A splash breaks the quiet, late-afternoon ambiance at the lake near town, an otter surfacing and climbing out onto the bank after having had a nice swim. Mal wipes the water from his face and shakes his matted fur before drying off with a towel, catching his breath while patting his belly. He's quite happy with his catch today; he nabbed two carp and a trout, and they felt quite nice in his tummy before giving him tons of energy to swim while practicing his underwater spells!
But a rumble sounds from his gut, making Mal pause his rubs. The fish were nice, but they've long since digested away, and their energy has been used up with all he's done. Besides, he's ready for dinner proper now.
He puts on his white shirt and navy-blue bottoms before carefully sliding on his electric-blue mage robes, and after dusting himself off, he decides to head into town, wondering what might take his fancy for his evening meal.
Making his way to the main road, the otter spots several different shops and numerous folks of all shapes and sizes wandering about. A few of them recognize him and give him a friendly wave before going about their business. Mal returns the gestures, but his mind is set on food, and he looks at the various offerings, trying to decide what he's most in the mood for.
He finds himself heading at first to a familiar restaurant – Salem's Seafood Shack. As an otter, he's rarely ever not in the mood for seafood, and even though he had some live fish while swimming, he reckons he'd enjoy something more professionally prepared.
But before he gets there, his nose twitches as he catches the scent of something sweet in the air. Discreetly, the otter casts a spell of clairvoyance, allowing him to spot the source of the fruity aroma, and the spell highlights not a store or even someone's food, but a passerby – It tells him that the distinct scent of strawberries is coming from an anthropomorphic housecat walking nearby!
Mal tilts his head, subtly moving closer to the cat while sniffing deeper, and sure enough, he confirms that the black-furred, white-striped feline is the source of the sweet smell in the air!
Immediately, the otter decides to skip the seafood shack. He's found something better.
At first, he silently observes the feline – They're male and a bit over six feet tall; a little more than two feet taller than him. But their size won't be a problem for what he's planning.
The cat is wearing a plain purple t-shirt and navy-blue sweatpants; his long, striped tail sways idly as he walks along, unaware he's being watched. He stops at a street vendor and buys a cup of mixed fruit before breaking from the main road down a side alley, evidently taking a shortcut to his destination.
Perfect for the mage to make his move.
Ducking out of sight from any potential onlookers, Mal closes his eyes and focuses, preparing a specific spell. His webbed hand-paws glow with a blue aura as he mutters an incantation, before he casts the glowing energy towards the cat!
The feline freezes as the spell hits him, and he lets out a yelp before seemingly vanishing from sight. But as the otter quickly steps over, he finds the cat's clothes in a pile on the ground – And amid the pile is the cat themselves, looking as dazed and disoriented as one might expect of someone having suddenly been shrunken from six-foot-one down to a mere six inches tall!
"Gah… What the…"
Mal grins. He knows the feline isn't going to get away. He kneels down to him and speaks softly. "My, are you alright?"
The cat shakes his head, speaking in a quiet, effeminate voice. "I… I think so… I, uh… I'm tiny, all of a sudden…"
The otter chuckles. "So it seems. Any idea what might have caused this? Who might have wanted you to be… Snack-sized? Also, what should I call you? Tidbit, perhaps?"
Shaking his head again, the feline tries to get his bearings, looking up at the huge otter – Apparently missing his specific choice of words. "I'm… I'm Lysergia, or Ly for short…" He sighs softly. "And… No, I… I mean, I don't think I've upset anyone, certainly not enough to warrant this…"
A snort escapes Mal as he gently picks the cat up in his paw. "Maybe it wasn't a retaliatory attack, you know? Maybe it was for some… Other purpose…" He takes a deep sniff of the feline, slowly licking his lips. "Mmm… After all, you do smell quite tasty… Do you reckon someone may have been… Hungry?"
As if on cue, a rumble sounds out from Mal's belly, enough to catch Ly's attention. His expression falls as he looks up at the otter, whose own expression narrows in a predatory grin.
