\n\t\t\t\taccidentalaesthetics'And the week had had such a perfectly good beginning' - Mish thinks as she groans and tries to make the obstinate valve wheel budge - 'so I guess this is the universe trying to even the scales?'
\tTo re-iterate, on monday their small ship had docked on a large pleasure cruise vessel to deliver random parcels to the passengers, and thus Mish had left Trey behind as she had headed off to play delivery cheetah. Along the way she had also made many attempts to strike conversation in hopes of hustling up details for any profitable jobs for the future… and an old inebriated shipwright had slipped out how years ago he had taken part in a number of parts runs during which they had dismantled parts of an abandoned station, but had been forced to give that up when their ship had begun to suffer from a rapidly increasing amount of FTL drive system failures stemming from lack of new parts.
\tAfter a number of drinks offered by the feral cheetah, and some sweet talking where she had shamelessly used her cutesy demeanor to her advantage, the shipwright had managed to cough up relatively useful coordinates for them to check out – having been left alone and happy with his case of rare ale Mish had brought him as part of the delivery.
\t”Trey! Trey! Start disconnecting the umbilical, I've got a lead from where we'll find some stuff to sell!”, she chirps excitedly at him the moment she pops her head through the opening shutters of their ship's circular umbilical connector hatch. Inside the cramped interior Trey had just been in the middle of wiping some dirt from inside the space where the bunks fold up into when not used, yowling as he bangs his head on the upper bunk thanks to jerking around in a flash.
\t”Mraaaawr! Sure, sure, will do~”, he blurts as he shakes his head repeatedly with his paws flailing and dragging him off the bunk onto the floor so that he's able to start dealing with the finicky disconnect system next to the hatch while Mish scampers through the living space to slide into the modified pilot's seat. ”What's this lead anyway?”
\tHer mechanical arms swinging wildly as she fastens herself to the seat and begins to wake up systems for departure, Mish perks her ears in glee as she peeks over her shoulder. ”Something I overheard – I'll input all of it into the console and you can rifle through it, okay?”, she tells him while he sits on his haunches to use his extra arms to wrestle with the umbilical's controls – him giving her a timid look by the time the various indicator lights finally show that the umbilical has been properly released.
\t”Overheard? But – or nevermind, I'd rather not know...”, he whines before traipsing over to his seat which has been crammed in front of the ship's archaic sensor system screens, feeling her eyes on his slim midsection although he already barely reacts to her ogling at this point – apart from a minute reflexive stomach cramp. Settling down and placing his forepaws on the contols along with his artificial hands, he soon sees numbers and graphics roll through his flickering screen. ”Lets see...”
Four days later -
\tThe coordinates which Mish had 'extracted' from the shipwright had indeed been rather garbled but Trey's relentless search and cross-referencing had netted them out a location in a far-flung system which seemed otherwise rather unremarkable based on the charts – they had set course immediately since they luckily were already relatively close by due to their random jobs having taken them deep into the frontier areas. And several boring days later they had slowed down to approach the outskirts of the system where a number of barren planets basked in the light of the bright blue star.
\tAfter that it hadn't been hard to use visual scanning to pinpoint various space station hulks still in orbit around one of the outer planets – at this point Trey had been concerned about some random blips of possible radio wave emissions on his screen, fearing that there might be someone else around, but their ship's scanning systems were old and in poor shape due to lack of suitable spares so Mish had dismissed his fears as possible interference from the star as they had altered course towards their discovery.
\t
\tThe decrepit hulk had seemed like a great opportunity for looting as it seemed to have been relatively untouched apart from certain sections which had been taken apart by parties unknown – so once Trey had prepared himself, they had set out to grab their share. And that was when they had found out that the area was indeed much less abandoned than it had seemed…
\t”God dammit! Let me go, we'll just leave and forget this place exists!”, Mish snarls and writhes as she's being paraded along the dank corridors of the strangely built space station/cargo ship combination where they had been taken to after a small fleet of shuttles and tugs had appeared suddenly earlier to capture them during their scavenging attempt. Still partially clad in his space suit, Trey merely hangs his head in defeat as several humans carry him around like a sack. ”Mew… I told you I had a bad feeling...”, he mutters while she continues to negotiate, beg, and chirp with her tail swishing.
\tThe ragtag crowd of humans and anthros is having none of it, however. ”You weren't supposed to be here in the first place, and we'd rather not risk it… not sure how you found here in the first place but we'll show you what we like to do with interlopers...”, one of the apparent leaders grunts as she suddenly wraps her hands around Mish' throat to silence her and leave her gasping after throttling her for a bit. Seemingly pleased with the silence which is only broken by the coughing cheetah, the group continues until they enter a rather grandiose geodesic dome through large double doors – the view being breathtaking even if it mostly only includes portions of the makeshift base and deep space due to how the entire setup has been syncronized with the planet to stay out of direct sunlight. Based on the remaining equipment and dirt, the dome had once functioned as a garden of sorts but has now been cleared apart from some valves and water hoses – everything floating about in zero gravity while the magnetic boots of the group keep them down to the deck plating.
