A Change of Heart

(A story adapted from a role play on March 8, 2025)

Left to right: Tormi, Atreus, and Helia

In or around the Tolkari Forest, on the main continent of Felarya, sometime after the events of “Torin Youth”:

On a warm afternoon, in a forest on the edge of the Great Rocky Fields, a nineteen-year-old traveler waits alone at the base of a tree, nestled into a nook at its roots. He rests his back and his head full of wild auburn hair against the tree. He lightly thumbs at his bow string as if it were a lute and he sings a tune quietly, not wanting to draw any attention to himself. Before his three companions set off on what they said would be a short trip, he promised to stay hidden in this place. It appears to be a quiet and safe section of the forest, and full of natural beauty. What better place to relax?

Though it is called a forest by those familiar with the area, it seems more like a giant garden to the traveler; there are trees bearing a variety of oversized fruit present all around him. And the more he looks at those fruits, the hungrier he feels. There is also a river in the distance that is calming to watch as it flows. “This would be a nice place to live,” he thinks. His eyelids become heavy, and he drifts off to sleep.

Not far from where the traveler hides, a 148 feet (45 meters) tall giantess gently makes her way through the forest to pick berries from its trees. Her dark blue hair, while cut short around her neck, is long enough in the front to fall into her face as she tries to get a good look at the berries. She blows the white streak of hair in front away from her eyes and then leans in close, giving the berries a nice big sniff. “Mmm. Yep—definitely ripe,” she says before putting them in her bag. 

She appears mostly human however she isn't; there are patches of scales to be found on her body and a long reptilian tail sways playfully behind her. On the back of her head, jutting out from behind her short hair, are four flat blue appendages. They aren't just for show; they are highly refined sensors, detecting heat signatures around the giantess as she walks about picking berries. She becomes aware of something small and humanoid in the area. She glances in the small person’s direction out of curiosity every minute or so; the appendages on her head telling her where to look—he is very close.

The napping traveler is jarred out of his light sleep by the familiar trembling of the ground, alerting him to a giant walking nearby. As gentle as her steps are, the lizard woman’s movements give her away. The groggy man stands and dusts off his sleeveless red shirt and his grey trousers. Planting his sandaled feet firmly, he proceeds to climb up on the roots and he pokes his head out from the nook to see what's out there. He sees the giantess picking berries. Some fall off the branches and land around her feet. The traveler has no chance of reaching that fruit in the tree on his own but thanks to the visitor there are some dropping close by. It does look tasty enough to make his stomach growl. He sneaks towards the fallen fruit carefully, but he takes his eyes off the giantess for perhaps a little too long because he soon realizes that he has been spotted. Little did the man know that the woman was aware of his presence long before she laid eyes on him.

The giantess is about to bite into an apple from her bag that she brought with her when she turns her head toward the small figure she sees through the corner of her eye. Even at 6 feet (1.8 meters) in height, the tiny person barely stands higher than the giantess’s ankle. She blinks and observes him, thinking to herself, “It seems he is trying to sneak around and possibly grab leftovers.” 

“Hmm? You ok,” she asks him before turning her gigantic body in his direction. 

The man freezes and raises an eyebrow at the unexpected question, tensing up and trying not to panic. "Uh... yeah. I'm okay,” he replies with his voice cracking.

Not to appear weak in front of his perceived enemy, he quickly stands upright and straightens his clothes. "Do I look... not okay? I’m not up to anything suspicious, if that's what it looks like.”

So far, the giantess hasn't attacked him, to his relief. He continues explaining himself. “I was just wondering if I could grab some of the fruit that fell from that tree... and I didn't want to—well, I thought you might be dangerous, so I was being careful not to be seen. Would you mind handing me some,” he asks while hiding his nervousness behind a smile. 

The giantess blinks her eyes at him again and scratches her head, seeming to think him strange. “Umm, wouldn’t it have been more dangerous if I didn’t see you? I’d probably have crushed you under my foot or something,” she replies, smiling genuinely. 

She grabs a berry out of her bag and holds it out to him, “Here ya go. I don’t really need all this fruit anyways.” She chuckles and pinches her own belly, drawing attention to how pudgy it is. “Kinda eat a lot as is.” She giggles softly for a moment and is interrupted by her stretchy tongue making a “BLEP” sound as it protrudes from her mouth. She hurriedly draws her tongue back in and smiles at the little human.

The berries look a lot smaller at a distance, and they look even more delicious up close. The traveler's eyes widen as he tries to grab one and judge the weight of it. The reptilian giantess watches as he takes the berry. Her tail pats the ground and she holds her hand out to try and catch him in case he falls. “Umm, maybe something a bit smaller would do better,” she wonders aloud.

The berry is indeed heavy for someone as relatively tiny as the human traveler, but maybe it's his pride that won't let him admit it. He instead carries the berry and tries to take a bite of it, leaning back slightly against the hand behind him accidentally. He smirks, acknowledging that the lizard did prevent his fall and maybe working as a "thank you" as well, especially since he can’t say much with a mouth full of berry.

Unfortunately for him, he's going to be all sticky now because the juice drips down his chest and arms, and he doesn't have anything to wipe himself clean with. “Oh well.” He's satisfied. He's also visibly relieved that the giantess didn't turn out to be dangerous. After he finishes his first bite, he sighs, "Thanks for the berry." He quietly and somewhat awkwardly introduces himself, "My name is Atreus, by the way."

“Ah, well hello, Atreus,” the giantess says as she lays herself down on the ground beside him. She rests her hand in a way to act as a seat for the little Torinian human and she smiles at him, perhaps enjoying the sight of him trying to eat such a large berry. “By the way, whatcha doing out here all by yourself? Aren’t you afraid you’ll possibly run into a different predator that could hurt you,” she asks as her scaly tail swishes around off the ground.

Atreus sees that the giantess is offering him a place to sit. He shrugs and abandons the last of his reservations about trusting her, and he sits in her hand. It does help him now that he can let the berry rest on his lap, even if it does result in his lap also getting covered in sticky berry juice. He answers her question after finishing another bite.

