Content
HNTBL: Other Tails
(a “How Not To Become Lunch” spinoff)
Chapter 7:
Eat and Run
Ender texted Slee, as his father made clear in no uncertain terms, “You will run for an hour this morning or jump rope, and you will get it done before school!!!!”
[[Morning Slee you up or are you Sleeeepy?]] Ender texted his friend desperately.
It was 5:30 am.
Slee had gone to sleep rather tired and exhausted, school could be stressful for predators as well. So it’s easy to see why she was not pleased when her loud notification sound woke her up this early. She reluctantly grabbed the device and responded.
[[I WAS sleeping. Thanks a bunch, Ender. Before I decide to come over and have you for breakfast, tell me what you need me for.]] She was just kidding for the most part, though she was pretty pissed for being up so early against her will.
[[Well, I will trade you a tail massage, or something else you want, for you to watch over me in the park. The treadmill is still broken and I WOULD RATHER YOU EAT ME than jump rope for an hour… please don’t eat me though.]] Ender texted back, fearful but a little excited that she had responded.
She audibly groaned and shoved her head in her pillow. On one hand, she really didn’t want to get up, but on the other she didn’t want to say “No.” Her tail flailed in frustration for a bit but then.
“Hey, it’s not that bad. Maybe I’ll get myself a snack.” That silver lining was enough to slightly motivate her. The naga’s massive body slid off her bed. She put on some decent clothes, then left.
She hoped that she would get to the park around the same time as Ender, or else some other early bird - even literal birds - could get him.
Ender texted Slee [[You’re a lifesaver… literally]] He didn’t want to fall victim to one of those goddamn “early birds”.
“You better be jumping rope or running!” his father’s voice yelled up the stairs at him.
“I’m going running with Slee, dad!!!” Ender yelled down the stairs.
“Well if you’re going to hangout with her that much you should ask her out!” his dad retorted.
“WHAT?! Can’t hear you!!” Ender slammed the door and ran to the park to meet Slee.
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Slee showed up at the park and slithered around idly. Her eyes scanning for Ender’s presence and other humans. Being up early made her considerably hungry.
Tracy was running in the park and came around the bend to see a large, well rounded, crimson naga… “Uh, sorry miss, I’ll just turn around.” She began to turn and run away from the big red predator.
“Perfect,” Slee thought in anticipation. Ender wasn’t there yet, she could allow herself to focus on something else for a few minutes. “Breakfast.” She stretched her tail out and pretended to be running-- err, slithering around the park as well, while chasing the poor girl.
“Oh well, she looks like she needs to run,” sneered Tracy, and then began to run, her athletic legs carrying her away from the young naga. her breath and sweat feeling good in the cool morning air. “What predator would jog BEFORE eating?” Tracy thought.
“Why is everyone so foolish?” Slee wasn’t complaining, though it did surprise her. “Maybe athletic people are just stupid in general,” she mused. As Slee neared the jogging girl from behind, the tip of her tail quickly wrapped around one of the jogger’s legs, a delighted smirk appeared on her serpentine face.
Tracy felt the strong tail trip her and wrap up one leg. “Whaaaaaaaa!” She went sprawling face first on the grass. Rolling over quickly, she saw the scarlet naga who’s tail had so easily tripped her.
“No please!! I thought you were full! Your belly is so big, how can you be hungry!?” she protested.
Slee’s devilish sneer was replaced with an annoyed frown. “I-- I’m not full, I’m just… a little chubby.” Then she tightened her grip and dragged Tracy closer, lifting her up into the air. “But after I’m done with you, I will be full!” She opened her mouth and got ready to eat, pulling her doomed prey closer and closer.
Tracy looked into the red naga’s mouth, struggling in desperation. This couldn’t be happening! Not to her! But she just couldn’t escape that horrible tail, dangling helplessly as it lowered her into that hungry, dripping chasm.
Slee’s jaws worked and then unhinged with a POP. She engulfed the jogging girl’s head and let the descent commence with a voracious GULP. She kept pulling her deeper every few moments. Her upper half was soon gone; there was no hope left for her. Slee, of course, was enjoying her early breakfast. That hot gullet was guiltless and merciless. Saliva soaked through Tracy’s shirt. It’s stickiness on her skin.
“Can she taste me through the shirt?” Tracy wondered, panicking.
“Please!” she screamed into that hungry blackness. As if in answer, there was another GULP. She felt those jaws on her abdomen, and there was something moving inside, tasting her, insistently squirming against her fit body.
Tracy felt another slurping GULP constrict and force her body into the naga’s belly, then she felt those jaws close on her feet. She had been eaten. The naga’s belly growled and began to squeeze and knead her, taking her deeper and deeper into the churning darkness.
