Isaac Shadetail: Izzy had always been afraid of the dark, but this was different. This wasn't just the fear of whatever unknown things may lurk in all of the places your eyes hit but are unable to detect any information of value from. Everyone experienced that once in a while and the squirrel had experienced it his entire life. This was different, though. Darkness was scarier when you knew that the next time you saw light again, it would be the last. A lot of things were intrinsically frightening about his current situation; the answers to his questions made him fill with regret at the fact that he had been seeking answers to begin with. It was better when you didn't know. At being captured, he wondered what was going to happen to him. He knew it was surely going to be something horrible, but his mind was curious to know the specifics. It was a natural reaction when you're in trouble - you want to know what's going to happen to you. He had no idea how horrible his fate truly would be, though. For days, his entire world consisted of darkness. He saw light very sparingly. He had also been granted few words, his captors apparently finding little reason to speak with their prey. The first stint of darkness had been the result of being bound up and stored in a cupboard for a day or two. He didn't really know how long he was in there or why they had even bothered to tie him up; I mean, how exactly would he be able to escape from this? He did know one thing, though - he knew that whenever that cupboard door opened, he would be food. Simple as that. Thus, the time spent inside of this dark containment was certainly not easy on the nerves. Finally, though, the moment the squirrel had dreaded for he didn't even know how long happened and he was plucked from his containment (his mind too shocked and voice too weak to even offer a plea for his freedom) and, before he could even summon the fear of the creature holding him, shoved into another (even smaller) container and sealed up tight. He didn't even know what to think was happening to him, too scared to even analyze anything around him in an attempt to gain any knowledge of his environment. He didn't want to know anymore. Hours later, after uncountable hours of darkness and being tossed about in his small container, a sudden noise made him jump and a blast of blindingly bright light burned his eyes so much, he had to close them to let his pupils contract.

randomfox12245: Alex grinned as he pulled open his lunch box. All eyes were on his among his peers sitting with him at the table, and a few bystanders had been drawn to the show as well! Everyone was excited to see the canine's personal lunch, since stuff brought from home was always better than the stuff the cafeteria served, but this was even more special; and as the predator brought his snack into the light, everyone watching burst into murmurs of delight and envy. Alex had a squirrel for lunch! A terrified looking one at that, the lucky bastard. The star student of the moment relished in the attention, dumping his rodent-y snack onto the table, right in the middle of a whole gaggle of watching, hungry predators. A chorus of teases and words of praise showered over the squirrel and his eventual predator, and the others sitting around the table, his close friends obviously, were even allowed to poke and prod and tease the squirrel themselves. Izzy was practically assaulted with horrible complements about his brisk fur that had been denied sunlight for so long, his scrawny frame that would make him easier to swallow, how he was just the right size to perfectly fill out a belly. But it was from the wolf himself that he suffered the most indignities, the little squirrel granted barely a moment to adjust to all this horrific external stimuli before the predator pulled him against his hungry body and applied his dripping, fat canine organ to his chest, neck and face, tasting the captive prey both to tantalize his waiting growling stomach, but also to delight the crowd even further. Normally, squirrels like Izzy weren't seen as much more than simple food, but here and now he was even less than that, simply used as a thing by a showboating kid who delighted in being the center of attention.

Isaac Shadetail: Before the squirrel's eyes even had time to fully acclimate to the sudden change in environmental conditions, he suddenly felt himself falling, letting out a squeak of surprise as he held out his paws to catch his fall, wincing as he hit the table. Eyes darting around fearfully, the rodent's vision slowly focused on the terrifying number of predators all standing around him, their eyes all focused on him. As the crowd reacted to the squirrel finally being unveiled, Izzy began to shake in fear as everything around him focused and became more clear. What was going on? Where was he? What was going to happen to him? Suddenly, all of the questions he had avoided thinking about for so long demanded answers in the face of such a horrifying sight. It was only then, after applying a little bit of scared-prey-logic that the squirrel finally realized what was going on. His heart sank as he finally figured it out...he was lunch. He was in a school cafeteria and had been brought in as a lunch from home. It felt like figuring it out had only made it more true; the squirrel's heart sank as his fate suddenly seemed clear...and close. The squirrel's shivering worsened as he was treated to an ocean of "compliments" and "praise" of his quality as food, his wide eyes still darting around nervously, afraid that every single approaching hand would be the one that would ultimately carry him to his doom. As the horrible onslaught of words and prods continued (the squirrel trying to back away from the assault only to then get it more from the back), he yelped in surprise and fear as he was grabbed and pulled close by one of the terrifying creatures all around him. He couldn't tell what it was at first but quickly got the answer as he felt something warm and wet slide across his face, the horrible sensation of being licked (a feeling any prey could detect immediately) merely intensifying as the predator tongue explored his body. He squealed in fear at this new development, completely overwhelmed and unable to figure out what to do or even what he should be more scared of. Beginning to whimper in terror, the squirrel squirmed in the grip of the much more powerful mammal currently tasting him.

randomfox12245: The wolf growled in approval at all the attention he was getting from flaunting his lunch so, getting an idea to entertain them even more and indicating for them to quiet down a bit. Once relative silence was attained he turned the little squirrel squirming about for freedom in his arms to look him in the eye. A small part of him wondered why he was struggling so much since he had nowhere to escape to; there was nothing but grab-y predators around, and even if he wasn't made into wolf chow he certainly wouldn't get very far. But it amused Alex quite a bit so he wasn't about to complain. "Heh, hey little squirrelly. Feel better being out in the light now?" The crowd snickered, thinking that if they were in the prey's shoes they probably would have preferred the uncertainty of darkness inside some lunchbox or cupboard rather than the fate that was awaiting him now. "Heh, well I hope you're enjoying it while you can! 'Cause...well I'm sure you already figured it out, but you're gonna be my lunch." Se punctuated that little statement with another not-very-gentle lick across the tasty squirrelly surface, something that garnered plenty of whoops and whistles and the like from the audience. "'Cause guess what! It's the last light you'll ever experience, since it'll probably be pretty dark in my belly!" An almost feral bark escaped the wolf as he lunged forward and nipped at the squirrel's ears, not intending much harm, but definitely meaning to scare, hoping the squirrel's reaction to such an advance would get mad praise from his fellow students who so far were taking great delight in the torment of his lunch. "Buuut, maybe I'm not very hungry today." The crowd gasped a bit, wondering what this meant, this slight ray of hope granted onto the prey that he might go uneaten? But any thoughts of that were quickly dashed when the wolf simply grinned deviously and hoisted the squirrel up before his adoring audience, "Anyone wanna trade?! ANYone think they have something to offer that could match a delicious, horrified squirrel snack!?" And just like that, the entourage of students erupted, all manner of treats and meals being offered up in exchange, a de-facto auction being held right there as the prey's very life was up for sale. And that wasn't even to mention how many pinches and pokes and samplings he got while being held aloft in such a vulnerable position like that.

Isaac Shadetail: As Izzy squirmed desperately in the predator's grasp, he could feel as much as hear the wolf's growl of satisfaction at the attention he was receiving. The frightened little squirrel, however, interpreted the growl as being directed at him and let out another whimper of fear as his eyes widened at the possibility of such a terrifying sound being the result of his own actions. A wolf growl...a cat purr...a snake hiss...these were all sounds that a weak little prey like Izzy never wanted to hear during the course of his life and actually hearing any one of them caused a great deal of fear indeed. The squirrel went almost completely still as the wolf held him up to eye level, regarding the predator's eyes with a terrified stare, a mixture of a plea for mercy and overwhelmed confusion floating across the orbs. At the wolf's question, the squirrel would flinch and whimper pitifully not only at the sadistic overtones of the predator's words but because his question had highlighted exactly what was buzzing around somewhere in Izzy's head right at this moment: he wished he were back in the dark where nobody (like large groups of predators) could see you or taunt you or...taste you. He really wanted to be back in the numb fear of not knowing where you are, as opposed to the unbridled terror of being held in a predator's strong grasp in a room filled with hungry eyes an equally hungry stomachs. The squirrel's gaze only sunk lower at the wolf's continued statement, letting out another fearful squeak when the wolf announced that he was to be his 'lunch'. He already knew it, but...there's a difference between knowing something and having something told to you by a vicious predator that currently had you in their clutches. This certainly wasn't helped by the rough lick the statement was followed by, another frail and piteous sound coming from the frightened rodent as the predator tongue ran along his fur once again. Izzy couldn't help but let out a terrified squirrelly chitter as, after more confirmation that he was going to end up in a wolf belly today, he felt sharp teeth nip at his sensitive squirrel ears, letting out another squeal of fear at the potential for physical harm to be brought upon him. The squirrel attempted to squirm out of the wolf's grasp again, whimpering pathetically as fear of being hurt enveloped his senses. Just as he began trying to struggle out of the predator's grasp, though, the squirrel looked up in curiosity as the wolf stated that there was a possibility that he wasn't hungry. Just as a small twinge of hope suddenly stirred in the rodent's brain as the crowd gasped in surprise, the squirrel's eyes widened as he was suddenly hoisted into the air and offered up for trade as if he were just an object at an auction. Far worse, though, was the reaction from the crowd who pounced upon the opportunity to have him as their own, the squirrel whimpering and squirming desperately as he was held up for the crowd to see, wincing as the various offers for his life sounded off.

randomfox12245: The humiliating display lasted for nearly a minute, Alex eating up the attention as greedily as he would be eating up his squirrel. Of course he had no intention of giving away his perfect little meal, but this was just wonderful, and he could only imagine how it crushed the little rodent's soul. Most preds liked to pretend prey didn't even have souls, they were just meals on legs that existed to please them, but Alex found it so much more satisfying to think they did because it presented so many fun opportunities to drive them into hysteria. The wolf didn't even really discriminate; most critters who held even a tentative spot near the top of the food chain were considered fellow predators and left alone aside from a tease here or there in good fun, but this canine was the type to happily make a meal out of even the most mouse-filled feline if the mood suited him. That probably explained why he was basking in all the positive attention for once; usually his attitude only got him dirty looks, but right now he was king. Just as he was about to turn down all his generous offers and begin his meal though, he suddenly found the rodent snatched out of his hands. Instinctive rage filled the little wolf as he turned to face whoever dared to pluck his meal away without even giving some offering in return, but his heart leapt into his throat when he saw the perpetrator: an upper body composed of an athletically toned anthro body, while everything below the waist consisted of the long slender body of a snake, the unmistakeable figure of the school bully. The cobra let out an annoyed hiss as he pulled the squirrel before his eyes, the tips of his fingers edging out into pointed claws that almost seemed to drip venom, leaving a cold numb feeling against the skin where he scruffed at the rodent. His hood twitched a bit before he even acknowledged the wolf from which he stole, bouncing the squirrel a bit into the air before catching him by his tail and letting him hang upside down, to give him a bit better of a grip from which to keep hold of his prize. "I think this makes us even." His voice was scratchy and deep, but flowed deviously through the now silenced congregations ears like the very venom that surged in his fangs. But Alex wouldn't take this lying down, jumping up against the much larger boy to reclaim his lunch, but the squirrel was easily held out of place. "You've been missing out on lunch money taxes for the last month and a half. And now you think you can bring food from home and get away with leaving me with a tab? No, this is mine now." Fair enough in the bully's mind, but the wolf was too stupid too back down, though a quick look to his friends for back up revealed they weren't, and before he could go back to pathetically staring down the superior predator a harsh encompassing pain shot through his body from just above the back of his knee: the snake had moved the tip of his broad tail about and used it to dead leg the now lunchless canine. The snake simply let out a disappointed 'humph' as the weaker boy collapsed to the ground and moaned in pain before turning his back on the dissipating group and made way towards the restroom, squirrel still in tow, his destiny officially up in the air.

