Chapter Thirteen:

            Jackie awoke slowly, keeping her eyes shut for a while after the subtle awareness of her own consciousness gradually pervaded and caused her thoughts to become at once directed and less dreamlike. She shook off the phantom visions of perceived monsters both from without and from within that tended to pervade her dreams. Her mind turned to concrete things. She didn’t suffer any of the confusion some people described upon awakening. Not, at least, when she went to sleep as a woman.

Jackie was immediately conscious of the light, warm sensation upon her lower abdomen and knew the cause. She smiled a little. It was weird not waking up alone. Nice. But weird.

            Opening her eyes, Jackie looked down without moving her head. She didn’t want to risk waking Leo if she could avoid it, but it turned out to be a moot point, as the little borrower was already wide awake. When he saw her eyes open, he sat up, apparently having been staying still out of the same kind of consideration for another person’s sleep.

            “How long have you been awake?” Jackie asked.

            “Not long,” Leo lied. He’d been lying there awake just enjoying the relaxation of Jackie’s breathing for over an hour now, but he hadn’t minded. It gave him a chance to think. Before they could exchange any additional lazy chatter, however, the slapdash hammock was jostled a little roughly. Leo looked up and to his right in time to see the smiling face of one of the smaller nagas from the night before leering over them both cheerfully. As the serpentine woman rose into view, Leo observed she had a distinct bite mark just below her left breast. He recalled where each of the “little ones” had been bitten the night prior and was thankful for the difference, because truthfully, he had trouble telling the pair apart. They were both nearly identical, “person-sized” nagas with long, nearly black hair, and had similar faces as well. Leo realized that the somewhat unique facial shape the nagas all had would have made them all difficult to distinguish if not for diversity in both size and scale colors.

            “Good morning, Flo-tess,” Leo said.

            “A wonderful morning to the two of you, indeed!” The naga gushed. “I apologize for disturbing you, but I heard voices and simply could not ignore my desire to socialize with you any longer! Come! Both of you! We have prepared a meal!” As the naga finished her proclamation, she pushed away from the hammock a little violently, causing the pair to sway abruptly in her wake.

            “She’s a lively one,” Jackie grumbled.

            “Not a morning person?” Leo joked. Jackie scoffed.

            “I was fine in the mornings back when I was a member of society, and I was greeted by a pot of coffee in the mornings instead of… well…” she trailed off.

            “Instead of by a rather hyper snake-girl?” Leo offered, finishing her thought in a way he suspected was slightly more polite than she would have.

            “Yeah, let’s go with that.”

            “Well, she did say breakfast in any case. I’m sure that can’t be too bad. Doubtful about the coffee though.”

            “It’s alright,” Jackie said, sitting up in the hammock with a slight struggle. She offered her hand to Leo, and he deftly climbed aboard. She set him on her shoulder and kicked her legs out of the hammock, swinging forward and slid onto the floor. “I haven’t had coffee for the better part of a year anyway. I’m past my dependency. Doesn’t mean I don’t miss it.”

            “I’m sure that’s not the only thing,” Leo said, immediately regretting having done so. But Jackie shrugged it off.

            “Meh, none of it really measures up to a good cup of piping hot coffee.” The two of them followed Flo-tess who lead them quickly to the other side of the den. She then hastily bid Jackie to have a seat at the table that was once again mysteriously present. Leo wondered how Ek-teen had gotten it back out without waking them but reasoned that she was incredibly strong and was likely capable of lifting the huge thing against the wall and getting it back down about as quietly as he could lift his satchel.

            Jackie took her seat and Leo hopped down onto the table. Flo-tess placed a plate in front of them. They were both impressed. Before them sat a very well-prepared vegetarian omelet.

            “Wow, how’d you do this?” Jackie asked without making much effort to mask her surprise. Flo-tess beamed with pride.

            “Flo-ren and I spent all morning on it! She found the eggs, I gathered the greens, and Ek-teen instructed us on the preparation. It’s fascinating! It was a lot of fun, cooking. I’ve never actually cracked an egg open before.”

            “No? How do you take your eggs then?” Jackie asked.

            “Like this!” Flo-tess said, reaching onto the counter next to her and retrieved on of the many spare eggs that was sitting there. She popped it into her mouth and gulped it down whole, a big lump traveling briefly down her neck before disappearing. “Ah-h-h!” She exclaimed, her long tongue hanging out. “Those are good! But I’m sure your way is good, too!” Leo laughed at the face Jackie made at the display, which was a good way of distracting himself from pesky thoughts it had inspired.

            “Oh. I guess that makes sense,” Jackie said dully. “Um, thanks for taking the trouble to prepare them our way. I’m not sure I could pull that off.”

“Ha!” Leo laughed again. “I’d love to see you try.”

“Oh, I bet you would, little guy,” Jackie said with perhaps a little more implication than was necessary for Leo to understand the nature of the jest. He grew a little red, bashful at some of his line of thinking having been so easy to guess.

“Uh, what’s say we dig in?” Leo offered, changing the subject.

“Oh, yes! Please let me know what you think!” Flo-tess said.

“After you, little guy. Take your fill and then keep out of my way,” Jackie teased. “Or else…” Jackie eyed him in a way that essentially communicated, or else you know what might happen to you, little morsel.

“Sheesh! Alright, alright! Wow, really laying into me this morning,” Leo said. Jackie bit her lip, chiding herself for what she worried was one joke at his expense too many. She looked at Flo-tess as if for some form of affirmation that she wasn’t being a jerk, but the young naga seemed totally oblivious to the humor in the exchange, probably thinking that the larger woman warning the much smaller man to be careful not to get eaten with her breakfast was perfectly logical and in no way interesting. Well, I suppose it is logical. Little guy doesn’t have the good sense to stay out of stomachs. Jackie thought.

Leo took his fill of the fluffy eggs, and snagged a few smaller pieces of the vegetation sticking out and pulled them over to a corner of the plate. Once safely out of the way, Jackie dug in. It was under-seasoned. Jackie even wondered if there was any salt at all. But then, she realized that a people who all swallowed their food whole had no need for spices, so she chose not to include that in her review.

“It’s delicious, Flo-tess! Seriously, very impressive. I know a lot of people who can’t make an omelet this well,” She offered.

“I agree. This is really well done,” Leo added. Flo-tess looked fit to burst with excitement at the praise. Without warning, she leaned in and wrapped her arms around Jackie, hugging her tightly and shaking her a little. As far as her torso was concerned, Flo-tess was the smaller woman compared to Jackie by a considerable amount. She was young enough to still be pretty “human” in stature, and had the build of a petite young woman, while Jackie had that of an amateur bodybuilder. So, it was a little humorous to watch Jackie freeze up and shrink in posture from fear of the bubbly naga’s embrace, even letting out a little squeak.

“Oh, I’m just so glad to hear you both like them! I cannot wait to tell the others that we did a good job!” Flo-tess shouted happily. She broke her embrace with Jackie and then it was Leo’s turn to cow. She snatched him up before he could think to object and nuzzled him against her left cheek before gently replacing him at the edge of the plate. “You two eat your fill and meet us outside for drinking and washing!” She said, and turned swiftly, slithering quietly out of the den. Leo and Jackie shared a look of slight exasperation and turned back to their respective meals. After a moment of silence, Jackie swallowed her last bite, and then grunted to clear her throat.

“Sorry about all the… uh, razzing.”

“What, the not-so-subtle jokes at the expense of my fascination with bellies?” Leo bit back with mock gruff. He saw Jackie wince a little and quickly covered it with, “no harm done, Jackie. It’s all in good fun. Besides, I don’t think Flo-tess made anything of it,” he said. Jackie felt a little relieved.

“I just haven’t known you very long and don’t want to cross the line with humor.”

“You’re not likely to. I’m an easy-going fella. And it is good fun,” he said, wiping his face of crumbs.

“The joking, or…?”

“Take your pick. You finished? We’ve got to meet up with the others outside for… drinking and washing, was it?”

“Not sure I need a bath. I had one yesterday afternoon.”

“I’m never one to turn down a free bath. Especially a safe one in the open. What a luxury!” Leo exclaimed. Jackie considered this while she helped him onto her shoulder.

“I suppose you have a point. It’s just… I don’t know. You and the nagas seem to assign less weight to group nudity, I guess,” she confessed. Leo chuckled.

“Not at all. I’m a little bashful. But I’ve felt like the only bashful person in the room lately. A little glad you can relate. Makes me feel a little less prudish.”

“Huh. Me too. I guess it’s not that big a deal,” she said with less casual conviction than she’d hoped to convey. “Guess we’ve already seen each other naked anyway.”

“Huh, that’s true. Who knows? Maybe in a few days we’ll both be sick of clothes.” They shared a laugh as they neared the reflecting pool, many nagas who had probably never worn clothes already enjoying a morning soak. Jackie’s eyes scanned the lot of them—dozens of snake-people ranging from half to many times her size all basking in the cool waters. Just think of them all as big, legless people. They’re just people. Hell, you can’t even see most of their snake bodies in the water. Jackie thought to comfort herself. The moment she reached the edge of the pool, however, a shadow fell upon her and Leo.

Jackie turned her head to see the enormous form of Nok-toon sliding up to them menacingly. She wasn’t doing anything in particular that would make her a menace, per se, but Jackie simply couldn’t handle the speed and silence with which a woman her size was capable of moving about. She’d hardly heard the giant naga approaching.

“Good morning, moonchild and Leo,” Nok-toon’s deep alto boomed. Leo marveled at the spectacle of the giantess in the daylight coming in through the sky hole in the cavern. She was much more colorful than he’d realized. Her coils were covered in scales that were deep red and pitch black. Leo had mistakenly taken the dark red ones to be a dark grey in the dark of night before. Her countless scales reflected the light beautifully as she slid past the pair, smiling at the two of them as she went. Leo waved at her politely, and her eyes narrowed happily as she turned her head away, smiling more brightly as she went. Leo thought back to the other night when he had willingly climbed into that woman’s enormous maw to join his lover deep inside her cavernous first stomach and it made him shiver with the recalled thrill of the singular experience. Jackie, apparently, was thinking along the same lines.

“That right there is the measure of the difference in our nerve,” Jackie said quietly.

“What do you mean?” Leo asked.

“I can’t believe you fed yourself to that behemoth!” She whispered harshly. “It’s nuts! I thought my knees were going to give out with her just passing me by!”

“Oh, give her a chance. She’s quite gentle. And sweet!” Leo said in her defense. Jackie considered the “minute details” Leo had censored from his story about his experience with the giantess serpent and wondered in exactly what ways the woman had treated Leo “gently and sweetly.” She shook her head, attempting to rid it of the counterproductive thoughts. Luckily, another distraction was on the way.

