Chapter 1 - Issue 0.1: an unlikely hero

Cinnamon Crest had 22 years of life experience and she found herself supremely sure of only two things. First that there was some sort of external all controlling entity interacting with her life. And secondly that said unknown deity got it's jollies exclusively by screwing with her.

She had always had terrible luck, so she had developed coping mechanisms for the worst possible outcomes. When she was dealt her frankly ridiculous name she concocted slightly less insane short forms. When she was bullied in school she disappeared into her books. When genetics decided to bless her with brown hair and a body so average she had once heard it described as "If plain flour was a body shape". She adapted and disappeared into slightly more erotic books. When she moved out and started to indulge her sweet tooth she bought a gym membership.

She had adapted to bad hands so repeatedly that it had become second nature. So it was rare to find herself in a situation that had her completely and totally stumped. But in her defense there was absolutely no way she could have anticipated the super powers.

It started relatively mundanely, without radioactive spider or lightning strike. She was splayed out on her bed with headphones in. Blasting the latest 24/7 stream of easy listening music to study too. The relaxing techno beats meant that she missed the knocking of the delivery door. Well missed implies an accident and it really wasn't. She had the most stinging memory of informing the bearer of her last pizza delivery she'd never see them again. Sure it was a college area so the odds of her getting the same delivery boy were surely miniscule. But as we've established Cinn was nothing if not highly cautious. The knock signaled the start of a masterfully concocted plan.

"Nobodies home, you should leave them for my roommate who ordered them at the door" she sent the delivery driver simple and smooth. She turned down her music to listen out. It was difficult to keep track of the small stuff from an auditory perspective. Or at least it is when you live in a student housing. She tried to tune out the distant thumping of music and the idle giggling. Focusing only on the floor boards of the dorm. Eventually the jostling sound of a pizza being placed down and the creak of a steady pace walking away signaled victory.

She waited just a little bit longer feeling all the tension of a horror movie at the thought of possibly having a slightly awkward social interaction. Eventually she rolled out of bed and made her way to the door, it popped open smoothly enough. "mission successful" she thought to herself with a certain amount of relief. This relief and optimism lasted three seconds. Or exactly the time it takes one college aged pizza boy to dramatically reveal himself from behind a persons door.

"I don't know if anyones told your "roommate", but in order to receive goods or services you need to give money" he informed her somewhat impatiently. It was of course the same pizza boy she had proclaimed a healthier lifestyle to. The one with delightfully dark curly hair, mischievous eyes and the smirk that made her feel warm and fuzzy. Cinnamon blushed, rather heavily. "Look....look I wasn't trying to...steal it....." She started fumbling over her words while talking to a crack in the ceiling tiles. "Of course not, you didn't want to be seen to be pigging out on your diet. Pro tip, the second the best solution is to say you've got a highly contagious disease and pay us under the door" The pizza boy explained at Cinnamon through the open door as she began to search for her wallet.

It struck her much to her sweat glands dismay that this was the start to many a porno film. Unfortunately for her prostituting herself out to feed her junk food addiction wasn't really an option. At least not with what said addiction had done to her figure. She had become thick figured with a k and it had happened in a blur. A very tasty blur in only three weeks she had gone up a pants and shirt size. Developed love handles and the start of a pot belly and based on the way that belly was showing beneath her sweater she'd need to go up a number one. It wasn't necessarily a plot twist of Shakespearian proportions.

She was working a journalism degree, that meant a decent amount of sitting on her ass writing and editing. A negative which was sextupled in size by the fact she was currently writing a piece on local restaurant businesses. Sure, a bit of secretary spread was to be anticipated. Even developing a slight "new mom" bod would've been an acceptable casualty. But her thighs were close to chaffing and her belly had a curve. Both things that were surely a bit extreme for such a short period of time.

