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How Not To Become Lunch: 40 - Don’t Think About It
*slosh*
*slosh*
*slosh* *gurgle*
*slosh*
Fiona strode down the hall at a quickened pace, devoting a fair bit of focus to keeping herself upright as the large hunk of digesting meat in her belly swayed with each step. She’d met up with Arthur between classes and spent as much time with him as she could, leaving herself just enough to make it to history if she hurried a bit.
“She’s still behind us!”
“I can’t believe those turds ditched us! When I see them again-”
“If you want to see anything again, you’ll stop talking and keep- Look out!”
Two boys, wands in hand, came racing down the corridor, looking more behind them than in front. At the last second, one of them looked ahead long enough to notice Fiona. Neither of them had enough time to fully avoid the large werewolf. They each knocked against her sides, flailed, but managed to keep their footing and keep on running.
“Whoa! Hey! Watch where you’re going!” Fiona barked back at them as she nearly toppled over.
“Ahh!” a girl screamed.
Fiona looked forward again just in time to glimpse another furry figure, mid stride, just a step away from her. They crashed into each other, both falling to the ground with heavy thuds- though Fiona’s was undoubtably a bit heavier.
“Wolfsbane!” the other girl cursed. “Sorry! Sorry!”
Fiona blinked a few times and spent a moment trying to keep her hard-fought lunch down.
*guuurgle* *urp*
When she focused again, she saw another werewolf clambering off her belly, fretting for a moment, and then reaching down a hand to help her up. She took it.
“Ugh… what was that about?” Fiona asked. The other girl sighed as anger turned to aggravated defeat, seeing the boys she’d been chasing disappear around a corner.
“I’m really sorry. I was chasing these human turds and they ran me right into you.”
“I noticed,” Fiona rubbed her arm where one of them had hit. “What’d they do?”
“I had the most delicious human I’d ever tasted halfway down my throat, and these guys came around out of nowhere and just magiced him out of my gut for no reason, just to be jerks!” she vented.
“Really?” Fiona frowned and shook her head, imagining someone stealing a nice warm meal straight from her joyful gullet. “Some people. They sound like they probably weren’t worth the rotten bellyache.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” the other werewolf replied with a last little snarl.
“Well, I’d better get to class.”
“Shoot! Is it that time already!? I gotta run. Sorry again for knocking you over.”
“It’s fine,” Fiona replied. “Hope you make it on time. Oh, and good luck with your next hunt, I’m sure you’ll get him next time.”
The two werewolves smiled and parted ways.
*guuuurgle* *uuurp*
Feeling her stomach settle, Fiona turned her attention back to walking. Going as fast as she could manage, she reached the classroom to see her classmates still chatting and Ms. Dracoria prepping some notes on her desk. Stepping inside, she pulled out her seat next to Jack and sank into it with a quiet thump, sloshing her belly once more.
“Phew, almost didn’t make it on time. How’s it going, Jack?” she asked cheerily.
“I’ve… had better days,” he replied. Fiona frowned and felt a jolt of concern.
“What happened?”
“I almost didn’t make it to class at all. Another pred got me in the hall; the only thing that saved me was a miracle.”
Fiona’s frown deepened, her ears drooping. She opened her mouth to say something, but the teacher spoke first.
“Alright class, it’s time to begin.”
Fiona and Jack shared one more glance before reluctantly turning their attention to Ms. Dracoria for their lesson.
…
*gurgle*
…
*glorp*
…
*shlorp*
Jack took yet another in an ongoing series of shaky breaths. Though he tried his best to pay attention to the dragon woman lecturing at the front of the room, he’d be lying if he said he’d caught more than a few stray sentences. All he could register was the stomach resting next to him: Fiona’s stomach. Every churn, every burble and groan drowned out any attempt at focus.
