A large, brown minotaur stood silently in the middle of a busy city street. With a round, golden shield in one hand, he held a vial in the other. It was emptied of its green-colored contents mere moments before.

“It tasted of seaweed.” The minotaur remarked, wiping their mouth with a blue and gold, gloved hand before grabbing a mask from atop their head and pulling it over their face. “Is this what you desired I drink, Knight Wolf?” the minotaur looked down at his companion, a portly werewolf with a cream-colored muzzle and a set of brown ears.

The werewolf was currently fiddling with its armor and cape, making adjustments to accommodate its large size. It looked up at the minotaur, showing a sign of distress as it whined incoherently. The minotaur was unfamiliar with this fearful form of whining, especially from a werewolf as eloquent as Knight Wolf. But something was amiss. Something HAD been amiss for the past several days.

“Your eyes.” The minotaur remarked, staring down at a set of green pupils surrounded by pools of black. “They are abnormal.”

Knight Wolf’s ears went back. Another audible whine escaped the werewolf’s lips as he looked away. “Tudor, please. Don’t.”

“It would frighten most people to see,” Tudor remarked, hazarding a statement that had been on his mind since Knight Wolf’s eyes changed those few days ago.

“Tudor, stop.” The werewolf snarled. “I… I already know I’m a freak.”

“You are no more a freak than usual,” Tudor stated, looking back down at the bottle he held. “But is this the bottle you wanted me to drink from? You’ve not answered me.”

“I didn’t want that.” The werewolf looked back up at Tudor. The stare he gave the minotaur was surprisingly fierce… angry. “I wanted you to drop it. This…” Knight Wolf lifted a hand to his eyes, “was just another thing I was going to work on!”

“Then, this potion to fatten me up was-“

“I haven’t made a weight gain potion in a while, Tudor.” Knight Wolf spoke with a perplexed tone. “You just came up to me stating it was a potion and then you drank it. Where did you get it from?”

“Your table. It was next to your journal – the page was opened to ‘weight gain’.” Tudor gestured to a house behind him. “I saw you out front and assumed this was your desire for me to be fat again… to help you not be stressed.”

“What… what makes you think that was my plan?” Knight Wolf squinted his eyes shut and placed his hand on his forehead. Turning around, the werewolf let his cape flick against Tudor’s chest. The added touch on his belly fur alerted Tudor to a change in his stomach.

“You are upset. It is prominent through your eyes. Your stare gives it all away, much more than it used to.” Tudor put a hand on his belly, feeling it was more plush than it had been a few moments ago. “Your eyes resemble your sword.” Tudor looked down at the werewolf’s side, seeing a flash of a black sword with a green jewel in its pommel. The Ebony Blade is what people called it, a sword clouded in mystery, as its curse was too much for anyone to handle… anyone except Knight Wolf.

“Do they?” the werewolf turned around, eyes now wide. “But that would mean that this is another aspect of the sword!” Bitterly, the werewolf unsheathed his sword. He stared at it glumly. “I hope its curse doesn’t take over the user or something….”

“Curse to be bound to a user, and it seems to be slowly attuning to you as time goes on.” Tudor felt his belly begin to press against his arms. Its softness increased, now making a visible bump appear around his midsection. “Are you sure this is not a weight gain potion?”

“I was sure….” Knight Wolf sheathed his sword again and tilted his head to Tudor. “But… I see you’re plumping up.”

The werewolf’s tail began to wag. This meant Knight Wolf was happy. This was certainly a good sign that Tudor’s attempt to make Knight Wolf feel better was already working. Tudor closed his eyes, feeling a sense of satisfaction. Had he finally done something right for Knight Wolf?

“Green… potion?” Tudor opened his eyes to see Knight Wolf was currently staring at the bottle in Tudor’s hand. “That….” Knight Wolf looked down at himself. Taking a step back, the werewolf’s tail stopped wagging. “W…why is my plate armor shrinking?”

“Isn’t it enchanted to match your belly size?” Tudor bit his lip, the moment of pride now fading to one of worry.

“Yes. It is, but that means I’m getting skinnier.” The werewolf looked up at Tudor again. His eyes were as intense as before, but showed a horrendous amount of sorrow. “I spent years working up that fat so people would actually like me! Tudor, you drank my physique swapper!”

“Physique… swapper?” Tudor scratched his head. “But how would the potion I drank affect you?”

“Gah, well….” Knight Wolf put a hand to his chin and scratched it. “The potion does not have to be ingested, per se. It just needs to be touched by two individuals simultaneously. I just touched the lip of the vial a moment ago, and it had potion on it…. I guess that… that triggered it?” The werewolf frantically looked down at himself, then up at Tudor. “This means it catalyzed!”

Tudor huffed, feeling the belt around his chest tighten. Quickly, he dropped the potion bottle and used his free hand to unlatch the belt loop, fitting it at the furthest notch available to him. “This is quite an alchemical feat if we are exchanging body types, Knight Wolf.”