“I wanted to see what else was out there beyond my home city and Iracal Island. I left because I didn’t feel I belonged there anymore.” He tilts his head to the side some as he considers his next answer. “Yeah, I was also afraid of you and others; I know that I’m surrounded by danger out here. But at the same time, I couldn’t stay where I was, even though I was safer there.” He looks the giantess square in her eyes for the first time since he met her, feeling a bit safer now. “Want to tell me about yourself?”

The woman hums softly, then answers. “About myself? Well, I don’t really think there’s that much interesting stuff about me honestly. Just your average ‘Echidna,” she says, identifying what her species is called.

Her long, dexterous tongue bleps out of her mouth again near Atreus, startling him. The tongue stretches itself downward past her open vest and roughly cut beige skirt, and it grabs a giant dragonapple from her bag. It whips back up and drags the large fruit into her gaping mouth. Her lips stretch around it with ease before she swallows it whole with a heavy gulp.

Atreus can’t help but feel a little tense after witnessing that and he gets that awful feeling in the pit of his stomach. There’s a kindness about the giantess that calms him, however. She doesn’t seem to be showing any interest in adding him to the food in her stomach, yet.

“But I guess as to how I showed up here,” the woman sighs while licking the remaining flavor of the dragonapple from her lips, “I was just randomly yoinked in by a portal, and then I just grew and changed.” She then turns the focus of the conversation back to Atreus and questions him. “But as for you, leaving your home must’ve been hard. Did you have any friends back there that you left behind?”

Atreus takes another bite of the berry and then answers. “I do have one friend who is my size, another human. And I have two friends who are your size. The only other two friends I had… I lost them. And that’s part of why I had to go.”

He takes this moment to give the giantess a thorough look over. Due to her being almost 27 times his size, he has no choice but to move his head around. There’s no way to be subtle about it. “I don’t believe I caught your name,” he says. “Sorry if you mentioned it already and I was just out of it for a second. It’s hard not to get distracted by the size of people like you. No offense.” 

The giantess chuckles. “Oh, sorry. I guess I forgot to mention my own name. I’m Tormi,” she says. She smirks, thinking about Atreus’s reaction when she swallowed the dragonapple. “I think I can kinda understand why you’d be distracted by my size. I never really wanted to be this big; that was sort of an unwilling aspect for me. I’m much more comfortable being at your size.”

She thinks more about what Atreus said about his friends. “I’m sorry for your loss,” she says somberly. “I guess that’s a fair reason to leave, yea.”  She brings her other hand closer to Atreus and gently caresses his head with her finger. Despite not wanting to be a giant, she knew how to be careful with those that were much smaller than her, and she touched him as delicately as possible not to injure him.

Atreus smiles at the affectionate head rubs. It was a surprising gesture of kindness that he truly appreciated from the stranger. “Tormi is a pretty name. I like it,” he says to her. He then folds his legs so that they don’t dangle, and he sits firmly in the hand of the hybrid giantess. “I wanted things to end better than they did but who knows—maybe it was always my destiny to move on from that place. I'm just wandering now, looking for adventure and maybe a new home. I still have three friends. The two that are your size, Helia and Gale, have wings instead of hands.”

The giantess’s partly scaly finger feels firm but not heavy as it strokes Atreus’s Torinian hair, hair that is thicker than that of other humankind because of his people’s growth of down feather. The giantess takes note of the hair’s thickness and realizes that while Atreus is human, he’s also somewhat a hybrid.

After just a few bites, Atreus has had enough, and he tosses the rest of the berry onto the ground. He then wipes his hands on his clothes but that doesn’t do much to remove the stickiness from them. He’s visibly bothered by it, but he tries to focus on his conversation with Tormi.

“I’d really like to know about who you were before you changed and what it’s been like adjusting to that,” he says. He continues to observe the giantess; his eyes looking well with curiosity and taking in both her human and reptilian features.

“You seem to be doing well. I hope you’re well, at least,” he goes on to say.

Tormi stops petting the young Torinian and remarks about his friends. “Oh, so you have harpy friends? Well, at least they’re able to protect you from giants….”  She then looks around, surprised that they aren’t close by to protect him. “Huh,” she says as she pauses to muse. “Well anyways, I guess I’ve been adapting ok. My natural predatory attributes help me out quite a bit here. Plus, I only really have to worry about stepping on people, but my tongue helps me detect people, especially if they’re close. See?”

Tormi lets out her stretchy tongue for Atreus to see. It’s forked four ways at the end, instead of just two as the young man would have expected. Her tongue detects the berry juices covering Atreus, and she can’t help but give him a quick lick. The muscular organ is slimy yet it unstickies him. 

“Mmmmmm, sooooo sweet,” she sings. Her exclamation is followed by a low growl from her tummy as she gulps the flavors down.  

Naturally, Atreus is startled a bit by her tongue licking the berry juice off his body. “Okay… thank you,” he says quietly in response to the licks. He doesn’t react defensively because he’s already determined that Tormi is someone he can trust. However, he’s well known for being too trusting in the past—not even recent tragic events have managed to change him. “At least you’re tasting the juice and not me… I think,” he says with a subtle laugh.

After Tormi is done cleaning him, Atreus resumes questioning her. “So, I can see the benefits of being your size, like with being able to pick those berries and all,” he notes, “but I imagine living with a giant body comes with all kinds of challenges. Where do you live? And do you have friends too?”

“Oh, well yea I’d say it’s hard,” she replies. “I used to have a house back in my old world. I sorta just… live in a hole in the ground. And yea I have a few friends. I have my friend Erin and Mobi.” She pauses to think for a moment before continuing, “Well, there’s also this loud mouth harpy but I don’t know if I’d really consider her a friend. And then there’s this purple fairy who’s very interested in me and interested in being inside me.”

As she speaks, her tail swishes playfully above the ground behind her. “Hmmm, and then there’s Gajana who’s also my friend; she likes how chubby I am.” She then leans in close to Atreus. Close enough that there’s no effective distance between them anymore. “And I guess, now you. You’re my friend now,” she adds, giving his belly a playful poke.

Atreus chuckles and agrees with Tormi. “Well, okay then. Sure. You can count me as a friend.” As he wipes his hands dry on the parts of his clothes that weren’t wet, he can’t help but question something that the giantess said to him. It was the strangest thing he’s ever heard.

