A Matter of Taste

A Reunion

Sid's was a speciality restaurant which catered to both human and furry customers. The customers knew what to expect when they entered and the distinctive 'u-shape' of the restaurant meant that people who might be sensitive about some of the potential meals on offer could sit round the corner out of sight of those who preferred the more risqué dishes. Aylia had just finished mopping the floors at her friends restaurant, she had already cashed up from the breakfast rush and now she had cleaned up after it. It was a busy shift so she was always allowed to clock off just before the lunch time rush.

The dappled, black and white cow girl wiped the back of her wrist across her forehead and gave a huff of weariness. She looked up to the back of the counter to check the time, 12:30pm, finishing time. That gave her around an hour before she was due to meet the girl from school who had just moved back to town. Harley was a snow leopard Aylia knew a few years back, but at the final year of school they went their separate ways and never got in touch again after that. They were never particularly close, Harley was always getting her in trouble in the classes they sat near each other but for the most part the trouble was intended as good natured fun, and the leopard girl didn't seem to hang out with anyone else.

It wasn't long before the time passed and Aylia, sitting at the restaurant’s bar, felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to the direction of the tap and found no-one there, pausing for a moment to second guess the light feeling she now wasn't so sure she felt. With a small huff she turned back to the glass of coke she had on the bar when something suddenly caught her attention In the corner of her eye...

“HEY AYLIA!” Harley cried excitedly, mere inches from the side of the cowgirl's head.

With a loud yell Aylia leapt to her feet, leaning back from the leopardess who grinned widely as she watched her old acquaintance trying to catch her breath.

“Whoa, chill out there, I don't wanna give you a heart attack!” Harley exclaimed, poking a finger into Aylia's side.

Aylia squirmed away from Harley's out thrust finger, uncomfortable with how deep she had been able to poke it into her soft torso. She wasn't sure if the poke was to emphasise her humour or if it was to indicate she thought Aylia's weight might have been instrumental to the heart attack.

“Whoa, you've put some pounds on aint'cha?” Harley giggled.

Aylia's jaw hung open in shock before she clenched her teeth in frustration giving a Harley a hard look as she tensed, but to her surprise Harley just stood grinning still until she stepped forward and draped her arm over Aylia's shoulders.

“Aww come on Aylia, don’t have a calf!” she said giggling again

Aylia gave a heavy huff and allowed herself to be lead by Harley over to their table, an arm still draped over her shoulders as the leopardess leaned on her lazily. The two pulled out their chairs to sit down, Aylia's eyes slid subtly up Harley’s body a slightly jealous sneer forming on her upper lip as she saw the athletically built girl hadn't gained a pound since high school.

The two girls had chosen their seats based on the fact it was in one of the spots where they could be served the appetiser dish that some might have found offensive. The seats they had chosen however was in the 'anything goes' area. They both eagerly scanned the menu, both girls quickly choosing their food and re-stacking the menus. Harley slid her chair back and turned back to Aylia.

“I gotta go to the little leopard's room, so I’ll order at the counter on the way past.” she said happily

Aylia nodded and told Harley what she wanted, though Harley had a hard time holding the look of distaste from her face as Aylia read out a list of vegetarian dishes.

It wasn't long before the girls food arrived, the chatter had been halting, the two of them finding it difficult to find subjects that interested them both, and some of Harley's jokes and jibes against Aylia hadn't gone down very well despite not having meant them badly. Aylia paused to look at one of the bowls that had been put down, seeing the things inside scrambling at the sides, trying to claw and crawl their way out over the edges. Little people, furry and human alike cried out for help as Harley simply looked down in glee at the meal in front of her.

“Awesome, i've always wanted to come to place that serves these things.” She spoke excitedly as she dipped her fingers into the bowl, making the tinies inside squeal in fright and fight each other to get away.

Harley grabbed one of the tines by his leg, he screamed and flailed, begging not to be eaten as he grabbed the wrist of a girl who was next to him. They both screamed and struggled, the girl desperately trying to get him to let her go but the man held on in desperate fear. Harley raised them both over her wide furry maw, salivating as she purred.

“hmmm, two for one!” she said and chuckled before opening her mouth, her tongue lolling forwards to accept her treat and without a moments hesitation lowered the pair still screaming into her mouth.

She paused for a moment and hummed in delight, her eyes closed as she savoured the wriggling things scrambling across her tongue, fighting through the pooling saliva as she could barely contain herself before the screams suddenly hit their crescendo and the two were flipped about before a gross mix of crunching and squelching sounded from her firmly clamped jaw. She paused just one more moment to let their juices flood over her tastebuds before she was ready to continue her meal, chewing and grinding them into a paste, their individual bodies no longer recognisable as they became one goey blob before they were sent into Harleys grumbling stomach.

“How the hell can you just eat live tiny people like that? That is utterly horrid!” Exclaimed Aylia. She was used to people occasionally ordering these things but almost always the customers killed the little things before eating them, and they never made such a show of enjoying them in such a perverse way.

“Oh lighten up! You're being such a bore! You know these things either deserve it or want it. They are suicide cases or death row lifers, its not like they're innocent in all this!” Harley exclaimed, irritated by Aylia's outburst.

Neither of the girls noticed one of the little men from the bowl make it over the edge by stepping on a fellow tiny's head in a desperate bid to survive. He ran to the edge of the table, staring down off the edge and going wide eyed in fear of the view that made him shiver to his core. He must have been a hundred feet off the ground by his comparison, he knew he wouldn't make it in one piece, if he lived at all! He turned as he heard the girls continue to argue and his heart sank as he saw the huge furry paw of the snow leopard skim across the table towards him, though she seemed unaware of his presence.

“I know they are there for a reason but it doesn't mean you have to be cruel to them or so barbaric in enjoying them.” She exclaimed with a huff.

Harley spread her hands as she readied her reply but stopped short as something tapped the back of her hand, distracting her as she turned to see what she had hit, just in time to see the body of a little wolf disappear over the edge. He plummeted to the ground tumbling as he went and landed hard on his legs, shattering them as he landed and bouncing somewhat before hitting the ground again. He lay screaming, clutching at his shattered limbs when suddenly a large furry face appeared above him looking down in a mix of curiosity and disappointment.

“See what you made me do now? I spilled one of the tinies!” Harley said accusingly as she shuffled to the side of her seat and swing one of her legs out from under the table.

The small wolf man watched helplessly as the huge leopardess swept her foot form under the table, her large black pads in stark contrast to her soft, downy looking fur, though the once white fur between her footpads had turned a mucky kind of grey colour where she had obviously been travelling on foot today. The toes flexed and stretched for second directly above him as he pleaded and screamed, then strangely began to raise up away from him. He thought he had been granted some kind of mercy before suddenly, at almost blinding speed the large plump toes came crashing down.

He had no time to register his fate before the hot soft pads of the leopardess crushed him into paste.

Aylia, concerned about Harley’s lack of reaction to the tiny she had dropped leaned forwards to check on where the little thing had gotten to

“Don’t let it get under the other tables, the restaurant will get into trouble if any of them get found outside.” She said as she noticed Harley's leg rise up alongside the table. She was just about to try and stop the leopardess with a shout but Harley was too quick and her foot slammed down, a resounding crack and a wet pop met Aylia's shock as a red splash mark sprayed out from around Harley's pads.

End of Chapter 1;

To see Harley shrink, Go straight on to Chapter 2

To see Aylia shrink, Skip ahead to Chapter 3

Enjoy!