#tiny prey

[itsmoving]

quick coloured skettchhh was in a mawshot mood lol

(once again ft @dinnergirl in my oc tims mouth)

[lilythehunter]

Prey who reforms and thinks that they'll escape the tight walls of my stomach as soon as the magic kicks in and we both get to enjoy some quality vore time.

Soon enough, the magic whirrs up anddd.... The prey feels the wet and cramped space of my stomach closing in on them again... But much more of them is still solid then before...

"oh, sorry, snack. You were so little so I changed your reform point back to the center of my stomach. I might let you out eventually but enjoy feeding me a few more times <3"

The prey quickly begins to struggle as it realizes I might never let it out. That it's going to be stewing inside my stomach for days... Weeks.. being broken down and crushed by my stomach walls over and over again until I'm satisfied.

I feel the pup start to thrash and begin jerking off to the sensations... I'll let the prey out... Eventually~

[but-wait-theres-vore]

Small story for vore day

(1.9k words. Story includes: mild swearing, digestion mention [don't worry, it's just the prey needing to be told tummies are safe], mild fearplay [again, really just the prey being scared at first], mild foodplay, and accidental vore. Everything is safe and soft, but if any of that is a no-go for you, that's okay! Happy vore day nonetheless!)

Living in a giant's house, you only ever took what you needed to survive. Okay, you allowed yourself some luxuries. After all, you needed some way to entertain yourself. You would take paper and pencils to draw and write, read books whenever the giant wasn't looking, sew clothes or plush toys out of old socks or shirts that had holes, but you never took things that would be easily noticed or risked being seen for any luxury good...

Except for those damn chips.

You swear, those things are coated in some sort of drug because of how addicting they are. You're sure they're probably not healthy, and you have no idea why the giant keeps buying them, but as long as he does, you'll keep sneaking some whenever you got the chance.

And today, you got the perfect chance. The chips were left on the coffee table while the giant left to get something. What's better, he had left the television on, so you could easily go unheard if you rustled the bag too much. The circumstances were perfect, but you only had until the comercial break was over, because you knew once whatever the giant was watching came back, so would he. You had to act fast.

You quickly made your way across the floor and climbed up the legs of the coffee table. The table itself was wooden, but it had textered metal legs that thankfully made it fairly easy to grip onto while you climbed. You checked one last time to make sure the coast was clear before climbing into the bag to claim your prize.

Sure, you could've just taken the first chip in the bag you could reach, but you had put so much energy into getting these chips that you were not going to settle for one of those half seasoned chips. You had to find something worth the risk you were taking. You venture deeper into the bag, looking for a chip that was packed with flavor, breaking off little pieces of ones you think might be good until you find one that'll do.

You finally got a good grasp on the chip- which was about half as tall as you were- and were about to drag it to the front of the bag when you heard, and felt, the signature THUD. THUD. of the giant's footsteps.

You took too long. You had to get out of here, you had to hide, you had to-

Your thoughts were thrown aside as you felt yourself slipping backwards. Your heart dropped to your stomach as you felt yourself moving quickly upwards. You felt sick as graviy passed through your body, like all of your organs were being pulled to the bottom of your body while the rest of you kept going up. You stumbled and fell into the chips as the bag continued to move, your skin grazed by the jagged edges of broken pieces. You barely noticed the pain of the small scrapes, however, as all your mind could think of was one thing,

If the giant is picking up the bag.... that means he's planning to eat from it.

You quickly felt the bag around you settle and you took the opportunity to push the bigger chips around you in front so you hopefully had enough of a buffer that the giant wouldn't find you before the next commercial break.

The bag shook slightly as the giant shoved his hand in to continue eating, but you held your breath even as the fear ran through your veins, because so far, you hadn't been discovered. Your plan was working; you had buried yourself far enough down that the giant couldn't get to you as he was eating. All you had to do was keep still and keep quiet until the next break, and then you could make a run for it.

It wasn't easy keeping quiet, though. Every rustle of the bag sent shivers down your spine and every crunch made you nauseous as you imagined the giant snapping a chip half your size clean in half without even giving it a second thought.

It's okay. All you have to do is make it a few more minutes.

You were caught in your thoughts until you realized that the giant's hand had paused its activities for a bit. You peeked out from the chip you were holding in front of you, curious if the giant was done eating, only to feel your whole body freeze in fear as you saw a huge pair of eyes staring back from outside of the bag.

What was he doing? Did he know you were in there?

You could've screamed in that moment, but your body was completely paralyzed. You noticed the piercing eyes looking around the bag, but they never looked in your direction. He hadn't seen you. You were able to get your body to move just enough that you were once again hidden from sight, but soon after, you felt the giant's hand pushing around the chips in the bag.

Was he looking for you? He had to be...

You carefully peeked out again, but to your surprise, the giant was picking out chips and inspecting them before deciding whether to eat them or not. Despite your immense fear, you found it a little endearing that this huge man was just as picky as you were when it came to chips. The irony wasn't lost on you , though, that being so picky is what got you into this mess to begin with.

The relief only lasted so long, though, as soon you saw a huge hand reaching towards you. Apparently, the perfect snack you had so carefully chosen- and unintentionally hid behind- was also good enough for the giant man to pluck out of the bag.

You were quickly scooped out of the bag as the large hand grabbed your shield, with you still attatched. The sudden light nearly blinded you as the air rushed around your body, leaving your senses overwhelmed and unable to focus on anything before you were suddenly enveloped in darkness.

You gasped as you felt the flesh around you twitch. He had realized that there was something other than food in his mouth.

Just maybe, he would let you go...

As soon as the thought crossed your mind, it was shattered as a strong muscle pushed against you, pinning you to the roof of the mouth as the giant hummed contently, vibrating your very body to the core. The giant let the chip that was in there with you soften before swallowing it down, his tongue still keeping you firmly in place. You felt your heart drop as you watched the food dissapear down his gullet, hoping you wouldn't be next, but something about the constant din of satisfied humming made you think your chances of coming out of this alive were slim.

After a few seconds of being squished and prodded by the muscular tongue, it relaxed. You shuddered at the knowledge that you were being tasted, but your disgust was quickly replaced with terror as you felt yourself slipping down towards the back of the throat as the ground around you tilted. He was putting his head back, ready to swallow you.

