The Bobbing BellyNSFW

There was little in the world like the scent of fresh-caught fish lovingly pan-fried and accompanied by a healthy serving of delicately roasted Mun-Tuy beans. It could make anyone stop in their tracks. It certainly made Hildeyerd stop in hers.

The dark-haired Hyur woman eyed the three steaming hot dinners being carried to the trio of guests with no small amount of jealousy. Her stomach begged for her to sit and indulge in them... but it wasn't to be.

For one thing, the food wasn't for her - something her stomach would never understand no matter how many times she watched guests eat. For another...

"Oi, Hildey!" Aeluuin called, balancing trays on his arms. "Quit gawpin' around and get back to the workshop! Shouldn't have to remind you, but we got the carpenters coming tonight, and the place sure ain't ready!"

... she had other duties that were calling. With a forced smile, she gave a wave of assent and trotted back outside, heading around behind the Bobbing Cork. It seemed like she was forever handling the dratted workshop, always dealing with some self-important artisan or another, always cleaning up after another mess, always watching someone work and thinking about the food she could be having if only she wasn't out here. Getting a job with the inn had seemed like a smart way to get close to the mouthwatering hot meals this place had to offer. In practice, though, she was constantly busy and rarely had time to eat more than cold leftovers before bed.

Still, there was definitely time before the important guests arrived. If she moved quickly and didn't let any interruptions get to her, she could finish up early and have dinner while it was still being served hot.

As she swept up sawdust and picked up scraps of iron, she tried not to think about the chattering guests inside the building right beside her and what they must be eating right now. She tried not to watch the clock and think about how the bell marking the end of hot dinner was fast approaching. She tried to just focus on wiping down the furnace, sharpening the saws, polishing the hammers, wrapping and stacking the textiles...

And it almost worked. She almost didn't hear the incoming distraction.

"Excuse me! It was... Hildeyerd, right?" The voice was coming from somewhere below her, small enough to be hard to notice against the din of the dining customers inside the inn. To her horror, it was a regular - a friendly purple-haired Lalafellin woman who had been coming here now and again with bizarre machine parts. She was quiet enough, worked quickly and carefully.

But Hildeyerd would need to inspect her materials and supervise her work and clean up her mess afterward. Which meant there was no chance she was making the last dinner bell now.

Hildeyerd turned toward the harbinger of her dinner's doom slowly. Her smile was as strained as it had ever been, her words dripping with passive aggression. "Oh... Hello again, adventurer! Come to avail yourself of our fine facility yet again, I take it?"

You get paid for every artisan who passes through here, Hildeyerd told herself as the Lalafell sheepishly explained what she was here to do and the gravity of her situation. Money equals hot dinner some other day. Turning her away equals not getting paid. Not getting paid equals skipping another meal that other day. It's really just whether you eat now or later.

Hildeyerd's stomach growled angrily in support of "now."

"Here, have a look for yourself," the Lalafell said, holding up another bag of unusual odds and ends. The warmth in her pale green eyes suggested she understood Hildeyerd was not paying attention and had an idea of why. "I'm really sorry, I know this is last minute, and I heard about the woodworkers coming by. That's pretty soon, I get it, I know I'm making your life difficult. I promise I'll be quick. No one will even know I was here, I swear."

No one will even know she was here, Hildeyerd's stomach repeated. No one will even know.

Without a word, acting on impulse, Hildeyerd reached down and grabbed... not the bag of parts, but the woman's tunic. Lifted her into the air. She was lighter than Hildeyerd had expected, lighter than many of the things Hildeyerd had to move and inspect and clean and fix. And that was with the bag of parts, too.

"Hey! What are you doing? Just because I'm small doesn't mean you can just go around picking random people up!" the Lalafell protested as her feet left the ground and kicked in the air. Hildeyerd did not pay the girl's complaints any mind, just marveling at how easy this was going to be. She'd never done anything like this before, but... this Lalafell was the perfect prey. Small, quiet, sweet-smelling, perfectly timed... No one would come looking for her here. No one would hear her over the dinner rush now.

Hildeyerd plucked the bag of parts from the Lalafell's hands and set it down on the table. As methodically as with anything she'd done for her job, she unwrapped the patterned scarf from around the young woman's neck, tossed it on the table along with the rest of the textiles that needed to be cleaned up. The small clasp holding the outer robe shut was easy enough to remove, and then the robe slid off her shoulders easily, leaving only the inner tunic underneath.

The Lalafell laughed incredulously, but fear was clearly starting to creep into her voice. She swallowed heavily. "Wait, what are you... Stop that! H-hey..."

There was no need to answer that. It would become clear soon enough. One-handed earring removal wasn't trivial, but the endless inspecting and cleaning and maintaining had made Hildeyerd more than dextrous enough. Pluck the linkpearl to be sure no one will come looking. Take the spectacles from her nose. Untie the ribbon around her hair. Grab at her gloves. Pull off her boots. Slip off her socks. Tug down her trousers.