Isaac Shadetail: The pitiful little rodent continued his frantic squirming and whimpering, his legs and tail dangling in the air as he was held out in front of the predator crowd, the seconds ticking by painfully slowly. The terrified creature was simply overwhelmed with fear. Days of quiet darkness followed by a sudden rude awakening to the most horrifying sight and experience the lil' critter had ever experienced had completely shot almost every emotion of the rodent's off the charts and it would be a while before they calmed down enough for him to think reasonably. He was too frightened to even beg for mercy, not that it was that much of a loss to his effort for freedom though, as not only did the wolf who had already proven himself to be quite the sadistic predator seem completely uninterested in giving the squirrel any mercy whatsoever, it probably would be impossible to hear his feeble little squeaky voice as the sounds of the crowd attempting to barter with the wolf for his lunch surrounded the squirrel like an ocean of fear-inducing noise. The squirrel's heart ached at the humbling experience of being used as a commodity with which to secure a deal. His life meant no more to these predators than the lives of acorns and seeds meant to him. It was all the same thing: eating food. Suddenly, though, as the noise seemed to reach an apex, the squirrel let out a yelp in shock as he felt a cool, scaly grasp snatch him from his vulnerable position, right out of the hungry wolf's hands. Before the proverbial mental dust shaken up by the shock even had time to clear, he found himself face-to-face with a creature that (to his terrified rodent mind, at least) looked like something only found in the darkest nightmares of his kind. The squirrel's eyes were the widest they had been yet as he simply stared in terror-stricken shock as his mind cried out 'SNAKE! SNAKE!'. The rodent feared most everything and certainly possessed great fear of any species considered a predator, but the squirrel had a special place in his nightmares for the reptilian creatures known as snakes. He was a rodent and rodents were snake-food. Perhaps it was the fact that they were reptiles, therefor making them even more foreign and alien to a warm-blooded squirrel like him. Whatever the reason, though, he was absolutely terrified of snakes...and currently in the grasp of one. He couldn't even offer a squeak when he felt himself drop momentarily, only to wince in pain as he was caught by his characteristically bushy squirrel tail, forced to hang upside down as the predators spoke. For the moment, the squirrel existed in a world blurred with terror. He was only able to shake fearfully as the snake held him, completely unable to parse what was going on around him. It was like the TV station of Izzy's mind had gone off-air and was now replaced with simple static. His senses only started to come back online when he realized that he was moving, his surroundings rolling past him, dangling slightly as he was still held by his tail.

randomfox12245: The cobra sighed as he pushed out of the bustling cafeteria and into the sterile silence of the restroom. Even then he continued to slither towards the larger stall at the back end of the room, locking the door behind him and pulling down that silly plastic baby changing system to plop the squirrel down onto. With the rodent right-side up again, the serpent glared down at his catch with cold piercing eyes, with that trademark reptilian slit pupil that seemed to drill into Izzy's soul. He quietly analyzed the lunchsnack for a few moments, tilting his head from side to side to inspect him before reaching a clawed hand out to tilt his head up, forcing him to look his predator in the eyes. Finally he sighed, a hiss getting mixed in with the expulsion of air, before he leaned back on his strong coils while regarding the pitiful prey before him. "You're a little thing, huh? Did they feed you in whatever dark hole they had you locked up in? Such a waste...you'd hardly be filling at all now." Another sigh before the snake leaned forward again, ignoring any flinching or pulling away from the squirrel, to apply an experimental lick across his forehead before leaning back again with a churr. "Taste nice enough though. I guess you won't make too bad a meal then. Still kinda sucks though, I'm not even that hungry. You're the kind of thing I'd love to savor; but you know, got a reputation to keep up." Again he was regarding Izzy as mere food, like it was a given he would be eaten and reduced to a mere bulge in the predator's belly for the rest of his pitiful life; he'd been 'rescued' from the sadistic egotistical wolf only to fall into more scaly hands. And he wasn't even that hungry he said, and he was still going to eat him just for the sake of it! But with another hiss the cobra gently applied both sets of claws under the squirrel's chin, making him look him in the face yet again while his hood twitched quizzically. "You're afraid of me...tell me why." It wasn't a question, or a request.

Isaac Shadetail: As the world around him started to register and be analyzed again, the fiery fear that had been flowing through the rodent's mind being in the center of all of that predatory attention was replaced with a less intense background buzz of fear. Everything was far less hectic and chaotic around him and there were far fewer predators. One was still too many, but the number of hungry creatures in the cafeteria...that many predators was just outside of his squirrelly mental capacity. As he was dropped onto the cold plastic surface, his mind coming back online was assisted greatly by the fact that all of the blood that had pooled in his head had begun to flow back to other parts of his body, making it easier to concentrate. He was still in danger, after all. The sight of those terrible serpentine eyes staring at him was what greeted the little squirrel as he came down from an enormous spike of fear, the squirrel starting to shiver again as he got his wish and horrible certainty was replaced with cold unknown - he had no idea what was going on...was he any better off? A slight glimmer of light shined somewhere in Izzy's mind as he suddenly realized that this snake (though still a predator, and a snake at that) had "saved" him from the wolf. Was that what he was doing? Was he going to be able to keep his freedom? This snake had made the terrifying, sadistic wolf go away...was he going to actually be nice to him? He let out a tiny rodent-like squeak as the predator tilted his head up (the feeling of those sharp claws on his defenseless fur sending shivers down his spine) and forced predator and prey to make eye contact. The squirrel could only whimper sadly as the sound of the snake's hiss-like sigh (again, one of those sounds he never wanted to hear) echoed in the prison-like chamber and the squirrel flinched as the snake's voice filled his ears. Two things were immediately apparent: one being that this snake was scary as hell...the other being that Izzy's rather optimistic hope of this snake being his ticket out of becoming lunch might have been a little too far-fetched. Though the snake's words were initially hopeful, the reality of the situation suddenly seemed as clear as day as he felt that horrible snake tongue slide across his forehead, Izzy whimpering desperately as he was tasted yet again. That feeling never got less horrible. The squirrel's hopes only sank further as the snake continued, complimenting his taste and only further confirming the reptile's intentions to finish what the wolf had started. As another terrifying hiss filled the air, the squirrel squeaked yet again as those sharp claws forced his head up against his will. He didn't want to see the predator's eyes...they were scary. The squirrel only stared for a moment, suddenly terrified at the prospect of the predator demanding that he speak. His fear of punishment for insubordination from his prey, however, forced the squirrel's vocal chords to life despite how much they wanted to remain frozen. The squirrel didn't know what to say...why am I afraid of you? How crazy would I have to be to not be afraid of a snake?! Slowly, though, the squirrel's voice squeaked out the obvious.

"...y...y-y-you're...y-you're a...b-big...s-scary s-s-snake..."

randomfox12245: The inquisitive cobra couldn't keep a smirk from tugging at his lips at the answer, a small swelling of pride filling his chest at hearing that. "Hmm! Well thank you. It takes a lot of work to keep this figure, so it's nice to see it appreciated. But don't think flattery will make me go easy on you." Though to be honest, it would; the snake loved getting complements, and usually the prey he managed to ensnare figured that out quickly enough to actually convince the venomous predator to let them go! If only someone would tell Izzy that, but then that would be cheating. "You, on the other hand, are a tiny defenseless hors d'oeuvre in an entire school of predators in the middle of lunch hour. Surely it's better to be in here with me than out in a feeding frenzy with all them." An almost gentle smile covered the serpent's face as he reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a small handful of acorns, a little treat he kept around for personal reasons that could be pondered over later. For the moment, the important thing was they were being offered to the squirrel. "Unlike most of them, I don't believe in wasting food." What exactly that meant wasn't readily apparent, and it seemed he was done talking as Izzy was allowed to fill his own empty belly for a bit. If any of his cryptic explanations were going to be elaborated on, it seemed the squirrel would have to muster up the courage to ask the predator himself, though impossible a prospect that was.

Isaac Shadetail: A shiver went down the squirrel's spine at the predator's reply to his shaky, stuttering attempt at a response. It made him all the more terrifying, really; to think that a predator actually took pleasure in being intimidating, of seeming frightening to creatures like him. It was like everything he didn't want done to him, predators loved doing. The serpent's voice made him flinch as if he'd been pricked by a sharp claw, and he was forced to admit (to himself, at least) that the predator was right. Out of two possibilities, an entire building full of hungry predators that would love nothing more than to have the little squirrel tucked away in their bellies or a lone (though terrifying) snake that he might have a slight chance with (after all, the snake /did/ say he wouldn't really be that filling)...which was better? Truthfully, Izzy preferred neither but that didn't really seem to be an obtainable option at the moment. Suddenly though, Izzy felt his nose twitch slightly as it detected something a squirrel like him would have no trouble spotting regardless of the horrible situation he was in - acorns. Indeed, the squirrel blinked in surprise when he saw a small handful of them being offered to him, the little squirrelsnacks making his mouth water a little as he stared in confusion at the nuts in the snake's hand. It took Izzy a moment to realize that he was being given food...the idea filling him with a bizarre sense of fear and curiosity. Was the gesture out of kindness, or...out meal preparation? At first afraid to reach for the alluring snack, the squirrel soon felt that twinge of fear of punishment for disobeying whatever the snake wanted him to do tug at his mind and he slowly (with a glance to make sure it was okay) began to reach for the treats and timidly plucked them out of the predator's hand. After inspecting them for a second, the squirrel's thin and weak voice suddenly creaked to life again, his eyes still on the snack in his paws rather than the terrifying predator. His curiosity had finally coerced the question that was in his mind to sound from his mouth.

