Size Matters Parties

This is a Bursting World, world building tidbit!

The subject, a specific way social status is measured at parties!!!

While social gatherings and parties of all kinds happen, with various levels of inflation and bursting. This specific kind of gathering, one that's prominent among cultures that practice monogamous marriages, puts a different emphasis on who inflates and who bursts.

These social gatherings, of tight knit communities, close friend groups, neighborhoods, or other such organizations. Put a lot of emphasis on the married couples, and specifically, on the wives. During such parties, there is rarely any casual inflation methods available, and even self inflation is discouraged, seen as a rude and even slutty act. The only ones encouraged to spend the party inflated, are the married women.

Married women prepare for the party, at the party's venue. Such venues, traditionally outdoors, but any building prepared for it will have massive rooms and incredibly wide door frames. With hallways frequently being a minimum of 10 feet wide, 10 feet tall. Because, the wives attending, will spend the entire party inflated.

After applying their basic foundations, and tying their hair up into a braided or otherwise tight style. The wives are inflated to the largest size they can handle. Spherical with a diameter of their natural height, is the expected minimum. Women in such circles, have special outfits that are designed to be worn at their fully inflated size, not cartoonishly stretched or ripped or torn, but designed to fit. To be flattering even when rolled or laying on side. Once fully inflated, a friend is expected to finish their makeup.

Husbands roll their wives around, given that upon achieving a spherical shape, very few people are capable of independent movement. And the party continues as normal, socializing, visiting, sharing food, entertainment, and games. Wives aren't expected to participate in everything, often just watching from the sides.

This method of party has it's roots in more traditionalist cultures that practice monogamous marriage and marriage with intent to have children. In times of self inflation or scarce inefficient inflation methods, it was a way for all the married women to increase their capacity, to ensure a larger potential pregnancy in the future. As well as demonstrating which couple had the time, resources, and will, to regularly inflate and thus increase the woman's capacity.

This is where the notion that size matters comes from. Size, is all that matters here. The largest wife has the innate implied highest status. And so, many wives try to outdo or at least keep pace with each other. While this means that particularly skilled inflatees may not inflate themselves to their full capacity, more inexperienced inflatees may inflate themselves to their absolute limit in an attempt to maintain social graces. This has led to cases where a wife may suddenly explode in the dressing room, or even pop mid conversation when she can no longer hold herself together.

This can lead to "competition" during a party, if woman not at her full capacity, notices that another wife is rivalling her in size. So she may inflate more, whether in private or in front of the party to demonstrate her true size. Such demonstrations are often in good fun, with no intent to pop either wife intentionally.

What of the unmarried women guests? Well, traditionally, they weren't to inflate at all. And in older social groups, or stuffier more old fashioned cultures, this remains true. They simply attend the party as a guest, and enjoy the festivities.

There are some cases however, where unmarried women are allowed to inflate at such events. But, they come with a sadistic tradition. That such women are only allowed to inflate, with the intent of bursting themselves. They needn't pop immediately during their inflation, but are expected to be burst before the end of the party. The fact that inflation is such a sexual and pleasurable experience is why this is tolerated.

However, this has been a method to challenge a marriage. If an unmarried woman could inflate herself, and match or even exceed a wife's size. That wife has the social obligation, to inflate herself a bit more, to demonstrate her worthiness to her husband. While this can be refused, it is a major social faux pas. Different cultures have different expectations of what happens next. Sometimes this is just a friendly jab, encouragement for a wife to grow a bit more. And the challenger is then popped normally. Sometimes this can escalate into a full duel, with both the married woman, and the challenger, inflating repeatedly. Other wives are expected to join in if their size is surpassed as well. This may lead to the married woman exploding. Upon which, it's up to her now widowed husband to decide the challengers fate, and the social pressures of their culture. In cultures where marriage is about reproduction, then he is socially pressured to take the challenger as his new wife. Whereas in cultures where marriage is about love, he is encouraged to pop the challenger for her insolence.

As well, in more modern or hedonistic social groups, unmarried women may be inflated and popped for entertainment. Making it similar to many other social gatherings. Though these are rarely members of the friend groups, and are other guests or sex workers invited specifically to be popped.

Such parties also have a history of burst assassinations. With prominent high status women of the community, spending such time inflated to a helpless spherical level, they are incredibly vulnerable. While the social etiquette says her husband and friends are to protect her during this time, it doesn't change the fact that many women in such a situation could detonate because of a misplaced tack, sudden bird attack, or even rough patch of flooring. And jilted friends, rivals, or other angry people, have used the opportunity to explode someone.

Such events is a frequent premise for bursting mystery media.

While inflated wives parties are rarer in other cultures and in the modern day in general, they do happen and frequently are quite different due to changing values. Polygamous men, frequently will bring all of their wives fully inflated. Sometimes to their individual limits or all to the same size. And lesbian weddings may declare one of the women the inflated wife, or they both may be, and rolled and tended to by their friends.

Regardless, this method of party remains a longstanding tradition. And despite the premature detonations it can inspire, are still considered an honorable way of demonstrating one's inflation capacity, in a method, less crude, than modern inflation parties.