Sorry this took so long! I've been under a bit of a dry spell, but lately some friends have been able to finally kick me into writing gear. As the title says, this is the last Grief story since I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable trying to squeeze more money out from my watchers. I get REALLY nervous writing for money, hence why I don't like taking commissions ^^;

Again, thanks to everyone who took the time to read the story, and a special thank you to anyone who donated! It felt great writing a slightly longer series of stories once again, and I'd love to do it once more should the time permit. For now, I think I'll go back to writing short stories to get back into the groove while learning how to deal with my increased work load.

I hope you all enjoy!

---

November 12th would soon go down as one of the most important dates yet for the fledgling town. The trees’ leaves soon changed into a myriad of colors ranging from fiery yellow to dirt brown, as is common for the mid-autumnal season; however, nobody anticipated the sudden harshness of the frigid northern winds, and as a result many workers were left underprepared. As such, only the most determined of builders were out in the cold working, that is, until one fateful afternoon.

Nobody could believe their eyes when they saw Grief suddenly waddle into the clearing, his belly leaving a long streak in the grass as he moved. The dragon was immense, over twice as big as the last time any of the workers saw the drake, and roughly three times as wide. The ground shook whenever Grief took a clumsy, heavy step, shaking the leaves out of the nearby trees while rattling the heavy machinery. Even when he stopped to take a breather, the rest of his body continued in movement, his enormous middle rippling back and forth.

“You’re doing good, big guy, just a few more steps that-a-way.” The anthros were shocked to hear another familiar voice, even if it was somewhat drowned out by Grief’s loud panting, and suddenly noticed Shiro reclining on the dragon’s broad back, looking quite excited and a good deal rounder than when they last saw him as well. Before anyone could ask what was going on, Grief was slowly accelerating forward like a very sluggish locomotive, huffing and puffing.

When at last the dragon stopped again, it was in the very middle of the clearing. With a loud sigh, Grief finally collapsed onto his stomach, his love handles bulging out to either side of him. Only after he had regained his breath, did he speak. “I have decided to oversee the rest of your endeavors myself. Until your new village is complete, I will not move from this spot.”

At first, Grief was afraid he had frightened the workers due to their silence, feeling somewhat embarrassed. But, as Shiro had told him multiple times on their trip to the new village, everyone suddenly erupted into cheers, and within half an hour Grief had a sizable pile of freshly baked pastries all within head’s reach. Not wanting to offend the kind anthros’ offerings (and feeling more than a bit peckish after his long walk here) Grief dug into his rent with gusto, knowing just as well as anyone else that he wasn’t going to leave this spot anytime soon.

The arrival of Grief brought with it a sudden wave of motivation throughout the entire clearing. Within days, the workers had made up for all lost time and then some, working ahead of schedule with no signs of slowing down. Even as the cool autumn gave way to the harsh winter everyone remained hard at work. The exception to this was, during their break, the workers would crowd around the obese dragon’s furry stomach, nuzzling into the fleshy belly for warmth. At first Grief felt a little uncomfortable with his once-sworn enemies swarming around him, but eventually warmed up to it as long as they offered to hand-feed the drake. It was getting quite difficult to reach the ground lately…



Shiro yawned loudly as he lazily stretched his arms over his head, blinking away the sleep from his eyes. He hadn’t meant to suddenly pass out earlier, or even remember how he fell asleep, although the thin layer of jelly coating his muzzle told him it was probably food coma related. Had the dog not had any plans for the day, he might have closed his eyes and gone right back to sleep, seeing as how he was quite cozy laying on his fluffy, squishy bed. However, he had a job to do, and while his weight may have been steadily increasing throughout the years, his work ethic hadn’t diminished in the slightest.

With a grunt, Shiro rocked a bit and leaned forward, before falling onto his back with a squishy thump. Twice more the canine attempted to rock himself upward, and each time he was thwarted by his dome of a gut which jiggled more violently with every attempt. “Hurf, some help you are!” The dog probed his jostling white belly roughly, but couldn’t help but grin at himself. The past few years had been very kind for him indeed. Even after he grew too large to fit in most machinery, his superiors had given him the role of official dragon care-taker, a job he enjoyed and abused to its absolute limit.