You scrambled to get some sort of footing, but it was too late. With a loud GLK- you were pulled down into the tight esophagus. It squeezed and pushed you downward until you felt yourself landing in the slimy cavern that was this giant's stomach.

You heard the air whoosh through the giant's lungs somewhere above your position in his body as he let out a sigh. Emotions swarmed through you: fear, grief, and most presently, disgust at the satisfaction that you could hear resonating around you. You slumped against the stomach walls, tears starting to well up in your eyes.

This couldn't be how it ended, it couldn't, it-

"W... what just happened? Where did you- shit."

A voice came from above. It wasn't nearly as loud as you would have expected, but it still caused you to flinch. Apparently, the giant felt your tiny movement, because the whole stomach tensed at your fearful twitch.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! I- I didn't mean to eat you, I don't know what came over me. Are... are you okay?"

You could feel pressure from the outside as the giant's hand rested where you stayed. He sounded... sorry. Genuinely worried about your wellbeing. But how could that be? He ate you! You were stuck here, how could he ask you if you were okay?

He seemed to know what you were thinking, because he followed up his question with,

"I promise you're safe! I- my stomach can't hurt any humans, I promise."

You couldn't believe what was happening, but for the first time, you decided to speak to the giant.

"It... It's... safe?" you managed to croak out in a tiny voice. Somehow, he was able to hear you.

"Yes, it is," he quickly added, "B-but I'm sure you don't want to stay in there regardless, so I'm going to let you out."

Let you out? How was he going to-

You felt the organ around you squeeze as it pushed you upward, back into the tightness of the giant's throat. At this point, your head was starting to hurt from the constant change in velocity you were experiencing, but you finally got a chance to rest as you were carefully let out of the giant's mouth and onto his hand, where you were gently lowered onto the plush couch beside him.

"Again, I'm so sorry,"

The man frowned, and you could now see his concerned face, complete with those piercing eyes from before. Now, though, they weren't looking with hunger, but with guilt.

"Is there anything I can get you? You were probably hungry, right? I could get you some food. Or a glass of water? You're free to clean up in the bathroom if you need to," He said, fidgeting with his hands as he tried to make up for what happened.

Wait, he was letting you use his things? This whole time you've spent hiding and the giant is asking if you want his food?

"You... don't mind if I eat your food?" You hesitantly ask.

The giant looked puzzled. "Of course not! You don't have to sneak around to get enough food to eat, I have plenty to go around," he started. "Besides, if you just ask, I won't end up accidentally eating you when you're trying to get food."

You could've sworn you noticed him blush as he said that. This was all so strange to you. The giant that you had hid from for so long was a genuinely nice person and more than happy to share his space with you. Also, he could apparently safely keep you in his stomach and let you back out, which was something you never would have thought was physically possible. You had a lot to learn.

Eventually, you took him up on his offer of letting you clean up, and later on his offer to get you some food and water. You started to ask questions and get to know him as you ate. He was a bit shy when it came to the questions about how he could eat people, but he assured you that being eaten by any giant is safe, and that he would only ever eat someone if they were okay with it... excluding today's accident.

You had to admit, you were somewhat curious about everything now that you knew he would never hurt you, but it would be a while before you were ready to be eaten again. And it would definitely be a while before you ate chips again.

[cozytummytime]

These are a bit older but I wanna Post them here too. Just a few drawings of itty bitty tiny Fenja and her big Monster Guardians c:

[nombitenary]

Spelunking.

Super short (2.5K) self indulgent story of a borrower!you getting caught by Christopher and swallowed up <3 Maybe bring better equipment next time you try borrowing from a maneater...

G/t, ambiguous ending, rope play in the throat, and mentions of fatal <3 enjoy!

You can’t believe you got caught.

The man who lives in the apartment you’ve been borrowing from is home so rarely that you suppose you’ve gotten careless. After all, he’s never around to hear your heavy footsteps on the counters or the scrabbling of clumsy hands against drawers. His two cats are easy enough to maneuver around as well, seeing as one of them is trained well enough to not go on the counter, and to scream at the other one whenever it gets the bright idea of chasing you along the countertop. 

You’d been testing your new rope, tying it to all manner of things in the kitchen and letting yourself be slowly lowered off the edges of drawers, tables, counters… and hadn’t been bothering to keep your laughter at your successes quiet, nor the thuds of your tiny boots as you’d climbed up the edges of his walls and cabinets. 

Everything had been going so well that you’d somehow missed the sound of the bedroom door opening and the light in the hallway, and by the time you realized that something was amiss… was only due to clawed fingers wrapping around your waist and a soft coo of: “Oh, what do we have here?”

And now, here you are, dangling between his fingers from the rope you’d thought had been such a clever tool to get around the maze of his apartment. You can’t bring yourself to speak as you stare up at him meekly, the light reflecting off his glasses making his eyes seem cold and far away- near impossible to read. 

He hasn’t spoken since his initial greeting, if you can even call it that. All he’s done is stare at you with that coldness in his eyes, almost as if he’s calculating something- blinking every now and again, though it does nothing to set your mind at ease. If anything, it makes you feel worse, and when he opens his lips and finally speaks to you properly-

“Well. You should fit. This should be interesting.”

-it does nothing to calm your nerves. 

Before you can ask him what he means, the air is forced out of your lungs by him tugging on your little rope, effortlessly and haphazardly lifting you into the air above his face and leaving you to stare down at him in terrified disbelief. You’ve never met this human before, but from what you’ve gathered, there’s nothing too horrible about him. 

With your lower lip trembling, you look down into his deep brown eyes, searching for any trace of a joke or flickers of sympathy. 

What you receive in return is a toothy smirk. One that plays out almost in slow motion, leaving you helpless to watch as his lips curl away from his teeth, showing the gleaming, drool-slicked and sharp points lining his gums. Your heart starts racing at the sight of them, and again, you try to find your words- but you’re once again interrupted by something terrifying. 

Those teeth were bad enough on their own, but as you stare down at Christopher’s freckled face… they begin to part. 

