Tatum absentmindedly munched on a triple-deluxe-Bigburger. Not the white wolf’s first today; not her first during her break, even. Employees at Big Boi’s Burgers ate free, and Tatum, of course, sought to take advantage of this benefit. It wasn’t a particularly high paying job, but why should it be? She wasn’t in any particularly dire financial state, and why bother looking for a more professional career? No, it was a good job. Big Boi’s hired anyone, so getting hired was simple, and working was just as much so.
Really, BB’s Burgers was an innovation of sorts. In fact, it was the first fast food chain to establish delivery. Such a leap in technological marvels did not come easily; researchers had to make simpler discoveries first, from ending world hunger, creating panaceas, conquering extra-dimensional travel… All trivial movements in technology in comparison to fast food delivery, the pinnacle of sentient evolution. From award-winning tastes to luring atmosphere, BB’s Burgers truly had everything.
Back to our chipper young hero, Tatum sat in a booth, chugging down another chocolate milkshake. Raising a paw to wipe a stray dollop of chocolate from her cheek, she couldn’t help but lick her fingers clean, bent on suckling in as much flavor from her meal as possible. Tatum then turned to her last burger, and took a massive, juicy bite. With her maw already stuffed with burger, she immediately made to stuff it with another bite, not even waiting to swallow first.
Somewhere inside, she figured there was likely some sort of addictive in their food, but who was she to question or care? The food set her taste buds ablaze with life, and left her feeling warm and full. And the food was certainly filling- one burger was hearty enough to substitute for a meal, yet she always found herself ordering three (plus extra large, loaded fries and milkshake) for a lunch alone.
“Mind if I join?” asked her kangaroo coworker, Lydia. Tatum didn’t even notice her approach, she was so absorbed in her glut-fest. If she had, she’d invite her over herself. Either way, she sat down across from her without waiting for an answer. “What’s up, Tatertots?”
“I don’t know… Lyd… uh, Lydi…hmm...” Tatum racked her brain for a clever nickname to comeback with, but quickly found herself frustrated with the difficulty, while Lydia couldn’t help but let out a hearty chuckle. The two were always in some level of competition, though it and all the teasing was in fair intention. Lydia always seemed to pull out on top in wits, if only with sass and deadpan sarcasm.
“No need to strain yourself, just messing around. You up to anything particularly interesting?”
“Can’t really say I am, no. My roommate got a new game I wanted to play, some fantasy thing, but nothing too exciting. What’s going on with you?”
Lydia leaned over the table, as if she had big news to drop. “You know that new buffet down the street? The one with all the stupid commercials?” Really, everyone knows the commercials. They’re on TV all the time, with dancing lobsters and whatnot. Everyone thought it was quite annoying, but Tatum secretly loved it.
“Well, sure, yeah… I know the... the stupid commercials… why, are you going?” Even just after stuffing her face, food was back on her mind; miraculous she even forgot.
“Yeah, I mean, I’ve been going. Got outgrown jeans to prove it…” Lydia leaned back again, puffing out her belly in an exaggerated manner to show off its girth. She was easy to look at, certainly. Her face showed off a great balance of strength and intellect, just below a head of short, wild red hair. Her body, however, was much less angular and narrow. Bottom heavy was definitely the way to describe her. She was undeniably curvy (especially her hips), yet solid enough that someone like Tatum had thought she’d had a great deal of muscle. Looking at her now, though, she began to question her physique.
“Well, it must be good then! It’s not too… I don’t know, fatty, is it?” she inquired.
“What, are you concerned for your health? You a doctor or something?” Lydia, back with the snarky comments.
“I’m not! I mean, I am I guess… But you didn’t answer my question.”
“Of course it is, it’ll kill your waistline. But you can go once, right?” Tatum wasn’t sure, she should be watching her weight. All the health professionals on TV and the news said to. But she was fine, right? She hadn’t been eating too poorly lately. In fact, she’d been eating quite well that she was aware of. Unless she’d been eating fatty, greasy fast food without knowing just how many calories it was stuffing into her… But that was highly unlikely.
“Yeah, I could cheat once or twice, I’ve been good!” Tatum admitted, despite the falseness behind the statement. Lydia just smirked at her oblivious friend.
“That’s the spirit! Besides, you can use some meat on you. Lookin’ like you’re going to keel over. I’ll text you the time after work. Later, Tater.” With that, she stood from the booth and walked off into the back. Tatum couldn’t help but notice her massive rear, jiggling in time with her swaying hips. One buffet won’t kill her, certainly. She resumed stuffing her face with her Bigburger, mentally priding herself with how healthy she’d been eating lately.