“Good morning, friends!” Came the shrill sound of another, small, excited naga. It was Flo-ren this time. Leo took note of the bite mark above her waistline. She was flanked by Ek-teen. Jackie felt herself slacken a little from her stiff posture. Even though Ek-teen was a giantess in her own right—albeit not nearly as large as Nok-toon—Ek-teen made Jackie feel safer. Even if it was only something she was aware of subconsciously, Jackie was thankful to see her among all these strangers. She also made a mental note of how striking Ek-teen looked in the morning light. She had such lovely, tanned skin, totally free of a single blemish, and was also covered in dark red bands. But they seemed a little more vibrant and reflective than Nok-toon’s. Her lean, slender features and uniquely red-black, straight, and long hair all combined to make a very stunning woman, half-snake or not. Jackie could not deny she was gorgeous.

“Good morning, you two. Flo-tess has told us that their attempt at a cuisine you would enjoy was a success,” Ek-teen said in her soft, but very audible voice.

“Yes! I was so happy to hear it! We have never had the pleasure of cooking before!” Squeaked Flo-ren.

“It was quite delicious,” Leo said. “Really hit the spot. But you don’t have to do that every morning. We would be happy to fend for ourselves at least a little.”

“Nonsense,” Ek-teen objected, “you two will make up for it as you’re able. But leave the provisions to us. I’ve got many recipes in my head from the time I’ve spent among other species that I am eager to pass on to these little ones. They need the instruction if they are to also be emissaries one day. They need to know something of cultures.”

“In that case, don’t threaten me with not having to cook. I stink at it,” Jackie joked.

“Yeah, and I’d probably have a hard time cooking for her,” Leo said.

“How would you ever have gotten by without us?” Ek-teen asked, shaking her head.

“Guess we would have starved?” Leo said.

“I was getting pretty tired of burnt rabbit legs,” Jackie followed. “I can catch em just fine. But cooking em? Not my best strength.”

“Well, perhaps you can share your methods of capture with some of the other little ones. Many of them are quite fond of rabbits. And you need not teach them to cook,” Ek-teen said. Flo-ren nodded vigorously at the suggestion.

“Oh, yes! Please! Teach us your way of hunting! That would be wonderful!” She shouted. Jackie looked just the slightest bit perturbed at the idea, but sighed deeply, and said,

“I… guess I could do that. What’s the hurt—” but Flo-ren cut her off with a delighted shriek.

“Excellent! I cannot wait! Let us bathe so we can turn to the day’s activities! Come! Come!” Flo-ren was tugging on Jackie’s arm. It almost caused Leo to fall from his perch. He was surprised that despite the small naga’s considerable overall mass, she was unsuccessful in tugging Jackie very easily.

“Okay, okay! Hang on. I’ve gotta… slip out of these. They’re the only ones you gave me.” Jackie said regarding her outfit. “I, uh-h…” she turned to look at the borrower on her shoulder, biting her lip in thought.

“Mind putting my clothes in the heap with yours? Less likely to get lost that way.” Leo was already stripping down seated on her shoulder as he asked this. He was determined not to make a big deal of nudity in front of the nagas, partially for Jackie’s sake. She blushed.

“Sure.” She brought up her left hand and he placed his garments into it. He then deftly hopped down to the ground and approached the edge of the pool. Jackie was always a little surprised to see how the borrower could move. Drops just weren’t a concern for him. But he had his limits.

“Someone is gonna have to ferry me out. It’s way too deep for me to wade in and I’m not swimming that far,” he said. He wasn’t much of a swimmer. Before Jackie had a chance to offer her service, Flo-ren had scooped him up in a flash.

“I’ve got you, Leo! Let’s go wash up!” With that, she slid right into the water and slithered with fishlike speed away from the dumbfounded Jackie who was now topless, but still struggling with the tie of her makeshift bottom. Son of a… But before Jackie could even finish imagining the curse at being abandoned around a bunch of strange snake-folk, the smooth sound of Ek-teen’s soft laughter brought her back down.

“Leo is quite the item of interest to the nagas in general. You’ll have to excuse their enthusiasm. None of us has ever met a borrower. It’s uncanny to make the acquaintance of what’s essentially a tiny human with none of the usual self-entitlement,” Ek-teen explained. It was as if she could see Jackie’s indignation and addressed the cause before it could be voiced. “Though you’re also a special delight. Nothing against your race. But you, too, lack that usual entitlement. So, you’ve either shed that skin, or you never wore it.” Jackie felt a little bashful under this sort of scrutiny. It made her almost completely unconscious about finally slipping off her bottom and exposing herself physically to the large naga. What’s nudity to a creature that can see through you?

“Well, it’s hard to say which. I can’t say I still feel a massive kinship towards the bulk of my species. Though most of them are alright as individuals.”

“The same can be said for many races. At least, the ones with individuals,” Ek-teen said with a neutral tone. Jackie smiled up at her.

“You seem… really nice,” Jackie said a little dryly. Ek-teen pulled an interesting face. Jackie felt suddenly silly. “I’m sorry. What I mean is… all I meant to say,”

“We make you a little uncomfortable, no?” Jackie was caught off guard by Ek-teen’s perceptive accusation.

“Wh-what? You don’t.” Jackie wanted to tell her that Ek-teen, for her part, only made Jackie self-conscious, but didn’t know how to approach that.

“Hah! Perhaps less than the others. But I still do, Jackie. And it’s alright. You’ve only ever lived among your own.”

“Well… I knew some borrowers.”

“Oh? Well that certainly explains some things…” Jackie was going to ask what she meant by that, but Ek-teen continued too quickly. “But now you know some nagas. And consider how many of them have ever tried to harm you.” Jackie did considered this. She also considered that the number of humans who had attempted to harm her numbered in the “many.”

“I’m sorry. You make a point. But you have to admit,” Jackie started, slightly changing her tone to one of more casual air.

“Hm-m-m?”

“Nok-toon is scary!”

“She is,” Ek-teen said with a grin. “But am I not?”

“Not… to me. Though you’re definitely not one to be trifled with!”

“Hm-m-m, I think I actually find that flattering. Now, come with me for a morning bath. It’s part of the daily routine.” Jackie blushed, and quickly gathered up her clothes and tucked Leo’s inside them, setting them on a small table near the pool.

“Okay, ready when you are, Ek-teen.”

“How about a ride for you, too, Jackie?”

“What?”

“I can’t just snatch you up like Flo-ren did Leo, but you can sit on my shoulders if you like.”

“That… sounds fun.” Ek-teen lowered herself to the ground and allowed Jackie to timidly climb on. Jackie found that she could hook one leg over each of the naga’s shoulders and loop her arms around her head like a crown. She could only just see over top the large head. She felt a little childish, but there was little time for reflection on that before the naga was righting her posture and slithering at a speed that made Jackie hand on for dear life.

“Not too tight now, your legs are quite strong,” Ek-teen warned.

“Oops! Sorry!” Jackie stopped clamping the naga’s neck between her thighs like a vice.

Ek-teen carried Jackie over to where the others she had met were bathing. Flo-ren and Flo-tess were stretched out afloat, Leo lying on the tail of the former. They were all backing close to Nok-toon. Jackie swallowed her fear and attempted to cheerfully greet them all, starting with the giantess Nok-toon. She had a lot on her mind, and she was really going to have to get past her little “aversion” to get it all sorted.

They spent an hour or so bathing and relaxing before the little ones became impatient. Flo-ren had told Flo-tess that Jackie was going to be taking them hunting “her way,” and they were both eager to begin. So, once everyone had exited the reflecting pool, and Jackie and Leo had dried off, Jackie agreed to take the two little ones hunting in the direction of her stashed gear. She was willing to entertain the idea that she might come around to situational nudism, but still wanted her stuff back regardless. Additionally, she had hunting equipment in there and wanted to show the nagas how to trap and ensnare.

Leo, Jackie, Flo-ren, and Flo-tess had made it to the little cave where Leo and Jackie had formally “met” by midday, and the four of them spent the next hour going over how to build and set traps, and where the best places to do that were. Once they were done, and Jackie explained that her method of hunting required returning over the following days and didn’t really involve much active “capturing” of prey, the young nagas’ interest began to wane, and they opted to show Leo and Jackie how they hunted.

They, too, had spots quite like traps that they liked to check frequently, but the capturing process was much more actively hands on. They’d slither along with their torsos low, and their noses close to the ground until they crossed the path of a prey animal, and then would decide how fresh it was. If it was fresh, they’d follow it. If it was old, they’d wait by it until sundown and the animal that left the scent would likely be back along the same path at which point, they’d ambush it. The first path they picked up on was fresh, and so, they followed.

Flo-ren often chastised Jackie for her loud footsteps as they followed the scent, and Leo quietly laughed at the polite correction each time. “Ms. Jackie!” she would whisper sternly. “Your feet! Must they be picked up and put down for every single step?” At one point Jackie sarcastically offered to simply slide her feet along without lifting them, but when she followed through on her mock suggestion, Flo-ren found it so ridiculous she began speaking gibberish until Flo-tess shooshed her. Apparently, they had discovered the prey.

An unspoken agreement was reached between the pair of nagas, and they split up, slithering so low they could barely be seen. Leo and Jackie watched attentively as Flo-ren deliberately, but subtly, “got discovered” by the prey. The prey in question was, in fact, a large hair. It burst out of its hiding place in a dead sprint, and in a second, leapt right into the hands –and mouth—of Flo-tess, who had sprung out of seemingly nowhere to intercept the hapless creature. It never knew what hit it. One moment it was bounding along, and the next, its rear legs were kicking in the air as the young naga’s throat stretched effortlessly to accept a creature as large as her head. In a few quick gulps that ended with the rabbit’s feet frozen and sticking out straight while they slipped away, the poor creature was gone. Flo-tess licked her lips and sighed with satisfaction, falling sideways to the ground, and rubbing her tummy affectionately. Her companion quickly came to her side and rubbed her belly as well. It was very swollen with the size of the rabbit within. Jackie found it a little… too interesting.

“Excellent catch, Flo-tess! That was a very good pounce. You were positioned exactly right!”

“M-m-m, and you startled it in precisely the right direction, thank you, Flo-ren! We made that look very good for our friends.”

“Was it yummy?”

“Very! And I love the way rabbits feel when they kick a little on the inside…” Flo-tess said with visible pleasure. Leo felt just a little pity for the poor creature. He’d been in the belly of a naga just like that rabbit was in now, only, he’d been let out. He assumed the rabbit would not be. But just when he was putting it out of his mind, Flo-tess stopped rubbing her belly and looked to the other naga. “But, as it is, I don’t need it. Would you mind?” Flo-tess opened her mouth wide and with both hands, stretched her cheeks apart. Without a moment’s hesitation, Flo-ren reached into the other’s mouth with her hand and kept going. Leo and Jackie were dumbfounded. Flo-ren reached deeper and deeper until much of her arm was engulfed. She reached all the way down the throat, seemed to hesitate for a moment, smiled contentedly, and then pulled the rabbit back out by the ears.