"...a-are...a-are you g-g-gonna...h-hurt m-m-me...?"

randomfox12245: The snake chuckled as the little snack took a snack of his own, though he had to withdraw the rest of the acorns to cross his arms in a bit of confusion at the question. He resisted just saying 'about as much as you're going to hurt those nuts' since it probably wouldn't exactly be very comforting to hear. After all, the snake wouldn't exactly be using teeth. Unless he had to. "Not unless you give me a reason. And I'd rather not anyway. But if you do something I don't want, I won't be afraid to use these." He let his immense, rodent-devouring jaws gape nice and wide till his long ivory fangs sprung free, even giving them a small flick for emphasis, a small drop of venom dripping onto the floor from the stimulation. It wasn't the most comforting sight, but the squirrel remained uneaten for the moment as the cobra cracked his jaw back into place with a groan. "Though even that wouldn't hurt much beyond a sting, and it'd just swell up your nerve endings so you wouldn't be able to move much..." He waited until whatever fearful reaction the rodent inevitably had to the sight wore off before he explained further, resting a gentle claw on his shoulder once he was done. "If I do that though, I'm not gonna eat you...I want my meals to squirm...but most other preds aren't as picky as me, and I wouldn't feel too bad about leaving you in here paralyzed for the next pred to come in and do whatever they wanted to you. So again, don't give me a reason." He gently dragged a single claw tip across down his shoulder, across his chest and up to his chin again, forcing eye contact once more as he explained what he thought to be the most important thing he could impart on the squirrel. "And rule number 1 is don't beg. It annoys me, to hear sobbing and pleading and asking for mercy. If you don't want me to eat you, give me a good reason, don't expect it out of the goodness of my heart." Once he finished that stern explanation the snake leaned back again, letting the rodent eat for the moment. Everything he said and did certainly wasn't helping the whole scary mystique he had, but he didn't come across as overly malicious either. As far as preds went, he was almost fair!

Isaac Shadetail: The squirrel nervously awaited the answer to his question, terrified at what it might be while still harboring a desire to at least know where he stood with the serpent. Everything he did and said was so contradictory, the rodent felt even more confused with every clarification he was given. The snake's answer, however, needed no explanation. The rodent sunk down slightly, the predator's straight-up reply causing the cold feeling of fear to spread throughout his body as if it were in his very blood. The fear brought up by his words, however, suddenly seemed very miniscule as the squirrel got a very horrifying view of the reptile's gaping maw, Izzy forced to stare like a deer in headlights. The rodent let out another squeak when this monstrously terrifying sight was complimented by the appearance of the snake's horrible fangs, the rodent utterly overwhelmed with terror as he was face to face with the terrible, venomous, rodent-eating nightmare fuel that was a snake's maw. Once the snake had closed his gaping maw and the...f-f-fangs...were out of sight, the squirrel's trembling returned as he regained the ability to do something other than simply stare straight ahead that he had lost in the face of something he had feared more than anything his entire life. The squirrel let out a petrified whimper at the snake's notion of simply paralyzing him (literally this time though, not just with fear) and simply leaving him there for whatever predator happened to arrive first. The squirrel subconsciously shook his head 'no' softly, a silent plea for the snake not to act upon such thoughts. The forming of an actual vocal plea, however, were halted instantly when the squirrel felt that sharp claw running against his skin yet again, wincing softly at the sensation of such a horrible thing that could hurt him so much being directly against his body. Another squeak sounded as the rodent was once again forced to make eye contact with the predator to be informed of his 'no begging' rule. While the threat of physical harm terrified him to no end, the fact that the snake was actually telling him how to make him happy was much appreciated and the squirrel nodded shallowly as he whimpered. There was much relief in finally being released from the sharp grip of the snake's claws and the squirrel quickly brought an acorn to his lips (squirrel teeth chattering inside) and, with another glance to see if it was okay with the predator, began to nibble on the yummy squirrel treat, his trembling making it hard to eat and his unintentional whimpering making it hard not to choke. As the comforting taste of his favorite food filled his mouth, his squirrelly senses surprised but appreciative of the small bit of comforting normality that could be found in munching on one's favorite food, the rodent kept his gaze focused low. With the snake having already made clear how he would deal with the squirrel acting against his demands and desires, he was intent on keeping the predator as happy with him as he could. Though he didn't know if it was true, he had always been told never to look a predator in the eye (unless they desired it). He figured, even if not true, it certainly couldn't hurt and was sure to keep his eyes cast downwards towards the tasty treat in his paws as opposed to the fearsome and powerful predator so terrifyingly close to him. Finishing the first acorn, he immediately started on another, the soft crunch of the nut and its shell sounding through the echoing chamber, mixing with the sounds of the squirrel's whimpering and the ruffling noise he made as he shivered in fear to create the soundtrack of the squirrel's emotions. Eager to finish eating (that was what the predator wanted, after all) the rodent quickly munched the remaining acorns, his squirrel teeth doing what they did best, the rodent's belly pretty full in no time. Having finished the snack, the air suddenly seemed a lot thicker now that a definite goal had turned into vague ambiguity. What was going to happen now? Whatever the snake had planned for him, it could certainly start in earnest now that the squirrel had finished his snack. Though the sensation of his little squirrelly belly being full relaxed him a small bit, he still was in grave danger. Starting to get a little scared at what the resolution of his only task might bring, the squirrel raised his gaze slightly (not too much, mind you, just enough to not completely face the ground) as he whimpered curiously, as if trying to ask the predator what else he could do to keep him happy so that he wouldn't hurt the little squirrelly. Izzy was so terrified of those fangs, he would do anything to not have to see them again.

randomfox12245: The snake smiled as the squirrel finished his small meal, feeling quite satisfied to see his future snack so full and moderately happy. Part of him doubted the squirrel was even capable of such an emotion though, having to live in such constant fear and uncertainty, one wondered how the little thing could stand it. And personally, the snake was also curious as to what they were all so frightened of in the first place; sure being condemned to a belly for the rest of your days seemed bad in theory, but compared to what they had to deal with in their everyday lives the unambiguous certainty the life of being food brought would without a doubt be a better prospect. Though perhaps they just never got far enough through the 'being in a stomach is scary!' aspect to think about all the benefits very well. Those cold eyes softened a bit as the cobra reached out and scritched at the squirrel a bit, softly petting him and bringing some unexpected pleasure from the attention before hissing out a sigh. "I suppose you don't /want/ me to eat you, huh? Because I'm sure whatever pitiful excuse for a life you had before being snatched up as a school lunch was so great. If you can name five things that are better about your life in fresh air than they would be in my stomach, I'll let you go." The cobra nodded, still scratching and petting at the rodent comfortingly. Five seemed fair, since one was too easy and ten was just pushing it. He wanted to give him a fair shot at at least lying and squirming out of his situation, but honestly he doubted he would be able to come up with that much, and with that he actually hoped the squirrel would realize this could turn out to be a positive opportunity for him after all, despite the fear. Of course he was gonna eat him anyway, even if he could scrounge up the reasons, but just because he was cold blooded didn't mean he was heartless.

Isaac Shadetail: The rodent waited silently for the snake's response to him having completed something the predator wanted him to do (hoping with all of his might that he had done it to the snake's satisfaction). He nearly cried out in fear, however, when he finally got that response. As the snake reached towards him to gently scritch the squirrel, the rodent in question (believing that he had done something wrong and the snake was about to punish him for it) squeaked fearfully as those sharp claws came in contact with his body once again. He felt himself blush, though, when he realized what was actually happening and leaned into the lovely scritchings and pets. Simple expressions of affection like that always calmed Izzy down, even coming from a terrifying predator such as him. Though still whimpering softly in fear, the squirrel obviously very much enjoyed what the predator was doing and continued to lean into the attention, occasionally letting out a quiet chitter of pleasure. When the snake finally spoke, though, his voice was as frightening as ever and Izzy felt himself flinch again at the sound. The thought that he was in the same room as a snake still scared him terribly. I mean, any predator was undesirable but why on earth did a /snake/ of all things have his designs on him? Worse than the snake's voice, however, were the words he spoke. The squirrel squeaked at the confirmation of his consumption as the snake offered his freedom in exchange for 5 reasons his current life would be better than one as snake-food. A sad whimper sounded from the squirrel as his mind was suddenly once again swimming with horrible mental images of a certain snake with a nice squirrel-sized lump in his belly. His trembling worsening, the squirrel slipped up in the worst way he could imagine.

"...p-p-please..."

The squirrel quickly gasped and covered his mouth with his paws. It had been completely involuntary and came out before he had the chance to stop it. In the fear of being delivered a challenge for his freedom, the squirrel had accidentally broken the snake's rule. Instantly, the squirrel whimpered loudly in fear as his shaking got leagues worse and his eyes got almost impossibly wide.

