Defying Certain Death Part 21
Dual posted to my DeviantArt account, a non-sexual G/T vore story featuring adults along the lines of the lion and the thorn fable. There will be tons of hurt/comfort aspects, lots of safe vore. That is the primary focus in this.
Barrett is an adult giant standing 85ft tall and Hope is an adult human at 5ft 6. Barrett does not eat children at any point.
Warnings: Safe Vore Mention, Fatal Mention
Future and Previous: While this part has no fatalities, future parts include fatal vore and violence. Barrett, the giant, is not a good guy, so will be doing some occasional bad things.
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Taevis walked for a bit into the woods, carrying the human girl in his hand. “It’s looking more and more like the situation is far more complicated than it initially seemed. He… may not treat you like an equal, but he also is extremely possessive and protective of you.”
Hope frowned as she sat in his hand. While demidragons could be scary, and were definitely more dangerous than a syor, he wasn’t nearly as scary and unpredictable as Barrett. Most interacted well with people, treated smaller races as people and not just food. Not to say if someone pissed a demidragon off it wouldn’t eat them, but that was the exception, not the rule. So she was having a much easier time talking to him, opening up about what happened. “When… I first found him buried by the rocks… He tried to catch me with his hand, eat me… but he couldn’t move enough to do anything. I felt… bad for him. Sure he wanted to eat me, but plenty of monsters and animals would eat a human when hungry enough. I didn’t really see it any different. Just like I would want to free an animal that was trapped, and just try to avoid getting hurt, I wanted to free him. I just had a little more hope that he would intentionally not hurt me after I helped. I have heard the old stories that people who helped syor are usually left alone by them… So I didn’t expect him to grab me and swallow me.”
Taevis nodded as he listened, “Well clearly swallowing you didn’t kill you, even though that’s normally how it ends for humans… No scarring from damage as if you were unprotected either. So he knew enough magic to keep you unharmed.”
Hope nods, “It was… unexpected. But scary. After weeks of working to free him, catching mountain sheep to feed him… He ate me. But didn’t hurt me. He let me out later when he found… other food. He brought back a wagon and a dead horse. I try not to think about what happened. A couple times I’ve tried to escape, but… I’ve given up on that. I don’t understand why he won’t let me leave… It’s been rather stressful. Syor… they don’t keep humans unless they have a use for them, and it’s obvious I would never just bait someone to him… it’s like nothing I’ve even heard of.” Hope was rambling a bit, clearly stressed by her circumstances, and grateful to have someone to talk to about it.
Taevis nods, “This sounds like a rather unique scenario… there is a difference between spending a few minutes or few hours to help someone and spending weeks… Of course I’ll have to hear from him to fully understand, but what I can be certain of is he really, really wants you alive and in his company. Usually only other dragons will dare challenge my kind, and he had no hesitation to threaten me over you. He was just as scared as anyone would be of an angry dragon, but still threatened me. That’s no small matter.”
Hope tilted her head to look up at the dragon man, a bit surprised he was so certain about Barrett wanting her alive. That was… not what she had ever heard about syor. They didn’t get attached to humans, didn’t care about whether humans survived… So she was quiet, considering her time with Barrett. It was… strange. None of it made sense. Him taking her to get clothes, showing her gems… and when she was sick… that was the big one. She didn’t remember all of it, but she knew he had gotten ahold of medicine and soup for her.
Taevis picked up the moose, giving it a look over. A lot of meat on this, could make a few good meals. He turned to head back to camp, letting the young woman process her thoughts for a bit. Sometimes time to think in peace could help, and she hadn’t seemed to have much peace before. She had been too scared to actually think things through… besides, this period of quiet let him think about what recipes he might make with the different foods he had smelled in that cart.
“Maybe… you have a point.” Hope said, making Taevis’s ears twitch as she spoke up. He smiled slightly, “Of course. I am a dragon after all.” He saw her nod, pleased she clearly understood how smart his kind tend to be. Hope continued, “I… hadn’t had time to consider how… strange… he was acting compared to the stories I’ve heard about syor… but I don’t know what to do with this information.” Taevis nods, “I’ll need to see more to work out what to do next… For now let’s get some good dinner prepared.”
The relief on the syor’s expression was obvious when Taevis walked back into the clearing with Hope in hand. To Taevis, it was becoming more and more obvious the syor cared about this human. He wasn’t sure in what way… everything he heard said syor deeply looked down on humans. His behavior wasn’t that of someone keeping something because of potential use… it was far too caring for that. Perhaps along the lines of a pet? It was hard to be sure. Perhaps with work the syor could see at least one human as equal… perhaps a friend. It would take more observation and work to figure everything out.
He set Hope down on the ground, letting her head over to the carts of food supplies. She seemed eager to cook. He got his small bag, reaching in to pull out a pot far bigger than the small bag. He was a bit amused to see the syor’s eyes go wide. Apparently the syor hadn’t seen storage magic like that in use before.
