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How Not To Become Lunch: 43 - Don’t Get Ditched
“Whoa!! Oof!!”
“Rarr!” *NOM*
Fiona glanced over in passing at the toothy predator catching himself a late lunch. Feeling the cold and wet against the pads of her feet, she couldn’t help but wonder why the janitors insisted on making the school even more dangerous for humans by mopping the floors during the day. Slipping in the hall was an easy way to invite any nearby pred to a free meal.
Of course, she’d claimed those easy meals herself on a few occasions, and she’d silently thanked the custodians for them too, but it was hard for her to feel that way now, knowing that Jack could easily be the next one.
Adding to her stress: forcing herself not to go see Arthur after class hadn’t been easy. And she had needed to force herself. But she’d promised Jack that this time she’d be there for him, and she couldn’t let him down… again… no matter how much she just wanted to pop over and say high for a minute or two.
“Gotcha- ahhhh- oof!!”
“Whaaaah!” Fiona yelled as an unexpected impact at her back sent her tumbling out of her thoughts and down onto the wet floor. And she wasn’t alone. She felt another furry form- the person who’d crashed into her- land on top of her as they both fell.
*THUD*
Bucking the other student (judging by the weight) off her back, Fiona felt two things: an unpleasant dampness in her fur, and a rising anger. But her forthcoming growl was preempted by a profuse apology.
“Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Goodness! What are you Wily, a kit!? I can’t believe I just did that! Are you okay!? I’m really sorry!”
Fiona rolled to her side and looked to see a fox boy next to her, scrambling awkwardly to stand after having toppled them both. She heard the frantic footfalls of a fleeing human, and quickly pieced together what had just happened. It wouldn’t have been the first time.
“Yeah, I’m alright,” she replied. She couldn’t really hide the aggravation in her voice, but she did tone it down a bit. It had been a seemingly honest mistake, after all.
“I was going after a human, but I slipped on the floor. Oh, I feel like such a furbrain!” He nearly growled with frustration.
“It’s okay,” Fiona said as she managed to get one foot underneath herself again. She couldn’t help feeling a bit bad for just how hard the fox was being on himself. “Everyone slips up once in a while.”
“Thanks, I- Whoa!”
Nearly back to her feet, Fiona felt a sudden tug on her arm. It seemed Wily had failed to find his own footing and panicked, grabbing onto the first thing he could. Both students came face-to-floor again, though with a slightly quieter thud. This time, Fiona couldn’t help but growl a bit as she peeled her now-even-damper fur off the ground.
“Sorry!! Sorry!!” the fox boy pleaded. “Oh, I’m such a mess!”
Fiona stood herself up again, but when she glanced over at Wily, he was still just sitting there dejectedly. She did have somewhere to be, but… she reached down hastily and offered a hand. He looked up at her with a pitiful abundance of gratitude, taking hold as carefully as possible to avoid pulling the nice werewolf over again.
“Thanks,” he said, in a voice as pitiful as his eyes. “You wouldn’t believe my luck. I feel like every time I try to hunt a human something always goes wrong. I can never get it right.”
“Oh, I’m sure you’ll get it eventually,” Fiona replied, trying her best not to sound disinterested. Still, she took a half-step away. She did need to get moving.
“No, seriously. This kind of thing happens every time. One time I ended up swallowing another pred by accident! Like, all the way. And then a teacher almost ate me as punishment! Imagine getting gurgled like some human.”
The thought of a digesting human only added to Fiona’s sense of urgency.
“I’m sure you’ll get better if you just keep practicing,” she said with a dismissive yet encouraging nod and a tiny, worry-worn smile.
*sigh* “I used to think so, but I just don’t know anymore. I mean, there’s this one human I’ve tried catching, like, three times now, and I still manage to screw it up.”
Wow, three times? Fiona thought. It was hard not to feel sorry for the poor guy.
“Maybe just try a different approach next time, like getting closer before you pounce, or setting an ambush- that’s even easier,” she offered.
“Yeah, I guess it would be harder to run into chestplates and locker doors if I’m waiting instead of chasing,” he agreed. Still probably wouldn’t be enough to get Jack, though. Not with that werewolf always… wait…
Chestplates? What is this, The Great Hunt? And locker doors? Wait… An incident from last week flicked to Fiona’s mind. She’d been in the hallway with Jack and a fox had-
“You’re the werewolf who’s always guarding Jack!” Wily realized. He took a leap back out of reflex, but apparently had already forgotten about the floor. He slipped again, skidding a few feet, and crashing into yet another schoolmate who’d just been minding their own business. There was an angry hiss as the surprised neko tumbled down along with the unfortunate fox.
