# My Little Snack 4: Origins

By: TheDragonBoy

## Content

The mighty dragoness soared over the countryside, searching the ground below for something to eat. She had been a bit lazy the last few days and hadn’t hunted as often as she should, so she was on the lookout for a large meal to sate her appetite.

She was banking around the side of a mountain when something strikingly white caught her eye. A flock of sheep, she noted. As the dragoness rounded the cliff face and the hillside beyond came into full view, she smiled. A very large flock of sheep, she corrected. Her rather large stomach growled; that would do nicely.

She angled toward the grassy hillside and surveyed it carefully. Flocks this big were normally accompanied by humans in these parts, which could make things a bit more complicated, but today it seemed luck was smiling on her. She saw one robed man standing at the edge of the herd and he seemed to be the only one around. Perfect, she could practically just ignore him.

So the dragoness angled into a dive, heading straight for a tight cluster of sheep in the middle of the flock. As she got close, the shepherd got lucky and noticed her approaching. She caught him jump up out of the corner of her vision and run off as fast as he could, not even bothering to try and save his herd. The poor little man probably thought he could get away safely if he left all the tasty fluff-balls behind as a distraction, which was fine by her.

The sheep noticed her far later, just moments before she hit the ground like a thunderbolt, sending the animals into a panic as they scrambled to flee- filling the air with frightened bleats. The cluster she had aimed for was having a particularly tough time, as many of them had fallen over, forming a mass of white fur and flailing limbs.

The dragoness wasted no time, opening her jaws wide and driving her snout through the herd. She easily scooped up a number of them and locked them within her maw behind her teeth. Her hungry mouth was eager to meet them, welcoming the meal with plenty of fresh saliva. The dragon wriggled her tongue a bit, rolling her prey around and taking in their flavor.

As much as she would have liked to savor them, she noticed that most of the other sheep were starting to scatter. Letting them spread out too far would make it a bit more tedious to catch enough to fill her belly, so she decided to get on with it and send her first mouthful down to meet its end.

Being as large as she was, her teeth were almost more for show than for use, since she had no trouble swallowing most prey whole. Her stomach had no problem digesting them either, whether they were in one piece or several. Her throat, however, wasn’t quite as wide as her jaws, so the almost half-dozen sheep she held in her mouth weren’t going to go down all at once.

One by one, she sent the animals to the back of her throat and then swallowed with an emphatic gulp, forming a series of bulges that slowly rolled down the length of her neck. She turned toward the next-nearest group of sheep, ready for round two.

Wait a minute, one of those bulges didn’t feel quite right.

She studied the sensation for a moment, it was smaller and had a different shape, and it felt distinctly different in the way it flailed about within her throat. Just then she also heard a strange noise: it sounded like screaming- but not from a sheep; it was steadier and higher pitched. The dragoness’ ears twitched as they homed in on the sound. …It was coming from that strange bulge in her gullet, which at this point was about halfway down her neck. She squeezed the odd form with her throat muscles and listened to the cry a bit more. You know, it felt almost like-

A human, the dragoness thought to herself. But it seemed smaller than it ought to, and its shriek was unusually shrill. A child, she corrected, wondering how she could have failed to notice it amongst the livestock. At that moment, the first of the sheep reached her belly and she felt it land with a small splash in her digestive juices, quickly whittling it away into nothing.

The child screamed at an all-new volume, and for a moment the dragoness felt a small pang of remorse. She considered her situation for a moment. She didn’t particularly have a problem with hunting humans, but their children had never done her any harm, and she hadn’t really intended to swallow the child. Though now that it was sliding down her throat, sandwiched between sheep and moments away from her belly, it seemed like more work than it was worth to spit it up.

A second sheep hit the fire of her stomach, bathing her in the warmth of her fresh kill. She noticed most of the other sheep around her had now gotten their bearings and some were already a good distance away; she would have to make a move if she wanted to keep them. Perhaps she should just let nature take its course and get on with her hunt? …But something about that idea just didn’t sit right with her for some reason.

The odd bulge disappeared into her chest.