A warm blast of air rises from the chasm opening beneath you and you find yourself unable to look away as the huge muscle of his tongue shifts- easily the size of a small mattress and just as cushioned- moving from one side of the pink and dripping cavern to the other. The surface of it flexes in waves, and you follow the muscle back toward the darkest pit in the back of his jaws- marked by a swinging uvula and a streamlined tunnel designed to cram anything it can fit inside down.

His throat flexes, and his whole mouth shifts at once- a mess of moving pieces and parts and flesh and teeth rearranging to allow him a soft swallow- and when it opens again, strings of drool connect the bottom of his jaws to the top like the bars of a prison cell. 

Unable to speak, your own mouth opens and closes as you watch his throat shift with his every breath, the idle motions of his tongue twitching and swaying as more and more saliva floods the cavern. 

You’re transfixed, though the spell breaks when his grip on your rope abruptly falters- sending you falling a few inches closer to the gaping maw with a scream. 

A laugh rolls over you in response, and you gasp, clutching the rope in your fingers despite the knot keeping you secure. You’re spinning now, watching the gullet beneath you pulse as you rotate, unable to keep yourself from noticing that it seems to be pulsing in anticipation, the tongue stretching out from between those lips as if to echo the sentiment. 

He’s going to eat you.

No. No, he won’t. 

Surely he won’t. 

Despite not being human, you think for a moment that you’ll be able to appeal to his sympathy, though when you manage to tear your gaze away from his maw to try looking into his eyes--

The rope slides easily through his fingers, and with a rush of air, you plummet- your scream being cut off and muffled by his tongue greeting you. It all but wraps around your sides, and you feel it constrict, pinning your arms to your torso as its owner tips his head back and allows you to fall backward into the cage of his mouth. 

You scream as the tongue folds over you greedily, drinking in your flavour and slathering you in thick saliva. The surface won’t stop moving beneath your hands- cushy and soft and speckled with taste buds that leave a faint bumpy texture pressing against your palms and fingers- though when he abruptly licks you again, you’re flipped onto your side, helpless to do anything but let his tongue squish tightly against your back. The muscle is hot and explorative, wasting no time in dragging its tip along your flailing limbs. 

Everything around you is hot and slick, but the more you fight against it, the more of his saliva seeps through your clothes, soaking your skin and causing you to slip around easily in the chasm of his mouth. A zigzag of light filtering between his teeth is the only way for you to see the warm pink of his tongue as it continues to effortlessly bat you and part of your flimsy rope around. 

It’s… so easy for him. 

So easy to treat you as nothing more than a sweet treat. You find yourself pushed against his fangs more than once, and each time, you suck in a sharp breath and wait for him to chew you to pieces- all the while trying to peer out past his lips for one more glance at the world you’re leaving behind.

You don’t get one. 

All your squirms earn you is more buffeting from the tongue, more hums of delight from the throat that you know is yawning wide behind you, but you don’t allow yourself to look at it, trying instead to drag yourself forward in the dripping mouth of the beast. You’re close. Your fingers reach the very edge of his gums and you strain to pull yourself up from his gullet even as you feel your legs brush the very edge of his throat.

A throat that twitches eagerly, the muscles there relaxing with a soft slrrrk of noise- and you yelp as you find yourself falling deeper into the squishy tube. 

“NO-”

The tongue that had been idly sloshing you around arches, filling his mouth and squeezing the air from your lungs in a strangled cry- though you don’t have time to be worried about that as you realize what the predator’s doing.

Swallowing. He’s swallowing. The gullet behind you lurches, a tiny hlrk and a bob of the muscles behind you causing you to throw your arms forward as gravity changes- but you’re too covered in saliva to get a grip on anything. Instead, you’re forced to feel his uvula drag across the back of your shoulders as he hums- the noise loud enough to make your chest feel like it’s buzzing. 

You’re squashed under his uvula entirely with another firm swallow, leaving you scrambling against the plush back of his tongue as you try to reach the swinging tab of flesh. Your fingers are tangled tightly in your rope, clutching it in utter desperation. It’s still holding fast. Still tied to something. 

You try to remember if you saw it caught between his molars or canines as you try to hoist yourself further up his gullet- barely able to even paw the backmost part of his tongue in your attempts to reach freedom. It’s still somewhat taut, taut enough that there’s hope…

…as light falls over you, you look up from the depths of his throat, for one fleeting moment allowing yourself to think that he’s about to cough you up. It must be a mistake. He seems like a kind enough man, and you shift your position slightly to see better, wiping a string of drool out of your face as a shadow falls over his jaws. 

His hand. 

And in his fingers…

No…

In his fingers, he’s lazily clutching the end of your rope. He holds it there with a soft chuckle, one that makes the throat around you ripple, before you watch his mouth start to relax as it closes for what you realize in terror is the final time.

“Wait- wait wait wait-!"

When he swallows, the walls of his throat clutch tight around you, rippling with a soft ulp that folds around you and tries to squeeze you down along with it. Your whole body jerks in place, being squashed tighter into the living tunnel before the rope pulls taut and forces you back up- which causes the muscles around you to quiver and the predator they belong to to hum. 

It’s absolutely deafening this close to his voicebox. 

You gasp as the slimy walls finally ease up, trembling at the sensation of something pressing at you from outside of your new prison. At first, you almost think you’re imagining it, but when the throat around you twitches in response to a firmer press, you realize those are fingers pressing against you from the outside. 

You can’t help but imagine yourself as a lump in Christopher’s throat. 

As you struggle harder, forcing your elbows out against the taunting squishes, in you mind’s eye, you see the small flutter of your movements settled just above his collarbone- the way you stretch the freckled skin and wriggle just beneath it- and as you tug on the rope in a desperate attempt to shimmy back up the way you came-

GLURK.

-the throat constricts tighter, and this time you can’t keep yourself from giving a yelp as you’re sucked further into Christopher’s esophagus- settled just beside his thudding heart. The walls of his gullet have grown tighter, as has the knot of the rope around your waist thanks to said walls hungrily rippling around you in an attempt to squeeze you deeper inside. Again, you struggle to haul yourself further up the rope that’s keeping you suspended in his chest. Your saliva slicked hands fumble to get a grip, and you curse yourself for not having tied too many knots in it before trying to use it out borrowing. In the pitch darkness of his throat, you can’t see much aside a very faint red- the light from outside only penetrating deep enough for you to see the faint outlines of the esophagus squeezing around you. 

