A second part to the story above, but with a bit more focus on Reni and traditional storytelling, hope you enjoy!
Reni stared out into the barren distance, no sign of any bandits or raiders anywhere near. He clenched the crude flamethrower with a worried grasp. Just because he was a god did not make him immortal, and from what he had heard, dying was a painful last experience. He did not like being on guard duty as it made his mind race with thoughts. Who will take over the temple? Would the refugees survive? Were they too dependent on him? How long could they hold out if he died? How would the other gods react? Would he be reincarnated or simply left to rot? His plump hands clenched the rudimentary iron handle, the cool grip sinking into the tepid mushy fat.
“Hey Reni.” Reni turned his pudgy body to see a rose red lyceen standing behind him “I’ll take over your guard shift.”
Reni ashamedly nodded “Alright…”
The lyceen tilted their slender head in confusion “Aren’t you exhausted? All that fat in this sort of heat? You should get out the sun before you drown in your own sweat.”
“Gods are less susceptible to heat and exhaustion, among other things. I’m fine.” Reni turned back around to face the sprawling desert.
The lyceen plopped their hand on Reni’s shoulder “Look, I appreciate everything you are doing for us but you need to take a break. You’ve been working non-stop for the past few weeks, even a god would be worn out by all that.”
Reni sighed “I…I just feel like if I’m not doing something for someone else, if I am keeping something for myself, even if I’m eating something that could go to someone else, I feel incredibly selfish.”
The lyceen nodded in agreement “I know, I know how it feels. I can’t really say all that much to change your mind other than to take care of yourself. This place would be a whole lot less friendly and productive without you around, so keep yourself safe ok? There’s plenty of other guards with decent equipment, you don’t need to risk your pudgy self on the front lines if we get attacked again.”
“So you want this to be my last guard shift?” Reni swiveled his head to face the lyceen.
The lyceen joyfully nodded “Mmmhm. I’ll take over your shifts, just don’t worry too much about all this guard stuff ok? Leave it to the people who know how to fight and who aren’t as invaluable to the temple.”
“Everyone’s invaluable, there’s no one here that can go missing without major repercussions.” Reni stepped in front of the lyceen as if to block them from going any further
“Yeah but your our leader and best worker, if we lost you we’ve be carrion for the vultures.” The lyceen walked past Reni and stationed himself by the rusting sign. “I’ll be fine, you just get yourself some rest.”
“Alright, stay safe.” Reni walked towards the rudimentary bridge before he heard the lyceen’s voice again.
“Also, the tombs were a great discovery, glad you remembered those were a thing.”
Reni smiled and resumed his walk towards the grand entrance
His weary mind started to reflect on all that had happened.The splinters that he had gotten to get the modest bridge built, the hours of shoveling frigid sand from the excavated tunnels into the bags for defense, the time dedicated to planning out the defenses, all of that was wearing on him along with his chubby body adding to the burden. He stepped down the temple stairwell, passing by the newly made forge made possible with the perforated tents and rusting crates being moved into the tombs he had rediscovered.
The sound of his plump paws stepping on the hard floor traveled further down the main hall than before, the wall of crates and boxes being moved into the tombs as well. He still remembered the excitement he felt when he rediscovered the old vault that showed up on no drawn plans, the same excitement shared by everyone in the community. However that same memory made his plump hands ache as the thought of all the gear he carried down into the vast tombs caused his body to experience the pain once again. Part of him told him to rest, to ease up and let the drenched fat that covered his sturdy muscles cool off. He wanted to agree with that part of him, but he forced himself to say no, he felt is still something he could do, he just needed to find where.
Something caught his attention, a pleasant aroma coming from the makeshift kitchen. A smell of fresh brewed cocoa filled him with delight. The dust-covered coffee maker one of the refugees brought was hardly functional even with an abundance of power, but the occasional drink plus the feeling of making a brew against all odds made the smell far more of a blessing than it was prior to the war. He walked past the rusty minifridge that had also been added to the kitchen and past his small working area to the crudely mined tunnels behind his golden throne. He descended down the shoddy scaffolds, every step of his blubbery body causing a harsh creaking to erupt from the dried wood. The familiar sight of filled sandbags greeted him at the bottom as he passed into the most essential room of the entire structure; the surgeon’s holdout. Behind the barrier of sandbags laid a rusted operating table and a makeshift apothecary station which though far from being the professional medical care that was easily accessible prior to the war, it was better than just about any place on the planet that was not a fortified hospital with surviving staff. He tucked himself into the faded sleeping bag he set overhead and closed his weary eyes shut, the faint sound of boiling water being turned to healing potions helping his mind drift into unconsciousness.
Oh boy this one took way longer than I was expecting. So I wanted to take a crack at traditional character-centered story writing this time around along with showing off the updated temple in a unique way. Again, I am still not fully comfortable with all of this so I apologize for any grammatical issues, infuriating repetition, or confusing wording. I still have no plans to make a story about the characters getting fat, but I figured that show how what fat the characters already have impacts them in their routine. I will admit I am not a big fan of going on the well-trodden path as it simply feels too easy and effortless, which I am afraid will make me put less heart and passion into what I am doing if it is just as easy to copy paste some writing as opposed to pondering a creative spin on existing ideas. Anyways enough about me, I hope you liked it and I hope that more people are inspired to write as the recent content drought in all the BF subtopics (and even the BF main topic) has gotten me feeling a bit down.