A group of friends streams their gaming on Wednesday nights. But not all the action is on the dining room table.

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Chapter 4 - Plans and Alterations

I basked in the feel of the icy air coming out of the vent over my head, grateful to whoever had arrived early and turned the temperature controls in the studio to something between "arctic circle" and "absolute zero," even as I dreaded seeing what it would do to the electric bill at the end of the month.

Streaming? Fun. Playing games with friends? Fun. Being self-employed? Stressful, but usually pretty cool. The costs *involved* with all those things? Gutwrenching.

Also, whoever decided that the majority of commercial buildings in the American South should be giant poorly-insulated metal boxes with piss-poor ventilation, insulation, and HVAC needed shot.

"A'ight, Leigh, out of the freezer and back to the rest of us," Sydney giggled, grabbing me and dragging me back toward the table.

"Do I hafta?"

"Yep! We gotta get these costumes sorted before the game, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah," I complained, but winked at Sydney so she'd know I was only joking.

I was half-excited for the costume discussion and half-not. Why only half? Well, that should be obvious. Me? Leigh. Man. My character? Lunea. Woman. My already questionable masculinity? Nowhere to be found in costume-land.

On the OTHER hand, there was something about cosplay I always enjoyed. Getting to transform yourself into someone else, seeing the awe on other peoples' faces when they see a character they know and love standing big as life in front of them, it was always a blast. And, who was I kidding, I was the one who chose to play a female character, so I kind of wrote my own death sentence there.

I took my seat at the table and looked around, taking stock. There was our usual spread of water bottles and low-crunch, stream-friendly snacks, as well as our various piles of books and paperwork. Most of that was for show since we did most of our actual character management on the Faelands app on our tablets, but they were still nice to have, especially for the homebrew information we needed for Maria's campaign. Instead of the mood music, we would have at game time, the overhead speakers were playing some soft jazz like they usually did whenever the studio was occupied but not filming.

Maria was at her seat, head of the table as was proper for a game master. She already had her books set out and a covered table behind her, likely with miniatures and maps for the game later. I flinched just thinking about the metal ruler she'd smacked me with the one and only time I'd ever tried to sneak a look underneath. I didn't see it around anywhere, but I'd seen her bust it out often enough to know it was always present lest someone get too handsy. Tonight there was another small table to the side with some sweet jasmine incense smoldering away in it, filling the room with the flowery fragrance and reminding me I needed to pick up some incense for at home.

Aaron sat around the corner of the table, to Maria's left and my right. He looked and smelled like he'd just stepped out of the shower and thrown on the first thing he could find, which he probably had: how the hell he could spend every afternoon playing basketball with kids at the youth center and still come in ready for three plus hours of tabletop I had no earthly idea, but then again, it was Aaron. Even with the stream's success, he seemed the most determined of all of us to put his degree to work, and I knew a lot of the income he made off Wednesday Knights went into trying to make life better for some of the worse-off kids he worked with.

On my left was Brian, of course, munching on his ritual pre-game taco. I could smell the double-dose of jalapenos from where I sat. At my disapproving grimace, he rolled his eyes and took some paper napkins out of the bag, laying them on the table and tucking one into the neck of his tee shirt. It seemed my complaints about sauce drips on materials and on his clothes on camera were finally hitting home. He then reached into the bag and pulled out a second taco and a handful of napkins and offered them to me. I tried to wave them off, only for him to shake his head and set them in front of me anyway with a pointed look.

At the end of the table, opposite Maria and where we'd normally have a tripod and camera, sat a figure that looked like a version of Maria that had heard of BoHo and adopted it as a religion. It was, of course, Carmen, "Aunt Cici," there to talk to us about costumes. She gave me one of her brilliant smiles, and I couldn't help but smile back: Maria and I had spent a lot of summers and weekends in high school at Carmen's studio, watching her work on historic recreations and other projects, and we'd always gotten along great.

Next seat down, across from Brian, sat Sydney. Bright eyes, her dark red hair pulled back in a scrunchie and her figure shown off by the yoga top and pants she'd worn in. Unlike Aaron, Sydney liked to get her exercise in right before stream, topping up with a couple of laps around the building "for the glow" whenever it was possible. It was a good look for her and seemed to contribute to her popularity with the male just-over-half of our viewership, as she was always more than ready to brag about. She was less glow-y than normal for the moment, likely to avoid a chewing out like she'd gotten last time we'd done a costume session, since Carmen hated sweaty fittings.