“You said you had a friend who actually wanted to be inside you? That’s the first time I’ve heard of anything like that.” He then tries to fix his messy hair so that it’s a little less messy after the head rubs he received earlier, and also because he’s trying to distract himself. He wants to share something with Tormi but it’s more than a little awkward for him to talk about.  

“So…” he begins. “Are you like my friend Helia, then? Or maybe what I’m asking is, does your friend ask to be inside you or do you just put them inside? By ‘inside’, I’m assuming you’re talking about… eating them.”

Tormi doesn’t hesitate to answer, “Oh, yea my friend usually wants to go inside me. And I’m usually more willing to eat those who want to be eaten. My stomach is slow at digesting food so, I could have a person your size in me for a decent amount of time before I gotta cough ya out.”  She carefully sits up with Atreus in her hand and goes on to say, “but you asked if I’m like your friend. Does she eat you without you wanting it?”

Atreus nods in response and sighs, “All the time. It started when we were both young. I mean, I trust her because she hasn’t killed me… yet. I know she cares about me. Somehow, I think this is just her way of showing it. I don’t know. It sounds weird. She also has some things going on and I know that she’s only happy when she’s around me, so it must be helping her somehow. I guess it’s complicated. It never stops being scary for me though. What if something goes wrong and I die? She seems too confident that that’ll never happen, in my opinion.”

The reptilian giantess rubs her chin at the mention of showing affection to someone via eating them. She chuckles, “Heh, sounds like she loves you.”

She leans back against a tree, musing about Atreus’s worries about possibly dying. “Well, I don’t blame you for worrying about it,” she states. “Despite me knowing that my stomach is slow at digesting, I still worry when someone’s in me because I don’t wanna digest people. I’d say, if you wanna bring it up to her, you should be stern and tell her to only keep you in her mouth. That way she can keep you in her, but then you don’t have to worry about being digested. Best of both worlds.” Tormi nods at Atreus, hoping he gets the message.

Atreus sighs deeply as he considers what Tormi said to him. “Like I said, I think she just needs it and I… I give her what she needs. Or wants,” he admits. “She was my only friend for so long. Sometimes I think, maybe I can give myself this way to repay her. When my dad wasn’t there and the rest of the town spat at my feet, only Helia stayed by me and maybe it’s my fault she became a ‘black sheep’ in the first place—because she befriended the son of the ‘traitor.”

Atreus looks downward, reflecting on what he confessed, as the cool breeze of the late afternoon blows gently across his body. “It really was my fault, now that I think about it. And now Helia has left her home, also because of me.”

As guilt sinks in and he shifts his body uncomfortably under the weight of his thoughts, Atreus tries moving on and responding to the rest of Tormi’s words. “I don’t know if I’d say she loves me though,” he says. “Maybe not romantically, at least. She knows we’re two different kinds of creatures and there’s only so much we can have together.”

Atreus doesn’t seem to be very interested in a romantic relationship with her either; he shows Tormi no signs that he’s bothered either way. “Besides,” he adds, “I heard her talking in her sleep one night; she said, ‘I love you Atreus.’ Then I thought, ‘Wow. I had no idea.’ But then she kept talking and she said, ‘you’re so yummy.” Atreus laughs at his story and shrugs his shoulders at how silly it all sounds to him. “I thought to myself, yeah, that’s… Helia.”

Tormi feels the weight of the feelings Atreus shares with her, and she sighs. She does her best to give him a hug, using her hand to gently hold him against her stomach. “It’s not your fault,” she says to console him. “She could’ve refused to come along, but she decided she wanted to live life with you. And as for your village, it seems they never treated you with respect, so honestly, I don’t blame you for leaving.”

As the shadow under the tree where the giantess sits gets longer, the two continue to talk. Tormi looks down at Atreus and she gives him a warm smile. “Honestly, you just seem like a wonderful person,” she confesses. “I don’t know why they’d hate you.”

She then lays down on her back, resting Atreus on her soft belly. “Yea, I’m sure it’s hard to actually have a real relationship with someone her size. But at least you know she cares for you, and you care for her. And that’s really all you need to have a good bond. We show how we care in strange ways, but I guess that kinda shows we’re not really that different after all.”

Atreus lays on the soft and warm skin of Tormi’s belly. He returns the hug she gave him by squeezing the hand she has placed over him. To the giantess, it probably feels like a small pinch. “I’m glad I met you, Tormi,” Atreus says. “You’re really a great person as well and maybe I’ve been too defensive about meeting new people your size.” The ambience of the forest joined with the serene sound of the river following nearby creates a perfect atmosphere for the Torinian who had traveled so far to relax.

Tormi feels the tension in him leaving, and she knows that he completely trusts her now. She smiles, seeing that he’s able to relax and she jokes, “Hopefully, your harpy friend doesn’t get jealous that you wanna make friends with other ‘bigs’. Just, make sure to be careful with exactly who you try and make friends with, I don’t think every giantess will be as easy to lay on as me,” she adds with a playful grin before her tongue bleps out of her mouth once again.

Hearing the mention of his friend made Atreus tense up ever so slightly. “Oh yeah,” he says, remembering that she hasn’t made it back to the tree with the others yet. “Hmm. Knowing her, she’s probably looking for more food right now. I don’t like to be around…. for… that.”

Atreus begins to nod off but he resists the urge to fall asleep on Tormi’s belly. “I shouldn’t...” he says quietly. “Tied you down… long enough.”

Tormi assures Atreus as he drifts to sleep that it’s okay. “Oh. I mean it’s not a problem for me honestly,” she says. “I find it kinda cute when someone uses me as a bed. Plus, it’ll give me an excuse to be lazy and munch on all this fruit I’ve collected for myself. You just relax, if your harpy friend comes along I’ll let her know you’re with me.”

She reaches into her bag and puts another dragonapple in her mouth. She swallows it all in one gulp, licking her lips, and the arrival of the fruit in her belly causes it to jiggle lightly. The slight flutter that Atreus feels beneath him doesn’t interrupt the process of him falling asleep one bit. Tormi’s ample pudge creates quite the cushion of soft warmth for him to sink into, causing him to reach levels of unconsciousness he had not known before.