Your rope is still being held snugly by the gullet’s walls, the red lifeline almost vanishing into the pulsing darkness, but you squint through the saliva running down your face just long enough to realize how far down you’ve been squeezed. Seeming miles of throat stretch above you, and a flicker of light from the top of the tunnel causes your heart to sink. On either side of you, you hear a rush of air filling your devourer’s lungs, and everything tightens as they fill with oxygen, preparing for another-

Gulp.

-for him, it must be nothing. Just soft and lazy bobs of his adam’s apple that allow your rope to fall deeper into the folds of his throat. You can almost imagine how faint the sound of him swallowing must be outside of the sweltering confines you’re in now- but you can’t quite cling to the illusion long enough to mute the disgusting squelch and ULLLLK that draw you deep enough to feel a distinct change in heat.

Heat from below you.

Heat coupled by the sound of an organic growl, and your heart grows cold despite the warmth of the predator surrounding you as you realize how close to the belly of the beast you’ve gotten.

You scramble against the soft walls, tugging on your slack rope more and more as the sound of gurgling grows louder beneath you. You can’t end up in his stomach. You won’t. You’re a borrower, you’re not-

Glmpk.

He swallows once more. 

Firmly. 

Firmly enough that you manage to look above you in terror, watching the tunnel of his throat constrict in a wave that rushes toward you in the dark, too fast for you to do anything but take a breath in before you’re squished firmly into the upper stomach sphincter. 

Then through it.

Your tiny form lands in his stomach with a wet plop.

The walls around you shudder with a gurgle of greeting, and above you, you hear a long and contented sigh breeze up from the throat you fought for your life not to get squeezed down- unable to keep yourself from envying the air for being able to get past his lips.

You’re not as lucky as the air. The stomach containing you groans in emphasis, the organ steadily starting to rock this way and that, the walls rippling inwards eagerly in what you realize are the beginnings of digestion. Your hands find the rope and you pull on it sharply, earning the sound of a muffled glp from above and the sensation of more and more of it pulling into his belly, coiling around you on the fleshy floor, gulp after gulp ushering it down, down…

The piece of yarn bobs momentarily at the back of Christopher’s throat, and it brushes the folds of flesh there as its pulled down his gullet. It isn’t fully soaked through with his saliva, not yet, and as he sits with his jaws open, he gulps, feeling it stick dryly in his throat- though he persists in his task anyway. 

With a few more short swallows, there’s no trace left of you at all. No rope dangles from between his lips. No shape wriggles in his throat, and as he trails a hand down to his comfortably full stomach… he grins at the realization that you fit so perfectly inside that you’ve completely vanished from the outside world. Not even a lump against his middle surfaces to show anyone where you’ve vanished to, and he purrs in delight, trailing his fingers over his middle and hiccuping suddenly when you squirm. 

“Oh, don’t worry.”

His voice rumbles around you, echoing over the sounds of digestion. One of the fleshy walls folds inward with a prod against you and you feel the tip of one of his claws massaging you into the lining. 

“I think I’m going to let my guts take their time with you… best get comfy in there.” 

[tastylittlepixie]

girls are always dropping me into their terrariums with their hungry spiders or snakes or lizards or even large fish and watching me struggle to escape

however sometimes I'm dropped into a terrarium with their spidergirls and snakegirls and lizardgirls or even large fishgirls and instead they watch us make our sloppy style

I still get eaten in both scenarios in case it wasn't obvious

[itsmoving]

Lynch's belly looks like my hand would sorta, get sucked in if I pressed it. Or give a staticky feeling.

.. I wonder if they like it to be touched. Given some affection while they're full of preythings

this is actually so hot how had i not thought of this oohh my god....

if you were to touch their belly (especially if there's some little treats in there!) your hand would phase right through their skin and come in contact with their stomach compartment. rubbing and touching would basically result in shifting around the contents of their belly :)

they probably fucking love how it feels, since your hands are in their flesh and moving their guts around a lot more than if you were to just touch the surface.

god sorry this was just such a delight to think about and it's so... 😵‍💫😵‍💫🔥🔥

[trials-of-zaa]

Arka’s First Hunt

˖°𓇼𓂃 𓈒𓏸˖°𓇼𓂃 𓈒𓏸˖°𓇼𓂃 𓈒𓏸˖°𓇼𓂃 𓈒𓏸˖°𓇼𓂃 𓈒𓏸

Trials of Zaa 𓇼 Phase 1 | Vali 

Ao3 | Eka's

˖°𓇼𓂃 𓈒𓏸˖°𓇼𓂃 𓈒𓏸˖°𓇼𓂃 𓈒𓏸˖°𓇼𓂃 𓈒𓏸˖°𓇼𓂃 𓈒𓏸

Tags & Trigger Warnings

Child Predator | Tiny Prey | Oral Vore | Soft Vore | Digestion | First Time Vore | Fatal/No Reformation | Alternative Digestive Tracts | Mermaid Vore

˖°𓇼𓂃 𓈒𓏸˖°𓇼𓂃 𓈒𓏸˖°𓇼𓂃 𓈒𓏸˖°𓇼𓂃 𓈒𓏸˖°𓇼𓂃 𓈒𓏸

Arka huffed and rolled over, letting the waves push him closer to the shore. His back occasionally brushed the warm sand of the beach and he was tempted to crawl all the way out and onto the land to let himself cook a bit on the warm beach. 

His brother and his friends had ditched him as soon as the adults were out of sight, leaving him to malaise in the shallows while the “big kids” went off to do some real hunting. Arka splashed his tail in the water. He was big now too! He could make it almost the entire way from Vali to Melliotian without needing to be carried. And that was nearly a half day swim. There’s no way he would get too tired while on a hunt for fish in the reef. 

But his Maza was adamant that he never go out into the open ocean without someone with him. And the reef was way too close to the boundaries for him to push it. 

The woven basket nudged him, reminding him of his task. For as long as he could remember he was on “gatherer” duty– looking for clams or  things washed up on the beach. Staying where it was safe and boring. 

He rolled his eyes as the basket rocked in the waves next to him. If he had to dig for another clam, he would scream. 