"...I...I'm s-s-sorry! I...I didn't m-mean to...d-don't h-hurt m-me..."

randomfox12245: The snake would have waited patiently for Izzy to come up with any reasons as response to his challenge, or realize he didn't have any, and simply expecting the small utterance he started at to be the beginning of explaining the results of his mental search! When instead he got a somewhat melodramatic panic attack at some slight, the cobra raise a brow in confusion until he realized he had just cut himself off from some plea or request or what have you and was now expecting a harsh punishment for it. The snake looked down at the rodent for a couple tense seconds, before snerking at the abject terror and expectations of horror coming from the little guy, and he couldn't keep himself from laughing. Not a dark melodic chuckle or anything like that either, the serpent actually had to hold himself up to keep from collapsing to the floor in a fit of comedy. This little squirrel was unbelievable! How he managed to survive this long, let alone avoid being eaten, was nothing short of divine intervention! "Ohhh my god, you're such a dumbass." he managed to state in between gasping for air and still having a serious affliction of snickers. He even flicked the little rodent's ear for emphasis, which only made him laugh more for a couple seconds before finally retaining his composure, coughing a few times to clear the awkward feelings that might be hanging in the air and brushing himself off a bit before going back to the gentle pettings and scritchings he was applying before. "OK...just come up with one without doing something idiotic and I won't bite you no matter what you do, just hurry up - lunch is almost over."

Isaac Shadetail: The squirrel was quite distraught with worry at his mistake, thinking he had completely evaporated any chance of his safety by doing the one thing he was told not to do. The one thing the snake had (so far, at least) told him not to do was beg and he had managed to do just that. Since the predator had gone out of his way to point out the displeasure and annoyance this caused him, he fully expected some kind of punishment for his mistake. As the squirrel looked to the predator in fear, clearly anticipating something horrible, the sound that began to fill his ears caused the squirrel's head to tilt. Laughter was really not what he was expecting...and certainly not the type of laughter the snake seemed to be expressing. The rodent might not have been so surprised if the laughter had that typical evil villain sort of deep, sinister ring to it...but that wasn't what this was. The snake seemed to find this genuinely funny; he laughed in the way the squirrel would have laughed...if he found anything worthy of laughter at the moment. As the predator continued enjoying himself, the squirrel only stared with a confused look on his face. What did this mean? Was there still going to be a reprisal for his mistake or was he in no actual danger or at least not as much as the rodent had originally thought? Izzy was very confused. This was cleared somewhat as the snake collected himself and resumed the scritchings and such (though the flick of the ear had made the squirrel squeak in fear that it was going to be something far worse). Realizing that he was not, in fact, going to be reprimanded for his disobedience, the squirrel was quick to speak again in response to the predator's demand for him to say something (though he still carried a fair bit of nervousness at saying the wrong thing the wrong way).

"...I....I'm s-s-scared of...s-s-snakes...I...I d-don't w...want to b-be s-snake f-f-food..."

A scared whimper served as the period to the rodent's pitiful attempt at a coherent sentence, Izzy still clinging to the prey-ish belief that piteous words had some kind of ability to change a predator's mind.

randomfox12245: The snake shook his head a bit at...well, the squirrel in general really. This thing was beyond hope, more than you could believe, and yet he was still giving him every opportunity to weasel out of it. It was pretty pitiful though, he was just so scared it was probably a wonder he could force his vocal chords to work at all, so the cobra was inclined to go a little easy on him. And yet any doubts the snake had of leaving this stall with an empty stomach were shriveling up by the second, but if the most he could do was offer the rodent some hope and a chance to win his freedom, or at the very least get him to accept his fate, he figured he'd be in the black karmically speaking. "Yeah, I can understand that. I do have a certain..." his hood expanded a bit, like it was stretching out, and actually blocked out a bit of the florescent light and cast a shadow over Izzy to make the intended effect to his statement "aura about me. And I guess rodents are a pretty traditional meal for snakes, huh? Too bad for you, I'm not a hipster." He chuckled for a bit before noticing the slight probably soared way over the squirrel's head. "But hey, I'm giving you a chance here, so come on. Surely you can tell me something, just take a breath and relax and think of some reasons. If I were to let you go, and a miracle happened that let you get back home, what do you have there that's better than what I have here." he offered a bit of a wink for emphasis, though he only realized it might not have been the most encouraging thing to do after it was too late.

Isaac Shadetail: The squirrel was partly relieved to hear the snake tell him that he understood his fear. It was nice to hear anything other than acidic threats and laughter at his expense coming from the predator. Whatever small relief this presented, however, was quick to disappear as the snake demonstrated exactly why he understood the rodent's fear. His eyes widened at the sight of the snake casting a shadow over him, a perfect analogy for how the squirrel felt at the moment - in the shadow of a hungry predator. At the urging to give his challenge (which, if correctly handled, could lead to his freedom...so the predator said) an honest try, the squirrel felt at least a small bit of hope that the predator was actually telling the truth and might really let him go if he answered the question the way the snake wanted bubble up inside. Realizing that it really was the last chance the squirrel had to win back his freedom (something that had been taken from him a long time ago at this point), the little guy started to follow the predator's instructions and began to seriously consider what the serpent was saying. What did he have in his life right now that made it worth keeping his own? What element in his life would he miss dearly if he were to disappear into a predator's gullet and never return to his previous existence ever again? He could think of a few of things he'd miss if he was never able to see daylight ever again...he would miss his books. He cherished everything he ever read and kept a few by his bed, reading his favorite sections and passages before attempting to sleep in an effort to calm his nerves. He would miss playing the old, broken upright piano he had discovered years ago in an abandoned building that he spent hours and hours using to express his pent up emotions and fears. The more he thought about it, though, the more depressed he got and he eventually decided on his answer. While the main reason it was his answer was because he thought it was what the predator wanted to hear, it really did express the sadness and hopelessness he had felt throughout his life and especially at the current moment.

"...n-n...n-n-nothing...I'm...I'm j-just a...p-p-prey..."

A sad squeak ended his answer as his gaze returned to the floor.

randomfox12245: The snake's composure broke again as a huge smirk covered his face. No matter how much he tried to be the threatening school bully he always was to this little squirrel, he just kept doing something that made him crack. It really was unfair how adorable it was; the rodent was perfect prey not only in species, but temperament and attitude. For any other predator in the world, that would have been exactly what they wanted to hear to erase any guilt they might have internally had about reducing little squirrels to mere bulges in stomachs, but sadly for Izzy's preyish instincts this particular pred was honestly interested in encouraging the squirrel to either truly accept what being prey entailed, or earnestly make an attempt at appealing to his challenge and making an escape. Either way he was going to eat the little thing, but he at least wanted it to be fun. "That's cute. Really. But don't just tell me what you think I want to hear as a predator, I want you to be honest. Have a girlfriend you'd miss? Some family? An abandoned guitar with only one string?" As gently and while choreographing his movements as best he could, not wanting to startle or frighten the squirrel anymore than he already was, the cobra scooped his prize into his arms and held him against his chest while softly leaning down to nuzzle against the top of his head. He wasn't usually this sentimental, especially with prey, but in a weird way Izzy had earned something beyond the usual predatory rigmarole. "I wanna know what you have that makes it worth living in constant fear and hiding. 'Cause to be completely honest with you, if I had to live like that I'd turn myself over to the closest pred I could just for the promise of a warm night for once. And apparently it isn't like that for you, and I wanna hear why."

Isaac Shadetail: As the squirrel waited, not knowing at all what to expect now (was he going to laugh at him or eat him or let him go or...?), his eyes remained cast towards the ground. He was somewhat surprised (and had to stop himself from blushing) when the predator referred to his answer as 'cute', but continued to press him for a real response. This really was surprising to the squirrel who was a little taken back by the knowledge that, though this predator fit every single criteria of 'big, scary, terrible predator that wants to eat me', he actually was interested in hearing a real response to his question, not just what any other predator would have wanted to hear, an iteration of their superiority and perfect moral standing on gobbling up little preys like him. At the predator's list of examples, the squirrel would think back to the real answers that he had come up with while searching for the right thing to say to ensure his safety. It suddenly occurred to him that those real answers were exactly what the predator was asking for and that maybe he should just actually say them out loud. He hesitated to do this at first for a number of reasons, one being that he wasn't so sure that the predator was really interested in legitimate answers about his life and was probably uninterested in actually hearing about the squirrel's feelings. Another was the fact that Izzy was a very shy little squirrel and the thought of talking about himself (not to mention to a predator, let alone one as scary and intimidating as this one) made his vocal chords lock in timidity and made his face flush red. The squirrel's brain was so busy pondering this that he hadn't even noticed that the snake was advancing on him until he felt himself get scooped up and held close to the predator, the snake gently nuzzling him. Scared at first of what was happening, the squirrel quickly let out a squirrelly chittering sound as he momentarily basked in the affection he craved. Suddenly, telling the truth seemed like a good idea and Izzy timidly began to speak.

"...w-well...I...I p-p...p-play the p-piano and...um...I...I-lov...l-love to read, and...I...I g-guess I w-would miss t-that if...i-if I g-got eaten..."

randomfox12245: The snakes eyes went a bit wide at hearing the squirrel's response, both because he was glad he actually got one that sounded for real and by the content of such an answer. Piano and reading? Preys practically lived in slums, and here this little guy was walking around in tuxedos and enjoying chardonnay. It almost made him feel a bit bad; usually prey would come up with loved ones or a dream to one day join a rock band or fight for equality, but this was so simple it was almost zen-like. Piano and reading. He churred a bit while petting Izzy once more as he released his hold enough to look the squirrel in the eyes. "I can tell you I didn't expect that as an answer...I'm sorry you won't get to play the piano anymore. Someone like you, definitely self-taught I'd wager, I'd be willing to bet you were pretty good. Even if I bet whatever run down place you actually found a piano in probably didn't leave the thing in very good shape. No matter how good you are, it sounds like crap if it's out of tune." He chuckled a bit before nuzzling Izzy again, though this time he let his tongue slip free and slurped across his head, though it wasn't as chauvinistic as something the wolf he'd originally been meant to feed would pull, it still broadcasted the snake's feelings that he seemed to want to sugar-coat as much as possible judging from how he was dancing around the issue so. "I'm afraid I won't be able to do anything to help with that though. Books, at least, I have, and can read out loud for you to listen in on, but trying to swallow a whole piano or keyboard just wouldn't work out. Honestly am sorry about that." He applied another affectionate scritch, trying to subdue the dread that must have been welling up in the rodent by this point. "But, that was only two...so I guess you don't really have that much worth squirming out of this for, huh? Is that why you're so submissive about the whole thing? I mean you might as well add your own toppings from the way you've been acting so far. It'd be sad if it wasn't so cute. Okay, how about this...think you can stop being such a scaredy-cat long enough toooo maybe think of how it'd be a good thing to be eaten by me? I mean think about it, wouldn't have to be scared of being caught anymore, 'cause well...obviously...and you'd be plenty warm...you wouldn't starve. I like to think I'm pleasant enough company, and you'd be helping me not die. That's pretty noble when you think about it, right? Pretty darn selfless if I say so myself. I feel I must thank you!" The cobra snickered a bit as his little rant petered off. It was half motivated by, well, it sounded funny in his head, but he thought the squirrel could stand an attempt at making light of his situation at least. He could certainly try to make it worse  and maybe the little rodent would see this wasn't the worst thing in the world after all. He didn't care either way, but he'd have this little thing lugged around with him from here on out, and much as it was pleasing to hear before and after meals the idea of having a sobbing prey soundtrack for the rest of time didn't seem all that appealing to the serpent.

