#xconniex

[drpeppertummy]

Val 👀

She Loves Him

[ID: a drawing of two people sitting at a table with empty plates in front of them. one of the two is turned and talking to an unseen person. his hand rests atop his partner's, who is gazing adoringly at his full tummy.]

[drpeppertummy]

ok. Realistically. if she was gonna get all grubby & sweaty workin she would probably wear oversized clothes. but maybe all she had on hand in the Ratty Old Work Clothes department was old shirts that dont fit anymore🤔 (not pictured: val doing cartoon heart eyes)

[ID: a drawing of a woman sitting on a couch looking tired and sweaty, leaning back with her eyes closed and holding a glass of water atop her thigh with one hand. her shirt is short and snug and exposes a good portion of her belly. her hair is a mess and her clothes are all grubby.]

[drpeppertummy]

breaking my No Girls Allowed rule to draw connie circa 16 years ago for mothers day

[ID: two drawings of a pregnant woman. in the first she's very pregnant, sitting and holding her belly with a small smile. in the second she's earlier in the pregnancy, shirtless and looking in the mirror at her belly.]

[drpeppertummy]

too much pumpkin soup be upon ye old men

i been writing this for like a week😭😭😭😭😭

[stuffing]

"Okay, I know it's too hot out if you're wearing short sleeves," groaned Connie, leaning against the door frame.

"I don't know what you're talking about, I think it's beautiful out," grinned Val. He gave her a quick peck on the cheek as he passed by her, pot in hand.

"Whatcha makin'?"

"Pumpkin soup!"

"Oh, Christ, Val!" Connie let her head fall back against the wall at the thought of hot soup.

"I know, I know, it's not pumpkin season," he teased. "Canned will still get the job done." Connie rolled her eyes. "Hey, don't worry, I'll make somethin' nice and cool for the rest of you."

Connie leaned against the fridge while she watched Val work, hoping to leach out some of its coolness. While the rare sight of his exposed arms was a testament to the heat--he spent most of the year bundled up, the New Jersey air far too chilly for a man from Hell even when it was warm--it was a welcome view for Connie, who seldom got to see much of her husband's skin. He had just a touch of muscle to him, not too much for her simple tastes but enough to give him the enticing air of a man who could move some furniture, and plenty of dark hair. A faded scar across his bicep was just visible under the edge of his sleeve, which, as the story went, was left by his sister centuries ago when they were wrestling as children. While Val passed easily as a human, his sister, whose long claws had dug deep enough in play to leave a permanent mark, was another story.

"Excuse me, miss, can I help you?" Connie pulled her eyes from Val's arms to see an amused look on his face. She smiled back at him.

"Maybe when it starts getting chilly again," she teased. She'd have loved to sweep him off to bed right then and there, but with his body temperature being well over a hundred, she couldn't bear the thought of it.

"Oh, believe me, I'll be there," he grinned. In theory, summer should have been Val's favorite season. It was the only time of year the weather felt good to him, and the only couple of months where he didn't have a cold. He'd gladly have traded both of those perks, though, for the comfort of Connie's arms. In chillier weather, he made a perfect little personal heater for her to cuddle, but in the sweltering heat of summer, they had to keep a little more distance between themselves for her sake. It was tough for both of them, particularly Val, who, in addition to being an exceptionally physically affectionate person, still craved a little extra warmth against his body even during the hottest of days. If he couldn't get that extra warmth from her, a hot bowl of soup would have to suffice.

With the soup simmering away on the stove, Val got to work putting together a lighter, more refreshing dinner for the rest of the family. He didn't realize how hungry he'd been getting until he started preparing the salad, and his belly let out a loud rumble. Connie, now by his side at the counter helping him chop vegetables, gave his empty middle a playful poke. He smiled sheepishly up at her.

"It's dinnertime," he said with a shrug.

The recipe wound up making far more soup than Val expected, and he was glad he hadn't doubled it like he'd thought about. If nobody else was interested in having any, it would be close trying to finish it all off before it went bad. Of course, he could always freeze some, but Val hated handling anything from the freezer. The frozen-solid packages stung his hot skin, and the rush of cold air when he opened it chilled him to the core. He preferred to avoid it altogether. With that reasoning, he sat down at the table with a particularly large serving of soup.

"Since when do you have room for all that?" Connie teased, taking her seat across from him.

"I'm hungry! Besides, there's a ton of it."