He was tempted to chuck the basket into the encroaching jungle, but worried what his Maza would say if they returned and he’d done no work at all. 

Huffing, he rolled belly down into the water, soaking his hair and taking a deep breath through his gills to refresh them. He grabbed a hold of the basket and started swimming towards the northern shores of the island where the clam liked to mingle. 

His stomach rumbled. Another thing his brother had neglected to help him with. He hadn’t had breakfast yet and the older boys were supposed to help him.

“You can open clams, Arka” Onsel had complained as Arka protested them leaving him on his own. “You’ve got to learn to fend for yourself– we all do!” 

He wasn’t quite fast enough to catch fish with his hands yet, but his Da had been showing him the art of netting fish. Most of the fish were still too big for him, so he needed someone to make them into small enough pieces for him to swallow. When he was big, he’d grab a hold of a fish and shove it down his throat right then and there. He wondered what it would feel like going down? 

His brother said it was amazing and kind of tickled. Arka wasn’t sure if he wanted it to tickle. When his brother Onsel tickled him, it wasn’t very nice. 

Clams, while technically eaten alive, were not the same. They were mostly slimy and went down in one smooth slide– not putting up much fuss. Arka grimaced as he imagined his bellies full of them. They were not his favorite. 

But in a pinch, they’d have to do. The adults were planning to be gone until the sun fell down into the ocean that night. Arka didn’t want to wait that long for fish. 

He pushed past some driftwood and turned towards the clamming beach. He’d nearly reached it, swimming just under the surface to catch the help of the waves when a weird shiver ran up his spine. He looked around, feeling for sure that he was being watched. 

Onsel and the other boys were nowhere in sight. He squinted into the deeper water, wondering if someone else had come to watch him in their stead, but saw no one from the pod. He turned his body this way and that, looking around in the water for… whatever he had sensed.

Well, now he felt kind of stupid. There was no one there. 

A large wave rolled him and he moved with it, letting it carry him much closer to shore. As the wave pulled back, he popped his head above the water to orient himself towards the best spot for clamming. There was a tree with two large trunks right in front of the most abundant spot. 

He scanned the beach for a moment before his eyes slowed, focusing on something he didn’t recognize.

There was… was it a piece of driftwood? It looked… like one of the wixen’s ships– curved and planned, but very very small. He let himself drift towards it. There was… something standing upon it where it lay just at the edge of the beach. 

Wriggling his tail, he pushed forward, curiosity sparking in his chest. He wanted to see what the object was. He’d seen things that wixen and the island nagas made at market– perhaps this was a lost trinket of theirs. 

As he neared the small boat, he spotted tattered sails spread out on the beach. He turned his head, trying to make out what was sitting upon the small vessel when the thing moved– leaping down off the side of the wooden structure and running inside.

A frisson of energy surged up his spine and he felt the thrill of excitement he got whenever something small darted around him in the water. His mind screamed at him to grab it – quick! But he was far too far away. Still, he wanted to know what it was that had moved so quickly. 

He pulled himself forward in the waves, his face and gills now out of the water completely and he took a large breath of air, switching to his above-water lungs. His gills cramped a bit as he transitioned too hard, but he ignored them. 

He reached the little boat quickly and pulled himself up onto the sand next to it. He left his tail mostly in the water– it would be easier to get away quickly if he didn’t fully beach himself. 

Now that he was right by the ship he could see that it was indeed exactly what he’d guessed. Some kind of tiny carved vessel– perhaps a toy or a decoration? 

A crab scuttled nearby and he watched it move. Had this been what he’d seen on top of the boat? The figure had moved much more quickly than the crab, though…

The sails were in tatters, and the mast was broken in two. There was miniature cargo spilling from the storage room and strewn across the beach. A tiny table and two chairs had been propped into the sand in the shadow of the boat. He marveled at the tiny things, not daring to touch them. He was afraid of breaking them. He was one of the merfolk, so one day he would grow very large. For now, he was still small– about the size of an average wixen adult his Maza had told him. He didn’t really have context for that, but he guessed that no wixen would ever be tiny enough to fit in those little chairs. They would be but a handful to him. 

He placed his basket to his side, settling it firmly in the sand in case a big wave came and tried to wash it away. He pushed his palm into the warm sand next to the boat and leaned over, maneuvering his body so he could try and see inside the tiny porthole windows.

It was mostly dark, but he could tell that there were furnishings or stored goods inside. 

He chuckled. Why would someone make this? 

The entire boat could fit in his basket. He chuckled at the idea of bringing it home with him. This was his find, and he wouldn’t let Onsel play with it even a little bit. 

He debated for a moment and then decided he was going to take it with him. Even if Maza didn’t let him keep it, he was going to try. He carefully picked up the table and chairs, placing them gently in the basket. The little crates of food came next and he was surprised to see that the pieces inside moved around like they were real. He brought up a crate of what looked like berries that grew on little bushes next to the jungle. He sniffed them and was delightfully surprised to realize that they were indeed real. 

Who would have put this here?

Arka shrugged and tilted the crate towards his mouth. They smelled fresh enough and tasted divine- a sweet burst of flavor against his tongue. He chewed them slowly as he contemplated taking the sails. They wouldn’t really have a purpose under the water, and he didn’t know how to fix them. Maybe his Da could show him. He decided to take them, and started pulling them from where they lay tangled among the broken mast. 

A commotion from beneath him pulled his attention. 

His eyes darted downwards as something ran from the boat. He quickly tracked the creature and before he could recognize what he was looking at his predator instincts called him to action. He surged forward as the many legged creature ran out onto the open sand, slamming his arm down to form a barrier to keep it from escaping. His face was inches from the creature and he pulled back in case it decided to fight instead of flee. This close he could see lots of little legs that looked to be made of skin under a large fabric top– another sail. 

He scrunched his eyebrows. What was this? 

He reached forward tentatively as the creature shuffled back and forth on the sand, seeming unsure of itself. He gently pinched the fabric in his fingers and pulled it from the creature. 

His breath caught in his throat. They were so little.

There were eight of them– clutching to each other. Some carried crates and one bared a stick at him. They looked wixen? But these were nowhere near the right size. They would each fit into the palm of his hand easily– nearly as tall as one of his webbed fingers, and all skinny to boot. 