The rabbit was a little slimy and appeared to be paralyzed from fear, but otherwise seemed no worse for wear. Flo-ren kissed it on the head a few times and stroked its back until it appeared to liven up a little, and she carried it back into the brush, emerging empty handed. Leo thought he understood the reason for the exercise, but Jackie was just staring at the whole ordeal slack jawed. She was having very strange thoughts based on the display.

“You, okay?” Leo said from her shoulder, shaking her from her trance.

“Oh… yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. Just… why’d you spit it up?” Jackie asked of Flo-tess.

“I fed a few weeks ago,” Flo-tess answered.

“And… how many weeks can you go without eating?”

“Depends on how active I am, but usually six to eight. It gets longer with age, as your growth slows and so does your metabolism.”

“Yes,” Flo-ren chimed in, “it’s unfortunate how fast ours is at this age, but we can also take bigger prey! Well, bigger in a relative sense. We’re much more stretchy in our youth!”

“Fast?” Jackie said, bewildered. “Whatever you guys say. Anyway, uh… that was pretty neat. What do you need to learn trapping and ensnaring for if you can hunt like that?”

“We certainly don’t need to learn it. But it’s very interesting! And if we want to catch something when we aren’t hungry, say, to prepare for you or another human who must eat daily, then we’ll have more tools at our disposal,” said Flo-ren.”

“I guess that’s fair. Can’t just scavenge eggs for three squares a day withing a convenient range,” Leo added.

“Sure, I suppose,” Jackie began, “but just one more thing. Why’d you have to pull it out?” She asked, directing her question to Flo-ren.

“We aren’t very good at bringing things back up on our own yet. We don’t have total control of the first stomach,” she answered.

“But to be honest, just feeling Flo-ren do that when we train stimulates the necessary muscles. It’s all good practice, both for hunting and learning to control our bodies,” Flo-tess added. Jackie seemed content with the explanation. She wasn’t sure why nagas needed to know how to spit things up, but was glad to know they could, and didn’t want to ask any more questions. She didn’t want Leo giving her more side eye than he already was. “Now, come. Let us return to the cavern. It will start to get dark soon, and you two are due a second meal. Also, we are celebrating tonight.”

“What’re we celebrating?” Leo asked.

“Well, in part, adding new honorary members to our tribe. It’s a rare delight! But we will save the totality of those festivities for when your companion, Vela, returns safely from her journey. In the meantime, we are mostly celebrating a successful combat hunt with no casualties. That’s very auspicious! We cannot allow such a success to slip by unmarked. We will name the day, and commit it to our tribe’s annual traditions,” Flo-ren explained.

As they began the trek back, Jackie and Leo picked the nagas’ brains for how they tended to celebrate special occasions. They learned that the nagas were fond of intoxication. Made sense. Most species were. Leo was particularly looking forward to a drink Flo-tess described. It was a kind of heady, dark wine with mint overtones. The nagas lacked the palette to knowledgably describe the flavors—merely the ingredients—but Leo was eager to try it, nonetheless.

The nagas apparently also smoked some form of herb native to their mountain top. It was very difficult for nagas to retrieve it on their own because it simply got too cold up there for their kind to traverse. They could only fetch it on the middle of summer and then, only if it had been a mild winter. In that event, they’d send up some smaller nagas to gather it, and one of their larger members to carry it all back down. They were very fond of the weed-leaf, even though its virtues were inconsistent and depended on preparation. Sometimes it merely caused a pleasant, light-headed feeling. Other times, it had caused nagas to imagine strange visions and experience unique perspectives. Leo and Jackie both felt a little hesitant to try it, but inwardly, neither could deny that it sounded rather adventurous.

After returning to the village in the cavern, Leo and Jackie learned that they were expected to soak for another hour with the rest of the community. Jackie and Leo made no complaints, figuring that there was no harm in being “too clean,” and once again made to bathe and soak with the nagas after eating another warm meal prepared by Flo-tess and Flo-ren under the instruction of Ek-teen.

While they were bathing, Jackie asked a question Leo had also been mulling over; namely, where were all the naga men? Ek-teen had merely laughed and pointed to several, sort of androgenous looking, smaller nagas. Evidently there were plenty of men. Leo and Jackie just didn’t know how to look for them. Jackie made to ask, “what distinguished them as men,” but thought better of the question and decided to save it for a smaller audience at another time.

After they’d spent an hour or so soaking, as the nagas seemed so fond of doing, Jackie and Leo got dressed again. This time, Jackie put on her own clothes. She was thankful to be wearing something that fit her well again and was very happy to have a real pair of shoes, as even though her feet were as tough as the rest of her, she very much preferred the feeling of protection and mobility that proper footwear offered.

As the light coming through the sky hole began to dim and the torches were lit to counter it, they noticed there were many more sources of light on this evening. There were ropes with many lanterns strewn across the cavern, and there were even some paper lanterns set to float about the cavern freely. Ek-teen explained that nothing exposed in the cavern was flammable, really. So, when they were celebrating something, they liked there to be a lot of fire. The flames made all the nagas’ snake-halves glitter beautifully in the flickering light.

Jackie had to admit to herself that she was getting used to seeing people slide about on titanic slithering snake bodies instead of legs. It wasn’t really their snake features that had perturbed her. Not entirely. To some extent, her eyes would frequently play tricks on her and it just looked like people were riding strange mounts until she realized there were no legs wrapped around them. No. It was a combination of their snake bodies and their size. She’d been having trouble adjusting to feeling “little.” But then, when she looked at Leo who seemed utterly at ease, this felt all the more ridiculous. She’d been warming up to Flo-ren and Flo-tess because even though they had mass on her overall with their tails, their torsos were those of women much slighter than she was. And ever since she’d first opened her eyes as a “woman” again and seen the form of the large naga gazing down at her tenderly, almost affectionately, she had been fond of Ek-teen.

At first, Jackie hadn’t realized there was anything strange or different about her: just a woman there to greet her with a smile after days of violence and uncertainty. Being a werewolf was always so chaotic. There was some mild apprehension as her wits came back to her and she realized that her perspective was skewed and this woman was far too large to be human, and that was before she realized that she had dozens of feet worth of scaley tail to contend with. But the first impression was the lasting one and Ek-teen was a source of comfort. It even seemed fitting and proper that she had been the one to consume the leader of the band of thugs who had been chasing her across the countryside and into the mountains. Jackie recalled feeling the… remnants… of the man so deep within the serpentine tail and once again felt strange. It wasn’t because he was once a man, her kin, and had suffered a terrible fate. It was because she couldn’t help but imagine… something… involving Ek-teen.

So, as Jackie sat gathered with Leo and several nagas around a small fire they’d started little ways off from the reflecting pool, her eyes grew a little wide as she saw the large form of the beautiful naga, Ek-teen, gliding swiftly around the pool to meet them. As she came into the light, Jackie admired the ceremonial garbs the woman had chosen to compliment her elegant, tall but slender features on this evening. She had realized that the nagas only wore clothing to fight or to look beautiful, and now she understood how that made a difference. She’d seen this woman’s naked human torso (while doing her best to avert her eyes from the surprisingly human genitalia at the waist) many times over the last couple of days, but sometimes it was about what you could not see, and the decorative, gold-plated, overlapping scales design of the top and bottom Ek-teen was wearing that only barely made her “decent” by human standards did a lot to accentuate her toned belly and cast golden reflections on her strong jaw. Jackie continued to rather obviously check her out until her eyes met with Ek-teen’s own, and she realized that her staring was surely known to the naga. Jackie’s cheeks flashed with heat, and she bashfully looked away for a moment before collecting herself and meeting the naga’s gaze again.

“Good evening, Ek-teen. You’re looking…lovely,” Jackie said, attempting to sound casual.

“Thank you very much, Jackie. As are you.” The two of them quietly stared at each other for a moment longer. It was long enough for Leo to comprehend that there was something strange between them going on. But before the stare became awkwardly eternal, a few nagas arrived, quietly as ever, but now loudly jostled a large stone basin. When they set it down, the ground shook. Gods their arms are like steel to be able to carry such a large stone even in a group of four, Leo thought. What was more, the stone was full of something special.

“Ah! The gulkin has arrived! I cannot wait to sample this batch! Is it very strong, Bar-took?” Flo-tess asked of one of the naga who had carried the large canister up. He nodded.

“Oh, yes. It’s a mighty mixture. I am sure it will be a fitting drink to mark the occasion,” the naga named Bar-took said in an assuring tone.

“Oh, my yes! I’ve been dying to try this stuff!” Leo said enthusiastically. He produced a clean jar from his satchel. “One of you do me a favor and top me off!”

“It would be my pleasure, little one!” Flo-tess said. She reached toward Jackie’s shoulder where Leo had taken to sitting and retrieved the small jar with delicate care. “And for you, Jackie?”

“Y-y-y-yes. I think I’ll have a cup. I can’t tell you the last time I’ve had a good, stiff drink.” Flo-tess seemed delighted with this answer. There were several spigots from which to fill one’s cup, so the nagas had all formed as many lines around the giant basin to get their first fill. It wasn’t long before Flo-tess arrived back with Leo and Jackie’s respective cups. Leo watched with admiration as the naga deftly scooped Leo a full jar out from Jackie’s wooden cup.

“I hope you won’t begrudge the borrower a drop, Jackie,” she said.

“Not since it is only a drop, I suppose,” Jackie responded. They both accepted their cups graciously. Leo took a small, testing sip which he let sit on his tongue a moment before deciding how to “handle” the drink. He was glad he’d taken a small sip. The temperature was surprisingly cool, probably from being kept underground, but the substance was very boozy. It had its own heat. It tasted like a mixture of fermented fruits, but there was a decided bite of something stronger that made the substance burn a little. He swallowed it and it warmed his insides pleasantly. Jackie, who had not taken alcohol in more than a year, coughed initially from a much larger, less cautious gulp, much to the humor of those around her. She ignored their chuckles and took another, more careful sip, but still had to clear her throat after getting it down. “Wow, that’s some serious stuff!” She declared.

“Like a fruity gin, but more full-bodied, almost like wine,” Leo followed up. Jackie nodded in agreement.

“Not a drink I’d have thought to make. But it’s not bad!” Leo looked around at the nagas who all were waiting for their appraisal. They looked confused at the grade, “not bad.”

“‘Not bad,’ is, ‘pretty good,’ guys,” he explained. Cheers resounded. Wooden cups were raised. Everyone drank in big gulps. Leo and Jackie both took another sip as well. Leo wondered what kind of tolerance nagas had, as a people who hardly had to eat. How well could they metabolize booze? He guessed he would soon find out and was determined not to be shown up. Borrowers were known for their drinking prowess insofar as they were known for anything besides stealing (if they were even known at all).