"Mm, whatever you say," she said, and he gave her a look of playful annoyance.

Val had done an excellent job on both soup and salad. The salad was light and flavorful, filled with fresh berries and tender chicken and crisp vegetables, hardly even needing dressing to enhance it. The soup was rich and creamy, hot and filling and exactly what Val had been craving all day. The two even exchanged a few bites, unable to resist the allure of the other's dish.

"How'd I manage to snag such a good cook?" Connie leaned in and gave him a quick peck on the nose.

"Oh, where do I begin?" He smiled adoringly at her, and she stuck a strawberry in his mouth.

"Don't start," she giggled. "Your soup's gonna get cold."

"Ooh! Can't have that." Val gave an exaggerated shiver and scooped up another spoonful, humming happily to himself as he ate. He was halfway through the bowl now, and he was starting to feel the weight of the soup in his belly. It was good, though, and while he began to slow his pace, his appetite had yet to falter.

"Aren't you full yet? That's a lot of soup for a little guy like you," Connie teased, slipping an arm around his waist. She hadn't been particularly hungry herself, and she'd already finished her small serving of salad.

"A little," he confessed, leaning back in his seat. His tummy poked out slightly against his shirt. Connie gave it a friendly pat.

"Don't go overdoing it," she warned. "You're not gettin' a belly rub outta me when it's this hot out." She was only bluffing, of course; even in the heat of the summer, she would never leave him to nurse an upset tummy on his own.

"I'm fine," he assured her, though he wasn't sure he'd be able to finish. He was in the stage now where he was thoroughly aware of how snug his stomach felt, and each bite nudged him closer and closer to the threshold of discomfort. Still, he was enjoying the warmth in his belly, and picked up his spoon and went back in for a few more bites. Connie rose from her seat and started straightening up the kitchen while he slowly worked on his dinner.

Val was quickly running out of space, his tummy feeling uncomfortably tight now, and he paused to let it settle for a moment. He set the spoon down and held a hand to his belly. It bumped out snug against the waist of his pants, his belt hugging it tightly, and the curve was plainly visible under his shirt. He leaned back with a sigh, hand resting on his belly.

"Do you want the rest of this? I'm stuffed," he said.

"Nah. Why don't you throw it back in the pot? I won't tell."

"Ah, it's just a tiny bit. May as well finish it." He hesitantly picked up the spoon again. Truthfully, he wasn't sure his stomach could hold that tiny bit. He felt like he had pumpkin soup up to his tonsils. Still, it seemed silly to quit with such a small amount left in the bowl, and he reluctantly scooped up another bite.

There were only a few spoonfuls left, but each one felt like a gallon to his straining belly. The first one went down hard, the second even harder. As he picked up the third, his hand stopped. His stomach felt like it was stretched to its limit, and in that moment, he felt sure that if he searched his entire body inside and out, he wouldn't be able to find even a pinch of space to fit that last bite of soup. With a heavy sigh, he set the spoon back in the bowl and slumped back in his seat, both hands resting on his distended tummy.

Connie glanced over her shoulder to see Val looking utterly defeated, his belly sticking out dramatically over the waist of his pants and peeking out under the hem of his shirt, and she barely stifled a laugh. He looked up, his expression weary but good-natured, and she smiled fondly at him.

"Little too much?"

"Little too much."

[drpeppertummy]

Oo you should do something with Val! Maybe he eats something that doesn't react well together and his belly get all bubbly

[bloating, discomfort, One Big Burp]

Connie leaned against the door frame, hand on her hip. The amused look on her face was met with a sheepish smile, though the discomfort on Val's face was still plenty apparent.

"Alright, what'd you eat this time?" She sat down on the couch beside him, able to hear his belly gurgling and grumbling before she'd even made it across the room. It sounded almost fizzy, like it was bubbling up inside, and she could guess how tight it must have been just by the pitch of the sounds. When she placed a hand on his rock-solid tummy, she realized with some surprise that she'd underestimated the pressure.

"Jeez, Val," she exclaimed, wincing.

"Y'know that fruit I brought back from Hell?"

"The really spicy one? Yeah, I remember."

"Don't eat it with anything carbonated."

Connie was one of the few people Val knew who would have been in any danger of fooling around with the fruit; most of his human friends wouldn't have been able to stand it at all. Even having been raised on spicy Thai food, though, the things Val brought back from his trips home could still be a bit much for her human taste buds. The little taste she'd tried of this particular fruit hadn't immediately scared her away, but the feeling of her poor husband's distended tummy certainly did.

