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HNTBL: Longing For Laughter

By: TheDragonBoy

Summary

It’s an interesting, unconventional life, that’s for sure. It’s easier in some ways, harder in others, but it’s never comfortable, living in the gray blur between the lines, never quite sure which side you’re really on. Predator or prey? Human or… something else? Even if you know where you’re meant to be, finding yourself stuck in the middle, one can’t help longing for that sense of belonging, contentment, family, the warm smiles and Laughter you can see every day.

Maybe, with a bit of luck, a bit of love, the right support, and a whole lot of hard work, it’s actually possible to become the person you know you can be? To finally fit in, not with the world, but with yourself. Maybe…

There’s only one way to find out.

Content

~~~~
Tomorrow is the day. I can’t believe it’s finally happening! I guess I am a little nervous. I mean, I have heard things about Ms. Caster’s classes. I am kinda worried I might get eate No! Come on, Sammy! You know not to think like that. You’re gonna do great! Yes, I’m gonna do great! Of course I am. I totally have the advantage over all the other humans in that class. Yeah. Yeah, I just
…
~~~~

Sammy’s silent self-encouragement was interrupted when he heard a gentle knock on his door. His dim desk lamp was all that illuminated the otherwise dark room, as evening continued to give way into night. The boy put his pencil down on top of his journal and turned in his chair.

“Mom? Is that you?”

The door clicked open, and Sammy’s human eyes peered through the darkness, recognizing at first only a silhouette.

A furry silhouette.

Bushy tail, big ears, and an even bigger belly. The heavy steps of a recently-fed predator rhythmically broke the silence as canine claws clacked against wooden floors. The silhouette grew larger as it approached, coming right for him, entering the room and the small glow of the desk lamp. As the fur patterns and the distinctive muzzle were illuminated, the hyena came fully into view.

The young boy, still seated, looked up at the predator who had just let themself into his room. He was met with the quiet gurgle and slosh of a carnivorous stomach hard at work; the distinct human outline still visible in the large bulge.

Aside from that, though, he was also met with a kind, sweet voice.

“Just wanted to check in on you before bed,” the hyena woman said with a smile.

He smiled back up at the canine woman appreciatively, but said nothing.

“Are you nervous?” she asked with care.

“No, I’m fine,” Sammy tried to say, but the pretense didn’t get him anywhere.

“Oh, darling, he is nervous, I can smell it,” she nearly whimpered, frowning and turning back toward the open door. A second hyena stepped in behind the first, a man, walking up to the boy in much the same fashion, but this one had an empty belly, allowing him the freedom to kneel down and put a clawed hand on Sammy’s shoulder.

“You know you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, right?” he said to the young human. “We love you just the way you are.”

“I know, dad,” came the reply, along with a growing smile, “but I do want to. I wanna be… you know…”

The motherly canine was the one who responded, bending over as best she could with her bloated belly, putting her muzzle to her boy’s cheek and giving an affectionate little lick.

“You’ll do great, son. Don’t stay up too late, you’ll need your rest.”

“Okay, mom.”

“You’re going to make a great predator. Everyone else is going to have to watch their backs with you around.”

“Thanks, dad,” Sammy grinned.


~~~~
Oh goodness I can’t believe it I actually had my first day of MAGE-PRED CLASS!!!

Okay, okay, where do I start. I had my whole normal day of school, but instead of skipping study hall for last period I actually stayed late. It’s a whole extra class. I could barely think of anything else the whole day! Like, in P.E. I You know, forget about that. I have to write about mage-pred class right now. I mean, right from the first second I stepped into that room and met Ms. Caster, I
…
~~~~

“Oh, you must be the new student,” regarded the witch with mild interest, glancing over her roll sheet. “… S. Laughter, right?”

“Um, it’s ‘law-ter’,” the nervous mage corrected. It was a pretty common mistake thanks to the unfortunate spelling of his family’s name, something he was used to pointing out. Though, this time he wished he’d thought twice before speaking. “S-Sammy,” he added. Thankfully, his new teacher didn’t seem to pay much mind to his nerves.

“Alright then, Sammy, you can take that seat over there.” She pointed with her wand. “We’re just about to get started.”

He did just as he was told, sitting down and quickly surveying the other kids around him. Boys and girls of various appearance, each so unassuming, but they’d all come for the same purpose. Some of them had probably been in this class for a while already. He wondered just how far ahead the oldest students were, and if he could tell them apart just by looking.

Nervously, he ran his tongue along his teeth as he scanned the room, feeling the sharpened points that he still wasn’t quite used to. His parents had allowed him to get a special dental operation; something to make his teeth a little more like theirs. He’d asked them for it the day he’d signed up for this class. It was one of the few body modifications that could be reliably performed by someone else; a first step he could take before learning the magic he’d need to change himself further. He wondered if anyone else in class had done the same?

“Alright, kids. That’s about time,” Ms. Caster called. “Let’s get started. I know most of you have been around for a bit, and you probably think you know how it goes by now, but it’s been a while since I’ve reminded you all, and we do have a few greener gullets, so…” She cleared her throat and prepared for a practiced speech.

“Every day of your life, since you can remember, you’ve watched predators hunt, swallow and digest people all around you. Unless you have the best- or maybe worst- luck in the world, chances are you’ve known a few of those ex-people personally, maybe even saw the moment they disappeared down a throat with your own eyes. Humans. Just like you, for the most part. You see them every day, melting away inside every bulging belly that walks by.”

Her expression shifted, eyes narrowing and suddenly staring down every single one of her students at once.

“This is magic predation class. You’re here to learn how to do that yourself. Everyone here is here because they decided they wanted to use their natural, uniquely human ability, to become something else: a predator. Now, a few of you are going to say that you’re only here to get stronger. Maybe a few more only want to have the skill ‘just in case’. Some of you are scared and think this is the only way you’ll survive. Others are sick of feeling like nothing but prey and just want to prove you’re something else. And I’d bet my wand that more than a few of you just really want to know what it’s like, to feel another person squirming in your own gut as they gurgle away.”

She paused and smirked, as if to say ‘it’s definitely not bad’.

“In any case. You’re here to become something different. You will quite literally be changing. You’ll be using magic to alter your own, live body, and if you’re careful, you’ll do it without killing yourself, crippling yourself, or becoming someone else’s food in the process.

“People, your friends, your family, they’ll judge you for this. Praise you, fear you, use you, abandon you. But not me. I don’t care why you’ve decided to become a predator. I’m just here to show you how it’s done. As long as you’re in my class there’s only two ways out: either you have what it takes to climb the food chain and pull yourself up to a passing grade, or you slip and fall down the gullet of a classmate on their way up.

“And fair warning for the newcomers: it’s not an easy climb.

“But, enough of my blabbing.” She tapped her wand a few times on her desk. “Let’s get started.”


~~~~
Another day, another mage-pred class. I knew it was going to be intense, but… wow. My potions teacher barely prepared me for the kinds of assignments I have now. Ms. Caster has sent me home with homework every night while I work to get the brew right.

But Sammy? What makes it so hard? Lots of people have done it already, shouldn’t all the recipes be well known and simple by now?

Well, you would think so, wouldn’t you? Except for one little detail that people like to leave out: it’s never the same potion. Yup, turns out every single mage needs slightly different potions for their specific body. Remember last week’s entry from when I couldn’t chew and my parents had to grind up my dinner for me? That’s what happens when you realize you have to include tooth filings in your jaw relaxant potion because your bones are particularly stiff and resistant. Or, at least I think that’s what it was. I might have also been slightly off with my aim on the focal spell for my left side.

Turns out it’s really hard to cast a spell on something you can’t see. And casting a spell on yourself? You feel every little effect and it is extremely distracting. Ms. Caster warned that it would be like performing surgery on yourself and I think she was right. But you have to be the one doing it, because you’re the only one who can control your own magic well enough to avoid interference, plus no one else can feel if you’re hitting the right places- and stop quickly enough when you miss.

Next week she said we’ll be moving onto throat stretching. And if I screw that one up, instead of not being able to move my mouth, I might end up sealing my windpipe instead…

But every time she talks about becoming a predator, I just… I know that’s what I’m supposed to be. Mom and dad love me so much and I   I just   I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna make it.

I gotta go finish my homework.
~~~~


“Good. Good. Good. Not loose enough. Good. Barely, but that’ll work. Yours is perfect; pay attention everyone. Yours is fine. And you’re fine too.

“Okay. Everyone who’s ready, get your wands in position and keep your vocabulary sheets to hand. Remember you have to target the spells to pull and stretch your muscles and joints in proper proportion. Proper symmetry is key. Take your time. Make sure you pick the right words for the right body parts, and don’t flub the grammar.

“And if I’ve told you you’re not ready. Do not try it. Study your potion texts again instead. If you break yourself open or snap something in half because you didn’t listen, don’t worry. You’ll at least be a valuable demonstration for the rest of the class, and I’m sure your muffled crying won’t disturb the others very much from inside my stomach.

Sammy did his best to keep his nerves steady as he listened to her instructions, wand pointed self-ward, directly at his own head and neck. He swallowed, knowing he’d better do so now while he still could, because that wouldn’t be an option once he started.

“Alright, begin.”

