Story: The Smiling Man

First story attempt. Critique as you like. Will add more as I think of it.

Prologue: Odd Leavetaking

The man stood on the huge dryad's palm, looking up at her pleasant face. The massive tree-woman was huge, at least a hundred feet tall from the roots at the base of her trunk to the mass of leaves that mimicked hair. Though most would have only seen a tree with suggestive curves, the man's eyes, used to the illusion, cut straight through to the female figure that composed her upper half. The dryad looked back at the little human.

He wasn't much to look at, not tall or short, particularly fat or particularly thin. His hair was cut just enough to keep it from covering his ears, dark brown and not messy but clearly never combed. His eyes were the same color, clothes alternating between the tan of his long trousers to the grey of his shirt to the plain dirt-brown of his boots and jacket. A very average person by appearance. But something was missing . . .

The dryad reached toward the man, her huge hand dwarfing him in comparison, threatening to engulf him with the irresistible strength of her giant fingers . . . and dropped a brown explorer's hat onto his head. One of the man's hands went up in a peculiarly smooth motion and adjusted the hat on his head, settling it to just the right angle.

"Thanks, Mom"

The words were mumbled, so quiet that even someone standing next to him barely would have heard it. The dryad knew what he was saying, though. She had raised him herself, after all. She patted his tiny head with one finger, so careful not to hurt her fragile adopted child.

"Make sure to stay away from fire and use your gun if you get in trouble, Thatris. Have a safe trip." she told him.

The man nodded at the good advice, then shrugged his shoulders to adjust his knapsack that hung over one shoulder. The dryad gently lowered him to the ground, leaning over to let him step off her palm and onto the loamy soil of the jungle. With a wave over his shoulder, he set off into the tangle of silent undergrowth and trees, set and ready for another long trip.

If only he knew how long . . .

Barely a mile from the dryad's small clearing, he felt something, a strange ripple passing over him as if he had stepped from a cold room to a hot one. Suddenly everything ahead of him was different, with plants that were completely unfamiliar and even the ones he recognized far bigger, more lush, and the colors of their leaves and flowers subtly different. The air tingled with a buzz of magic and the presence of living things, the soil did the same. He turned about, wondering what had happened, and discovered that his homeland of Evenwood was gone.

He was in a completely different world.

Nice start. I wondered at first why the dryad was maintaining her illusion if he was already in her hand, and then of course it all made sense. Intriguing title, too!

So, was he on Felarya than walked out, or was he on a different world and walked onto Felarya? Sorry, Ir's just after thinking he was about to be eaten, then discovering she's his foster mom, I thought "Oh, she must not eat humans or something" but then he walked through the dimensional rift, and now I'm really confused. Apart from that, though, it's looking good.

EdgedWeapon wrote:

So, was he on Felarya than walked out, or was he on a different world and walked onto Felarya?

The answer is actually written in the story quite explicitly, you know. It says he "discovered that his homeland of Evenwood was gone". So he was on Evenwood and walked into (we must assume) Felarya.

Ah, sorry. My bad.

glad to hear it seems okay. I write a lot, so I'm hoping my stories will turn out alright. Thanks for the input Also, she does eat humans, just not him because she, you know, is his adoptive parent.

Decided to mull over Strange Friends and how Swiftlit/Calimn relations will go. So heres part 2. Enjoy. Oh yes. This story does contain vore and if you actively dislike it I advise you not to read.

Chapter 1: Odd Land

The man looked one way, then the other, up, then down. He couldn't find any sign of his home. Where was he? He looked around, a little confused but not at all frightened. His surrounding were not, after all, wholly unfamiliar. It was not Evenwood, but it was still jungle and he had lived most of his life in a jungle; he was comfortable with this kind of wilderness.

"That's odd. I wonder where this is." he mumbled to himself, tilting his head over until it was resting on his shoulder. It made him look rather like a curious dog, head cocked in mild inquisitiveness. It was then that a shadow fell over him. A very, very large shadow.

* * * * *

The canopy pantaur groomed herself, feeling nicely content after her morning meal of a small group of confused, new-to-Felarya humans and elves she had managed to find wandering around. All seven of them were now squirming around in her stomach nicely, a warm tickling in her belly that made the sunshine on her pelt and human torso's skin all the better.