Slee sighed, very satisfied. The wriggling, previously-human-now-meal bulge had already started moving down her humanoid half. “You were pretty delicious!” she informed the doomed girl. Patting her belly significantly.
“MMFFRR!” Tracy’s protests emanated from her place inside Slee. GLORP Slee’s belly seemed to respond.
“Now to find Ender… How long is he taking?” Her eyes scanned the surrounding area again, aided by her snake tongue’s enhanced senses, flicking it around. “He is nearby.” She tasted her human friend on the air.
Ender made his way to the park, as he rounded the corner he saw Slee, her mouth open to gulp the last of a jogger down. He watched the lump move into her belly, and listened to her say, “You were pretty delicious,” to the human she’d just condemned to death. He tried to be casual.
“Morning, Slee… I uh, see… that maybe I’m off the menu?” Ender pointed at the struggling lump in her tail. He felt partly responsible for the poor girl, he’d asked Slee to meet him at the park after all.
“I wonder how I tasted too her and what kind of strength it took to let me out?” Every time he saw her eating lately, or with a fresh lump, he remembered being pushed from her throat and how caring she’d been.
Slee turned around and saw her friend. She smiled slightly, though that was briefly interrupted by an-- urp!. “Oh hey, you finally decided to show up.” She slithered closer and let her coils surround the boy.
“Uhm… You don’t need to massage me or anything, I thought that was a joke. Anyways, I hope you’re ready to do your uh, exercising thing. My breakfast would slow me down too much.” She said, her soft, slightly awkward smile lighting her face up beautifully.
Ender felt those familiar coils curl around him, so warm, so nice, so warm, even with the muffled cries of the random jogger girl sounding through Slee’s belly. It was sooo much more preferable to a six mile run.
He looked up at Slee’s serpentine face. “Slee…” He thought for a long moment, wanting to say something more but all he could say was, “Thanks.” He started to move out of Slee’s embracing warmth, but not insistently, not really wanting to leave the comfort.
“Have fun, buddy.” Her tone clearly teasing, she could sense his reluctance to leave her coils.
“Yeah I better get started before I just want to be warm.” He smiled at her and reminded himself he had avoided jumping rope. He started to disentangle himself.
“Uhm, you’re welcome, Endy.” She slowly, and somewhat reluctantly herself, freed the human from her scarlet tail and moved a short distance away.
He looked at Slee, nodded, and popped his headphones on. Taking a deep breath in preparation, he hit play on his phone, and Nine Inch Nails’ “The Perfect Drug” started to sing through his ears. He sprinted away, wanting to warm up quickly, and yeah, trying to show off for Slee a little, his dad’s suggestion to ask her out replaying in his head.
“How do you even ask that… of a girl… of Slee?” What could he possibly do to let her know he liked her?
Slee shifted her coils and pretty much made herself a scaly deckchair to rest on, watching Ender while enjoying her churning meal.
Ender was still considering ways to possibly impress the naga. “She seemed to think it was cool blowing up the garden, but then maybe that’s the wrong kind of ‘impressive’. Besides, who even knows if Slee could be interested in me that way?” His train of thought distracted him, helping him dissociate from the task at hand: running.
Slee watched Ender run away along the track. She considered the way they had met and how it should probably have gone for him. But watching his departing form she was glad things had turned out this way, Ender was a nice surprise in her life.
Ender was running at a little faster than his usual pace, wanting to hurry up and not put Slee out any more than he had. He turned the corner at the halfway point and the track began to carry him closer to Slee’s central location.
“The only thing you can do is keep trusting Slee. The moment she doesn’t want you around, you’ll know,” Ender decided.
The human mage asking him to team up with her to mess with Ethan surfaced darkly in his mind. At least on that point they agreed. Human preds… like Jess… like Courtney… deserved… everything they got from Slee.
The pavement continued to pass by underneath his feet while he ran, the brisk winter air now a comfort for his rapidly heating body.
“But could you really blame humans for wanting to gang up on predators? Sure, Ethan was a random innocent target, but… You could say that about pretty much every human that ends up as a meal. It’s ‘unfair’ on both sides.” Ender’s running thoughts continued, he did all his deepest thinking running.
The churning rhythm of Audioslaves’ “Show Me How to Live” now pumped into his ears. His strong connection with the song helped him tease out increments of speed and endurance for the run.
Slee was out there, enjoying the morning breeze with a warm, full belly. She was admittedly getting sleepy again. She had to try her best to stay up to keep an eye on Ender, but her droopy eyes were slowly overpowering her will. “He… He won’t mind if I just…” she yawned cavernously, “close my eyes for a minute or two…” she rationalized easily.