Focusing intently on his muscles and bones, he slowly and softly spoke the incantation. His jaw, by necessity, shifted with every syllable, forcing him to tweak the angle of his wand ever so slightly in order to follow it along. Speak too fast and he might miss with the spell; stumble on a word while trying to keep aim and the spell might just fail, or far worse.

But he’d done it a few times now, and he felt like he was starting to get the hang of it. Once the incantation was over and he felt his magic starting to flow, that’s when the real work started. He pulled gently with his wand, feeling the pressure building on the hinges of his jaws. The bones, the muscles, cartilage and skin. He ignored the popping and creaking in his ears, determined to keep up his concentration. He could see his lips moving, his chin. Everything stretching, flexing, gaping wide, wider than any normal human.

Then pain.

He tightened his grip on his wand, but didn’t lose focus. He slowly released a bit of the pulling force, just enough to keep himself undamaged, but he refused to let up more than that.

“A little pain is good,” Ms. Caster said, her eyes passing over him, though she spoke as if to the entire room. “Pain is a warning that you are pushing your body past its limits. And you’ll need to go far, far beyond your old limits if you really want to become a predator. But you won’t get there at all by rushing. You have to learn how far you can push yourself.”

Sammy pulled on his wand just that little bit harder. He was learning. He could feel it getting easier. He just had to keep going.


~~~~
It finally happened. We lost a student. And I don’t just mean some kid got nommed in the halls and didn’t show up. Ms. Caster finally failed one of us. Right in front of the whole class.
…
~~~~

“No! Please, wait!”

“Pay attention now, class. All of you,” Ms. Caster instructed, ignoring the panicked cry from the student she was wordlessly levitating overhead.

“I’m sorry! I swear I’ll listen to whatever you tell me to do! You can’t just eat me! I’m not prey! I’m a predator!”

Her stern, authoritative demeanor shifted just a bit, as she looked up to meet eyes with her latest failure. Her look seemed to soften even as it grew colder. Disappointed. Almost tired, in a way. She looked at the boy flailing awkwardly in midair in a vain attempt at escape. Yet one part of his body was conspicuously still.

“You’ve severed all the nerve connections to your right arm,” she said bluntly, loud enough for her class to hear.

“I-I can fix it! I-”

“It’s your dominant arm. Your spellcasting arm. You weren’t even supposed to be working on your limbs yet. That comes much later.”

“I- I- But-”

But she cut him off with a deep, disappointed sigh.

“It is not my choice that made it end like this for you. You’ve already done it to yourself. You’ll be dead and digested long before this could ever be healed.”

“No. No no no STOP-”

Sammy gasped. It happened so fast. One moment her face looked just like a normal person, and then, suddenly… huge, gaping jaws, a dripping, cavernous, crimson maw. He was sure the entire class caught the flash of her gullet, as she flicked her wand self-ward, and sent her student flying, straight down her throat.

*GULP*

The boy sank in immediately up to his chest, arms half-pinned by her cheeks on either side. Maintaining her levitation spell on just his feet, she managed to keep his kicking legs out of the way, and then, with the teen still wriggling desperately between her lips, she casually got up from her chair and walked around to the front of her desk.

*GULP*

A loud, powerful lurch of her throat sent a squelch through the silence-stricken room. Her neck bulged three times wider as her prey’s entire chest slipped inside.

She’s… a real predator, Sammy thought. He’d always known it, but seeing it right in front of him… This… ‘human’ woman, she was taking this teen with a skill and ease that matched or even bested half the human meals he’d witnessed. This was even smoother than some of his own father’s hunts!

*GULP*

*sluuuurp*

*glrk*

Ms. Caster allowed them all a few seconds of silence to let the sight settle in, as her meal settled visibly into her stomach.

“That, is how it’s done.”

*squelch*

The large bulge in her gut suddenly stretched sharply, but then quickly rebounded back into shape.

*BWUURP* “Excuse me, class,” the teacher said with a smirk.

Sammy found himself giggling quietly, along with a few of the other kids.

“That was a pretty good punch,” she said, clearly more for her remaining students’ edification than for her ex-student’s satisfaction.

Several more violent bumps and bulges appeared in the witch’s distended dome, but none of them seemed quite as big, and she simply stood her ground almost as if nothing was happening.

“Your prey will usually put up their hardest struggles right after being swallowed,” she explained, rolling right into an impromptu lesson. “You should brace yourself for that, even if the swallowing has already worn you out. It can last a few seconds to a few minutes, and vary considerably in intensity depending on the meal.

“This one here is actually putting up a pretty good fight, despite his injury. Having you come up and feel it yourself would be a tad too inappropriate, but you can tell from how large the movements are that he’s struggling very hard in there. This is exactly the kind of beating your stomach is going to have to take if you’re going to make it as a predator. In fact, you’re going to have to stomach a lot more if you want to hunt natural preds as well; claws, beaks, and all the muscle you can imagine to back them up.

“It’s not only your stomach you have to worry about, either. Remember, you’re taking your prey into your body. That means your organs, your lungs, your heart, it’s all right there, pressed up tight against a huge, angry, thrashing meal. If you haven’t properly toughened your stomach, abdominal muscles, and surrounding tissues, your food can easily kill you from the inside.

“I hope you can see why it’s very important that you don’t try anything too advanced before you’re ready. That means listening to my instructions, and following them carefully. Otherwise, instead of ending up like me. You’ll end up like him.”

Those closing words felt like they echoed in Sammy’s head. A familiar wave of fear swept through him. That very human fear. The fear of being eaten by a hungry predator. That boy who she’d just so easily nommed, it could have just as easily been him, right?

One stupid mistake. One little slip up. Sammy shook his head and snarled quietly at himself. No! I will not become prey! I’m not like these other humans. I am going to be a predator.

He tried not to think about how Ms. Caster’s latest meal had said almost the same thing…


~~~~
I can’t believe it! It’s really happening! I really am becoming a real predator! Just like my parents! I know it wasn’t much, I know. But it was something. It was… it was prey. Real prey. I still can’t believe
…
~~~~

“What is it, dad? What’s the surprise?”

“You’ll see,” the fatherly hyena teased with a chuckle.

They entered the kitchen, where mom was waiting, standing by the counter with a conspicuous box, just big enough to hold reliably in one hand.

“Mom? What’s going on? What is it?”

“Well, we’ve been planning this for a while now,” she started, smiling from ear to ear as she spoke. “We’ve been talking with your teacher and she thinks you’re ready for…”

“For what!?” Sammy demanded, excitedly raising himself up in instinctive mimicry of his hyena parents.

His mother lifted the box from the table, and the boy thought he heard something from inside. A sharp, short sort of sound. With a gentle push, his father urged him closer, as she opened up the top and carefully leaned it toward him.

*squeak* *squeak*!

“Whoa there!” yipped his dad.

Something flew out of the box, but Sammy saw a blur of hyena fur rush past the side of his head to meet it. Claws came together in front of his face, and then suddenly everything was still again.

“Sorry!” his mother apologized.

“It’s okay, dear, I got ‘em.” Carefully, the fatherly canine shifted his digits, revealing what had just leapt from the package.

The human boy blinked, confused at first, but then it dawned on him, and his eyes and smile started to grow and grow, as the moment began to sink in.

The thing wriggling in his dad’s quick grip, the thing his mom had been keeping in that box for him, was a tiny little mouse.

“I caught it for you on the hunt today,” his mom said.

“But… but am I really ready? I’ve barely done anything yet, really.”

“Don’t be so modest, Sammy. You swallowed a whole apple the other day.”

“Yeah, I guess, but…” But that wasn’t alive.

Images of Ms. Caster’s live demonstration flashed through his mind’s eye. She’d constantly warned that they were a long ways away from taking any real prey. And she’d made the consequences for pushing too far deathly clear. They’d only just started getting comfortable with overflexing their own gullet without direct spellcasting. And his belly? He’d barely done anything to change his puny little human stomach. What if…

“Our teacher said not to even try to eat anything like this until we’ve at least perfected our organic protective potions,” he told them dutifully, trying to ignore how exciting the thought was of actually eating live food for the first time.

“We talked to Ms. Caster, and she said as long as we took a few precautions, we could give it a try. She thinks you can do it. Said practicing early might even put you ahead,” his dad explained. Then his mother chimed in.

“We’ve fixed this little guy up so he can’t hurt you. We’ve watched you work so hard we just… wanted to give you something special. I-If you want it, of course.”

“Of course,” the fatherly hyena agreed, “Only if you want it.”

“Of course I want it!” Sammy blurted out excitedly, losing his composure for a moment before snatching it back. “I’m just… nervous…” he admitted, much more meekly. He’d been watching his family gulp down little rodents for years. Since he was a little kid. He’d always wanted to try it himself! It was his dream! But…

The parents shared a quiet glance, then both looked to their son. It was clearly up to him. Sammy stared silently at the mouse, working in vain to break free of his father’s claws. He started to imagine what it would feel like, really imagine it. This mouse right here, becoming his first…

“I- I want to do it,” he said again, conviction building. His father smiled and nodded.

“Okay.”

Slowly, Sammy watched the familiar, furry hand move over to his. The human boy took hold of his prey, feeling the unfamiliar form as his father slowly released his hold-

*squeak*!

The teen squeezed his hand into a tight grip, but by then the mouse had already slipped away, bounding over his thumb and down onto the floor, scampering frantically toward-

*THUMP*

“Oh no you don’t!”

