I'd been thinking a lot about berry inflation and borbs and growth, and realized  BirdBrained's sona Theo would be a wonderful victim--er, "star" for such a story. Hope you all enjoy a golden eagle becoming an enormous berry borb >:3

Theo happily scarfs down some mystery scones, and soon finds himself swelling out of control as a massive blueberry borb...

---

The Golden Eagle Borbberry
By: Indi

Theo hadn’t been expecting visitors that day, so when the hard knocks rattled his front door he nearly fell out of his chair in surprise. The short and chubby golden eagle took a moment to compose himself, then headed towards the door, half-expecting another loud knock by whomever was on the other side. But no more knocking occurred, and when Theo finally opened his front door, no one was there to greet him, either. He looked down the street to the left, and then the right. There were a few people about, but no one he recognized, and no one obviously running away. Then he looked down.

Sitting on Theo’s front step was a basket filled with scones, along with a letter. He picked the basket up and—after another look around—brought it inside his home.

The scones smelled wonderful, and Theo swore they were freshly baked. Placing the basket on a table, he opened the letter in hopes of figuring out who had delivered them.

“Dear Bird,” Theo read aloud. Not the most promising start to a mystery delivery. “Please enjoy these blueberry scones, and the swell new endeavor you are about to embark on. The more you eat, the better your luck will be.”

Theo turned the letter over, but there wasn’t any more writing on the back. No signature, either. He couldn’t think of anyone who’d anonymously send him food, and certainly wasn’t about to start a new job or go on any journeys. Perhaps the sender had delivered it to the wrong bird?

Unfortunately, without any names attached there was no way for Theo to get the scones to their correct destination, if in fact he wasn’t the intended receiver. But he couldn’t let the wonderful looking scones go to waste. They tempted the golden eagle with their delightful smell and promise of filling him up. Eating strange food wasn’t the wisest course of action, but the scones looked innocent enough. At worst they might not taste good—so what did he have to lose?

Without hesitation Theo tossed the first scone into his beak and gobbled it up. It was even better than he’d hoped, and brought a huge smile to the golden eagle’s face. He immediately ate a second, then a third, both proving just as good as the first. “These things are amazing! Now I really wish I knew who made them. Wouldn’t mind having a few of these every morning.” Theo stared down at the basket, his stomach growling. He deserved to have at least a few more.

Distracted as he scarfed down scone after scone, Theo had no way of realizing his beak had started to turn blue. The color soon spread from his beak to his face, dying his feathers and even his eyes blue. Down his wings and chest, across his belly and rump, all the way to the tips of his talons. Not a single bit of the golden eagle remained untouched as he turned several shades of blue.

Theo was eating straight out of the basket by then, still blissfully unaware of what was happening. His soft belly had peeked out from beneath his shirt as he gorged, swelling steadily and sloshing as it wobbled.

Theo finished off every last crumb of scone in the basket, shaking it above his open beak just to make sure. Afterward he tossed it aside, and let out a modest bworrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrp!

“Okay, maybe that was a bit excessive, but those scones were too good to resist!” Theo said, happily. “I’ll just make up for it by having a light dinner. Maybe.”

The golden eagle snickered and gave his belly a pat. It felt larger than he remembered. And oddly taut, too. And did he feel something splashing around in his stomach? Confused, he looked down, cawing in surprise. His belly was huge and round, far bigger than it should’ve been, even after stuffing himself with scones. It was blue, too; so was the rest of him. To make matters worse, Theo realized his gut was growing on its own, inflating just like a balloon.

“Oh that’s not—urrrrp—that’s not good.” Theo watched himself swelling up, his belly growing bigger and bigger by the second. Something liquid was filling the golden eagle up, and the lingering blueberry taste in his mouth and his new brilliant shade of blue made it easy to guess what was happening. He was turning into a blueberry.

The knowledge didn’t stop Theo from swelling, though. His shirt was riding up and his pants were growing tight, the bird blimping up all over. He waddled over to where he’d dropped the basket and picked it up, hoping to find some hidden message that’d help. It proved to be a waste of time.

“I can’t believe I got betrayed by scones!” Theo fumed, letting out another burp. “I don’t want to be a blueberry! A birdberry? A borbberry?” Seams began to tear on his clothes, providing relief from the growing pressure but little else. Standing around at home wasn’t going to cure him of his impending berrification. He needed to get to an alchemist or a cleric, anyone who might be able to return him to normal. He was even willing to risk waddling to a winery if they had a press big enough to hold him.

It was a smart decision, but one made a fair bit too late. Theo waddled towards his front door, growing rounder and getting slower with every step. His clothes were shredded, falling to the ground in scraps behind him. He was more belly than bird, his wings and legs steadily sinking into his massive body. He didn’t even get half-way to the door before his waddling turned into awkward wobbles, barely able to move forwards. Eventually he couldn’t even do that anymore; the golden eagle was immobile.

