Jenny's computer chair creaked loudly beneath her. It was specially designed to support heavy furs. The engineers who built its compact steel frame might not have had over half a ton of hippo in mind when they'd designed it, but that's what it was being used for. An overtaxed air conditioner spluttered and coughed up clouds of cooler air into the room, summer still taking its toll on the occupants of Jenny's house as the morbidly obese hippopotamus sagged into her chair. Her stomach glistened with sweat as it sagged over the arms of the chair, at least a foot on either side. It pushed her legs apart as far as her blubber laden thighs would allow and hanged down until it nearly touched the ground. Above it her desk was a sturdy and high enough to rise above the ridiculously high slope of her belly, at least enough so that when she leaned forward she could still reach the mouse and keyboard. The whole setup had been outlandishly expensive, to the tune of a couple of thousand dollars. A couple of thousand she didn't have before, but as the 1300+ lb hippo smooshed her tummy up to the desk and booted her computer up she reflected that some things changed for the better.

The massive anthro still lived with her mother. It was still summer. The heat was still nearly unbearable. But ever since that fateful day when she'd consumed the contents of a small minivan's worth of food, she'd found an income in what seemed to her like the most unlikely of places. A cute, if small young cat had helped her home, sliding under her massive sweat lined tummy and lifting it up to assist her laboured waddle. She'd gotten stuck in her front door again but thanks to its widened state she was able to slip inside and into the relative cool. It was then, entertaining the company of the young feline, that she'd learned that there was a community of individuals who actually appreciated people her weight. Not only that, but there were paysites dedicated to getting them the food and attention they desired. It was just as well as when her mother arrived to see her daughter bloated, lying on the broken remains of her couch, the old jackal very nearly exploded. She berated Jenny for hours, yelling, cursing, threatening. In the end they both knew it was Jenny's life and the hippo could very much do what she pleased, but that didn't mean her mother had to be happy about it. Her feline guest had to slip out quietly before Jenny was sent to her room. Sent to her room! At 23! What was worse was that Jenny simply couldn't make the distance without assistance. And so her mother had to help her boulder of a daughter make the few panting, wheezing, sloshing meters to the door of her room. The room where she would live for the next few months, only coming out to use the toilet (which had to be reinforced) and raid the fridge.

Jenny had to come to terms with the fact that she was a balloon of a hippopotamus. Not in the literal sense of course, but in the fact that she had a stomach which now weighed half a ton by itself and had to be very nearly dragged along the ground where-ever she went. She was a huge sack of fat and with her current hunger problems she wouldn't be able to do anything about it any time soon. Exercise was out of the question and liposuction was beyond what she could afford. With her mother cutting down on what she bought to keep the fridge stocked, what Jenny realised she needed most was money.

And so The Hefty Hippo was born. A site where, if one paid, one would be able to access not only videos of Jenny trying to do every day things like dress herself (without much luck, it must be said) but also access to a 24 hour webcam where they could see her sweat, scratch, rub her tummy, play games and gorge on what food she had. Jenny discovered that she was one of the few people on the internet (and maybe even the world) who weighed over half a ton. She was in the smaller group of people who weighed over half a ton and were willing to put their lives on exhibition for profit. Oh of course it was embarrassing, it was mortifying! She was put up on the internet for the world to see. A massive, fat laden hog, rolls of blubber glistening in the light of her poor room. She thought she'd die of shame when she saw her old highschool friend had gotten wind of the site. But even Jenny couldn't deny that it was practical. People paid over 50 dollars a month membership, and some of the more zealous members even sent her food. The look on her mother's face when she started having to haul in massive baskets laid down with cakes was priceless.

And as the Hefty Hippo grew, so did Jennifer. Much to her mother's shame and dismay. Jenny's hunger became more potent and she was followed everywhere by the sound of her own stomach being dragged along the ground – when she bothered to move that is. For the most part she sat in her brand new, heavily padded computer chair and grew. Her lovehandles ballooned, oozing over the sides of her chair, the arm rests creaking and being pushed further and further out of shape. Her stomach hung to the ground, creeping across it and consuming more room beneath the desk. With her size, Jenny's appetite grew, and a few cakes was no longer enough to satisfy her for a snack. It seemed that eating started to take up every second of her day, whether it was dipping her now bloated excuses for fingers into a bag of cookies or smearing the contents of pies across her snout.

It was during this time that Jenny made friends with one of the local delivery girls. Jade, Jenny came to know her by on her nearly nightly visits. Jenny was able to afford pizza every night, and even the nights when she didn't want to eat it there was always someone on the paysite who would pay to see her stuff the cheesy, grease soaked morsels down her ever expanding throat. And every night Jade would turn up at her door, bypass her mother and go straight to Jenny's room. It wasn't long before the two became fast friends, with the chance for a little something more, Jenny hoped. Sure, thanks to the paysite she knew that somewhere out there, there were people who found her bloated body attractive. It was another thing to see it in the flesh. To see the way Jade looked at her naked, wobbling tummy. The smiles they wore to disguise blushes that hinted at other thoughts. Jade's own waistline was growing too, and the nights when Jenny didn't simply pass out in her computer chair, she'd lie awake day-dreaming of the days when she had enough money to keep her and her beautiful delivery girl in food and happiness all day, every day. We would grow old together, Jenny thought, and immobile. Without want for anything. Just growth and love.

The phone rang, pulling Jenny from her thoughts. As her mind buzzed back into activity she noticed that she was drooling. She grunted (a sound somewhat akin to an oink) and wiped her chin before reaching forward for the phone. The chair creaked, her arms strained to reach past her stomach, fatty bags of flab weighing them down as her pudgy fingers clasped the phone.

"Hello?" The hippo's voice had gotten a little bit more deep since she'd reached the 800lb mark.

"Jennifer?" She smiled as she recognised Jade's voice.

"Oh good! I hate it when your mum answers. Hey, you free to go out tomorrow?" Jenny hesitated a moment. She looked down at herself. She hadn't gone out since that day with the shopping trolley.

"Uh... I don't really go out that much." She answered, a blush spilling across her cheeks like red ink.

"All the more reason to come out tomorrow! Look, I booked us a table at this lovely restaurant down town. It's famous for catering towards people with... big appetites. You always say I should eat more, well come down with me!" How could Jenny say no?

"I... I guess... But I'm too big fo-" Jade cut her off.

"I've hired a taxi-van, it'll be alright hun. I'll see you at 6!" The line went dead and Jenny allowed herself to draw breath. Had she j