In the blink of an eye, Sammy’s mom had disappeared from his sight, the empty box she’d been holding now fallen to the ground. He turned his head, and saw her extended out on the kitchen floor. A familiar little form squeaked and squirmed in her outstretched claws.

“Wow, that really is a lively one. Good catch, dear.”

“Shawn!” his mom called in a scolding tone, even as she started to laugh at the situation and pick herself back up. “You can’t expect Sammy to know how to handle prey!”

“Right, of course, sorry son,” he shook his head, now starting to laugh at himself too in a bit of embarrassment.

Sammy smiled awkwardly, but didn’t laugh. He understood all too well what had just happened. Even a hyena half his age would have had the instincts to keep a better grip on his food… But just as he started to feel down, his mother’s voice came again.

“It’s okay,” she soothed. “You’re still learning. Here, let us help you.”

She raised the little mammal in her grasp, offering it again, but not to his hands this time. He looked into his mother’s eyes, then gave a tiny nod.

Slowly, Sammy opened his mouth. Wide. Wider. As far as he could stretch it open. Honestly, it was probably pitiful compared to a ‘real predator’, but it was enough…

A shiver ran through his body at the first contact, as his mom carefully lowered the mouse onto his waiting tongue. He felt soft little paws patter and swipe harmlessly across his tastebuds, spreading a strange new flavor.

What was only a meager snack to his parents, suddenly began to fill more of his budding maw than he’d ever experienced before, as she guided the fuzzy gift past his pointed teeth. He felt the creature’s full weight press into the soft, unprepared surfaces of his mouth, its entire being passing into his.

“Just close now,” she instructed gently. And he did just that. Slowly, he brought his jaws together. He felt his lips come together over his mother’s claws, and then in one quick motion she released and pulled back and then-

Sammy blinked. He had a mouse in his mouth. A whole mouse. It was there on his tongue. For a moment, some human instinct in him almost made him gag! But he held himself together. He thought about his parents, how he’d watched them hunt, how he’d watched them swallow down big, wriggling meals: birds and boars and people.

The young teen tilted his head back, feeling his prey slip against the slick surfaces of his maw. He braced himself, took hold of his throat muscles, flexed as far as he could and-

*G-G-ULP*

“Hah!” Sammy gasped- almost coughed- as he felt the fur tickle his inner passages. He heard his gullet flex and squelch in his ears, felt the pressure build and squeeze and wrap itself tight around the meal he’d so bravely ingested and then, in a glorious moment, he felt the lump press into his neck, and start to slide.

His blinking eyes suddenly grew still and wide.

Down, down, down…

He put a hand to his chest. Something was… moving inside. Something that wasn’t him. He could feel it. He… he’d done it! He’d-

Before he could have another thought, he found himself suddenly squeezed tight himself, sandwiched between the embraces of a pair of parental predators.

“Oh, my little Sammy!” his mother gushed, “I’m so proud of you!”

“Ow! Wait- Y-You’re squeezing me too-” *URP*

Sammy felt the air escape back up his throat. His parents quickly backed off a bit, looking down with hints of concern, but their son just giggled and then started to laugh. And soon, the entire hyena family was laughing together.


~~~~
Today was… interesting, I guess. I’d kinda been thinking, since I’m finally becoming a real predator now, soon I’ll actually get to eat another human. I’ve been looking around at everyone I pass and, you know, kinda wondering. Who would it be? Who should I choose? It’s not like I’m not used to the idea of humans as food (unlike some of the other kids in class). I’ve just never been in a position where I could actually choose one as my food, you know?

My parents say that when it’s time, I should just pick someone who looks small and tasty, but how am I supposed to know what a tasty human looks like?

I tried powl   pral   prowling, like they said, but really I was just wandering around like an idiot. Lucky Jake was there to save me. He definitely helped me out. And then I found this girl. A girl with glasses. I think her name was
…
~~~~

Sammy looked awkwardly through the crowds of passing kids as he slowly walked the halls. Two of his classmates from Ms. Caster’s class actually shared last period with him, and the trio usually walked together for safety, but this time he’d fallen behind. At first he’d just stopped to use the bathroom, but then even after that he’d gotten too distracted just… looking at everyone, searching.

He knew it was more dangerous to walk alone, but he didn’t worry too much. He was a pretty good mage, after all- you had to be to make it in mage-pred class. Plus, he’d been told that the strong scent of hyena made him sort of unappetizing as prey- something he was always just a little bit proud of whenever it came up.

Of course, even a skilled, smelly mage could be quite appealing when visibly preoccupied.

That one? …No, probably too strong. …He’d be way too big, gotta find someone younger, closer to my age. …Maybe her? She’s… colorful? Is that what ‘tasty’ looks like?

A flash of brown across his lower vision caught his attention, but he hardly even had enough time to look down before he felt the pressure. It started around his legs, then his hips, his arms. By the time he felt it around his belly, he’d realized what was happening. A wall of flexing scales, backed by thick, powerful muscles, encircling him, wrapping him. Once, twice, thrice and on until his entire body was seized in a serpentine grip.

Now firmly trapped, Sammy watched a final layer of scale pass over his chest, as the naga’s upper body slowly came round one last time to gaze upon the ensnared human face-to-face.

“Gotcha!” jeered the snake boy with a large grin. The innocent, jovial tone completely shattered the sudden tension. He stuck out his forked tongue teasingly, and it flickered between them as he literally tasted victory. Though, not quite as big of a taste as one might be expecting.

“Jake!” Sammy complained with a bit of a whine. He hated being treated like prey. Besides being kind of terrifying, it was also just embarrassing. Especially now that he was finally really becoming a predator. What if his classmates saw!?

The snake boy just laughed, though, and Sammy started to smile reluctantly along with him. It wasn’t so bad when his friend did it just to play around, though. He knew the naga didn’t really mean anything by it. He mostly just liked the warmth on his scales.

“You know I’m still holding my wand, right?” the mage muttered in defense of his pride.

“You know I’m not squeezing yet, right?” Jake countered, flexing his coils just a touch.

“Yeah, yeah,” Sammy dismissed, rolling his eyes and feigning nonchalance, pretending he couldn’t feel the impressive strength. But Jake dropped the charade as well as his captured human, relaxing his long tail and uncoiling himself from his friend with an amiable smile.

“You should be a little more careful, though,” the snake boy advised. “What are you doing walking around like that?”

“I know,” Sammy admitted. “I was… I was trying to decide who I should eat.”

“Wait, really? Are you ready? Can you actually eat people now?” Jake started growing a big, toothy grin, very clearly excited for his friend.

“No, not yet.” He watched the naga’s expression fall into a disappointed pout. “But I will soon.” Pride and anticipation swelled in his chest at those words. “And I haven’t ever really thought about, you know, who.”

“Oh. Yeah… I think I can remember trying to pick my first human. It can be kinda stressful…”

“Yeah,” Sammy agreed. He thought over his parents’ advice on the topic again. “How am I supposed to know when a human ‘looks tasty’?” he muttered.

“I mean, you just… well… Huh… I guess it is kinda hard to explain. I don’t know, maybe you could try to find someone who smells tasty instead?” Jake offered offhand.

“Smells?” the mage teen echoed. “…Yeah, maybe…”

“Well, don’t go sticking your nose everywhere like a wolf pup.”

“Pfff, yeah, right. Hey, feel like slithering to class with me?”

“Yeah, sure, why not.”

~~~~
…
So we were just walking and chatting about stuff, but I was also just kinda, like, smelling the air? It wasn’t really something I paid attention to before. But then
…
~~~~

“What?” Jake asked, seeing his friend’s head turn.

“I… I smelled something.” Sammy turned around. Was that… was that the girl who just walked by? He sniffed the air some more, imitating the twitching snouts of his parents a bit without realizing. Somehow the scent and the person did seem to connect. She doesn’t smell like… food… but, she does smell good… He’d started walking backward the way he’d come now, following from a distance.

“Her?” Jake asked quietly.

That… that’s gotta be it, right? That’s gotta be what a tasty human smells like! What it looks like!

“Yeah, her,” Sammy muttered back. He stopped suddenly as she did. Another girl had walked up to her and he did his best to look inconspicuous in the background of their conversation, standing next to his naga friend.

“Hey, Minnie! You wanna walk together?”

“Sure! Thanks!”

“Minnie…” Sammy muttered.


~~~~
Well, these last couple days sucked.

But I’m alive at least, so there’s that.

I couldn’t even make a journal entry yesterday because it hurt so bad I just had to lay in bed, but I’m feeling a lot better now. I’ve been forcing myself to keep eating, and that’s been working. Hopefully I can go back to school tomorrow. I know Ms. Caster gave us this big long speech about how bad it could get, but still
…
~~~~

“I know not all of you are ready for this, but everyone needs to be paying attention here. Today, most of you will be testing your digestive augmentation potions.” Ms. Caster paused, looking over her students. Many of them had cups of ominous liquid sitting on their desks. Potions she’d carefully helped them craft, watching every ingredient and spell that went into them.

“Up until this point, most of you have only been working basic, independent body parts. Muscles, bones, joints; tongues, throats, jaws, ribs. If you mess up on those, you could get seriously hurt or even crippled. But the next step up is much more dangerous.

