# One Big Family 6: Guess Who

By: TheDragonBoy

## Content

Ah, the rain. The whole world changed when it rained.

All that water in the air weighed down a dragon’s flight and clouded their vision. Stronger winds made it harder to stay on course. Animals in the forests and valleys below sheltered and hid out of sight, their scents washed away. Potential firewood became wet and useless.

For Toby’s family, it meant spending a bit of time inside; the outside chores put on hold. But for Toby himself, it meant something a little different.

On sunny days, Toby had often come up to the cave entrance to look out over the land, the trees, the river, and the sky above. The high mountain air was a bit cold, so far out from the toasty fire-warmed caves, but he would brave that cold often to remind himself of the world outside his home.

But Toby always came out to look when it rained; the whole world changed when it rained. The trees below swayed in great waves as the winds ruffled their branches. Whole mountains faded in and out of view as the curtains of water and fog washed through the air. And sometimes great jets of light would burst into life, exposing the shadowed contours of the clouds above, only to disappear in an instant; as if some enormous dragon had shot a huge stream of fire and the rain had snuffed it out. And those were always accompanied by tremendous sounds: rumbles as deep as a dragon’s growl, crackling roars louder than any even his dad could make.

The sounds were some of Toby’s favorite parts. Between bursts of thunder, there was the distant, much softer roar of the forest below, as every little leaf rubbed against its neighbor. There was the wind itself, rushing through the rocks of his mountain home and spilling into the cave entrance. And above it all was the best sound of them all: the constant patter of a million rain drops against every surface of the earth.

Presently, it was this last facet of the storm that Toby was enjoying. He sat a dozen or so feet from the entrance, his back up against the cold stone wall. He had closed his eyes a number of minutes ago, so he could do nothing else but listen, but the sound had so taken him that he’d started to drift into sleep, the steady rush of water fading into the background as his breathing slowed.

Until something suddenly woke him.

All at once the symphony of the storm was all but blocked out, and he felt a great warmth wash over him to chase away the cold of the outside. A moment later there was a gentle splat, somehow sounding even more wet than the falling water. It came as something very warm and very familiar pressed against his side, squishing softly against him even as it remained firm.

He opened his eyes, and instead of the greys of stones and clouds, he was greeted by the vibrant red of a dragon’s maw as it closed around him, the strong, practiced tongue lifting him up inside with tender care past great, pointed teeth.

He blinked a few times, slowly returning from his surprisingly deep, yet brief nap. The constant patter of the rain had been replaced by the irregular crackles of saliva as the jaws finished closing and the soft muscle on which he lay swelled to carry him toward the far back of the dragon’s muzzle.

He first felt the urge to speak up, but he found his voice hadn’t quite woken up yet. And the soft, relaxing embrace of a family member’s maw kept him soothed, even as the muzzle which held him tilted upwards, gravity shifting his weight against the entrance of their throat, and then only a moment later-

*gulp*

Thunder boomed distantly outside, but it was nearly eclipsed by the deep squelch of the dragon’s throat as it opened and then closed around him. It was the last bit of the storm he’d hear, as his world was fully enveloped by the crackling and spattering of the flowing, red walls. He heard and felt the low, rhythmic thumps as the dragon who’d swallowed him turned and started to walk, stepping relatively lightly.

It was a number of seconds later before he finally arrived in their belly. He entered with a little plop as the throat dutifully ferried him inside, coming to rest along the bottom of the chamber as it swayed with each step, the shallow pool of chyme sloshing around his lower midriff with his legs poking up as his body followed the stomach’s squishy contour.

“Hey, who’s that?” he asked, his voice still carrying a hint of sleep.

There was no reply. Someone might have thought that the big dragon who’d eaten him simply hadn’t heard, or that maybe they were ignoring him, but Toby knew better. He gave a tiny smirk and looked around. He pressed a little hand into the pink walls and watched how they folded loosely over his fingers.

“I know it’s you, Kyla,” he said teasingly.

The stomach jiggled faintly as the dragoness started to giggle.

“How can you possibly know that just from poking around in there?” she asked jovially now that her game was up. Her voice was warm and she sounded genuinely impressed.

“Well yours is easy. Only my big brothers and big sisters have bellies this big. And yours is always extra squishy.”

Kyla giggled again. “Only my clutch, huh? What about mom and dad?”

“Oh, theirs are huge! I can stand up in there if they don’t move around.”

Her giggle turned into a laugh, and then the conversation faded into a lull, but only for a moment.

“Where are we going?” Toby asked, listening to the pounding of his big sister’s feet, not as quiet now that she knew he was awake.

“To sit with the rest of the family and wait out the storm.”

“Awwww, but I wanted to watch it,” he complained.

“I know,” she replied sympathetically, “but mom asked me to come get you. You know it’s not good for you to be out in the cold that long, especially in the wet too. You could get sick. You felt like a little icicle when I swallowed you.”

He had to admit that the great warmth emanating from all around him was a welcomed change. His body drank it up like a sponge, driving the cold of the wet, stony walls from his bones. Still, he would have liked to enjoy the rain a little longer.

“… You know, with everyone inside like this, it’s the perfect time to play,” she pointed out cleverly. “I bet you couldn’t recognize everyone’s bellies.”