"Because I can certainly think of someone who'd fit that description…"
The cat's eyes widen in fear. "You… You don't mean…"
But the otter nods. "Oh yes, I do mean." He leans close, letting out his tongue and dragging it slowly along the feline's front half – Shivering as he finds the cat tastes even better than he smells. "Ohh yeah, that settles it; you're going to be my dinner."
Ly sputters, attempting to wipe the slimy drool off of him, before he responds to Mal's words. "B-But… But I… I don't want to be eaten; I've got things I need to-"
Mal laughs, gently poking the feline on the nose with a finger. "If you didn't want to be eaten, you shouldn't have gone out smelling and tasting like food! Really, a scent like that; you were just asking to be packed away inside my belly. And who am I to deny you what you so clearly want?"
Without waiting for him to reply, the otter presses Ly against his belly, which growls eagerly for the food nearby. "Listen – My stomach wants you inside. It's even calling out to you!"
The cat struggles between the paw and the shirt, fighting to get some room to breathe, which only makes Mal giggle.
"Oooh, we love a squirmer! I hope you wiggle like that when you're inside me!"
He pulls Ly back from his gut up to his face, grinning as the feline shifts in his paw. Slowly, he parts his mouth nice and wide, letting the cat look inside the fleshy cavern – Beyond the sharp teeth, he sees the wiggling tongue, rough palate, soft velum, and pulsing throat all on display.
All ready to have him.
The cat shudders at the imposing sight, stammering out "P-Please… D-Don't..-"
"Hm?" Mal asks, smirking. "Please don't wait any longer? You got it!"
Ly yelps softly as he's quickly stuffed about halfway into the otter's mouth, the jaws resting at his midsection. Thankfully, Mal seems to have no interest in biting him – After all, he did hint he wanted the cat to squirm!
And squirm, he does – Even if he knows it's useless to try, he can't seem to help himself from holding on to the vain hope he'll wriggle free (and survive the fall, and that the otter would just let him leave, and so on).
The otter, though, lets out a quiet moan of pure delight as he feels the cat's wiggles, taking a moment to just enjoy those struggles against his tongue. Everything about this is beyond amazing – Catching a cat is always a treat in itself, but one that tastes this delectable, and squirms this nicely?
Absolute heaven.
He slowly drags his tongue along the feline's upper body, taking in those wonderful fruity flavors. Ly tastes better than any dessert he's ever had – Mal can't get enough! He places a digit on the cat's lightly kicking paws, gently inching him deeper into his maw so he can suckle on him like a lollipop while swallowing down the copious amounts of strawberry-flavored saliva pooling in his mouth.
For Ly, this means he's being brought closer and closer to that rippling gullet flexing just in front of him, eager to swallow more than just drool. Though he tries to pull himself away from it, Mal's mouth and paw both are too strong to resist; he soon finds his head slipping over the back of the otter's tongue and into the squishing grip of the esophagus – Idly flexing for now while the otter continues his tasting, but the cat knows that will change any moment.
Sure enough, as much as Mal is enjoying sucking on his treat, his belly's impatient rumbles grab his attention, and he reluctantly raises his head, tilting back slowly, before taking a deep Glllck!
The cat tenses as he's tugged a few inches into the otter's gullet, squeezed tightly by the esophageal muscles, preventing him from doing anything more than wiggling in place and kicking his paws. But a second, powerful Glllp! takes away even that point of movement, and one last Gulllp! pushes the feline all the way into Mal's esophagus, sending the squirming treat on his way to sate the otter's hunger.
Mal shivers after taking that final swallow, placing his paw on the sizable bulge in his neck. A huff and a whine escape him as he feels the wriggling feline being pushed through his esophagus, the peristaltic contractions of muscles working him deeper and deeper towards his waiting belly. "Mnnh…"
It feels like nearly a full minute of squelching through that tight, squishy tunnel of slick muscle, Ly finding himself surrounded by the thumping of the otter's excited heartbeat and deep, elated breathing, but he soon presses against a tight sphincter that readily gives way, dropping him into that eager stomach!