Seeing the pile of her own clothing building up on Hildeyerd's previously-clean table seemed to have a strong impact on the Lalafell as she shivered, half-naked, in the cool evening air. "L-Look, I don't know- I don't know what you're thinking, but people will notice i-if I go missing. They'll- they'll come looking for me. You really don't want to do this, I promise, you really-"

Hildeyerd spared her prey a smile as she finally pulled the tunic off the girl, leaving her dangling by her ankle in only her smallclothes. "I didn't think I did, but now that we're here, I suddenly find that I really do. Thanks for your patronage."

There was a moment where Hildeyerd considered that for all the time they'd spent together in the workshop, she had never learned this adventurer's name. And now they would never see each other again.

But then... she'd eaten plenty of exotic treats without ever learning what they were called.

She stuffed the Lalafellin woman's head into her mouth with startling ease. She'd heard whispers that this kind of thing came naturally to the sorts of people who were capable, and though she'd never tried before, it seemed that she was one of them.

At last... a hot, delicious meal, Hildeyerd moaned internally, bliss spilling through her as her tastebuds made contact with the girl's skin. It was warm and smooth, well cared for, subtly flavored with all the experiences she'd gone through. The adventurer kicked and struggled, but Hildeyerd was twice her prey's size and clearly had a much more physically demanding lifestyle than the chubby little thing she was now to eat. Her meal's resistance was completely meaningless.

No, not just meaningless. It was... strangely satisfying. Is this how she had been meant to feed herself all this time? Is this what her endless, bottomless hunger was always meant to be filled with? Squirming, struggling, squealing girlmeat pleading desperately to be released in words too muffled to be comprehensible? Was it the dinners or the diners, the waitstaff she had been lusting greedily after since her first day here?

Even with most of her meal's heavier clothing removed, the smallclothes made for a particularly tasteless contribution to the eating process. Hildeyerd made a mental note to fully strip her prey from here on. The mewling half-hearted threats from inside Hildeyerd's belly had transitioned to full-on pleading, begging to be released, to be spared. But Hildeyerd's hunger refused to do anything but finish. The broad, soft flesh of her prey's belly made for a satisfying replacement for the thin, salty chestwrap, and before long Hildeyerd was tasting squishy, savory thighs, disappointed with the realization that her meal was already half over. The girl's small size made her a quick meal, too, Hildeyerd supposed. All the more reason to seize some better opportunities to do this.

Hildeyerd lingered a few moments with her meal's feet kicking weakly in her mouth. She didn't want this meal to be over, not yet. But on the other hand, her stomach craved it - that moment when the weight of her prey would settle on the floor of her belly, the weight of a meal well earned...

So she swallowed one last time. And idly traced the movement of the last bulge along her throat as it disappeared beneath her collarbone. Felt that settling in of the weight of her meal inside her body. Felt her quivering meal curl up inside and give a few weak, disheartened kicks before surrendering to her fate.

She ran her fingertips along the new, gentle curve of her swollen belly. Despite everything, it wasn't obviously overgrown. It was just like when she had her days off and spent her earnings eating her fill to bursting of the Bobbing Cork's magnificent meals. Merely a sign of overindulgence in delicious food, just like any other.

She'd eaten someone alive for the first time. And it just felt good. No regret, no discomfort, no disappointment. Just blissful satisfaction at a good meal well enjoyed. This would not be the last time she did this... she was certain of that.

At least, it wouldn't be the last time if she cleaned up in time. As the trance-like effect of her meal faded, she glanced at the clock again. The dinner bell had passed, which meant she had maybe half a bell before the party from the Oak Atrium over in Gridania made their appearance.

And there on the table, plain as day, were the piled-up remnants of a young adventurer, as obviously as if any other sort of creature had been responsible. A sack of odds and ends that wanted to be inspected and built into... something. A crumpled tunic balled up like so much refuse. Well-worn boots - one standing, one tipped on its side - that had clearly been through a lot of long treks. Fancy, new-seeming fingerless gloves, surely a new purchase someone was once excited to use. Trousers with pockets stuffed with a small gil purse and an array of well-sealed potion vials of various colors, preparations for any eventuality save the one that ended their former owner's life of adventure.

"Please," mewled the quiet voice from inside Hildeyerd's belly. It was hard enough to hear from inside that it was unlikely anyone would be able to hear from outside. "Please just let me go... It's hot and sticky and tight and it's already starting to tingle... I-I don't want... Not like this..."

Hildeyerd ignored her, turning her attention to cleaning up. The gloves and scarf could easily fit inside the bag with the materials. Maybe the boots as well, once the gloves were stuffed inside. The tunic and robe would never fit inside, though... perhaps they could be wrapped around it. The potions would fit into her pouch and could be worth something, wouldn't be traceable back to their former owner, but would it be worth the extra effort to get rid of them, extra risk of discovery? Once they were emptied, the trousers could easily enough be torn into strips and wrapped around the rest of the girl's belongings. It would be clear that something had happened to her, but not what. And with Proud Creek just below, the bundle could be thrown inside and wouldn't be discovered anywhere near here.

She had never slacked off on her job, not exactly, but she meant to make the most of this half-bell. She was a flurry of motion. When it was completed, she lowered the bundle down carefully using a rope made of the strips of trousers, dropping it into the water and watching with satisfaction as the current of the creek carried it away.

