room, perhaps that would scare the shit out of him just as effectively.
On a fancy hanger there was a suit of studded leather armor, plus some assorted toy weaponry to go along with. What a curious thing to find this day and age. On bookshelves were novel after novel of the fantasy setting, plus books for fantasy games and the like. Another shelf contained statues of monsters, dragons, and creatures of the fey. That would explain the localized magic force, at least to his sense for it. This was likely a believer down here, one of the few humans who still figured the creatures of old were around somewhere. That or at least liked the “Fantasy” setting enough to admit the possibility of things beyond his experience existing. That opened him up to all sorts of things... Or at least, it would have back in the days of old.
A sudden snort broke him from his reflections, and looked down to see the fellow waking up, and crab-walking lazily over the bed, apparently ignoring a giant bloated mass of reptile in the way. Shoving his way past a massive fat filled belly, the little creature stumbled in the dark over random objects, and made his way to the toilet. The sound of toilet filled activities echoed around the still dark room for a few minutes, before he came stumbling back through the barely lit room, and fell back into bed.
“Goodnight, big reptile thing...”
Snores soon followed again, leaving Tarsque completely baffled as to his situation. Was the man completely out of it? Or was he just that comfortable with the idea, that his sleep clogged brain didn't even register something different? This begged investigation. He knew he had a pretty much unlimited time to do his thing, as long as he didn't get caught or anything. Being home by sun up was usually a good idea.
Looking down, he found a massive squishy looking bean bag chair, and perched his fat behind upon it. It was comfortable enough, and bore his weight without any critical failures. There he sat to further contemplate the situation and this interesting man sleeping there as if he were alone, and all were well. He wondered if he should just scare the shit out of the guy and go about his life, but he couldn't help being interested in things that were different than the norm.
Assuming a more relaxed posture, he cleared his throat, and extended a clawed toe to poke the metal bed-frame. It squeaked and rattled a tad, producing a grunt from the sleeping figure atop assorted covers. Once again groggy eyes barely opened and his face screwed up into a look of annoyance at being woken up yet again. Looking for another pillow to throw, he found his supply depleted for the moment. Faced with having to deal with the situation, he looked up a tad, and forced his eyes to focus on what was shaking the bed. A bleary expression met the large clawed paw resting against his mattress, and he worked his gaze up the leg it was attached to, to settle on a massive belly. Blinking with confusion, he looked up higher, past the twin pairs of huge pawed arms, and finally settled on the red-eyed gaze of a big reptilian monster.
It took a moment for the situation to register somewhere in the hind brain of the patient, but register it did. His eyes got wide, and his jaw dropped with amazement. Tarsque gave a toothy smirk of amusement, wondering if this was just going to be a simple scare after all. Instead an amazed expression passed over the humans face, and he began uttering random nonsense.
“Holy shit! Look at you, where did you come from? This is right out of one of my monster manuals, I always knew something like this would happen one day. What the hell are you doing here? Why me? What's going on? Am I dreaming? I must be dreaming. I shouldn't have had so much to drink last night. What time is it. Fuck its early, why the hell did you wake me up anyways? I was having the nicest dream... Not as nice of this of course...”
And so forth. The large reptile found himself perplexed by the ranting of the small pail skinned figure, noting the large stuffed dragon figure off to one side behind the bed. Yep, this one was definitely a believer. It was no wonder he wasn't freaking out. At least, not in the conventional sense. He figured he should say something, if only to stop this verbal tirade assaulting his ear canal.
“Umm... Rawr?”
The deep and booming statement shocked a little sense into the human figure, and he stopped his nattering to stand and stare. Then he realized he was completely naked, and ran into the washroom with a blush upon his facial features. Tarsque wondered what the problem was, as he too was rather naked. After all, they didn't exactly make clothing for giant land whales. Eventually the human came back out of the washroom, sporting a loose fitting pair of shorts, and an equally baggy shirt of sorts. Well, at least he looked more comfortable.
Both of them simply stared at each-other for a while, curious as to the others existence. It was the human who spoke up first, though more slowly than before and with complete sentences.
“So, back to my primary question. Who or what are you, and what are you doing here?”
There was no fear in his voice, only a sense of curiosity and wonder, like he'd just walked across some famous person from the television. The bloated reptilian monster shrugged his double set of shoulders, and leaned forwards somewhat on the bean-bag seat. Belly bumping into the ground, he came practically face to face with the pale skinned human, and looked him right in the eyes.
“As for who, my name is Tarsque. For what, I'm a big fat swamp monster. Isn't that obvious? And as for what I'm doing here, it was my intention to scare the silly shit out of you for some laughs. That and a nice fat pay-day. That apparently isn't going to happen, so perhaps I should be on my way. Sorry to have disturbed you...”
The human quickly stepped in and supplied his name, with a wry grin on his blunt face.
“Jack, the name is Jack. So, came to scare me eh? I thought the whole “Monster in the Closet” thing was just for kids.”
“Bed, actually.” Boomed the seated reptile.
“Eh?”