Isaac Shadetail: The lump of bashfulness that had settled in the squirrel's throat as he spoke flourished into a blush on the critter's face as he revealed those two things he held so close to his heart. He was so terrified that the predator would be either completely uninterested or would simply laugh at him, brushing aside the foolish notion that a prey like him was capable of possessing such abilities or the capacity for creative expression. The squirrel was very happy when, instead of what he had been fearing, his admission resulted in more pets from the predator (one of Izzy's favorite things) and a slight surprise as the snake looked into his eyes and actually honestly apologized that he wasn't going to be able to do the things he had listed. The little squirrel blushed like mad when the predator declared that he was willing to bet that the rodent was 'pretty good' at playing the keys, the squirrel's gaze lowering slightly in bashfulness as he squeaked softly. The rodent's eyes widened slightly though, as (after another nuzzle, which Izzy enjoyed) he received another lick, his situation suddenly hitting him again. Split seconds of comfort kept distracting him from what was really happening. And what was really happening, after all, was he was about to become snake chow. The squirrel whined softly as the predator continued, talking about what the situation was going to be like after he was eaten, the rodent's heart dropping at how matter-of-factly he was saying all of this, as if him getting eaten was just one more thing that was going to happen today. The feeling of dread that came as baggage of being informed of what life would be like post-being-lunch caused a single tear of disparity to run down the squirrel's face, which the rodent quickly brushed away with a sniffle. Again, he had to stop himself from reddening at his actions being called 'cute' but the predator's further words just caused those familiar inklings of fear to bubble up again. Though the predator made decent points (that a level-headed squirrel might be able to digest and wrap his head around), Izzy could only (for the moment, at least) hear the words 'eaten by me', the rest coming out almost as static. When the predator had finished his soliloquies, the rodent looked up at the predator.

"...b-but...I d-don't w-wanna be y-your...l-lunch..."

Izzy whimpered. He knew the snake knew this but, for some reason, felt it necessary to say in response to the predator's suggestion of seeing the brighter side of what was happening.

randomfox12245: The snake let out a faux 'aww' of sympathy, offering a final pet before setting the squirrel back down on the fold-out and preparing himself for his actual meal. "I know, it sucks. But that's the way life is sometimes. And it's not like I can let you go, and even if I did you'd be screwed anyway, 'cause trust me I'm the nicest predator in this school to prey." It was true - his backyard lead into forest and he occasionally saw reckless prey skittering around from time to time, hunted them for sport once in a while in a non-fishing version of catch and release, and even left out peanut-buttery treats and the like. But this was different, his reputation depended on making a meal out of Izzy, and it had taken him a lifetime to build that up. "Hmm...for what it's worth, you seem nice, underneath all that fear and repression anyway. I'd have liked to have gotten to know you." He tilted the rodent to look him in the eye when saying that, wanting him to see he meant it. "But...I'm a snake. You're a squirrel. Can't do anything about that. For what it's worth, I'll try not to tease you so much so it might be a little bit less scary than you think." And boy would that be hard, Izzy was delicious after all, and yet all this self restraint was going to go unacknowledged anyway. On the bright side the rodent wasn't begging or anything annoying like that so far, so things were better off than they could have been. "I know it's silly to ask if you're ready, so...try closing your eyes, that way you won't see it coming. Think of your favorite book, or something like that." He figured that's what life was like for them usually, so it was the closest to feeling safe as he could get: not knowing what was going to happen. Or well, knowing the what, but not the when. Close enough. Either way, there was just one last thing to do before things got under way: "What's your name?"

Isaac Shadetail: The squirrel let out yet another pitiful whimper as the snake showed little empathy in light of the squirrel's shaky words, though the final pet was nice to receive. A plethora of pathetic little noises came from the squirrel as he was placed back onto the cold surface, his rodent mind feeling at least a little bit crazy that he found the embrace of a predator bent on eating him highly preferable to the cold surface a foot or two away. As the predator spoke, again speaking confidently of his consumption and future as nothing but a lump in a snake belly, the weight of dread and fear slowly piled up on the little guy's heart. Speaking with the predator for this short amount of time had made the squirrel get slightly comfortable with the creature. That just seems to be one of those simple facets of the sentient mind - familiarity means comfort and although the squirrel was by no means comfortable around the serpent, the small amount of time he had spent with him had made him calm down a little. There was almost a slight feeling of betrayal when the predator still clearly showed his intent to eat the little guy; the feeling that the time and words they had shared should at least mean something. Izzy didn't talk to many people, let alone predators so talking to the snake had made him feel safer to the rodent than it probably should have. The squirrel ordinarily would have blushed and squeaked out a 'thank you' in response to the predator's compliments to his personality, but now...he was too scared to even register them. This was it...he was actually going to be eaten by this snake. It was really going to happen, and soon. As his trembling returned in full force and his lungs were suddenly busy helping to form pitiful whimpers that wavered slightly due to the squirrel's shaking body, the rodent's ears almost wanting to shut down so as to not hear anymore information about his consumption. As if that would make it go away. Everything seemed to be happening so fast after such a long time of idle fear, it was almost too much to take in. It was blinding. The squirrel squeaked when the predator asked one more question: what's his name? After a moment of thought slowed by fear (what /was/ his name?) and persuasion to get his voice-box to work again, he squeaked out a reply.

"...I...I-I-Izzy..."

Lost in the sudden fear, his voice also barely squeaked out:

"...p-please d-don't eat m-me!"

He couldn't help it; he was so scared. The snake's rule of no begging and the fear he possessed of breaking said rule completely disintegrated in the face of what Izzy knew was just about to happen and his terrified mind forced the words out of him.

randomfox12245: The snake smiled at finally finding out his meal's name. Such a cute one it was too, it suited him; a name for a musician! And yet all that good will almost instantly vaporized at the disgusting noise of begging. Now his good mood was gone and soiled thanks to that. He could hardly blame the little guy, but darn it he asked for one little thing and apparently it was too much to ask! Of course, the rodent was asking not to be eaten and he wasn't gonna do that, but it was the principle of the thing. "Aww, Izzy. Nice name. You were doing so well too...guess it wouldn't have made a difference anyway though." And without another word the snake let his mouth gape, yawning before the little rodent to grant an excellent view of the unending abyss leading to his eternal home. He wasn't allowed much time to appreciate the sight before he lunged forward and engulfed the squirrel down to his shoulders, lips wrapped around his chest and forcing his arms pinned to his sides as his upper body was drenched in snake moisture and the scent of pure hunger, the walls pulsing and pulsing all around him as his delectable taste was spread through the entire maw, which worked in tireless miniscule movements to drag him towards the wide throbbing gullet before him that almost seemed to call out for Izzy as it dragged him down the unending tube to the slightly less unending tube of a chamber that was the snake's stomach, where he belonged, his new home from this moment forth. And despite the length of the cobra's fine toned body, it was looking to be a pretty short trip from the way he was being slurped in so decisively.

Isaac Shadetail: Again, a compliment ordinarily sent the squirrel into waves of blushing and timid attempts at squeaky 'thank you's but this time was certainly an exception. The squirrel remained as he always had been, wide-eyed and whimpering, as the snake spoke to him a final time, apparently not too impressed or pleased with the squirrel's desperate final beg for his freedom. Desperation can often create counter-productivity though and just as the squirrel was about to beg the snake for his freedom and to remain uneaten yet again, everything within the squirrel suddenly went completely silent as the snake maw opened wide, giving the rodent a perfect (undesired) view into where he would be spending the rest of his time. Unable to vocalize in fear at the sight staring him in the face (probably good news to the snake) the prey could only offer weak, almost feral-like squeaks as he was given only a few moments to take in the sight and fear that came with it before that terrifying snake maw lunged at him, easily taking the smaller critter's frame inside. The squirrel's mind erupted with fear as he felt himself get enclosed in snake-flesh, the first contact with the snake's insides sending him into a flurry of desperate squirms, not unlike the ones he had attempted not long ago in the wolf's grasp, as he squealed desperately as fear overtook his system. The slick passage into the snake's body pulsed and shifted, as if the serpent's own body was fighting to get the squirrel inside of it on its own. Even the subconscious, instinctual parts of the snake's anatomy seemed eager to have the squirrel within itself. Izzy squeaked and squirmed as he was eaten, the sight of a rodent being pulled down the pulsating gullet of a snake quite a common one in nature and certainly one that this squirrel had no chance of getting out of.

randomfox12245: The cobra groaned in barely restrained pleasure at the taste flooding his insides and the squirming sending shocks up and down his spine. As someone with somewhat impersonal scales covering him, the kind of physical contact that he felt with some helpless smaller furry thing flailing against his sensitive insides just made him melt. And salivate, which helped the process as he ruthlessly scarfed the little squirrel down. Normally he would have taken time and savored his meal, but time was short, and as he mentioned before he wasn't nearly hungry enough to indulge in that sort of thing. It was still an amazingly primal experience though, and though it didn't last as long as he would have liked, it might have felt like an eternity to the rodent on the receiving end of it. Izzy's head was unceremoniously plunged into the puffing gullet as he was taken in down to his hips, those strong scaled lips suckling at the more meaty parts of the meal before he rose his head high and allowed gravity to assist in the proceedings, the only things left of the squirrel for the outside world to acknowledge being his helpless legs and cute bushy tail. Everything else was treated to a constant assault of wet, hot, hungry snake squeezing and pulling and making all manner of squelching noises around him. And even then it didn't take more than a couple seconds for the last remnants of any proof the rodent ever existed to be slurped away and locked behind greedy, drooling snake lips. A deafening gulp resonated through the squirrel as he was swallowed and his entire body was entrapped in the long tireless snake gullet that passed through his chest and where his belly might have been if he didn't have a traditional snake body where his legs would be. So the little bulge that was a squirrel traveled down ever so slowly, every inch of his form given proper attention, soaking him to the core and pressing down sensually at every muscle, until at last his head was met with the slight fleshy barrier that separated the long throat from the slightly more spacious stomach chamber. It almost immediately gave way and the rodent spilled into his new permanent surroundings like an ungraceful exit from a water slide into a kiddy pool, the stomach juices within quickly coating him as the wide gut began sloshing its new resident about in an effort to feed, the intense environment of Izzy's new home possessing the scent of pure snake musk and felt almost comfortably soggy. From outside the serpent's stomach down near the middle of his body simply appeared to be slightly pudgier then it had been before, but not in a way that could be noticed by anyone who wasn't really looking; the snake was pretty large for his age after all.

