Night was a time of darkness in both the physical and metaphorical sense. A young red panda laid in his bed. He looked very similar to the Pan we knew today, albeit a bit smaller and frailer. In fact, this was Pan experiencing the first of many horrid nights. Pan tossed and turned as he reflected back on his day. It was bad enough being picked last for gym class; it’s far worse when both teams refuse to take you even when you are the only player left. The shame of having the gym teacher assigns him to a team still stung as hard as the rubber dodgeballs that pelted the shy outsider. Pan looked over at one of the few pictures in his room. In the photo was a trio of red pandas out in the middle of a jungle background. Streaks of golden sunlight beamed through the trees as brightly as the smile on his face that day. Pan turned his head to his window, looking at the towering concrete buildings that replaced his wooded past life. The lights of the city blurred as tears began streaking along the white tracks on Pan’s fur.

“Why couldn’t you come with us?” Pan whispered, returning his gaze back to the memory of a happier time and extending a finger to one of the red pandas: a vested older woman wearing a pair of binoculars and a helmet. Pan retracted his arm, his body curling into a defensive ball as he wept.

“It would be safer for him,” they said.
“He’ll get the education he needs,” they said.
“He’ll be happier with us.” They asserted.

Pan turned his head back to the photo once more, his eyes locked on the third figure in the picture: an older male with blond hair just like Pan’s but faded. Besides a few wrinkles, the man wore a pair of rounded glasses on his face and a large camera strapped around his neck. His father wasn’t the same after the accident, which landed them in the city in the first place. They may be right about the first 2 points, but Pan struggled with the third daily. Pan muffled his face into his blanket, not wishing to wake his father. The move was hard on him, too, but he made every effort to keep Pan’s spirits up. The least he could do is keep up the act. Pan steadied himself, bracing himself for the next day. Through his congested nostrils, Pan exhaled his grief and inhaled the fresh air and familiar aroma. It smelled earthy like the cocoa pods Pan used to pass in the trees.

The curious red panda snuck out of his bed. His nose followed the scent through the dark corridors of his abode. Flicking on the kitchen light was a sight he hasn’t seen in a while, two large ridged orange pods shaped like footballs next to a small pile of dark brown powder. Pan knew what it was but needed to be sure. Creeping his way over to the counter, Pan dipped a wetted finger into the powder and took a lick. Through his scrunched face, Pan affirmed his guess: chocolate.

Pan scanned the kitchen for further hints of the chocolate’s origins. Instead, Pan found something he could sink his teeth into. Inside the oven were 5 loaded with oversized cookies. Each discoid was about the size of Pan’s hand splayed out. Across the cookie’s soft crumbly golden-brown surface was a dark chocolate drizzle that zigzagged across the circle. Cookies were a rarity in Pan’s life, moving before his move. Now it seemed like his father was making up for all those lost cookies in his life.

It started with just one. One nibble became one bite. One bite became one half. One half became one whole cookie. Soon, one cookie became one full tray, leaving Pan’s relatively flat stomach looking more bowed out. Despite how buttery and moist the cookies were, there was a thirst growing in Pan’s throat. Pan silently plodded his way to the fridge and pulled out a gallon of soy milk and a glass cup. After downing a cup of the light tan liquid, Pan moved on to another tray. With every tray, Pan demolished through several cups of milk followed. As he gobbled up the treats in front of him, his mood improved dramatically. With his eyes closed, he could imagine his gym class lifting him in the air for his dodging achievements; the busy chatter of a table full of people wanting to converse with you; the mirthful games he could play with others at recess; the….

“Where are the rest of the cookies?” Pan thought, his hand resting on an empty tray dusted with crumbs. Pan scanned at the other similarly empty trays in the darkness, laying along the ground beside a bone-dry jug of milk. As his eyes looked at the mess around him, he noticed his own body had changed. His previously flat stomach transformed into a massive beanbag-shaped mound that weighed him to the ground. Several emotions were rushing to him at once. First, the sensation of consuming so much and being so overfilled was immensely satisfying to the young red panda. Pan tried to reach down and rub near his belly button, where a pang of pain began to radiate. As he bent forward, he found the pressure unbearable, causing his face to go flush.
As Pan reconciled the physical pain, an emotional pang began to emerge. Will he get another chance to experience this sensation so vividly? There were still a few cocoa pods left, but Pan knew he’d be losing a physical memory of a better past if he chased after this high. As Pan struggled to contain his fleeting euphoria, the pain in his engorged stomach radiated more intensely across its smooth surface. Pan’s previously managed whimpers amplified in volume, soon translating back into sorrowful weeping. Suddenly the room flooded with blinding lights, causing Pan to reflexively close his eyes. As his vision adjusted, Pan saw a metal arm attached to a bath-robed red panda had flicked the light switch.

Back at Pandanomia, a 24-year-old Pan looked down at his latest creation, a tray of perfectly circular chocolate chip cookies. As the cookies cooled, Pan took a deep whiff and reminisced back on his younger days on the night he devoured all those cookies. Remembering those positive emotions that sprung forth from the taste made Pan go into baking instead of botany. With a light tap, his finger dipped into the cookie without burning him. Pan plopped the confection into his mouth, and just like many years ago, he smiled with every chew.

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Ok, this one is a bit different than my usual stories because it's more of a flashback. This image came from a YCH by  V1sage who is probably the artist I go back to the most because I love their style; Pan came out looking really chibi which inspired this story. In case anyone cares about how I come up with these tales: sometimes the picture inspires the story, other times it's vice versa.

In case some of the details of this flashback confused you, you can check out Pan's profile here: https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/9898345/
AND for anyone going "Where's Posers 2?", I still got to write the story for it ;_;. I'll try to post before next week. Until then consider this a sneak peek of what shenanigans you can expect: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/43252845/