The giantess herself relaxes as well, grinning; pleased with making a new friend. As her body becomes more relaxed, her tongue becomes more active, blepping out of her mouth and falling onto her face. “Ugh, dug tug…” she groans in annoyance at it.

The sound of Tormi’s tongue slapping her face doesn’t even manage to wake Atreus at all as he is in deep sleep with his mouth wide open and drool on his cheek. The lizard giantess looks at Atreus and breathes a sigh of relief that he is still unbothered, not knowing just how deeply he is slumbering. As she’s trying to slurp her tongue back into her mouth, it suddenly shoots out towards Atreus. She manages to quickly grab it with her one free hand, and she shoves it back into her mouth.

“You knock that off,” she scolds her own tongue as her predatory instincts threaten to overcome her. “I’m not gonna deal with my tongue shooting out, especially not shooting out to snag my new friend.”

As the tongue seems to calm down once more, she hesitantly pulls her hand away from her lips. She blows the hair away from her eyes as she breathes a sigh of relief, and she looks at the little human resting on her belly. She thinks about what to do. She doesn’t want to harm him but she knows that as a giantess she could accidentally crush him or even eat him. Tormi turns her body and attempts to rest the young traveler on the ground, but then it happens—her tongue shoots out again. This time it snatches Atreus right out of her hands and pulls him into her mouth.

She gasps and tries not to panic. If Atreus wakes up now, it could end badly. The giantess hurriedly crawls to the edge of the river to see her reflection in the water, and she gapes her mouth.  Her tongue tips have completely wrapped around him, while his face is cushioned against the tongue as if it were a pillow. It's as if her own tongue didn't want to wake Atreus either. The reptilian giantess is relieved to see that she didn’t accidentally wake him or swallow him.

Atreus is only slightly bothered by the movement and he mumbles a question, while cozying up against the woman's warm tongue. “Everything okay,” he manages to say as the desire to sleep is overwhelming. The young man can barely distinguish if he’s asking the question aloud or if he’s dreaming that he’s asking the question. “I gotta move,” he asks before he begins to snore again quietly.

Tormi’s heart stops for a moment as she hears him speak inside her mouth.  She tries to gently pry him from her mouth but the grip of her tongue is relentless. “Ugh, you’re a pain,” she gripes about her tongue as she thinks about how to get him out. 

Atreus is starting to feel a lot warmer and wetter than before. He knows this feeling very well. And he’s not merely dreaming it. He’s becoming increasingly aware of that fact and he begins to squirm and yawn as he is no longer in such a deep sleep. Tormi knows that she’s going to be in a difficult position to explain to Atreus if she doesn't act quickly.

Using a twig that she breaks off a tree, she is able to push the four tips of her tongue off of Atreus without waking him. She then plucks him out of her mouth and sets him back onto her belly after quickly laying back down. She will pretend that nothing had happened. As Atreus stirs, drenched in saliva, Tormi sweats nervously, hoping that the human will fall back to sleep.

Alas, Atreus now feels much colder and he starts to shiver as he awakes.  He rubs his eyes. “Wh—why am I wet? Did I have a nightmare or something,” he asks, assuming he’s in a cold sweat. “I don’t remember what I dreamt. I don’t even remember falling asleep.”

He looks around himself, observing that he’s no longer under the tree but by the river, and he then notices the nervous look on Tormi’s face, however nothing about it seems suspicious in his mind. Being the naïve and perhaps too-trusting person that he is, it doesn’t even occur to him what might have happened while he was asleep. Especially not since Tormi is firmly established in his mind as a trusted person. For all he knows, he could have sleep-walked into the river.

“Is everything okay with you,” he asks her, “I’m sorry for falling asleep. I feel kind of selfish for making you watch over me like that. I know you said it was okay but still.”

“Oh, me,” the giantess says, laughing. “Oh I’m fine. I think I, just ate a bad berry is all.” She grins as her stomach rumbles loudly. “Ahem. See? Bad berry sitting in there making it upset.”

The nervousness behind her laughter is intensified by the taste of the young man lingering on her tongue and the boisterous grumbling of her stomach, now hungering for him. She tries to create a distraction from the sound of her disgruntled belly by talking more.

“As for why you’re wet,” she spurts out, “Umm, I think you had a bad dream about something eating you.” The giantess immediately punches herself mentally for saying something that specific. “...and you were sweating so much,” she rambles on, “I was trying to comfort you as you slept on my belly.” 

Atreus nods. It wasn’t a strange suggestion at all to him. “That kind of dream wouldn’t surprise me,” he admits. “I’ve had that one a lot to be honest.” He rubs his arms to warm up a little. “Usually that dream involves Helia eating me and forgetting to spit me out. I guess it wouldn’t be so scary if she had a stomach like yours that didn’t digest quickly. Maybe then I would be able to sleep better and not have so many nightmares.” 

To Tormi's dismay, Atreus can't ignore the trembling and growling of the stomach beneath him. “Are you still hungry after eating all that,” he questions her, surprised at how strong the rumbling is after she has already eaten at least two dragonapples. Little does he know that he is the cause of the hunger rising up in the giantess. “I take it you need a lot of food to feel satisfied? Should I let you find something else to eat now? I don’t mean to hog all your time. I’m just going to wait here till my friends return.” 

“Oh no no. I’m fine,” Tormi insists. “It’s just my stomach attempting to digest what’s already inside.” She then looks around and grabs a couple smooth stones and tosses them into her mouth, swallowing them and sighing softly. “See, the strong skin on the fruits make it harder to digest, just like uncooked meat. Soooo, my kind often buy stones that we swallow that can aid digestion.”

Atreus smirks, knowing that the woman is trying to hide the truth. "I told you, my friend eats me a lot. I know the difference between a hunger growl and a digestion groan. THAT was a hunger growl,” he argues. “But I know you're trying to reassure me that I'm safe, and I appreciate that.” He shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly. “I trust you, Tormi."