*glurk*
Fresh impressions of his latest journey into the guts of a hungry predator flashed through his mind, the feeling of her tongue sliding across his face, her throat wrapped around his chest, his hands against the walls of her stomach, digestive juices sinking into his skin…
*guuurgle*
It didn’t help either that the predator had been another werewolf girl. He’d never seen her with a human-sized bulge, but his mind seemed to insist it would look a lot like Fiona’s- that he’d look a lot like Fiona’s bulge if he’d ended up in that belly for good. Not that the species really mattered much; most stomachs were about the same on the inside: a dark, fleshy, heated prison where humans went to melt away into nutritious slop.
*squelch*
If not for a well-timed twist of fate, he’d be in much the same state as the ex-human stewing in Fiona’s belly: a disintegrating lump of mush and meat and bone, being happily gurgled away by eager stomach walls and endless waves of acids and enzymes, as the predator he was inside of sat innocently in class listening to her teacher.
*groooan* *glorp*
Then there was the other scene he kept revisiting: Fiona’s hunt. That look she kept sharing with Arthur, what was it about that that got under his skin so much? There was a blazing conflagration of confluent emotion in it: affection, pride, hunger; and humans seemed to be the fuel. He’d always known she was a hunter, a predator; he respected that, he even admired her skill, but somehow this was different… right?
Was it any different? Was she really any different than just a few days ago? Was it all in his head? Some inbred fear of predators determined to push her away? Was the only real problem with Arthur that he was maybe an even better predator than she was?
*gurgle*
Jack’s breath shuttered once more despite his attempts at reason.
Ugh, can this day please just-
*RING*
Jack nearly jumped out of his seat.
“Alright class, that’s all for today,” Ms. Dracoria announced. Kids began to abandon their seats, some scrambling with impatience to leave, others rising slowly from the stupor of a lengthy history lecture.
It took Jack a number of seconds before he let out his breath, though the relief that the day was finally done was well eclipsed by the knowledge that he’d soon have to navigate his way home un-ingested. Of course, before that, he’d finally take the opportunity to talk to-
“Jack?” Fiona asked delicately. Her mind much less crowded, she’d beaten him to the start of the conversation.
“Yeah, Fi?” He turned to look at her; she wore a slight frown on her muzzle, her ears down.
“That thing before class… how close was it?”
“…Very.”
“…I should have been there,” she replied quietly with remorse. Her face said the rest, and Jack could read it clearly: the thought of him just disappearing one day into some belly, where she’d never see him again… He sighed.
“It’s okay,” he said in a mildly reassuring voice, “I know you were busy with Arthur.”
“… What’s wrong with Arthur?” she asked with the innocence of a wounded puppy.
Jack felt his heart skip a beat. The way he’d just said that name, it was the way he’d been thinking it all day long, full of spite and derision, but he hadn’t meant to say it that way.
“Nothing!” he blurted out, trying to backtrack, but it was utterly unconvincing, and he couldn’t lie to her face. “I mean, it’s just-” he struggled to find words; he hadn’t even managed to explain it to himself yet. “The way he- when he hunts- and he eats people- he…”
The way he hunts and eats people…? Fiona thought. She thought about that bloated furry belly of hers staring him in the face.
“No!” Jack said, catching the look on her face, “It’s not like when you do it- it’s just he- and then when you- and-”
*GLORP*
Jack was startled and glanced down at her stomach without even meaning to. When he caught himself and looked back up, the expression on her face had only gotten worse.
“Jack, I… I really need to use the girl’s room, okay?” She stood up with a slosh, speaking slightly fast. “It’s fine; don’t worry about it. Get home safe, see if maybe Ozzy will take you. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Once my belly is back to normal again.
She walked off briskly. Jack watched her go, remorseful and desperate but utterly tongue-tied. He probably would’ve taken another plunge down a throat over letting her leave, but he just couldn’t think of another word to say. She passed through the doorway and out of sight.
“Ugh…” he buried his head in his hands. “I should be taking social lessons from Zach.”