…I could just use that ability of mine, she thought. It was an interesting idea- something she had never tried- and it would allow her to get on with her meal rather quickly. The ability she had in mind was her talent to manipulate her insides in almost any way she pleased, stretching or warping them as she saw fit. She wasn’t the most practiced at it, but this was an opportunity.

So she let the child fall into her stomach, but stretched a little pouch for it to land in, void of acids and safe from the deadly stew of her belly- at least for now. She let the remaining contents of her throat pass uninhibited into her gut, paying them little mind as she turned her attention back to her fleeing quarry.

She devoured many more sheep in the following minutes, not nearly the whole flock but plenty enough to satisfy her belly. As she sent the last one down, she turned her attention back to the one occupant of her stomach whose fate was still undecided. The child lay curled up in its little enclosure. It had apparently gotten tired of screaming, but in the fresh silence she could just make out its faint sobs with her sensitive ears.

…

It had all happened so fast: she had been on her knees milking one of the sheep, there was a loud thud, the sheep all went mad and fell on top of her… and then there was darkness. Wet, squelching, smothering darkness. She was squashed, first together with the sheep, then by herself- soaked clean through in hot, smelly fluids.

She cried until she ran out of breath, but before she could pass out, she was released into some kind of wet sack. The little girl had laid there, catching her breath and sobbing quietly as she felt the world around her lurch and sway. The darkness gurgled and groaned deeply like a strange thunderstorm, accompanied by sudden splashes and the nearby bleating of sheep that always came to a sudden end.

But then, as suddenly as it had all started, everything seemed to go calm. The darkness still grumbled hungrily at her, and her enclosure still rippled like she was laying on an ocean wave, but the world no longer spun around her. For a moment, things were eerily quiet, and then she heard a voice.

“Can you hear me?” The words seemed to come from everywhere at once, vibrating the walls and floor around her.

“Yes!” she called, “Please, help me!” The girl obviously had no idea the position she was in or who she was talking to. The dragoness considered her next words carefully, she couldn’t exactly promise to help her, but she didn’t necessarily want to scare the child any further.

“Are you hurt?” the dragoness asked. If the child was too badly injured, maybe she would digest it after all.

“N-No, I think I’m okay,” the girl replied.

So much for that.

“Why can’t I see anything?” she asked, still sobbing. The dragoness wasn’t going to be able to avoid telling her for long, but the tone of the question sounded so innocent, so afraid.

“Don’t worry,” she replied almost by reflex, then she thought for another moment, “Why were you out amongst the sheep?”

“The shepherd asked me to milk them. Master said I was to be his assistant, he said he would take care of me.”

The dragoness thought back to the man who had fled when she arrived, he hadn’t even tried to warn the little girl. “He left you behind to be taken with the sheep,” she said with a touch of sympathy.

“Wha- what happened to them? I can’t hear them anymore,” the child asked. There was no dodging that one.

“I ate them,” the dragoness said. There was a moment of silence as a low gurgle escaped from her gut, emphasizing her statement. She expected the child to cry again, maybe even start to panic and thrash about, but instead the girl just asked a question, her voice sounding incredibly quiet from within the churning abyss.

“…Are you going to eat me too?”

The dragoness felt the question pierce her soul. To be asked such a thing so bluntly, and by a child no less… She stirred the contents of her crowded belly consciously. Was she really going to throw the girl into the mix? She was so full that she almost couldn’t keep them separate as it was, what good would it do anyway?

“Tell me, what is your name?” the dragoness asked.

“Lily,” the girl replied timidly.

“Well, you’re in luck today, Lily, I’ve already eaten my fill.”

There was another moment of silence, but then Lily spoke again. “Is that… them? …The sheep?”

The dragoness was puzzled for a moment, until she realized that the girl must be able to hear the chyme that she could feel sloshing around in her gut.

“Yes, I guess it is,” she answered honestly. Lily could hear it, quite clearly, lapping at the walls and gurgling as it churned; it sounded so close.

“Does that mean I’m in your belly?”

The dragoness wasn’t sure how to answer, the girl was technically in her stomach, but at the same time she was separate- sheltered. Before she had any time to answer, however, Lily did something completely unexpected. The dragoness felt her stretch out, like she had relaxed just a bit, and then she spoke- for the first time without a quiver in her voice.

