Another Patchwork story because I can haha. Minor spoilers for episode nine and trigger warnings for prolonged hunger and talk about food/body appearance relationships. I DO NOT SUPPORT ED’s OR STARVATION KINKS AND WILL BLOCK IF SO! I also wrote this with very little and disrupted sleep on my Notes app so forgive any mistakes :)
I’m not sure how to activate the Tumblr cut thing but oh well haha
Ragatha is so caught up with learning how to conjure and talks with both Kinger and Pomni. Eventually, she felt off in a way that was unfamiliar at first and told the others that she was going to take a break.
Ragatha, now sitting with her back rested on one of the numerous pillars in the circus tent, realized her breathing was more shallow than normal so she took a deep breath…
A soft but audible grumble of her stomach answered her.
Confused but wanting to soothe her tummy, she gently held and massaged it telling it to be patient and they can get something in the cafe later. Despite the food being merely virtual, it still gave all the circus members the basic task of making the hunger sensations to go away temporarily. Still tasted good nonetheless.
Ragatha returned to the group, trying hard to focus on conjuring shapes. She was getting better at holding and placing shapes but because she (admittedly) liked leaning into the sensations of hunger, it messed with her mind when trying to fully relax in order to keep the shapes stable.
Kinger, watching from across the gap, hurriedly rushed over to Ragatha to make sure she is okay.
Ragatha was fine besides being embarrassed when Kinger ran to her side.
Not wanting to be left out, a pang of hunger swept through Ragatha’s midsection, causing her to double over and let out a whimper and her stomach clenched and then released this deep hollow yowl.
Kinger, not wanting to make this too big of a deal joked that even though they still don’t need to eat or drink in the circus, the physical and mental energy when conjuring can stir up their former human bodies needs.
On the next day, Zooble joined in alongside Gangle to start learning how to conjure like the rest of the members. What else was there to do anyway?
Zooble, following Kinger’s instructions to relax both mind and body has trouble focusing. Out of the corner of their eye they notice Ragatha clutching her stomach and rubbing it absentmindedly, the growls long and drawn out. Zooble is now curious about trying to conjure food. It definetly wouldn’t be anything like Caine’s simulated food but honestly anything is better than that guy’s “attempts” at making the digital world feel more “human”…
The growling of their own stomach pulled their attention back to themselves. It’s been a week now since they themselves last ate anything (real or digital) and their body isn’t afraid of reminding them how long it’s been.
You’d think having a plastic shell for a torso would make the sensation not bad but somehow it only amplifies the intensity. Their stomach from the burning to the gnawing sensation, it really wants to broadcast its message to anyone in the vicinity.
Zooble honestly would not be surprised if somehow if they even had real organs, their stomach would look for food on its own with how much it’s growling and clawing at their midsection.
Ragatha was startled by Zooble tapping them on the shoulder asking her to go into a separate area to talk one on one.
“What’s wrong?” Ragatha asks before Zooble’s stomach gave her an answer
Zooble winced, putting their gloved hand to their belly whilst muttering under their breath in annoyance. “Damn you traitor”.
“Anyway, before I was rudely interrupted, I wanted to ask if you’re doing okay”.
Ragatha was a bit surprised Zooble had been watching her, let alone cared enough to talk to her in private.
“O-oh yeah I’m perfectly fi-“
Her stomach though begged to differ and gave a long, stern rumble.
Zooble chuckled saying that they wished their stomach was quiet. Because of their anatomy, it sounds like someone dropping pebbles down a long, echoing tunnel. Zooble added on that even with Ragatha’s stuffing, her stomach is pretty loud.
Ragatha was embarrassed to say the least. They always try so hard to hide their hunger especially due to her mother’s instillation on her being thin and that eating was a waste of time. Anytime her stomach growled near her mother or her old “friends” they’d always laugh about how much she’d eat and comments like that. Even now, they still stung.
Zooble, realizing the sore spot, asked in their own slightly awkward but sincere way “why are you hiding that? It’s natural and you can’t stop that anyway”.
Ragatha folded her arms around herself while getting a bit teary-eyed and looked only at the ground as she steadied her breaths. She at first just sighed but then started with “I know. Is it weird that I actually don’t mind the sensation? To a certain extent at least” she adds in the last sentence with a chuckle. Even back at home, Ragatha loved baking and cooking but mainly as an excuse for her to eat whatever she wanted and still keeps extras later for when she’d inevitably become hungry again soon as she disliked eating around other people. It was usually to the point that even if her stomach was roaring audibly around her friends, she’d lie saying that her stomach is just being noisy but she wasn’t actually hungry.
Zooble, taking all of this in and acknowledging them silently, realized tears came to their eyes. Ragatha’s story remind them themselves about how they used to mess around with eating less to ease and even distract from the body dysmorphia they dealt with. The hollow aching pangs, their stomach loudly growling and embarrassing them though they’d never let it show that that would make them very flustered. For whatever reason, they enjoyed their stomach begging for anything to be fed to it. They never found it weird.
Zooble and Ragatha both were happy that they trusted each other enough and seeing that both of them actually enjoyed feeling mild hunger and how their relationship with food and their body image seem to be very similar.
As they both head into the cafe, their stomachs both growled at once, almost like they were trying to talk to each other too. The pair just chuckled, hugged, and cried from happiness that they get to share something so vulnerable with each other and still be friends afterwards.
They embraced in the cafe for a while before both their stomachs complained about the wait and grabbing their respective owners’ attentions, making them break away and FINALLY getting to order something.
kianamaiart
romaincrisis
kaledo-art
prguitarman
origamiaround
areudirty
snowghoul