After enough struggling and rolling, Shiro finally managed to haul himself into a sitting position, his gut spilling over his lap. Maybe he was going a little overboard in “helping” Grief with his daily meals, the dog thought as he sat hunched over panting loudly. But then again, what other job paid you to eat and sleep all day on the world’s softest mattress? Even if he lost the ability to sit back up, it’s not like he needed to be anywhere else.

Of course, even as he started encroaching the ballpark of immobility, his gain was nothing compared to Grief’s.

Shiro felt his fluffy mattress growl beneath him and grinned. “Hungry already? Didn’t you just eat?”

His response was yet another growl, although this one came from farther away. “Shut it, mutt. You don’t have much room to talk.”

“Hah! What are you talking about? There’s plenty of room on you to do whatever I want!” Shiro chuckled as he slowly crawled along the squishy surface, surveying Grief in all his glory.

Five years had gone by for the pudgy duo, and not a single day was spent where Grief didn’t stuff himself to the brim. Even now, the dragon felt absolutely famished as he waited for the crane to arrive and start feeding him, despite having just eaten an hour ago. That was the only downside to being suspended on his belly Grief could think of, unable to eat whenever he desired. Everything else, however, was pure bliss.

Yes, he was monumentally fat, in the sense that his body was being treated as a literal monument to the fledgling town, which was named Softside City in his honor. They had constructed a large park around the immobile drake, building a massive pen in the middle of it for Grief to grow into (although lately he could feel parts of him start to spill through the fence into the park). He truly was a massive drake, completely unrecognizable from the drake who despised anthros all those years ago. His enormous furry stomach spread across the floor like an all encompassing blob, forming love handles thick enough for furs as wide as Shiro to nap on. His legs, now wider than they are long, lay resting against his enormous stomach, with no hope of ever touching the ground ever again. His broad wings were pinned against his broader back, far too heavy to so much as lift, let alone flap. Every inch of him was covered with layers and layers of lard, the result of years of endless pampering and spoiling from an entire village of furs. And he couldn’t be happier.

Despite his impressive size, Grief felt Shiro slowly crawl closer to his head. The dragon didn’t need to move his neck to know how winded the dog was from the effort, not like he could anyways, considering his cheeks were as big and round as Shiro himself. The dragon caretaker sighed and collapsed against Grief’s numerous neck rolls, squeezing himself in between them. “Phew, you get wider every time I come to see you, buddy. I swear your horns are growing softer as well!”

Grief snorted amusedly, the force of which sent his dangling chins into a fluffy of jiggling. “Maybe that’s a good thing. You’re in desperate need of some exercise.”

“Well excuse me for trying to make you feel more comfortable!” Shiro grunted with mock indignation, scratching the dragon’s blond mane with his claws, feeling the thick scaly neck rolls beneath it. “I take my role of dragon caretaker very seriously, after all! I’m only getting fat so you won’t feel awkward being the only one gaining weight.”

“Pfft, suit yourself, mutt. Just try not to spend too much time near my food pile, I’m having difficulty discerning one doughnut from another as of late.”

Shiro had responded quite loudly to that last jibe but Grief couldn’t hear him, his attention was focused primarily on the crane approaching him. Within minutes, the obese dragon’s senses completely melted away as the crane lifted up a massive amount of sweets to his sunken muzzle, dumping them into his wide open maw. Even after so many years of devouring pastries at rampant speeds, every doughnut, éclair, and other sweet treat that graced his tongue was like a kiss from heaven itself. The only difference was that Grief was starting to greatly enjoy the aftereffects of such a diet.

He purred loudly as he felt his voluminous stomach slowly fill, knowing that each meal was adding several more inches to his already incredible waistline. He could feel his pen grow ever so subtly tighter around him, serving as a goal for Grief to one day surpass. The pen was only put up for “safety concerns,” but it didn’t stop the dozens of furs from stepping into it to hug and nuzzle against his enormous tummy. Grief roared quietly; he was a monument, a symbol of abundance to the needy city before him. Buildings stretched out as far as Grief could see, although none of them even approached his size, not even City Hall. It felt amazing to be such an immovable object, several tons of pure dragon blubber keeping him anchored to his spot, not like he’d ever wanted to go anywhere. In a way, he felt like he owned the city and everyone in it, considering everyone put in quite a bit of effort to keep him well fed and pampered.

But deep down, he was simply happy to have so many friends.