“Monster under the bed, in my case. Its a tight fit, but believe me, I can get under there.”
The two compared notes for a while, Jack moving to another bookshelf at the other end of the combination bedroom and living space. There he retrieved a black leather bound book, and opened it up to reveal yellowed pages. It appeared to be very old, and one of the previously well traveled books on magic, monsters, and the other beings of fey from long ago. It appeared this man had been doing his research into long forgotten knowledge.
“As you may have guessed just by looking around, I've always had an interest in your kind. Nobody seems to believe in creatures and monsters anymore, minus the odd few. Can you do magic or anything? Any unique abilities? I've never seen mention of your kind anywhere in the old texts.”
A very curious human indeed. This one could bear watching, to be sure. Tarsque supplied that his kind was a mixture of various other creatures, something that had been popping up only recently. He was perhaps third generation, descended from some union or another of various monster races. He didn't know his parents at all.
Jack continued to flip through the pages, and finally looked up to ask how long it would be before the big beasty would have to return through the ether and to “The Nexus”, or whatever the place was called. The large fellow was certainly amazed that such knowledge still existed here, and that people actually still remembered it. There was a time where both worlds were more deeply connected, and traffic passed both ways. The central hub of travel had always been the Nexus, hence why it had so much of their world mixed in with that of the fey folk.
While Jack rummaged around for other things, Tarsque took another moment to look around. It was getting to be predawn outside, so it was easier to see things in fine detail. The wall behind where the bed leaned was a raised interior structure alright, going up to a small kitchen and a table for eating. If he stood up, he'd be tall enough to reach the table without issue. Provided the guard rail wasn't in the way. Below the stairs to get up there was a small door, to what he presumed were utilities and storage. What really piqued his interest was the two sets of doors on the other side of the square unit. One obviously lead to the washroom, but the other was more like a garage door, and apparently went to the same place. Odd construction, this must have been a recovered utility garage or other industrial building, converted over to residential use.
Still, the place was warm and dry, and actually seemed interesting inside. Just enough clutter and grime to feel more like home, not some sterile bare abode that most humans seemed to enjoy living in. So very boring.
Jack finally came back and caught his attention with an exclamation of “Say cheese!”, accompanied by a bright blinding flash of light. The huge reptile couldn't help but roar out a bit with surprise, using his upper set of arms to cover his light-shocked eyes, while the lower pair extended outwards to ward off any other surprise attacks.
None came however, and he eventually opened tearing and irritated eyes to see Jack clutching a curious little device, silver in nature with little glass covers poking out here and there. He rumbled a warning, not to do that again, or face being eaten in all likelihood.
Jack seemed nonplussed, and plugged the little object into what Tarsque recognized as a Computer. Though a more advanced model than anything he'd seen back in the Nexus. Time changes after a few decades, he supposed.
“Thanks for the Picture, I hope you don't mind. Folks in the circles I travel are just going to LOVE this...”
“PICTURE? Oh no no no, can't be having any of those. Not without the proper paperwork from the head office. I'll take that...
He snatched what turned out to be a digital camera away from Jack, and was going to crush it, but decided instead to toss it on the bed. To his dismay, the picture was already on the computer monitor. He pointed to it with a large claw, looming there almost twice Jacks flimsy height and stature.
“Get rid of that, or I'll have to smash your computer there.”
Jack gulped, and did as he was told. He closed off the window the picture was in, and erased it from its storage location. It was still there, backed up in one folder or another. But for now at least, he'd be good and not post it all over the Internet. The huge beast seemed calmed by this, and went back to sit down again on the bean-bag chair. This time his weight caused it to stretch and tear a little at the seams, ready to burst!
“Good. I'd get in a lot of shit if that got out any where. Be a pal and don't take anymore, kay? Its getting to be light out, I should really be going before anyone looks in your windows and wonders what the hell I am.”
He moved back to the bedside, and started sliding/deflating under the low hung metal frame, slowly vanishing from view back into his cube. Jack quickly gave chase, as much as he could in the relatively small building, and came to the dwindling side of the huge beast.
“Wait, don't go! I have so many questions to ask, so much research to do! Will I see you again? This is probably the most interesting thing that's happened in my entire life, it can't be over yet!”
Tarsque smiled just before his upper torso flattened out and vanished under the bed, his muzzle following suit.
“Don't worry, you're on my list. I'll see you tomorrow night, likely around the same time. Try not to throw anything at me this time, alright? I might just throw it back, and break something. Or just eat you, I've not made up my mind yet.”
And with that, he was gone. Leaving only the cloying odor of swamp gases and grime to prove he'd ever been there. That, and the huge dent in Jacks largest bean bag, and the split seams. With hours left before he had to get up for work in the morning, he contemplated going onto his computer and sending data to the world about Monsters coming back! But he decided it would be in bad form, at least for now, and instead went back to bed. Soon enough morning came, and he went off to his dreary little job just down the street, minding a computer store.