The next chair was empty. Jonah had always insisted on doing his own costumes, or more accurately costume, since the only thing he'd changed from our last campaign to this one was dropping the crappy-looking horns he wore as his demonkynd. Other than that, it was the same long black leather coat, the same fingerless gloves, the same black pants and combat boots, and a white poet's shirt he'd started wearing after we convinced him that, no, his character probably didn't own a Megadeth tee shirt. He'd inevitably walk in twenty minutes before the session, as per usual, now that he didn't have to set the cameras up or prep the streaming software.

Finally, in the last seat and to Maria's right, Deidre. Sketchbook in hand, looking down her nose through her glasses at what I was sure were page after page of sketches she'd been working on and sending back and forth with Carmen. She was always the most hands-on of us in terms of designing her own costumes, almost always with some neat touch from a culture the rest of us weren't familiar with. She'd shaved her head again, showing off the little sprig of flowers she'd had tattooed over her right temple, and whatever she was looking at it had her smiling.

I was just about to give in and reach for Brian's bait taco when Maria clapped her hands once. Like the trained puppets we all were, we went silent and turned to face her. Before we'd started streaming she'd always used that clap to signal the start of the session, and even now, it was an effective tool to get us in Serious Mode for meetings.

With all eyes on her, Maria tossed her dark curls and smiled. "All right! Looks like everyone's here," she said, giving Jonah's empty seat barely a glance. "Everyone said hi to Aunt Cici?"

Nods all around the table.

"Good. First thing on the agenda, Sydney, how're the socials looking?"

"Looking good, Boss," Sydney said, glancing down at her tablet and swiping a couple times before looking back up. "The kerfuffle at the end of last session caused a little stir, but I think me and Aaron got it calmed down during the live chat replay on Friday," she said, giving Aaron a big thumbs-up. The live-chat replay was the re-stream we'd do of Wednesday's game every Friday, with two of us and a special guest there to talk about their impressions of the game in real time. "There's a lot of excited chat about the upcoming con and the expected complaints about our plans to take the week after off, but for the most part, things are peachy keen."

"Glad to hear it!" Maria said happily. "And speaking of the con, ATG called me this morning and asked me if I thought everyone would be down for a bit of a publicity deal before hand. Anyone have big plans for the Thursday before con?"

"Nothing I can't re-organize."

"Not really?"

"A pick-up game, but I can be replaced."

Maria nodded. "That's great news, 'cause they're offering us a ride on the Golden Goose." Maria gave us all a moment to absorb that, before adding the kicker. "They want to give us the overnight experience on it, so we'll be heading down to Cypremort Point that morning for the launch at 10."

"Sweet!" Sydney crowed. "Riverboat gambling!"

Maria laughed. "Sure, but there's a catch. They're gonna send a film crew of their own with us, and they want us to do the whole tour in character."

That raised a few eyebrows.

"Umm, why?" Brian asked, sending a blast of jalapeno breath across the table.

"Apparently, they want to use it for some ad material on their site? I didn't ask a lot of questions, to be honest." She looked to the end of the table. "It might mean we need an extra set of cosplay outfits."

Carmen chuckled. "I can revive some of your older costumes. I'll figure it out once I update everyone's measurements. And I was already making a spare for Leigh, so we're good."

Pause.

"Why were you already making a spare for me?" I asked, feeling a chill run down my back as I gave Carmen a worried look.

All she did was grin back, which did nothing to set me at ease.

"Sounds good to me. I've already told 'em that Jonah probably wouldn't join us, but does everyone think they can make that?"

"Yeah."

"Sure thing."

"We'll be there."

"All right. Let's see... they also let me know the prep for the stage show is on schedule. I'm still nervous about not getting to play around with things before we get there, but they assured me it'll all work," Maria said, a bit less confidence in her tone than I was used to hearing. She had some big surprises planned for the live show, and I understood her worry one hundred percent.

"It'll be great, Boss. We'll make sure of it."

"And we'll look damn good doing it."

"You got this."

Maria nodded. "Thanks guys. I think that's it for what I needed to chat with folks about. Anything anyone else needs to bring up?" After the quick chorus of 'no's and head-shakes she nodded to the end of the table. "In that case, Aunt Cici?"

"Ay!" Cici said, standing up and clapping in much the same way Maria had to start the meeting. "Who's ready to get touched in all the bad places first?"

"Cici!"

"What?" Cici grinned and pulled out her measuring tape. "Brian, sweetie, you first. Come here."