“It’s warm,” she said. She sounded so peaceful, as if she were completely immune to the death that lay just next door.

“I suppose I should let you return to your family,” the dragoness said after a moment.

“Oh… I don’t… I don’t have a family… But the shepherd was nice enough to take care of me.” The later words sounded formal and hollow.

“The shepherd who left you to be eaten by a dragon?” she asked.

“A dragon?” Lily replied with a hint of awe, “I’ve never met a dragon before… especially not one as nice as you.”

The dragoness laughed a bit to herself, which Lily felt, causing her to giggle in turn.

“Either way, let’s get you out of there,” the dragoness said. In a somewhat awkward process, she carefully squeezed the little girl up out of her pouch and back into the throat, taking care not to accidentally drop her after everything. As she was pushed upwards by the contracting muscles, she kept surprisingly quiet. How could she be so calm? Did she really trust the dragon that readily?

Maybe it was by that virtue alone that Lily found herself surfacing back over the edge of the dragon’s throat, free to see the light of day once again against all odds. She slid off the dragoness’ tongue and landed lightly on the grass, still dripping in saliva and stomach mucus.

“Wow… you look beautiful…” Lily said. She sat upright, staring up at the massive, scaly creature before her.

This child is definitely different, the dragoness thought, looking back down at the slimy, white-dressed girl.

She took a moment to look around and survey the countryside. They were the only two around; the sheep and their shepherd were long gone. She was happy she had spared Lily’s life, but what was she to do with the child now? Surely no one would be coming back here after her performance. She could probably track down that shepherd or the town he was from, but did Lily really deserve to go back to someone who would just abandon her? To a town with no family? She looked back down at the girl, still smiling up at her with wonder, she didn’t seem to be in any rush.

“Lily… would you like… me, to look after you for a while?” It sounded crazy, just a minute ago she had been contemplating reducing the girl to soup, but now looking into her eyes it just seemed right. The eyes in question went wide.

“Do you mean it? I could stay with you?” she asked hopefully.

“Well I don’t know how well I’ll do in some respects, but I could definitely protect you better than that little human ever could.”

“Oh wow! Thank you! Thank you- um…” Lily’s excitement was interrupted as she fumbled for something to say. “Um, what’s your name, Ms. Dragon?”

The dragoness thought for a moment. “It would be too hard for you to say,” she replied. Lily squinted her eyes and frowned for a moment in concentration, looking the dragoness over in detail, then she brightened up and smiled once again.

“I think your name should be Mallow,” she announced, “Mallows are purple and pretty just like your scales.” The dragon wasn’t sure how she felt about being named after a flower, but it seemed a fitting choice coming from her.

“Alright then,” Mallow chuckled. She took another look around, this time seeing if she could find a nice spot where she could relax and finish digesting her latest meal, now decidedly Lily-free.

“Um… Mallow,” Lily called, her voice suddenly sounding a bit shy, “Do you think… do you think I could go back inside… inside your belly?” Mallow was absolutely stunned at such a question.

“Do you know what you’re asking?” she asked. Lily visibly recoiled a bit and the dragoness instantly regretted her tone.

“It’s just… it felt so nice and warm… almost like home…” she said meekly.

Mallow gathered herself, “It’s very dangerous in there. You know what happened to your sheep, don’t you?”

Lily bit her lip lightly, but then looked up at the dragon. “But you won’t do that to me will you? You’ll protect me!” she said cheerfully.

The dragoness considered things for a moment. A home inside a dragon’s stomach? Maybe this girl was mad after all? But then again, Mallow had only a moment ago done just that: protected the little girl inside the deadliest of all places.

“Alright, but you have to be careful when you’re in there,” Mallow said sternly.

Lily lit up, “Yay! You’re the best Mallow! I get to have a dragon to take care of me! You’ll keep me safe no matter what! And when I get tired and want to take a nap, I get to be your little snack.”

The girl’s choice of words concerned the dragoness, but the child seemed quite happy with things, so she decided to let it go. Mallow chuckled a bit, Lily’s excitement becoming contagious, “Come on then, ‘my little snack’, let’s get going.”

Originally Published: 12-Jun-2018