Meanwhile Tarsque had re-appeared back in his cube, and checked out for the day. Nobody even noticed how long his final scare had been, and it was doubtful anyone would care. It wasn't against regulations to talk to people on the other side, its just frowned upon if any word of discovery gets out. Scared people tend to go to the crazy house to be checked out. People you have coffee and cakes with tend to start convincing other people that Monsters are real. Then questions start getting asked, and before you know it you've got people shooting first and looking terrified later. He decided to just table the matter for now, and play it by ear. Leaving the office building, he went back down to the transit hub, and headed for home. On the ride back they even served dinner, which was a welcome change. By late evening he was once again back in his lovely swamp, and dove down deep under the waters.
He emerged into a cave deep under the boggy water, and hauled his massive frame out through the nearly form fitting hole. His lair was not the biggest of underground caves, nor the most well equipped, but it served him well. The previous occupant had somehow managed to get electrical power down here, so he at least had some light sources. He also had as much swamp water as he wanted, which suited him just fine. Food was just a short swim away, and sometimes it even wandered into his cave for dinner.
The main attraction was his “Bed”, namely a huge pile of assorted soft things that he sprawled upon. He paused to reflect over the days events, still amused at his previous scares, and the unlikely meeting of a true believer of old. Not many of them existed anymore, and it definitely would be worth having a look into. He decided to make a stop off at another location in Nexus over the next few days, namely a society for studying humans. They were just as much a curiosity to some as we were to them. They would love to hear about a man that apparently was not afraid of monsters, and apparently eager to meet them. It likely wouldn't happen however, as the old borders were not what they used to be, and free travel between the realms just didn't happen that much anymore. The only real way was hardly spoken of, so it wasn't worth mentioning. Or was it? No, just a fools dream that one.
And with that, the huge bloated beast turned in for the night, eager to get his beauty sleep, as it was. Being this wonderful was a tiring ordeal, didn't you know?
*** *** ***
The following day passed much the same for Tarsque. He got up, left the swamp, at at Sticky's diner, and boarded the train to Nexus. In short order he'd finished most of his scares for the day, and took a lunch break. Today he ate out at yet another diner, devouring a dozen steaks in the time most of us would go for a coffee break. Exiting the place sated, he paid a visit to the Humanwatching society, as they were commonly known. They collected all manner of data on the pale skinned creatures and their various breeds, wanting to know how many of them still had a mind for the old ways. It was hoped to one day perhaps re-establish contact with the other side, and even meld societies once more like in the days of old. It was a pipe dream and they knew it, but they could always hope.
He made a little report on the fellow named Jack, and told them he'd continue to observe and see what happens. Anything of interest would of course get another report, to keep them happy. They were of course pleased by this, and sent him off on his merry way.
Reporting back to the office building, he once again occupied his cube, and went to work. He only two final scares to take care of, one serious, the last one being checking in on Jack again. The final scare went according to plan, once again sending some sleeping fellow off screaming into the night. It wouldn't be long before that one would be locked up in a crazy house. Once more he squished himself out from under Jacks small metal framed bed, and hoisted himself back up to his full size and height. Looking down, he found the fellow not asleep in his bed this time. In fact, he was nowhere to be seen. Peeking around the corner, he heard the sound of water coming from the washroom. The noise abruptly stopped, and Jack popped back out again in another pair of bulky shorts and shirt, towel drying his mop of hair.
“Oh, hello there. I thought you'd be back again around this time. Seems you're a few minutes earlier than I thought. What the hell?”
Jack was pointing at something below and behind Tarsque, and now that he mentioned it, he was hearing a wet slopping noise. Backing out of the way, he noticed swamp-slime footprints on the concrete floor, and heard what sound like large dollops of it sliding off his spiked back, and onto the floor. He realized he must have not dried off entirely over the course of the day like before, and was now tracking quite the mess into Jacks place. Oh well, it wasn't a problem, unless Jack was one of those neat freaks.
Jack tisked audibly, and at least made the attempt of pushing the huge flabby creature off towards the large garage door.
“Why look, you're a mess! You must be cold too, with all that slime and such dripping off. Don't you worry about it, I've got plenty of wash water. Go get cleaned up, I'll mop up some of this goop.”
Trying to protest, and wondering why he needed washing, the huge bloated reptile found himself being led through a quickly opening electric door, exposing the entirety of the washroom. Evidently it had once been part of some emergency shower or group shower, as it was about twelve feet to a side, and covered in piping and tile. He wasn't sure how such a small creature could herd him so efficiently into the center of the place, but he did. The large garage door closed behind them both, as Jack fiddled with some controls on the wall.
“Smells like you haven't had a bath in some time eh? Then again, I'm not sure you even have such things over there. Well this is no bath, but it will have to do. I built it myself, even programmed some of the settings. I call it a “Refresher”, catchy huh? Once I get all the bugs ironed out, I hope to sell some of them for extra scratch. Now don't you worry, I'll just set it on automatic and let you do your thing. The big door will open up again once the dry cycle is over. Enjoy!”