What were they? His mouth filled with saliva as he took in their shaking forms. They didn’t run, seeming just as frozen as Arka. He finally blinked and swallowed, his eyes involuntarily tracking each movement they made. 

This was just like hunting. But instead of quickly darting fish, these things just— stayed put. Still there was something enticing about the way, they shuffled about in a clump, trying to find a way past his arm. 

One of them yelled something at him– a gutteral cry– and charged him with the stick. Arka sat up a bit more and watched as the thing tried to swat at his hand. It had legs like a wixen. Maybe these were shifters? He’d never met one but he thought the wixen that shifted became animals– not smaller wixen. And… why weren’t they using magic?

After another attack, he managed to pinch the stick in his fingers and yank it from the tiny creature. 

Suddenly the group moved– splitting and running in all directions. Arka felt his instincts screaming at him to grab them and he listened, reaching over quickly for his basket and shoving them inside as quickly as he could. He got every single one. 

He laughed, the thrill of a successful hunt sending butterflies into his belly.

His belly that cramped, achingly empty. Reminding him of the task he was supposed to be completing.

The chase over, his mind returned to him and he stared down at the tiny creatures in his basket. How was he supposed to go clamming with them? He didn’t know much about wixen but he knew they were land-dwellers. They didn’t have gills and couldn’t hold their breath for long. He needed the basket for collecting the shellfish. And if all he returned with today was a boat and eight skinny not-wixen, his Maza would scold him.

Maybe… he should just let them go. It had been fun to chase them, but he didn't really know what else to do with them. He looked around the beach. This island was very small– barely any vegetation grew but for the very center of the island. Other than the trees on the northern shore and some bushes, there was just sand. There wasn’t anything really living here, other than bugs and other small creatures. He wondered if that had been why they had been living in the capsized boat. 

He still wanted to take the boat with him. He only had things that his Da or him could make from what they found on the ocean floor. He’d never had anything as nice as the intricately carved wooden sculpture. 

He looked towards where the clam would be and then up at the sun. He’d really wasted a lot of time moping earlier. He needed to come to a decision before Onsel or anyone else came looking for him. 

It would be just his luck that his very first hunt be stolen by another predator. 

The thought jarred him. 

This… was his first hunt. Or at least, the first one where he’d actually successfully caught something. It was a right of passage for the young merfolk and he felt a thrill of excitement when he realized that he’d hit this milestone much earlier than Onsel had. His brother had been closer to his seventh clutching when Da had taken him. Arka was only five. 

He looked back towards the waves, hoping to not spot any signs of Onsel or an elder coming to check on him. He let out a relieved breath. 

This was his moment. He’d gotten food that could dart away– today he would become independent. He wasn’t about to let Onsel or anyone else ruin it. 

But… part of the ceremony was eating your first catch. Arka looked down at the little creatures skeptically. Could he even eat one of these? He wasn’t sure. All the bites of fish his Maza or Da prepped for him were much smaller than they were.

And he didn’t like the idea of chewing something that was still alive. He shuddered at the thought. Some merfolk ate fish that way, but his pod swallowed the fish whole. It was just their way. He’d even seen Onsel choke down a whole eel once. It was so huge it had bulged his neck out until Arka was sure he would die, but his brother had prevailed– shoving and swallowing until the tail disappeared all the way down into him. 

He wanted to be able to do that! 

Well… you had to start somewhere. He looked at his finger, trying to imagine swallowing it. These little not-wixen were all about that size. He could… probably do it. 

And once he got them into his throat, his body would have no problems. He’d been learning about their digestive system from his teacher. They had two stomachs- one for storage and one for digestion. His storage stomach was in the center of his tail and could hold like five big meals inside of it for him to use whenever he needed. He’d seen his Maza pack in a ton of fish right before a long trip to Geodar, swallowing water to help keep them alive inside. He knew that he could eat way more than the total amount of these little things.

And maybe when he was home he could regurgitate some of them to show his Maza and Da– to prove that he’d done his first hunt! 

Emboldened by the idea, he picked up the basket and scooted his way closer to the water. It would probably be easier to use his gills while swallowing something this big– so he wouldn’t have to rely on his above-water lungs which shared the same tube as the food.

The basket could float on the water and he let it, careful to keep one hand on it so it wouldn’t float away. He pushed himself far out enough to be away from the worst of the waves, taking big gulps of water through his gills to rewet them. 

He pushed himself above water briefly and pulled one of the tiny humans from the clump. The little thing thrashed in his fingers as he lowered himself and his hand underwater. He looked at the little thing up-close, his eyes working much better under the ocean. They looked exactly like some of the wixen he’d seen at the market in Vali– even wearing tiny clothes! 

Before the creature could pass out, he guided them inside of his mouth. The little thing buoyed in his mouth, tossed around in the water. He pushed them with his tongue, feeling the little hands and legs kicking at him. He chuckled at the sensation and pressed the figure to the roof of his mouth, swallowing the mouthful of water and letting it filter back out through his gills. He raised his head above water and opened his mouth, letting it fill with air. The tiny clambered over his tongue and towards his teeth. That wouldn’t do.

He closed his mouth again and let it fill with saliva– the thick liquid coating the thing flailing on his tongue. He would usually chew the fish pieces he got, but he wanted to feel this first hunt– his very first prey– slide down alive and wriggling. Just like his Da. He wondered how long he would be able to feel them inside.

When he felt that his mouth had done the best it could at coating the little thing, he sank back down into the ocean, tilted his head back and tried to relax his throat. He felt the creature sliding back towards his gullet and tried to keep himself from panicking. He felt huge– a bite way too big for Arka. The tiny flailed one leg as it contacted the back of his throat and Arka jerked forward as his gag reflex triggered. He felt his tongue press against the tiny as a wave of nausea and anxiety rolled through him, but it passed just as suddenly when the tiny was squeezed past his tongue and straight down his throat.

His body moved on instinct, swallowing repeatedly as the squirming lump traveled down his throat. And just like that… it was done. 

He’d done it. 

He breathed in the water and twisted his tail about, feeling excitement run through him. He’d done it! He could hunt!