She was a little disappointed that she didn't have any other pantaurs around to share the moment with. None of her friends had been interested in hunting today, so she was feeling a bit lonely, even with the pleasant weight of prey inside her. Still, it was a good catch for being close to the Great Tree, considering that eating machine Crisis* lived in the area. It was a pretty good day.

A sudden ripple in the air a dozen meters ahead of her, like a strong burst of heat haze, caught her attention. The area of quivering disturbance blurred the objects behind it to her eyes, making them look like distorted reflections in a warped mirror. The pantaur looked at the ripple, unconcerned. Such odd dimensional vortexes were not uncommon in this land, and it was too small to suck her into whatever world it held, being only the size of her arm. She just observed it.

Things became more interesting when a human stepped through the arced curtain of wavering nothingness and abruptly stopped as the vortex shrank down to nothing and vanished as quickly as it had appeared. She smiled happily, a bright grin crossing her face. Luck really was with her today, it seemed; the vortex had dropped another tasty morsel practically on top of her, and he even had his back to her! Life could be so lovely at times . . .

She stood up, soundless despite her great size, and took a few steps closer to the man. Not so close he would be able to feel her soft steps, but plenty close enough to grab if he tried to run. She wasn't all that hungry and feeling rather cheery, so she decided to give him a sporting chance and said, "Hi"

* * * * *

"Hi"

Thatris turned around to face the kind (if a little loud) voice and found himself face to face with a set of huge paws. Each was bigger than he was, feline and with light brown fur on them. He slowly pulled his head back up to its normal position and gazed at the paws with interest. Not wanting to be rude, he returned the greeting to the oddly talkative paws.

"Good day to you, paws. I didn't know paws could talk, but I guess they do here. Can I help you with anything?" he asked, again cocking his head to one side.

"I'm up here, silly." The feminine voice called, emanating from somewhere above him. He looked up, then realizing that the paws were not by themselves. They were attached to an extremely large creature, the likes of which he had never seen in his life.

She had a cougar's sleek, muscular body, all aerodynamic curves and a beautiful tan pelt. The fur was smooth and shiny, showing signs of careful and meticulous grooming; this cat was proud of her pelt and took very good care of it. The fur of the underbelly was a contrast, snowy white and a little less sleek but still well cared for. A graceful, beautiful animal . . . If only it had a head.

Where a head should have been there was instead a torso, that of an olive-skinned woman somewhere in her mid-twenties. She was slim and bare, with an athlete's trim waist and lean but firm muscles. She didn't seem to mind her nudity, perfectly comfortable in her skin and with her breasts exposed. The fact that she was nude, however, took the backseat compared to her size.

She was, quite frankly, massive. Nearly a hundred feet tall from her paws to the crown of her dark-haired head, her puma and human halves were more than a dozen times the size of normal specimens of either. She towered over him like a small mountain, dwarfing him with her immensity. She smiled down at him, a brief look of confusion crossing her features as he looked up into her face.

* * * * *

This particular tidbit of food was rather amusing. He talked to her feet, seemingly unaware of her body, until she alerted him to that fact. He also seemed completely unafraid of her, and never backed up a single step. That was strange; even humans utterly unaware of how Felarya worked tended to be intimidated just by a predator's sheer size alone. Stranger still was his expression.

When he looked up at her, letting her see the face under the brim of his hat, she couldn't decide whether his peculiar look was cute or disturbing. It was an unchanging vacuous smile that he presented her with, mouth a tad open and eyes slightly glazed. Though it was definitely a smile, there was not a drop of good feeling behind it; only emptiness sat behind his grin.

His eyes were just as vacant as his smile, the intelligence and whatever passed for feelings among the small folk hidden far back inside the recesses of his mind. He almost looked . . . unconscious. She wondered if the human had passed out and was somehow still moving and talking. Perhaps he was drunk? Drugged? She shrugged internally; didn't much matter to her.

In any case, he didn't seem to be going anywhere, so she plopped herself down in front of him, panther half lying down and crossing its forepaws. She was in a good mood, so she refrained from snatching him up and spoke to the little man.