They were all conversing and shouting merrily by their second round of gulkin, as it was called, and both Leo and Jackie were realizing that it was a dangerous brew for sure, not to be taken lightly. After a while, Ek-teen rose to her full potential height, erecting her snake body well above the crowd. She thanked everyone who had partaken in “dispelling” the violent intruders the other night. Leo remembered watching the larger naga warriors subduing and swallowing the hunters without much of a hassle and considered that “dispel” might be a misnomer for what had transpired. Ek-teen went on to say that it wasn’t a day of losses, as is always possible whenever conflict becomes necessity, but a day of gains, as they had added three members to their tribe as a consequence of rescuing them. All present cheered. Ek-teen named the three new members, “Jackie the moonchild, Leo the borrower, and Vela the nightwalker. They are all now entwined with us. And now I will name the day.” Everyone grew quiet, attentive to the name the day would be given to be celebrated annually. Ek-teen waited to dramatize the pause. Then, she continued.

“The day, which will be celebrated on the night of the second new moon of every summer, will be the ‘New-Moon’s Dawn,’ for it was the second full moon of the summer that brought us Jackie as a wolf, the hunters, and Jackie’s companions, and it was the new moon which gave us Jackie as herself,” Ek-teen concluded. Everyone raised their glasses silently. “We drink to Jackie’s continued safety and health, and to that of her companions, for theirs is the health of the tribe!”

Everyone cheered and emptied their cups. Everyone, that is, except for Jackie, who was dumbstruck at the announcement that the day was, in part, dedicated to her. She was stunned to silence until Leo elbowed her in the neck softly to get her attention.

“Hey, girl! Lemme scoop another cup if you’re not gonna down it!” The borrower said playfully. Jackie stuttered for a moment, allowed Leo to dip his cup in her own, and then gathered herself.

“I-I’m sorry. Cheers, little guy.” He slapped his cup into her own, spilling some, and they both took a big sip, but she didn’t finish the whole thing. She wasn’t trying to get too silly. She had more on her mind than ever and wanted to keep some of her wits about her. She wanted to thank Ek-teen for her words. For her kindness. For her role in rescuing the three of them. For everything. She wanted to convey her gratitude. But gratitude, truth be told, wasn’t the only thing the woman was aching to express. She looked around, and beyond all unlikelihood, couldn’t seem to spot the large naga in the crowd anymore. Where’s she gone? She wondered. But just as the question crossed her mind, she caught the most fleeting glimpse of Ek-teen exiting the cavern through a smaller opening in the back.

Just then, Flo-tess and Flo-ten slid up on either side of Jackie. Flo-ren was holding two cups, one for herself and one for the human.

“Oh, your cup isn’t empty!” She observed.

“You’re a round behind!” Flo-tess followed.

“What’s the matter, Jackie? It’s a party!” Leo jeered. Jackie looked into her cup at her own reflection in the dark drink. She made a decision, and suddenly decided she could use the liquid courage after all. She lifted the cup to her lips and gulped it down eagerly.

“Ah-h! Wow, that stuff is getting smoother by the sip!” Jackie exclaimed.

“That is the idea, Ms. Jackie!” Flo-ren said, taking Jackie’s empty cup and handing her the full one.

“Suppose so! Say, um, Leo, would you be comfortable on your own for a bit?” Jackie suddenly asked looking at the borrower on her shoulder. Leo cocked an eyebrow but didn’t want to interrogate the woman.

“Eh-h, sure? I guess. But I don’t wanna be on the ground with a bunch of drunken nagas sliding around!”

“Oh! I will look after you, Leo!” Flo-tess shouted eagerly. “I will,” ur-r-p! “I will be a very responsible companion!” Leo laughed. He quickly concluded that he’d be as well off with her as anyone and consented to being put in her care. Flo-tess simply leaned forward and, with her hand on Jackie’s shoulder, let Leo walk up her arm. She shivered in delight at having the borrower settle on her shoulder by her straight black hair. “We will see to it he doesn’t get squished!”

“Thank you! Sorry about this Leo. I’ll be back… in a while,” Jackie said. With no further explanation, she walked off in the direction she had seen Ek-teen exit the den. Leo was left wondering what was up with her, but as Flo-tess offered him to scoop more drink from her own, he shrugged it off.

“This stuff is great!” He said. Truthfully, he’d really taken to the drink.

“Just wait for the pothracan,” Flo-tess said.

“What’s that?”

“The ceremonial herb! It’s supposed to be a great batch this summer. We haven’t had any in a while! I just hope Jackie is back in time to get some before we burn it all.”

“Well, her loss, I guess! In the meantime, let’s be merry! Introduce me to some friends!” Leo suggested. The two nagas yelped in delight and they punched into the crowed.

Jackie exited the cavern and found herself in a small clearing before the forest closed back up. She focused in the near darkness, the daylight all but completely gone, and saw a trail that looked characteristic of frequent slithering by larger nagas and followed it into the dark woods. After a while, Jackie began to question taking this path, guessing she’d walked a couple of miles, but eventually, she came to another clearing. There were large, broad, flat rocks, and upon one of them, Ek-teen could be seen lounging on her back with a section of her own tail propping up her head. Her hands were clasped peacefully over her abdomen.

“Good evening, Jackie. Were the festivities not to your liking? You didn’t even stay long enough to sample the breathing of this year’s pothracan,” she said without turning her head. Jackie briefly wondered how Ek-teen knew it was her, but then realized she was probably the only biped with audible footsteps for miles.

“No, that’s not it. I’m sure that’s… gonna be fun. I just… I wanted to see you. I wanted a chance to talk to you.”

“You’ve seen and talked to me plenty.”

“Not alone,” Jackie said too quickly. The naga’s eyes opened. She turned her head to gaze upon the human.

“Alone? Is there something on your mind, Jackie?” The large naga asked attentively. Jackie didn’t know how to answer. Start small.

“Do you mind if I sit with you a bit?”

“Please, make yourself comfortable. Plenty of room.” Ek-teen patted herself on her own coils next to where she lay. Jackie chewed her lip, then proceeded to climb upon the rock and settled down beside the inhumanly large torso of the woman, leaning against the cool, firm but forgiving flesh of her tail. She thought for a minute before finally speaking.

“Thank you for everything you’ve done for us.”

“I’m hardly the only one, nor the most generous one whom to thank for your current well-being, Jackie,” the naga said softly.

“I know. I have a lot to be thankful for. But I wanted to thank you personally. Also, for what you said back there. I’m not sure I fully grasp the gravity of establishing a new ‘tribal holiday,’ but I feel like I just received a great honor.”

“The honor, my friend, was the opportunity you gave us all to rise to the occasion and prove ourselves brave and strong.”

“You’re definitely both of those things, and more,” Jackie said, and as she did, her left hand slipped off the cup she’d been cradling in her lap and reached up to stroke the scales behind her head. The gesture did not go unnoticed, and the scaly flesh twitched a little under her light touch. Jackie marveled at the amount of precise muscle control the enormous woman possessed. “You’re much more,” she said quietly.

“I’m… flattered to know you think so highly of me, Jackie,” Ek-teen said with a tone that asked without asking: “what do you mean, ‘more?’” Jackie felt compelled to say something else, but she found her throat to suddenly feel very dry. Her right hand clasped the handle of her cup more tightly. She raised the rim to her lips and took a big gulp of the gulkin. It soothed her nerves. It felt warm all the way down. She took a deep breath before blurting the first thing on her mind without thinking.

“Ek-teen, would you ever consider… eating me?” Jackie asked. She felt the section of tail behind her stiffen up, Ek-teen’s whole body tensing slightly at the unexpected question before it slowly softened again. There was a moment of utter quiet in which Jackie wished a swift death upon herself to spare her the humiliating fallout of asking such a stupid thing of her benefactor.

“Oh…” Ek-teen muttered after a bit. Jackie thought it sounded a little… defeated? Disappointed? It was hard to tell from one sullen syllable.

“I’m… I’m sorry. I just…”

“It’s fine, dear. I… I understand what you know my kind are capable of, and what… we’ve done… but I genuinely didn’t think that was a fear of yours. I believed you thought better of… us,” Ek-teen said. Jackie knew she meant to say, “thought better of me.” And now it was clear that Ek-teen was saddened at the question.

“Wait, I didn’t mean-” Jackie began, but Ek-teen interrupted.

“I would never harm anyone who didn’t deserve it, and even then, deserving or not, I’d never harm you, Jackie. So, no. I’d never eat you.

“Ek-teen, you don’t understand, what I meant to ask was—"

“And besides,” Ek-teen continued, apparently not wanting to hear Jackie attempt to backpedal on the unconscious wound the naga perceived she had doled out, “you’re a child of the moon. You’re not digestible. It’s not as if nagas’ stomachs secrete liquid silver, is it? So, I frankly don’t understand your nonsensical preoccupation with-”

“EK-TEEN!” Jackie shouted. The naga fell silent. She looked both surprised and a little hurt. Jackie clearly understood what she had done wrong and the misunderstanding she had caused. She cleared her throat and steeled herself to be more concise. There was no going back now. The naga’s feelings were too hurt. “What I meant to ask was, would you be willing to eat me if I asked you to?” The naga was stunned again. This time she grew more tense than before.

“Oh!” She said again. This time much with no mystery in the syllable’s meaning. “So you’re not… you’re not afraid of us?”

“I’m not afraid of you, if that’s what you’re really asking,” Jackie said. Ek-teen blushed as dark a red as her ventral bands at having the generalization refocused to pertain directly to her. Jackie wasn’t afraid of her, specifically.

“That’s… a relief. I was a little hurt. I misunderstood.”

“I get it. Don’t worry about it any of it,” Jackie said, loosely referring to the whole conversation, but Ek-teen wasn’t about to let the issue slip away.

“Why, though?” She asked frankly. Now Jackie was blushing. She looked down.

“It… seems like it could be… kinda… good.” She said. The naga’s eyes narrowed.

“Kind of good?”

“Yeah. Like it would feel good.”

“Good in what way?”

“Um… like… ya know…,” Jackie was a little out of her depth, as she hadn’t counted on having to defend her position. She thought it would just be understood. But now she had to explain herself and she was flailing. “I mean… Leo and Vela… and Nok-toon… the way he described it… I just thought…”

“You’re… curious?”

“I am.” Jackie was determined to look anywhere but up at the naga right now, so she flinched a little when she felt the soft touch of a giant hand against her right side, pulling her gently closer to the massive torso.

“Jackie. There’s no need to be bashful. What you’re asking isn’t exactly a lot. I just want to understand. May I… lift you up?”

“Y-yes!” Jackie said, standing quickly. The naga’s right hand was almost large enough for the fingers to wrap all the way around the muscular woman’s waist, but the way she opted to lift Jackie was much gentler. She slid her index and middle fingers under Jackie’s left armpit, hooked her pinky and ring fingers under her butt, and brought her thumb softly against her chest just below her breasts like a harness. She softly lifted once Jackie wrapped an arm around her fingers securely.