And with that, he left the room. Tarsque wasn't sure what was happening, or why he needed a wash. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure what was involved in a bath. He'd of course seen “Bath Tubs” before, but he thought they were just for laying in when you wanted to be wet. He had the swamp for that, and it was much larger.
All thoughts of objection were ended when a series of sprayers opened up to either side of him, a glass wall having raised up to cover all four walls with sprayers and coverings. The water was ever so warm, and felt wonderful against his fat frame. If there was one thing all reptiles enjoyed, it was being warm. He relaxed in the warm spray with a happy rumble of mirth, raising up his arms as far as they would go before bumping into the tiled ceiling above. Something clicked in the walls and the warm spray subsided, leaving him sopping wet but happy for the experience. Suddenly another set of sprayers turned on, coating him from head to tail in slippery foamy bubbling soap of all things, again something he'd heard of but saw no point for. But it didn't hurt or anything, or even smell bad, so he stayed still and let the machine do its job.
The soap built up into a thick bubbly lather on his entire person, completely obscuring all but his high eye-line from view. He thought the sight a funny one, looking like a big round puff-ball. After sitting there as a giant dripping soapy mess for a minute or two, the warm water jets kicked in again, this time from more angles, and above him as well. Thus he was bathed in a warm waterfall of sorts, rumbling all the while as the temperature gradually increased, leaving him completely clean for perhaps the first time in his entire life. Finally the water jets turned off, and he was left in a steam filled room, reminding him oddly of the swamp. Some of his cloying odors had stayed in the air, apparently. Another click could be heard behind the tiles as warm air jets opened up on the floor, and above him on the ceiling. Massive blow driers kicked in, and he found himself rumbling yet again as he was dried off as best as the system could, with blasts of hot air. He was still wet here and there, but that didn't bother him. He found himself not really wanting to get the floors wet out there, as they were warm and dry. So he fetched a warm fluffy towel from outside the Refresher once the glass door slid away again, and busied himself at least drying off the more drippy parts. He paused to look himself over, truly surprised that this fancy little machine could get rid of that much caked on swamp muck in one go. Now his bulk didn't look so flat and colorless, a more vivid if dark brown, with lighter tan belly and a slight sheen to the whole lot, almost like it was still wet.
As promised, the big metal garage door opened up automatically, letting him waddle back into the main living space. It closed behind him once his tail was out of the way, and he found he had rather enjoyed the experience in there. He didn't really care if he was filthy with swamp muck all the time, as he always had been. Still, being warm and clean was certainly a unique treat. Looking around for Jack, he found the lad up in his diner unit, sitting at the table munching on something that smelled nice.
“Hello there, big guy. Enjoy your shower?”
“Yeah, that was really something. No wonder you humans like to be clean, if that's how you do it.”
Jack smirked around a mouth full of what smelled like cooked eggs, and certainly looked like it as well. He explained that his Refresher was a prototype, and most people had to cope with either a sit down bath where they did all the cleaning themselves, or a stand up single-nozzle shower where again they did their own washing. His unit of course used far more water and soap than a manual system, but it was far more hedonisticly gratifying.
Tarsque liked the sound of that, self pleasure and whatnot being high on any good monsters list of priorities. He found he was liking this human more and more, if only for the decor and good treatment. Jack noticed the stares being directed at his supper, and stood up to fetch the rest of it. He'd planned on being a good host, and returned with a platter of a dozen scrambled eggs, and another dozen fat sausages to go with it.
“Its probably not much to somebody of your size, but I figured you might want a snack. So here, eat up.”
The plate was happily received, finally sealing the thought that yes, the big reptile did like this tiny pale human fellow. He's a good host, if nothing else. The food was quickly devoured, using freshly cleaned paws in lieu of cutlery. Not that anything Jack had at hand would fit inside the massive paws of his guest. Finally Jack hid the dishes away in some automatic washing machine, and came back down to the main level. Once again, the big lizard towered over him, and smirked at the sight. Jack snuck by his bloated frame with one paw on his ample belly, and sat down on the bed, while Tarsque once again crushed down upon the thrice tortured bean bag.
“So! I'm glad you came back again, I wanted to ask more about where you came from. Do all your kind live in that Nexus place? Why do you come here at all? Can I come visit you sometime?”
Clearing his throat, Tarsque answered all his questions as best as he could.
“No, Nexus is just the biggest town in the land. And we call it the Nexus because its the cross-over point to your world. I live a short commute outside of the town, in a small patch of swamp land. As for why we come here, we all have different reasons. I come here because I'm in the employ of a company on the other side that does various things of the sort. I have no idea how they make money hiring monsters to come over here and scare people, plus pull pranks, but they do. Anyways, I do it because I get paid to do it. As for coming to visit us... That's not possible. I don't know why, but the powers that be say humans cannot come over. Not only that, you're not physically able for some reason. Or if you somehow manage to, you can't get back. There are ways to go about it, but they're kind of taboo.”
Jake had his black book open again, flipping through pages.
“Ahh, you mean people becoming monsters too. I always thought that referred to people becoming killers, and taking on “monster” like traits.”
