This choice: Gazelle has a weight issue. One she'd rather not resolve as her manager wants. • Go Back...Chapter #4Weighing the Weighty Options by: Drakin   "It's... my weight...," She began. And seeing Stephanie's look Gazelle undid her coat to show her. Under the billowing outfit she wore a simple white tank top and red shorts. A stretch of belly was exposed between them.
A tiny, barely noticeable amount of pudge sagged over the hem of her shorts in a faint 'muffin top'.
"And?" Stephanie replied as Gazelle heaved what turned out to be a relieved sigh.
"That's what I said! My manager thinks I'm ruining my figure, that I have to stay this scrawny stick figure to present the 'ideal body' for my fans. I told her 'have you even looked at my hips?' " She swatted her thigh for emphasis which, in fairness were more 'pleasantly soft' than outright fat. "But she insists if I don't lose it pronto she'll put me on a strict diet and copious amounts of exercise."
"Alright," the goat female crossed her arms thoughtfully, "So what do you intend to do about it?"
"I don't know, that's the problem!" Gazelle whined a little, sounding more like a teenager than the famous star she was supposed to be, "I don't want to let down my fans, but I really don't want to go through what she has in mind. She's even talking about setting me up with a trainer called 'Miss Boomer'. I've heard horror stories about her from some associates. Ten mile jogs though Sahara Square, meals of a couple lettuce leaf's and water... I want no part of any of it."
"So what do you want then?"
"I... I don't know. I'd like to be able to go on as I have maybe, or..." Gazelle hesitated.
" 'Or...?'" Stephanie prodded with a slight smile, "You want to indulge a bit don't you? Enjoy all the good stuff you deprived yourself of for years."
"...Maybe," Gazelle blushed and fidgeted on the spot, "But it would never fly. Even if she let me, my manager is right about my public image."
"Is she?" Stephanie replied. From the look she got it was clear she'd answered with a question one too many times and as such laughed off the deadpan look from the star. "Let me tell you something as I see it dear. And I will be the first to admit I may be wrong on this front. But as I see it the whole 'thin is in' look is total bunk. Have you ever seen a thin elephant? Or a hippo? They're beautiful in their own way being big. Why can't other animals be both big and beautiful."
Gazelle considered this a bit but seemed to have no real good answer.
"If you were to ask me," the goat continued as she turned back towards the counter, "this whole desire to be as trim and fit as possible is nothing but what mega corporations want you to believe is sexy. It's hard for most animals to get such a figure and maintain it, as I'm sure you are aware. So it being unattainable by most make it the realm of the rich and/or famous that everyone aspires to be.
"But here's the good side to that utter B.S. of telling animals what is sexy or fashionable: It can be changed. Maybe not by one individual and certainly not overnight. But if the big companies are smart enough to see the wind blowing in a different direction, they'll change tactics to make them the most money possible."
"What are you saying?" Gazelle looked uncertain of what Stephanie was implying.
"I'm not saying anything beyond you should do what feels right," the goat female smiled, "But that little pudge you have now is nothing to fret about regardless. However if you need some help I certainly have a few options."
She reached under the counter and pulled out a few odd looking items.
The first was a gold ring that would fit almost all the way down one of her horns. The second was a thin silver chained necklace that held a small green stone about the size of one of Gazelles eyes set into a thin silver pendent. Third as a silver ring, this one designed to be worn on a finger rather than her horn, and was topped by a small ruby set into the middle of what looked like small flower petals. And the last was... a flash drive?
"Ok, so what's all this?" Gazelle asked as Stephanie picked up each in turn and explained.
"This gold ring will allow you to control the calories of anything around you. This not only means you can make a rich chocolate cake essentially zero calories without changing it's taste, but you could make a well balanced salad as calorie heavy as a dozen cakes or more. It also supposedly can work on animals too, changing their 'fat content' though that is untested and would only work on others, not yourself.
"The Necklace meanwhile will allow you to control your own weight as you desire. You can stay thin no matter what you eat or gain weight in whatever area of the body you wish. It will also work on others too, but only if you're touching them. It's unknown what it's limits are though and has been known to be 'finicky', sometimes not working right or changing weights at random.
"The silver ring works like weight storage. While wearing it any weight gained is tucked away in some extra dimensional pocket. You'll look thin no matter how much you really gain. But you will need to let the ring 'rest' once every seven days, letting that fat back into your body, or it will burn out. And it does have a limit, though what it is no one has figured out yet.
"The last is an app for your your phone actually. Just plug this into your smart phone and it'll download. The app will let you tweak any profile you put into it, though yours will be entered automatically. With it you can adjust your weight, height, size of any body parts, gender, species, and it even has a toggle that makes everyone think you have always been your new form (that's the default) or let them see the 'new you'. There's even rumored to be updates coming for the app. And if the phone gets lost or broken you can download it again from the flash drive, but it will be the starting app as opposed to the latest version.
"I should warn you, tantalizing as all of these are, I'm afraid I'm only permitted to sell you one. And for that I'm truly sorry."
All of this simply seemed too wild to Gazelle. That such options even existed at all, let alone that she could pick one to solve her problem. In the end she had to go with.
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