Improv

“Hello everyone! I am… King Richard III! I hail from the land of… Albany! And I am here to join your alliance and perform great acts of an unexpected nature with you all! I hope we have a most pleasurable time.” The rest of the group clapped to Richard’s introduction. They were in an improv group, where he had decided to introduce himself as if he was a king. He joined the class because the concept of spontaneously acting out situations was interesting to him.

The head of the group said, “Well done, Richard! You show promise for acting talent; I look forward to being with you.” He replied, still in his kingly voice, “Thank you, maestro! I will not disappoint!” He smiled and Richard took his seat. The head took the attention and said, “Okay everyone, now that King Richard has introduced himself, I am going to briefly introduce myself again. I am Jim, I will be your instructor for this class. Today, we’re going to pair up! Everyone else already has their pairs, Richard, you will be working with Bethany, our other newcomer.”

He turned to his side, seeing a red-haired white girl, perhaps only 19. She waved at him, and he waved back. The teacher continued, “Alright, have fun everyone and remember: Life doesn’t have a script!” He chuckled as the class starting to talk amongst themselves. Richard walked over to his partner, who was smiling warmly at him. “Hello Bethany. Or is it Beth?” She replied slyly, “Well, it’s Beth if I can call you Rich.” He said, “Well then, Beth, what do you have planned for us today?”

She leaned in close and said, “Well, since it’s our first day I thought we’d just do something really basic. Like… Cat and mouse.” He frowned, disappointed. “I thought we would do something more… spicy.” She smiled and responded, “Maybe next time, mousey. For now, cat and mouse. C’mon!” They walked over to the side of the room, where a purple backpack laid. Beth unzipped it and started sorting through it, then pulled out a gray costume. She tossed it to Rich, who caught it and started looking at it. There were round pinkish ears, as well as a long pinkish tail attached. It seemed to be a one-size-fit-all jumpsuit type of thing. She pulled out her own outfit, which was a similarly colored outfit, but with a white chest area, sharp ears, and a furry tail. “Well, let’s go get into character!” They both headed out of the class, to the restrooms to change.

*/^\*

When Rich returned to the room, most people were in some type of costume and Beth herself was in the cat suit. Despite the silliness of it, he must admit that it outlined her nicely. He walked up to her and called, “Mrrreow. Maybe you and I go out to dinner?” Beth giggled and said, “Oh silly, that’s my line.” She booped his nose, then continued to practice alone. He also practiced himself, though he didn’t feel like there was much to practice. Instead, he mostly watched Beth from across the room.

“Okay everyone, first up will be our first day-ers!” Beth and Rich walked up to the center of the class in their costumes. Beth announced, “My name is Bethany and this is Richard. For our first improv we decided we’d do cat and mouse. We hope you enjoy this as much as I will.” Rich briefly stumbled over her wording, but then the act started. He ran away from the ‘cat,’ who chasing him all around the room. They ran between rows of the other classmates, even on one occasion over the instructor’s desk!

After a few laps of this along with some cat and mouse noises, Rich decided it’d be a good idea to end it back in front. Beth saw him slow down slightly and responded by pouncing him to the floor. With only inches between their faces, Rich hesitated, but started dramatically squeaking out a tale of defeat. Beth replied with a catty meow, and loudly licked her lips. She opened her mouth and moved forward, so Rich closed his eyes and braced for a quick neck bite.

Instead, he was greeted by a thick, smothering wetness. He opened his eyes and saw nothing. He wasn’t sure where he was, exactly. However, the flesh which licked over his face gave him a good idea. Her mouth! His heart rate spiked, but then he had a realization that made sense to him. This was still part of the improv. So he responded to the consumption by squeaking loudly, as well as flailing his hands and arms. He heard a muffled meow, followed by a gulp around him.

They continued this routine until finally only ‘his’ tail was outside. He was already completely engulfed by the cat and her slurping up his tail only served to seal the deal. He heard a loud belch above him, followed by loud applause. Outside, Beth’s suit bulged outwards very roundly and she sat on the ground licking her ‘paw.’ The applause calmed down and Jim said with amazement, “Bethany, just incredible! I’ve seen a few cat and mouse acts in my time, but never such a realistic one! I must say, this suit you’ve created is impressive. Richard’s really in there?”