Tarsque snorted out twin steam puffs, shaking his head.
“Its not that cut and dry. Technically people can become Monsters for all sorts of different reasons. As the ancient stories go, we're all descended from the fey folk of old, who gave into one to many delights or another, and their inner selves became to show. Nothing is really too clear as to the who's and whys of people becoming Monsters, all we know is its apparently frowned upon. We wouldn't care, but your side would. They might try to come after us or something, if they learned we exist. But the general gist of it is, if you spend enough time with Monsters, and come over to their way of thinking, you'll be come one to. That's at least what the old magic had to say about it. I've never seen it happen myself, so I don't know.”
Jack nodded, curious and intrigued at the prospect. He'd read in the past of Monsters walking the earth, and in turn Humans walking in their world, on equal footing. Some people described it as great wars taking place between two sides, others just as two cultures mingling together, with the odd bar fight involved. The prospect was an amusing one, and not just for Jack. Lots of people liked the idea of having some non-humans to interact with. He filed it away for later, wondering just how much reality was being changed now that creatures such as this were popping up again.
“So, you were hired to scare me. Well, that isn't working so well is it? Still, you're welcome to visit, and at least pretend you're doing your job or something. I'd rather enjoy the company to be honest. Again, this is probably the most interesting thing that's happened in my entire life.”
The large lizard nodded his horned head, once again looking around the place.
“So, any reason you live in this... place? Most humans I find live in houses, or apartments.”
Jack nodded at this, and pointed outside the large windows at the darkened streets.
“Housing was getting to be hard to come by in many places around here, so the city decided to let people buy or rent old unused buildings such as this to live in. I've had to do a lot of work over time to get it this nice, but I think you'd agree that the Refresher prototype is my crowning achievement. I also live here because I work just down the street, so it actually proves to be really cheap. No transportation costs.”
He too got a nod at this, understanding all too well wanting to live on a budget. Even massive bloated reptiles could only expect so much cash in life, and it had to last. He also agreed that the washing unit was a great little toy, if only to relax and warm up in from time to time. Perhaps use more of that soap stuff, that was kind of fun. The two wound up just talking all evening, until it started to get late. Wanting to keep up appearances, Tarsque finally had to say goodnight, and once again seemed to deflate under the bed. With a sudden surge of motion, Jack tried to follow him, only to find the back wall under the bed, and nothing else.
“Shit. Well, it was worth a try. Oh well, best get to bed.”
His night was filled with dreams of all the creatures he'd read about, and even more, partially being fueled by the high levels of magic at the focal point of his dwelling. His sub-conscious thought it would be rather wonderful to go exist with the monsters, even if it meant being one too. After all, being human was so very boring and plain. His waking mind agreed, but didn't really know what to do about it.
When he woke up he made up his mind, and wanted to try and somehow join the creatures on the other side. Life here held nothing of value for him, other than three square meals a day and a warm place to sleep at night. While that was nice and all, it paled in comparison to some adventure. He decided for the time being to take in some overtime hours at work, and save his money for extra supplies. He'd find a way to cross over to the other world, even if he needed to somehow make a monster out of himself.
Fortunately, the problem dealt with itself.
Over the next few days Tarsque arrived every night, and they ate, talked, laughed, and played. The big bloated blob of a lizard apparently enjoyed hugged and touched in general, and Jack was all to happy to oblige. They even shared the Refresher from time to time, Tarsque not self conscious at all and Jack having developed a similar mindset over the week. The big fellow made his reports as promised to those of interest on the other side, and learned that his was not the only case. Other monsters were reporting humans of interest, and all of them had apparently expressed the desire to come over to their side. They would watch for any developments on the matter, and see what happened.
Jack was coming along well as far as the big fellow as concerned, as happy and care free as any of the creatures he knew on the other side, and open to pretty much any idea. He no-longer cared if swamp slime was tracked in, or seemed to notice when his place started smelling like a bog. Once Jack woke up in the morning to find Tarsque had arrived in the night without waking him up again, and was lounging in the Refresher. He snuck in, and found the big fellow amusing himself via physical means, playing furiously with his rather gigantic lizard bits. Jack thought he was going to blush, but instead just grinned wryly and said aloud:
“Damn, what I wouldn't do with junk that big!”
Tarsque looked over his shoulder with a sultry grin, flashing Jack with a wink as he went off like a cannon, and made quite a mess for the refresher to clean up. Mopping up somewhat, he tucked away his impressive package under his belly once more, and waddled over to pick Jack up, and give him a big squishy hug.
“Ooof! Well good morning to you too, big guy. I'm surprised to see you here! I thought you lot were not supposed to be here during the day time.”
He admitted that they were not, but he snuck in after hours and decided to pop over for a visit, if only to spend some time in the wonderful warm water. Everything else just happened by accident, as he was enjoying himself to sensual levels. Jack admitted that it wasn't a problem, and if anything he was in envy. They both chuckled over this, perfectly honest with each-other and pleased with the situation. Right at that moment, Jack was 100% sure that being like his gigantic reptile buddy would be just fine, and in fact better than his current lot in life. Magic is a funny thing, and sometimes it responds to situations and feelings all on its own. That was the start of something grand for them both.