“Digestive and metabolic alteration affect the very core of your body. The things which sustain you from within are held together in a careful dance. But this elaborate inner balance is actually what makes the real difference between predator and prey. Predators are not just bigger and stronger than their meals, and they don’t hunt just because they enjoy it. A predator’s body is a body that needs to consume.

“Becoming a pred doesn’t just mean having the strength and skills, it means having the consequences too. You won’t just be able to move like them, eat like them, you’ll have to. Your prey will be what your body uses to balance all the new demands you’re putting on it. And once you start, there’s no going back. You either keep growing into the full, self-sufficient, metabolically-stable predator you are becoming, or you wither and die.

“If everything goes well, that is.

“Life does not take kindly to meddling. Adjusting the balance of your living bodies is not a simple task. You can very easily poison yourself, melt yourself from the inside out with your own stomach acids, seal up or contort your own innards, starve yourself by grinding your metabolism to a halt, or force your body to throw away so much energy that you’ll starve to death in minutes no matter how much you eat.

“And every change you make will affect how you feel, how you think, warping and straining your senses. Despite that, you must pay careful attention to yourself. You must learn how your body reacts and adjust accordingly. You are changing your body beyond its ability to heal itself. So it is up to you to keep yourself alive.

“I’ve taught you all you need to know. This first step, today’s potions, are very unlikely to kill you. But don’t expect things to go well. Consider this your first experience with the body of a predator. Your job is to survive, and learn.

Now, drink.”

~~~~
…
I bent over on my desk clutching my stomach about a minute later. It felt like drinking fire mixed with nausea. Wasn’t just me, either. It looked like most of us weren’t doing too well, but I wasn’t paying too much attention to the rest of the class.

She waited until basically the end of the period before she told us to drink, so she didn’t even bother sending us to the nurse, just sent us outside for our parents to take us home. Told us we could take sick days if we needed more time to recover. Mom and dad were really worried, but I told them I’d be okay. They made me promise, though. LOL

Last night was rough, though… I swear, my stomach was groaning almost as loud as I was… And then there was that dream.
…
~~~~

“Are you serious?” The tone was mocking, and cold. “You really thought you could eat me? You’re not a pred.”

“Yes I am!” Sammy yelled at his prey. But she was standing over him now, the girl Minnie he’d passed in the hall. He was on the ground on his back, and she was looming overhead, looking down on him.

“Humph, you sure don’t look like one to me,” she said, pushing up her glasses. Next to her, her friend giggled in agreement.

“I hear he flunked out of mage-pred class,” the other girl whispered, just loud enough for all to hear.

“Of course he did,” Minnie replied. “Couldn’t help being just as human as the rest of us.”

“He’s lucky no one’s eaten him yet. No way he lasts till the end of the year.”

“Stop!” the boy screamed. “I am a predator! I’m not like you! My mom and dad-”

“What, you mean the ones that got turned into hyena food?”

“No! Shawn and Sierra, they-” But he hardly got as far as his adoptive parents’ names before he was interrupted again.

“Oh! You mean the hyenas that ate them!?” Minnie took on a searing look of faux surprise and pity. “Poor little Sammy. You’re not their son. You’re their leftovers. You’re the stuff left at the back of the fridge that no one wants to finish. But don’t worry, I’m sure someone out there cares enough to do it. Maybe him?”

Sammy turned around, and suddenly he was face to face with Jake. He tried to move, but the coils were around him again. They squeezed tight. The serpentine jaws parted. Glistening fangs. Wet, inky blackness and the squelch of a hungry gullet.

“Poor little Sammy.” The words came again, but this time it was his mother’s voice.

He blinked, and now he was staring at Jake from the outside. A large, still bulge sat in the naga’s tail. And there were his hyena parents, staring down at it.

“I guess he couldn’t make it after all,” his father sighed. “Just prey.”

Just prey.

~~~~
…
And that’s about when I woke up.

Yeah. Like I said… Rough.

But I’m not going to let a stupid nightmare stop me. No way. Being a predator… it’s who I’m meant to be. I can feel it, you know? Inside. I just… I know it. Whatever it takes, I’m gonna do it.

I’m not quitting. I promise tomorrow I’ll be right back in that class.
~~~~


“So, you made it back after just a day?”

Sammy paused on the way to his desk and looked to his teacher, already sitting at hers.

“Yes, Ms. Caster,” the boy replied, slightly meek with surprise.

“Feeling better, then?”

In truth, he could still feel a noticeable unease in his gut right at that moment, but he wasn’t sure if that was still the effects of his potion, or just the fear of what the next one might do. Still, he didn’t let it show. He thought of his father and mother, standing tall and strong, and imagined standing with them.

“Yes, Ms. Caster,” he said again. She smiled at him, just a little.

“Good for you. You seemed like you had it pretty bad the other day, wasn’t sure if I’d see you again this week. But one extra bit of predator advice before class:” She paused, and he listened intently. “Don’t bite off more than you can swallow.”


~~~~
I swallowed it! I actually swallowed it! I can still feel it moving! Like, a lot! Gurgling guts it was huge! I mean, I guess it wasn’t as big as the watermelons, but those didn’t move! I just   I can’t   Something that big is in my stomach right now and it’s weird, alright!?

What was it called again? A groundhog? Anyway, it was I mean, I guess it still is since I haven’t digested it yet. Wow, that feels so cool to be able to say! Or write? Whatever! This thing I ate is like the size of my forearm, covered in fur, with a face and claws and, you know, like a whole ass animal! And I got it down in one gulp, like a real predator. Wait, not one gulp, I mean one piece. You know, instead of having to cut it up and cook it like humans do. It did take me a few swallows to get it down. And okay maybe I almost choked a couple times, but I didn’t! And now it’s my food! I’m patting my belly right now and it’s inside!

Wow, I can feel it trying to scratch its way out, but it looks like all my hard work is paying off. All those hours of stretching the stomach walls to make them harder to tear. All those disgusting organic protection potions to make the walls thicker and slicker and tougher so they can’t be punctured. All 10000% worth it!

I wonder how long it’ll take me to gurgle this thing? Mom can churn one of these in a few hours, but I think it’ll still take me at least a day or two. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen them smile that big before.
~~~~


“Urgh!” Sammy grunted, twisting in his bed. He felt the familiar clawed hand on his shoulder, but he was primarily focused on the flaring pain in his guts, as he wrapped his arms around his belly and squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for it to pass. Things had been going well for a while, but that last potion had been just a tad too ambitious.

The painful moment passed and he took a breath.

He knew exactly what he’d done wrong. He’d boosted the strength of his gastric muscles just a bit too much too quickly, and now every major contraction of his gut was slowly tearing them. He just needed to weather the effects for a little while longer, then wait for things to heal before trying again. This wasn’t even really a bad thing! After all, they would just heal back stronge-

“OW!” he winced again.

And next to him, sitting on the edge of his bed, his mother whimpered. Frowning down at him, she wished there was something she could do to help, but it seemed her presence was all she could offer.

“It’s okay, mom. I’ll be alright,” he muttered, breathing while he could.

“…I know you will, Sammy.” She stroked his arm, then added quietly. “…But this class does seem awfully dangerous…”

“It’s the only way,” he answered.

“But you were already doing so well as a normal mage. I’m sure you could survive like that,” she encouraged.

“No- OOF! …Predator… …It’s… the only way, to become a predator.” He thought back to his magic classes. Good grades were about the only thing he got from them. He never seemed to click with any of the other humans there, not unless they were in his mage-pred class too, and even then… He just didn’t fit in with ‘normal mages’- with any humans. He fit in with Jake, and his parents. He didn’t feel human. He felt like a predator. That’s what he was! What he wanted to be!

His mother squeezed his fur-less limb in silent support.

“I’m… your son… Don’t you think I can do it?”

“No, Sammy. I know you can do it,” she answered firmly. “But you know you don’t have to be a predator to be our son. You know that, don’t you?”

“I know, I- URG!”

They fell into silence again for a while, riding out the pains, but soon Sammy spoke again.

“Can you tell me about it again? That first day?” he asked softly.

“Again?” she asked. “Well, if you would like it, sure.” Suddenly, the concerned hyena was smiling, even despite the situation. “I definitely won’t ever get tired of talking about it,” she admitted, then she set her mind back. “The day we found you was the most wonderful day of my entire life. Your father and I had just gotten married. He took me out for a wonderful lunch date at the park. And, oh,” she started tearing up, “when we saw you there, our hearts just melted.”

He imagined the scenario. Freshly orphaned, sitting unprotected out in the open. His life was, for all practical purposes, over. Any human’s life would be. It was practically common custom that a baby should share his parent’s fate.

“Why did you decide to keep me?” he asked. He’d asked before, and he’d heard the answer before, but he wanted to hear it again.

“I don’t know,” his mother said. Her smile broadened further until she started to laugh, cackling softly at herself in characteristic hyena fashion. “Everyone told us we were crazy. But… There was just something about you. Your smile, your laugh. We didn’t care that you were human. It didn’t matter one bit. We just knew you were ours.”