Her mind raced over these thoughts as she rummaged around for her method of payment. She could've sworn her jacket hadn't had these many pockets last time she had worn it. Normally she'd just brush these concerns about her figure under the mental rug. Put on some music and drift off to land where she couldn't feel her bely flattening out when she was laying on her stomach. But for some reason with his jade eyes locked on her impatiently, she could feel every pound as if it was tenfold. In spite of her desperate search for her wallet her movements had an air of resignation to them.

She had already come to the conclusion that the wallet was gone. Fallen into the same pocket dimension that housed her keys and any other items it might be unfortunate to lose. Yet as she reached the top blouse pocket on her jacket she found the last thing she was expecting. Her wallet, she yanked it out and in grand suspicion checked its contents. Even more surprisingly it had money in it. The discovery felt like her big break in a way, like that mischievous deity had finally flipped the luck lever in the other direction.

Cinn felt just a spark of confidence forming in the foundation of her being. Walking over to the pizza boy with a bit more energy to her stride. Maybe just maybe she could hold a conversation with him after all he seemed relatively nice. "So....you said it was the second best way.... what's the best" Cinnamon asked curiously holding out her money. The pizza boy now tapping his feet impatiently. "Don't tell people who only see you when you're buying junk food, you're not going to eat any more junk food" he said with a playful smirk. He plucked the money from her hand and dropped the pizza stack like he was vampire and her topping of the day was holy water. She watched him stride off, eying him slightly bewildered. Her stomach let a growl as if to announce itself officially as the reason that boy was completely out of her league.

"You know what, solve your own problems..." Cinnamon told her stomach striding off away from its source of food. She could still keep her promise, at least in spirit, if not the official wording. She could still slim down and get the boy. Get her ass back to a tight dime bouncer, and her stomach back to a washboard. All she had to do was walk away from the food. It had no power over her if she just ignored it after all. "Ha you can't solve your own problems, you're just a flabby belly, a disembodied straw man I'm using to cope with my recent decent into chubbiness" Mindy continued to talk to her pot belly.

She tossed herself back onto her bed looking down at the pale dome while addressing it as if was going to debate her. But her banal banter was designed to mask something she was desperately trying to avoid. She still really wanted that pizza.

She stuck her earbuds hoping to drown out the protests of one sense by flooding another. But as she started to read her book the words seem to drift. Her gluttonous brain was quite obviously craving those scrumptious carbs to a most extreme capacity. She could smell it around her even though it was all the way back in the hall way. She could picture it so perfectly hidden beneath the cardboard. She bit down on her nails and began to wonder if she had a crush on the pizza boy or the delicious food that he brought with him.

But no amount of semi sarcastic pondering could get her back on task. Her nose was completely filled with that the delicious scent, her eyes beginning to see pie charts as more literal pizza pies. Her stomach let out a third growl a deeper one that seemed almost strange to Cinnamon. It felt more like a vibration that a growl. As if to cap up her senses she began to imagine the delicious taste of the forbidden dish. Feeling the soft and filling texture of its stuffed crust. The deliciously succulent taste of cheese filling her up. In her imagination she could even see it, in perfect sync with each bite. As if it was hovering directly in front of her face. A proverbial offering from the gods.

She began to notice something strange about her little diet cheating fantasy. But as she began to chew into her fourth slice she just couldn't quite place it. It could've been the tingling her lady parts were doing. Or so she reasoned. But as she scoffed the sixth slice she dismissed that concept. After all she had literally just been talking to the cute pizza boy who was out of her league. At the seventh slice she was still wondering. She reached down partially unconsciously to pull her waistband down a little. Her stomach was getting rather bloated, round and full it might've been mistaken for a basketball.

She let out a sigh of relief before it struck her what that meant. Your belly getting a little full when you ate pizza was normal. Especially when you were making a pig of yourself But Cinnamon found herself freezing like a deer in the head lights. If it was a fantasy why would she be fantasizing about her belly being bloated. For that matter why would she feel full? That was the first pebble in the landsite of her revelation