Fiona growled, but quickly realized the neko was already giving him his retribution. The girl almost immediately began shouting insults at him, so loud and fast that Fiona doubted she’d be able to get a word in if she wanted to. So she just snarled and left the fox to his fate, scolding herself instead.
I should really watch who I give advice to.
Refocusing herself, she took up a quick pace in the direction of Jack’s math class. She’d lost a minute or two to that mess, but Jack had survived that long before, everything should be fine as long as-
“HE’S MINE!!” came an angry roar, just as Fiona rounded a corner. The werewolf nearly jumped at the assault on her sensitive ears, and it was far from hard to spot the source. Two large bear students were having a brawl.
Taking in the scene, she recognized one of them immediately as Grizz. Despite being a friend of a friend (her friend Lily’s boyfriend to be specific), she knew him as having a rather nasty reputation: big and strong and inclined to bully. On top of that, though most didn’t know it, he was also in her same advanced predator class; all the more reason to be wary of him. Easily rough enough to gulp down other preds, he was someone Fiona had long decided to steer clear of. And just recognizing him and seeing the fury on his face was enough to give her pause and maybe even a little twinge of fear.
It seemed the other bear felt differently, though. Knocking away one of Grizz’s huge, clawed hands with only mild effort, was a slightly shorter, black furred boy with a nasty snarl and fierce eyes. She didn’t know him by name, but she recalled hearing a few conversations about another bear kid who was ‘tired of being pushed around by Grizz.’ Whoever he was, he probably wasn’t someone Fiona wanted to cross either.
Unfortunately, that led to a problem, as Fiona did need to physically cross them.
The two predators were standing smack right in the middle of the hall, having a painfully loud argument over a poor, terrified, cowering human who lay practically curled up in a ball between them. There was a small group of students building up on either side, not necessarily to watch the fight, but because no one was dumb enough to step any closer.
Oh, come on! Fiona complained mentally. Not that anyone would have been able to hear her if she’d said it out loud anyway. She pulled her ears against her head and covered them with her hands, as the two preds hurled insults and declarations which were almost too contorted with growls and snarls to be understood. She looked to the sides of the hall, but just like everyone else, came to the conclusion that she didn’t like her chances of trying to slip by. Even if they didn’t notice her, the occasional lurch and thud when one of them swiped at the other, threatened to flatten any unfortunate bystander against the wall or the floor if they ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time.
So she looked back at the bears themselves, but neither one seemed keen on either backing down or breaking into an all-out fight, they only continued to snarl and shout and bat each other’s arms away from their contested meal.
Seconds ticked by.
Come on… come on! Fiona thought worriedly. There was still no way through, and no other way around. She looked at the human trembling in a little ball between them and wished one of the bears would just grab him and eat already. It was pitiful for two predators of their level to leave their prey in such a state. In the back of her mind, she couldn’t help feeling just a little sorry for the human, but given his current position, he was definitely food at this point; waiting to be digested in a stomach couldn’t be much worse than waiting to be digested on the floor.
Meanwhile, Jack’s status as food was still very much in question, and Fiona couldn’t do much about it while she was stuck there waiting. But tail stiff, toe-claws digging into the floor and holding back a frustrated whine, she was forced to do nothing but stand and stare, weighing the fear of charging forward against the fear of losing Jack to some predator’s hungry belly.
The pressure grew and grew, right up to the brink of rash action. But then all at once, everything stopped.
And ‘everything’ wasn’t much of an exaggeration. Each student in the hall went completely quiet, even including the bear kids, who both turned away from Fiona to look at something- no, someone- coming from the other end of the hall. Fiona leaned slightly to one side to see past them, but she already knew who it must be; only one person could get this kind of response.
Principal Tengu stood now before the bears, and from her position Fiona could see the angered look in his fierce, avian eyes. His imposing figure with wings draped against his back, and his permeating aura of authority, drew in the gaze of every nearby student. As intimidating as both Grizz and his opponent were, even they seemed to pale in comparison to their principal’s overwhelming air of silent power.
“Detention.” He spoke only that single word, directing it clearly along with his glare at the formerly-brawling bears. The two students glanced at each other, anger still clear in their expressions, but neither made another sound. They turned in Fiona’s direction and began to walk. She stepped aside along with the other nearby kids to let them pass.
