Seeking Sherwood - Epilogue - Veronica (Patreon)

-=content warning, the following epilogue could be described as dark, or a bad ending. Personally I'm of the opinion that whatever circumstances a character ends up in, as long as they're enjoying themselves, the story isn't all that dark, but the means in which we got here involve: chemical adjustments, permanent personality change, that kind of thing. Everyone ends up happy, and the story is very good, but you have been warned 83=-

It's been about a year in coming to this, but strap in for the final piece in the saga, Seeking Sherwood!

Despite Red's warnings, Veronica insists on being reunited with her brother immediately, no matter where he is. She gets what she asks for, but is it what she wants? Read on, to find out! 

 Written by the wonderful Rabidbadger writing, illustrated by me!   

Characters/Owners:

Garth - Nackvixen 

Veronicas - Veronacus 

Temperance - Paris  

- - -     

Veronica shuddered through her whole frame as she woke, which there was plenty of. Everything around her looked blurry and unfamiliar, her head ached a bit, her stomach was howling at her for sustenance. She smelled some of it nearby, fried meat, butter drenched breads, sweets and wine. It snapped the fuzzy draconic woman's eyes wide open finally and dragged her willing or not into alertness.

The blurriness in her vision wasn't actually her eyes, it was all around her – but only past a certain point. A couple of yards out from her she saw glass, or something like it, curved in the way a ship's viewing ports might be. Curved enough that it wrapped around both sides of her, and over her, behind her – Veronica was in some kind of translucent bubble. One that had tables laid out with a small feast on the other side of it, and a bed of pillows below her. Though, when she tried to lurch upward in her puffy, blubber-swaddled body, Veronica found herself unmanageably heavy and stiff.

Whimpering a bit, the six hundred pound former athlete struggled again, planting her hands behind herself on what felt like pillows – an entire floor of them – and pushing. It went nowhere, even her arms felt leaden. All of which just made the whimpering louder as she smelled the food's aroma filling her little spherical prison more with each passing moment.

Ah, you're awake! Excellent. I must say, we didn't expect you so soon. Apparently you were very insistent about joining us. Let me turn the gravity in there down a little.

A faint humming sound filled the air around Veronica, followed by the merciless pull of her body toward the ground lessening. Just enough that she could, with effort, start lurching upward by leaning on the glass wall behind her. It didn't solve much, small problematic details started filtering in after that first hurdle was conquered. Veronica was naked, for one thing – and definitely being watched. She was also beginning to sluggishly remember just what happened before she woke up in this thing – some of it, anyway.

Questions, mostly about where she wanted to go. Demands to rejoin her brother. A bunch of warnings she didn't want to listen to. Then they'd docked, a slender snow-white mink had met them at the loading bay, and... Veronica winced, her head ached when she tried to get past that part. Though her surroundings went a long way toward suggesting what was up, and a sudden 'thwong' sound did much of the rest as the glass of her prison went from translucent to transparent.

The space around Veronica multiplied many times over in one instant. She was off center of an oval shaped chamber, surrounded on all sides by shadowy people in fine chairs observing – and a few cameras. The part of it that got Veronica struggling harder, panting and frantic, to her feet though? That sat on the other side of the chamber with her. A second orb shaped prison, one filled with a faint haze of something pink, and with a figure in the center of it that was intimately familiar to her. The sight of Veronacus laying against a pole, naked, vigorously stroking himself was...

Well, it was awkward, but she hadn't been terribly specific about it when she demanded to be reunited with her brother. Unfortunately, when she ran for the side of the sphere Veronica ran into other problems. Her body would barely move, at least forward – it shook and jiggled just fine but it took her a long time to reach the edge of her cell. Her hundreds of pounds of blubber hitting the glass and flattening with a dull splat while she panted and shivered. All of which reminded her that along the wall, so close, almost in reach, was food – everywhere.

Not quite yet, dear. We've got a game to play first! It's quite simple, we understand you used to do a fair bit of running and dancing. There's not much space in there to sprint, but we would love to see a heaving lard-sculpture like you try your hand at ballet. So, listen up – here are the rules.

Veronica fought to catch her breath, feeling heavier than she should – and that was saying something. She began shuffling sideways toward the private buffet, gut clenching and howling.

Of course, if you want to forfeit the first round go right ahead. You see, each time you fail to please us with your dance – or fail to control your hunger – we'll drop the gravity in your cell to help you out a bit. We're not monsters after all.

That was all she needed to hear. Veronica whimpered quietly as she dove for a plate of fried chicken, potato wedges, and carrots. The greasy meat was in her teeth without so much as a thought.

But each time you fail, one way or another, we're going to dose your brother with fresh aphrodisiacs and turn the gravity up on his cell. He has a few minutes to finish off each time that happens, and if he ever fails? We'll saturate his body with so many chemicals he won't be any use for anything but breeding livestock. But if you win? We'll let you have your reunion.