* * * * *

"So you're new to Felarya, I take it?" she began, considering the morsel before her as one might consider whether to eat a sweet now or leave it for a bit.

The man, who stayed standing, nodded at her question.

"Huh. Welcome, I suppose. Do you know anything about Felarya? About things like me?" she asked, a genuinely pleased curve of the lips appearing as she welcomed him.

A second time the man stayed mute, only shaking his head. He was still wondering what he should do about being stuck in this land. Maybe he should try to get home . . . ?

The pantaur's smile widened at her future meal's answer, going from friendly to positively cheerful. If he was new and ignorant, she could play with him a little before finishing her already digesting meal with this lucky catch. He would make for a sweet dessert, the cherry on top of her fabulously good day.

"That's alright. I can teach you a bit about us big pre- ah, um, folks." Wow, she had barely caught herself there, the pantaur thought. Almost ruined her own fun.

The man, still insisting on silence, nodded at her offer. He also kept that odd expression on his face, the blank idiot grin never changing.

She felt a twinge of annoyance at her prey's immobile features and quiet, but still went on.

"Many of us are friendly to you small ones. We treasure you little guys and we absolutely love how you tas- um, take initiative. We couldn't live without you." Every word of it true, in its own way.

She giggled on the inside. This poor, silly, tasty human was going to be SO confused. He would have a backward view of this world by the end of their talk. Too bad he wouldn't get to see that Felarya was really not that way. He would just be a delicious memory in a short while.

She looked back down at him. To her increased aggravation, he kept that stupid, vacant smile on his face. It was really beginning to grate on her nerves. At this rate, what should be a perfect end to a wonderful day was going to ruin the mood of said day. Oh well.

"One thing you should know, too. Us larger people? We love to eat your kind."

* * * * *

He didn't run when the panther woman made her announcement, nor when she leaned over to pick him up. He was trying to process her statement even as she gripped him in her mammoth hand. Her grip was warm and quite gentle; it reminded him of his foster mother's hand when she herself had picked him up on many occasions. It would have been nice, even, had the intentions not been so different.

The pantaur brought him up to her mouth, lips parting silently to show the full detail of her maw. He didn't struggle; it would be pointless at this stage and a waste of energy. Talking, he figured, would be as useless as fighting. If she ate people often, she would be used to attempts to reason with her. So really all he could do was smile as he was drawn closer her mouth.

He looked into her mouth. It was big enough for him to fit in quite comfortably, possibly even three or four people if they didn’t mind being a bit cramped. Her teeth, the most dangerous thing and therefore the first noted, were as large as his head and brilliant white against the healthy pink of her gums. Fangs shone as pointed and keen as icepicks where human canines would have been.

He saw that she also had built up some saliva, from her mouth watering as she considered eating him earlier, and it was pooled around the base of her tongue. Her whole palate was slick with it, and a strand of glinting silver hung between the roof of her mouth and the base of one of her lower molars like a shiny rope. Afternoon sunlight sparkled along it, bright and beautiful and so very lethal.

As she prepared to put him entirely in her mouth, he considered his gun. He could get to it; the lady had neglected to trap his arms. Might as well. He reached around behind himself and pulled a polished flintlock pistol from his knapsack. The pantaur snorted derisively when she saw the gun. “One of those itty-bitty stinging weapons? Don’t make me laugh. That one’s so small it won’t even tickle.”

He just cocked it after a moment taken to figure out the mechanism (he had never fired it before), pointed it at her mouth and shot. There was a sadly weak sounding pop . . . and no effect.

A moment later the woman’s eyes lit up as she laughed, “Sweet!” A little spot of warm sugary bliss spread across her tongue.

Thatris looked at the gun, then spotted a strawberry candy quickly melting on the predator’s tongue. He cocked his head to one side in his quirkily flexible manner and puzzled for a moment.

“That’s odd. I didn’t know my pistol shot hard candies.”

The pantaur burst out laughing at this simple, bemused admittance. This day just kept getting better and better. She popped the human into her mouth and rolled him around inside, savoring the tasty mix of strawberry and human flavors.