Tarsque had to slip out after that, and Jack had to go to work anyways. As usual he went through his shift without anything special happening, helping the odd customer with this and that, not really noticing the odd stares he was getting after lunch that day. Finally he asked one lady what she was looking at, and received a blushing apology in reply.
“I'm sorry, I know it isn't nice to stare at people with facial deformities. Please, forgive me.”
With that, she left the store quickly. Jack wondered what the hell she was talking about, and went into the washrooms to look at himself in the mirror. Sure enough, his face had puffed out in a few random places, making it look like he had the developments of a muzzle in progress, rather than a normal flat human face. It was no wonder people thought he had a facial deformity. He fought a very small wave of panic, wondering just what the hell was going on. But as he watched, his eyes lost their pale white coloration, and became a bright red with yellow irises. He thought a speedy exit would be a good one, less he do a little scaring of his own.
Covering his face with a wash rag, he briefly mentioned to another co-worker that he was feeling sick and going home, then exited through the back. It was a short walk home, and he managed to avoid anyone noticing his changing form as he quickly entered his converted abode, and took a look at himself in the mirror again. He noticed his developing facial features had gotten more bestial on the short walk, and even as he watched it was getting worse. What was really curious was that he felt no pain. In fact, he didn't feel anything at all. No stretching, no bones changing shape, nothing. If he wasn't watching it happen, he wouldn't have even noticed.
Pondering what to do, he noticed it was still early in the day, so he couldn't even ask his big reptile friend for help or advice. He decided to simply wait it out and see what happens, and went to go get something to eat. As he fetched random foods together, he'd occasionally notice parts of himself changing. Gradually his hands became more paw like, thickening up and developing small claws on the end. He heard a tearing sound, and looked back to see his jeans split down the back, letting a reptilian tail emerge into the light. Gradually it elongated and thickened up, trailing down to plunk into the floor, and coil up there like a large snake. His sock covered feet puffed out as well, the fabric tearing and popping off as his formerly five toed human foot swelled into a three toed reptilian paw, ending with large claws on the end of each toe. Finally he noticed his formerly loose T-shirt getting rather snug, as his torso swelled up with muscle, giving him a huge barrel chest. It wound up fitting so tightly it was splitting at the seams, arms ripping to shreds as his muscles grew there too. By the time he was done snacking, his transformation was all but complete. He casually went down into his washroom once more, and looked at himself in the mirror. The last of his very saurian muzzle finally bloomed into place, and he flared his nostrils at the sight. One by one a set of impressive horns popped into view, and spikes emerged all down his back to the tip of his tail, where a spade flared into view. Of all things, the first thing he thought of was to look down between his legs, which broke his muzzle out into a fang filled grin of lust. Yep, he was definitely huge now alright! He thought himself the spitting image of his reptile friend, if a bit short, and certainly less weighty.
Casting the last of his torn and ruined clothing aside, he entered his own refresher, and set the thing for its most hedonistic cycle imaginable! Soon he was up to his eye-ridges in thick fluffy soap suds, playing with himself eagerly to make more of his own messes. He couldn't believe how wonderful everything felt, from the touch of his own rough paws on his massive package, to the warm waters and even the gentle touch of the fluffy soap suds. He wound up spending over an hour in there, stroking himself to bliss and back again, repeating where required. Finally he came out sparkling clean, perhaps with a little friction burn where it counted. Still, he was rather pleased with himself.
Toweling off the last of the water, he walked back out into the main room to find Tarsque waiting for him, napping up against the nearly exploded bean-bag while his friend was in the Refresher. His eyes opened at the approaching foot-falls, but he did not see what he was expecting. Arching an eyeridge, he gestured towards his fellow swamp-monster, curiously asking just what the hell he was doing here at his job-site.
“Heh, don't worry about it buddy. Its me, Jack. Seems neither of us really knew what to expect when it came both both that magic you spoke of, and wanting to join you Monster types.”
Jack sat there, paws on hips, smirking with bliss at the current state of events. That, and the shocked expression on his fat friends muzzle. Tarsques jaw dropped, and he stammered for a response at what he was seeing.
“What, Jack? That's you? When did this happen? Damn that must have been quick. Did it hurt? Was this your idea? I don't know what people are going to say...”
Jack started to wave it off and explained how the transformation took place, painlessly and without feeling. He did mention that becoming just like his big blubbery friend wasn't immediately on his mind, but it was a good a selection as any. Said wideload friend tauntingly mentioned that he was a little small for one of his kind, snickering within his overcoat of bulk and size. Jack opened his mouth to reply to that one, but only a purr of bliss came out. His eyes half lidded, as his body seemed to tremble, then started inching upwards before both of their eyes.
“Ooohh... Now this actually feels lovely...”