We spent the next half an hour hanging out and chatting while Cici would occasionally pull one of us aside to measure and talk. As usual, she took care of Brian and Aaron first, both of their measurements and discussions going pretty quickly. Next was Sydney, who took a bit longer, but had a huge grin when she came back. Normally she would call me next and Deidre last, with the two of them spending the longest time discussing what she would do, so it surprised me when she called Deidre instead of me.

"Eat your taco and stop worrying," Brian said, nudging me gently with his elbow.

"I'm not worried," I sneered, but picked up the taco to give my hands something to do anyway, giving it a careful examination.

Brian huffed. "No jalapenos, ya baby. And extra cheese sauce. You'd know that if you'd been listening when I ordered."

"Nice," I agreed, taking a happy bite. "I was distracted."

"You were rubbing your legs together like you needed to pee," he said, chuckling.

"Like I said, distracted," I countered, blushing.

"I'm tellin' ya, you might as well just keep 'em shaved. You know she's gonna want you to every time we do one of these things."

"Yeah, well... shut up," I said, taking another bite of my taco to ensure I did the same.

I was just shoveling the last bite of taco in when Deidre trotted over.

"Your turn, shortie."

I made sure my hands were clear of any taco gunk, then headed to the back corner myself, where the grinning Carmen awaited me.

"Ah, mijo, I see you remembered this time," she said, giving my legs a once-over then pulling me in for a hug. "And your hair! I wish you wouldn't hurt it so," she frowned, tsk-ing as she looked at the close-cropped sides of my head. "It's so pretty when you let it grow out."

"Yeah, well," I started, but couldn't think of anything to say. I was pretty sure that if I ever gave in and grew my hair out like Carmen wanted she wouldn't let me stop 'til it reached my ass. "So what torture do you have for me this time?"

Carmen gave me a puzzled look. "Torture? I make you beautiful, and you call it torture? Pfft." She turned her back on me and began digging through a bag she'd brought. "Just for that, you get to put this on without me explaining it first."

"Put what-- what the hell is that, Aunt Cici."

"Nope!" She said, shaking her head as she pressed the bundle of folded cream-colored material into my hands. "Go put it on like a good girl so I can see."

"But—"

"Nah ah! Go!" She said, swatting my butt and pointing toward the restrooms.

I gulped but headed off. Maria's ruler didn't scare me half as badly as an angry Aunt Cici. I'd been 'accidentally' stabbed by one too many pins during a fitting to not have a healthy fear of the woman.

I didn't unwrap the bundle until I was secured away in the little bathroom at the back of the studio. When I did, I was left even more confused. I was used to Carmen handing me weird clothing items to wear as part of my costumes, things like tight shorts with hip pads in them, but this was... a fat suit? It looked like a women's one-piece half my size, with snaps in the crotch and… was that the front or the back? There was a large, rounded area of padding sewn into one side, and...

Oh no.

I glanced at the door, but remembering pins past, I winced.

With a sigh I stripped off my shorts and tee and studied the item. I'd expected some kind of something from Carmen, so wore what she called "appropriate" underwear, some men's bikinis, just to be on the safe side. After some consideration, I went ahead and snapped up the crotch and stepped into the legs of the too-small suit, double-checking one last time I had it the right way around before pulling it up.

"Oof."

I tried again. This time I got the garment up and around my thighs. Another tug, and it was up on my hips, and I could finally pull the straps up and over my arms.

A look in the mirror confirmed what I'd feared, but I took the time to smooth things out and push them around a bit before I let myself really bask in the horror.

The garment was tight, very much so, and nipped my sides in nicely, with the fit of the lower part keeping me flat in front but lifting my butt in back, with some of my nipped waist seemingly pushed down to fill out my cheeks in a way I was sure they didn't normally look. The back of the garment came up to just under my shoulder blades, splitting into wide straps that came over my shoulders and, rather than joining together like a tank top over my chest, then wrapped down and to the sides, then up and under, with a small bit of wire reinforcing the scalloped shape at the top. Knowing what Carmen would expect, I did a little more kanoodling with my flesh, and yep: the shapes pushed up by the compression of the rest of the garment and the formed wire across my ribs gave the impression of breasts.

It was what lay underneath the breasts that made me gulp in fear.

I should have known.

While my stomach and sides were compressed, my figure was filled out in a long, smooth curve of padding from just below the wire at my ribs down to my crotch. The padding curved out a bit at my hips, and turning sideways, the overall result was undeniable.

There, standing in the mirror, was a very pregnant looking Me. And judging by the color of my face, the morning sickness was about to strike yet again.

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NOTES:

Melanie E.