AKA Pudgy shark in the big city :3

An awesome picture of Tiffany done by  foxenawolf. :D

And look, I did a story. :D

The events of this story predate the previous one, located here for those interested:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11442614/

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Tiffany's snout had been pressed against the window for the past half hour as she watched the mountains slowly give way to sprawling suburbs. Her excitement had been growing as she neared her final destination. The bus had passed though a number of larger cities on its journey across the country, but this was the city she would soon hopefully call home.

Her departure hadn't gone as well as she'd hoped. Tiffany's parents had been less understanding of her desire to leave. The yelling had reached such a level that she suspected it could be heard blocks away. Her parents had wanted her to continue the family's marine salvage business, but dragging wrecks (and the occasional body) off of the ocean floor just didn't set right with the pudgy shark. It wasn't that she was a poor swimmer, quite the opposite in fact, she just didn't feel like it was what she wanted to do with her life. That night she had quietly packed most of her belongings into a duffel bag, grabbed a stack of travelers checks that represented her life savings, and walked the 15 miles to the bus depot. She had picked her destination somewhat randomly, picking a city roughly in the middle of the country; as far away from the coast as she could get.

As a group of tall buildings appeared in the distance Tiffany rubbed her stomach absent mindedly. She'd been feeling hungry since the last stop and she'd definitely need to eat something once they had arrived. One of the many reasons her parents had objected to her leaving was due to her 'condition.' The doctors had called it Selachimorpha Satiety Syndrome, the symptoms of which were nearly uncontrollable eating once a certain set of conditions were met. Tiffany's trigger happened to be just being very hungry and near food, as an unfortunate incident at a buffet when she was younger had proven. One moment she was at the buffet feeling unusually hungry, and the next she was in the hospital with what felt like a beach ball sized rock crammed into her stomach. She had been told to simply not allow herself to get too hungry, resulting in rather frequent snacking and her current rather plump physique.

The cause was believed to be genetic disorder, unfortunately untreatable despite a number of advances in genetic modification over the past thirty years. There simply weren't enough people with the problem to make the research into a cure worthwhile for the major biological patch manufacturers, as they had come to be known. They had cured obesity a number of years back, to much fanfare and ethical debate, along with a handful of cancers and degenerative diseases. Most of the patches simply modified the body's response to certain stimuli, preventing cancer from getting a foothold as it were. The obesity patch simply made it so the body could handle the increased weight and changes in body chemistry without issue, but it didn't prevent the end result. Tiffany could remember the debate from elementary school: the fact that world hunger hadn't been solved but overeating no longer had any consequences had lead to massive public outcry. Pretty much everyone had gotten the patch anyway, and it was now considered part of the normal set of immunizations.

The sudden hiss of the bus' air brakes discharging brought an end to Tiffany's reminiscing. They had arrived at the local bus depot, and most of the passengers were filing off. She excitedly stood up and immediately smacked the people sitting behind her with her tail as she struggled to pull it out of the tail slot in the seat. Apologizing and grabbing her duffel bag she moved towards the front of the bus to wait her turn to exit. Finally reaching the steps and jumping to the street she was immediately struck by how blue the sky looked. There didn't seem to be a single cloud in the sky. She was then struck by the dryness in the air, followed by the sweet starchy smell of bio-diesel from the fleet of buses. The oily smell rekindling her hunger, she quickly glanced around for something to eat and settled on a nearby hotdog vendor.

The dog manning the cart looked a little shocked as she dashed towards him at full speed, tail moving wildly from side to side. His expression had shifted to rather amazed as she downed two massive jumbo hotdogs before he had even worked out her change. Tiffany blushed as he commented on her "amazing eating skill" and she quickly thanked him for the food and moved away from the cart. Her belly gurgled happily as it began to digest her meal. She placed her hands on the new bulge in her stomach, feeling the churning mass within. That had been a little too close she reflected... she would have to be more careful in the future.

She wandered around the city for a couple of hours, taking in the sights. It wasn't the largest city she'd seen on the way in, but it had a somewhat peaceful quality about it. Tiffany dryly noted that the smell of urine her parents had assured her would be there was in fact not present. She really didn't have a plan beyond her arrival, but she was fairly confident she'd be able to work something out. The first thing she'd need to do would be to find somewhere to stay. She should be able to live on her savings for at least a couple of months without issue, leaving plenty of time to find work. Wandering over to an information kiosk and poking at the screen, she managed to pull up a list of available apartment listings. Pulling out her phone she dialed the first number and waited for someone to answer. Tiffany wasn't sure how things would go over the next couple of months, but she was certain it'd be better then her life at the coast. She smiled as a soft click signaled her call being answered.