Isaac Shadetail: The squirrel was in a state of nearly feral fear and terror as he squirmed and squeaked desperately, the snake gullet pulsing and squeezing and pulling him deeper and deeper into the predator. In his frantic state of panic and fear, he was unable to realize that his squirming and struggling only made him slip in faster, his movements seeming to entice the snake's body to slurp him in even quicker. The squirrel's tears were quick to mix with the snake's saliva in the sense that both completely covered the squirrel's face at this point and it would be mighty difficult to differentiate the two (if the squirrel's face were visible and not currently stuck deep inside of a snake, that is). The squirrel could only offer his rodent-y squeals as he felt more and more of his body get enveloped in horrible moisture. Everything else that had happened; getting caught, getting trapped in the darkness for so long, getting packed as lunch, being taunted and teased by dozens of hungry predators at lunch time, being offered up for trade, being snatched away, and every little moment in between completely disappeared as the squirrel was forced to fulfill his rodent destiny and become a snake's meal. It didn't take long for the terrible advancing maw to cover most of the much smaller creature with snake-flesh, leaving only his helplessly kicking legs and squirrelly tail visible to the outside world. Soon, though, even those were slowly slurped in as well and the squirrel was forced to comprehend that he was now entirely inside of a snake's body. He just knew he was. As a rodent, he instinctively knew what that felt like. Although he had felt the snake maw slide over so much of his body and there was surely nothing left outside at this point...he just /knew/ he was completely inside now and the realization only inspired another flurry of movement from the squirrel as he desperately squirmed in the snake's chute-like body. The rodent let out a soft wail of defeat and fear as the realization sunk in all at once and the squirrel-filled lump made its way down the snake's body until he eventually felt himself hit what had to be the snake's stomach. It was rather difficult to tell these things with a snake's body being the way it was but, again...rodents just knew these kinds of things when they felt them. The squirrel let out a pitiful whimper of defeat as he was pushed completely into the snake's belly, trapped and officially just snake food. His new home didn't waste any time on getting to work on the little meal as the fleshy containment suddenly began squeezing and sloshing the little squirrel, a snake belly simply doing what snake bellies do. The rodent continued squirming in his new surroundings, still crying and whimpering and squeaking desperately, his mind still not over the initial shock of being eaten and still possessing some notion that escape was somehow possible.

randomfox12245: In the outside world, the snake simply sighed in content from the feelings of fulfilling his own predatory destiney of filling his belly with delicious squirrel, his brain flooded with endorphins that generations of evolution had nurtured to encourage such behavior. What little satisfaction he got from it was quickly numbed after a few seconds though as he felt the pitiful squirms and sobs from within his own flesh, its new occupant far from enjoying his new surroundings. The bully had an odd sense of empathy in that respect: the squirrel hadn't done anything to anyone to deserve the anguish he was in now. Any attempts to console himself by rationalizing how the rodent was safer and better taken care of now than he could ever have been roaming free were cut short by the school bell ringing, signaling the end of lunch and for classes to begin again. With a defeated sigh the serpent simply slithered to his next class, stomach still gurgling around a very unhappy meal behind him. The rest of the day was uneventful, baring a few congratulatory acknowledgments from teachers who were paying enough attention to notice his new girth, but aside from that the snake had always been something of a loner anyway so nothing beyond that bothered him for the few hours before the bell for freedom beget a stampede of repressed teenagers. Hopefully, in all that time Izzy would have found it in himself to calm down (or at least tire himself out) in order to allow the cobra some sense of peace as he slithered home. His thoughts were still, as they had been since lunch, obsessed with the little squirrel that now resided as a mere snack in his abdomen and oddly enough on trying to picture him playing a piano, the instrument he'd claimed to find such joy in. Not conventional predatory thoughts, but this wasn't a conventional predator.

Isaac Shadetail: The squirrel's world was collapsing around him both literally and figuratively as he fidgeted and squirmed in the belly, his soft whimpering sobs nearly echoing off of the snake's squishy stomach flesh, the belly around him not seeming to be affected much by the rodent's constant kicks and attempts at stopping it from clinging to him and squeezing as it began to feed off of him. His face, covered in tears and snake saliva would be quite a sad sight to see indeed, that is if it could be seen. Of course, being trapped deep inside of a predator ensured that no one would ever be able to see it again for as long as the squirrel lived, the snake's body serving as his home for what remained of his pitiful little existence. The lil' guy was just far too overwhelmed at the moment; it was quite an experience, to get eaten alive and finally being forced to live out his biggest fear had taken a mental toll on the rodent. He just couldn't believe that it was all over and he had finally been swallowed and would never be able to see daylight ever again. His whole life, it had been the one thing he was not supposed to do and it had happened. What would his family think if they saw him now, just a barely visible lump in a snake's belly? No longer even an animate object or a person, now simply a bulge of food thats only purpose was to simply take up space inside of another being. All of these thoughts and emotions created a very distraught and overwhelmed squirrel indeed and Izzy would begin his life as food a very sad and defeated squirrel that couldn't even really think straight anymore. The squirrel's heart only sunk deeper when he felt the snake begin to slither away from the proverbial scene of the crime, dragging the little belly-lump that his lunch made along with him. As he felt the stomach containing him drag along the ground, making the flesh all around him ripple, he let out another defeated whimper as the fact that he had gotten eaten finally completely sunk in. He had been gobbled up by a snake and the snake was going to 'get away with it'. No one was going to help him or force the snake into letting him go, he was trapped now. As the day went by, though, the squirrel's squirms would weaken as his muscles began to tire and finally simply give out altogether and his sobs would fade into pitiful little whimpers and whines as his throat grew equally tired. Eventually, the squirrel simply lied practically still (with the occasional squirm) in the snake's stomach, not even registering what was happening around him anymore (and unable to keep track of how much time had passed since he was eaten) as he stewed in his own sadness and defeat.

randomfox12245: The squirrel's gradual lack of resistance or other movement hadn't stopped the serpent's stomach from manipulating his body as it squeezed and churned him against the wet walls, getting his snack-sized form well and soggy. But even through that. it all had a strangely therapeutic euphoria to it: the constant moving of the stomach felt like a gentle message against his stress-filled prey body and eased the tired muscles that had finally given out after a lifetime of fear and caution finally failed him, and the various fluids around him clung to his body and sent the tingle of warmth through his nerves, no pain like one might fear but just a simple soothing sensation that matched the most high class spa ointments. It was still quite the overwhelming experience though, and nothing made a situation like that worse than the lack of awareness or even knowing exactly what was being done to his body or what the dominating presence that now completely owned him's intentions were. The easing sensations of the stomach's feeding process could only do so much, but perhaps they would be more effective, or at least more noticeable, now that he was all tuckered out. In the land of the living, Izzy's predator hummed to himself happily as he slithered up to a familiar tree that towered in his front yard once he'd finally made it home. Following a years long daily tradition, he wrapped his broad snakey body around the wide tree trunk (remembering fondly that when he had first started doing this he couldn't even wrap around a twig from the tree) and murmured in content as he relaxed in the natural scenery. His house was just on the border of an infamously prey infested forest that was under protection, meaning predators couldn't hunt the residents without permission in order to prevent a critical reduction in the population, and one of the main reasons his family was allowed to live so close was, well...cobras were intimidating, so even fewer criminally minded predators would dare break through the reserve zone. An unintentional consequence of such familiarity with the environment was a weird sort of kinship with the aforementioned protected prey critters, so the reptile actually had an impressive number of creatures that were below him on the food chain that he considered to honestly be friends! One such fellow just so happened to plop into the snake's coils as soon as he got comfortable with the reckless ease of trust. The young rabbit was one the snake had a particular fondness for and every other day they had agreed to meet for 'storytime', meaning the cobra would read from his collection of folktales to the illiterate morsel. Today though. it was impossible for the leporine to not notice the new addition to his companions abdominal region, and it obviously raised a couple concerns, but the memory of the events was still a bit too fresh in the predators mind to talk about quite yet, so the rabbit let the topic drop and simply fell back on the well earned trust of his 'superior'. Instead the youth, strangely enough, nuzzled against the still churning bulge that had once been a meek little squirrel and whispered silly prey mutterings to his peer as if this wasn't a sitation at all out of the ordinary, simply explaining how the story they had slated to be read today was one he had been looking forward to for quite some time.