Sure enough, Veronica felt the catastrophic heft of her body lessen over the course of a few moments. It still shook and jiggled loosely, still clapped against its own folds when she moved quickly, but it didn't pull so hard. Which made it easier for her desperate feast to continue as she couldn't seem to form any resistance to it. Not yet anyway, not with her belly howling so.

Across from her, a hissing sound filled her brother's cell with more of that pinkish haze. His body, still toned like she remembered, writhed briefly before he grunted and sank a little closer to the floor where he lay. Veronacus also immediately developed an impressive erection, more than his sister recalled him having the likes of before, and sluggishly put his hands to it. A five minute timer appeared at various places in the glass of both prisons there, though Veronacus hardly seemed to notice. Veronica, instead, saw it as five minutes in which she was free to stuff her face senseless before there were consequences again.

***

Veronica wasn't totally sure how long actually passed before she stopped eating, was the problem. When she found herself a bit lucid again it was with her face still stuffed full of food, some kind of fruit salad based on the taste of it, and a wobbly sensation all about her being. She blinked slowly, swallowing almost as an afterthought, belching afterward with an intensity that made her eyes water.

That timer was still there in the glass, but it wasn't the first timer. How much she'd just screwed up Veronica didn't know, but she'd definitely seen it say numbers lower than 3:42 a couple of times already, and more worrying than that she felt almost springy when she took a step back from the feast. It was the easiest that moving had felt in recent memory, coupled with the bizarre and tantalizing sensation of the folds and pockets of flab on her body floating and undulating well after she'd stopped backpedaling. There were more of them, she realized. However long it had been she'd managed to get fatter as well as lighter in the interim.

The sound of her brother groaning shook Veronica out of her thoughts. Her brother was still captive, naturally. Still nestled in his own pile of cushions, wrestling with his own impulses. Veronacus looked tired, though. He was moving slowly, panting and sweating, maybe even a little scared. She, on the other hand, was just covered in the natural result of rampant gluttony. Food detritus all down her front, but otherwise comfortable. A bit floaty, cool crisp air in her confinement, comfortable. Veronica looked to the walls again, to the watching eyes and the timers, and shut her eyes.

Remembering what had happened to her – what she'd kind of done to herself – wasn't always easy. Impulse came quickly, that's why they were impulses. They didn't leave much room for thinking ahead, and now she tended not to think at all once they got going. But her belly was full, for now. Her head was clear-ish as a result, and she remembered the rules. Watching the timer count down, Veronica turned away from the food and dredged up her old routines. Stretch first.

“Stretch, top to bottom, bottom to top...”

The whole moment almost fell apart with a hiccup and a belch, but Veronica's stomach was filled taut and the whole thing tasted of cherry cobbler so if anything it took the edge off. She almost bounced to the center of her orb, then lifted her arms. That in itself was odd, she felt the loose sacks of flab under them jiggling freely and it took two seconds for her belly to finish falling down over her waist again. Strange or not, though, it was important.

Veronica arched her back slowly, side to side, front to back – pausing at the last step as she was left distracted and blushing while her impressive chest hovered impossibly still in the air like a pair of basketballs on strings. She definitely felt stiff, but there were two minutes left to do this in. Next, she spread her legs a bit and started to work her hips. Something that almost had enough momentum to send her flying the first time.

The last step of her warm up surprised Veronica, pleasantly. She couldn't reach over her own belly to grab at her leg really, and she couldn't get it up as high as it used to with a side lift purely because there was so much flesh in the way, but her joints felt supple enough – mobile enough. If she wasn't so damn fat she wouldn't have lost all that much ability. As it was, she'd just have to make do. Or, she thought as she watched the timer crawl downward, maybe make it work for her instead of against.

Watching the timer work its way down, Veronica had to keep vigil in her head not to let her mind wander too carelessly on the smells of the feast still lingering nearby. Stray thoughts about it seemed dangerously capable of running away with her attention, and she had doubts about whether or not her brother could handle the results of that. This was her chance to reunite, which probably had connotations she hadn't thought through – but while Veronica could recognize that fact she couldn't think her way past it.

Not yet, anyway.

Oh, hoh – are we ready to put in an actual try this time? Do please show us, dear.

Veronica took a slow breath, cool conditioned air for her – while Veronacus sweated things out in his orb. Looking at her brother, gathering what focus she could, Veronica twisted and hopped. The orb was fairly spacious all things considered, the size of a decent personal quarters (which it probably had been for her brother, she realized) so she had space for this. A floating spread-legged leap. A feather-light landing on one foot and a pirouette with her blubbery waistline acting like a ballerina's skirt. It felt strangely freeing, and a little lewd.

The routine Veronica settled into was familiar, and that was a joy in itself. Something that let her flex her old talents, things she'd been free to use not all that long ago really – the Vice Regent's ruination of her figure had only taken a couple of weeks. Moving around like this now, spinning on her heel and dipping herself into a slow, arching pose held on one foot, almost felt like it used to. Somewhere between the lower gravity and massively increased body weight she found a kind of equilibrium. It wasn't a perfect match, she didn't used to feel herself jiggling ceaselessly the whole time, but on some level she was dancing for a crowd of admirers again.