“Go to the nurse before someone else claims you.” Those next words of his were softer, aimed down at the poor human still cowering on the floor- not food after all. Forcing decisive action through the lingering terror, he hauled himself to his feet and sped off down the hall away from the bears. No other predator made a move; it wasn’t clear if the principal would have allowed it.
Seeing the situation resolved, the avian shifted his wings quietly and then turned and walked steadily back in the direction he’d come. A number of students shared glances, but no one made the mistake of muttering anything; Principal Tengu had excellent hearing.
Fiona was amongst the first kids to start walking, as humans and preds alike who had been caught up in the spectacle began to eye each other. But Fiona’s eyes were on the cleared hallway ahead, which she stared down much as if it were one of her prey, and which she felt the urge to sprint towards just the same. The problem was: it was the same hall the principal was walking down, and she wasn’t about to dash past him. The last thing she- or Jack- needed was for her to get sent to detention with Grizz for running in the halls.
So she was forced to stick to a hasty walk, each step feeling painfully slow. Luckily, Jack’s math class wasn’t much further. Just another few seconds and she’d be able to round the last corner. The distressing thought of whether Jack would still be standing there by the time she did, flicked to mind, but she shooed it away.
That’s when a particular scent reached her snout. It teased at her; her nose, her mind, her stomach; and brought with it a flurry of emotions. The first, instinct coming before all else, was hunger; the scent was that of a marked human. The second was a mixture: repression overshadowed by relief; beating down said hunger, she was happy to realize that with Jack’s scent in the air, she knew he was still close by, and she’d be able to track him wherever he went. But then, a split second later, there was a third emotion: confusion; that was the smell of a marked human, but it wasn’t Jack’s. It had a distinctly female aroma. And it was coming from behind her, not in front.
Realizing it wasn’t Jack, she resisted the temptation to even turn around, and kept on walking with only a moment’s hesitation. But then something else almost as enticing reached another one of her senses.
“Fiona!” called Arthur’s voice.
Her ears perked up, and she started to turn almost without meaning to. And once she’d started, she couldn’t stop, especially not once she saw him; walking up from behind with that iconic little smile on his muzzle.
But he wasn’t alone; far from it. He had a girl with him. But Fiona quickly dismissed any unpleasant reaction. For one thing, the girl was human. For a second thing, though Arthur was doing an excellent job of keeping her under control- almost to the point where it was unnoticeable- it was clear upon closer inspection that she was not accompanying him willingly. And to top it all off- Fiona took one more sniff just to make sure- she was the human whose marked scent was filling the hallway.
“Oh, hi Arthur,” Fiona said as he approached. Her tail fluttered a touch despite her situation, the enjoyment of his presence almost covering up the anxiety in her voice.
“I was hoping I’d catch you before class.” He stopped a comfortable distance away from her. Well comfortable for him at least; it was clear that he had to ‘coax’ the human to follow him that close to Fiona- with some tactful use of the claws he had wrapped around the girl’s arm.
“Who’s this?” Fiona asked, curiosity and amenities fighting against her pressing urge to find Jack’s actual scent.
“Well, I couldn’t help thinking about what you’d said at lunch. I have to admit, I was a bit impressed. It takes a very adept predator to control their instincts so well with a marked prey around- especially several of them.”
Fiona’s tail fluttered quite a bit more noticeably at that. She’d always secretly wished others would appreciate that skill of hers a bit more. But every time another pred saw her walking around comfortably with Jack, all they could say was how much they’d like to eat him.
Right! Jack! I gotta-
“But, I suppose I couldn’t help feeling a bit sorry as well,” Arthur continued. He glanced away, almost as if embarrassed. “Spending all that time around a marked human you’ll never taste… well…”
Wait… A striking realization began to dawn on her. Is he… Did he catch that human for me!? Fiona felt a bit of her fur stand on end. A gesture like that between werewolves- giving away a meal as special as a marked human- that was usually a pretty clear social sign of-
“You don’t have to think of it romantically or anything,” he said, Fiona taken aback even further as he practically finished her thought. “But I caught this for you.” He tugged the girl in his claws a bit closer. “It’s only right, after all. The best predators deserve the best meals.”
*gurgle*
It was quite a little sound that came from her belly, quiet enough that the human didn’t react, but loud enough that she was almost certain he’d heard. The little bits of school-provided lunch working through her gut did feel awfully meager compared to the nice, succulent human standing in front of her, alluring scent wafting through her nose. And knowing that human was a gift from Arthur made the girl all the more appetizing.