"Boy, did you learn a tough lesson," she chuckled, gently rubbing his belly.

"Someone's gotta be the guinea pig, right?"

"Yeah, sure, as long as we're not blowing them up! Jeez, your poor belly…"

"I'm fine," he assured her. His stomach let out a sharp, strained gurgle of disagreement, and he rested his head against her shoulder with a sigh. Connie wrapped an arm around his waist and held both hands against his tummy. It felt impossibly tight; the pressure inside must have been immense, and she supposed it must have ached badly. Just thinking about how stretched out his stomach must have been for his belly to be so hard to the touch made her own stomach ache. She rubbed as gently as she could, trying not to press in too much, and she felt him relax a little in her arms.

"You gotta try to burp some of that up," she said, giving his belly a soft pat. It sounded taut and hollow, as though it were filled with air. "C'mon, let's hear a good one. Don't worry about being polite."

"Aw, please."

"Seriously! Come on, you can't leave your tummy like this."

"For you, my dear, I shall try," said Val in his best overly-suave voice. Connie winced sympathetically at the feeling of his belly tensing up under her hand as he tried to bring up some of the gas. She pressed lightly as she rubbed, giving his back a helping pat with her other hand, and his belly groaned uneasily. She was almost as eager as he was to relieve some of the pressure, worried about the strain the intense bloating was putting on his poor aching stomach. A tiny, forced burp finally came up, and she gave him a look of playful annoyance.

"You're gonna have to do a little better than that, mister," she said. "Come on, gimme a good one or I'm gonna have to squeeze it out of you."

"Alright, alright. I'm trying," he insisted, laughing. "It doesn't want to come up!"

"I'm gonna press a little harder this time, okay?"

"Alright. Be gentle," he said, looking up at her with soft, pleading eyes.

They tried again, Connie pressing cautiously but firmly into Val's drum-tight belly. She almost couldn't stand the feeling of it straining under her hand--the tautness of it made her cringe--but she could stand the idea of him being so uncomfortable even less, and she was determined to coax up the trapped gas. His brow furrowed as he tried to work up a burp. Finally, suddenly, an enormous one rushed out of him, long and loud, and Connie felt his stomach deflate considerably. He fell against her with a heavy sigh, hands resting on his belly.

"Christ, Val," she exclaimed, both surprised and amused at the size of the burp. "I didn't think you could even fit that much in you."

"You know me, I'm full of surprises," he said, giving her a sly smile.

"Yeah, sure," she laughed, patting his belly. It was still slightly bloated, but not nearly as much as it had been. "Only thing you're full of is fruit gas. How do you feel?"

"Much better," he said, and he meant it. "Can I kiss you after that?"

"I suppose so," she chuckled. Smiling, he tipped his head up, took her jaw in his hand, and they kissed.

[drpeppertummy]

character needing to clean up the house etc, making the mistake of stopping for lunch and accidentally embiggening themself and now can't bend over to clean properly 😔

(definitely not based on real life events.. 😭)

[mild hunger & stuffing]

He hadn't wanted to stop cleaning at all. He'd been on a roll, and when Val was on a roll, not much could slow him down. When his rumbling stomach became too difficult to ignore, though, he'd finally caved and reluctantly set down the duster for a lunch break.

Val was surprised to see that it was after one by the time he got to the kitchen. No wonder he'd been so hungry; he hadn't eaten since early that morning. He held a hand to his belly as it let out another irritable growl and took to the fridge, wincing at the cold air as he fished out last night's leftovers. The idea of a hot bowl of soup made his mouth water. Humming softly to himself, he scooped out a good-sized serving and stuck it in the microwave.

Not wanting to get too settled in and lose his momentum, Val opted to eat standing up, leaning against the counter with the bowl in his hand. He hadn't realized how hungry he was until the first bite hit his stomach, and suddenly he was wolfing down his lunch like he had minutes to live, his empty stomach guiding his pace. He didn't slow down until the bowl was nearly empty. By that point, he realized, he was undeniably stuffed, his belly feeling taut and bloated after gulping down so much soup so quickly. There was only a little bit left, though, and he supposed he may as well finish it.