“But I didn’t WANT to exchange it!” Knight Wolf’s panicked voice made Tudor stop the adjustments on his own clothing.

Tudor looked up at Knight Wolf. “But… why did you want it? I have heard people make fun of you for being fat. I understood you liked having it, but I did not know you did not want it.”

“It… it… uh….” Even without Knight Wolf directly staring at him, Tudor could feel a rising panic emanate from the werewolf. “uh… it…. It gave me… confidence. I was less of a monster when I had it.” The werewolf poked at his belly armor, now egregiously flat compared to the rotund look it had a minute ago.

“Knight Wolf?” Tudor cocked his head to the side. “Are you… okay?”

“Y...yes? N…no?” Knight Wolf looked around him. Though it was the evening hours of the day, there were still people walking around their location. “P…people are here. Let’s… go to the inn? I… I can’t think.”

“Is… this a side effect of the potion, Knight Wolf?” With how worried Knight Wolf was, Tudor could not help but worry himself. Bending to one knee, Tudor tried to grasp Knight Wolf’s shoulders but forgot his belly was now large and overhanging his pants. He ended up bumping into the werewolf, who was not used to being so light. The werewolf was knocked to the ground. His panicked eyes were now mixed with a tinge of betrayal.

Getting to his feet, the werewolf hugged his arms to his chest. His eyes darted back and forth, a sign that he was hoping no one saw his blunder. “I… uh…. In. Let’s go to the inn. We can… talk there.”

Being more careful this time, Tudor placed his hands on the werewolf’s shoulders. He felt his belly continue to swell out and press into the werewolf’s body. This was not an ideal position, but he knew Knight Wolf was having a panic attack. “It is okay, Knight Wolf. I am here, and no one is watching us.”

“P…please?” The werewolf stammered. His confident demeanor was long since gone. His posture lowered until he was cowering into Tudor’s now-round belly. He seemed afraid of his surroundings. Something was certainly amiss.

“Yes. We can head there.” Tudor stood up, seeing relief flood over Knight Wolf’s face. “Do you wish to learn more about your eyes and their similarities to your sword?”

Knight Wolf gulped in a load of air. He closed his eyes to try and calm himself down. “Y…yes. I can’t… think straight out here with everyone watching.”

“I did not know your confidence spawned from your belly.” Tudor scratched the top of his head. “But we’ve done this before… yet you weren’t affected by the sword like this before.” Tudor looked back down at Knight Wolf as he placed a hand on the brown mass of fur he now had. “Would you like me to carry you. I know you enjoy my belly.”

Tudor noticed that Knight Wolf was paying attention, much to Tudor’s dismay. The werewolf seemed to be staring to Tudor’s right, giving off the same fear he had felt before. The werewolf had not acted like this ever since the two had met. Knight Wolf did not do well with crowds and would become reserved and fearful… yet there was no crowd here and he already felt overwhelmed.

“T…Tudor, it seems you have a fan waiting for you.” The werewolf pointed in the direction he was already looking, causing Tudor to spin his head around. He saw a small boy, staring up at Tudor with mouth agape.

“Woooow! Are you Tudor?” The boy asked, eyes filling with awe.

“Uh… yes.” Tudor looked down at himself, then at Knight Wolf, then back to the child. “But I am currently aiding my companion, Knight Wolf.”

“Who?” The kid asked, cocking his head to the side. The kid eyed the werewolf up and down for a moment then shrugged. “He probably isn’t as awesome as you are, though! Can I have your autograph?”

Tudor was not looking at Knight Wolf, but he could already tell the werewolf’s demeanor had worsened. “He is far better than I at many things, but he seldom gets recognition for it!” Tudor stated, and with those words, he could feel the uneasy presence of the werewolf seem to dissipate. Did Tudor say the right thing?

“But I wanted yours! That rat guy looked scared! He already ran away!” The boy remarked, looking past Tudor.

“What?” Tudor’s voice was abruptly harsh as he swiveled around to see that Knight Wolf was now gone. “Knight Wolf!” Tudor bellowed. He didn’t expect a response, but he wanted to get away as soon as he could.

The boy looked back at Tudor, hazarding a smile. Tudor recognized this as a somber expression. “You… you can go get him if that’s what you want. I did not mean to bother you.”

Tudor bit his lip again. He and Knight Wolf made a promise to one another that they would always give people the face of hope they all needed during the times that demons ran amuck. Tudor was apt to keep this promise… but he knew Knight Wolf did not take the callous remark of the child so easily… especially not now.

“Do you have paper and pen for me to sign with?” Tudor looked behind him, realizing he would have to find Knight Wolf later. “I would also like to tell you a story… about Knight Wolf.”

~~~~~

This was a bit more practice with rendering. I feel proud of it... also, lemme know whatcha think of Tudor with a belly!

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Tudor/KW/Story/Art (C)  pikminpedia Me