\tWhat happens next, is quite unpleasant and unexpected to the hapless Mish and Trey as they both end up being slammed on the floor to be held down as few of their captors drag the water hoses closer… in order to unceremoniously cram the nozzles into the rumps of the yowling cheetahs until they both feel the cold metal virtually up inside the colons and the nozzles end up stuck inside them.
\t”Gyaaah! What the hell's wrong with you!”, Mish screeches with her legs flailing as she's released into the dome with the hose snaking behind her – whereas Trey sinmply chirps in distress when he's pushed to accompany her.
\tThe apparent leader, a gray-haired older man, simply cackles and crosses his arms to watch while the others begin to file out of the door. ”Not much entertainment here – so we make our own! Just need some dumb scavengers like you who no-one'll miss after we deal with you trying to scrap our stuff, and trash water from our little recycling plant, and hoses – and you'll balloon until you pop while we watch and take bets!”, he explains with a smug grin before walking over to a large valve to open it up with an immediate result as scrap-filled water starts to rush through the hoses into the guts of the two hapless cheetahs.
\tThe effect on Trey and Mish is also immediate and abrupt as they both freeze momentarily from the sensation of cool liquid and prickly trash invading their intestines – their slender bellies beginning to bulge out in mere seconds. ”Pop! M-meowh, lets talk, I'm sure we can -”, Mish starts out hastily but doesn't have time to finish the sentence before the man ducks out and the hefty door starts to close… whereas both inside and outside the dome more spotlights turn on as small craft move to the vicinity of the dome in space. In the meantime the cheetah duo cringes as their viscera start to ache already from the strain as their bellies reach beachball sizes and beyond, it especially getting to Mish due to she having much less experience than Trey thanks to her endless 'training'.
\t”Ngyaaah! Trey – help me get to that valve!”
\t”Ho-how? Or, why do you – whatever, I'll try to push you!”
\tMere moments later Trey manages to gain some momentum by twisting himself around to paw at the hose before his girth becomes entirely too big and yanks it to launch himself slowly at the general direction of Mish who 'swims' in the air in a bid to rotate herself as her burgeoning belly gurgles audibly. A short while later their underbellies meet and squash together before they're both launched into new directions – the sudden pang of agony eliciting a loud whine from Mish while Trey simply gasps softly. Their insides keep swelling from the flow of brackish water at every passing moment, too, making them resemble more like weather balloons with cheetah tacked on top as their midsections round out enormously… the bright spotlights gradually beginning to shine through in an unnerving manner as hide and flesh stretch further.
\t”OWWW! Not -gasp- the best idea, my guts feel like they're on fire – come on, valve...”, Mish whines afterwards as she makes grabbypaws at the large valve wheel.
\tTrey simply rolls his eyes as he floats to the other direction, throwing glances at her over his shoulder as he cradles his own bloated fabric-covered belly. ”Mrawr, how do you think I've been feeling every time you… or nevermind, just get the valve, please~”
\tAs they struggle the inrush of liquid seems to intensify, or maybe it just feels like it when water and trash blast through the lower sphincter of their stomachs so that the last part of their backfilling digestive track rapidly bloats out inside them. Suspended atop her immense midsection which just keeps expanding, Mish opens and closes her eyes as her paws curl in anguish, whereas Trey takes steady deep breaths in hopes of getting some enjoyment out of his predicament.
\tEventually the valve is tantalizingly close to Mish's outstretched forelegs but at the same time she keeps panting rapidly and throwing fearful glances at her belly which has distended sideways far enough that it's like she's laying on a huge fuzzy waterbed… but the awful stinging tingling and nauseating aching remind her that it's no waterbed, not to mention being able to see the outlines of her own grossly swollen intestinal coils and her huge stomach in the light which filters through her midsection. ”Al-almost got it…!”
\tBelching out the last air from his ballooning stomach, Trey isn't doing much better as he keeps rapping his paws against the gray fabric which is now pulled tight around his girth, his winding innards glowing faintly red through it every time light passes behind his belly. The sight and the heavy throbbing sensation from within every millimeter of his bulging guts leaves him with his maw half-open from gagging as he tries to nod in acknoledgement… his eyes fixated on Mish who seems to be about to reach the valve wheel.
\t”Got it!”, she chirps enthusiastically when her forepaws finally hit the cold metal and she starts to brake her immense mass with her forelegs to prevent her belly from smishing into the valve – the stinging within her belly reaching new heights as her intestines seem widen by the second under her now quite translucent furry hide. Knowing that she only has little time before something springs a leak inside her agonized belly, she grits her fangs and tries to turn the wheel while hoping her mass won't start to rotate with it… only for it to turn a little and run into what is clearly a stop. As she repeats the process it becomes increasingly clear that the valve is a sham as it must have been locked internally from somewhere.
\tWith Trey's gaze boring into her skull from behind, Mish keeps twisting the valve in vain, realizing that both of their insides are going to go 'pop' at any moment – the foremost thought in her mind being ' And the week had had such a perfectly good beginning...'