Richard tried to reply but was muffled by both flesh and fabric. “Truly amazing, Bethany. And Richard!” Bethany replied with a meow and another belch. Richard was honestly starting to feel a little light-headed at this point, but he didn’t want to tap out just yet. He really wanted to impress this lady. As a gurgle sounded out from the distended suit, Jim chuckled and said, “Oh, I suppose your act isn’t over yet? Still need to ‘digest’ your ‘prey?’” Beth nodded and he said, “Alright kitty. Well, other people need to act as well, so if you could take your catnap somewhere else…”

Bethany stood up carefully, making sure not to rupture her suit and carried her gut over to the side of the room by her bag and curled up against her backpack, laying on her belly. Inside there, Richard shifted around uncomfortably. He poked on the stomach walls and quietly asked, “Psst, Beth? How am I gonna get outta here?” Eyes closed, she shushed him and replied, “Rich… cat food doesn’t talk.” He asked again, a whisper-shout, “What? Aren’t we done acting now? It’s gross in here.” She responded happily, “One last act, mousey. You have to digest in my tummy.” He felt that panic again and inquired once more, “Digest? Wh-what does that mean? Am I gonna… slip out of here when no one’s looking?” She responded finally, “Just wait.”

So he did. He got as comfortable as he could, squirming around in the hot and slimy prison. He had no clue of the passage of time, but could hear Beth snoring on the other side. His suit was soaking wet which meant he didn’t feel when the real stomach juices started to come out. He noticed it only when it was up to his shoulders. This made him truly panic and he started to writhe around in the churning soup. He shouted for someone to help him out, he was really being digested!

Outside, the class was momentarily distracted by sudden activity from the cat’s suit. Bumps appeared here and there, and more mouse noises came from the bulges. Then Beth burped in her sleep and the struggling settled down then stopped altogether. She smacked her lips happily as the class turned back towards the current act. She rubbed her belly, which was now quiet since her meal finally settled into its new role.

*/^\*

Bethany woke up to the instructor prodding her. Her belly was still as big as before, but much rounder. He said, “Beth, class is almost over for today. Do you have a quick second part for the class? You’ve been in-character this whole time, it’s really quite amazing. You too, Richard.” He made a glorp sound in acceptance and she nodded in response. She once again carried herself to the front of the room, and got on all-fours. The cat’s belly chafed against the ground, and her face scrunched up. A loud belch released the pressure and sent a wet mass of ‘mouse fur’ to the ground. The class applauded once again.

“Impressive, everyone! Once again, welcome to both Bethany-- our cat-- and Richard-- her meal! Class is dismissed, but Bethany, I’d like to talk to you before you go.” The rest of the class started filtering out as the cat picked up the soggy clothes and carried it over to Jim’s desk. He started, eyes beaming, “Bethany, I just want to say again, I love your dedication to the art! The slight of hand this must have required is stunning.” She finally broke character and said, “Thank you, sir. I really enjoyed doing this.” He said, looking at her belly which squished between his desk and her chair, “Could you release Richard, so I could speak to him as well? He did an amazing job, as both the mouse and your prey.”

Her friendly smile briefly faltered as she replied, “Oh, no, you know, actually, that was some of the sleight of hand. He snuck out right during the um, the belly struggling, remember? It was a distraction.” He clapped his hands together giddily and said, “Oh, amazing! And your water-fat-suit helped to create the digestive noises and the wet clump of ‘fur?’” She nodded, going along with his explanations. “Wow. That really is amazing, Bethany. I look forward to seeing you next class!”

They both stood up, shaking hands. Beth walked over to her bag and stuffed the slimy mouse costume back in her bag. As she walked out of the class, Jim gave her a firm shoulder pat, which caused her to stop carrying herself, dropping the weight hard. As her belly drooped between her legs, it ripped across several seams, revealing her flesh beneath the costume. She wasn’t sure if he saw this specifically, but he did hear the rip and nothing fell out. She hurriedly lifted back up her spilling gut and started to move down the hallway and out of the building as fast as she could.