Ek-teen lifted Jackie slowly and placed her on her bare belly just above the cloth covering of her ceremonial garments. Jackie tested her footing and deemed it too unstable for standing, and shakily settled down into a cross-legged sit. Ek-teens grip unfurled, but her hand didn’t depart. Instead, it simply rested behind Jackie and provided her something to lean back against which proved helpful as Ek-teen sat up a little. They stared at each other for a minute before Ek-teen broke the silence.

“You know… I didn’t slip out of the party to be alone,” the naga said quietly.

“No? Then why’d you steal away?” Jackie asked, thinking she knew the answer.

“I hoped you might come looking for me. I’ve been getting some… interesting signals from you.”

“Is… is that so?” Jackie’s breathing was getting a little labored. This sudden conversational diversion from the previous subject was making her feel exhilarated.

“Yes. And when you actually did come looking for me, I was sure you were going to ask me something, but not that. So, when that’s what you asked, I was a little thrown.”

“What… did you think I was going to ask you?” Jackie’s heart was pounding.

“I thought you were going to ask me to make love,” Ek-teen said coolly. Jackie shuddered with the thrill of hearing such a beautiful, titanic woman even mention the act of love making with her having been in her thoughts. Jackie gulped hard, suddenly realizing she’d dropped the cup and whatever was left of her drink as she was being picked up, which was unfortunate considering how dry her throat suddenly felt.

“W-would you…?”

“Would I what?”

“Want to?”

“Yes. Considerably,” Ek-teen said as her thumb came back around and lightly brushed the underside of Jackie’s left breast. She shivered, leaning into the soft digit, even grasping it with her right hand to dissuade it from ceasing the subtle caress. Jackie was swooning. She didn’t know what had gotten into her. Surely this wasn’t just the gulkin taking. She hadn’t had enough for that, though she was thankful for the slight edge it had removed from her nerves. She’d been wanting to get Ek-teen alone all day.

“Me too. I want to. I want you,” she said in almost a whimper.

“Then why…” Ek-teen said as her fingers curled up around the woman’s torso and slowly began sliding her up the abdomen towards her giant face, “didn’t you ask me that? Why ask if I’d eat you ‘at your request?’” Jackie thought back to her conversation with Leo and what he had said to justify his proclivities.

“I think it would be erotic,” Jackie said. Ek-teen smiled subtly and cocked an eyebrow.

“To be eaten?”

“To be inside you!” Jackie blurted. Ek-teen gasped, momentarily losing her composure. She gathered herself and grinned.

“Okay, yes… I agree. And I do want you… inside of me… oh my goodness is that delectable to say out loud!” If Ek-teen had enjoyed saying it, Jackie loved hearing it even more. Just the feeling of being wanted by this woman was making Jackie feel levels of arousal she’d forgotten existed. The giant thumb brushed over her breasts, softly rubbing her nipple on its way by. Jackie’s back arched as she moaned quietly. Her body ached for more.

“What’re we waiting for, Ek-teen?” The giantess naga froze as her eyes grew wide. She chewed her lip. Then, her grip grew a little tighter as she slowly drew a very deep breath. Jackie didn’t mean to be pushy, but she was secretly a little afraid of losing her nerve. She wanted to ride this arousal high while her head was still light and loose. “Come, have a taste…” Jackie said, rubbing the Ek-teen’s thumb and her own chest.

The giant hand moved quickly, the second one joining it. One under the other, fingers splayed, they were almost Jackie’s height. The naga’s right hand lifted her torso while the left went under her legs, and together they brought the surprised and thrilled Jackie rapidly toward the eager face of Ek-teen, whose long tongue was already sliding past her parted lips. As she was lifting Jackie, her right thumb hooked under her top and lifted it, exposing the woman’s midriff. The naga extended the tip of her tongue and it contacted Jackie’s bare flesh for the first time. Her pronounced abdominal muscles spasmed and flexed hard under the foreign feeling of being tasted by such a large, slick organ. Jackie had subconsciously expected the tongue to be a scaled-up version of her own and therefore bumpy and a little rough with textured taste buds, but it was surprisingly slick and smooth. It felt wonderful.

The tongue became narrower and extended dexterously, sliding up the front of Jackie’s top and sticking between her breasts. Jackie writhed and twisted her torso to the right, subconsciously repositioning herself under the tip of the tongue so it would touch her left nipple, which was still hard from the prior fondling by the naga’s thumb. Her goal was easily achieved and the feeling of having her sensitive nipple licked by the delightful tongue was electric. Jackie flinched away from it due to a temporary overstimulation. But she immediately brought both hands up and held the tongue against her breast hard, determined to endure the fullness of the feeling and all its pleasures. The tongue, however, slipped away. Its owner retracted it with a wet slurping sound and smiled through closed lips. Ek-teen’s eyes had been closed too. They fluttered open lazily, blinking a few times as if to clear a haze.

“You’re… seriously good enough to eat, cute, little Jackie…” Ek-teen said appraisingly. This made Jackie really melt. She was a tall, brawny, powerful woman and didn’t at all mind being perceived as such, but in the hands of this naga she was this cute, yummy doll, and something about being made to feel that way in an adoring manner was really pressing her buttons. It was unusual, but very welcomed. The naga leaned in and smelled Jackie, running her nose against her body from waist to neck before kissing her square on the face. “And your smell… so many pheromones. You’re positively revving to go aren’t you, dear?” Jackie vigorously nodded in the affirmative. “Well then, only thing stopping me is that cloth.” Jackie immediately pulled her top off and let it fall away carelessly. She then kicked off her shoes and stuck her thumbs into her trousers, wiggling her hips until her bare ass was in the naga’s palm.

Ek-teen ate her with her eyes. She’d seen Jackie’s naked body before when the girl changed back from a werewolf and during baths, but this time was different. This time she was naked for her. And this time they were both very much aroused, and Jackie’s tanned, scarred skin was flushed red all over like a whole-body blush, her nipples erect, and her lush mound soaked. Her chest was rapidly expanding and deflating with every excited breath. Her lips were parted and pouting. Her silvery hair was messy with sweat. Ek-teen had a lot in store for the little human if she was up for it all. She was big for a woman. She was fit as a fiddle, but her muscles bulged, and she was taller than some men. Ek-teen hadn’t eaten many humans. She’d never had anyone quite this beefy if she was being honest. But looking at the strong, meaty woman made Ek-teen imagine feeling her fill her up, and not just her stomach. She’s going to feel so good inside me.

The naga’s tongue slid back out subconsciously as she was compelled to taste Jackie again. Seeing it coming, Jackie had the strange urge to brace herself. Now naked, she felt like she’d completely given herself over to this woman for the taking. Her eyes grew wide as some primal instinct instructed her that a huge naga coming in for a lick was somehow a bad thing, but then the tongue once again made contact, this time with the outside of her left ankle. It slid across her skin smoothly as it worked its way up and across her shins, and it brushed the inside of both thighs, parting her legs slightly as the tip squished her labia in passing. Bliss.

“Gods…” Jackie gasped with a squeak. Ek-teen chuckled but continued the lick until her tongue flicked both of Jackie’s breasts and finished with a kiss on her face. She then opened her mouth inhumanly wide for Jackie to peer into, amazed. Am I really going in there? It’s so dark and tight looking! Jackie thought. She wasn’t backing down. But her mind went to Leo. This seemed a little scary, no doubt about it. And he was so small! But perhaps it was a little less intimidating when it wasn’t quite so tight!

As if to punctuate her thoughts, Ek-teen suddenly swallowed open-mouthed with a loud gluck! Jackie’s eyes were wider than an owl’s. She was suddenly unsure if she’d even fit as she struggled to imagine that happening with her inside. Ek-teen, meanwhile, was eying Jackie attentively as she put her maw on display for the woman. She wanted to give her a neat display of what she was asking for. As she assessed the expression, she thought she saw excitement, not fear. The woman certainly smelled excited if nothing else, and those chemicals didn’t tell lies.

Ek-teen was convinced she was correct when she saw Jackie reach out with her right hand to touch the smooth surface of her tongue past the threshold of her lips and teeth. She rubbed the inside of her mouth and Ek-teen thought she heard Jackie whisper, “so soft and warm.” Ek-teen hadn’t been sure how Jackie would actually react to playing out her initial request. But now she believed Jackie knew what she wanted, and she saw no point in delaying any longer. She had a lot she wanted out of her night. Best get started. She moved Jackie into her mouth.

As the world grew a little dimmer and the black pit at the back of the steamy maw leapt forward, Jackie suffered a temporary, total termination of thought. She watched as her hand slid against the slick tongue and moved toward the back. Her head cleared the plump lips. In the blink of an eye, she was watching her hand squeeze into the tightness of the dark throat. Her head bumped into the back. It was angled down, her chin tucking tightly into her chest, and she stared into total blackness, unable to even see her right arm and hand that went before her. She felt the throat muscles flex and she was pulled in a couple of feet, her butt bumping into the upper lip that was now stretched taught. The whole mouth was stretching to accept her. It was also squeezing. It was tight. She began to worry she couldn’t breathe even though her breaths were coming faster by the second. Jackie thought she might hyperventilate.

It was too much, too fast.

“Wait… wait, WAIT!” She cried, and with her left arm she began to thrash and grope for a handhold. The throat momentarily became even tighter as she felt it constrict around her, but she did not proceed deeper. She was merely being held in place as she felt another form of pressure applied to her legs. Before she could make sense of it, she was yanked back out and lied soaked and sputtering in the palms of Ek-teen’s hands. The naga looked very concerned.

“Are you okay?” She asked frantically. “Are you hurt?”

“No,” Jackie said, and coughed. As she caught her breath, she repeated. “No, no, I’m fine. Just. I wasn’t ready for how tight it was going to be. I just wasn’t ready.”

“Do… would you prefer to table this endeavor for now, or…?”

“No! Sorry. No. I still want to do this,” Jackie interjected. Truthfully, at this point Jackie wasn’t entirely sure why she wanted to see this through. It hadn’t been quite what she’d imagined. If it was too scary, why push it? But for some reason she felt compelled to continue, as if backing down now would be a reproach of Ek-teen, and it would make Jackie feel oddly defeated. No, she wanted to try this. I want to know what it’s really like.

“Okay, Jackie. But…” Ek-teen hesitated. “If it’s just a matter of… you wanting to be eaten, I imagine… well… Nok-toon would probably be happy to facilitate and she’s much bigger than I am, so, it might prove more comfortable,” she suggested. Ek-teen was sure she’d be able to swallow her herself now that she’d had her that deep inside, but she’d never had to spare a thought for the comfort of whatever creatures she sent sliding down into her depths and truthfully didn’t know if there was any way to satisfy Jackie’s request in a way that was mutually pleasurable. Jackie’s face went blank for a moment as she imagined being consumed by the enormous Nok-toon. She blinked the visage away and wore a stern look.

