Tame Family


Written by Septia.


“Amid, sweetie, I am home,” I called out as I entered. The door's creaking behind me, buffering the silence which rained through the building. My lips hemmed together in a grimace; hiding my concern from my own expression. As I scaled out of my jacket, my ears remained sharp. Perhaps, perhaps my boy was just out seeing some friends? It was fairly early in the afternoon still, what mother could blame her child for wanting to associate with those his age? As the seconds passed, my breath ceased, concentration funnelled to picking up even the faintest sound… 
	-Grroouf- -Vhoourfff-. 
	-Hhhssssssrrss-. 
	“-Mmfwrgg-. Mfmwf fmwpggh.” 
	Once my heart begun to beat once more, it had sunk down to my chest. As much as I had hoped, there came the muffled groans of human and animal alike from my son's room. With a hand against my forehead I alleviate some strain with a sigh, and decide to stick to the lo bottom floor, inviting some semblance of peace. 


Opening the refrigerator, I was greeted by spars shelves and plastic clad leftovers tucked into neat rows, “So, didn't have lunch today either?” I said whilst restocking the shelves. The desolate nature of the cabinet was not by accident, for nearly a week now I had slimmed my groceries. Due to Amid’s… situation. He still ate, at times, though, he often mentioned how he was already sufficiently… stuffed. At which point I would prefer to avoid further details. This, at least, we seemed to share. I held up a carton of yogurt, staring. On its cover amidst clean colour patterns in an abstract melange, was the silhouette of a quadruped. My lips twisted into a grimace. 
	“W-wait, Andrake, h-hang on justm fmsmwmpfpwhgh, Ffrmsg.” -Dmmfmfth- 
	I heard my son's voice through the insulation, dampened with a thud of furred flesh… A quiver of discomfort manifested along my spine, as if it had always been there, waiting. With a quiver, I honed back on the task at hand, though there were only so many chores which could prove distraction from the reality I found myself in… 


“MGF, f smpahaa. Ahha. E-easy… b-bfoymgmnff…” 
	I froze. Teeth pinching my lower lip. I was just passing by his room… They seemed… quite busy in there. Instinctively, I reached for the door handle. 
	-Ftwhmmfp- in doing so, dropping an array of laundry on the ground. I tucked it back, holding the cloth still… 
	“Mmfgm mgpghs.” 
	-Ahhorooooo-. It appears I went unnoticed. My eyes panned between the our cleaned clothes, piled on the floor, and the door, behind which I heard our gaggle of animals congregate upon my son… Two weeks. How had it already been two weeks? When something like this happens, you do not expect for life to just, continue. When there is a wide, unresolved issue slapped right in the middle of your livelihood, how are you supposed to just… live with it? It feels as if, time should relax, give us a break, to sort this out. If only. 
	“Mmgmrm gmpd. Whhggw.” 
	What really weighed on me was… these weren't pleasant noises I heard, behind that gate. I knew Amid's joy, and this wasn't it. So, why did he let it continue? Why would he allow himself to be… frankly, abused this way? 
	“Mmo -Gmhhrrllpsk- “Ohaa. Paha. oo-oh, husse's mfms, g-gettingmfms, o-ok, d-dears, o-one at a time.” 
	That tremor along my back again… A chilled streak of slime drawn straight across my very soul… Yet… I neared the door, standing close, my ear to the wood. So far, there had been tiny scrapes at most, my boy sustaining no more scraps and cuts than would be expected of an animal handler. Yet… It sounded, so rough. I just… I had to make sure, that he was still okay. 