Ender passed Slee’s pleasantly reclining form. Had she fallen asleep? Snakes probably hated the cold. “Hopefully if something happens she’ll wake up,” he thought, finding tiny increments of increased speed wanting this run to be over. One more lap. “Sleep Now in the Fire” began, one of his favorite songs, but considering his first meeting with Slee he moved his headphones down to his shoulders to be able to hear a little better. One lap to go, with no tunes.
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“It’s 6AM, do I really have to?” the young werewolf girl whined as her father basically dragged her into the park.
“You have an assignment due today. You decided to waste your time yesterday, so you have to find a human now,” he sternly replied.
“But I’m sleepy…”
“Too bad. Use your snout properly and you’ll find some joggers in no time.”
“But aren’t they adults?” she countered.
“Not all of them. Like… Yeah, like that teen over there!” Her father pointed out a young boy running.
She reluctantly nodded and slowly approached, tail stiff and lowered. Her target being Ender. She hoped that her innocent look and small size would not peak his attention.
Ender was running and he heard some kind of argument but most of his thoughts were bent towards returning to Slee’s coils before running home, showering and getting on with another day at school.
School where you could be devoured alive if you weren’t lucky and aware. Aware… like he wasn’t being right now. “You have to find a HUMAN now.” Those weren’t humans talking!
“IDIOT,” he cursed at himself.
“Did he hear us? Nah, he’s listening to music, he probably doesn’t even know I’m here.” She couldn’t help but snicker quietly, perhaps this would be fun at least. She wasn’t sure if her body could swallow a whole teenager, but she had to try. She got on all fours to move faster and eventually found herself close enough to be noticed by Ender.
She just looked at him and waited for him to walk by. She tried to appear unassuming, but that was pretty hard since she was literally staring him down.
Ender looked at the young wolf cub. “I wish I could run on all-fours,” he said affably, “But who had she been arguing with? And about what?” He continued past her. “Was her larger parent around somewhere? Was that who she had been arguing with and about what?” He had questions, but politeness always resolved better than suspicion.
“Wanna finish out this lap together, young miss?” he offered in a friendly tone.
“Huh?” She tilted her head, slightly puzzled. “Are humans always this friendly? Doesn’t he know I want to eat him and all?” She mentally shrugged and nodded happily. “Oh, sure thing!” Of course, just because he was nice that didn’t mean she’d spare him.
She went back on all fours and her tail wagged in anticipation. “Ready when you are, human.” She tried her best to hide the drool on her muzzle by keeping her head low.
Ender, who had now been running for the better part of 45 minutes, tried to find some more stamina to challenge this young wolfling. He began to sprint; 1/2 a lap to go to get to Slee, then he could cool off from the run. His speed was a pale shadow of his initial sprint and he felt the familiar signs that he had pushed too hard. Even getting to Slee was going to be a challenge at this point.
Ender ran, and the wolf cub pursued, plumes of breath marking the cool winter air.
That was quite a fun chase. Maybe going outside so early just to eat someone wouldn’t be too bad. As she pursued Ender, her eyes briefly landed on her strict father, his expression looking impatient. She rolled her eyes and decided to take this to the next step. Pounce!
They were relatively close to Slee, but she didn’t seem very attentive. Her eyes were closed and all.
Ender felt the weight hit his back, he was not fresh but falling safely was instinct for him. He tucked and rolled, the weight on his back hit the ground a little hard. He smelled wolf fur.
“She jumped on me!! But I can’t hurt her, she’s just a kid and her father is nearby.” He continued rolling and ended up on one knee, breathing hard. He tried to find some kind of grips to control the wrists or arms of the young girl, her hot breath puffing in the air around him.
“Gotcha!” She was a little surprised, this human seemed more prepared than her average meals - not like she was used to eating people THAT often yet, but still. She huffed and quickly grabbed his wrists like her dad had shown her.
“Thanks for the run human, that built up my appetite!” She was just about ready to dig in, an approving nod coming from her father.
Ender looked wide eyed at the young girl. He felt her strength, the strength of a predator who had not just run six miles. He thought he would be a very tight fit in that little wolf belly, but he would fit very easily in that big wolf.
“You can’t hurt her, but you need to get her to stop.” He struggled in her grips.
“SleeeeeEEEEEEE!!!!!!!” he yelled, as he tripped over.
“Who is Slee? Eh, no matter, he’ll be gone before his friends show up,” she thought.
She laughed then opened her saliva-coated jaws and moved her head closer to his. “Bye-By--” “Forta pellere!” A new voice shouted, the spell striking predator and prey, blowing them apart and away from each other.