She always told it like that. Sammy could remember some kids used to call him crazy too. He was pretty sure Jake had eaten them all by now, but their words still lingered. They told him that the reason he didn’t fit in, that he wanted to be a pred, was because of his parents, and it hurt because it sounded like the truth, but… Somehow he knew it wasn’t. Even from the day they’d first met, his parents could tell he wasn’t meant to be just another human. He was meant to be one of them. And they… They could have just finished their lunch date and gone on with their lives, but they were just so sweet and kind and loving that they-

“Oh, Sammy, are you alright?”

The boy realized he was starting to cry and rubbed an arm hastily over his face to wipe away the tears.

“Y-yeah, mom, I’m-” He put a hand to his gut again, suddenly remembering that he was supposed to be in pain, but… nothing came. “I think I’m actually starting to feel better.”

“Oh yeah? Good,” she smiled, stroking her son’s arm again.

“… I love you, mom.”

“I love you too, Sammy.”


~~~~
Okay, so, I did go to school today. I know, I know, it was stupid and dangerous. I could have taken the sick day, but I’ve been doing so well in mage-pred class I just really didn’t want to miss it. Not because of such a dumb mistake.

I don’t think I thanked Jake enough. He’s the only reason I was able to make it at all. Even after trying to sleep it off, my leg was still really sore. Like, couldn’t walk on it at all, sore. You’d think after strengthening all those internal organs, that doing my legs would be easy, right? Like I said, dumb mistake. Ugh. I really can’t afford to get cocky now. After all, this is one of the last steps before the big one.

Ms. Caster says my stomach is strong enough to take most prey now. I’ve been eating pred-sized lunches from the school, and mom and dad have been catching and buying prey for my other meals. But I need the strength of a predator if I’m going to actually hunt for myself.

And it’s not even just catching prey that’s the hard part. It always looks so impressive whenever you see someone move in a blink and pin their meal, or pounce halfway across the room, but you know what’s equally impressive? Well, Ms. Caster had us do an experiment: everyone in class try and hold up another kid for as long as you can. And, surprise, people are HEAVY! And all those preds are walking around with a whole other person in their guts- two sometimes! And they make it look like it’s nothing! Forget about getting a live human in my mouth, I won’t even be able to walk with a churned one in my belly.

Just realizing now that in my attempt to make my legs strong enough to carry two humans, I accidentally made one so weak that it couldn’t even hold one. That’s a painful bit of irony right there.

But like I said, Jake really helped me out. He slithered me between all my classes. Between him and some clever magic on my part, it was almost like a normal day, actually.

Oh, except for one thing. I saw her again. Minnie. I thought she might have gotten nommed last week but I was wrong! She’s still around! But not for long! That girl’s gonna be my first human meal, mark my words! (I guess I’m already marking my own words, huh?)

I haven’t just been studying my pred work, I’ve been studying my prey too! I know her class schedule, her friends’ names, which locker is hers. I’ve been planning the whole thing out. I know they say you can never count on the plans you make in high school, but this is gonna be different! I know it! She’s the one.
~~~~


“You see it?” came his dad’s quiet whisper.

“Yeah, I see it,” Sammy replied, equally hushed. “Think I can get closer?”

“Not much. We’re already too close, and since you stay on two legs you’re much more visible. You just have to go for it.”

“Right.” He tensed his legs as he squatted there. Thighs, calves, ankles, even down through the balls of his feet and into his toes, he could feel the power, the strength he’d built up over months of work. He flexed his fingers and felt the same through his arms too, through his shoulders and around his back and all down his spine. He’d honed his entire body. Endless weeks of soreness; giving way to new potential like storm clouds clearing from the sky.

“Pick your moment,” his father told him.

Sammy breathed. Quiet. Still. Steady.

…

*woosh* *SQUAWK* *flap flap flap* *THUD*!

“Ugh…” Sammy endured the pain as it pulsed through his side and waited for it to gradually leave him, his arms clenched tightly around his chest. He had aimed high, expecting his prey to attempt a skyward retreat. It had meant a harder landing.

But it had worked.

Caught between his lightly battered ribs and his unyielding forearms, was a large, wriggling bird.

Still grunting with each attempted breath, Sammy smiled as he opened his eyes. He was laying in the dirt, at the end of a sizable skid. Not the cleanest catch by far, but natural preds got to practice their landings when they were a third his weight and half his height. What mattered was that it was a catch. His catch.

He looked down at it, struggling in his grasp. Following his parents advice, he found the holds to grip it properly so he could begin to pick himself up from the ground.

“Yes! Good catch, Sammy!” his dad called from a few feet away.

Dirt falling from his shirt, the young mage lifted himself from the soil and held his prize high.

“That’s my boy!” his mom cheered, watching from nearby.

He stared at it with a pointy-toothed grin, panting, taking in the moment. And then:

*guuurgle*

All that muscle his body had now didn’t come cheap. Even this short hunt had worked up quite the appetite. Funny, he could never remember a bird ever looking quite so… appetizing.

Sammy parted his gullet, wide and wider still, reveling in how far he could flex his jaw. It was a skill he’d worked hard at. He showed the world his hungry maw with pride. And then he showed it to his prey.

*NOMF*

*gulp*

*gulp*

*glrk*

*ulp*

*gulp*

*glunk*

He felt the bulge in his neck, in his chest. It slipped lower and lower and then… settled. He put a hand to his stomach and felt it… wriggling. Both inside and out he felt it. Looking down, there was a small lump. It shifted his fingers slightly every time it jerked.

“…Heh… Hehe, hahahahahahaha- URP!”

He laughed. A loud, proud, joyful, exhilarated laugh. A true hyena cackle, just like his parents. Until it was interrupted by that pesky burst of air. He felt the sudden shift of his gut as the pressure escaped, followed by the gradual adjustment of his inner muscles as they leveraged their new position.

*gluuurg*

But there was still a little…

Sammy flexed his chest.

*BWUURP!* *slosh*

His entire belly shook along with the air. Now the budding mage-pred could feel every possible inch of his new meal, pressed up tight against his flexing stomach walls. The wriggles were now hardly more than faint little twitches.

That’s about when the proud human was suddenly tackled by a much more experienced predator. In this case, his mother, running up to give him a big hug.

“Our little Sammy is a predator after all,” his dad said, teary eyed. “Would you have believed it?” he asked his wife.

She just kept hugging for a while longer. And he hugged her right back, fingers pressing into her fur, fresh lunch sandwiched between them both. With quite a bit of force, too. Sammy had gotten used to that bit over the years, the extra-hard hugs. It was the natural way a predator embraced a human, after all. But with his new strength, it didn’t feel quite so rough as it used to.

Maybe it was the thicker muscles and the stronger bones that came with his transformation, or maybe it was something else, but for a moment, Sammy didn’t feel like he had to worry about the hearty squeeze from the proud hyena mother. In fact, for that moment he didn’t think about the pressure at all. He just… stood there, in her arms… like he… belonged there.


~~~~
Wow, I don’t think I’ve been this nervous since my first day in class. My stomach feels like it’s doing flips, and it’s way too late to be that mouse I caught. I just… I’m only going to get one shot at this. One chance. If I screw it up

No, Sammy. You’re gonna do great.

Tomorrow is the day.

I’d better try and get some sleep.
~~~~


“Hey, um, sorry, but, you wouldn’t happen to be headed to Ms. Ipsum’s class, would you?”

Lightly startled as she exited the bathroom, she turned quickly to take in the rather meek seeming boy who had addressed her. She answered without really thinking too much.

“Y-yeah?”

“Really?!” The boy gave a sigh of relief, though he still seemed pretty nervous. “You think we could maybe walk together? Just this time?” He looked pointedly at the wand in her hand; held at the ready since the moment she’d stepped into the hall.

“Oh, um, sure, I guess.” She glanced around, noting the wand in his hand as well. “Probably a good idea.” It made sense he’d feel better with another mage to watch his back. She would, too.

“Wait, is it… just you?” he asked, almost confused.

“Yeah, I usually go with my friends, but…” she briefly averted her gaze and adjusted her glasses, “…no one waits around when you need the girls’ room.”

“Heheh, same for the boys’ room,” he admitted, gesturing to the nearby door. The restrooms were right next to each other, naturally.

She found herself briefly chuckling at his sudden, hearty laugh, then nodded down the hall in an effort to get them moving. He eagerly followed her lead.

“So, what’s your name?” she asked.

“Sammy,” the male mage mumbled.

“I’m Minnie,” the girl replied, noting once again her schoolmate’s quiet, nervous air. His head constantly a little downturned, with a meek little expression, mumbling his words like he wasn’t quite brave enough to open his mouth, not even as he tried to smile. He almost seemed distracted, even. Eyes always on the move. She wondered what he might be thinking…

Come on, Sammy! Keep it together! Don’t stare at her! Oh, but don’t take your eyes off her either, gurgle-brain! Just… breathe. … Good, now say something.

“Our names kinda rhyme, huh?” Something that isn’t stupid! Ugh, WHY!?

“Oh, yeah, I guess so.”

This is it. It’s really happening! …It’s… weird… actually talking to her. I’ve been planning this for so long but, she’s…”

“Not really the best rhyme, though,” she added.

“Huh?”

“I’m sure Ms. Ipsum wouldn’t give a good grade for a near-rhyme like that, that’s all,” she explained, then quickly added on, “But if you ask me, I think there’s more to poetry than just that.”