~


“Pha. Ha…aha…” I huffed out with my breath caught in my throat; seeing it was no longer stuffed with excrement… I took a few moments to gather myself, fill my lungs with air not filtered through fur. I hoisted myself up seated, seeing Andrake sauntering off with his pucker winking, with a squeal of my saliva. The proud hound lounging, satisfied, down by the latest admission into our little family: a shy Spitz named Portia. She arched her head away form the larger black dog as he leaned in, though kept her eyes towards me, fascination in her eyes. 
	“H-hey Portia, you Fleming mfms…” I huffed as a tautness wrung around my throat. There was Quetzal, his pale banana scales tucked to my throat, as the ball python wrapped up towards my cheek, as if nuzzling, flicking his tongue by my cheek in a smooth tickle.. 
	“Quetzal, just, give husse a fmfms mopish,” I gargled out whilst the snake dipped his tail past my lips, and I kept my tellies parted as to not constrict his tail. 
	-Chfrlrpshsa- I could hear the grind of muck through the snake, feel his tail budding and prod against my molars as the bulk wormed its way through. Quetzal peering my way at the tautness, as if accusing me of being unable to hold his muck filled end section comfortably. “S-srhory,” I mumbled before -Fllrthhths- a spray of urine misted my maw, a pungency of charcoal and dust bunnies matting my throat, as the onslaught of cloudy python vinegar muddled my maw and those egregious thick mud dunes began to pry free of the reptile's rear, stuffing its tail deeper to make me nurse its hind whilst it deposited its sewage. 
	With the putrid aura dominating my maw I attempted to shift my mind towards anything else. Like… how my throat collar was doing wonders. Despite how tight Quetzal clung to me, the collar dispersed his press and alleviated pressure that would otherwise dig into my skin. This made it much easier… to… serve as my pet snake's toilet, and have him choke my neck whenever he wanted… Was this really where I had come to in my life? Looking around at the dogs and cats and pets occupying my room, all signs pointed to it… By this point, they all had some way of accessing my room, so they had someplace to do their business. Even if I had offered litter boxes and walks and more, it seemed pointless. Why use an outhouse, when you had a premium husse toilet? -Gllfmgk- I swallowed a hunk of Quetzal's snake sludge, gumming to other residue in my throat, the flavor lingering, plastered into my tastebuds. At least, they were all, happy. And despite the way it looked, they all really cared for me, I felt closer to them than I ever had a few weeks back, so, I would just have to bear the downsides, no matter how it… appeared. 
	My eyebrows furrowed. Whilst the rancid funk of snake piss drained with dunes of sludge down my throat, and wiggling it sways up through my nostrils, I begun to think of mother. It had been, difficult to break the news to her. Even if, she was well aware at that point. I didn't exactly choose to tell her, it was more… I had to explain myself. I wish I could have explained it better. But, she seemed to eventually understand, that despite neither of us being particularly, satisfied, with this arrangement, it was how things were now. It… really struck me how soon she… gave up trying… Tears budded in the corners of my eyes. Possibly from the sour, salty tang invading my mouthspace. Today, I would eat dinner together again, it didn't matter how stuffed I was, I'd enjoy some of her cooking, it would at least wash out the taste of… But, glancing down at my gut, I saw how the upper gut, protruded. Billowed forth as my stomach laid clogged in an exotic array of manure. Bloating out my middle like a sack of apples. But… dinner would fit, somehow. -Ghrhhg- My gut growled, retracting in a clench that solidified the weight in my guts. At times, I really felt like nothing more than the garbage compressor for my pets, everything passing through their guts, passed through mine as well. I took in a deep breath around Quetzal's tail, aiding with swallowing the sausages of well compacted snake clay. Quetzal sure processed a lot of dung for such a python. Though, at least it wasn't Anya, a Burmese python's sludge was enough to give me constipation, even with all the… practice, my rear end had gotten over the past while. 
	-Fllsththshta- Quetzal withdrew his tail, hissing in satisfaction. Easing his grip of my throat. “Thank yohou…” I mused muffled under his body, and lead him off towards his little terrarium with my arm. He was dutiful and loyal, all our pets were, giving me more weight to the fact that, whatever this could be called, this, hierarchy of servitude, would work: with my neck and maw free once more, my eyes fall on Portia. 
	‘He's husse is looking at me again,' Portia indicated. 
	'He thinks it is your turn,' answered Andrake. 
	'He does not smell eager, though he engaged with all of us, perhaps it wouldn't be so bad.' The spitz thought. 
	'Soo smooth and malleable,' hissed the snake from across the room. 
	“Craawk. Keep licking me. Keep Licking me.” Markson the parrot spoke in agreement. 
	'Perhaps I will. Though, using husse for a toilet.' 
	The big black dog nuzzled in against her, his long scruff swabbing through her stark orange coat. 'Relax, easy and fun, best husse.' He ensured. 
	'Mrr, see maybe.' Portia thought, and rose. 