"Oooh… There you go… Hahh… Such a good treat… Right where you belong…"
The cat pants softly, catching his breath as he's deposited within the otter's belly. The air in here smells heavily of fish, as one might expect – Not all that terrible, all things considered. But it's still far from being the most ideal place for him to be, as far as he's concerned.
Using his feline night vision, Ly looks around the cramped chamber, finding little more than the folded rugae of the stomach walls, the two sphincters at either end that are sealed firmly shut, and the pool of stomach fluids and swallowed drool at the bottom, soaking into his fur. Without many options available to him, he sits and contemplates what he can do to escape.
But Mal doesn't seem to appreciate his meal going still, going by the way he impatiently prods his belly. "Aw, c'mon, no more wiggles? But that's the best part of the meal!"
The cat glares upward at the esophageal sphincter and holds up a rude gesture, not caring if the predatory mage could see it. "Hey, you ate me! Why should I struggle? It's not like it's going to make you let me go…"
"Hmm… You do have a point…" The otter thinks, then chuckles softly. "How about this – You squirm nicely for me and make my tummy feel good, and I'll let you come out. Sound fair to you?"
Ly's disgruntled expression softens, his outstretched arm slowly lowering as he considers the offer. "R-Really?"
"Promise."
Shaking his head, Ly mutters "Not like I've really got a choice…" before he begins squirming, pressing himself against the stomach walls. The folded rugae squish against him, having a surprising amount of give to them before they'd flex to push him back into place.
From outside, Mal giggles and sighs happily as he watches the bulges in his belly shift around, smirking when he makes out the cat's hands, paws, and even his face now and again. Those wiggles feel so good! He sits down and relaxes, enjoying the amazing sensations of struggling prey trapped within his stomach. "Mmhf… Lower, please…"
Even though he knows it won't accomplish anything practical, Ly does as he's told, making sure to rub along the bottom of the fleshy chamber. Hearing the happy noises the otter is making brings him a strange sense of contentment; he can't help but feel a bit of happiness that he's making Mal feel so good!
This continues for some time, Ly wriggling about within the stomach while Mal relaxes and enjoys every moment, occasionally telling the cat where he wants rubbed but mostly letting his prey do as he pleases.
But by the time Ly slows down to catch his breath, he realizes the stomach is no longer simply pushing back to keep him from escaping – It's begun squeezing and kneading, working the fluids all over every inch of his body! He realizes what's happening, and he speaks up to the otter.
"Uh… Hey?"
Mal looks down at his belly, chuckling softly. "Mmhm?"
"I uh… I think your stomach is trying to digest me."
The otter pats his tummy. "I mean, that's what stomachs do, isn't it?"
Ly shivers. "Right, I get that; but I mean… Our deal?"
"Oh, right, I almost forgot," Mal says with a snicker that shows he absolutely did not forget.
The mage closes his eyes and focuses, and Ly finds himself glowing in a blue aura for a few seconds before it fades out – With him still inside the otter's stomach.
"Uh…"
Mal smirks. "What is it now?"
"I uh… I'm still in here."
"Well, yeah; I still want my dinner."
The cat shudders. Is the otter going back on his word? "But you promised-"
Mal pats his belly again. "I did promise – I just cast a reformation spell on you. You'll come back good as new once my stomach is done with you!"
Ly pauses – This isn't what he was expecting to happen! But as he feels himself rapidly growing softer, he realizes he's not exactly in a position to change anything. It's not like he'd get very far even if Mal teleported him back out of his stomach, after all. He has no choice but to take the otter at his word.
"O-Okay… So I'll reform and be free to go, then?"
But Mal laughs at this. "Oh, let's not get ahead of ourselves here. You'll reform, yes – In my study. Where I'll be waiting."
"But-"
"You're a tasty delight, Ly – I can't just let you go like that. I'm going to reform you, and then eat you. Again, and again, and again."
He smirks as his stomach clenches, cutting off the feline's protests and melting him the rest of the way. Just before he falls still, though, Mal offers one last tease.
"You'd better get used to my stomach – You're gonna be in there quite a lot from now on!"
