Beacon (formerly Beatrice Deacon) has never regretted becoming Allura's mate. Shi did not becoming an angler fish or a hermaphrodite. If anything, they just made life more exciting and enjoyable. So what if shi had to keep herself from getting too dry? Who cares if their wedding was unorthodox because of their dual-sexed natures? The important thing was that they were legally married and had enjoyed a very lovely honeymoon on Mieni Atoll. The only real disappointment was that neither of them had gotten pregnant during their vacation. Allura assured hir that they were simply not in season. Though Beacon wondered what season would be relevant to a fish that lived in the deepest parts of the ocean. Over all, Beacon wouldn't have traded hir life for anything, but there was one thing shi didn't expect.
They were back in Lyre in plenty of time for the Thanksgiving feast. And given the all-you-can-eat buffet style, Allura and Beacon were determined to see how much they could eat. They piled up their plates with plenty of turkey, ham, and fish. Beacon sometimes missed enjoying vegetable dishes, but there weren't any plants to eat in the sunless depths. At least shi could still eat grains so shi got plenty of biscuits.
Before now, Beacon had always noticed that while shi could eat enough to be satisfied, shi still had an appetite for more. Shi never had a chance to see how far hir appetite would go and now was the chance to prove it. Allura and Beacon started eating up plenty of food. So much delicious meat, with extra flavoring from gravy. And yet Beacon still wanted more. The biscuits weren't really doing as much to fill hir stomach as shi thought. Shi even got up to get some mashed potatoes. Shi wasn't sure if hir digestive system could handle them, but shi didn't care. Shi just wanted to fill hir stomach.
Getting mashed potatoes and coming back made Beacon notice that hir stomach was plumper than it was before. And considering shi had solid six-pack abs before, it was very easy to notice the change. Shi poked her stomach, feeling the give. Shi wondered if shi should stop, but shi still felt like eating. Allura was in no hurry to stop either as shi kept gorging and gorging.
Pretty soon, others were noticing how the two angler fishes were rounder with all the food they were eating. Some middle school students were wondering why they were eating so much. One of Horizon's scientists was kind enough to explain. "That's because down in the deepest part of the ocean depths, where Allura is from, meals are few and far between. So angler fishes evolved distending lower jaws and expandable stomachs to make the most out of every opportunity."
Beacon paused a bit at that. Shi hadn't considered that particular feature of the angler fish. Allura just gave hir mate a wink before opening hir mouth really wide. Shi was able to swallow an entire turkey leg, but shi did it slowly, letting hir mate watch it go down her throat smoothly. "Wow, I didn't know you could do that," said Beacon.
"Haven't you noticed that we don't have gag reflexes?" asked Allura. The 'we' clearly referred to both Beacon and hirself, not just hir 'two-as-one' self.
Come to think of it, they had done plenty of things during their honeymoon that would make a normal human choke, not just because they were underwater. It also meant that Beacon was wasting a lot of time with chewing. Part of hir told hir shi should stop now. But another part was telling hir to push hirself to her limit. Heeding hir inner glutton, Beacon raised hir dish and dumped hir food in hir mouth, swallowing all shi could fit into hir mouth.
The rest of the feast passed in a gluttony-induced haze. Allura was barely tasting the food now, hir angler fish instincts telling hir to fill up as much as shi could. Beacon wasn't much better, devouring all that shi could get hir hands on. While Animalia had prepared for a lot of carnivores at the buffet, the two angler fishes were starting to put a bit of a strain on it as they were completely devoted to put 'all-you-can-eat' to the literal test.
But thought their appetite was vast, it wasn't infinite. Eventually, the two of them hit their peaks and their cravings was finally satisfied. Beacon's higher reasoning returned as shi felt the last morsel settle in hir stomach. Looking down, shi was dismayed with what shi had done to hirself. Hir belly was so engorged with food it was hanging far off of hir. It looked like shi had eaten an adult man. "Oh no, what have I done?" shi groaned.
Allura, hir belly just as distended, leaned over and patted Beacon's hand. "Nothing more than what our nature told us to do: eat enough so we can live off this food for a long time," shi said.
"A long time? Allura, look how fat we are," said Beacon.
"It's not fat, yet," said Allura, "Most of it is going to be digested."
"I am not looking forward to when it exits," said Beacon, "And we're still going to have big bellies after that."
"We can always work it off," said Allura, "We have all winter to get back in shape before bikini season."
"I guess that's true," said Beacon. The two of them rose from their chairs with considerable effort. "Ugh...let's never eat this much again," said Beacon, "I feel like a bear ready for hibernation."
Olga and Piotr, who were sitting a table not too far away, turned at that. "I resent that remark," said Piotr.
"But we'll still help you two slim down," said Olga, "You look like you'll really need it."
"We may have overdone it," admitted Allura as shi carried hir belly away. It looked like shi and hir mate weren't about to have any leftovers for quite a long time.