Taevis watched the syor clearly showing curiosity as Hope approached Taevis without hesitation as she carried vegetables and herbs over to the pot. It was kind of amusing to see how surprised the syor was at her current behavior. Taevis thanked Hope for bringing over the foods, then turned to the syor, “So syor, you wanna bring over the cart of food? And perhaps you have a name other than ‘syor’?” The syor turned to the cart of supplies, muttering under his breath, “Barrett… My name is Barrett.”
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Barrett set down the cart next to the pot. It was… strange to see Hope acting so bold. So unafraid. As she went to the cart to pick out ingredients she seemed almost excited. He glanced at the demidragon as it spoke, “I introduced myself to her, but I don’t think I told you. I’m called Taevis.” Taevis picked up the moose, removing its head and passing it to Barrett, “To hold you over until the meal is prepared.“ Barrett was uncertain about all of this but nodded, moving to sit near the water to soak the electrical burns on his hand and arm while he sucked on the moose head a bit. May as well savor it if he was going to have to wait for anything else.
It was interesting to watch Hope pulling seeds from her pocket, naming off all sorts of unfamiliar things and debating which were best. She… had avoided demonstrating magic around him before now, but now it was more plainly obvious she was a terran, weaving magic to make mere seeds into adult plants ready for harvest. Not just that, but she seemed excited and happy. She had never shown such excitement before, not even when he showed her special gems or took her to find fancy clothes. It was strange… but he actually… liked seeing her happy. He didn’t understand it, but he wanted this feeling he now had more.
Now it seemed that demidragon, Taevis, was putting chopped up vegetables and meat into the pot together with water. He was gently taking herbs that Hope offered and seemed to be trying to get exact amounts of the ones she handed him into the pot before handing her back any left to carry back to the cart. Taevis then gestured to Barrett, “Hope is too small to stir this large pot. How about you work with her to stir it while I check out the supply situation to figure out what other meals we can make with what we have later. Besides, you clearly don’t like me being close to her so much.”
While a bit hesitant, Barrett started putting things in the pot at Hope’s instruction, and was truly surprised when she willingly climbed onto one of his hands and asked him to hold her where she could look in the pot. He of course positioned her how she wanted, stirring the pot according to how she asked as they made what was apparently called a stir fry. His ears pricked at her voice, “We start with the veggies to get the juices flowing so they sink into the meat to flavor it, especially since we plan to keep the cooking time low on the meat so that it’s still a little bloody, because I’m sure you’ll like that most. We’ll go for medium or medium rare.” Barrett didn’t know what it meant, but she seemed to know what she was talking about… and she was willingly in his hand! She climbed on herself! If it meant eating this weird food, it was worth it if it had Hope acting like this!
He glanced over at Taevis in shock at how Hope was acting, and was surprised to see Taevis just smiling. Had the demidragon expected this behavior or something similar? Even though Hope had been so nervous before? He would have to talk to Taevis about what else might get this kind of reaction from Hope. He liked this feeling he got with Hope choosing to climb onto him, Hope choosing to interact instead of just accepting. Hope didn’t get like this when he took her to try on and pick out fancy clothes, or when he showed her his favorite gems… Maybe he hadn’t found the right fancy stuff? He wasn’t sure.
Cooking took a while, and the smell surprised him. He never hung around syorian cooking areas but the smell of it was… fascinating. Maybe just because it was a dragon meal not a syorian meal. Syorian food couldn’t be that good… but this actually had a good smell to it. Maybe because Hope helped. Hope had proven she was special so maybe she did something to it that made it good.
When the food was done the dragon pulled bowls from his bag… Barrett wasn’t sure how so much fit in what was basically a waist pouch. The bowl looked bigger than the pouch itself. He decided it was best not to risk angering the demidragon with questions… Taevis already had been in a bad mood earlier. Barrett took the dish without complaint, watching him scoop food into it. It was a lot more than a single moose would have given him… but his kind didn’t usually eat this kind of weird stuff. Taevis handed him a utensil and Barrett frowned, hesitant to eat this weird food.
He watched Taevis eat some, and was curious to see Hope actually climb onto Taevis without hesitation to fill her own bowl from his dish. Demidragons were more powerful, more dangerous than syor but Hope was entirely fearless of Taevis despite her fear of Barrett. The Taevis was even telling her a story where he ate humans! Something about a shipwreck and humans stranded on an escape vessel. She didn’t seem scared hearing Taevis ate humans and between bites of her food showed only mild disapproval… wishing he hadn’t seen it as necessary but glad the ones he hadn’t eaten made it safely to shore.
“You should eat it while it’s still warm,” Taevis said, his attention now on Barrett instead of his story telling to Hope, “It’s best warm.” Barrett frowned, focusing again on his strange meal. Taevis was acting friendly now, but Barrett didn’t want to risk offending the demidragon when things had been so tense earlier. He was hesitant, scooping up some of the mix of veggies and meat and taking a bite.
The flavors… vibrant, savory, surprisingly meaty despite the vegetables. So different from anything he could have expected from something that seemed to be more vegetables than meat. As he slowly chewed he heard Taevis talking about something regarding animal fat flavoring the vegetables… but he wasn’t really paying attention. After swallowing the mouthful he immediately spoke, “It’s… nothing like I expected from vegetables… I guess dragon-style prepared food is special or something.”