Preferring the lack of distance that they shared earlier, Atreus stands and attempts to move closer to the woman’s face as she lays on her back. He steps carefully across her pudgy belly, sinking with each step, and he passes between her breasts, covered by her open vest. The traveler approaches her face, looking her straight in her green eyes—not looking away or being shy like before. His hazel eyes are much smaller than Tormi's but they give off a quiet strength. As Atreus draws nearer to her face, Tormi begins to blush and her tail sways between her legs. She puts a foot down on her tail to hold it still.

"I've looked into the eyes of predators before, but your eyes are the eyes of a friend,” Atreus states bluntly. “I don't see the eyes of someone who wants to kill me, especially now that I can see them this closely. I don't have any doubt about you, so relax."

The Torinian traveler raises a hand to give Tormi a playful pat on the nose. He then looks toward the sky to see if he can judge the time or maybe spot his friends flying to their location. "Hmm. No sign of them yet.” 

The giantess is content to remain with him while he waits. “Ahem—umm well,” she says as she begins to explain. “I’ll j-just wait until your friend arrives. Plus, I’m not really in a rush to go anywhere.”

She gives him another smile, and then something unexpected happens—her unruly tongue shoots out once more and snags Atreus, pulling him into her mouth. The surprised lizard woman let’s out an “Eep!”

With her tongue tied, she tries to apologize. “Ack, I’m so sorry about that,” she means to say, opening her mouth again to see that her tongue tips have wrapped around her friend.

Atreus chuckles about the situation as he figures out why he woke up from his sleep covered in liquid earlier—it was saliva. Silly him for forgetting that predators can sometimes be overwhelmed by their instincts. He doesn't panic however; he knows Tormi isn't dangerous. "It's okay," he assures her. "I'm not upset. I know this kind of thing can happen and I got too close." He laughs awkwardly from inside her mouth. "If you really wanted to hurt me, you would've done it while I was asleep."

Atreus calmly looks at his surroundings and he clears his throat. "I can't believe I'm about to say this...” he says with a hint of hesitation. “I sound crazy really... when I think about it…"

He pauses again as he chooses his words carefully, and then he continues, squinting his eyes as if he’s forcing the words out, "I can tell you want to do it... I will let you... If you want to."

Tormi blinks at Atreus’s words and she closes her mouth on him for a second. She then asks, “You mean like? You’re ok with me swallowing you?” 

The giantess doesn’t want to risk harming Atreus and she warns him, “But, I just swallowed rocks and if I move around while you’re in there…” She stops and muses. “I can let you stay in my mouth for a little while. My tongue seems to want you anyways,” she says before relaxing herself.

Atreus can just barely understand Tormi while she speaks with her mouth full. He gives her a gentle pat and a rub on her tongue, observing that her taste buds are very large and seem to be excited by his touch. This is a much different experience for him; patting a tongue gently rather than wrestling frantically against one as he so often does with his friend Helia. He has time to notice details of the mouth now that they weren’t aggressively coming at him in a blur. For the first time, he’s not afraid to be in this position.

“I’ll leave it up to you,” he says in response to Tormi. “You can keep me in your mouth or you can…” He pauses again to check himself, still thinking of how crazy he sounds. “Wait—am I really saying this right now?” He laughs before continuing. “Um… yeah, you can do it—you can swallow me if you want to.”

The giantess thinks for a moment and sighs softly. She then looks around and sees a vine.

 “Hmmm. Ok, I’ll swallow you,” she says. “But here’s how it’ll go. I’ll be remaining still and laying down so I don’t accidentally hurt you. And next, I’m gonna swallow you with this vine. That way if you have any trouble while you’re in there, you can tug it or climb out yourself.”

Tormi pulls down the vine, she then hands it to Atreus so he can tie it around his waist.  She stops to check the sky above first—she doesn’t want that harpy Helia to come around while her friend is inside her.

Atreus takes hold of the vine and wraps it around himself. Only now does Tormi’s tongue seem to want to cooperate with them, likely due to the promise that Atreus isn’t going to escape. Tying the vine is tricky to do while also trying not to slip and fall into Tormi’s throat too early. But the young man manages it. He then breathes heavily and prepares to give her the go-ahead.

“Even though I’m no stranger to being eaten, this is my first time doing it willingly. It feels kind of new,” he says as the nerves begin to kick in. He starts to tremble lightly and he asks for guidance from Tormi. “Usually when Helia eats me, she’s just happy to do it. I’ve never had to think much about it. I wonder if I should do anything… you know… for you? I guess what I’m saying is: I'm following your lead, Tormi."

Tormi has a faint blush in her face as Atreus mentions doing something for her. “Well umm,” she says smiling, enjoying his sweet flavors a bit. “I do have this little spot in-between my stomach folds that feels really nice to rub in, so if you could rub the inside of my belly while you’re in there I’d appreciate it.”

The giantess then starts to wiggle her tongue and gently ease him back into her throat. She slowly pushes him past the sphincter and into her esophagus. The muscles of her esophagus then gently squish around Atreus as they ease him deeper towards her stomach.

Atreus will likely never admit it, but being swallowed is not as bad this time around. It helps when he’s not kicking and screaming during the process. He takes a moment after sliding into Tormi’s stomach to take a look around the familiar yet different environment. The giantess’s impatient stomach settles down now that it senses the human’s arrival. There’s an absence of digestive churning that piques Atreus’s curiosity. It’s surreal, to him, to see those large pieces of fruit and the stones that the woman swallowed earlier simply resting there.

“Wow. Not that I doubted you, but this fruit really is undamaged after all this time,” he says, referring to what Tormi said about being able to safely keep someone of Atreus’s size in her stomach for a long period of time. 

He steps gently across the soft surface and makes his way to a wall of Tormi’s stomach and he begins to gently knead and caress between the folds. He chuckles and remarks about how weird it is. “I can’t believe I’m actually massaging a stomach instead of banging my fist against it.”

Tormi ensures that the other end of the vine is tied securely to her finger as she tries to relax. She wanted to keep her breath steady so as to keep everything else inside her body calm. Her hand, with its scaly fingertips, rests on her stomach. “Thankfully you’re not hurt,” she sighs. Her heart beats gently and her belly lightly rumbles with satisfaction. The rocks and fruit sit in a pool in her gut, giving Atreus room to walk around them.