Isaac Shadetail: As Izzy was churned about in his living prison cell, he struggled to even keep up his pitiful little noises; it was difficult for his sounds to make it out when they kept getting muffled by the predator's ever churning belly! The squirrel was in sort of a different world inside of the predator's gut; it was as if the snake himself was completely removed from the situation and his predicament became being in a belly in general, not necessarily being in a snake's belly in particular. None of those details mattered anymore - he was food and that was the issue. Everything else was secondary and the furthest thing from the rodent's mind as he was squished about in the stomach. The squirrel just let himself get churned, surrendering to the powerful organ all around him, letting it do whatever it wanted with him. He had no way to stop it anyway and even if he knew how to do it, with his body exhausted he had not the means to execute such a plan. Tears were still trickling down the squirrel's face though it was difficult to differentiate the tears from the saliva and stomach fluids and his supply of tears was almost beginning to dry up completely. The poor squirrel had cried so much in the past little while that he was honestly in danger of running out. It was mighty difficult to tell the difference between the stomach feeding off of him and the snake's actual physical movements and the squirrel had stopped caring long ago. He was still in a mental state that only prey knew, a sort of PTSD of getting eaten; a mixture of sadness, shock, hopelessness, defeat, and all other kinds of negative emotions. Izzy let out a squeak when he felt a sudden pressure pushing down on the stomach, completely unaware that a fellow prey creature had joined his predator, their words being nearly impossible to make out over the constant churning of the belly and the ever present soundtrack of gurgles and glorps it made as it feasted on the rodent. The squirrel twitched as he felt the flesh over him ripple softly once again as the rabbit nuzzled the bulge he made in his friend's belly, the bunny's words (the ones he could make out, at least) confusing the squirrel. Again, though, Izzy was far too busy sulking in a difficult to describe emotion (even though it had been hours since his consumption) to really grant that much thought to what was happening. His first day as snake food was proving to be quite a traumatic experience.

randomfox12245: The snake was oblivious to the inherently preyish worries tormenting his meal, but even through layers of scales and pudge the rabbit could almost feel what his kin was going through. And really it had to have been an awful experience mentally, no matter your mindset going in. Without much of an idea for how he could help ease the entrapped squirrel's pain. the bunny simply rubbed over the active stomach, such activity causing it to cease its constant feeding frenzy to enjoy the attention and bring the chamber some actual peace and relative quiet aside from the odd burble from the various stomach fluids. Anything said from outside the chamber was still not very clear and had to echo through a couple good layers to reach Izzy's ears, but with such a satisfied tummy the snake's words at least made it through clearly, give or take a couple reverberations off the walls. It made sense at least, but felt rather creepy, like the walls were talking on their own. As it was though, the concerns of a devoured rodent were the furthest thing from the predator's mind, and he simply pulled out his big-book-of-tales from his backpack and thumbed through to the particular story he was to read for his little belly-rubbing friend today, every word of the dictation resounding nice and clear for the unhappy little squirrel. It must have been somewhat unnerving to hear life continuing on uninterrupted even without him being there. It's a dehumanizing feeling to know the world continues to turn without one's presence, but even that was a pitiful distraction to the telling of the story. These tales had endured hundreds of years after originally being written for a reason after all, and this one in particular had an oddly familiar tone to it. The cadence of the words, the point of view chosen to reflect the events, the somber tone...it almost seemed like someone of the preyish persuasion could have written it. But that was close to an impossibility, no one would take a story written by prey seriously even if some creative critter could find the time between fearing for their life to learn to write it, and yet this story had simply been written so long ago the possibility existed that the species of the author was forgotten by time, which even the snake admitted was impenetrable for someone like him, but had the rabbit simply enraptured. Surreal didn't even begin to describe...

Isaac Shadetail: His throat sore from whimpering and crying, Izzy was left to squeak sadly as he simply existed as food. That was all he had left to do after all, that was the only thing he would be doing from now on - be food. Everything else in life over, he would now spend the rest of his time simply existing in a place, that place being the cramped belly of a predator. His list of potential activities had been reduced to one: be this snake's meal and he was succeeding in this task by simply existing. Suddenly, though, a very strange feeling crept over Izzy's soul as he felt the oddest thing happen. He had felt that all too familiar rippling motion of the stomach he was in being caressed, at first not sparing it much thought, but soon lifting his head slightly to look around the darkness in confusion and slight fear. In gradual steps, the belly surrounding him that had been squeezing and kneading at the little rodent since he first took the plunge into the snake's gullet began to slow down and stop a little like a washing machine shutting off, the gears left to spin on inertia alone for a while before they eventually came to a complete and total stop. Eventually, the belly became still and the frantic pace at which it had been feeding on the squirrel slowed to a complete stop. Confused and a little scared at what was going on, Izzy looked around (causing little swishing movements to roll across the predator's tummy as he turned his head about) as he tried to figure out what was happening. Suddenly, the squirrel flinched slightly at the realization that he could now hear the words reverberating all around him much better, although still understandably muffled as the sound passed through thick snake flesh to reach the squirrel's ears. At first, he was terrified. All of the sudden, he almost felt on display, as if there were suddenly dozens of people around him, able to see the little bulge he made. Embarrassed at having been caught and eaten, the squirrel sunk away from the voices at first, mental images of the huge crowd of predators that had taunted him in the cafeteria flashing through his head. The squirrel had yet to realize that the other voice he was hearing was coming from a fellow prey, his frazzled mind painting a terrifying picture of what kind of creature it could be. Regardless, the belly ceasing its frantic feeding was a huge step in the squirrel calming down somewhat from his horrifying experience, though he still was very grief-striken and sorrowful.

randomfox12245: The rabbit was pleased to feel, beneath the layers of snake stomach he was rubbing, the third member of their little group had finally calmed down...somewhat. It was hard to tell, but something about his aura had changed for the better. Eventually the story had come to an end just as sunset loomed over them and the rabbit let the post story giddiness flow through him as he melted into the snakes coils. Such utter uncompromising trust this prey showed in someone who shouldn't even acknowledge him as a person was an unbelievable notion that it wasn't hard to see why Izzy was so convinced he was simply being shown off or being subject to other predators congratulating his predator on putting the squirrel in his proper place. After all the cobra's family were predators as well (duh) so perhaps they were the ones subjecting him to such stomach-stilled torment. Something about the bunny's voice, as it echoed through the soggy chamber of the stomach, just didn't seem malicious enough to fall in line with those horrific fantasies though, and as more attention was focused on the rodent through layers of snake belly, things became even more confusing. The voice of the cobra reverberated off the walls once more, words of concern ringing in his ears as even through the haze of fear, it was unmistakably his predator, the very being he resided inside of as food at that very moment. "You okay in there?" As if it was hard enough for him to understand anything beind said from inside a stomach, his frazzled mindset certainly wasn't helping anything. The second voice was unfamiliar, and unknown to the squirrel came from the rabbit, though from his perspective it could have been anyone or anything. "Izzy's a funny name you know. If I were you I'd be really scared, you know...being eaten and all." That certainly didn't help, but it did raise the question of why a predator would even contemplate the possibility of ever being eaten, causing even more confusion. Poor Izzy. And on top of that, the lack of belly rubs was starting to encourage the belly to 'wake up' again as it were, though even after such a spirited rub down it wouldn't be as vigorous as before, seeing as how it already gotten as many nutrients as it needed from the squirrel by now and at this point was simply acting out its role due to formalities.

Isaac Shadetail: Oddly enough, the predator's words as he read the story were somewhat soothing despite everything about that being really topsy-turvey. Though the sound (and feeling) of the snake's voice reverberating all around him was a very succinct yet powerful reminder that he was currently inside of a pred's stomach, there was something about the timbre of his voice that calmed the squirrel down a little bit more. Of course, he still thought he was in the middle of being shown off and was serving as a vital piece of the predator's demonstration to whomever he was talking to that he was the superior creature in the equation of snake versus squirrel. Shaking weakly in renewed fear, the little squirrel gently nuzzled the nearest belly wall as the predator recited the story, desperate for any kind of affection and comfort he could get his paws on. He thought back to when the snake had held him momentarily in the moments leading up to his consumption and found himself longing to be back in that moment. He would even be willing to put himself through being eaten all over again if it meant he could experience that just once more. Shifting and fidgeting about, Izzy curled up into a little ball, hugging his tail close to him, tiny little noises of anguish still squeaking from his lungs, most likely not even audible to the two creatures on the outside. Izzy wouldn't respond to the snake's question at first, not even considering the possibility that the predator was talking to him. Why would he be speaking to him after all? He was just food in the pred's belly now, why would he even think to grant him the recognition? As the muffled words finally registered (the rabbit's words following shortly), though, Izzy realized that the question had actually been directed at him and his eyes widened at the thought. It had to be directed at him, after all - the phrase 'in there' marking it as something that could only be answered by the one of the three of them currently sealed up in something warm, tight, and squishy. Izzy panicked slightly at first, at a loss as to what to say and also fearing that he wouldn't be able to get his voice to work. As silly as it sounds, he was actually still afraid the snake was going to hurt him if he did the wrong thing. How exactly he was going to do this without hurting himself as well in the process was left on the cutting room floor of Izzy's mind as it swam with fear and emotion. After several tries, the words at first stopping short of his mouth and ending up as just pitiful little squeaks, Izzy managed to get the words out, his voice cracking and squeaky.

"...p...p-p-please...p-please l-l-let me o-out, M-M-Mister P-Predator...I...I..."

The squirrel's words petered out as his throat was sealed shut by emotion, the rodent choking on his words. He didn't really know how to finish the sentence he had started anyway, so it probably was for the better. The squirrel was gently forced to uncurl as the belly once again began its churning, though thankfully not as energetically as before.

randomfox12245: The rabbit couldn't hold back a chuckle at what they heard the stomach's occupant say. "Mr. Predator?" he giggled, receiving a friendly swat in return from the snake as they both found the frightened Izzy highly amusing, in a morbid kind of way. It only took a few moments for the rabbit in particular to feel pretty bad about laughing over it though, after all his fellow food group was in there stewing in his own confusion and fear; it couldn't have been as fun for him as it was for them. "Izzy, you should relax! You got prime predator real estate here; Skipper is one of the nicest carnivores around!" The cobra rolled his eyes at the nickname, but felt a small swelling of pride at the rest of the complement regardless, especially since he knew the bunny probably held him in at least a small bit of contempt for devouring another living critter, no matter the circumstances. "I'm sure if he could let you out he would, but biology is kinda a bitch like that." At that the leporine actually hugged around the little belly bulge of a squirrel, though it might not feel like that from the inside, the affectionate action still radiated the warmth of the tender grace in which it was offered, and if nothing else the snake found it absolutely adorable. "I know you don't have any way of trusting me or anything, but just take my word for it: I'm a cute tasty little bunny rabbit, and Skipper's never even laid his hungry eyes on me. Or any of the other preys that live around here." the fact that Izzy would have no way of knowing where 'here' was didn't dawn on the youth, "so I'm sure whatever made him gobble you up was a good reason. Just don't act so scared, okay? It makes me feel bad." Finally, the serpent had enough of the faux cutesy act and flicked the rabbit off his stomach, leaving the little ball of fur to bounce away giggling, before he applied a couple comforting rubs over his own stomach to get the squirrel's attention. "There is a way to let you out, little guy, but...that just isn't gonna happen any time soon. Sorry." As the sun dipped out of sight and gave way to twilight, the playful little flat foot waved farewell to his reptilian cohort before bouncing off to his own home, leaving the snake to nod to himself and begin slithering off to his room. "I have some homework to do, so I'd appreciate it if you didn't spaz out so much and be distracting; I got some classical music I can play for you though if you want. You like the piano and stuff, right? That can be nice and distracting for you..."