Barrett said no more, instead digging into the meal ravenously. Food could be scarce, so having large quantities was a real treat. Since it wasn’t horrible, best to take advantage of a good meal.
When they finished, Taevis demonstrated washing off dishes in the lake so they would be ready for next time, and put a metal cover over what was left in the pot. Barrett cocked his head as the demidragon tapped the lid and muttered something, a shimmer of magic passing over it. Taevis noticed Barrett’s interest, “It’s a spell to keep it fresh so we can have the rest next time we are hungry. Would you like to talk a bit while Hope is over at the lake? She wanted to work on something alone for a bit and I figured it would make a good opportunity to talk to you.”
Barrett hesitated, “She… acts very different with you. You are more dangerous than me but she is not afraid, even though you confirmed you have eaten humans.”
Taevis pondered a moment, “Well that’s for a few reasons. I suppose the story I told would be the most extreme example of why you are surprised she doesn’t fear me. But the context matters. The pair of people I ate had literally just tried to kill someone also on their escape boat, threatening any who didn’t go along with the plan, so even if she didn’t approve of how I handled it, she could understand a point of view of the humans having earned death for having attempted to kill. She also understood the humans who had been cruel had been desperate, tossing someone over to drown because they had little supplies and didn’t think they’d survive long enough for rescue with that many people. She’s a compassionate person, so won’t approve of such behavior, but she can accept it doesn’t make me a threat to her.”
Taevis sighed, “She doesn’t trust you because she doesn’t see you as having any restrictions on what humans you eat. It makes it a lot harder for her to understand she is an exception when it seems no other humans are. Small steps will help earn trust. Things like letting her choose to climb onto your hand instead of just picking her up. Letting her come to you instead of forcing interaction. Little things like that will help her see you want to be good to her.”
Barrett frowned, “It’s… strange. I never cared about how humans felt before. Sure it could be entertaining when they fought and squirmed, but this is so different. I don’t know why but I don’t like her being scared of me.” Taevis nodded slowly, “She’s pretty special huh? You’d never expect a human to help a syor.”
Barrett nodded, “Not just help… it took her weeks to help me move the stones. I was half starved. Restrained too much to even force the rocks to move with magic, and by the time I could move enough too, I had been too weakened by starvation. Even when she was too tired to keep tying rope to stones to help me pull them loose, she would sit and talk to me. I doubt even a fellow syor would sit to talk like that when helping another. Just leave to go sleep in a nice bed and come back later to work. And the work had to be so hard for one so small. It was so… different… from anything else.”
Taevis considered this a moment, “Sounds pretty special. So that convinced you she needed to be protected? Would I be correct in saying you miss how she acted then?”
Barrett immediately nodded, “Exactly. I miss how she listened and talked then. The day it hailed and she came to lay in my hand and let me cover her and provide shelter… I think that’s when I decided after I got free I would keep her safe. But she changed and became so scared… at first even tried to run away from me.”
Taevis stroked his goatee a moment, “So basically you want her to act towards you like she has been me. That… is something I can help with. My current plans don’t really have a set timeline and this is a rather interesting situation. I suppose I can stick around and help work this situation out with the two of you. I think Hope wanted help anyway but was too nice to risk messing up any plans I have. But first thing is how to handle tonight. We’ll go to town tomorrow for some healing for your hand, but for tonight… You helped with cooking and that may have helped Hope relax. Give her a chance to approach you on her own tonight. Let it be her choice, and make sure she is able to walk away if she wakes up before you. Letting her have more choice will help.”
Barrett was uncertain with this idea… But dragons and demidragons were known for being smart, so it was probably best to give it a chance. He wasn’t sure if he could agree to making it possible for her to walk away in the morning… but he could manage letting her choose to approach. Probably. He would try.
Barrett was quite surprised when after Hope had washed up at the water and changed clothes, she actually approached Barrett, and when he put his hand out on the ground for her, she climbed on and laid down. When he glanced up at Taevis again, th demidragon gave a slight smirk, clearly a little smug he was correct about Hope approaching Barrett if he gave her space. But what really surprised Barrett was how it was so… nice… to have her willingly approach. More so than he expected. He really liked having her choose to come to him. Barrett got up and walked over to lay on the cot in the tent, but paused. Being on th cot would be elevated, she would not be able to choose to walk away in the morning and Taevis said that was important to getting her to be more willing to be around… So he pulled the sleeping roll off the cot and lay it on the ground with his free hand, laying on it and leaving the cot for Taevis.
Barrett saw the demidragon give a nod in response to Barrett doing this. The dragon better be right that this would make Hope more comfortable… if something happened because Hope wandered off he would be angry enough to face a dragon even if it was a death sentence… But for the moment it was so cute seeing her curled up in his hand that rested against the ground. She looked… peaceful. More relaxed than previously. Definitely not fully relaxed, but better than before. He would need to figure out what exactly from today had helped… but clearly doing things differently made a difference.
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