At least, she was until a loud buzzer sounded.

Dear, I'm sorry, but that is just a bit too pedestrian. Poor Veronacus is going to have to see if he has anything left in him, with another quarter G' added to the problem. That means you get that much lighter, though! Assuming you don't eat yourself out of the advantage in the intervening five minutes.

The buzzer went off again, and as the timers manifested on the glass Veronica felt her body's burden grow lighter still. She could, she imagined, leap clear to the top of her spherical container at this point. Spin and float and hurl herself and-

A loud gurgling in Veronica's stomach interrupted her train of thought. Whimpering, she turned her head to the buffet again. She hadn't even made it to the pasta and cheese, or the deviled eggs. That realization was as far as rational thought got before Veronica charged to the food and lost herself in gluttony and delight.

***

Eventually Veronica came out of her gorging haze again. Focus came back all at once, leaving her to snap her eyes open and shout.

“Veronacus! I have to-”

A rush of movement got Veronica's attention. A blur of red and black, then eyes – familiar eyes. A broad smile. The feeling of strong arms burying themselves in her body and squeezing tight.

“Hey sis!”

Still befuddled and sluggish, Veronica took a moment to register the situation. That was her brother smiling at her, touching her – no glass between them. Had she done it? There'd been all that food again, and she half remembered moving about – floating even. A lot of it. None of it mattered all that much at the moment. Veronica only had one thing she wanted to do, and it was get her arms around her brother. Lurching up, Veronica let out a whimper of relief which quickly turned into a furious grunt of effort. Her body shifted a bit in the nest of pillows she occupied, her arms curled and fought against their own weight, but it only took a few seconds for the pain of exhaustion to start setting in. Veronica had gone nowhere and still collapsed, wobbling gently.

The urge to panic and scream was strong, but it ran headlong into her brother kissing her forehead and smiling still. She couldn't move, but she had Veronacus back. The war of impulses left Veronica panting even after she caught her breath, eyes darting about while her brother rubbed his hands over her belly.

“You got huge sis, you're okay though. Everything's good. I can do the dancing, I've been practicing! I just need – ah, here it comes!”

Not knowing what he was talking about, Veronica looked about. They were in her brother's orb she suspected, no buffet anywhere to be seen. She was nestled in a bit of a 'bowl' of cushions around the middle, and whatever had been easing off her weight was no longer acting. All that lard glued to her body was doing its worst, and-

“Oh Chrome, how big am I?”

That brief moment of dire clarity was shattered as Veronica heard something opening up at the peak of the orb. A small window, and some sort of long cylinder descending through it.

You're quite the beached heifer, dear. You proved that heaving your lard-encased self around for our amusement, which was indeed a sight. Not dancing, though. Hence the circumstances. Are you enjoying your new brain chemistry, Veronacus?

Veronica's brother stood straight up at that, grinning with that glazed look on his face, still quite naked and now visibly aroused. He moved sluggishly, languidly, grasping the soda-can wide tube and helping to guide it downward. As it grew nearer Veronica realized she smelled something from it, cream and chocolate and a few other undercurrents – the shakes her brother used to down before a workout. A deluge of it. Which Veronacus guided the path of right into her waiting maw.

“It's really nice... Everything's warm and fuzzy, like before, but it's not going away?”

Briefly, Veronica tried to resist. To struggle her way out of the divot of fluff she occupied, to ask her brother to help, to beg for mercy – but all she could manage was to wobble feebly and latch onto the hose in her mouth as her belly began to growl in demand for sustenance.

Good. Now, we're going to play a new game since the last one didn't go so well. Your sister has a little dietary processing augmentation in her system still, we're going to turn it off later tonight. For now, though? It's your turn to dance.

Slowly but surely, a chocolaty brown mixture began to run down the length of the tube toward Veronica's waiting lips. It was cool, sweet, heavy – everything she wanted. Even with the knowledge that it would be a catastrophe to indulge right now. Veronacus however was just dumbly staring up at the opening, watching as the tube began to solidify. Turning silvery, firm, smooth. Almost instinctively the lean ebon and red furred form of her brother ground itself against the pole and began sliding his legs over it, having to stand on top of Veronica to do it. Most of his weight was in the pillows, but she could hardly ignore having a foot lazily shaking her left breast around.

When you finish we'll turn the gravity down for you two again. Maybe, if you finish for us quickly enough, your sister will still be able to move without her elephantine bottom body being so wide that her weight doesn't even matter. And if not you can always use her as a ball, I suppose

Above her, Veronacus giggled a little in his drugged-seeming state. Veronica, meanwhile, was greedily swallowing mouthfuls of dense, calorie-ridden shake as she repeatedly told herself to stop. Her body refused to listen, though. As Veronica watched from below while her brother danced lewdly for their captors and her belly lazily gurgled and grew, she had to admit – she wasn't completely convinced she wanted to.