“It’s not just about experiencing it, Ek-teen. I like you. I want to do this with you—be inside you. We can pull this off. I’ll be okay. Just give me a minute,” Jackie said in defense of her insistence. Ek-teen was about to suggest alternative means for getting the human inside her if that’s all she wanted when Jackie said, “Okay. Headfirst is no good.” Jackie put her feet together and raised them up off Ek-teen’s palm, making an obvious offer of them to the large naga. “Feet first it is,” she finished, trying to sound confident and suggestive. She wanted to restore the mood. Ek-teen glanced at the human’s little feet and then back to her eyes understandingly.

“You’re still set on this?”

“Don’t you want to?”

“I’m quite sure I’ll enjoy consuming you, Jackie…” Ek-teen licked Jackie’s feet playfully and the woman giggled a little. “Okay. We’ll give it one more go.”

“I’ll be okay. I’m sure it’s safe. I’ll just get a little squished.”

“Are you reassuring me, or yourself? I personally love the feeling of being overfull…” Jackie blushed at the naga’s words.

“You think I’ll be satisfying?”

“I know it. You just have to let me do my thing and get… you… down,” Ek-teen said, swallowing at the end and rubbing her tummy. “You’ll be right here, and you’ll make my first stomach very distended. But you’ll fit.” As Ek-teen finished her little speech, Jackie felt herself getting worked up again. Her heartrate was increasing at the idea, and she was staring at the naga’s midsection wondering how big a bump she’d make.

“Okay. Let’s do this. Slurp me up…”

“M-m-m, alright. Hands at your sides, girl. I’ll try to make this gentle, smooth, and as quick as can be painless.” Jackie did as she was told, and Ek-teen raised her above her head in both hands and began to feed the woman to herself feetfirst. Her jaw fell open and once again her long tongue rolled out and hung low. The tip of it could extend so far that she began to lick the inside of Jackie’s thighs immediately after the woman’s feet touched the base of it within the steaming maw.

Ek-teen didn’t slurp her up all at once. She paused a moment to suck on the woman’s legs while her tongue wrapped around them and teased her playfully. Then, she deliberately forced her tongue between Jackie’s thighs and flicked it once more across her now extremely sensitive vagina. Far from a precise probe, it was still more than sufficient to elicit a happy moan from the human as she shivered and squirmed while doing her best to remain still. But Ek-teen was in a teasing mood now, and she continued “accidentally” licking Jackie’s most sensitive area.

“Oh-h-h, Ek-teen! You… ugh! You know exactly what you’re doing…” Jackie complained, and her right hand left her side and moved over to rub herself. Ek-teen chuckled throatily at the success she was having and redoubled her efforts. She really wanted to get Jackie going before taking her any deeper this time. She wanted the woman focused on the pleasure aspects she had envisioned in all this instead of letting her head ruin it by focusing on little pesky things like claustrophobia.

The naga began a more concentrated, less coy attack on Jackie’s now dripping vagina, and the woman began to twitch and buck a little more wildly, her fingers occasionally slipping inside of herself for a few plunges before getting out of the giant tongue’s way and making quick circles on her clitoris again. She’s eating me out before she eats me. This is so amazing. I’m not sure how much more of her touch I can take. It’s been so long. She tried to tell the naga to slow down but found herself incapable of forming coherent words.

As Jackie’s attempts at speech became erratic gasps and moans, Ek-teen made a decision. She closed her lips around the waist of the struggling woman and sucked on her legs while her tongue made a few final aggressive passes at her deliciously dripping arousal that was edging closer and closer to bursting and spilling over with every passing moment. Jackie’s legs took up Ek-teen’s entire mouth. Her feet were pinned against one another, already inside the snug throat, and her knees were bent at about the back of her tongue where it began to taper off into the drop. Jackie’s thighs took up the entire length of Ek-teen’s mouth. Even as she prepared to initiate the first of what would be several pulls, Ek-teen could tell this position would be much more ideal.

Jackie was so close she was making nonsensical whimpering noises. So, she was only vaguely aware when the mouth that was bringing her so much pleasure began to become more active. In her foggy mind, it was only logical that as she drew near her peak, the mouth would finish with her, in a manner. Then, it occurred to her what that meant, but she didn’t care. She threw her head back and cried out with delight as she felt her butt pop over the bottom lip and her feet inter the tightness that seemed to dreadful before, but now it felt outstanding. She wanted to feel that tightness envelop her entirely. She desired to feel it quickly creeping up her body, swallowing her.

She froze for a moment, two of her fingers being squeezed by the compulsively twitching muscles of her own vaginal canal. She was willing the final wave to wait just a few tantalizing seconds. She opened her eyes and looked up at Ek-teen, whose eyes were also locked on her face. Jackie simply nodded aggressively three times. It was the closest thing to a resounding “yes” she could muster.

The pressure on her feet and ankles increased and Jackie felt it roll up her legs past her knees and bear down on her thighs in almost the same instant. She remembered at the last possible second to flatten her left hand against her hip, but as for her right hand, she thought she could get away with leaving it where it was. The second wave of squeezing, soft, but irresistible pressure came, and her spine arched drastically as her butt went over the edge. At the end of that surge, Jackie found that she was being held tightly by smooth, taught flesh all the way up to her shoulders. Her head was taking up all the space in the back of the throat. Her fingers began sliding in and out of herself again as Ek-teen gulped once more and for the final time.

With a loud glek that echoed in the open, empty mouth, Jackie disappeared.

Her ears were blocked by the tightness of the throat that rapidly slid past them on either side. All she could hear was a muffled series of guttural sounds and the surprisingly slow but seemingly omnipotent thud of the enormous heart somewhere close by. Jackie found herself holding her breath and clenching her jaw as she took the plunge, the fingers she was using to pleasure herself dug in deep and curled forward hard, almost pressed back into her own palm through her vagina’s front wall. Her g-spot being squeezed as tightly as the rest of her body, the climax was as primed as it possibly could be. So, the moment the pressure eased up a little and Jackie felt her feet hit resistance while she was deposited into the stomach of her giant friend and she was forcibly curled into the fetal position, she began to scream and thrash from total orgasmic delight, pushing desperately against the slick folds that bound her snugly in place with her almost inhuman strength in an effort to freely writhe from the intensity of the completion.

On the outside, Ek-teen marveled at the enormity of the bulge Jackie made within her first stomach. But before she could adjust to it, the bulge spread out and squirmed magnificently. The naga cried out and placed both hands on her belly, curling up in a subconscious attempt to quell the fury of the woman within. It hurt a bit, but it was a novel hurt— a good hurt. No doubt this was the largest and strongest “prey” she had ever ingested, and it felt profound to feel the human put up such a delicious struggle, especially since Ek-teen understood the struggle was just the result of a doubtlessly outstanding orgasm that she had helped to bring about.

She couldn’t lie and say she didn’t suffer an urgent impulse to relieve herself of the feeling by squeezing the human through the next tight sphincter, out from her less powerful first stomach and into the much larger, deadlier second one beneath. That’s what she was accustomed to doing with such large, violent animals once swallowed, and it always felt sublime to experience that sudden release that led to such deep fullness. But Jackie was no animal, and Ek-teen was old enough to be more than capable of resisting such compulsions. The woman would calm down momentarily. Ek-teen closed her eyes and rested her hands loosely on the squirming bulge and enjoyed the turmoil, riding it out. She’s climaxing so violently just from entering me. This really is all quite arousing… Ek-teen mused.

Jackie continued in her throes of desperate self-pleasure while the walls around her were stretched to their limits by her spastic struggles. It was a sensual overload that she hadn’t really been prepared for. Oh, how she wished that somehow, she could still feel Ek-teen’s tongue upon her labia while she was wrapped up and embraced tightly by the same naga’s stomach. Images of the whole experience were racing through her brain as not one, but two orgasms rolled by. The second was not nearly so explosive as the first, characterized by gasping and twitching just a little more than she had been as she came down from the initial one.

Finally, the tension in her limbs seemed to give out as if a marionette had been unstrung. As her body slackened, she curled up into a tighter ball than before, because she was finally succumbing to the elasticity of the stomach around her. Jackie sighed deeply as her breathing caught up to her, and she slowly calmed down and became aware of the more subtle aspects of her environment. It wasn’t oppressively hot or even very difficult to breathe as she had assumed. That wasn’t to say it was cool. But Jackie thought it was, perhaps, a few degrees below her own, natural internal temperature. It was pitch black, though that wasn’t a trifle, but a relaxing thing. Her ears were stimulated by many sounds of the naga’s internal systems busying about her, and there was always that slow, steady, powerful thudding of the naga’s powerful heart. Above all, it was slick. Jackie was covered from head to toe in thick slime, but it didn’t burn. She presumed this stuff wasn’t meant for flesh. Her hair was stuck to her face in thick clumps from it all. She rubbed herself with her hands to get a feel for it. It was strange, but not at all unpleasant.

After a few minutes of what qualified as stillness when compared to the prior chaos, Jackie heard the somewhat muffled voice of her benefactor coming through the stomach walls.

“Jackie, are you able to understand me clearly?” Ek-teen asked. Jackie perked up at the sound of the naga’s soft voice.

“Yes, I can hear you!” She said, rather loudly.

“I can hear you as well,” Ek-teen said, rubbing the large belly bump affectionately. Now that the woman had calmed down, she was finally starting to get used to the feeling of being stretched so much for so long. Normally she’d never have put up with it.

“Ek-teen, I don’t think I’ve ever felt that… sexy!” Jackie confessed.

“Really now? What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. Just, I’ve never felt that physically turned on, and I’ve never felt like anyone was so into me as when I was in your mouth. Your tongue…” Jackie shivered at the recent memory of being tasted by the massive organ and felt a thrill of sensuality scorch through her. “Your tongue is something else.” Ek-teen felt immensely flattered at the woman’s praise. She was very pleased to have facilitated such a singular, top-tier experience. She felt very fond of the human.

“What about the rest? Did you enjoy it? Was being swallowed everything you’d hoped?”

“Getting inside of you was more than I’d dreamed. Being in you now is wonderfully relaxing. I see what Leo was getting at. You eating me was very erotic. What’s it like having me inside you?”

“I have to admit, it’s getting more thrilling by the second. It was a little intense at first, but now that I’ve adjusted to you, I feel extremely satisfied. Your words are really resonating with me, Jackie. I just love hearing how good it was and still is for you. I’ll confess, when I directed Vela to Nok-toon the other night, I did so as a good host and tribal matriarch. She was the obvious match for such a thing, and it would have been selfish and silly for me to take it on just because I was curious… but I was a little jealous, especially when Leo volunteered to go in as well. It was only worsened when I realized they all derived such pleasure from it, and my curiosity increased. But even though a small seed of desire was planted, and I found the concept intriguing, I never would have suggested it… because out of your group, I found you the most attractive, Jackie, and I’d never have dreamt it would be something you’d go in for,” Ek-teen confessed.