~


I swallowed. Portia shuffling towards me with their ears peaked. I raised my hands. “Ok, Portia, it is alright, do not feel you have to,” I tried to plead to her. We had known each other for just over half a week, and so far she'd been hesitant. Perhaps, one of our pets did not have to see me as their-. 
	-Fmmdnf- My back clapped back to the floor as the canine sauntered up on my chest, pinning me to the ground as she swirled to cosy up her hind on my neck. 
	Or, perhaps, it was just a pipedream of this drainage system. The orange fuzz shifted as the cheeks sought their way yo to my face, grinding a thin coat of grease over my chin before the hind planted down my mouth, pucker oscillating as her tail swept over my face.
	“Ripoff fmspghsg,” I huffed out looking up with wide eyes towards the big pup… though her attention laid focused elsewhere, ears twitching and face compressed. -Crlrpfhhcbfhhgstsh- The brim budged under the bulk of bowel ballast, breaking through the pucker to bowl a bellow of smog down my throat, saturating my mouth with a sense of toasted gravel and pickled soot, before the canine's brim bent around an engorged serving of doggy chocolate, one she'd been sitting on for days… 
	“Mmff mwfpghs,” I huffed out as the muck radiated foul air through my nostrils and down my maw, as Portia's rear lips peeled off the mighty bale of mulch. Though, looking up over the tower of dog occupying my vision, I could see her ears folding back, and the satisfied huffing announcing a dripple of drool from her muzzle. 
	If I couldn't keep her from it, at least… I could make her happy. So I left my maw open, but eyes closed, as Portia relinquished a bale of partially molten, doughy doggy chocolate to slough down my neck, stuffing my guts in yet more globs of animal gut gruel… 


~


I pulled away form the door, eyes lingering on the ground ahead, shaking my head. Even if it felt, so wrong, even if I knew it wasn't right, even if I knew Amid struggled. He was, still trying so hard, and… and I couldn't just… I… couldn't… The clean laundry fell into a pile at my feet, all the strength in my arms vacant. Clinging them together, I shuffled off, drawing in a breath of phlegm whilst I escaped to the bedroom. I lumbered over to the bed and felt the tickles of tears and discomfort crash in waves along my face and up the bridge of my nose. 
	“Mffns fmsngs. pha…” I wheezed, hoarse by the air and vapor crowing my throat. My heart, sunken so far, I could barely sense it in my chest. I had to reassure myself it was there, clasping my chest to feel it beating, as a tether of snot drooled from my nostril, followed by rivers of saltwater. How I wish he wouldn't hear my cry… me standing against him on this, would only make it more difficult for him. I didn't wish to bring any further ill on my dear boy than he was already struggling with… so. It was better I left him alone, wept in silence, met him with the most supportive indifference I could muster… steadily… growing further apart… day by day. I looked down my palms as droplets of tears tickled down, running down between my fingers.. 
	-Dmmft-. 
	I peered up at a soft thud. Pasha was standing at the threshold to my room. The brown bunny Sasha tilting her head, so her eye met my gaze. 
	“Oh… Hey, Sasha, you out of your cage?” I said. 
	The bunny shuffled inside to sniff my hand. Soon joined by our white rabbit, Pasha, who sought to to be with their sister. 
	“You want to cheer me up?” I asked. The bunnies peered at me. Warmth nestled in their gaze. Despite everything, I had to admit, all our pets had been well-behaved, calm, caring and litter requiring little maintenance. That ease in a way that would have stuck me as creepy, I was not aware of the underlying reasons. As it stood, I was just preferring not to think about it. I hoisted the bunnies up into m lap, brushing down their coat of floof, as they flicked their ears and nuzzled me gently. They sure were an adorable pair. Soft, cuddly… plump… With, surprisingly thick bunny buns. I nibbled on my lip. That, felt inappropriate to think of a couple of bunnies. Then again, was it so bad to just, appreciate them for what they were? Perhaps, that is what the other animals thought when they looked at-… And that's about as far as I got before my mind practically shut down, locking me out form continuing that line of reasoning. I placed down the bunnies, and slumped back into bed, sprawled wide on the neat blankets to let those thoughts simply wash off of me. It had all been, just a bit too much. 
	-Ddmpfth- “Oofmgms, phaa, huh?” I huffed out, a weight resting on my chest. -Dmmdht- And now near my throat. I Swallowed, as that plump patch of fluff swept up against my face. 
	“O-ooh n-no sno no.” I said, shaking my head, shuffling Sasha's hind off of my face, but Pasha soon propped up my head by their side, as Pasha hopped back up, and I felt a grind of their cheeks spreading a thin, malodorous grease on my face… I pinched my lips taut. Still in shock and distress, my arms refused to yield to my whims, and soon… -Fppfht- It stunk of lawnmower clipping and toasted hay… … a smog which crept up my face and hooked its way down my nostrils. “Fmmfwpgs.” I squealed, though breathing with my mouth was… out of the question… -Slcpghh- -Cplggh- Clrpgbgsksl- A squelch of filth trickled out of the bun's behind, the cheeks dropping out tooth sized pebbles of thick fudge, each one 's dimensions made disgustingly clear to me as it piled up on my lips. A molehill of raw dung being deposited on my face. How… why would… how could… I had known these bunnies their whole life. I had cared for them every day I could. Was this… was this my thanks for raising them? At this point, Sasha was balancing on my face, and a pinch of worry ran through my veins, I didn't want her to fall. I just, had to endure for a little bit, then she'd hop off, and I could-. 
	-Dmmfpfs- Pasha made his way up on my head, a fuzzy coat sweeping across my face, a hundred thousands hairs invading my nose, tickling. My cheeks inflated, strain rippling through my body. I had to breathe, I had to breathe I had to get these bunnies off of me, I just… needed to-… -Bphhaawwaaahwo-. 