Right, her next class. “You, um, like language arts?” He could remember overhearing her speaking fondly of it once or twice.

“I think it’s my favorite. I’m… kinda a sucker for a good poem,” she admitted.

Come on, keep breathing normal! And why didn’t Ms. Caster teach us a spell to keep my heart from thumping so hard?! Whatever! Forget about it. I’ve got to make my move before she gets suspicious.

But every time he glanced up at her face, he hesitated and looked away.

“Yeah? Me too,” he replied, far too preoccupied to really care what words he’d used. Again and again he’d glance up at her, readying himself, only to immediately change his mind.

Guts!

His whole life, Sammy Laughter had kept his distance from other humans. He’d talked and walked and ate with them, sure, but he’d never gotten close. Because he always knew, deep down inside, that one day he’d be eating them. He’d watch them smile and laugh together, and all the while he’d remind himself of the struggling bulges in his parents’ bellies and he’d say to himself, ‘don’t forget, you’re going to be a predator one day too, and humans are gonna be your prey, not your friends.’”

He’d believed that, all the way down to his core.

But now, right now, in the moment of truth… He glanced again at his prey’s face, at Minnie’s face, and… something inside him…

Do I… really have to eat her?

“Really? What’s your favorite style?” she asked, genuine interest piqued.

Shit! Why did I say I liked that stuff!? I suck in that class!

“Oh, well… I…” Come on, why can’t I remember a single type of poem!? This wasn’t actually supposed to be a useful life skill! “…t-this may sound kinda dumb, but… I mostly just like my own kind?”

You can’t keep this up much longer, Sammy. You… You just have to do it! Come on! This is your only chance!

“Like, stuff you wrote? Can I hear some?”

“Um… yeah, I…”

Just… think of Ms. Caster, think of mom and dad… This… This is what I’ve wanted for so long… so long… I… I can do this… I am a predator. I am a predator, and I’m going to show the WHOLE WORLD!

“… I made one yesterday…” he lied. “I think it went something like…”

He took a breath, and straightened up. He looked her in the eyes, and this time he didn’t flinch. She smiled gently at him, kindly awaiting his words. And Sammy Laughter, gaze unwavering, delivered those words. It only took two.

“Penitus aflohar.”

*clank*

It was a small sound, drowned amidst the clamor of the school hall. The tiny clatter of a small piece of wood against the ground.

Minnie blinked quickly a few times, feeling one arm suddenly go completely limp. Fingers devoid of force, she looked down at the hand which had just allowed her wand to slip free. Her pretty smile, melted rather quickly into a frown. Surprised… frightened… Those words had been a spell. She looked back up at Sammy.

I’m sorry. But I am a predator. And you are my prey.

What the girl saw was no longer a face, but a maw. The boy’s human mouth splayed open to an inhuman extent, jaws flexing and stretching, cheeks expanding, gullet billowing wider before her very eyes as the muscles deep within rolled and pulsed.

One hand on each arm, pinning them to her sides, pressing hard. He’d practiced it a hundred times with his classmates under Ms. Caster’s watchful eye. But he’d never been allowed to take the next step. Not until now.

“Noooo-”

*NOMF*

That was it. That was it! The feeling… the feeling of another human’s head in his mouth. Her glasses pressed into his jaws, her hair scraped and tickled against the roof of his mouth as she started to struggle, her taste… it soaked into his tongue. Her scent flooded his nostrils, down into his lungs, that same scent that had first captured his attention so long ago.

His entire body, having been trained relentlessly for this moment, seemed to brace itself. He could somehow almost feel his guts- his stomach and throat- instinctively comparing themselves against the meal now in his grasp. And the literal enormity of his task finally became all too real. This would be the single, largest thing he’d ever eaten. For a moment he was nearly terrified because it was so clearly impossible! It was all too obvious that he’d never be able to do such a thing, he’d choke even trying. After all his human body just wasn’t capable of such a ridiculous feat.

But I’m not just human anymore.

*GU-G-GULP*

My throat! Her- her head is in my throat!!

He could feel the incredible stretching. But he’d downed melons twice that size. No, the real test was about to start, and he knew it.

*GL-* … *GL-*

Sammy could feel it, her shoulders, squelching against the back of his maw as he tried and tried to force them down his gullet. His newly trained muscles flexed and grabbed at the wriggling meal, pulling on her neck and head as best they could, but to no avail.

GET. IN. MY. MOUTH!!

The burgeoning predator strained his hands and arms and shoved his prey’s entire body forward, inwards, as he bore down on his chosen meal with all his strength, and gave a huge, thunderous-

*GULP*!

His eyes bulged open wide. Suddenly he felt a gargantuan bulge in his throat. Muscles stretched and strained more than ever before, nearly to the point of pain, but his body held. More than that, he felt the grip his gullet now had on the girl he’d grabbed; how it rippled around her even as it held tight.

Her head was in his chest now, and he wanted to know. He wanted to know what she would feel like… inside his…

*GULP*

Sammy felt the huge mass of struggling meat press against his quick-beating heart as he pulled his meal deeper. And Minnie’s head finally poked through into the one place all humans fear above all others. She entered the stomach, of a predator.

My stomach… SHE’S ACTUALLY IN MY STOMACH!!

He tried to move his head to look. Of course, he found that the prey lodged in his throat kept him from doing so, but even just attempting to move forced his human meal against his insides in new and exciting ways. He could feel her! This was really happening! He was doing it!

*SCHLURG*

A loud, wet squelch sprung from his belly; a ravenous rumble; something that he’d been holding back since the moment he’d set eyes on her, only now a thousand times more enthusiastic.

That fear, that little, lingering fear that he might somehow yet split himself open, it was quickly fading, utterly overtaken by the sheer exhilaration, at the mere thought of what the next few moments would bring.

More.

*GULP*

*blubl*

As Sammy forced down another few inches of his teenage meal, his belly was forced outwards, just as her belly was forced into his maw. He could feel the rapid, desperate attempts at breath, ebbing and flowing erratically inside her core as it pressed against his tongue. The life that he was taking into himself. Consuming. It wasn’t just his own heartbeat he could feel anymore, it was hers too. Thumping and thundering against his inner walls, as his own pulse beat against her skin.

He’d gotten tastes of it, through the other prey he’d eaten, the smaller prey. But he couldn’t have known until that moment. It wasn’t something any class could teach. No. It was dawning on him now: this is what it meant to be a predator.

*GULP*

It occurred to him in passing that the outside world was more or less gone from his mind. As his meal’s hips slipped over his pointed teeth, all there was for him was her body, in his. He could feel every contour in detail, every curve and bend, each joint and muscle as it moved.

*GULP*

He watched her bottom slip beneath his nose.

I really am swallowing a… a whole person. Every part of her… everything she is… all of her is…

*GULP*

…m i n e.

The tips of her fingers barely tickled against the back of his tongue, as his stomach bulged larger and larger. He buckled slightly under the weight as he struggled to keep his balance. Her feet were off the floor now, he was the only one who-

*THUD*

*SQUELCH*

Whatever instinct had kept him upright seemed to fail him the moment he became conscious of it, and with Minnie’s struggles and wildly flailing legs, he tipped forward and came down hard on the floor. Luckily, he had a rather large, surprisingly squishy bulge to land on. He heard a loud whimper from inside his gut, and felt a pang of guilt, and yet he somehow felt it right alongside the swell of utter joy.

Look at how much is inside me already! I’m really doing it! Look, she’s more than half way!

He felt her attempt to bring her knees up to his face, likely trying to brace against him somehow, but he reached out and grabbed one thigh, giving it a firm tug in time with another greedy:

*GULP*

His whole body shook, lifted a tad higher as he packed more of his new meal inside, growing the bulge on which he lay. But his own weight was getting in the way, now. Grabbing onto both of her legs, he kicked and twisted his own, rolling back and forth a few times until with a muffled grunt, he managed to heave his huge, wriggling gut out from underneath and roll himself onto his back.

Instantly, the combined weight sunk into him, pressing hard against his organs. For a moment he swore his vision dimmed, but he tensed his powerful new muscles and focused. He gave his stomach the support it needed, then turned attention back to his throat.

So close!!

*GULP*

His eyes bulged again. His throat protested. His stomach was so full, there just wasn’t room! Every extra inch of leg he swallowed just packed his meal in tighter and tighter.

No! I’m not giving up now! I’m a predator, and this is my prey!

*GULP*

Sammy winced around the calves on his tongue. His jaws were starting to come together again, tired and sore from every pounding swallow as they commanded his food deeper. But there was so little left now! They had done their job valiantly. He focused on his belly instead. So tight. So full. He just had to find a bit more room. He let out all the tension he could without letting it crush him, and…

*GULP*

YES! That’s it!

When he looked down his nose again and saw only feet, he grinned a huge, toothy smile around them.

I, am Sammy Laughter. And I, am a predator!

*glk*!

He closed his eyes, and felt it happen. His jaws finally closed. His throat sealed shut with a quiet squelch. A firm, wave of pressure flowed gradually down his neck, as skin and muscle pressed inwards, coming together once again to take their familiar places, in the wake of the big, meaty mass that slowly slipped down, down, deeper and deeper until-

*GASP*

Sammy had basically forgotten to breathe until the moment he felt it. That hungry ring of muscle, buried deep at the entrance of his powerful stomach.