He surfaced, eagerly looking into the basket for his next prey. He caught sight of a group of the tinies trying to scale the sides of the woven wall. That wouldn’t do. He frowned at them and plucked the one at the top of the pile from their place. 

He didn’t have time to savor it– there were too many of them and he didn’t want them working together to get away. He dropped the little not-wixen on his tongue, quickly rolling them around to wet them. This one was even smaller than the last, but put up more of a fight. 

His instinct purred at him to continue as the tiny creatures in the basket panicked at the display. He chuckled around his mouthful as they started to run around in the basket. He maneuvered the tiny to the back of his throat with his tongue, pushing them further towards their doom with quick flicks. He tilted his head back and felt them slip past the first ring of muscles. His body didn’t even gag around the sleek lump, slippery with spit and sliding down easily. He swallowed a couple times for good measure, but he probably could have just let them ride down.

His chest filled with a satisfied purr as he felt the little body slip down down down into his tail. He couldn’t feel much of anything in his storage stomach, not even when he’d eaten a lot of fish and knew they were being kept there for him. 

But maybe if he ate live fish and swallowed some water? Yeah… that would be a fun thing to try another time. 

He mused about it as he picked out his next treat– finding the one that had tried to hit him with a stick. This one was a fighter and Arka didn’t want to test his luck. He sank under the water with them, shoving them quickly inside his mouth with a mouthful of salty ocean. He let the tiny swim around for a bit, shoving at the backs of his teeth before taking a huge breath in and preparing himself. He opened his throat, relaxed and swallowed the massive mouthful– tiny and water combined. This one stuck a bit in his throat– it’s larger frame more difficult to get down. Arka placed his fingers tentatively at the bulge in his throat as he brought more water into his mouth. He cycled water through his gills again, feeling the squirming lump bulge out his throat beneath his quivering fingertips. Then with a forceful swallow, he sent the tiny down the long track to his tail, following the sensation with his fingers. 

He wanted more. 

His stomach– the one in his upper half, growled again. 

Maybe it couldn’t tell that he’d eaten anything? Three of these tiny things were still relatively small compared to a normal meal for him. He resurfaced, excited to put more into his storage stomach so that his digestive stomach would wake up and get to work. He wanted to know what it would feel like to have something alive in his belly. To do what his pod loved. 

He grabbed another tiny, pulling them away from another that clung to them. He tossed them into his mouth, not waiting long before rolling them around in his saliva. He sucked on them, admiring their salty taste. He liked the feel of their smooth skin against his tongue. Their little legs kicked when he sucked them further into him. 

The little creatures in the basket were screaming at him– something garbled and strange sounding. He cocked his head to the side and listened. Maybe they had language? It definitely didn’t sound like words. 

He swallowed, feeling the little thing slip into his throat up to their waist. With another quick swallow, just their hands scrabbled at the back of his tongue. Arka smiled and swallowed one last time, sending them down inside of him.

He felt the first cramping of his storage stomach. Yes! It would soon be rhythmically working prey back up into his wixen half to be digested. It could tell that he was eating something. 

The cramps didn’t really hurt– they felt kind of like swallowing, but deep deep inside of him. He couldn’t really control it, though Maza said that would change with time. He could choose to push things manually from one stomach to the other as he got bigger. 

He quickly grabbed ahold of another creature and pushed himself under water. This one went down so fast, he swallowed a couple of times in shock just to be sure. It was in his mouth one moment, and the next it had traveled down inside of him with barely any effort. He grinned. He was good at this. 

Onsel would be furious. He didn’t like it when Arka or any of the younger boys showed him up.

Onsel had only caught one fish his first hunt. And Arka had now had his fifth prey.

He giggled as he resurfaced. 

Arka surveyed the basket. He’d have these three, go finish collecting the boat, then swim over to the shore and go clamming while he digested some of them. And tonight he’d tell his Da all about it. Maybe they’d even be still in his stomach, and Da could help him push them up and out– he was still getting used to regurgitating, but Da stored stuff inside of himself all the time.

It would be nice not to need a basket. He mused as he pulled another creature up into his hands. 

A strange idea crossed his mind and he lifted the tiny all the way up as high as he could reach. He tilted his head back and opened his mouth, centering his hand above his face. He placed his tongue at the back of his throat so they couldn’t fall right down. With a huff of a laugh through his nose, he released them, watching their little limbs flail as they plummeted down into his mouth. They hit his tongue with a wet splat and he leaned his head forward, amused. The tiny squirmed where it had landed, and he quickly got to work coating it in saliva. He rolled it with his strong tongue, wondering what it was possibly saying. 

Probably telling him that it wasn’t food. Well… he hated to prove them wrong. 

It was just like that here in Zaa. Onsel had told him that there were some places where people would let themselves get eaten daily and went to these magic centers that allowed them to just regenerate. 

He scooted the prey back behind his teeth, trapping them just before the great plunge with his tongue. His mouth was dry so he sank back into the waves. He brought a mouthful of water into him, feeling the creature begin to float and flail before sending it down with a final –gluk–.

The cramps were speeding up. He wanted to be back by the shore by the time they started moving stuff into his digestive stomach. He placed a hand over it, still feeling it burble– still empty. He wanted to enjoy the feeling of the little creatures wriggling inside him as he lazily caught clams for his family. 

The last two were a bit smaller than the rest– skinny and tall. He bit his lip as he contemplated them. Finally he shrugged, feeling that he’d done fine with the rest. He opened his palm wide and wrapped his fingers around both of them. They shrieked as he lifted them from the basket and sank back under water. He found it was much easier with the ocean in his mouth to help smooth them down. 

He crammed them both into his mouth, their bodies tangled together and heavy on his tongue. He let in a little water with them, quickly coating them and sizing them up with his tongue. Both of them combined weren’t much bigger than the one who had fought. He placed his hand on his throat, feeling the smooth skin and scales. 

He breathed deeply, settling himself before tilting his head back and letting the water carry them into his throat. He didn’t swallow, not yet. His body had gotten used to feeling the intrusions and he felt no rising nausea as they struggled just at the edge of his tongue. He could feel them against his fingers, pressing against the soft flesh as they kicked. He imagined what the bulge would look like. Would he look like Onsel with the eel?

