Chapter 2 - issue 0.2: an unlikely hero

The second came when she noticed the pizza seemed awfully real, in fact it looked like it was hovering in front of her face. But that wasn't possible, as far as she was aware pizza as with all things was affected by the force of gravity. So, it should have by all means been a fantasy. But she found herself reaching a hand all the same, reaching with softer fingers towards the delicious treat. Impossibly she felt her fingers touch it's soft topping sinking into the crust a little. The last three slices being knocked back slightly. Still floating delectably in front of her.

Cinnamon blinked at the laws of physics being bent right before her eyes. Watching it hover there with abject curiosity. She watched it float for a moment, she was aware she probably should've been recording it, yelling about it. Or at least feeling an emotion other than confusion and the other thing she was trying to ignore. The other emotion she desperately wanted to pretend she wasn't feeling at that moment. Hunger. No, not hunger. Hunger was for when you needed food for calories. She was feeling gluttonous in a way that couldn't be suppressed.

Well one thing was going to suppress it. Cinnamon reached a sort of conclusion, lying on her overfull middle watching the impossible made possible. If she was going to put up with this particularly brand of weird nonsense, she could afford to pause counting calories. The food seemed to very much agree with this assessment of things. A fact which it happily demonstrated by cramming all that remained of itself into the surrendered girl. She tensed up at the sudden rush of food towards her face. Perhaps a leftover instinct from the way sports balls seemed to home in on her face. But though she was tense her mouth seemed prepared for the sudden dispensing of food. On instinct she felt herself open her mouth wide and begining to chew down on the tower of slices. Every bite was intoxicatingly lovely. The way it filled her mouth, and later her stomach felt like it warmed her very soul. It was wonderful. In fact, the way her mouth felt like a wonderland was suspicious. She let whatever telekinetic puppeteer was pulling the strings continue to help her out. Let it push the meal deeper as she devoured it hedonistically. Her eyes still closed from the earlier fear remaining shut out of pleasure.

Eyes jammed shut she felt it finally recede, or rather felt the last of it be gulped down to her overfull stomach. The aforementioned hard packed dome was full completely full, stretched tight and practically throbbing with the amount of food it had consumed. But Instead of the pain she'd normally associate with over indulging to such a ridiculous degree she felt a funny kind of warmth. Coziness and sedation washed over her after such a pleasant meal. In spite of her rather crazy circumstances she just couldn't help but want to slip off to dreamland. She spent a few minutes struggling to think any thoughts of value, but it was like her brain was submerged in the very thick cheese that was crammed into her belly. In the end the battle was lost and Cinnamon felt herself drift off finally finding a comfortable and contented rest within the confines of her bed.

Then she was awake again, jolting up like a rabbit from a den filled with smoke. She was drowsy and in her morning haze she was wondering if she dreamt the prior nights occurrences. As she sat up in bed she became increasingly sure of that fact. It took her a few seconds to locate her phone, realizing with a grimace that she had fallen asleep on top of it. She was rather surprised when she pulled it out from her pot belly to find it undamaged. This was the second time in as many days that she had been spared the wrath of Murphy's Law. But that wasn't the only weird thing she found when removing her phone.

She saw the text she had sent the night prior. The one that led to her embarrassing encounter with the pizza boy. This information caused her to panic just a little bit. But she calmed herself down by assuring herself that it was still not just possible, but extremely likely the prior night had been a dream. She had obviously paid the pizza boy left the pizza boxes. Then because she hadn't sated her craving and was slightly horny from her conversation, had a weird almost sex dream where she gave a large pizza oral.

That was the most obvious solution. It was the perfect explanation to boot. Assuming like Cinnamon you were doing everything in your power to ignore the counter evidence. The way her clothes felt even just a little bit tighter than they had when she fell asleep. The slight creak her shorts were giving out as she sat up. Or perhaps most incriminatingly of all, the sweet taste of dairy she was licking off her lips. But all those little hints could and would be ignored, given the alternative was reality forgetting to work and her diet being ruined.

Cinnamon didn't even bother getting changed, she was partially worried the time left alone with her thoughts would cause her to snap. She figured she'd rather her shorts give out than her mental stability. Unfortunately for her, she hadn't considered that both were possible outcome. A fact Cinnamon's roommate would go on to demonstrate.
"Not that I'm complaining" were the first words out of Kelly York's mouth as her roommate entered the room. This alerted Cinnamon to the fact her roommate was certainly about to complain about something. "So I was coming back from this new club last night and as I'm bringing this guy...or was it a girl" Kelly mused getting distracted Cinnamon meanwhile simply letting out a long sigh. It was bad enough she had to look at the toned blonde wander around in her mismatching undergarments. Putting on display her toned body like there was anyone around who was going to appreciate it. But Cinn really didn't need reminding of the sexual conquests it got her. Especially after her own flirting failure the day prior.

. "Guy...yeah guy...as I was bringing this guy in he slips on a pizza box" The blonde began to narrate as if she were retelling a particularly tragic tale. That part got Cinnamon's attention and caused her to relax a little. This story was still making her feel a little bad about her body. But at the very least she could finally put the weird dream business to rest. "So we pick up the other pizza box...thinking...hey maybe this won't be so bad" Kelly said glancing for a moment into her room as if to check on something. Cinnamon beginning to wonder if her nights company was still hanging around. Sending a spike of insecurity through her about the fact her pot belly was basically hanging out for all to see.

"But the other box is empty, because apparently my roommate just eats entire pizzas out of the box now" Kelly finished her tone turning more towards exasperated confusion than anything else. Cinnamon was almost too distracted trying to get her shirt down to notice. Almost. Her body as well as time around her seemed to freeze at this revelation. Not only had she eaten the pizza, a fact she had been proudly denying since she woke up. But to add insult to injury she hadn't even stuffed her face like a normal person.

Rationally speaking there was no logical explanation for what had happened. For most people this would be the point of acceptance. That perhaps something extraordinary had befallen them. But instead of accepting the answer off the top of her head, Cinnamon decided to move to the most rational irrational possibility. Kelly whirled around somewhat indignantly looking for some sort of answer or apology, but instead found an empty chair and the door swinging in a cartoonish fashion on its hinges.

Cinnamon was fairly sure she had the answer to everything that had been weird the night before. Obviously, the food at the Pizzeria was tainted by some sort of psychotropic mold. This was of course a stretch that her sweat pants would have found absurd. A more pessimistic or a girl with less of a crush might've went in a more insidious direction. But whether malicious or accidental she saw as her duty as a reporter in training to confront management about it. Though she was brave in theory she was shuddering the whole way there. Her soft body insulating her from the New York cold but not quite her own doubts. The place was a 10-minute walk from her home. Which meant accounting for the fact her clothes were unwieldy tight and she was running out of physical fitness, it was a 15-minute walk for her.

The whole way there she rehearsed her various speeches about how the company needed to clean up its act. Mumbling her planned sentences aloud to herself to check they sounded okay. But as she was planning her confrontation she felt a hunger building deep within her belly. She had after all had skipped breakfast to do fully bury her worries about the past evening. So, around the last third of her walk her speech was a little skewed. She obviously didn't have any real proof of their issues, it was all very "heresay" like for Cinnamons tastes. She would of course need to ask the management if they'd let her watch them prepare a pizza for her. If they said no then they were obviously up to no good. Unfortunately, she'd have to eat the pizza, only common courtesy.