Isaac Shadetail: The squirrel winced and squirmed a little as the snake's friend (and the snake himself, although Izzy had no way of knowing this) seemed to extract a good deal of amusement from his pitiful little plea for freedom. The words and laughter stung, the little rodent whining softly as the stomach resumed its motion, the little guy once again getting tossed about and unable to settle in what could be considered a reasonably comfortable position. Nothing was comfortable in there - everything inside him was screaming with all its might that this was a bad place to be and somewhere he should try to escape at all costs. Though that offered plenty of incentive, it offered very little in the way of practical ideas for actually escaping his containment so he was once again left to simply lie there in the snake's belly, forced to allow it to have its way with him like the scrap of food that he was. As the snake's companion spoke, Izzy briefly found himself wondering who he was talking about. Who was this predator he referred to as "Skipper" and what did he have to do with... It took a moment for Izzy to realize that he was talking about the creature he was currently inside of. For some reason, Izzy had a lot of trouble putting that name with the face of the owner of the belly he was currently curled up in. He didn't know what he had expected the pred's name to be, but it certainly wasn't that. It was somewhat of an ironic nickname for a snake and it was a very bizarre feeling for Izzy to have a name to now go with the terrifying creature that had gobbled him up without a second thought. Just as Izzy was figuring all of this out, he suddenly felt the belly walls squeeze around him once again as the bunny hugged the lump he made in the snake's abdomen, squeaking slightly in mild panic. Another squeak was quick to sound in response to the rabbit nonchalantly revealing his species, causing the squirrel to flinch in surprise. You mean, that was a rabbit the entire time? A fellow prey critter who was just as liable to become food as any other of his squirrelly kin? It was quite a shock to realize that what he had thought was some kind of horrible, taunting predator had in actuality been a little bunny the entire time. For a moment, Izzy almost squeaked out a panicked warning for the rabbit to run while he still had a chance - he didn't want the little bunny to get eaten too. Just as he jumped to issue his 'warning' however, he was greeted with a rather disturbing fact. So...this predator had made 'friends' with prey...he had not even given a hungry look to, let alone tried to devour this rabbit or any other prey critter around him...but he /had/ eaten him? This was so unfair! Every other prey in this predator's life had gotten a free pass and a chance to call a big, powerful reptilian predator 'friend'. Izzy, though, had the chance for the aforementioned predator to call him 'lunch' instead. As the rabbit was forced off of the predator and off to his own home, Izzy whimpered sadly as the only thing he could relate to (a fellow prey) disappeared and he was once again left alone with his predator. Izzy's pathetic little noises threatened to start up yet again as he sniffled sadly at the predator reiterating what had already been confirmed by every sign so far - he wasn't going anywhere. At the offering of music, the squirrel's eyes went wide. Finally, a chance at some comfort! Izzy attempted to answer in the affirmative using his voice, but his vocal chords were still a little too fragile and liable to break in the face of such a task so instead he found himself simply muttering 'please' and nodding his head yes, the movement of the squirrel's head going back and forth causing the bulge to move a little.

randomfox12245: A churr viberated through the stomach as the pleasure from Izzy's movements shot through the serpant, the feeling of a delicious prey moving around in his belly like that triggering plenty of endorphins in his brain; whatever his true feelings were about the whole food chain business, it was hard to ignore the biological reactions that thousands of years of evolution instilled in his predatory make up. He felt tingles just under his scales as he slithered up to his room, the feelings of his snack grinding against the walls of his tummy when it was dormant oddly feeling more euphoric than when it had been feeding on the squirrelly resident.  Finally experiencing it himself, it was little wonder why so few if any preds ever gave up their meals once they devoured them, even if they'd been the rare decent sort to promise they would at some point. The person they had been before consuming their prey might as well have been a completely different person than who they were after as if now, after they'd finally fulfilled their biological need to hunt and consume, they were complete whereas before they were missing that crucal element of themselves only a full belly could provide. With such bliss swimming through the snake's head he hadn't even noticed he'd already made it to his room and had spent a good couple of minutes rubbing over the rodent-y bulge in his stomach. The self realization made him hiss and disgust and push the coils away; if all that was true and this was who he was meant to be as a predator, some mindless pleasure slave to his own internal chemistry that he could only resist when keeping up appearances at school or with his prey friends, then he didn't like it. His time alone, away from having to wear one mask or the other when around others, was supposed to be reserved for how he truly was, and if this new squirrel diet just meant even that would be taken from him then he couldn't get rid of Izzy fast enough. He sighed quietly before pulling the bulgeing part of his coils against him again, tapping at the prey under the layers of scales and pudge to try and get the scared little guy's attention, hoping he could be heard over the natural noises of his body. "Hey, for what it's worth, I am sorry I ate you. I've kinda got...issues. And even if you feel 'really good' in there, I don't want this anymore then you do. It will take a while before my body is ready to let you out though, so just...well...hopefully I can hold out 'til then." He frowned, trying to think of something else to say to comfort the prey inside him, but nothing else really came to mind that wouldn't just terrify the poor thing even more. The snake was rational enough now, but over time the instinctual pleasure he felt from having his little squirrely snack might overwhelm him, and by the time he'd be able to let Izzy out he might not have enough of himself left under the chemical bliss of his own body to want to. But...yeah, Izzy didn't need to know that. False hope was better than none, and he wanted the unlucky little squirrel to at least have that if nothing else by the end of his first day as belly filling. With another defeated sigh the serpent resigned to just flipping through his MP3s and playing some Mozart, an attempt to further sooth his stomach's occupant, while he pulled out some homework. Both of their futures were up in the air now, and if they were lucky they'd both get a happy ending...but nature is rarely that kind.

Isaac Shadetail: Izzy remained unaware that the movements he made inside of the predator were actually serving as a strong source of pleasure for the sated reptile, those kinds of things both not apparent to a prey mind and also too scary for Izzy to willfully ponder. Those were the kinds of thoughts that could surely drive the little squirrel into delirium with fear; everything about you is merely a source of pleasure to a predator, everything you do to try and escape only excites them more. Here he was, completely sealed up in the predator's body totally helpless and defeated and even still, his actions were able to give the pred just a dash of extra pleasure. There was a plethora of movements and jostles as the predator slithered up to his room. For a few moments, Izzy felt almost under attack by the tummy walls that completely surrounded him and, as the snake's slithering slowly turned into the snake's belly-rubbing, it would be kind of difficult to tell the difference. The walls around him rubbed him all over when the snake moved and slithered about, the snake's design making it so that at least one side of the squirrel experienced the somewhat odd sensation of being dragged along the floor but with the added bonus of that feeling being 'muffled' through sake flesh. It was an odd feeling but it was definitely different than the sensations of the belly walls feeding off of him and so he instantly knew when the snake was slithering off somewhere. It was kind of a panic inducing sensation - where was he being taken? In a weird way, his fear was mitigated by the darkness that surrounded him and seemed to cling to him in an effort to assimilate him as simply a part of the snake's body, no longer a separate living being. He was no longer deathly afraid of the snake because in a strange way...the snake was sort of gone. He could no longer see the horrifying serpent; no longer forced to look into those piercing and terrifying reptilian eyes, no longer subject to the feeling of those sharp claws or scaled flesh against his defenseless fur. He was terrified because he was in a stomach, but his fear of the predator himself was greatly diminished by the fact that he was no longer visible...nothing was. If he could both be in the snake's stomach and see him at the same time...now /that/ would be terrifying! As it was, though, the fact that the snake could no longer be seen (to the squirrel anyway) was a welcome side benefit of being swallowed by that very same creature. Of course, Izzy would look into those terrifying eyes as much as he had to if it meant he could stay on the outside. That appeared to be the trade-off, though, and beggars can't be choosers. These thoughts floated through Izzy's head as the predator awoke from his minor stupor and the belly-rubbing sensations ceased. The squirrel jumped slightly when he felt a few light taps on the belly containing him, the act succeeding in getting the rodent's attention. As the predator's muffled words hit him, the squirrel could feel his eyes widen. You mean, there was a chance that this snake was going to let him out after all? He might actually get his wish and be allowed out of this horrible prison? He couldn't believe what he was hearing! Suddenly, the squirrel felt a dim flame of hope begin to glow deep inside. He didn't know what it was at first (his situation had been very hopeless for a long time now, after all) but his exhausted and emotionally shot body and mind reeled in shock at this news. As all of this was swimming around in his head, the squirrel heard the muffled and faint notes of one of his favorite songs begin to cascade down from the open air above the snake's belly. As if suddenly hit by a brick wall at 60 miles an hour, Izzy's mind almost completely stopped. The squirrel went limp and virtually melted into the belly walls around him, the incredibly comforting sound of one of his favorite pieces of music combined with the new twist of a slight chance of being let out of his organic prison cell caused the squirrel's completely exhausted mind and body to finally give in and the rodent fell into a deep sleep. His tired eyes slowly closed, his frantic wiggles finally ceased, and the soft squeak of snoring could just barely be heard if one listened closely enough. The rodent quickly left the land of the lucid, his future a complete question mark even to the creature that would eventually decide it. Sure, the snake was interested in letting the squirrel go but it wasn't that easy. Nature doesn't handle cheaters well and a snake letting a yummy squirrel out of his belly and allow it to return to freedom is exactly that - cheating. That's not the way it should be and if you're in the market for doing such a thing, you have a long and taxing battle ahead of you and it's one that most (if not all) fail in. For the time being, though, the snoring little bulge in the snake's belly maintained at least a little bit of hope. Freedom had been mentioned and that was all it took for the squirrel's mind to become inundated with fantasies of being let out of this horrible containment. Still, though, only time would tell what his ultimate fate would end up being and even though there was now a dash of optimistic hope thrown into the mix of emotions the squirrel was experiencing, nature was not on the side of the little belly-lump that once was a squirrel.