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How Not To Become Lunch: 33 - Don’t Jump To Conclusions
Though Fiona tried to act normal as they walked through the halls, Chelsie’s words had sunk in just about as quickly as the rat boy had sunk into the feline’s gut. And not only her words, but her actions. When it came to the hunt, Fiona knew she was pretty good, but she wasn’t that good! Chelsie had just taken down another pred her own age, made a meal out of him, and she’d been two steps ahead the whole time. And Fiona? She’d nearly ended up smelling like a garbage dump.
On top of that, seeing the cat’s wriggling belly suddenly reminded her of something important: Jack. She’d been so distracted on her way to science class that she hadn’t remembered to look for him, and realizing that brought with it a rush of guilt and fear. She knew he was getting better at magic, and that was encouraging, but she also knew all too well that it only took one wrong move to end up in a belly, and if that happened, she would never see…
“Hello, Fiona.”
The werewolf looked up.
“Oh- Arthur, hi!” she said, finding herself suddenly smiling despite her thoughts.
“Chelsie,” he said with an eye on her belly and a hint of praise, “looks like you got a nice fighter in there.”
“Just a little mouse,” she replied indifferently. Her belly gave an extra-violet struggle, but she paid her food no mind.
Arthur raised an eyebrow, seeming to put together what she meant. He certainly seemed somewhat impressed. Seeing the wolfboy looking so pleased with the catgirl, Fiona quietly dug her toes into the floor, her tail going still as she tried to suppress a surprising bit of emotion. But she calmed down almost instantly when Arthur looked at her again.
“You ready for another advanced predator class?” he asked.
“Definitely,” she said, a bit of her determination showing through.
“Well alright,” Arthur replied with a little smile. He turned and started down the hall, clearly expecting them to follow along. Fiona had already taken two steps when she remembered what she’d been thinking about a moment earlier.
“Oh- um, actually…” she said regretfully.
Arthur turned back with an inquisitive glance.
“I really should check on Jack, make sure he’s still okay,” she admitted guiltily. There was the briefest moment of silence before the other werewolf replied.
“Just saw that one, actually, in the hall heading to class. Still smelling like a gourmet lunch.”
“Phew, that’s a relief,” she said, letting out her breath. “Thanks.” Not only was she relieved to hear Jack was still uneaten, but she was very happy to hear Arthur was keeping an eye out for him. With the best preds around watching over him, she felt more certain than ever that she could keep him out of hunger’s way.
“Don’t mention it,” Arthur replied, and the trio continued down the hall.
…
Fiona was smiling again. Panting, but smiling. Predator class had led into P.E., and P.E. had led to the girl’s lockers where she was winding down from her cool off. She’d done well; well enough to lift her spirits after what had happened earlier.
She’d made it a point to pay extra attention in her advanced class, but really she was starting to think that she’d been too hard on herself earlier. An entire P.E. period with Arthur all to herself (never once mentioning Chelsie) had helped her remember that she was actually pretty good: agile, flexible, available-
Point being, it didn’t really matter if the neko was a bit better in a few areas. Fiona had never claimed to be ‘the best’ or anything. And really, comparing herself to Chelsie at all was impressive, the catgirl was practically a predatory prodigy. Fiona herself was still an excellent predator; having one other girl her age be slightly better didn’t change that.
Feeling sufficiently cool, self-assured, and having a more-than-sufficient vacancy in her belly that needed filling, the werewolf headed out of the locker room and into the hall toward lunch. But she didn’t make it very far alone.
“Fioooonaa!” came another girl’s cheery cry.
She turned around to see an anaconda girl the size of- well, an anaconda girl- slithering toward her at high speed with her arms outstretched. Fiona braced herself as the naga crashed into her and wrapped both arms and coils around her furry body in a borderline-overwhelming embrace.
“H-hi… Udon…” Fiona managed (barely). She’d learned very quickly that her new scaly friend was: 1) very big, and 2) a very big hugger- though she was still learning to live with that part. Thankfully, while the tight grip of the naga’s coils usually proved fatal for her prey, they were quite easily (if not pleasantly) survivable by her friends. The werewolf took a deep breath as the pressure against her chest retreated.
“So, how was your P.E. with Arthur?”