Toby gasped with excitement. “Bet you I could!” he exclaimed.

That was one of his favorite games, and he was very good at it. And just like his big sis pointed out, he almost never got to play with the whole family- most of them were always busy with something, but not during a storm like this. Sure, a few of them would have indoor chores to work on, but mostly just his younger cousins and a few of the elders. That left so many possible gullets that could swallow him up.

“Did you find Toby?” came the voice of his father through the walls of Kyla’s belly.

“Yup, up at the mouth as usual,” she replied.

“Is he ready to play?” asked another, younger voice.

“Yeah!” Toby yelled from inside, jostling his sister’s stomach with his excitement. He heard a few of his kin laugh.

By the sound of it, his family had been planning on their little game before Kyla had even left to retrieve him. But that was just fine by Toby, having everyone else excited too just made it more fun. He wiggled anxiously in place, waiting for his big sister to release him so they could begin, inadvertently aiding in her digestion as he sloshed her chyme around.

As the walls of her stomach began to close in around him, and a little bulge formed at the base of her neck, a number of his brothers, sisters and cousins waited just as eagerly. It wasn’t much of a surprise that many of them enjoyed this game just as much as he did; another excuse to swallow their cute little human kin down and feel him in their bellies. Not that they really needed an excuse, considering he was nearly always willing- and commonly asking.

Toby slipped out onto Kyla’s tongue, and then off onto the ground as she released him. He looked up and grinned wide as he saw the many faces of his family smiling down on him, dragons and dragonesses of various sizes and shades.

“Alright, Toby, close your eyes,” said his big brother Clak. “And no peeking.”

Toby wiggled excitedly and did just that, squeezing his eyes shut tight. There was a short moment of silence, and then a quick shuffle of draconic feet.

*splat*!

A tongue knocked into him from the side, clearly belonging to a very excited relative. It was a bit forceful to be sure, but the soft, squishy surface did no harm. The impact might have knocked him over, though, if the nimble muscle hadn’t quickly swept him off his feet and sucked him greedily into the waiting maw to which it belonged.

Toby felt the jaws close around him. He tried to relax and spread out to get a sense of how big the mouth was that had taken him, but it was too eager. After not even a moment, he felt the muzzle pitch steeply upwards. But he wasn’t thrown or battered, the supple flesh held him securely, right up until the point when it let go.

*gulp* *gulp* *gulp*

A series of quick squelches, each almost interrupting the last, marked his passage into the throat. It took him just as greedily, as if the very muscles brimmed with joy and pride at their task of safely carrying the precious meal.

A few seconds and another squelch later and he arrived at his destination. The stomach rumbled noisily as he entered, but not quite as deeply as another dragon’s stomach might have. And that was probably because the chamber he found himself in wasn’t quite as large as another dragon’s might have been. His knees bent noticeably as the throat finished pushing out his legs. The size gave him a valuable clue as to which family members might have swallowed him, but Toby didn’t even stop to consider it, because he already knew exactly whose belly he was in.

“Asha that was awesome!” he exclaimed.

“What!?” came the young dragoness’ voice vibrating around him. “How do you know it’s me already!? You’ve only been in there for like a second!”

“Nobody else swallows me like that,” he replied, “all wild and fast.” He wriggled around in a vague imitation of her movements, jiggling her gut visibly from the outside.

“She didn’t hurt you, did she?” came an outside voice.

“No, it’s really fun!” Toby answered. “You must be pretty hungry, huh?” he asked.

“Yeah…” she admitted, thinking maybe she’d been a little too aggressive with her little brother.

“I can tell, there’s hardly anything in here,” Toby said, running his hands along the bottom of her stomach, where only a shallow pool of well-digested meat remained from her last meal.

“When I saw the clouds this morning, I thought it might rain. I didn’t eat yet cause I hoped we’d play and I wanted to make sure I had room for you,” she explained.

Toby’s smile broadened, both at her enthusiasm for their game, and her consideration.

“Well here, this should make you feel better.” As he spoke, Toby stretched out his arms and legs, not suddenly- as that might have hurt her- but slowly, and firmly. He pushed gradually harder against the walls of her stomach, spreading them out as evenly as he could, and squishing around lightly as he did. He did his best to pretend like he was a nice, big meal, slowly filling up his sister’s belly as she swallowed.

Asha began to purr around him, a low, pleasure-rich rumble. At the same time her belly gurgled, loud and long, just as appreciatively.

“Oh, that feels great Toby…” she murmured.

“Alright, alright. Don’t hog him all day. Let’s play another round,” came another outside voice.

“Yeah, alright,” Asha replied a bit reluctantly.

Toby let the stomach walls push his limbs back against his body, shrinking back to his normal, compact position, signaling his sister that he was ready. Though she clearly would have liked him to stay longer, her insides moved him just as energetically as they had before, quickly squeezing in around him and pushing him back up into her throat, and then all the way up her neck and back into her mouth.

She let him out on his feet, little trails of drool breaking off as she withdrew. She smiled down at him appreciatively and he smiled back. Her tongue darted out one last time, as red as her scales, and gave him an affectionate kiss on the side of his head.

“Alright Toby, time for round two, close your eyes.”

Originally Published: 27-Nov-2020