The party's already underway, and your Cheshire hosts are certainly hoping you're ready for a good time! We start at Theo's front lawn, because the party's already so big, as are its guests, that it's spilled out of his house. Tyler, Machi, and Eralo are there to welcome you to the party, and are already hungry again!

If you want to join the party, please check for your invitation HERE, and for just $3, you too can join in the fun, get your character drawn by  cedricbrowning, and thrown into the story, written by yours truly!

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Art ©  cedricbrowning
Tyler ©  tylerfurlong
Eralo ©  kopper49
Machi ©  hungrybluedragon
Story © c'est moi

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You approach the grand facade of the mansion, though perhaps a more apt title would be “palace.” Sprawling across impossibly immaculate lawns and gardens was an enormous stone building, with ornate facades and tall windows, throwing out long lights on the lawn. You grip your invitation tightly, a little nervous as the gilded gates swing open on their own. You’re a little surprised to hear loud, thumping music, a mix of classical and electric beat, pouring out of the wide open main entrance, and listening carefully, you can hear the notes to “In the Hall of the Mountain King” syphoned through synth beats. Almost immediately, a tall, broad-shouldered figure approaches you, bowing floridly. Like all the other guests, he’s in costume, but judging by that wide, ever-present smile on his face, it’s easy to discern this is one of your hosts, the cheshire cat, Theodosius, or Theo, to his guests tonight. His costume was lavish; heavy on furs and brocaded silks, and his gold mask was adorned with antlers, his white hair above topped with a tricorn hat festooned with feathers. Bits of green striped fur around his chin confirm him as the flamboyant cheshire as he snatches your invitation out of your hand.

After reading it, his smile grows further. “Ah! My dear friend, welcome,” Theo drapes his arm around you, immediately guiding you towards his palatial home. “Fashionably late, as always. This little soiree is in honor of my dear friend, Mr. Hanaori; we’ll be meeting him later, but first, allow me to introduce some of the other guests.”

The chesire’s surprisingly strong grip steers you towards a group of three milling around outside the main facade of the estate, lined with tall windows and stone walls, etched with fanciful carvings and marble arches, supported by busts of enormously muscular people. The three struck you as having all outgrown their costumes; the round, ponderous bellies on all three certainly made the reason clear. The smallest, a raccoon with cream and orange fur, was still definitively fat, with a bulging gut spilling over the waistband of his costume. He held an empty glass in his hand, and beams wide at you and Theo, waving you down.

“Oh, Theo! Do you -hic- have another drink?” the raccoon asked eagerly. His hips were noticeably wide, giving his body a pear shape. His costume, dominated by a cream-white coat that fell halfway down his calves, did little to hide his portly build, and looked noticeably tight. You wonder how the raccoon, or indeed, any of the three round figures in front of you, squeezed into their costumes.

“Patience, Mr. Machi, patience,” Theo chuckles, eyeing the three of them with an odd glint in his colorful eyes. “I’m just giving our new guest here the main tour.”

“He looks awfully skinny,” the next biggest person in the group, a wolf, muttered, eyeing you with an almost hungry look. “Are you starving this one?” The grey wolf looks you up and down. His costume showed a considerable amount of skin. He towered over the raccoon, and his arms and chest rippled with strong, powerful muscle, but poking out of the sides of his costume was a large gut, almost as large as the raccoon next to him. “Hell, I could probably cook you something up if Theo isn’t going to do.”

“Now, Mr. Sinret, he only just got here! Don’t fret, I always take care of my guests.” The cheshire smiled as he ribaldly smacked the canine’s large gut. “You of all people should know that. You’ve had at least four rounds. And I do believe it’s starting to show.”

“Ha!” the largest of the group stepped forward, his gut leading the way as he brushed against the other two. “Not as much as me, though. I could go for a seventh!” the tabby cat declared proudly.

That comment brings a particularly quirky bend to Theo’s smile. “Mr. Furlong, you’re going to eat me out of house and home, if you’re not careful.” Flexing his claws, Theo caressed the tiger’s belly, careful not to snag on the strained buttons of Tyler’s black costume. He stood heads and shoulders above the wolf and raccoon he had been conversing with, and his costume was by far the most ill-fitting of them all, not that the tiger seemed to care. Why not one of the three had simply opted for a bigger size for any of their costumes was a mystery; you’re wondering how any of them thought they actually fit in these outfits. The only thing that did fit were their masks, but even those appeared small on the wolf and cat’s faces, broadened as they were with round cheeks.

Their attention turned to you, especially as you catch yourself with a lingering look at Eralo Sinret’s belly. “So, what brings you to the party?” the raccoon, Machi, is the first to approach you.

You then feel the wolf’s belly pressing against your side. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you at one of Theo’s parties.”

Before you can answer, you feel Tyler’s cauldron like belly pressing on you from your one free side, cutting you off from escape. He then drapes a muscular arm over your shoulders, pulling you against his furry flesh. “Hey, listen, do you think you could bring us some more food? Theo’s being stingy. Says I ‘doubled in size’ or something. Can you believe that?”

“Actually, if you could just find some of the recipes, that’d be great, too. I can only find this sort of stuff at one of his parties,” the wolf added.

“Hey, come on, let him breathe, at least,” Machi said, trying to nudge you free from your position, wedged between two guts backed by considerable muscle.

“We really must be going,” Theo grinned, yanking you free. “I do believe a dessert trolley is just around the corner,” he added with a wink to you, watching the three lumber off, huffing and puffing as they labored under their augmented weight.

“Ah, I love having all sorts at my parties,” Theo said wistfully. “You, my dear friend, are going to have all sorts of fun tonight. Shall we continue on? I simply must show you the gallery…” The cheshire steered you away from the main entrance, past a few more groups of increasingly large party-goers, sampling drinks of red, blue, and green liquid you couldn’t quite place, then presented with the yawning doors to a long gallery, finally leading inside.

“Do keep up,” the cheshire chided you. “The party’s only just begun!”