Seeking Sherwood Interlude 6 (Veronica) (Patreon)

Returned from her self destructive outing, Veronica has some time to examine herself and her new body and mindset.

Written by the wonderful Rabidbadger writing, illustrated by me!  

Characters/Owners:

Garth - Nackvixen 

Veronicas - Veronacus 

Temperance - Paris  

- - -     

Veronica was not happy and had numerous excellent reasons for that state of mind. For one thing, her state of mind itself was disturbing her. Though it had taken being hauled bodily back to the ship and locked in her quarters to realize it. The lack of stimuli was the key, she’d spent hours just reacting to every impulse that hit her mind, then there’d been the capture, and after that? Nothing. An hour and a half of staring at her walls, feeling stray thoughts crawl across her mind like spiders pulling on web strands that made her get up, try the door again, try the communications devices, even though she knew they were useless. 

It was when the ideas started to taper off that Veronica was able to think again, the first clear thought of which was a question. One that was rooted in how she looked now compared to a day ago. The damage to her figure the Vice Regent had done had been intense, sure, but then she’d gone and joined the ‘fun’, fattened herself right out of a loose track suit, ended up sporting the kind of body she only ever saw on hopeless cases on bad television or on the rare few people who couldn’t afford to get their weight removed and actually came to a gym. Those ones, at least, Veronica respected. Having thighs the width of an entire ordinary person, grinding together with every step, a belly that hung down past her waist and formed a horizon she couldn’t see her feet past, and breasts that had eclipsed the size of her head and were now looking more like medicine balls (and felt about as heavy) did not make exercise easy. She knew, she’d tried it twice now. Both times it had ended in a sweaty, heaving mess that only succeeded in sending a lot of loose, wobbly flesh flying about – particularly the dangling folds it of under her arms.

“…The hell got into me?”

Clarity was brief and agonizing. Veronica could see herself doing those things, but she couldn’t remember making the decisions, just an instantaneous jump from urge to action. Which was precisely why she lunged, or tried to, when the door of her quarters opened, and she saw the ebon visage of the Vice Regent on the other side. It didn’t go so well, but an attempt was certainly made. 

Lunging normally works best when it happens quickly and directly. Veronica started moving in an instant, sure, she just didn’t go anywhere very fast when it happened. Her body was awkward, heavy, clumsy, she got in her own way, ran her belly into the edge of her bed and rolled over the side of it onto her back. Which left her needing to roll over, something that took two tries and left her winded – which should not be the case, she knew. A runner could go for hours at the right pace, and a sprint still lasted a little while. But that woman had left her something else.

Still breathing hard, Veronica braced herself on the bed and felt her belly wobble and dangle beneath her, felt her chest sway like pendulums in the remnants of her clothing. Half of it had given out during her feasting adventure into the pirate asteroid, the other half had either been ruined in the capture or peeled away later. Some of it was definitely taken off on purpose, sort of, since it had started getting hot in her quarters. Either way, the dark furred lard-slave’s attempt fell short. Particularly when a jolt ran through her collar and down her neck, leaving her toppling limply onto her belly and chest again while the Vice Regent stepped forward and crouched nearby.

The ebon bird was smirking, but it was a shallow thing.

“I expected that, but I wanted to watch just the same.”

Veronica knew, intellectually, her body wasn’t moving and wasn’t going to start. The attempts didn’t stop just the same, which was causing an ugly knot of anxiety to grow in the back of her head. It didn’t make sense to keep trying. Sure, she wanted to wring the bird’s neck, but it wasn’t going to happen. So why was she still gently twitching and not so gently snarling?

“Just had to be a fitness prude and find the one piece of fruit on the entire ship instead of, I dunno, asking me to buy you some. I could have – would have bought you fruit. I don’t have some kind of vendetta against fruit you know.”

Whimpering in front of the bird was wholly unacceptable, but for a moment it happened. The sound was quickly replaced with a deluge of thoughts given voice.

“Like I want to ask you for anything! I – I wanted fruit, or just – something other than the stuff you’re fattening us up with, but not from you!”

There was a snort from the Vice Regent, who looked like she wanted to say something, but was hesitating. That hesitation seemed like an invitation from where Veronica sat – or rather where she lay on the ground, gently heaving up and down as her breathing expanded her thoroughly thickened chest.

“I don’t deserve this! Garth just rolls with it because he was going to be a fat, lazy heap anyway! I was an athlete until I was SOLD for SOMEONE ELSE’S MISTAKES!”

At some point during the outburst Veronica had stopped feeling the ‘wrong’ thing in her head, at least for a moment or two. The shouting felt right, the hilariously abrupt slump that only involved her neck and head because everything else was already limp felt right.

“I wanted to go fast, be fit, enjoy myself. Get back to my brother. Wasn’t so much to ask. Gonna do anything I can to get that back. Whatever the heck it takes.”

Letting out an exhale, the Vice Regent slid down a bit further, sitting a few inches away from her black furred ‘assistant’ and hesitating before reaching out to touch Veronica’s head. At that point Veronica felt too drained to pull back.