The last few bites went down more slowly, but it wasn't long before the bowl was empty. He sighed, resting a hand on his full belly as he took a moment to settle. He'd definitely overdone it a little; he felt like a stuffed turkey with his tummy bulging out snug against his pants. Still, there was cleaning yet to be done, with a dirty bowl now added to the to-do list. He hummed as he washed it, round tummy pressing against the counter as he scrubbed.

With the bowl out of the way, Val returned to the living room and went on dusting. He stood on his toes as he reached up for a high shelf, leaning in as he strained to dust off the books hiding atop it, and heard a clatter below him. Looking down, he realized he'd bumped a picture off the shelf with his protruding belly. Fortunately, it had landed on the soft rug and didn't appear to be damaged. Sighing, he leaned down to pick it up. He was stopped, though, when he found that he was too bloated to lean over all the way. He stood upright, hand on his belly. Then, cautiously and awkwardly, he knelt down on the floor.

"Having a little trouble?" Val looked up, startled, to see Connie on the stairs, leaning against the railing with an amused look on her face.

"It got away from me," he said, smiling sheepishly. Connie laughed.

"They do move pretty quick," she chuckled. Val pulled himself upright and set the picture back in its place. Connie approached him and draped an arm over his shoulders.

"I think you've got this place looking pretty sharp," she said, giving his tummy a fond pat. "Why don't you call it a day before you knock anything else over?"

"Ha, ha," he said, unable to hold back a smile. He slipped his arms around her waist and hugged her warmly, planting a gentle kiss on her jaw before letting his chin come to rest on her shoulder. Connie smiled and patted his back.

"Alright, come on, Romeo. There's better places to hang around than the bookshelf."

"Oh? And where did you have in mind?"

"Hm, if you're still in a cleaning mood, how about the bathtub?" He looked up, and she gave him a sly smile.

"Oh, I could be persuaded," he grinned. "Maybe we can go change the sheets afterwards, how about that?"

"It's a date."

[drpeppertummy]

❤️ !

[mild stuffing]

"Red, huh? The color of love," Val grinned, leaning in to nose Connie's neck.

"Oh, please," she laughed, playfully pushing him away, and he smiled at her.

"Hey, don't worry," he said, giving her a peck on the cheek. "I'll make us somethin' good."

With a goal in mind, Val had the day to do one of his favorite things: cook. He made a quick trip to the grocery store to pick up a few missing ingredients, then got to work. The first piece of the puzzle was homemade pasta, dyed red with the addition of beets. He supposed that might have been cheating--pasta wasn't typically a red food, after all--but he hadn't made it from scratch in ages, and he'd been excited about it since the thought first popped into his mind. Accompanying the pasta, of course, was a delicious homemade tomato sauce, which he added a good few dashes of red pepper flakes to to give it a nice kick, and some roasted cherry tomatoes to stir in.

The side dishes took a little more thought. One was red potatoes--white on the inside, sure, but the skin must count for something--quartered and boiled, and then roasted with a fragrant assortment of herbs for a nice crispy exterior. The other, which required some creativity, was a salad. It consisted of finely shredded red cabbage, beets, thinly sliced radishes, red peppers, red onions, and plenty of halved cherry tomatoes, with a handful of chopped strawberries and some dried cranberries for a hint of sweetness. He hoped the ingredients would play nicely together; he supposed a little dressing would bring it together if need be.

"Alright, color me impressed," said Connie, joining Val at the dinner table. The red tablecloth was a nice touch, as was the red wine he was suavely pouring.

"Hopefully impressed is the only thing I'll be coloring you," he said, planting a friendly kiss on her cheek as he poured her a glass. "Spill anything and you're gonna be red, too."

As always, Val's cooking was stellar. Not everybody would have been able to put together a five star meal with the limitation of a single color, but Connie had complete faith in her clever little husband from the start, and he certainly delivered. Everything was delicious, and they both went back for seconds. By the time their plates were clean again, they were both pleasantly stuffed.

"Is it tacky to say 'you outdid yourself' too often? Because you really outdid yourself," said Connie, leaning back in her chair.

"Hey, I'm not about to complain about it." He gave her a cheeky smile, and she returned it with a laugh.

"Wow, I'm stuffed," she sighed, resting a hand on her belly.

"Well, I hope you're not too stuffed, because we're not done yet."