He felt it seal shut.

Panting, the teenage mage-pred finally looked down his body, at the new wriggling bulge which towered over him.

“I…” he breathed.

He was still lying in the middle of a busy hallway, and yet the moment seemed serenely calm and quiet compared to the moments before. It seemed all too much like a dream. After all, this had been his dream for so many years. Was it really…?

But he reached out and touched the taught skin, and felt his own hand. And the jerking, struggling form in his gut, he felt that too. And it was all too real. Far too vivid. No. No dream could possibly match this.

*ugh* *ugh* *Ugh*!

He managed to sit up after a few tries. His great gut wobbled and groaned, continuing to warble with the muffled protests of the doomed girl within.

“I… I did it! I actually-”

A particularly hearty kick from his meal almost knocked him over, but he caught himself with one arm.

“Whoa!… Ha… hahah, hahahahahah!! I did it! I- *BWUUUUURP*”

A huge rush erupted back up his throat, a force he couldn’t hope to hold back, and he felt carried with it something rigid and solid.

*splat*

Landing in his lap in a glob of his own drool, was a familiar pair of glasses, dripping onto his pants.

He should have been embarrassed, but instead he just grinned massively. He’d just felt his entire, enormous belly quake and rumble around his meal, pressing in deeper. He could feel his inner muscles clenching in tighter around her… completely enwrapping her in his presence. Taking her. Her lingering scent swirled around him, tinted by his newly arriving acids.

“First one?”

“Wha!?”

Those two words finally jarred him from his private little world. Suddenly he heard the steps of his peers again and the chatter of his classmates, and suddenly he turned and saw a figure standing over him. A neko, thin tail hovering, feline ears pointed, her visible fur a patchwork of shadowy hues. One lighter patch of burnt-orange fur surrounded a single eye, the pair of which stared down unblinkingly at the bloated boy before her.

For a split second, an instinctual fear gripped him. He was sitting on the floor, in the middle of the hallways, in front of an empty-bellied predator. But then her words and their meaning finally registered.

“Um, y-yeah,” he answered.

Silently, the cat girl reached down and extended a hand, claws retracted.

Sammy was no stranger to accepting aid from predatory paws; he’d been raised by hyenas after all. Still, he had to think twice about it, this was a stranger. He looked into her eyes, and while he couldn’t really read much at all, there was certainly something about that gaze, something different, something… missing. He didn’t feel… threatened.

The human reached up and took the neko’s hand. She hoisted him to his feet with absolutely no visible effort, big belly and all. The sudden shift actually made it tricky for the first-time pred to catch his balance, and he took a half-step to counter another vehement wiggle from his lunch, as her regurgitated glasses clattered to the floor.

When he refocused his gaze, he caught the cat quietly looking him up and down. With a move like that, he would usually think she was sizing him up for her own lunch, but…

“Nice catch,” she offered approvingly.

“…Thanks…” Sammy muttered, and his surprised, slightly worried expression grew once again into a glowing, almost disbelieving grin.

She reached down and picked up the dirtied spectacles, cocking her head as she eyed them with quiet feline curiosity. Then a moment later, she offered them toward him, wordlessly.

He wasn’t really sure why he’d want them, but he wasn’t about to make her deal with them, so he pinched them reluctantly from her hand. Seemingly done with their interaction, the helpful neko simply turned her head to look down the hall the way she’d been going, then a moment later the rest of her body followed suit and she started walking again without another word.

It was the most casual, boring, mundane interaction one might imagine. And it thrilled Sammy to no end.

She just… helped me up, and left. Like I was just another kid. Just another pred like her.

Almost absentmindedly, he ended up slipping the glasses into his pocket and putting both hands to his belly, keeping it steady and feeling around as he pondered.

I feel… so… full.

It was the best word his mind would conjure. Perhaps his meal, or his meal’s teacher might have been able to pick a better one, but it was the word which fit for him. Not just that he had a full stomach, but something more.

Now standing tall, he looked down and marveled over the vaguely human-shaped distention that sprung forth from his middle. He watched it bob and wobble as he moved, watched it jiggle and jolt as she thrashed. He could see the back of her head, the curve of her spine, the shifting bulges of her shoulders and elbows. He passed a hand over it all, marveling at what he’d been able to do.

*guuurgle* *glurg*

A surge of something new and exhilarating rushed through him as he felt his stomach move around its meal, his prey. He just kept staring, completely enthralled. A big, struggling meal, like he’d seen a thousand times, but now it was his…

All his.

~~~~
…
And that’s how it happened.

The rest of the day was kinda a blur. I only had a couple classes left, but I don’t think I remember anything about them. All I could think about was Minnie. I thought about her in a lot of ways.

Like, I remember the moment when… she stopped moving. It was in the middle of class. I think I actually gasped when I noticed. A couple other kids looked over. There was this other girl, and this boy next to her. They looked at me like… they were afraid of me. And I felt kinda… bad… I think.

But that’s part of being a predator, right? And even though I’m not totally used to that part yet, and I’m still a little sad, I’m also just so, so so so so SO SO SO SO happy!

I can barely even focus on writing. I’ve taken a bunch of breaks already just so I can sit back and, you know, just feel it.

There I go again. Okay, let me try and finish.

Jake found me around the end of the day and, naturally, he was totally impressed. He poked my belly with his tail like a hundred times, like he totally couldn’t believe it. He thought maybe I was using some spell to fake it and prank him. I think he started to believe me after he poked so hard that I burped in his face.

I went to mage-pred class at the end of the day, but get this, as soon as I walked in, Ms. Caster saw me and called me over to her desk. She actually smiled at me. And she said, ‘Don’t worry about class today. Just go home and enjoy the moment. The first one is special. Don’t come back until this one’s all gone, I’ll tell the principal for you.’

And then there was   What happened next was… maybe my favorite part actually
…
~~~~

“Mom? Dad?” He opened the front door of his house and called out, barely able to contain his emotions enough to sound normal. He took a couple hefty steps inside, still breathing a bit heavy. He’d stopped for a moment at the door to recover from the long walk home, but he just couldn’t wait anymore.

He heard the familiar clacking of claws on the floor.

“Sammy? Are you home early?” His mother’s voice bounced through the hall with a hint of alarm. Maybe she thought she’d been late to walk him home? Or that he’d gotten hurt again? The pawsteps grew closer. “Is something wro-”

She froze. And she blinked. Her muzzle slowly fell open at about the same time that her eyes widened and her arms dropped limply to her sides. She stared until tears started to sparkle in her eyes.

There, standing in the door, was her son, coming home with a big, beautiful, proud belly.

“Oh Sammy!!” she cried, rushing forward at full sprint.

In practically any situation, a human standing at the end of a narrow hall, facing down a charging hyena, wand nowhere in his grasp, would be absolutely terror-stricken.

But Sammy was no mere human anymore. Tears welled up in his own eyes as he watched the approach, not from fear, but from overwhelming joy. He stood his ground and let her crash into him. She aimed for his side, just grazing the bulge between them and throwing herself at his chest, flinging her arms wide. She nearly knocked him over, but it was the sheer force of her embrace that managed to hold him upright, refusing to let him fall from her arms.

Sammy sniffled, closing his eyes and wrapping his arms around her in kind. He pressed her close.

“Darling? What’s-” His father stepped into the hallway and looked toward the commotion. “What’s going on?”

“Shawn look!” She removed herself just long enough to show off clearly the massive belly Sammy was sporting. “Look at our son! Look, he’s-” Too choked up to continue, she knew the message was clear enough when he started running over to them too, so she just pulled her baby in close once again.

A moment later, Sammy felt his dad crash into his opposite side, throwing his arms around both of them. His belly gurgled loudly between the pair as they both hugged around it. Through quiet, erratic sobs, he smiled the largest smile to ever cover his face.

No moment in his entire life had ever felt so perfectly right. He knew, in that moment, that there was absolutely no question about where he belonged, no worry about fitting in or standing out. He had never felt so at home, so unbound, so loved, and so content, as with his first human meal- his proud, predatory proof- nestled between the firm embrace of his two, wonderful parents. His family.

“I did it,” he managed to barely say. “I caught one.”

“Yes you did,” his dad replied, brimming and beaming with pride.

“Oh- you-” his mother took a few breaths to calm herself. “You have to tell us everything, okay? Start at the beginning and give us every detail. Come on, over to the couch. Do you need help? Here, let me…”

~~~~
…
Shoot, I have to be careful not to get the page wet. I’m not crying a lot or anything, I’m just

So they sat with me and wouldn’t let me go until I told them the whole thing. I swear their smiles were so big it looked like it should hurt. My smile definitely did, but I think that was more cause of stretching my jaw around a whole person. Anyway, they just sat there and listened. They cheered for me. Helped rub my belly. It was just   It was really nice. Like, so nice.

Ugh! Hold on.
…
~~~~

Sammy got up from his desk and wiped his eyes again with his arm. Walking awkwardly over to his bed, he sat him and his meal down and took a breath. The frame creaked beneath his new weight in a new way he wasn’t used to. Just another one of those subtle differences.