Jackie was a little shocked at the long divulgence. But once it sunk in that Ek-teen had fancied her the most of her trio, all she really felt was gratitude and flattery. It was a little difficult for her to accept that she was “most desired” of any group, let alone one so unique as hers. She understood why someone might be more interested in her than a four and some change inch tall borrower for practical reasons, but who could possibly compare to Vela? Jackie’s cheeks were deep red. She didn’t really know what to say.

“Well, I obviously went in for it…” she said. The naga smiled.

“You certainly did. I’m really glad you did.”

“Ek-teen… you should… let me out.”

“Why, aren’t you comfortable?”

“I am. I really am. But… you just made me feel very special, and I’m gonna have a hard time paying you back from in here… if you know what I mean…” Jackie said implicitly. Ek-teen understood. It was everything she’d hoped to hear. Her heart fluttered and she felt almost nervous at the mere thought.

“Oh my… very well. Let me get you out of there. I’d say hold on tight, but you’re about to be held onto tightly…” Ek-teen said. She leaned forward and cupped her hands in front of her face and started a series of undulations that could be seen as a sort of “rolling” from her waist up to her stomach from the outside. As the waves reached the stomach, each a little more intense than the last, the bulge was forced up underneath the naga’s ribs until it disappeared. Ek-teen’s face turned a little red from the exertion, but soon enough, her neck expanded, followed by her jaw, and then her mouth opened extremely wide while Jackie’s head emerged from her taught lips. Ek-teen caught Jackie in her hands and extracted her from her mouth with startling swiftness. One moment, Jackie had been inside the stomach being squeezed from all sides harder than ever before, and seconds later she was lying facing upwards in the naga’s hands, gazing into her watery eyes.

Ek-teen shivered and set Jackie back down on her belly while she rubbed her throat and the sides of her jaw, clearly a tad bit sore from passing the woman through them twice in such short order.

“Sorry, I’m not used to such a large meal,” Ek-teen teased, wiping some moisture from her eyes. “And at that, I usually only have to deal with passing it once every few months, not twice in under an hour.”

“Well… thanks for dealing with the consequences for me…” Jackie said, a little sorry for having caused any discomfort to the naga. “I… saw one of the little one’s pull a rabbit out of the other’s stomach earlier today and thought… ya know… I’d be no sweat for you,” Jackie said.

“Ha! Oh, did you, now? Interesting source of inspiration. Well. It’s alright. I’m honestly not sure which of us would suffer more from the alternative.”

“You mean… if you were to have passed me along into your… second stomach.”

“Yes. There’s no way you’d be able to pass all the way through me, and I’m sure I’m incapable of digesting you, but I’m also certain my body’s attempt to do so would be very unpleasant for you as well, to say the least.” Jackie considered the naga’s words carefully. She imagined what it would be like to slide into a presumably larger, more potently acidic chamber that was able to maim, but not kill her. She considered the long-term consequences for herself and her host. It wouldn’t be good. Still though…

“It… would be bad. Of course. But… not at first, I suspect,” Jackie said meekly.”

“Now why would you think that?” Ek-teen asked with renewed interest.

“Being squeezed through another of your entrances and ending up in a deeper, more remote part of your body with more room to move around doesn’t sound all bad…” Jackie said. Ek-teen’s jaw dropped as she sharply drew breath. But she recovered quickly.

“Oh, but Jackie, I have just the place for you, and it doesn’t come with any of the inherent risks associated with the place you had in mind… in fact…” Ek-teen’s hands moved behind where Jackie was seated on her belly and both slid under the gold-plated sheet that covered her most sensitive region, “it’s perfectly safe for both of us, and I’m more eager to have you get acquainted with it than I’ve ever wanted to consume anything even at my most famished state.” Jackie was almost startled at the naga’s erotic candor.

“You have… another hunger I can satisfy?”

“Hungrier than I’ve ever been… if only you knew,” Ek-teen said in her most sultry voice yet. Jackie was already planning on somehow reciprocating what the naga had done for her sexually, but Jackie was almost the length of Ek-teen’s forearm, so she’d never imagined the naga’s current implication was an option. All of me? Now she was aching to see just how happy she could make her host. But she was learning that she enjoyed building anticipation, so she verbally pressed the naga’s buttons.

“And just how singular is this hunger? How long since you’ve… sated it?” Jackie asked. Ek-teen appeared to consider this question seriously.

“Decades, Jackie,” she said. Jackie was shocked. She’d taken the nagas, in general, as a highly promiscuous species with a frequent penchant for pleasuring one another. So, why had it been so long since Ek-teen had been gratified? No matter. This wasn’t the time to ask such questions. Whatever the reason, she was determined to see to it the naga’s needs were met.

“Decades? You… must really want this.”

“Jackie, I don’t know if it’s because of what we’ve just done, or because of how novel and amazing what I anticipate what we’re about to do is, but never even minding how long it’s been, I’ve never wanted or needed it like I do right now. So… please…” The naga’s hands disappeared from view behind her back and her top fell away, exposing her relatively slight breasts to Jackie before the giant hands swiftly went south and removed the elegant “loincloth” that had hung over her privates, “please, give me that strong body. Let’s really entwine.”

Jackie turned to look back at the naga’s lower torso where it transitioned into her snake-self. Right at the hips, where legs should have started, there was a clean line where her tanned skin turned into a matrix of scales that arched downward below her abdomen and suddenly stopped near the middle where the naga’s womanhood began. Jackie hadn’t allowed herself to stare at this region for long before but had noticed at a glance that it looked rather similar for both the women and the apparent men amongst the nagas—like simple labia on the surface. Ek-teen’s were a little lighter than the rest of her human skin, and they extended probably two feet into the scaly section of her tail before the scales once again took over.

If there really was an anatomical difference between the men and the women, Jackie supposed it took place behind these lips. In part, she was nervous about finding out the differences between Ek-teen’s anatomy and her own by experiencing it blindly. But then, she’d been swallowed by the naga, and it had been exquisite, and the naga had told her that this would more or less reflect what Jackie had described as desirable about hypothetically entering her second stomach, and that’s roughly what Jackie would expect of what was essentially a giant vagina, only Ek-teen’s must be proportionately much deeper.

Come on, Jackie, you know you’ll love it even if it’s just because it gets Ek-teen off, so just go for it! She thought. In truth, she was physically consumed by lust for the naga now. She’d probably have gone in for it even if it were covered in spikes or something, though Jackie was quite thankful that didn’t appear to be the case.

Jackie took a deep breath and got to her feet. She took a few shaky steps down the naga’s abdomen, but found the footing became more stable as she got to the waistline where the skin turned to scales. She quickly knelt before the large slit and placed her hands on either side of it. She envisioned herself just diving right in headfirst but knew better. Firstly, she knew that she preferred to go in feetfirst for this sort of thing now. Secondly, that would be no fun. Slow is better.

She placed her right hand along the inside edge of the naga’s left labia and softly stroked it. The abdominal muscles below her twitched and somehow shifted Jackie further down. She once again marveled at the naga’s inhuman muscle control. She placed both hands on the labia and attempted to spread them, but try as she might, and despite her considerable human strength, she wasn’t very successful. That said, the efforts drew a gasp and a hiss from her friend behind her.

“Oh, Jackie… it feels amazing just to be touched… there.”

“I can relate, though not to the extent I’m sure you feel. I’m… eager to make you feel good. How… should we…?” Jackie began to ask.

“Together, I think, is how we’ll have the most luck proceeding with this… I haven’t been penetrated in so long that I’m… concerned you won’t be able to get very far alone. Here… let me just…” the naga’s hands approached from either side and settled down beside either labium. The large fingers pressed and spread, and Jackie gawked at what she saw. Even in the dark of night, the flesh inside shone light pink and reflected wetly. There were thick strands of sticky fluids connecting the walls of the tunnel to each other. There didn’t appear to be anything resembling a clitoris, but when she reached back out with her right hand and rubbed where she thought one ought to be, Ek-teen gasped and then moaned with pleasure. For the sake of experiment, Jackie rubbed the underside of the hole as well, and elicited an almost identical response.

“You nagas are really sensitive all over down here, huh?” She remarked quietly. She was almost jealous.

“We’re sensitive… all the way down and throughout… Jackie… perhaps even more as you go,” she said between breaths. Jackie considered this with renewed envy and admiration.

“So… penetration…”

“Penetration is blissful,” Ek-teen said breathily. Jackie imagined what it would be like to have the same or even greater sensitivity as her clit or G-spot all throughout her vaginal canal and was awestruck. Then, she considered how amazing it had felt to be touched for the first time in a while, and her definition of “a while” wasn’t much more than a year. She realized that her every move was going to be electric to the naga. She looked back at Ek-teen and grinned while she fell backwards and placed her butt on the naga’s waist just above the entrance. Then, she placed her left foot next to one labium, and with her right, she slowly rubbed the top, inside portion. Ek-teen moaned, her hands faltering slightly, causing the entrance to close around Jackie’s right foot. Without the immensely strong hands holding it open, Jackie was shocked by the tightness. It was otherworldly. She felt that her circulation was already cut off and her right foot below the entrance throbbed a little after mere moments of the sustained pressure of the muscular ring around her ankle.

“Ek… Ek-teen! It’s… you’re so tight!” Jackie shouted with surprise. Ek-teen quickly recovered and once again spread her labia for Jackie. The relief to her right foot was immediate, though it tingled a little. “I thought I was going to lose that foot!”

“I’m sorry. I’ll loosen up. You’ll see. And it’s really only the entrance that is that constricting. Though I’m… quite sure the rest of me is rather snug at this point. P-please don’t be afraid,” Ek-teen pleaded. Jackie considered this. She’d hate to feel that brunt of that constriction around her neck. She thought it would choke her out in seconds! But even though this was a different sort of fright than what she’d done with Ek-teen already, it was less intimidating in nature. Ek-teen seemed sure it wouldn’t be a problem, and while Jackie realized she might be so desperate as to say whatever she might need to at this point, so close as she was to getting a good and proper penetration, Jackie was also surer the naga would never mislead her into real peril.

“It’s okay, Ek-teen… just make sure to hold your entrance open. Don’t wanna get my head squeezed off before I’m… all the way through.”

“M-m-m-m, yes! Of course! How I want you all inside me down there! How—how’s this?” The naga slipped her right index and middle fingers into her hole and pulled them to the right, unevenly presenting the tunnel within. “I won’t lose my grip like this. And like I said, I’ll loosen up. I just wasn’t ready for you to… to touch my insides,” Ek-teen said a little imploringly. Jackie dipped her right foot back into the hold tentatively. The naga winced from the pleasure, but her fingers kept the hole open. That said, Jackie could see the hole flex and grow narrower as far in as she could see. Not only did the naga’s equivalent of a vagina appear to be wildly sensitive, but it appeared to have peristaltic muscular responses all the way down as well. This was really going to be something…

Jackie threw caution to the wind and slid her left foot in next to her right. Both sets of toes were rubbing against the bottom wall of Ek-teen’s tunnel. The naga moaned again and continued to do so with every exhalation as Jackie scooted her butt forward and slid her feet deeper until she was in up to her knees.