“Oh, um, fine,” she replied, her tail fluttering briefly. “…Hey, he’s not into-” she lowered her voice a bit- “nekos, is he?”
“Nooo, I don’t think so,” the naga replied, putting her humanoid hand to her face in thought. “Why?” she asked with a knowing sideways glance.
“Just checking,” Fiona replied hastily. Udon smirked.
“Alright. Well, I’m ready to head to lunch. I’m so hungry I bet I could swallow a cow.”
“Guess you’ll have to settle for whatever they serve in the cafeteria,” the werewolf joked.
“Ugh… sometimes I just don’t understand how they expect a growing pred to survive off that stuff.”
“By eating the human students, duh,” a new yet familiar voice chimed in. While a bit crass, neither of them could really deny Pyre’s statement. They allowed the red-scaled dragon boy his smug little smirk as he walked past down the hall, though Udon rolled her eyes teasingly.
“Beats going hungry,” added Mort, as the horned toad followed close behind. Now that certainly was true, thought both girls as they began to follow the boys towards the cafeteria. At least a meal of one kind or another surely awaited all of them there.
As they walked (or in Udon’s case, slithered), Fiona noticed her tail beginning to wag again. She couldn’t quite help it. It’s not like she hadn’t had friends before; Lily, Sarabeth, and of course Jack, to name a few; but she’d never really had a pack like this. She took a pure, simple pleasure in just walking down the halls with them- not to mention the pride as pred and prey alike made way for the incoming advanced students, though she made a conscious effort now to keep that at bay.
Meanwhile, the usual chatter of conversation and gossip filled the halls as all the students gradually flowed toward lunch- with a few exceptions. There were a few stragglers hanging out by their lockers, finishing up in classrooms, or- in the case of two human boys- arguing rather loudly outside the gymnasium doors. Their voices cut noticeably above the typical din.
“Nice going, pudge, you cost us the game!”
“N-no I didn’t!”
“I was this close to winning it for us, but you just had to get in my way!”
“It’s not my fault you tripped!”
“You knocked me over!”
“You ran into me!”
“If I’d run into you, it would’ve gone like this!” The boy charged forward and knocked his schoolmate to the floor with a heavy shove.
Fiona caught a glimpse of Udon’s frown from the corner of her eye as they watched the minor spectacle they were approaching. The frown turned into a tiny scowl a moment before the naga spoke.
“Shame on him, treating his own kind that way,” she said. Fiona noticed her hands clench into fists and her course shift to take her closer to the pair.
The boy on the ground looked a bit scared when the bully stepped over him, but he went wide-eyed and stark when the large anaconda girl slithered up behind the unsuspecting brute. The other human smiled, assuming the reaction was to him alone. No one ever got to see the bully’s reaction.
*NOM*!
The naga rammed her humanoid head over her prey’s, her jaws stretching apart like a loose rubber band, her chest swelling instantly and effortlessly to contain the sudden arrival of a new meal. In a single move, she’d taken her lunch past his shoulders, almost down to his elbows. She hadn’t even needed to restrain him.
She lifted him off the ground solely with the power of her maw and gullet. The other boy watched as his soon-to-be-former bully ascended, his legs flailing as they were raised above his head, until he was upside down and the naga’s back was erect, the belly of her humanoid half wriggling with the terror of her new meal.
*GULP*!
With a single shudder of her body, aided by gravity, the boy in her clutches suddenly plunged inside her, down almost to his knees.
*GULP*!
The next swallow came quickly after the first, and all at once the rest of the boy was gone, removed from view, say for the distinct, wriggling outline he made all down the naga’s front. An outline the other human stared up at from the ground with petrified limbs.
*GULP*
A final, punctual swallow sent the last bits of the barely-still-a-boy from her mouth, letting her throat claim him completely, dutifully carrying him through her humanoid cavities and down deep into her serpentine stomach.
He’d hardly even settled when the naga spoke.
“There,” she said with scornful finality, “serves that human right.” The boy on the ground shifted, his expression changing.
“Th-thank you,” he said, trying to overcome his fear. He could hardly believe it. He’d just been saved by a naga! What were the chances!? Still well shaken by what had just happened, he nevertheless felt a certain relief come over himself, the kind that came with the knowledge that that bully was gone for good and that the big, scary predator had chosen someone other than him to be her lunch.