"Is this really all I am to you?" The girl she'd eaten was pleading again, trying one more time to make her predator feel guilty and earn her release. "Just... Just food? We've seen each other so many times, but now I'm just a meal to you, you won't even pay mind to a word I say?"

Though Hildeyerd had no intention of responding this time either, a response came all the same. "brHHOUUUUUUUUUUUUuuuurp. Pardon me..."

"Ah," the girl whimpered, despair setting in as she curled her arms in tighter around herself. "Rhela... Moxie... Anyone, please...! Don't let this be the end..."

There was time enough after disposing of the girl's belongings for Hildeyerd to take her usual post and tighten her sash around her belly. Aside from a small grunt of pain as her already-small space was made even smaller, the girl made no effort to fight it - she understood it was hopeless now. That Hildeyerd was plenty satisfied with her meal and had no intention of letting her go.

By the time Timbermaster Beatin and his entourage had arrived, Hildeyerd had resumed her normal cheerful demeanor. "Welcome, Timbermaster." She gave a deep bow, squeezing her meal in even tighter in her belly and provoking faint whines from inside. "Our facility has been specially prepared for your use. Please, may I have a look at your materials?"

The three bells it took for the Oak Atrium crew to finish their big job went by in a flash. Hildeyerd had never been so deeply engaged in her work. Something about having eaten the young woman earlier made her feel more... whole. More alive.

She wasn't the only one to notice, either.

"Hey, Hildey," Aeluuin called as she headed for the stairs to her room in the staff quarters. "Mind if I grab your ear?"

Hildeyerd turned, tilting her head curiously. "Of course! What is it?"

"Y'know, I've been giving you a lot of shite," Aeluuin said, arms folded. "I mean, hells, the rest of us have three or four jobs going at once trying to keep things running right in here, the workshop ain't really one of our main guest services, and more often than not I see you in here drooling over half the dining room rather than out there doing your job. You can't blame me for feeling like maybe you're a little..." He shook his head, dropping the subject. "Well, anyway, on their way up to bed the carpenters said they'd want to plan more outings here even if they don't have such big work to do. Just for the morale. Cause of the kind of dedication you show and your knowledge and skill and friendliness and all that shite. And I thought, gods, I've been such an ass to her and I've had no idea."

And you never will, Hildeyerd thought with some amusement, her fingers idly caressing her belly. To her surprise, though, there was no movement in response. Her fingers sank in easily. She hastily redirected her focus. "It means a lot to hear that, Aeluuin," Hildeyerd said with a broad smile, bowing just as she had for the carpenters. "I hope we can continue understanding each other better... growing closer."

"... Yeah." Aeluuin smiled back. "Think I'd like that."

Hildeyerd skipped toward her room, her stomach sloshing along the way. She'd almost completely forgotten her previous meal, already dreaming of new ones.

Oh, yes. I'll be growing... and you'll be much, much closer...

It was two days later that the Au Ra woman arrived, poking around the place as casually as if she owned it. She was short, maybe coming up to Hildeyerd's chin, and had dark hair to match her dark scales - both with glimmering highlights of midnight blue woven in.

"I'm sorry, miss, do you need something? Can I perhaps help you?" Hildeyerd asked. Her confidence had gone up a fair bit along with her cup size once the meal from the days prior had finished melting away inside her and she'd had her favorite yellow tunic retailored to fit her new, curvier body shape. To hug her enhanced hips and bust all the better without crushing them. "This is a specialized crafting facility used by artisans with important work to do. If you don't have anything to do here, I will have to ask you to leave and make way for those who do."

The Au Ra glanced at her, eyes narrowed, then shook her head, resuming her investigation. "... Uh, yeah. Did my girlfriend come through here about two days ago? Little Lalafell, purple hair, shiny green eyes, barely even this high? Sezul told me she'd be coming here to use your, uh, specialized crafting facility."

"Sezul?" Hildeyerd cocked her head, ignoring that she knew exactly what had become of the woman matching that description.

"Yeah, don't worry about it. You haven't seen her, then?" the Au Ra asked, her gaze intense. "She's missing. Izhu, that's her name."

A lesser woman might have broken under that gaze. But Hildeyerd put a hand on her hip. On the fat that had once been that very girl - Izhu, hm? "Mmm... Well, a girl matching that description used to come around here almost daily. But I haven't seen her since about four or five days ago. Sorry."

"Huh. Yeah. Got it," the Au Ra said, clearly disappointed with that answer. She scratched something on a piece of paper from her pocket, then handed it over to Hildeyerd. "If you see her again, give me a call."

Lifting the paper, Hildeyerd saw the name she'd heard Izhu pleading to - Rhela. "Of course. As soon as I see or hear any sign of her, I'll call you over right away."

Rhela nodded, distracted. And having apparently finished her investigation, she headed back out across the bridge to the rest of Fallgourd Float.

Hildeyerd smiled, fantasies of what those scales would taste like already flitting through her head. Girlfriends, hm? It would be a shame to break up such a lovely couple for too long...