“So, I’ve got bad news, kid. That fruit you ate was pretty exotic, and I don’t mean just expensive exotic. I mean it probably is, heck it’s probably super illegal, but the important bit is there’s some weird chemical compound that hits the bloodstream and then, uh, lemme read these notes.”

Lifting her head slightly, genuinely curious – and growing a bit worried again – Veronica found herself compelled just to listen. Which was easy enough to do from the floor.

“Collects in fat cells, favors the types commonly found in brain tissue, and has been noted to have a pronounced effect on a person’s impulse control. No known method of safely removing the compound has been discovered, though treatments are available.”

Veronica blinked slowly as the implications settled into place, making altogether too much sense. Particularly given the immediate outburst.

“B-but – treatments – that… you have to-!”

The Vice Regent’s finger came down across Veronica’s lips, and surprisingly she didn’t feel the itch to bite it anymore.

“We’re going to. Can’t leave you like this. Look there’s things I can’t fix about your situation, things I won’t fix about it, and things I can and will fix. Trusting this stuff in your head makes it hard to lie – if I un-zap your neck are you going to take another swing at me?”

It was probably a mix of desperation and some degree of catharsis over the past lunging and screaming that allowed Veronica to shake her head no. Which, she noted, did not feel like a lie. Veronica wasn’t totally sure if she could lie right now, since the Vice Regent brought it up, but she also felt disinclined to find out. It would mean looking at this too closely.

A gentle twang in the base of her neck came paired with Veronica’s limbs suddenly reacting to her thoughts again. Which, when she had worked a little bit of stiffness out of them, allowed her to at least clamber back onto the side of the bed. Where she promptly felt another burst of uncontrolled honesty bubble up.

“I want out of this mess, it isn’t fair.”

 Easing her way to her feet, the Vice Regent pulled a pair of what looked like heavy sunglasses out of her dress, which she then held out toward Veronica.

“Life never is. Not gonna compare our scores on whose situation sucks more, though you did walk into some fresh hell here that probably tipped it for you honestly. Now, this treatment’s a little on the intense side. You on board for it?”

Veronica felt like hesitating. Her experience told her to hesitate here, but her hand reached out right away and unfolded the sunglasses. The arms had earbuds attached, and the lenses were clearly screens meant to form a simple, low grade VR setup. She did at least manage not to just put them on without question.

“This… is gonna help, right?”

Vice Regent Amourres let out a sigh over that, but she did nod.

“A bit. Best anyone’s come up with for this is building habits to steer your impulses instead of stop them. Work around the problem so to speak. Develop a little quirk or two, not sure what – something you already do sometimes probably – that goes off first when an urge hits and gives you a couple seconds longer to think about things than you usually have. It may not be perfect, but it’ll do for now. Who knows? Maybe when we find Sherwood Fleet they can do something.”

The Vice Regent was not high on Veronica’s list of people to trust, but she had to admit that the last thing the woman said sounded oddly genuine. Amourres appeared to have some degree of actual faith in their goal. Maybe something that inspired faith in a woman like that was worth believing in, Veronica considered.

“…Alright. Just, however this plays out?”

Veronica lifted the glasses, exhaling, sliding them onto her head and into her ears. The burst of color and thrumming white noise that hit her nearly sent her unconscious from the start, even without any subliminal patterning, but it left her just enough to get in a last thought. Which was easier when it just slipped out without thinking.

“Get me back to my brr…ther.”

Silence followed. Veronica gradually relaxed while the Vice Regent watched, the ebon-feathered bird waiting until her fleshy property began slowly sliding back on the bed, at which point the Vice Regent stepped over to help guide Veronica down onto her back properly. Something that probably should’ve been more difficult for someone as slender as the Vice Regent was, but she managed the bloated frame of the ebony furred woman with surprising ease. Even moving her to the center of the bed, after which the Vice Regent toggled a panel on the side of it and set the thing folding upward on the back side like a medical bed until Veronica was sitting up at a soft angle. 

After that, the Vice Regent went about two other tasks quickly. She ran the treatment program she’d acquired when she got the glasses in the first place – both of them would have to trust in the wisdom of unlicensed pirate medical practices at this point – and then she produced a thick rubber band. Which she wrapped gently around Veronica’s muzzle while sliding the dispenser hose for the ship’s nutrient paste stores that every crew quarters on the ship had between Veronica’s lips.

The Vice Regent lingered briefly, making sure the flow was on its slowest setting, making sure it didn’t just overflow out of Veronica’s mouth, making absolutely certain Veronica still swallowed when her mouth was full – and she did. The Vice Regent could swear her lard-slave was even smiling a little as it happened. 

After turning to go, the Vice Regent lingered at the doorway briefly. Inside the room was dark now, and apart from the gentle pumping sounds and the occasional grunt from Veronica it was also silent. Watching through one swallow, then another, spaced quite a few seconds apart, the Vice Regent narrowed her eyes and glanced down at the data pad she’d loaded the program from. 

A few swallows later, the Vice Regent ran the second ‘treatment’ and ‘retraining’ program she’d acquired from the pirate tech shop and turned the flow on the feeding hose up to medium, before shutting the door and locking it behind her.