"Oh, brother," Connie groaned jokingly. Val left the table for a moment--he was pretty full himself, and he felt the weight in his belly as he stood up--and returned with a plate of large, ripe strawberries dipped in beautiful red-dyed white chocolate. Some had been garnished with red sprinkles, and some were simply left with a smooth chocolate shell.

"Oh, Val," Connie exclaimed. Chocolate-covered strawberries were a seldom-enjoyed favorite of hers, something she almost never indulged in because they were too much trouble to make and too expensive to buy. Val smiled as he set the plate down between them and sat down once more.

"It's red," he said simply with a shrug, and they both laughed.

Full as they both were, the strawberries went down easy. They were sweet and juicy, and the crunchy chocolate shell clung perfectly to the tender crimson flesh. They were large, though, and plentiful, and by the time the two decided to put the rest away for another day, they both felt absolutely stuffed silly, their stomachs stretched taut and feeling heavy. Full, sleepy, and thoroughly satisfied, they straightened up the kitchen and retreated to bed.

"We oughtta do this more often," said Val, his voice soft as he snuggled up next to Connie. "Gimme another color, I'm up for the challenge."

"Let me sleep on that," she teased, patting his rounded belly. "I think we need a little time to digest before we go planning another dinner."

[drpeppertummy]

truthfully my friends this isnt something im overly into or experienced in & as such i have Absolutely no idea if its any good or not. godspeed

[alien-esque parasite creature-in-stomach bordering-on-rapid-horror-preg situation, ends in hospital post-surgery bc you know id never let it explode him but the hospital isnt like a whole big thing, nobody has a good time in this but hes fine]

Val was beginning to wonder if eating at that sketchy restaurant in Hell had been a good idea.

Truthfully, he'd known it was a bad idea from the start. He hadn't liked the look of the place when his sister had brought him there, the service had been awful, the food had been worse, and he'd felt a little off ever since. That had been a few days ago, and he was back home now. It was always shockingly cold returning to the mortal world after visiting his family, but he was glad to be back in Connie's arms, even if it meant braving the chilly autumn air.

Exhausted from the busy week behind him, Val flopped down onto the bed. He was freshly showered and dressed in his pajamas, and very glad about it. Connie was taking her turn in the shower now. Sprawled out flat on his back, Val looked down at himself, and his brow furrowed. He hadn't felt quite right ever since visiting that restaurant, and he was still a little bloated. He laid his head back down on the pillow and rested his hands on his belly.

"Looks like your mom stuffed you like a turkey," Connie teased, standing in the doorway. "Does she think you're as skinny as I do?"

"Christ, does she," Val laughed.

"Maybe you oughtta visit more often, let her beef you up a little," she giggled, dropping herself onto the bed next to him.

"I don't think I could handle that," said Val. "You know everyone else in my family is like ten feet tall?" Connie laughed.

"And I bet they feed you like you are too, right?" She placed a hand on his rounded tummy and raised her eyebrows at how firm it felt. "Sheesh, you really feel stuffed."

"Tell you the truth, my sister dragged me out to some weird restaurant a couple days before I left. It was a mess, you never woulda gone in. Whatever I ate didn't sit right, I guess, my stomach's been a little funny ever since. I've spent the past few days feeling like I swallowed a bowling ball."

"Huh," said Connie, rubbing his belly. It gurgled uncomfortably under her hand. "Maybe you got, like, mild food poisoning or something."

"Maybe," he sighed. "Probably."

"Do you feel sick?"

"I don't know. Not quite. Just off. ADR, as they say at the vet. I mean, I definitely feel bloated, I can tell you that much."

"Believe me, you don't have to tell me," she chuckled, patting his belly. It didn't sound hollow, like it was filled with gas. Instead it sounded solid, like patting a rock, and it let out another sickly gurgle. Connie winced sympathetically.

Suddenly, Val sat up. Connie looked up at him, surprised. His face was difficult to read, but he seemed tense. Concerned, she sat up beside him.

"Val, what's the matter?" She placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I don't know," he said uncertainly, holding both hands against his tummy. He looked down, brow furrowed. Was he more bloated than before? His stomach felt tighter, and…strange, somehow. Almost as if something inside him was pulsing.

"Maybe you should go to urgent care or something," said Connie. She didn't like the look on his face, and she didn't like that he was still so bloated days after eating whatever he'd eaten.

"I can't go to urgent care. I'm not even human. They wouldn't know what to make of me even if I was feeling fine."