“You did land safely right? You didn’t hit a rock or fruit did you,” Tormi asks. When she feels his hands running against her insides, she gently murrs happily. “Ohh, that’s the good spot.”

On the inside, Atreus notices the indent caused by Tormi’s hands resting on her stomach. It causes the overall space he had in there to be reduced some but he’s still got enough. While Tormi’s voice has to compete with the sounds of her gently purring stomach and the rhythmic pounding of her heartbeat, Atreus can still hear her question. He wonders if she can hear him, however, when he responds, so he tries to raise his voice at first. 

“I’m okay. I landed on a soft spot. I didn’t hit anything hard,” he says, pausing to listen to his own voice echoing in the closed space. Then he gets the idea to give the giantess’s stomach a gentle pat twice on the spot that he was massaging.

The man’s voice is faint to Tormi but the giantess is able to receive the message loud and clear, and the belly pats helped to set her mind at ease. Her lizard tail moves over behind her head and she uses it as a pillow. She looks up at the sky and watches the clouds as the sun begins to set. “It’s a pretty nice view out here. I’m sorry if the view in there isn’t as good,” she says as her stomach lightly glorps and slightly clenches, rubbing against Atreus’ back and head before folding back out. It is soft and smooth, which would be expected from a stomach. It is also significantly strong-feeling when pushing against it.

Atreus is no stranger to the environment, even though this one is somewhat different and many times less hostile-feeling. He doesn’t fight against the motions of the stomach as it seems to caress him in response to his kneading—squeezing him into a tighter space but not with intent to digest him.

“Whoever heard of such a thing,” he wonders aloud. “I’m sorry if I say this a lot but it really is new for me.” He follows the motions of the stomach as it seems to be giving him feedback depending on how he massages. He muses, “It seems to respond more when I rub this way.”

He doesn’t forget to respond to Tormi’s concern amid all the action taking place inside her very active tummy. “The view doesn’t bother me at all. I’m happy to know that you enjoy this, and I can also repay you for the fruit you gave me and for watching over me while I slept.” The traveler is genuinely content with the situation, and he adds, “It’s also nice to make another friend out here.” Then he laughs to himself and notes, “I guess I spend a lot of time in the stomachs of my friends.”

Tormi gives a soft smile in response and she lightly caresses her stomach. “I’m ok with keeping you in me for as long as you’re comfortable in there,” she says as her belly gives some more soft rumbles. She then chuckles to herself and playfully says, “And hey, if you get hungry in there, you can help yourself to the fruit that is still in there.” She playfully pokes her tummy with one of her fingers, pressing its squishy walls against a dragonapple inside it.

The space within Tormi’s stomach has shrunk considerably since Atreus first arrived there, and the young man finds himself even closer to the fruit as the giantess presses against it from the outside. Atreus continues using his toned and well-built frame to press into the strong stomach walls that seem determined to massage him in return. His hands are strong due to his physical training, so he is able to avoid being completely overpowered as the walls close in on him. Soon, his back is pressing against the fruit inside. 

Thinking about his returning friend, Atreus jokes with Tormi. “You might get lucky enough to not have to explain this to my friend Helia,” he says. “She might get really jealous if she catches us. Maybe I’ll tell her later anyway just to make her jealous. Ha ha. I’d love to see the look on her face." He's having a little too much fun with the thought of teasing Helia with this. 

The lizard giantess thinks and chuckles in response. “Well hopefully she’s not the jealous type that’ll then just eat you and keep you in her for longer ‘cause of it,” she says. She then thinks about it further. “Although, if she found out it was me who ate you, I bet she’d probably swallow you every time we met each other.”

Tormi sighs softly and looks at the vine on her finger. She lightly pulls on her finger and the vine slowly draws up, just enough so Atreus is pulled up to the sphincter of her stomach. She then carefully moves to sit up against a tree again, and she starts to slowly lower the vine so that Atreus would rest on top of a dragonapple.

Atreus continues to massage from his new spot on top of a dragon apple. He responds to Tormi’s concerns about Helia, saying, “I will have to put my foot down if it comes to that. I think she should learn some lessons from this. Maybe she was always afraid to ask to eat me. But for all she knows, I could have agreed because she was my friend.”

Tormi murrs again as her belly is continuously rubbed. She looks down at her belly and sees the faint sign of his hands pushing out against her flesh. “Well,” she says. “I think eating people can be soothing for both parties if done right. I sorta like the heat that they give off inside my body and people get a nice soothing spot to chill out in for a little while.”

The giantess sighs happily under the tree as the forest darkens. Her tail sways as she offers the Torinian some advice. “You just gotta find a good bridge between that comfort level,” she suggests. “I think the first aspect is her definitely needing to ask your permission before she eats you. Not to mention, I usually like to be reassuring and comforting to those who are inside me. To show them I don’t see them as food, so maybe she can learn to do that.”

Unbeknownst to the two in conversation with each other, a large bronze-skinned harpy with white feathers alights at the tree where Atreus had hid himself earlier. Her shoulder-length white hair whips through the air as she turns her head quickly and her golden eyes search the area with concern. Her violet hair band keeps the hair from falling into her face which would be an annoyance for her to deal with given that she doesn’t have hands but wings. She stoops down to peek under various trees and bushes. 

“Hmm. I swear we left him here,” she says, in her slightly raspy voice. 

Her friend’s name is on the tip of her proverbial lip but she bites it; she doesn’t want to call out to him or else she might draw unwanted attention to the human she’s searching for. Just then, she sees her friend’s bow lying on the forest floor. She gasps, fearing the worst. Her eyes dart to the east and she spots a reptilian giantess relaxing under a tree near a river. She notices that the giantess seems oddly content as she rubs her belly and her tail sways behind her.

The harpy’s eyes narrow at her; she knows the look of a predator that has just been fed. The bronze and white colored avian woman hops over to the reptile girl, using a flap of her wings to propel her further. She lands aggressively, glaring at her with eyes of suspicion.

“HEY, what are ya laying around here like ya just ate something for? Hah,” she yells, breaking the peaceful ambiance of the forest.

