Cassie Has a Soak p3 (Patreon)

Waddling (and she most definitely now had a pronounced waddle) to the spa was a bit more work than it had been going to the pool. She felt heavier, she looked heavier but Cassie wasn’t sure whether it was just her being self conscious again. Besides, having so much wet fur was bound to make her feel a little heavy. Trying not to conspicuously examine her stomach, and so unable to come to a conclusion about the appearance of a few extra inches of girth, Cassie instead hurried onwards. She deserved her rest and relaxation and without a stop by the spa the whole day would have been for nothing.

Certainly nobody else seemed to be making a big deal of me, she told herself, and why would they? It’s not as though people can spontaneously inflate. She got the same looks here that she got everywhere, the eyes of people who noticed she looked pregnant, surely nothing more.

A few more people had made their way into the pool now that the sun was reaching its peak, humans mingling with furs. A handful of teenagers had begun to play a game among the wave generating section of the pool while bored looking parents read in the sunlight or ate cheap fried foods in the seated areas.

The spas were in a cloistered off section of the main building, up a small set of stairs so that nobody in the pools proper could see anyone relaxing in the spas. There was a set of three different spas, each bubbling away invitingly. One of the three was occupied by a small group in conversation but thankfully the other two were empty. Cassie, exhausted from having to carry herself and her waterlogged stomach all this way, quickly slipped into the closest one that was empty.

The change in gravity was immediate, not just as it is when you enter water but as it is when your body is instantly caressed by hundreds upon hundreds of bubbles, each floating up against you as though to push you to the surface themselves. Cassie sighed and melted into the water, allowing her limbs to spread out and her tail to float to the surface. This was the ticket - this was what she had come here for. The warmth around her diffused the difference between where she ended and the water began, she felt as though she were floating on a particularly warm cloud. Leaning into the feeling, Cassie shut her eyes and simply enjoyed herself, enjoyed the feeling of being there and letting all of her worries evaporate like steam. She forgot about the bills, pushed them to a distant place in her mind.

Work would sort itself out, she’d be back in the workforce before long, with a resume like hers she had little doubt thereIn regards to her stomach, the cause of so much embarrassment and concern; she asked herself, was it really all that bad? In her most private moments she could admit to herself that she liked the shape of it. Perpetually bloated, squishy, malleable. In her most private moments, she could admit it was hot. Again she asked herself, why keep it in mind? Why be self conscious?

A dozen responses drifted through the back of her mind but Cassie brushed them all away. Today wasn’t about being self critical, it was about relaxing. And being at peace with herself was a part of that. With her eyes shut she felt out every part of her body, from the tips of her ears to the bottoms of her toes and then, she focused on her stomach. She could feel it, bumped and rolled by the bubbles and the currents of the spa, too soft to ever be pregnant. It felt big with her eyes shut, it felt tight in the constraints of her swimsuit. It bobbed up and down on the surface of the water and the doe blushed a little as she felt a tingling between her legs. Instinctively a furred hand slipped beneath the surface of the water to tease between her legs but it got as far as bumping into the side of her stomach before she realised what she was doing and stopped. She thought perhaps shouldn’t let herself focus too much on her stomach before a gentle ripping noise caught her attention.

The sound was quiet, almost lost among the bubbling of the spa, but such a difference to the low hum of conversation and the ripple and splash of water that Cassie’s ears could pick it up. It was the tearing of fabric, and it was coming from her. Cassie’s heart skipped a beat as she realised she was only wearing one article of clothing, and her eyes snapped downwards. The doe stifled a gasp as she got a look at what was staring her back in the face.

If Cassie could have been generously called svelte before, it would be impossible now. The doe’s stomach was surging forward, having obliterated enough of her one piece swimsuit that it could grow without impediment. It was a massive furry orb, heavy with water and pushing down past her knees. As though some kind of seal had been broken, or perhaps in sympathy with the rest of her stomach the doe’s legs too had begun to swell up. Looking to either side with increasing panic and staring past her ballooning love handles, Cassie could see her ass swelling, each cheek now past the size of a prize mellon and getting bigger by the second. Biting her lip, Cassie pushed down on her stomach, trying to dislodge the water she was absorbing. That must be it, she realized, I must be somehow absorbing the water - but as her hands came back up it only seemed like more and more water rushed in, pushing her beige-furred gut out another couple of inches. If she stayed much longer like this, she knew she wouldn’t be able to walk anymore.

Before she could think of modesty, the thought of becoming immobile in a public pool spurred Cassie into action. She sprang out of the spa as quickly as she could, spilling warm water over the sides of the tub as she scrambled out, fighting her stomach which plopped heavily on the tiled side and impeded her progress, as well as drawing the attention of the other patrons of the spa. Now that she was climbing out, all they could see was her swollen ass cheeks and the massive boulder of a stomach she was struggling with.

“Do you see that?”

“Where’s her swimsuit?”

“It’s wedged between her cheeks - hey come on girl that’s not enough for modesty.”

There was more but Cassie didn’t hear it as she finally tumbled over the edge of the spa and started waddling back towards the changing rooms with all the haste she could muster. Ears tilted down, she was trying vehemently to ignore the world around her, she had more than enough to deal with as it was. Now out of the water, it felt like her stomach, no, she herself, weighed a ton! Every step was a laboured struggle against the weight of her gut and the weight of her legs. She had to drag each forward waddling step out of herself, pushing against her massive yoga ball sized gut as she struggled to hold it up, fingers clenching to grip the sides of her soaking wet belly.

Enough of her swimsuit survived so that during this mad dash she wasn’t completely nude. Cassie might have noted with irony - if she even noticed, that the tears in her swimsuit bisected it nearly completely, creating a top and a bottom which clung on for dear life as she bobbed and waddled towards the changing room. A couple who were just exiting had to dive out of the way as she rushed past, huffing and panting.

One of them, a silver fox, looked after her with concern, “Are you okay miss?” She called after Cassie’s disappearing tail.

Cassie herself didn’t answer, she didn’t want anyone to see her, but the second best thing was that nobody would know her voice. Blushing and still ignoring the outside world, she ducked into the changing room, saw there were a handful of people in it and dashed into a shower stall before anyone could see her. There, in the shade of the thankfully large shower cubicle Cassie was able to breathe a sigh of relief. She slumped against the wall and for a moment all she could hear was the pounding of her heart, but as that slowly died down the sound of normal conversation resumed. If she had been seen, there was no comment. And surely, there would be comment.