Tarsque watched as his friend grew upwards in size, puffing up even more with muscle, limbs thickening and his already enlarged package swelling up still larger. It was clearly a pleasant change for Jack, as he practically lost his load all over again just standing there. The inches continued to build for a good amount of time, drool dripping out of the corners of his enlarging muzzle, splashing on the floor below without a care in the world. When all was said and done, he'd not only gone off like a cannon all over his utility room wall, but he was standing at a nice and even 10ft tall, eye to eye with his lard-laden friend.
“Buddy, I could get used to this. Oh man, that was something else.”
They spent some time just cuddling the stuffing out of each-other, the added weight finally getting one last scream of protest from the stressed out bean-bag, before it exploded like a balloon and sent stuffing flying every direction. Both of the large lizards laughed at this. Not caring in the slightest at the mess they were making.
“Well, I suppose you can take me home now, eh? We sure do look alike, minus the second pair of arms and spare tire of course.”
Indeed, they did look alike. Same size, same coloration, same horns and tail spade, but there the matching ended. Tarsque had about 800 pounds more weight than Jack did, and Jack was also way more musclebound. He supposed the regular diet on the other side would fix that for both of them. Also, Jack didn't get a second pair of arms. But that wasn't a problem, two was just as good. They resolved to try transporting back over to the other world right away, and Jack watched as his flabby friend once again impossibly compressed himself down, and slid under the bed as if he were always that size. Jack tried it too, and found his enlarged body fitting under there without effort. Before he knew it he was landing on his feet in a dark cube, leaning up against the huge belly of his friend.
“So, this is where you work. Kind of sparse, but I suppose it does the trick, eh?”
Tarsque nodded his horned head, and lead Jack out of the workplace, and finally out of the building entirely. If anyone wondered where the second swamp monster had come from, they didn't voice their inquiries. Tarsque decided it would be best to get Jack out of Nexus for now, and soon they were both riding the bus home to a distant swamp. Times were indeed going to get interesting, if it was this easy for people to change their stars to to speak, and come over to this neck of reality.
*** *** ***
Jack had spent several days living in the dank swamp cave, fully getting used to just how different life was going to be. There was enough room for the two massive reptiles, more if he could finish knocking down a few outcroppings of rock, and smoothing out the cave floor. He found the presence of electrical power surprising, but ultimately amusing. Tarsque had been going to his house on his daily rounds, and bringing back some of Jacks possessions when he came home at night. So now their underground lair had a computer, a few cooking implements, and other household toys Jack had come to expect over the years. He felt that before he left, he should have at least left a message online for his fellow Monster seekers, but apparently that was taking care of itself. He wasn't the first human to come through from the other side as a fresh creature, and more were arriving everyday. It was like a mass exodus, one people might have difficulty explaining.
Jack wasn't worried though, as every last one of them was just another xenophile and misanthrope, just like he had been. Society would likely not even notice they were gone. Just another missing persons report that would be promptly forgotten about in a days time. It meant happier lives for everyone involved really, and a steadily growing population for this side of reality. Who knows, maybe the lines would finish blurring, and more people would start coming through from different points of entry.
A splash and the sound of grunting alerted Jack to his cave-mate being home again at last, this time hauling several items securely wrapped in water-tight garbage bags. He'd been clearing out the storage room, which contained all the parts needed to make their very own refresher unit down in the cave. It wouldn't be as fancy as the one in Jacks old place, but it would serve their purposes. His fatty friend had become quite addicted to the idea, and was quite eager to have a nice hot water rub-down on a daily basis, if not more frequently.
Yep, things were definitely looking up for the human turned monster, and he most certainly couldn't have been happier. He was already looking at getting a job in the Nexus, doing computer work of all things. Everything they had was old by human comparisons, and they most certainly wanted to upgrade. They'd also never heard of something like the Internet, so that was another massive undertaking to look forward to in this realm. Data was just as important to business over here as anywhere else, so being able to share it in a more efficient manner was certainly a novel prospect. It looked like he wouldn't have to worry about money, in any case.
It took days, but together the two plus sized lizards cleared enough space for their very own refresher, and mounted the whole thing on a big grate covered scaffold over-top of their under-water entrance. Thus the waste water would just run out of the big hole in the floor. To get out, all they had to do was flip up the grate, and climb on down. Simple and effective. Jack had also thought ahead, and built the platform big enough for both of them to use it at once. By now neither of them had any trace of modesty, and would very happily soap one another up and have a fun 'ole time in the warm soapy spray. Locating enough soap was going to be a problem, as they both went through quite a lot of it. Fortunately the more plus sized of the pair always managed to swipe some from wherever he was working at the time, and was always bringing home goodie bags full of loot. They were pronounced as trophies to anyone who asked, and thus nobody wondered why a huge swamp-goo covered monster reptile was carrying home jugs of some unknown liquid.