~


'Feels comfy.' 
	Comfier than husse'?' 
	'Comfy.' 
	'Comfy is good.' 
	'Was slight worried, it wouldn't go away, but, it is working now.' 
	'Comfy?' 
	'Comfy,' The bunnies agreed, crowding up on Zenia's face, rearing into a pair of puff balls, rump to rump hanging over Zenia's mouth, gradually filling up with an onslaught of bunny pellets. 


~


It was everywhere, the raw festering vinaigrette of pickled sewage and dirt engrossing my maw. The pellets melting and caking the walls of my cheeks, their little hind paws dipped down my maw, prying my mouth open, keeping it wedged on display for them despite the cargo of their bowels. All I could taste was the putrid, foul brine of wilted dung. The experience diving me head first into a sack of fertilizer. I was reminded of my gardens, in a ghastly attempt to avoid reality I fled to a memory of Sasha and Pasha nibbling on leaves in my garden, how I had scolded them, but how could I remain mad at a pair of adorable goofballs like them… how could… could I… I couldn't, my tearducts unlocked, streams of distress winding their way down my stormy head and soaking into the covers. 


An onslaught of pellets clogged my maw, plying in shape around my teeth and down my throat, the tactile texture of heated putty contaminating my maw. Infecting my sense of taste and scrubbing off any sense of cleanliness, until my tongue was a welcome mat for a swamp… and the bunnies just… sat there, staring at me, with their warm eyes… 


~ 1 ~


“Phhe mpfhsh apsha, phaa.” I spat out the pellets into a flower vase, my saliva giving the clumps of molten pellets a glistening air to sheen… The knoll of sludge on the earth hammering in one thought through my head: 'there was so much more than that. That can't be all. I must have s-… swa-…' I tried to compose myself, door shut behind me after I have lead the bunnies back out, which they had been, quite amicable in. My throat still coated in a balm of liquid pungency… hyperventilating, as if each breath wasn't enough, as if the next one wouldn't also be tainted by the emissions of betrayal…as if this was all… 
	-Kndn- -Kdnndk- There came a knock at the door. “Mom, sorry I didn't say hi when you came home. Hope work was okay.” 
	My son's voice. An oasis of comfort, and a reminder of reality. 
	“I would, really like it if we could have dinner together.” 
	There was no trick, or ill intent, it was just my son's voice, the same, sweet voice. Despite everything. I took in a deep breath. 
	“Sounds wonderful, I'll be down shortly, do not wait up.”