Golden, fiery eyes fixate on the lizard woman’s chubby belly and then shoot up to meet her emerald eyes as the harpy interrogates her. 

“Did ja just eat something? Is that what’cha did,” she adds, stopping short of describing the one she’s looking for, hoping that the giantess would incriminate herself.

Atreus hears the muffled voice of his friend from within Tormi’s stomach and he stops massaging her to warn the lizard giantess. “It’s her! It’s Helia,” he says.

Tormi looks up at Helia who impatiently awaits her response. Not wanting to spill the beans about having eaten Atreus, she simply gives the giant bird a soft smile and says, “Yea, I’ve been eating some delicious fruit that I’ve been collecting. They’re just so sweet and filling that I just can’t help but enjoy how satisfying they are inside my belly.”

Tormi sneakily pulls on the vine again with her fingers and lifts Atreus back to her sphincter as she stands up, lowering him back down as she places a hand on her hips. “So, who are you,” she asks as if she didn’t already know.

Helia folds her wings across her torso defiantly and turns herself slightly away at the questions; she’s still highly suspicious of the lizard girl. “How about you let me ask the questions here, you overgrown reptile?! You’re not being honest with me, I can tell! What’s with that rope dangling out of yer mouth, heh?” Helia pouts and refuses to introduce herself.

Atreus doesn’t want Helia to press Tormi too much so he decides to speak up. “It’s okay, Helia,” he shouts. “I mean, I’m okay. This is Tormi. She’s my new friend.” He then gives the reptilian woman soft pats inside her stomach to show that he's concerned about her.

Helia could barely make out the words from inside Tormi’s stomach but she’s mortified to hear a tiny voice coming from there. She wants to press her ear up against it to be sure, but she turns away in disgust at the thought. She shakes her head. “No way! I did not just hear that voice.”

Tormi knows the jig is up and she blushes profusely. “Oh—yea I was trying to maybe keep that a secret,” she says as she scratches the back of her head. “Atreus told me you can be… just a teeeeeeeny tiny bit jealous of…. Someone else… eating him.” She then folds her arms and elaborates, “But I meant no Ill intent when I swallowed him. I promise! He was actually pretty willing to go inside my belly. I tied this vine around him so he doesn’t end up getting stuck in there.” She rubs her slight pudge and smiles warmly and genuinely at the harpy. “Trust me—I’m not trying to steal him from you! I’ve heard you two have quite a great bond”

Helia’s jaw drops at Tormi's mention of that name. “A—Atreus?…. You…. you swallowed him,” she asks as her right eye twitches as she processes all the emotions going through her. She points a wing at the lizard girl and accuses her. “There’s no way he would allow anyone to eat him, ya big fat LIAR! Cough him up, before I make your face even uglier!” 

 Atreus tries once more to calm Helia as his tiny voice echoes in the bulge that’s Tormi’s belly. “She’s not lying Helia,” he yells. “Tormi is my friend now. I trust her so I let her eat me.”

Helia steps back a bit. She struggles to know what to make of what she’s hearing. “It’s not true,” she insists. “You must’ve hypnotized him or used some kind of magic on him, I just know it!”

Tormi blinks at the accusations. “Well, I don’t have any magic abilities… or hypnotism,” she says in defense of herself. She steps closer to the harpy carefully, trying to calm her down. “Look, he’s just trying out something new. He’s still his own person, after all; he has free will.”

Helia’s anger briefly turns away from the lizard girl and turns towards her belly; specifically the young man in her belly—Atreus.  “How could you do this,” she asks sternly, finding it somewhat strange in the back of her mind that she’s arguing at a stomach. “I was your friend for all your life and you never let me eat you, Atreus!”

Atreus rests his arms by his side as he sits atop the large dragonapple. He replies with a simple truth: “To be fair, Helia, you never asked me. You always just did it. Of course I was defensive.”

He takes notice that Tormi’s stomach still hasn’t made any attempt to digest him yet. “Besides, it’s way safer in here, apparently,” he adds. “Her stomach has had food in it for hours and she still hasn’t even started digesting it yet. But with you, one mistake and I think I could end up dead.”

Helia has leaned in some to make sure she could hear Atreus’s tiny voice coming from inside Tormi’s stomach. “Even if I didn’t ask you, Atreus, you know I wanted to do it, but you always refused,” she rebuts.

The lizard woman’s tummy is clearly active; Helia can even see it lightly fluttering with every “blorp” and “glerp.” It’s inconceivable to her that it hasn’t been digesting anything. Atreus making a comparison between their stomachs causes the anger to rise up in Helia again. She spreads her wings, and with a single flap she is off the ground. She swipes at the vine between Tormi’s hand and her mouth with one of her talons.

“Maybe if you want to let other people eat ya, ya should STAY IN THERE! See if I care!”

Helia’s talon cuts the vine and yanks on Tormi, eliciting an “ACK!” from the lizard woman. Part of the vine remains attached to the giantess’s finger, while the other part slips down her throat.

“… Oh no… what, what did you do,” Tormi asks as she steps closer to Helia, with visible annoyance on her face.

Helia panics at her own impulsive actions. “Oh no!” She alights on the ground and covers her mouth with the tips of her wings as she gasps. “What did I do?”

Her eyes dart around as she tries to grasp the situation. “This is my fault. I… no….NO! It’s YOUR fault,” she says, turning things back on Tormi. “You shouldn’t have eaten MY friend, you greedy lizard! Give him back!”

Atreus listens carefully to the commotion outside, muffled by the walls of Tormi’s stomach and drowned out a little by the sound of its groaning. After Tormi’s body is jolted, he feels a heavy object plop down on his head and fall into his lap. He recognizes it as the vine—it’s been cut.

“Uhhhh, what?” He says in a concerned tone. He takes a deep breath and asks Tormi if everything is going to be okay. “I don’t know if you really needed this vine, Tormi, but did you have a way to get me out of here without it?”

Tormi folds her arms and leans toward the bird woman, growling angrily. “You’re complaining that I ate him but you never even gave him the chance to even allow himself to say that he wants to be eaten,” she huffs. “Maybe if you listened to what he wanted and what he was okay with, maybe he’d be more willing to let you eat him more often.”