One day while using the refresher, Jack stumbled upon something interesting about their bodies. Namely, that they were incredibly elastic. His plus sized buddy had bumped him with his huge rotund gut playfully while they were sharing the warm downpour, and he'd wind up going arse first against one of the sprayer nozzles. Well, it wound up hitting him in just the right way, that it found his tail-hole and just kept going. Jack was about to spout off various forms of language with the shock of the event, when he purred instead and looked down at his belly. It was a steady thing, but it was definitely filling up with warm water. His eyes half lidded, as he rubbed at the squishy and sloshy mass of expanding belly. Tarsque was intrigued to say the least, this being something he'd never even thought of before. Jack never had either, and found it oh so very stimulating. As his belly grew, so did his package, flopping out and getting quite rigid against the underside of his swelling gut.
The plus sized fellow was impressed to say the least, as his skinny friend swiftly developed a nice looking gut indeed. He decided it looked like fun, and carefully backed himself up against one of the other sprayer heads. Soon two lizards were standing there filling up bigger by the moment, playing with themselves in a fit of hedonistic bliss. After about 10 minutes Jack was looking as fat as Tarsque normally was, and the big fatty himself had bloated up so huge he was threatening to knock Jack off the platform entirely. They unplugged themselves before anything got broken, and spent some time just sitting there exploring their inflated bodies.
“Oh man, that was unique.”
The fatter of the two grunted a reply, content to just laze there rubbing down his own sloshy and warm belly, so very happy with all that warm water in there. Some time later they had both deflated via the obvious means, and resolved to try that again sometime. It became a new game, seeing how big they could get, how stretchy they were, and perhaps what other surprises lay in store for them. After all, this was something neither of them knew was possible. Magic apparently was a wonderful thing.
Another trip to the human world produced a good water pump they could use outside their cave, using the bog water itself to blow one another up. It was slimy, slippery, full of goo, and it stank. But boy did it ever feel good when it was inside both of them. After some weeks had passed with them enjoying themselves, they had a bit of an accident. Jack awoke to find himself alone, normally used to being cuddled up against his fatty friend. He noticed the refresher grate was up, so that meant his pal had gone outside. Diving into the water, he swam for a bit and ate a few passing fish, before surfacing and looking around. He heard the whirr of their surface pump before he saw what was happening, and turned to see an advancing wall of water bloated tan belly. Jaw dropping with surprise, he looked up to see Tarsque more bloated than either of them had ever attempted before. He walked around the massive slumping sphere of his friend, marveling at his size. Why, he must have been at least a hundred feet in diameter! Eventually he walked around to the front, where he saw his friend franticly trying to get to the off switch, a look of panic in his eyes. Obviously he'd gone farther than he'd intended, and was trying to stop before it was too late. The hose was firmly wedged in his rump as well, so there was no hope of him pulling it out himself. Jake only managed half a sentence of his intent to turn off the pump, when his over-inflated pal exploded.
It was like a water balloon popping when it got too full, but a lot louder. He was suddenly blasted off his feet by the rush of that much water being dropped back to the ground, and found himself flat on his back after some tumbling through the wave. Standing up and looking around, his friend was nowhere to be seen. He called out in vain, briefly frightened that his best friend may have just died from a silly little accident. Before he knew it however, there was a brief little popping noise and a flash of light, and there Tarsque was again, standing there as if nothing had ever happened. He was obviously dizzy, having a hard time standing as his head spun.
“Woah, that was different. I thought I was a goner there... Man, I'll never understand all the rules out here.”
“You and me both buddy. Don't scare me like that! I thought we'd agreed never to do that alone, just in-case something like this happened.”
Tarsque had a brief giggle over the “scared” comment, thinking back to the first days they'd met. But he sheepishly agreed that he'd broken his word, and had just been too tempted by the sheer joy of it all, on his way to Sticky's for breakfast. They decided to try it out more later, now that they were fairly sure that even bursting wasn't a one way ticket. Still, they didn't want to press their luck all that much.
The two of them went up the road for breakfast, marching into the diner sopping wet and dripping slime everywhere. Nobody seemed to notice as usual, and before long they were seated and stuffing their faces with one food item after another. After all this fine eating, even Jake was starting to develop a nice starter belly, merely a chubby fellow with more muscle than most people recalled seeing in their time.
Before long they'd paid their bill, and were walking outside again when they bumped into a familiar face. At least it was for Tarsque. The dwarf dragon he'd briefly met on his long ago ride into Nexus on the bus was just coming into the diner, sporting a much more bloated looking belly than he remembered him having.
“Oh hello there fellow. I never did see you again after we parted ways earlier. Did you learn how to fly after all?”
The dragon seemed pleased at being remembered, and reached behind him to pat at a large bag sitting perched on his bag. He flipped open the front flap to reveal a large compressed gas tank, and grinned toothily.
“Yes, I did in fact. They gave me this tank full of some magic called Helium Gas. It makes me puff up like those balloon things the Humans have, and I float up into the sky. Then I can use my wings to get around. Its really quite something, would you two like to see?”
The two chubby reptiles turned to look at each-other, as both broke into fang filled grins of mirth.
“Absolutely, I'm sure it will be a Blast.”
The swampland echoed with the sound of three explosions that day. Life was certainly going to be more interesting from now on.
The end. :3
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Very nice story to wake up to on New Year's Day.