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Tatum arrived back to her apartment, carrying a few paper bags- from Big Boi’s, of course. She opened the door to total darkness, save for the illumination of the television.
“Jeez, why’s it so dark in here?” Tatum mumbled to herself, both stating the obvious and repeating the narrator. Tatum made her way through the living room to where her roommate, Ashlynn, was sitting on the couch. The cat girl was invested in playing the aforementioned game she’d recently got.
“How’s work?” Ash asked, though not looking away from the game. “You brought me those fries, right?”
“Yep, right here! Work was fine, same old same old.” Tatum pulled the bucket of fries out of the bag and plopped it down onto the table next to the couch, but she knew Ash wouldn’t eat all of it. Tatum could only wonder how she resisted, while her cat roommate only nibbled on a single fry at a time. “Hey, is this that game you got? You gotta let me try!”
Ash, so appalled by the question, was brought to the point to have to pause her game, and turn her attention to the question. “I can’t. This is Fantasy Warriors Five”.
“I’m aware.”
“You haven’t played any of the other ones, you won’t get the story!” Tatum did not seem to understand the issue at all.
“What does it matter? It’s all the same action and fighting. You know, swords and dragons and stuff.” Tatum’s casual stance on video gaming did not sit well with Ashlynn in the slightest. Ash was incredibly difficult to rile up, and avoided conflict whenever possible. The one thing, though, that did not float with her, was ignorance to the rich, in-depth story supplied by her favorite video game series.
“But you won’t know who the dragons you’re killing are. There’s an entire established lore, a full world which will be spoiled to you if you don’t play the others. The experience will be ruined! It’s like if Moby Dick consisted only of fighting the whale. You don’t know who the characters are, or why they’re fighting the whale. The whole thing would be pointless!”
“Alright, I get it, but can’t you just explain things for me? I can figure it out, can’t I?”
“I mean, I could, but… but see, you won’t be able to…” Poor Ashlynn knew she could, but she also knew she would go overboard, explaining every little bit of lore. Besides, her roommate would feel no connection to these people.
In the end, all this complication was simply because she didn’t want a rich experience going to waste, and her friend missing out on it. Tatum thought it was quite entertaining, seeing her getting all passionate about some game, she almost looked cute.
She ended up settling with explaining the basis of the story and conflict to her whenever she got around to playing. However, that’s not the focus of this beautifully written story here. Really, why are you reading any of this? The real fun probably won’t start until Part 2- that’s just how the plot establishment and character introduction works.
Fortunately for the reader, Tatum didn’t have time for her game at the moment. She had other plans. “Hey, I’m going out to eat with a friend. You should come, it’ll be fun!”
Ashlynn groaned on the inside. Sure, it’d be fun while she was there, but she didn’t feel too excited about the action of getting up to go. Of course, she didn’t say that, she was too polite. Too polite to deny, as well.
Finally, she sighed. “Sure, I’ll go. I guess I don’t have much else to do…” she admitted, not without a longing look back at her game. “Who else is going?”
Tatum called over her shoulder as she got ready, “Just that girl Lydia from work. You remember her, right?”
Of course she remembered her. She was a bit difficult to forget, Ash thought. In fact, so was Tatum. While Lydia was quite deadpan and dry, but always in supply of some humorous comment, Tatum was bright and chipper no matter what time of day. Sure, it wasn’t the best thing when she was up and at ‘em before 10am, but it sure beat her being a grouch. Had it not been for her social and bubbly personality, Ash felt she wouldn’t really get out and do anything. Tatum did help her get out of her comfort zone, and it was quite nice in the long run. Good for one’s psyche and all that jazz.
“Yeah, of course I remember her! Haven’t seen her in a while, it’d be nice to catch up.” In truth, Ash likely would’ve been better friends with Lydia than Tatum, had she seen her more often. It was still nice to have an occasional visit, and she had visited more frequently lately.
All good to go, the two made their out of the apartment and towards the car, ready for an absolutely exhilarating, heart racing, adrenaline pumping night of… eating.

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Lydia climbed into the passenger seat, with Tatum in the driver’s seat and Ash in the back- Ash offered, as to let their kangaroo companion take shotgun. “You guys are going to love this place. It’s all you can eat and I’m paying, so pig out to your heart’s content.” Fortunately, the two roommates were tolerant of Lydia’s cruel humor, as some may have found the pig comment a bit offensive. “I’m all prepared, I’ve got my sweats on and everything.”, the comment prompting her to stretch out her sweat’s waistband away from her belly, to emphasize both the elasticity and the fact she intended to wreak havoc on her figure, something only she would be excited about.
Soon, the group pulled into the parking lot, before the great building and it’s glowing sign, which radiated brilliance.
The sign read “Big Boi’s Buffet”


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I told you I was doing it

and I done it


For the most part, this chapter is to get a grip on the characters. But next chapter will get into the good shit, just you wait.

You've got Tatum, the main dude. Bright, chipper, innocent, all that 'spunky young protagonist' mumbo jumbo.

Ashlynn, Tatum's roommate, is a shy cat girl (because I'm v e r y original) who likes reading and video games and just overall being an absolute nerd.

And Lydia, who wasn't even supposed to be a character until I started writing her in as a background character. She's a bit of a sarcastic ass, but she's pretty hip. (emphasis on "ass" and "hips") Really, she's just that grumpy, sarcastic character atm, but you'll see she's also a tad flirty.

There you have it. I was going to throw in a bit of background on the world they live in, but figured it'd be a bit of confusing, unnecessary lore, so I'll leave it for another time. (On that note, you can see a much earlier post in my gallery of Robyn, a human, holding a Big Boi's Burgers bag.)

Tally ho, and enjoy!