The reptilian giantess looks down at her stomach and assures the young man inside that everything is going to be okay. “Don’t worry,” she says. “I’ll be able to get you out, but it might be tricky at your size.”

Tormi grabs hold of Helia’s shoulder and forces the harpy’s ear against her stomach. “You two talk this out,” she demands. “Once you figure out how to settle this, I’ll let him out.”

Helia is inclined to fight back against having her ear pressed against Tormi’s belly but her morbid curiosity gets the better of her; she wanted to be sure that Atreus was himself.

“Atreus,” she calls softly yet somewhat begrudgingly. 

Atreus answers from inside the croaking and blorping belly, “Hey Helia. You finally came around, huh? Stop fighting Tormi; she’s not trying to hurt me.”

Helia sighs heavily and pouts. “But…. You didn’t have to let her eat you,” she says quietly, pursing her lips.

Atreus replies, “Yeah well, she asked nicely. And she gave me fruit and watched over me while I slept. She earned my trust and I didn’t mind giving her something in return.”

Helia’s shoulders drop as she loses her will to fight. “So… all I have to do is ask you nicely… and you’ll let me eat you,” she asks with a hint of sweetness in her voice.

Atreus answers slowly, “Yes, Helia.” He pauses for a split second and then follows up, “However! You have to accept no for an answer too sometimes.”

Helia slumps down and falls on her butt. “Awww. I thought it was fun… but okay,” she concedes. She takes a moment to swallow the jealousy towards Tormi that’s apparent in her eyes when she looks up at the lizard giantess. “Okay…. you win.”

Tormi smiles. “Good, glad we came to an understanding,” she says as begins to feel around her stomach. She presses against one of the dragonapples inside. “Ok Atreus, I’m gonna need you to grab onto one of these fruits for me.”

She carefully sits down while gently pulling Helia over to sit beside her. The lizard woman sighs softly, “Trust me, I didn’t want to hurt your relationship with you and Atreus. But you gotta remember, he’s still his own person.” Tormi gives the harpy a warm smile as her tail sways along the ground.

Meanwhile, Atreus lays down and grabs ahold of the dragonapple that he is on, trying to get his fingers to grip into its skin. “I think I’m ready,” he says, unsure of what’s going to happen next.

Helia huffs loudly and watches to see what the lizard giantess will do next. She complains under her breath, “Bet I could get him out faster if it was me.” She seems to think Tormi is going to botch this or make a fool of herself.

Tormi starts to “urk’ as her stomach begins forcing its contents upward. The thick, slimy walls of the stomach close in around him, and then they squish him against the dragonapple as it is pushed up into the esophagus again. Tormi continues to “urk” for a couple of minutes as Helia watches impatiently, becoming visibly unnerved as she sees the enormous bulge rising up Tormi’s throat—she has no idea what is coming out of it. “Atreus isn’t that big,” she thinks. Her eyes watch with concern, afraid of what she will see emerging from Tormi’s mouth.

Tormi’s cheeks puff out at last. The dragonapple stretches her mouth wide as she spits it out into her open hand with Atreus clinging to it. The giant lizard woman pants a bit as she wipes her mouth, before she gently lifts Atreus up off the fruit and shows him to Helia.

“See, safe and sound,” she boasts happily. “A bit soggy, but not a hair on his head has been harmed.”

Helia’s eyes widen at the sight—It really is him. She breathes a sigh of relief tinged with frustration. Her eyes glance at Tormi’s face. She’s grateful but she still does not want to warm up to her.

Atreus shakes the slime off of himself as best he can but he is drenched. He looks up at Helia’s familiar face and says to her, “See. I told you Tormi was friendly.” He is lowered to the ground gently by the lizard giantess and he starts walking towards where he left his bow.

Helia scoffs. “Tormi,” she says with a hint of bitter rivalry. “I know we got off to a bad start but I don’t wanna end it on a bad note. Thanks for takin’ care of my friend while I was away.”

Atreus interrupts Helia as he walks, “I’m not just your friend, Helia.”

Helia throws her head back and lets her shoulders drop in frustration. “UGH!!! Can we just go now?”

Atreus shakes his head, enjoying watching Helia squirm uncomfortably. “I don’t know. Let’s see if Tormi wants to do anything. If not, we’ll go.”

Tormi laughs softly, “Oh, heh. I think I’ve taken up as much of your time as is.” She then tosses the dragonapple back into her mouth and swallows it down again. “Mmm.” She stands to her feet, and goes to fetch Atreus’s bow for him, since it’s a much shorter trip at her size.

“Besides, I gotta get my fruit back to my home anyways. My human friend Erin is probably waiting for it,” she explains. “But if you ever wish to visit, I live in the Great Rocky Fields.” She lifts the bow between two of her scaly fingertips and brings it to Atreus who thanks her with a nod.

Helia purses her lips in jealousy again; that’s something else she doesn’t have—fingers.

The reptilian woman addresses her once more before she leaves. “And Helia,” says Tormi, giggling. “It was a pleasure to meet you. Atreus was right; you’re just as cute as he made you sound.”

Tormi waves goodbye to the two as she walks off with her bag of fruit. Atreus gives a friendly wave back. He and Helia watch the lizard giantess depart, and then they look at each other. Atreus realizes that Helia came alone, and he wonders where their two friends are.

“Hey, where are the others,” he asks.

To which, Helia shrugs coldly in response. “I dunno.”

Atreus sighs. “Okay, Helia. How long are you going to be like this?”

“Until I feel better,” the giant harpy huffs. “Just so ya know, I’m not carrying ya in my mouth with all that lizard slime on ya.”

Atreus snaps back, “I didn’t ask you to.”

Helia lowers herself to the ground to allow Atreus to grab hold of the feathers on her shoulders.  “I’m not letting you out of my sight again,” she declares sternly.

“We’ll see about that,” the young man laughs as he climbs up onto Helia’s shoulder and makes his way to her back.

Helia then spreads her wings and lifts off the ground, flying into the dusk sky on her way to reunite with their friends.

(The End)

Helia and Atreus were creatred by HeavenlessStar.

Tormi was created by the Patrolman