Content
“Owww!!”
The relaxing dragoness, more than half asleep, jolted awake as her ears sprang to attention. That had been the unmistakable sound of her little human brother crying out in pain. Surprised and concerned, she quickly rose to her feet and left her private little nook, exiting into the maze of tunnels and caves she called home. Following the whimpers and sobs led her quickly to the next chamber over, where she found the young boy curled up on the ground with his hands over his knee.
“Averi!” Toby cried, seeing his eldest sister rush hurriedly into the cave. The dragoness came up to him immediately, concern clear on her face, the light of a nearby firepit flickering against her light-pearl-blue scales.
“What happened?” she asked, bringing her snout down to get a closer look.
“I- I was trying to climb the wall,” he sobbed, “but I fell!”
“Aww,” she crooned, “Let me see.”
The boy reluctantly removed his hands, and the faint yet sharp scent of blood prickled her nostrils. For a split second she felt herself tense up in alarm, but she quickly relaxed as she got a good look at the injury.
“There, there. It’s okay, it’s just a little cut,” she soothed, nuzzling him gently. Poor little Toby. Without any scales even a little bump can hurt him.
“It hurts!” he insisted. Averi frowned sympathetically. She thought for a second and seemed to hesitate.
“…Here,” she said after a moment. She parted her jaws ever so slightly and the very tip of her red tongue emerged past her teeth. As gently as she could, she ran the wet appendage over the little boy’s knee, leaving nothing behind but a bit of saliva in its wake.
“Just keep it clean and it’ll be good as new in no time,” she encouraged.
Toby looked up at his big sister, smiling, but still sniffling.
“Next time, maybe ask someone to watch you when you want to climb,” she suggested, smiling back.
A fresh tear broke loose and rolled down the little human’s face. Averi brought her tongue around once more, and just as gently brushed it across his cheek, though it was so big it ended up covering his entire face. Toby giggled, his smile broadening.
“Um, Averi?... *sniffle*… Could I stay in your belly for a little while?” he asked with big, sad eyes. Her smile shrunk just a bit.
Unlike most of her kin, she had never really shared the desire to swallow her little sibling. She had nothing against it- nothing at all; she wasn’t some grumpy hard-nose like her uncle. She understood why they all liked it, and she loved to hear Toby enjoying himself. It was all done unquestionably out of love- but not love alone. That hunger, that desire, that predatory pride which rewarded them for every gulp- she could see it in them every time. Averi had never resented it, she just… well she had never felt it herself.
And Toby knew. Well, he knew something. He knew he had hardly ever been in his big sister’s belly. And he knew the idea made her quiet and hesitant. But just now he had asked anyway.
Averi considered for a moment offering to get one of their other siblings, any one of them would probably be just as sympathetic and much more eager, but she could somehow tell that that wasn’t what he wanted. No, somehow she could see that he wanted it to be her- his big sister. She looked over him for a moment, the breath from her nose pushing and pulling at his hair. He sniffled once more.
“…Alright,” she sighed, reluctant yet accepting. She saw him smile again and felt the corners of her own mouth perking up. “Just for a little while,” she said. Toby nodded, and continued to look at her expectantly.
Averi parted her jaws, wider this time, tilting her head slightly to the side and extending her tongue slowly toward him. Toby watched the red wall of muscle pass behind him, sliding against his back as it curved around his side. The slimy appendage surrounded him, wrapping him in its warmth. It gently squeezed in around him, slipping in beneath to lift his huddled body off the ground.
Tenderly, Toby felt his sister’s tongue slip back into her mouth, taking him along with it. She saw her little brother begin to glow with his own light as the firelight left him, just before he disappeared from view into her snout.
She let her jaws close and slowly unraveled her tongue, leaving Toby laying freely in the center. She felt him spread his limbs, no longer curled into a ball on the cold, stony ground, but relaxing in the squishy warmth of her maw, letting himself sink down into her embrace.
She could taste him, but she felt no urge to swallow him down- say for maybe the purely physical desire to clear her mouth of its contents. She let him lay there for a time, but before long she could somehow tell he was waiting. Waiting to be sent down to the impenetrable shelter of her belly, where nothing else could hurt him and he could truly relax. So she granted his wish.
*gulp*
It was the lightest little swallow, at least by the standards of a dragon. The soft flesh rose up around Toby and gently guided him forward, carrying him, squelching and sliding, down over the back of her tongue and into her throat, where the rolling waves of peristalsis would ferry him on to his destination.
The boy entered the dragoness’s stomach with a gurgle and a plop, not even audible from the outside. But Averi felt him arrive, and felt him shifting as he settled in. She thought about returning to the nook where she had been napping, but for some reason the thought of sloshing him around as she walked just didn’t seem very hospitable. And one cave would do just as well as another, she supposed.
A few moments after reaching his big sister’s belly, Toby felt her lie down. Her stomach, usually quite roomy, compressed around him, pressing gently against him from above and below, but leaving him ample room to stretch out to his sides. It was perfectly cozy, like a warm, slimy hug. The pain in his knee seemed almost like a distant, foggy nightmare in the wake of a sweet dream.
“Thanks Averi,” he whispered.