One moment Ender was staring into dripping wolf jaws, the next the wolf-girl was just gone, and he was sliding across the wet grass. The young predator whined, slightly hurt by the attack. Her eyes shot around, until landing upon the mage that had saved Ender.
Another teenager, feminine and thin. She stood with her wand held firmly, eyes narrowed. The pup sprinted up to her dad, who had seen the whole scene. He was furious to say the least, but this young mage seemed confident enough to overtake an adult predator just as easily. Her wand now pointed at him.
“Really? Going after someone double, almost triple her size? Just let her have her classmates.” The girl said, all confidence and determination.
The furred dad & daughter reluctantly, angrily, began walking away, quiet snarls and whines being heard, slowly fading as they disappeared.
Then, the girl approached Ender and knelt down. “And you, why would you just let her get close?! Do you NOT know who predators are?” She tried to calm herself down, frustrated at his naïve attitude. “…You alright?”
“Yeah, I’m ok,” he said, looking strangely at the newcomer. “I don’t think I’m quite as good at magic as you are, and hurting that little girl would have been… I don’t know ‘mean’, to say nothing of what her dad might’ve done.” He relaxed a bit. “Thanks for that.”
She was slim, and brown haired. She had a cute face, from which vividly shown blue eyes. She looked as though cute dimples would appear when she smiled.
What would happen if Slee saw her? He didn’t know whether he should keep trying to wake Slee or not… but he didn’t know exactly what kind of mage this was either, so he kept backing toward the safety of Slee’s coils.
“M-Mean?-- She wanted to eat you!” She responded, just as frustrated. “Whatever. You really should work more on your magic and less on your altruism for murderers.” Her tone sounded scolding, perhaps even angry.
“Could it be…? Ugh, not a mage-pred again!” Slee moved silently into range of the girl and struck with her tail.
“AH!?” The young mage was slowly lifted up. Slee had awoken. Her light nap interrupted by the high pitched voice of an angry human. She now coiled the skinny girl up, her arms by her sides, and lifted her slowly in the air.
“Let me go! Y-You, do something!! You have a wand, don’t you? Try anything!”
Ender looked on. “Slee, she kinda just saved me. There was a big wolf trying to get his daughter to eat me, and she saved me. I called you but you were asleep, or uh, resting your eyes.” Ender looked at Slee, imploring her to give this girl a chance. He didn’t consider reaching for his wand, not even for a second, to use against Slee. No, he’d rather die.
Slee yawned nonchalantly in the middle of his explanation, glancing at the girl. “Uh, you sure?” She gave the girl a long look, then uncoiled her tail and let her fall down on the grass butt-first.
“Hey!” The brunette complained.
Slee hissed quietly at her and slithered beside Ender possessively. Ender looked at the newly arrived girl. “C’mon, be nice,” he thought as loudly as possible.
“Err- thanks for… letting me go, I guess.” The girl got back up and put her wand away, looking at Ender. “I think I’ve seen you before. Meet you at school.” Her gaze met Slee’s for a moment, the snake looked very unimpressed.
“I kept my human safe, didn’t I? That girl PROBABLY wasn’t a threat, but still…” she just glossed over the whole wolf thing, which was the actual threat, then squeezed Ender into her arms. “Next time, why don’t you wake me up instead of relying on strangers?”
Ender leaned against Slee. He didn’t know if this meant to her what it did to him, and right now he didn’t care. “Yeah, I only got to call once, and she came out of nowhere.” He looked at her seriously, “Slee that girl was a strong mage.” He nestled into the warmth of her arms. Slee was comfortable, whatever her other qualities. “You know I’d never attack you with magic right?”
“Of course I do! If you were to use that stick on me I’d probably just eat you,” she replied, just messing with him.
The adrenaline and the entire situation caught up with him and then he was laughing, again he laughed more with Slee than he ever had before even in situations like this. Ender didn’t want to leave her embrace, but he did say, “I think we have school to go too, and I should probably shower, I must either smell gross, or tasty.”
Slee smiled at Ender’s statement. “Some of both Endy, some of both,” she thought. She let her coils squeeze him a little harder before letting go. “Alright… Yeah you probably should take a shower before heading to school. You have plenty of time. I think meanwhile I’ll just… relax here a little longer, let my breakfast break down and all.” By now the bulge wasn’t wriggling anymore.
Ender looked at Slee. “I’m finding something nice to do for you Slee, I don’t know what it is, but I’m going to figure it out.” He gave a final glance, considering the morning’s event. “Well, I’ll see you at school,” he said and started back towards his house.
“Maybe I should ask her out? …No no no no, idiot she WILL eat you if you do that!” Ender jogged back to his house, and got ready for school.