After a few failed attempts to move his massive berry body, Theo gave up, sighing. He looked around as best he could, astonished at how far his curved middle stretched. He was huge, nearly as wide as he was tall, and so heavy it’d probably take two people to roll him up a slight incline. The thought made him blush a little.

“I wonder if this is gonna be permanent,” Theo mumbled to himself. He’d seen a lot more blue folk waddling around with sloshy bellies, obvious permaberries who hadn’t been juiced in a while. He wasn’t exactly eager to join them. “Guess I just have to sit around and wait for someone to find me. I hope portable pumps exist, because there’s no way I’m leaving this house without a wall getting knocked down.”

Before Theo could settle in for a bored wait, a bubbling within made his body wobble and slosh. Suddenly the swelling renewed. The berry borb looked around in a panic as he realized he was getting taller and wider now. His massive body pressed against furniture, nudging some things back while spreading over others. He winced as he felt a small table flattened on one side, while a chair was smashed on the other, neither able to hold up against the ballooning berry Theo had become. He swelled into a wooden pillar, wiggling as it creaked and cracked under the pressure, before finally snapping apart. The ceiling groaned.

More furniture was smashed and broken as Theo rapidly filled the room. He pressed against one wall, then another, and another, expanding into every corner. His head sunk into his body some, only his beak poking out. He felt the walls of the room shake as they struggled to keep him contained, bulging little-by-little. Wood splintered. Bricks cracked.

Unable to handle the immense pressure, the entire house collapsed around Theo, debris flying as the enormous borb blimped right out of it. He only swelled a few more feet before stopping, much to his relief.

Bursting out of the house had angled Theo forwards slightly, giving him a decent view of his surroundings below. A crowd was starting to gather as onlookers slowly returned to the scene of destruction. He couldn’t quite hear what they were saying, but he could see their stares and the way they pointed at him. Most were confused, but plenty were laughing. Theo blushed harder. He wobbled and cawed as he felt people prodding him out of curiosity. At least a couple were outright drumming on him.

Being a berry in the comfort of his own home was bad enough, now he was being gawked at by the entire neighborhood. He hadn’t even known it was possible for a berry to grow so big. How long would it take to juice someone his size? Were there even powerful enough pumps to do it?

Theo shivered as he felt juice trickle from his beak and leak from his middle. The considerable pressure on his body was juicing him a little, but it was only enough to make a mess around him, not actually shrink him down. A pool of blueberry juice was forming in the street, making the golden eagle feel like a fountain.

Then the rumbling began again, and Theo whimpered. People started to flee as the towering borb swelled towards them. “Oh, no, no, no, why am I still growing!” Theo fumed.

The buildings on either side of Theo collapsed as his taut sides pushed them over, as did the ones in front of and behind him. Crumbling stones and fallen timbers poked him from every angle, but thankfully he didn’t spring any more leaks. The juice was flowing faster from his mouth and middle, though.

Building after building was crushed by Theo as he swelled out of control, none strong enough to fend off the immense berry borb. Shops and towers alike collapsed. Wagons were crushed flat, and stalls annihilated. Everyone seemed to be escaping the feathery wall of blue steadily enveloping the district, though.

Theo could do nothing but watch as the destruction unfolded, blushing hard in embarrassment. The bakery he loved was smashed. The market he went to: obliterated. His favorite tailor no longer had a shop—not that he’d be able to produce clothes big enough for the enormous golden eagle anyway. Worry filled Theo as much as juice. He had no clue when he’d stop swelling, or if he even would. For all he knew the scones had doomed him to expand perpetually, until he was so huge he rolled off the world and into the sky, just a giant blue moon wobbling around in orbit. It was terrifying—and yet a little bit exciting, as much as he hated to admit it.

Slowly Theo filled up the district, flattening building after building until his sides finally reached the walls surrounding it. They were sturdier than everything else the borb had smashed, and eventually he felt them pressed around him. He closed his eyes shut, expecting a repeat of the walls of his home, but the destruction never came. He’d stopped expanding.

Minutes passed, Theo refusing to accept his ordeal was over. The swelling didn’t renew, though. The power of the delicious scones had finally reached its limit.

Theo nervously looked out across the city, and frowned. Rivers of juice were starting to flow into neighboring districts; they may have been spared his bulk, but they would still be hit by some very unusual flooding. Penned in by the walls that’d once safeguarded his now flattened home district, Theo was left to wait. He felt like a mountain, and bet he could be seen from all across the city, and probably the surrounding land as well. Becoming the biggest golden eagle borbberry was an accomplishment he’d rather have not attained.

Again Theo wondered if shrinking back down to normal would be possible, or if he were now stuck as a massive permaberry, as large as a district and a permanent landmark. They could put him on maps. Advertise him as a tourist attraction. Sell the endless gallons of juice he produced.

He gulped.

Perhaps he shouldn’t have been so eager to scarf down the mystery scones.