“This is all your fault,” he muttered through his smile at his gurgling belly, still a bit annoyed at the smudges in his journal. He hoped they wouldn’t soak through to other pages. Maybe he could pretend he spilled some water? Would that be less embarrassing? But he’d already written the word ‘crying’ and he wasn’t about to tear out the page. Whatever, not like anyone would actually be reading it, and no one else was around to see it either, so…

He put a hand to his belly and stroked it.

There was… almost someone else there… but not really, anymore… The shape of her body was still pretty clear, though. And he still got traces of her scent every time he burped. But, he knew that all wouldn’t last long.

He glanced over at his desk again. Her glasses were sitting under the lamp. He’d wiped them dry.

“…Sorry,” he whispered to no one. “But… thank you.” He gave his belly a little squish.

*gluurp* *blorp*

Sammy laid back on his bed, hoping to give his back some relief.

*slooorp*

His massive gut bobbed up and almost hit him in the face, before wobbling back into stillness. Immediately he felt the huge pressure on his organs, and indeed a whole new kind of force on his back. He pulled himself upright again with a bit of help from the bedposts.

“I thought preds love sleeping off their big meals. How do they ever sleep if they can’t even lie down?”

He knew the answer was that his transformation was still incomplete, and he just needed to work on his internal strength a bit more, but he still felt compelled to complain to the air. It took him a few tries of various positions before he managed to get comfortable.

With pillows piled up against the headboard of his bed, he managed to settle into a position where most of his meal’s weight was shared between the bed frame and his legs. Slightly reclined, he pulled some covers messily over himself and just… rested there.

He focused, mostly, on the warmth. It was so, incredibly warm. It was a pure, calming, radiant heat, that flowed out from his gurgling belly and over his entire body. Like stepping into the perfect-temperature bath and letting it soak into your bones.

His body seemed to sense him relaxing, because only a few minutes after laying down, the sounds from his gut increased tenfold. The biologic soundscape filled the otherwise quiet room, providing an accompanying backdrop of ambiance for the main event. That being, of course, all that the new mage-pred could feel going on inside, just a touch below his taught skin.

With most of the air gone now, he could feel his stomach’s juices filling every nook and cranny. He noticed it every minute or so when his gut gently clenched. His fleshy folds would force their way into the gaps and curves of his prey’s form, driving his acids deeper, each time with less dryness to be found and fewer pockets of gas to get in the way. Fewer gurgles and more sloshes.

At the same time, he could feel the lighter… almost curious shifts of his inner muscles. They came seemingly at random, different times and at different places, as his belly seemingly mapped out the meal in its grip. He was sure it was already searching for where his lunch would first begin to break down, but that, he also knew, would take a while.

But he’d been given a free pass from school. He had all the time in the world. And so he closed his eyes, and he let himself sink into the sensation, his mind flowing with the rhythms of his body.

And so he drifted off.


~~~~
Guess I should start a new entry. Sorry, I kinda fell asleep… for twelve hours.

It got so late that my mom finally woke me up cause she was getting worried. Apparently she took off work so she could be around for me today.

I’ve gotta say, I’m kinda surprised. I know this is my first human, and I haven’t fully gotten my stomach up to ‘real pred’ levels, but I was expecting a little more change than this. It honestly feels like almost nothing’s changed at all in there. I looked in the mirror and you can still totally see her shape and everything. I think she’s maybe a little softer in a few places? But not much.

Man, every step I take sounds like I’m stomping on the ground carrying a big bowl of water. Trust me, you don’t really know what a pred’s stomach sounds like until you’ve lived with one for a few hours. Most of the time you just see them passing by, or sitting next to you in class, or at the dinner table, but then you go off and do your own thing. Well not when it’s your belly. It just never stops! I can feel it all day long! Pressing and kneading and churning. Honestly, it feels pretty great, but it’s just a lot to get used to.

I hope… I can actually, you know, do it. I mean, I know I should be able to. Humans are really just like the other prey I’ve already churned but way bigger. But Ms. Caster did warn that if your metabolism isn’t quick enough, you can actually starve to death while your stomach’s stuffed and busy.

Not that I’m really worried or anything of course! That’s not gonna happen. It would take days and it’s only been, like not even 24 hours. I’m sure it’ll be fine.
~~~~


“Sammy? …Sammy dear?”

“Ugh… Mom?” He squinted his eyes open. Sunlight was streaming into the windows and straight into his eyes as he blinked. Felt like he’d been out like a brick again.

“Another big night, huh?” she asked, smiling down at her human son.

“I guess so,” he replied groggily, picking up on the fact that morning was now mostly behind them at this point.

He wiggled his shoulders a bit and flexed his arms and back, feeling the cushioned headboard still propping him up. Needing to stretch more, he leaned forward and-

*sqULCHK*

He froze, except for his head darting downwards, and stared.

That feeling he’d just felt… he played it back again and again in his mind, alternating between the recent memory and the present sensation of his innards. He’d felt the familiar outline of Minnie’s form in his gut, the one he’d been carrying around all this time, and then…

He put a hand to his belly. The shape was different now, as was the texture. Several distinct contours were still visible in the bulge, but they were surrounded by areas of squishy, yielding smoothness.

“Well! Looks like it was a big night!” his mom cheered. “Someone’s stomach has been busy digesting.”

He didn’t respond, just continued to poke and nudge at his gut with his mouth agape.

*guuuurgle* *glorp* *splurp*

I… My stomach… did all that… He felt his face lighting up with a grin.

“When you feel like getting out of bed, Jake’s here to visit,” she told him.

“Wha-? He is? But what about school?”

“It’s the weekend, silly.” She gave a characteristic hyena chuckle.

“Oh! Right, duh.” He laughed at himself along with her. “Um, tell him I’ll be out in a minute.”

Still laughing, she turned and started walking back out of his room.

“Hey, mom?”

The hyena paused and looked back.

“I… I’m really happy I’m your son.” He couldn’t help turning his head away, but he still looked at her from the corner of his eye. He saw her smile grow wider; pointed teeth just like his.

“Me too, Sammy,” she replied, then turned again and kept walking before she started to cry.


~~~~
Wow, it’s really happening. Like really happening. I’m actually digesting her. My first human meal! I DID IT!

I can feel my stomach getting emptier. The bulge is so much smaller now. The sounds are different, too. I don’t know how to explain it. I never really noticed it before, but the stomach gurgles are just… different than the intestinal ones. I swear you’d never know the difference if you didn’t listen to them for days straight. And I guess being able to feel what’s going on inside helps too.

Speaking of feeling, I feel great! Like, completely amazing. My belly is still pretty heavy, but sometimes I don’t even notice it anymore. Like, I played with Jake almost all day yesterday and the most annoying thing was just all the burps and

You know, biology isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. I’ll spare the details because gross, but when I get back to school I’m definitely gonna ask Ms. Caster to show me some kind of spell to beef up my bladder. And I guess I’ll also have to tell her that I’m not fully digesting all the bones yet. Maybe I can just slip her a note? Yeah, I’m gonna try it that way.

But the main takeaway: being a predator is AWESOME.

Every morning when I wake up, I put a hand on my belly just to remind myself that it’s not just a dream anymore. That I’ve actua

Nature calls
…
~~~~

Sammy scribbled hastily those last few words, before leaping off his chair with a loud *thud* and an even louder *slosh* and bounding off toward the bathroom.

He followed the familiar ritual, closing the door and locking it. Dropping the seat, dropping his pants, and dropping… ‘the rest’.

Even now, though, the boy couldn’t help but marvel at how his body worked. He’d never given his bathroom visits even the least amount of thought before, let alone interest, but… All the things his digestive system was getting rid of now… That had all been a part of her. That had been another human being. This was her body pushing through his, what was left of it, anyway. Every bit of unneeded matter that had once been a girl in his school: the remains of her clothes, the bits and pieces of her guts that his couldn’t use, and the very, very ample water content he had taken on.

Clenching his lower gut, he could feel the bulge that was once Minnie shrinking away, little by little. A whole human, down the drain.

*flush*


~~~~
Wow… that… that’s it… She’s just… gone. It’s crazy, I know it literally took me days to digest just one meal, but… it seems so fast now.

I can still remember all the months of planning. Working my body. Imagining that first real taste of human prey. I can still remember her face. I’d pictured it for so long! The way she felt in my stomach… And she doesn’t even exist anymore! Just her old glasses, sitting on my shelf.

My first human.

First.

Yeah, FIRST!

I can actually just… hunt humans now, can’t I? Like, whenever I want?

Sure, I’m not gonna do anything stupid, I still have a ton to work on before I even pass Ms. Caster’s class, let alone stack up with all the other preds out there. It took me months to catch this one girl, not to mention half a week of doing nothing while I churned her, but I CAN DO IT!

If I wanted to I could go hunting with Jake. Or mom and dad. I… I remember so many times… just sitting around, waiting for one of them to finish hunting. I used to wish I could go with them. I’m never gonna have to wish that anymore.

Wow, I actually feel… It’s like, I know Minnie’s already moved through me at this point, but it’s almost like she left something behind, you know? It’s not that I feel… full… it’s more like.

Whole.

I feel like I’m, you know, one whole me.

And you know what? I think the whole rest of the world better watch out.

Because Sammy Laughter is a predator, and he’s out there hunting, and he’s hungry!

…Actually, I am kinda hungry. Gonna go see what food we have   No what am I saying!? I’m gonna go ask if anyone wants to go hunt!
~~~~