But a distinct twinge of anxiety diluted the otherwise idyllic moment, shooing away the butterflies Arthur had already gotten into her stomach.
I have to find Jack! She told herself. …But I can’t say no! He marked a human for me! Arthur! For me!
“Arthur, that’s so nice of you,” she said, a bit overwhelmed in more ways than one.
“Don’t mention it,” he replied kindly, his tail swishing a bit himself as he smiled.
He pulled the girl in his clutches forward. She yelped quietly and looked back at him with a whimper, before looking forward again at Fiona. She spoke, but the words were frail and terribly faint, as if she were afraid to make even a sound.
“Please don’t do it. I don’t want to be eaten. I don’t want to die.”
Fiona hardly even registered the pleas, even as she looked the human over. She had bigger things to worry about than the squeakings of her lunch. She couldn’t say no to a gift like this, especially not from Arthur, but she couldn’t exactly take her time with it either. As much as she’d love to savor it- the meal and the gesture- if she was going to do this, she’d have to get it over with quickly.
She stepped forward and Arthur released the girl’s arm. Even physically unbound, the human stayed rigidly still with the exception of her slight trembles, still feeling utterly trapped by the werewolves’ presence alone.
Fiona reached out and grabbed the girl’s shoulders with both furry hands. The human gave one more shuttering whimper.
Fiona threw open her muzzle wide and shoved her meal’s head inside, globs of building drool splattering across the human’s shirt from the werewolf’s haste. The poor girl tried to push the powerful predator away, and tried to pull out of the clawed grip, but quickly devolved into panicked flailing as her best attempts proved futile, succumbing to terror even before the first-
*GULP*
Fiona’s lower claws gouged the floor as her toes curled. Her body trembled. A tremor ran through to her tail. She tasted so good! And the werewolf had sucked her down so hurriedly; such a sudden onslaught of intense, fervor-fueling, instinct-invoking, fantastic flavor. It washed through her like a tidal wave, from her mouth, through her head- wiping away most of her senses- down through every muscle and nerve, and resounding especially in her stomach. It was such an overwhelming sensation that it took Fiona a moment to even register how far down into her throat that one gulp had pulled her meal.
Quite a ways, it turned out. Without fully understanding how or when, she realized that the mix of haste and hunger and hunting instinct which fueled her had pulled her human meal up past its chest in a single gulp, swelling her neck with its enthralling presence.
But the wonder at that realization only lasted half a heartbeat, only until Fiona’s meal made its first little wriggle inside her throat. It sent another wave through her, pulses of pure predatory pleasure at every squish and squelch. And every slightest slip of the marked human against her tongue nearly saturated her mouth with delight. The ex-student’s clothes couldn’t hope to hide the taste, not with the werewolf’s overflowing store of saliva soaking clean through to pull those delectable flavors from the skin beyond.
But as amazing as those flavors were- and they were- Fiona’s focus was on something even more captivating. Her stomach: it was still empty. It called out. She could feel it. It reached out- reached up- grasping for the wonderful, tantalizing meal in her gullet above. It wanted to be filled. And somewhere in her scattered mind there still lay the desire to rush, to hurry and swallow down this special meal and seal it up inside of her as quickly as possible. And with her stomach- and by extension her entire body- in full agreement, she was overwhelmingly capable of doing exactly that.
*SLORP*
The human girl’s entire torso abruptly disappeared into the werewolf’s ravenous maw, as Fiona’s throat gave a mighty, hungry shutter. Another nearly mind-numbing rush of flavor-soaked pleasure nearly overwhelmed her, filling her body to the point where it felt almost like it needed to cry out, but rather than any sound leaving her mouth, it was instead her stomach that gave a wild:
*GLOOORP*
She felt the voracious, eager walls of her belly vibrate in sensual delight over the arrival of their meal, the girl’s head and shoulders now stuffed into the slick chamber already filling with more and more of the werewolf’s digestive acids and enzymes, fully intent on welcoming the human in the way only a predator’s belly could.
Predatory fulfillment and thrilling gratification seemed to burn in every fiber of her body as she felt her meal lurch into her waiting stomach, the overwhelming satisfaction of the sensation being all that kept her from immediately swallowing again and forcing her bulge out further. But the delay didn’t last long, because her belly quickly remembered that there was still more of their meal to come, and it gurgled as it shifted and relaxed to accommodate more readily the werewolf’s arriving food.
