Content
HNTBL: Other Tails
(a “How Not To Become Lunch” spinoff)
Chapter 9:
Games and Goodies
[[Heya Slee what are you up to today? I’m headed off to the mall for a new hoodie]] Ender texted. He winced a bit as he typed; his knuckles and wrist were stiff. He had a whole bunch of questions he wanted to ask Slee but thought better of texting them. Hopefully they could just have a “normal” trip to the mall, well more “normal” than last time. He threw on a shirt that read “Look at the chump in the Deadpool shirt” and waited for Slee’s text, his shoulder aching badly. He wished he already had his new hoodie. Hopefully today.
Slee viewed the message and took her time to respond [[See you there]]. She hoped that spending some more time with her friend might cheer her up after what happened earlier that day. She had watched the fox mark that girl and didn’t interfere. Of course, why would she? She didn’t care for that mage, it was already out-of-the-ordinary for her to defend one human, and yet… She felt really bad. Olly wasn’t just some random snack on legs, she had saved Ender’s life, and the naga just let a random predator ruin hers forever.
“Can I come this time around? Pleeeease?” Ethan only received a pissed off glare in response and accepted the non-verbal ‘no’ with a sigh. Before long, Slee was standing next to the mall entrance, waiting for Endy.
Ender was dropped off by his mother who deigned to say “Bye Andrew.’’ She was still mad about Jess.
“Even after she saw that her little angel tried to make me belly bait,” he thought grimly.
“Yeah love you mom,” he said more out of habit than intent. He walked over to Slee’s towering form. “She is going to have something to say.” Ender was beat up, nothing pretty about it. “Heya Slee, really good to see you,” he offered much more honestly.
“Great to see you too.” Her neck arched downward to look at him, a small smile appearing on her face. “Wanna go in?” She nudged the tip of her tail towards the big automated sliding doors. She sounded a little cheery. Seeing Ender brightened her mood, even if just a bit.
“Yeah, let’s.” He walked towards Target, which for some reason had become primarily a human shop. He looked around the mall. They caught a few odd looks, but he really didn’t care. “Ethan mad he couldn’t come?” he asked. He did miss the excitable young naga, just like Slee they had become friends straight away, he really couldn’t imagine his life without the Therings at this point.
“Yeah, as usual,” she replied, forcing a quiet chuckle. “Are you sure you want me to come with you inside there?” She pointed at the nearest clothing shop. “You know, not many predators step in- uh, slither in… I don’t wanna get weird looks.” “I’d be tempted to eat whoever dares to do that, too.” Slee thought. “I’ll wait outside if that’s fine, then you could surprise me with your new look! What do you say?” she asked. She was trying to be happy today and found, with Ender’s presence, it was working.
“Sure, I’ll be real quick.” Ender walked through the shop towards the men’s clothes section. He saw an opportunity that couldn’t be missed. He threw a hoodie on and snapped a selfie. [[It fits perfectly!!!]]. The bright yellow hoodie read ‘PIKACHUUUUUU’ complete with fake ears in the head cover. He sent the photo to Slee, quickly buying a regular black hoodie and returning outside to see if she’d checked her phone.
Slee had checked her phone and was disappointed that he’d ruined the surprise, only to be even more disappointed when he returned with just a generic, almost kind of emo hoodie.
“Oh… T-That looks really nice on you!!” She smiled brightly. “Anyways… Uhm, I think it’s time to talk about what happened earlier. Are you still gonna hang out with that girl?”
Ender’s face fell. Serious talk meant serious consequences. “I want to help her.” He rubbed under a dark bruise. “But I don’t think it’s fair to ask you to, and the old man doesn’t… think I should.” He sighed. “But that was a pretty harsh thing Kyle did, why not eat her there…? Maybe because we were there? I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel.’’ The words came tumbling out of him until finally they stopped. He looked to Slee. “She doesn’t say how she feels, she’s a predator, maybe she just acts how she feels?” She was always hard to read, he knew.
“Well, if that’s what you want to do, then go ahead. It’s not wrong by any means… But that doesn’t mean I will also help her. I don’t think I could even bring myself to stay around her for a whole minute without drooling like crazy,” she replied, slithering along. “I will admit, I feel bad for just standing there and not stopping that Kyle guy but… To him, to me, to everyone else, she’s just another human waiting to get eaten. If it were you in that situation I would have choked the fox to death, don’t get me wrong. But I had no reason to care for Olly.” Her voice sounded emotionless, neutral, though her frown and neck pointing down were a sign that she did feel at least a bit bad.
“Yeah I thought you might feel something like that.” Then he admitted, “I’m furious with that fox. Are you going to be mad if, by pure luck, I end up hurting him?” Ender thought of his fight with the old man… He had cast ‘propero’ at him and the old man had lost it. Ender wanted to start studying magic with the same intensity he had been forced to do martial arts with- not because he wanted to hurt all preds, but because he had friends he wanted to live.
“No, not really. Just like I don’t care for Olly, I don’t have reason to be ‘mad’ if you hurt that fox. Just… I hope you know what you’re doing. If you aren’t fully convinced that you can strike him down in one blow, then don’t bother,” she said matter of factly. “Might be better if Olly somehow managed to deal with him… Without getting eaten midway through.” She sighed quietly. “But let’s not worry about that anymore, wanna do something else to clear our minds?”
He smiled at her. “Let’s hit the arcade, I’m going to destroy you at video games.” Something definitely felt better after talking with her.