He raised his head back above water with a gentle stroke of his tail and opened his mouth– letting them see the light for the last time. Then, he let the water carry him back under, closing his mouth with finality and forcing them past the point of no return with a determined swallow. The bulge in his throat grew as his muscles pulled them down into him and he curled his tail around himself in delight. 

This swallow was different from the rest. It was wider than he’d expected and burned a little as it traveled deep inside of him. However, it did allow him to keep up with their journey as they passed his growling stomach and squeezed down into his tail. He lost track of them there. 

Eight! He’d eaten eight live prey! And yeah, they weren’t fish, but he’d caught them and they were his. Fish were stupid anyhow. Everyone ate fish. 

But these… oh, these had been a treat!

He purred as they moved into his tail, readjusting his grip on the basket and heading back to shore. The boat was just as he’d left it, capsized and still on the sand. He shoved it into the basket and picked up the last of the strewn cargo.

He floated the basket next to him as he made his way downshore, the rhythmic cramps in his tail ramping up. He could feel his stomach responding– growing impatient. It burbled and churned, getting ready for the next phase. He giggled thinking about it. He really hoped he could feel them in there! Real prey! 

The clamming beach was busy as always and he shoved the basket on shore, securing it with a bit of sand as always. Then he waited in the shallows. The waves came up, the clams came up. He grabbed them by the handful as they tried to get away from him. His mind remembered the hunt– how much quicker the little creatures had been, and yet, how powerless they’d really been in the end. That’s what it would be like to be able to catch the fish with his hands! 

He couldn’t wait until he could do that– grabbing a large fish in his talons, shoving it headfirst down his throat right there by the reef! Not having to wait for anyone to cut and clean it, or to hear his brother making fun of him for being a baby. 

He was so busy in his thoughts that he nearly missed the first wave moving the bodies from his tail back up into his torso. But he definitely felt as the bodies pushed into his stomach. He could feel them in there! Little flutters and pushes against the walls as they moved around inside of him. He wondered how much water there was in there? Were they walking? Or swimming? 

He felt another wave starting and headed to shore, one hand resting on his belly. His tail cramped with the swallow and he felt more food being pushed around inside of him. He dropped the handful of clams he’d found into the basket and rolled over in the shallow surf, focusing his thoughts on his middle. It was such a new and strange sensation! He wasn’t sure how many had been squeezed inside of his stomach– he couldn’t distinguish the sensations. 

Another low cramp from his storage stomach rolled upward and he felt another wave getting pushed up his torso. He laid still, wanting to feel every moment of it. More prey gushed into his belly, which eagerly groaned at their arrival. If it had been churning before, it was absolutely roiling now. He sometimes heard his Da’s stomach working this hard, but had never experienced it himself. Da said that it was an instinctive response to rowdy prey.

He placed both hands on his belly and was slightly surprised to feel that it had expanded outward a bit. He tried to take a deep breath and found that it was difficult. His belly pushed on his other organs as it got t o work on his prey. 

He relaxed in the warm sun, wondering how long it would take him to digest them. How long would he be able to experience them moving? If he ate more, would it take longer? 

He lazily turned to the basket and grabbed a clam. He didn’t really enjoy their taste, but he did enjoy feeling full. And while the eight creatures inside of him were putting up a fight– he could tell that his stomach wasn’t at it’s limit. He cracked open the clam, pushing the pearl into his basket to give to Maza or Da later and scraped the gooey creatures into his mouth. He didn’t waste any time, he swallowed it. 

He ate most of what he had caught, tossing their shells into the water. His storage stomach got the message quickly and he felt another cramping wave start to push the shellfish up into his torso. With another rush, he felt his stomach distend a bit more. The movements inside of him became frantic. He rubbed at his belly and sighed.

He could definitely tell why his pod did this. The feeling was pure bliss. 

The warm sun melted into him and he relaxed in the gentle water. He stretched and pressed his hand into his belly, feeling the contents roll around. They were still fighting, but his stomach was winning. He could feel it contracting around the mass of food in his middle, and it was bubbling and gurgling loudly. 

He relaxed further as the minutes dragged on, feeling the warm water lapping at his tail fins. He felt melted, like he was the one inside of his gut. The sun was hot and he let himself fall into the imagination. He imagined how scorching and wet it would be inside of him– surrounded by all of those bodies. Of how large the clams would be compared to them. He snorted at the thought. He thought they were gross when they were mouthful size. 

He let the waves rock him as he digested, feeling the fight leech out of the little creatures inside of him. Whatever they were they put up a ruckus- throwing themselves at the walls, punching and kicking him for a good long while before their movements slowed and they settled. Or perhaps his tummy had filled up too much and they could no longer stand. Either way, he was a little disappointed as the movements petered out. 

With resignation, he decided that he needed to get back to work. He sat up with a bit of difficulty, his belly feeling hot and heavy in his middle. He looked over at the nearly empty basket– not a clam in sight. The boat was still a great find, and he couldn’t wait to show his Da and tell him about his day. He looked towards the ocean, feeling the rivulets of water stream down his back and belly. He really should get working. He’d have to work extra hard this afternoon to catch enough clams for the pod by himself. And now he was almost too full– his body sleepy and sated. He pressed a hand to his belly, stroking along the slight curve. 

With a resigned sigh he started to scoot himself back into the water. 

His storage stomach burbled before it contracted quickly, forcing a little burp from his lips. A surefire sign that it was actually empty. He was digesting them all, then. He rubbed at his stomach again, imagining their final struggles in the hot darkness. So much for regurgitating them tonight to prove that he’d caught them.

Oh well…  there was always next time. 

˖°𓇼𓂃 𓈒𓏸˖°𓇼𓂃 𓈒𓏸˖°𓇼𓂃 𓈒𓏸˖°𓇼𓂃 𓈒𓏸˖°𓇼𓂃 𓈒𓏸

Author’s Note:

I really hope you liked reading this! Arka is such a cutie and I loved exploring this first time he ever found prey. He’s one of the MCs for the stories involving the island of Vali so you will definitely be seeing more of him in the future!

˖°𓇼𓂃 𓈒𓏸˖°𓇼𓂃 𓈒𓏸˖°𓇼𓂃 𓈒𓏸˖°𓇼𓂃 𓈒𓏸˖°𓇼𓂃 𓈒𓏸