“Awww, you’re welcome,” Udon replied sympathetically, slithering a bit closer to him and shifting her new meal around in the process. Reaching down, she took hold of both the boy’s arms and hauled him back up to his feet. He was surprised and grateful almost to the point of incredulity.
“Wow,” he muttered, “Thanks agai-”
*NOM*
That surprised even Fiona. She’d had a feeling that the naga had had plans for both of them, but she’d expected Udon to kindly offer the other one up to one of their friends, not suck him down along with the first. Only a handful of predators their age could stomach two human kids at once. But it suddenly struck Fiona that, of course, if any preds their age could do it, one of them would be the enormous anaconda in the advanced class.
This one went down a bit slower, though. Her hunger and temper somewhat sated, Udon’s gullet wasn’t quite as enthusiastic in engulfing the second human. Instead, he progressed more like your average lunch.
*gulp*
The first swallow took in the boy’s shoulders, sending him into a panic as he realized what was happening. But of course the naga’s hands were already around his arms, so his instinctive reaction to push away was thwarted before it even began.
*gulp*
The second drew Udon’s maw down over his chest, the moist heat of her insides spilling out towards his belly.
As she lifted her second course into the air, Fiona heard a loud gurgle from the snakegirl’s bulging belly and glanced over to see the wriggling form of her previously consumed prey slipping even deeper into the naga’s lengthy stomach, her body actively making room for its incoming occupant, probably without so much as a conscious thought from Udon herself.
*gulp*
The boy’s waist slipped forward to teeter in the doorway of her jaws, his body filling out her humanoid half, wriggling and thrashing behind her shirt. No longer needing to hold him, she put one hand to her midriff and gave the rowdy bulge a few comforting pats. Soon he’d be tucked away nicely in her belly and it would all be over.
*gulp*
His head slipped past her humanoid waist and into her scaly body, his knees nearing her maw, more of him now within her than without, her powerful throat now the only thing that stood in the way of gravity’s pull.
*gulp* *squelch*
The naga’s belly packing away its first arrival as well as it could, it finally opened wide to accept the second course, prompting a renewed set of struggles from both humans as the hungry body around them continued its work.
*gulp*
And with that final contraction of her throat, Udon sealed the entirety of her lunch away from the world. The human’s wriggling form slunk down her chest, disappearing into a bulge in her scales that quickly merged with the one already resting in her belly. For now, they were still technically separate in there, but in a few hours’ time no one would be able to tell them apart.
The naga looked back at her plump scales and smiled.
“Now you’ll never have to worry about being bullied ever again,” she said sympathetically.
Fiona gazed at the huge, wriggling bulge with an impressed stare. She couldn’t imagine what it must feel like to have two humans wrestling around inside of her belly. At the same time, she couldn’t help but feel a bit sorry for the second kid, misunderstanding the naga’s intentions like that.
“*tsk* Should’ve known better than to jump to that conclusion,” Arthur remarked.
“Yeah, good point, Arthur,” Fiona replied. And then a moment later a jolt ran through her body. “Arthur!? When did you get here?” And how could I have possibly missed your scent!? What is with me today!?
“Just now. But I saw the whole thing from down the hall. No one like Udon to remind a human what a predator is.” Then he shifted over to the naga. “Looks like you’re still living up to your nickname.”
“Slurped ‘em down like noodles,” Mort agreed, giving her turbulent bulge a pat for emphasis.
“Oh, stop it guys,” the naga replied, appreciative but embarrassed. “I was just hungry, that’s all.”
“Well I bet a catch like that will hold you over for a while,” Arthur said, eyeing the bulge himself. “Nice going. As usual, of course.”
Fiona felt that feeling rising up again. She wouldn’t say she was jealous of Udon- not that she’d been jealous of Chelsie either- but watching her new friends pull off these impressive catches… Sure, she’d made a good first impression with her catch on Friday, but what if they started to think that had just been a lucky break? Arthur had said ‘as usual’, as in ‘Udon does stuff like this all the time’. What if they started to think she wasn’t really all that good after all? What if they didn’t want to hang out anymore!? She needed to come up with something good, and fast, before-
She happened to catch something in the corner of her eye, a distinct figure walking down the hall. Very quickly her mind hatched an idea that sprouted into a devilish little smirk across her lips.
Perfect, she thought.