[i]Another day, another sighting of the (as of yet uncaught in the act) harmless gooey bat. She seems to have changed a little bit from her last appearance in the park… Her wings have moved to her back, like a dragon’s, rather than on her arms like wyvern. They look too small to fly, but you’d be surprised if she couldn’t… Otherwise, how would she end up in the middle of the Kjarik’s forest? It’s not a place people can explore that easily, after all. Typically, the two kinds of people that end up here the town’s few Delvers, and whoever disregards the warnings about entering the place without one as a guide. Neither make it deep enough in the forest to be able to enjoy a new scenery like those lush leafy trees. There be monsters in here, after all… Some of them harmless, some of them way more hazardous than would be wise to approach. And yet, our deceivingly friendly looking bat doesn’t care one bit.

While not a tourist, there is also green dress wearing doe around who got lost herself, but she is no stranger to the place. Her lucky star allows her to always go rather deep before said luck turns. She has no chance of going home on her own and she knows it, but she simply enjoys spooking herself a bit by visiting. She views as therapy for her condition… In her eyes, the appeal of making nice discoveries trumps the fear of encountering a kitsune. And said kitsune would actually call her a regular, if asked. So there she is, walking around the enchanted woods, enjoying the fresh air she’s smelling, the nice breeze in her hair, ruffling her apple green dress… She fixes her nice strawberry red ponytail and adjusts her golden bracers, exploring further still, driven by wanderlust…

She soon reaches the same clearing as the black bat by complete chance. What are the odds? For a supposedly infinitely deep forest whose interior breaks the laws of physics, this place seems to enjoy facilitating encounters between travelers. The doe, Stella, gasps loudly as she notices the strange creature. The bat’s ears swivel in her direction – she’s already been spotted. Despite this, the bat doesn’t show signs hostility. She seems too preoccupied with a small rabble of butterflies enjoying the flowers found around the clearing. She raises her hand, and one of the lovely bugs lands on it to rest.

“Tell me,” she then asks the doe without turning her head. “What are those?”
“Huuuh… Butterlies..?” Stella answers, unnerved and immobile.
“I know. But what’s their name?” she insists.

Stella gulps. She has no idea what they are from here, and would need to get closer. She knows too well that this might be a trap – Kjarisk, and especially its forest, are full of those man-eating creatures that people refer to as predators, or simply preds. Appearances can be deceiving too… They don’t need to be big enough to eat you to be able to. And this black latex bat is ringing a lot of alarms in her head. She sighs deeply… Well, she wasn’t expecting to go home without visiting someone’s stomach first, after all… She comes closer, her hooves making a soft crackling noise in the emerald moss below them. The bat still isn’t aggressive… Maybe she’s wrong about the whole thing and this is all a misunderstanding. Once finally in range, she observes the butterfly resting on the bat’s rubbery hand. It flaps its wings slowly, as if trying to scare her away with their pattern, a rather intricate mix of black and yellow, with a red dot at the bottom, surrounded by a flashy splash of blue. Probably designed to confuse birds and other predators.

“These are swallowtails!” Stella says, recognizing the species. “They’re actually pretty rare… They almost went extinct because of greedy collectors. Here, look, this one is a female… You can tell because she has more blue on her wings than the males…”
“A swallowtail…” the bat answers pensively. “I assume this isn’t because their tail swallows their preys?”
“Of course not!” Stella answers with a soft giggle at the ridiculous notion. “Butterflies don’t hunt other insects. They prefer visiting flowers for their nectar. They’re called swallowtails because… Well, I would assume it’s because their wings vaguely reminded whoever named them of a swallow’s tail?”
“I see…” the bat answers as the butterfly flutters away in peace. “What’s your name?”
“Oh, huh… My name?” Stella answers as the bat turns to face her, looking way more intimidating now, looking to be around over a foot taller than her when not crouching to observe the wildlife. “I’m Stella…”
“Greetings, Stella…” she answers politely, with a little bow. “My name is Exedys. Tell me, why did you laugh earlier? Do you find the idea of a tail devouring another creature this entertaining?”

The doe shudders. She was right all along, it seems… Her crippling condition of freezing solid when anything scares or surprises her strikes in full force here. She should have just run when given the chance to, but her curiosity and desire to help the bat lady were too strong.

“My oh my… You don’t need to tense up like this,” Exedys says as her long rubbery tail begins to slowly snake around the doe’s body, to secure her catch. “You know what you were getting into the moment you stepped forward, didn’t you? I can already taste your sweet, sweet fear… I’ll make good use of it, don’t worry…”

Stella is terrified. She can’t move, and even if she could, it’s already too late. Exedys has her in her grasp, her serpentine tail coiling around her like an anaconda. Her muscles relax eventually, she can move again, but what’s the point now? The bat’s long tail seems to grow longer by the second, gaining as much size as it needs to entirely wrap around the doe from neck to knees. The tip of the tail eventually meets her gaze, and the pointy end rapidly expands, stretching open into the shape of a suction cup – if said suction cup was wide enough cover someone’s head end shoulders. If that wasn’t bad enough, there is a hole in the middle, leading even deeper, most likely down into the glossy monster’s belly.

“You’ve brought this upon yourself, you know,” the bat continues as she enjoys the scared reaction of her quary. “I would have just let you go, but you had to make me hungry.”
“I’m sorry…” Stella whimpers with a vain struggle. “I was just answering your question…”
“And you did well doing so,” Exedys answers with a wink. “For that, I am going to make sure you have a very pleasant dream.”
“A dream..?” Stella wonders, confused. “What do you – hmph! Mhmmm!”

The tail’s opening engulfs Stella’s entire upper torso in one swift motion, the coils loosening up to make room for it. She struggles even harder, but it feels like squirming around in thick jelly – not exactly useful. Should this be a quicksand or a mud pit, she’d only sink herself down even deeper.

“Sweet dreams!” the bat answers as she rubs the bulge now sliding down her stretchy tail. “And thanks for the meal.”

Stella is now in completely surrounded by darkness. The sensation is oddly satisfying, feeling like sliding down a quick water slide, except without water and very tightly hugged by slick rubbery walls. She accepts her fate, like she’s done so many times before. The slide down the tail ends as she reaches the creature’s body… Falling asleep near instantly, for a very pleasant next few hours. From the outside, it looks like the bulge vanishes inside of Exedys’ stomach entirely, instantly absorbed. No bulge, no gain, no growls or sounds. Just a satisfied gooey bat girl that then yawns lazily, surrounded by a few beautiful butterflies oblivious to that just happened.[/i]

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Art by Skellertom on FA
Story in the description by yours truly. Length: 1323 words.