*GULP*
Fiona felt the sudden tension of her skin as her gut suddenly expanded, the firm outline of a head pressing through before her body forced her meal’s body to curl into the vaguer outline of a rough ball. Right on the heels of that magnificent stretch came the exquisite pleasure of prey filling her eager stomach, kneading and pushing against the walls as they kneaded and pushed right back. Her tail pitched back and forth in unconcealable bliss as she soaked in the sensation, the feeling of the human’s marked flesh against her insides permeating every inch of her gullet.
Once again, she paused there only for a moment, until the wiggles of her meal’s shins against her tongue pulled back enough of her attention.
*GRWL*
The hungry, greedy sound from her belly reflected her feelings exactly: this human girl needed to be pulled inside where she belonged.
*GULP*
*SLORP*
*squelch*
*glorp*
*sigh*
Fiona let out her breath as she felt the final extremities of her gifted meal slip from her tongue down her throat and settle warmly in her gut with a flurry of little wiggles. Smiling, she stared off into space for a moment, as her attention gradually returned to the world outside her body- the one her meal would never see again.
Then she remembered Arthur was there.
For a split second she felt a horrible embarrassment threaten to take hold, but then she saw the look on his face. He wore a small grin, he seemed almost riveted, he seemed impressed. Her tail, having hitched for just a moment, continued its joyful swinging. She felt only a mild shyness, well overshadowed by her predatory pride and the approval in his gaze.
“So, how was it?” he asked.
“Delici- *URP*!” Fiona through a hand over her muzzle.
*guuurgle* went her belly.
Okay, now she was embarrassed. But Arthur hardly even reacted, in fact he even smiled wider.
“Good to hear,” he replied.
As her wits slowly returned to her, that persistent sense of urgency which had been at the back of her mind came back into conscious view.
“I, um… Thanks for the meal, Arthur- a lot,” her mind drifted just for a moment back to the rumbling pleasure in her gut, “but I really need to go.” She smiled at him all the while, still feeling the urgency but too elated to feel the fear.
“Sure,” he replied. “My next class isn’t too far from here, I could walk with you, if you want.” Fiona’s tail wagged just a bit harder as her smile widened.
“Sure,” she said back. She gave a weak little nod down the hall before she turned, reeling in a bit more of her bearings, and started to walk, Arthur close behind.
As she set her eyes once again on that final corner on her route to Jack’s math class, she marveled at how almost all the fear and anxiety she’d been feeling had just melted away. Sure, it was important that she got to him as quickly as she could, but what were the odds really that anything would happen? She only needed to make sure, that’s all. And now that she was only a few steps away, there wasn’t anything really left to worry about, was there? Everything was just fine.
Fiona rounded the corner. She found Jack quickly, right in front of the door to his math class.
He was on the floor, covered in drool.
Her smile broke into a frown. Her tail slowed to a stop. Her legs sped up. Ozzy was there with him, already giving him a hand up. As she got closer, she overheard them talking.
“‘Go to your next class; don’t be late. Fiona will be here any second,’” Ozzy said, clearly echoing what must have been Jack’s words.
“Not that I’m complaining, but why did you come back?” Jack asked.
“I was worried.”
“Well, thanks. Glad someone’s looking out for me. I really did think that-”
“Jack!” Fiona called out with a clear note of anxiety.
The two boys turned, and she saw her friend’s face, weighed down with post-traumatic stress. She was caught off guard for a moment when it stayed that way, but at first she couldn’t actually understand why. She saw him look at her belly; and then at Arthur, only a few steps behind her; and she watched his frown deepen and something in his gaze change for the worse. And a moment later she realized: he almost always smiled when he saw her, even coming out of a predator’s jaws.
“Hey… Fi…” he said, words heavy.
Fiona stopped when she got close to them, though maybe a step or two further away than usual.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Yeah. There was a pred, but Ozzy scared him off,” he told her. She glanced at him, and he shared a look similar to Jack’s.
“Thank you,” she said, both earnest and awkward. He nodded in return, but said nothing back. Instead, he said something to Jack.
“…It’s almost time for class.”
“I’ll take him to the boy’s room so he can clean up,” Fiona offered firmly, her voice laced with regret.
Jack nodded to him. Ozzy looked back and forth between them both once, and then once at Arthur, before turning and taking up a quick pace towards his next class.
“I suppose I should get to class too,” Arthur chimed in, almost sounding regretful of the fact. “I’ll see you later, Fi. Enjoy your meal.”
“Yeah, see you later Arthur,” she said with a fake little smile and a wave.
She looked back at Jack, the false expression dropping from her face. They stood there awkwardly for a moment before he took the first step, and she began to follow.