"Yeah, but…I don't know. I'm worried," she said, squeezing his shoulder. Now that he was sitting up, his belly looked even more distended than it had when he was laying, and it was oddly top-heavy, as though whatever was making it so swollen was stuck up in his stomach. She didn't like that at all.

Val couldn't disagree with her point of view. Still, he preferred to avoid letting people find out he wasn't human if he could help it. It was a dangerous secret to reveal, and there had been plenty of times where he'd nearly paid a heavy price for it. He didn't have much time to mull it over, though, because his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a bizarre wave of pain in his stomach. He doubled over with a groan, clutching his belly.

"Val!" Connie grabbed his shoulders. Val remained frozen, trying to process what he'd just felt. It was pain, certainly, and pressure, but it almost felt like movement as well. Cautiously, he sat back upright, his breathing shallow and shaky.

"That's it, you're going to the hospital," she said, standing up. Val opened his mouth to protest when another surge of pain shot through him, and this time he definitely felt movement. He doubled over again, gaping like a fish as his belly pushed out against his hands.

Carefully, Connie pulled him to his feet, putting an arm around his waist to hold him steady, and hurried him out of the bedroom. As they walked, she felt something shift under her hand, and for a moment she froze, looking down at him.

"What the fuck was that?"

"I don't--I don't know," he choked out, desperately hugging his middle.

"Let's go," she urged, and practically dragged him out of the house.

Connie hastily put the directions into the GPS and was off like a flash before Val could even finish buckling up. His belly bulged conspicuously over the seatbelt, undeniably rounder than it had been earlier, and whatever was inside was growing restless. A moan of terror escaped him as he watched something move under the skin.

"Connie, I love you," he blurted out, his voice shaking.

"I love you too. Don't talk like you're gonne die. You're not gonna die." She reached out and grabbed his shoulder tightly before returning her hand to the wheel. Val thought she looked like she definitely thought he was going to die.

The pressure inside his stomach was unbelievable, and only seemed to be increasing as whatever was inside continued to move around and grow. It was growing fast now, and he could feel his stomach stretching and straining to contain it. He tried not to think about how far it could stretch before it burst.

"We're almost there," said Connie, trying to reassure herself just as much as him. She glanced over at him and was horrified to see his belly visibly squirming. Suddenly, his belly surged violently, and he let out a hoarse cry as the creature inside him began to thrash, pushing out hard against the walls of his stomach.

"Oh, god, please," he cried out, clutching his belly as his tightly-stretched skin was pulled tighter still. "Oh, please, god, no--"

Val woke up feeling like he'd been run through with a chainsaw. He wasn't sure where he was or what had happened, and he didn't have the strength to care. All he knew was that there was a horrible searing pain in his belly. As he regained consciousness, though, he began to recall the events of the night, and he looked down at himself. His belly was flat. Flat, and bandaged up. He let his head fall back onto the pillow with a sigh of relief.

The surgeon told him that he'd barely made it in time, and that they'd pulled something like a sucker-mouthed chupacabra out of his stomach, and that it was nearly the size of an infant, and that his wife had urged them to just not ask questions, and that after the procedure they were inclined to just roll with that, and that he'd have to stay in the hospital for at least a week. Val groggily accepted all of this information; the surgeon could've told him he'd grown a second head and he'd have nodded along. With his stomach intact, all he cared about now was seeing Connie.

EPILOGUE BECAUSE I CANT WRITE ENDINGS: It took one day for Val to win the hearts of all the nurses with his charm and only five for him to be released--for good behavior, he'd joked. Against all predictions, he recovered surprisingly quickly, although his tummy remained terribly sore for weeks; that was, of course, to be expected. He'd persuaded the hospital to let him ship the creature back to Hell for further evaluation. Astonishingly, they'd managed to get it out alive after sedating it right along with Val, and it had been nicknamed "Fluffy" by the frightened staff who were in charge of keeping it under observation. Fluffy, as it turned out, was a relatively common parasite found in undercooked lava cod, which was exactly what Val had eaten, although most of his fellow demons and devils were built sturdily enough that it wasn't much of a danger to them. Connie, who had been even more shaken up by the incident than her husband, received even more affection from him than usual in the following days. He felt awful for putting her through the experience--he'd expressed this, and she'd incredulously assured him that it wasn't his fault--and he made sure to bake her something special for taking care of him.