“Hu-u-u-h! H-u-u-u-h! Hn-n-n-n-g! Oh gods!” The giant being cried. “Wait! Wait there. That’s enough for a moment. Oh, gods in all realms, if you keep going that quickly I’ll faint. Worlds!” Ek-teen seemed to be in quite the state. Jackie felt good about having had such an impact already with so little of herself inside. Still, she didn’t want to feel too accomplished having not done much, even if half the appeal of the act to Ek-teen was simply the fact that it was she, Jackie, who was doing it. The human absently wiggled her toes against the walls within, and Ek-teen practically shrieked. She was clearly caught off guard, and without even letting her fingers slip out, the tunnel constricted and squeezed Jackie’s lower legs possessively. Hungrily. It was awesome power, though Jackie noted that the severity of pressure along the entrance had lessened significantly, as promised. Interesting.

“Jackie! I said to wait! I’m sorry to have squeezed you so hard, I just—”

“It’s fine. I’m fine. I know it’s my fault. But it wasn’t as tight this time. Honest.”

“R-really? Thank heavens… sorry. I really want this to be easier. I’m just… so, so-o-o-o sensitive to your touch, and I’m… I’ve gotten so tight.” Ek-teen paused for a minute to compose herself. As she did so in silence, Jackie felt the muscles wrapped around her legs below the knees loosen up until there was once again a visible tunnel around them. “Okay… are you ready to go… deeper?”

“So ready,” Jackie said, and without warning, biting her lip mischievously, she placed her hands on either side of her knees and picked up her butt, abruptly sliding herself inside up to her hips. The naga did lose her grip this time, her right hand’s fingers slipping away as her torso fell earthward with a crash. Anyone still sober back at the party would doubtlessly have felt that if they hadn’t heard the giantess naga’s cries of pleasure already.

Jackie had taken a calculated risk. She knew her hips were both wide and very strong and she believed she could handle even the worst of Ek-teen’s super, kegel-like constrictions on that part of her body, but the constrictions seemed less severe, or perhaps just less capable the more of herself that had been inserted and the wider they had been stretched. Though they held her snugly in place now by natural elasticity alone. Jackie experienced a strong, strange, peristaltic wave course through the tunnel hugging her legs and felt the tight ring of muscle around her hips climb an inch or two. The motion was accompanied by a loud, wet schlick! The sensation was wonderful. She braced her hands against the sides of the labia again, but the waves within continued at a steady rhythm and Jackie wondered if they got going strongly and quickly enough whether the sex organ might actually be able to “swallow” her against her best efforts to resist.

Ek-teen lied on her back gasping for air for a few minutes, occasionally squeaking the word “wait” in a barely intelligible manner. She struggled to sit up again, bracing herself on her elbows.

“That… was dirty… and dangerous, little girl…” the naga said. She didn’t sound the least bit upset though. “You just doubled the depth and tripled the girth inside me in a second!”

“Did you like it?” Jackie asked, feigning a little bashfulness. She wiggled her hips a little. The naga smiled, and, biting her lip while closing her eyes, she let out a groan and flexed the muscles in her vaginal canal which rippled and pulled on Jackie’s body, swallowing her up another couple of inches.

“I loved it! And that! I’ve… got you right where I’ve wanted you all-l-l-l evening, Jackie. Go ahead and try to escape!” She teased. But to humor her, Jackie did plant her hands hard against the flesh on both sides of her labia and tried to muscle her way back out. She had a little success, but to combat it, the naga grunted from flexing the inner muscles again, and her progress was undone. One inch forward and two inches back.

“Wow, fuck…” Jackie whispered. Ek-teen smiled knowingly. “You’re overpowering me with your vagina alone…” Jackie said. She twisted around again for a look at Ek-teen’s eyes. The naga was grinning from ear to ear and raised and lowered her eyebrows a couple times.

“I’m going to keep doing that harder and faster until you vanish within me, human…” She said with faux menace.

“How deep does it go?” Jackie asked, pitching her voice a little higher than usual.

“Deeper than you are tall with a few feet to spare…”

“Fuck… gods…”

“And once you’re gone, I don’t think I’ll be seeing you until morning…”

“Morning? Ek-teen! I…”

“Shh-h-h-h, there’s no need to worry. Once you’ve finished me off, you’ll be able to squirm out if you please. But… I… suspect that I actually will pass out…” Ek-teen explained. Jackie got the picture. She had only partially been teasing. Jackie smiled, once again eager to pleasure her host.

“Well then, hope this helps!” And with that, the human began to kick her feet deep inside the naga’s loins, the effect of which was a loud yelp and a sudden series of strong kegel action on the part of the naga. Jackie was quite quickly drawn in several more inches, the tight entrance now overtaking her navel, but she kept it up. Ek-teen was moaning so much it sounded like outright crying for help, but the only name she said between cries was Jackie’s, and no one was going to be coming… save for her…

Jackie groaned from exertion as the tunnel sucked her in past the bottom of her ribs. It got a little difficult to breathe, and she grunted with exertions as she tried to fight against the strength of the clearly superior muscles and get a deep breath. That’s when Jackie felt the naga’s right hand overtake her again. Ek-teen placed an index finger on Jackie’s left shoulder and her middle and ring fingers on her right, and without warning, she pressed down on Jackie with fast, concise force. Jackie didn’t have a chance to cry out before she was stuffed all the way down to her armpits. She considered asking the naga to wait, but somehow understood that this action was only partly voluntary and chose to use her time more wisely. She brought her hands up and clasped them around her ears and tucked her elbows against her breasts, her forearms becoming a sort of guard for her neck so it wouldn’t have to take the brunt of the entrance’s muscles on its own.

Ek-teen moaned and hissed, stuffing Jackie all the way inside herself with an audible squelch!  

 “Oh-h-h-h-h, yes-s-s-s-s-s…” the naga cooed while her popped out from her tunnel with loud, wet slurping noises. She rested her hand over the entrance, rubbing herself as she once again got used to the sensation of being very, very full.

Jackie, meanwhile, allowed herself a moment to relax and get her bearings. Now inside the giantess naga for the second time, she assessed what spending presumably more time inside here than the stomach would be like in this new environment and found it to be quite welcoming. It didn’t take her more than a few meager seconds to discover that this was everything she had hoped for when she had somewhat wistfully and not quite seriously described what she’d imagined the naga’s second stomach would be like.

It was utterly black and felt very remote, as if nothing and no one on the outside could affect her now. It was soft and warm, if a couple degrees cooler than even the belly had been. It was much roomier than Ek-teen’s first stomach was, which allowed Jackie to actually stretch out as opposed to staying in the fetal position. She did just that, stretching as wide and stiff as she could, an act which swiftly brought the seemingly pliant walls back against her in swift fashion. Jackie was suddenly squished quite tightly by the living walls around her, and she was dragged even deeper into the tunnel as it happened. She could hear Ek-teen’s delighted moans of sweet affirmation from somewhere seemingly far off, and that made her remember just how sensitive the naga was in here. Her every single move, no matter how small, was enough to drive Ek-teen wild. Jackie smiled and began to throw herself about, driving her elbows into the squishy, soft flesh as it fought her back and pulled her deeper until she seemed to bottom out. At that point, all the force upon her seemed to want to squeeze her back into a ball like when she’d been in the stomach, but she was determined not to let that happen.

Ek-teen came in seconds once she felt Jackie reach the deepest part of her nethers. She really was a lot more sensitive the deeper one delved, and Jackie was more aggressive in her resistance at the bottom than ever before. In no time she had the enormous naga literally crying for her to stop, but not really wanting her to, which was fortunate, because the human couldn’t seem to hear her pleas. Her consistent, inhumanly strong efforts kept Ek-teen squirming and thrashing for a half-hour all told… and she gave the naga three orgasms. The second had been the absolute peak, as she had actually had some time to build up to it, unlike the first, which had “come as a surprise.” Her tail thrashed around and took down a few nearby small trees unfortunate enough to defy her blissful abandon.

The third had almost been like a comedown. At that point, Jackie was well aware of her successes and had nearly ceased in her motions, but then decided to work on herself, and while she masturbated and built toward her own third orgasm, she squirmed back up to about the middle of the naga’s canal and rhythmically gyrated her hips in sync with her self-pleasure which got the naga going as well, who also masturbated, an act that wasn’t missed to the human, even if her fingers didn’t quite reach her head.

They finally finished at the same time in what was the third climax for them both on that evening, though they’d “gotten theirs” at separate times aside from the comparably quiet, almost calm, finale.

Ek-teen made good on her promise and promptly passed out, barely conscious as it was while she had worked on her last orgasm. Jackie briefly entertained the idea of squirming out from within the naga’s insides, but the idea just seemed pointlessly taxing when she was already certain she’d fall asleep right where she was, suspended and lightly squeezed by her delicious insides, if she only allowed herself to. It was so comfy…

She let out a deep breath she felt like she’d been holding, in spite of it all, for several days. This had been truly blissful. It was a true abandonment. Jackie didn’t suffer any delusions that Elgara Ek-teen, the matriarch of a mountain naga tribe, was in love with her. She even got the impression that Ek-teen wasn’t in a position to be taking consistent lovers (why else had she been apparently celibate for so long) but that was fine by her. She’d adored the attention and the genuine affection they’d just shared. She’d felt envious of just that—affection—and she’d been a little loathe to “take it out” on Leo, a desire she now fully accepted having harbored. She had felt so lonely for so long. And while it certainly seemed like making a move on the borrower was an option, he was spoken for emotionally. So, was it an option for Jackie to “be with” Leo without begrudging him that, or had she been too emotionally vulnerable? Less certain. Or, it has been. If Jackie was being honest, she had a difficult time caring about anything at present, not in a way that felt it could be of negative consequence anyway.

Jackie’s mind went out to Vela, the lone vampire who had also been her benefactor and was now journeying off… somewhere… to learn… something. It was all quite nebulous to Jackie. But it wasn’t her problem right now. Nothing was. She was satisfied and exhausted. I could sleep… inside this naga… if I only… allowed myself… to…

The two of them slept quite peacefully, miles away from the others still enjoying the festivities back in the cavern. Jackie wouldn’t mark the occasion until a later time, but it was the first night during which she had gone to sleep in many moons without worrying about the moon or the trouble it had been for her and would continue to be. She’d been allowed to forget she was cursed. And she dreamt of only daylight and smiles. There were no monsters.