“Oooh, sure, sounds really fun!!” She was now really happy, ready to put that park-mark-thingy behind them in favor of some neat bonding time. She began to slither faster, heading to the arcade with Ender.
Ender walked alongside her. “So are you like a skee-ball girl or air hockey, or are we straight to the shooting sims?” This was the Slee he thought of as “Fun Slee.” He still didn’t know what he would do about Kyle, but right now that didn’t matter. Right now what mattered was not letting Slee prove her absolute dominance at another of his favorite things. It was ‘time to put balls in holes’ as his t-shirt character, Deadpool had once said.
“Well, you know me, I love simulated violence, especially if I get to kick your butt in the process.” She smirked teasingly, glancing at the various entertainment devices in the arcade. There were plenty of predators walking and playing around, only a handful of humans. It was fairly common for predators to challenge random humans into ‘playful competitions’, only to eat them if they lost. With Slee by his side, those scams should not be an issue though.
“Righto, Gurgler.” He exchanged some cash for tokens, offering Slee a handful of bronze medallions. Then he took up a fake laser rifle, motioning for her to jump into the machine next to him. “Loser buys Winner ice cream?” He hit the ‘begin’ button before she could respond, the countdown started and the game was on.
Slee huffed and tried to start playing as fast as she could. “Hey, that’s unfair!! Ugh--”
He was trying his best to stay ahead of Slee on the scoreboard, laughing and in general forgetting his terrible mood from the last few days. Maybe due to the few seconds of disadvantage, or just because Slee was having a bad day, it turned out that… Yes! Ender did defeat her this time around.
The naga could be heard loudly grumbling. She was happily miffed with Ender and smiling through gritted fangs said, “Best 2 out of 3?” She wouldn’t just let him win like that. Though, this could be a chance for her to embarrass herself even further in case the human boy kept winning.
Ender popped more credits in the machine, he wouldn’t be able to start the game early on her again. He set to shooting the attacking enemies on the screen, and he laughed, daring to jostle Slee a little. He knew given her size this was a bad idea but the point wasn’t just to win, it was to have fun with Slee.
This round she was a tad better at it, but still didn’t seem to be able to win. Maybe, even if she’d said to move on, her mind couldn’t let go of those thoughts just yet, making it harder for her to play her best.
Meanwhile, a shaggy gray haired canine predator eyed Ender. The lone human was distracted with videogames and therefore an easy target. The canine pred began to approach, taking his time to avoid being too suspicious.
“At least the last moment of his life will be spent having fun,” the big, hungry pred thought. Eating the boy wasn’t personal, he had made an easy meal of himself.
The game was over and Ender asked Slee, “So, ice cream now or a different game?” Ender stepped out of the videogames enclosure. “I’m a chocolate peanut butter guy, what about you?”
The dog boy stepped forward and seized the boy’s arms, but the pred could tell that Ender was talking to someone else. “I thought he was alone,” the canine pred thought, a bit confused, but he figured it was probably just another human. He couldn’t resist the temptation to tease his meal. “My favorite flavor is humans.” And then, NOM.
Ender’s vision turned into hungry, wet darkness.
Meanwhile, Slee slowly put down the game as well. “Huh, nah, I’m more basic-- I like vanilla quite a bit. Hopefully that doesn’t make me come off as boring, heh… … …Endy? You there?”
Ender struggled in the hot wetness. The spongy tongue was everywhere, lapping at him. He couldn’t move his arms. He tried to push off the creature with his legs. Hot breath washed over his head and shoulders.
“Again!!?” Ender thought in terror, then screamed, “SSLEEE!!!” his voice muffled by the hungry mouth slowly pulling him in.
“Calling out for your friend? Oh, no you don’t!” The canine predator gulped, sealing Ender’s head inside his mouth, swallowing again to send it sliding down his gullet.
Slee was nearby. She definitely heard that muffled scream and before long, the happy dog went from gulping to whining, as a tight, red tail squeezed his chest, forcing him to regurgitate and almost breaking a couple ribs in the process. “Leave him alone!” Slee seethed at the dog. Her tail released slowly, making sure he knew she could just have easily crushed him.
“H-Hey, if you want that human so bad why don’t you just mark him?!” The unsuccessful predator grumbled and left, tail between his legs as Slee gave him a murderous look.
“He REALLY had to bring up the mark, huh!?” Slee stood still for a moment, before focusing on her friend. “Right- Endy! Are you okay?” She asked, her rage gone and concern marking her face.
Ender hugged Slee tightly. “That was close. Again.” The dog boy had suggested Slee mark him but he knew she wouldn’t. He wouldn’t be without his wand again though even if he was with her. He thought of poor marked Olly and stopped hugging his savior quite as tightly. “I’m just a pain in your tail wherever we go, and you are always there for me.”
“No, no you’re not. Don’t worry about this.” She tried to put on a gentle smile and nodded.
He sighed, refusing to let the would-be killer ruin their day. “Screw that guy. Let’s get some ice cream. And soda, I have to wash this taste out.”
“Yeah, let’s go.” She grabbed his hand, trying to shake some of the dog slobber off his hair with her tail, before slithering along. They had some fun today, and while her mind still couldn’t shrug off what happened earlier at the park, at least now Slee felt better. Saving Ender again was admittedly satisfying.
They ate their ice cream and drank their soda, almost exactly like they were both just friends. They talked of small things, really anything but Olly and Kyle. Ender got to know Slee better, and she, him. Something warm was growing between them, but neither mentioned it for fear it would disappear.