“Mmmmm!” she hummed, pleased with this combination of tastes. He needn’t have feared her teeth, for she didn’t chew at all and merely used them to cut off escape. Instead she used her tongue to roll him around and take in his deliciousness. She noticed this one was oddly . . . squishy. It reminded her of the little slug girls she would eat once in a while. Strange for a human, but he tasted just fine and the texture was actually very nice.

Pleased, she squashed him up against the roof of her mouth with her tongue, tilted her head back, and swallowed him down. She gently stroked her fingers along her throat as the bulge there slid down to deposit her meal in her stomach. The others who she had eaten before seemed to have already moved along, so he would unfortunately have to spend his time inside her alone. The only disappointment was that he didn’t struggle inside her stomach, but that was minor in the face of so much enjoyment.

Satisfied, the pantaur stretched out in the fading sunlight and yawned, patting her belly lovingly. That last human had been the perfect end to the perfect day. She went to sleep smiling.


*Reference to Crisis- Crisis is Karbo’s character, not mine (obviously). oh, Felarya's his too, lol.

I'm puzzling to work out where this is going, but I'll enjoy the surprise of finding out. Well written, and it certainly draws in the reader's attention.

Thanks French. I read your stories Lost In Felarya and it helped me solidify how pred-prey relations would go and predator logic. Definitely helped me here.

As for where it's going, I'll have part three up as soon as I can. Glad for the input, man

MrNobody13 wrote:

Thanks French. I read your stories Lost In Felarya and it helped me solidify how pred-prey relations would go and predator logic. Definitely helped me here.

As for where it's going, I'll have part three up as soon as I can. Glad for the input, man

You're welcome; I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes. (And just today, I started on the fourteenth and final chapter of "Lost in Felarya". Might take me a while to complete, though.)

New Lost in Felarya chapter? RAWR *head explodes from anticipation*

Can't wait to read it. I'll try and keep up with Ch. 2 of the Smiling Man.

It's a nice story ^_^
Really well written with nice descriptions. I'm curious to see what happened here exactly

Thanks, Karbo. That's heady praise coming from you and French. Here's part three. As before, this story has vore in it, so don't read if you don't like vore.

Chapter 2: Odd Behavior

"I'm wondering, really, why you're following me."

The pantaur looked down at the little human walking a few dozen meters ahead of her, the morsel ambling along slowly and calmly. He seemed utterly unconcerned with anything, acting like there wasn't a man-eating panther woman the size of a building keeping pace with him at all. He was average looking all around, or so she guessed, brown hair, eyes and clothes. He looked like any other member of Felarya's food staple.

She knew better.

"I'm following you to make sure you don't get eaten." she answered, crossing her arms over her bare chest.

The man half-turned, still moseying along, and glanced back at her. He had a peculiar expression on his face, a blank, mirthless smile that had nothing behind it. It never changed, never so much as a muscle twitch. He turned back to the path ahead without saying anything.

When she had first met him two days ago, she had been unable to deduce whether his strange, immobile face was disturbing or cute. After a few minutes she had decided that it was annoying. Now she knew it was none of the three; it was frightening.

* * * * *

Her answer confused Thatris. He considered it, mulling over the possible reasons for her response. It took him some time to think it through, and he kept scanning his surroundings as he pondered the question.

This land called Felarya seemed to be mostly thick jungle. Vegetation and plant life was eminent, lush and huge, and everything was green. Thick moss grew on nearly every flat surface, forming a soft carpet of plush vermillion on the loamy forest floor and growing in patches on the exposed roots of the massive trees.

The trees were much larger than the ones in his homeland of Evenwood, most towering more than a hundred feet tall. Creepers and vines wove together to make complex webs and tightropes between the branches, tangled and hanging everywhere. Flowers, too, grew here and there in clumps or alone, colors of every imaginable shade bright against the undergrowth and moss. It was a beautiful land, he confirmed to himself.

Turning back to the question, he thought for a second more, and came to the conclusion that she might be trying to be nice.

“That’s good of you to do for me, Miss . . .”

“I’m not doing it for you, and my name’s Edearin.” she gave begrudgingly.

The man turned her name over in his head a few times. He analyzed it, how it flowed, its rhythm, and concluded that he liked it. It sounded good. He tried it.

“Edearin . . . It’s a good name. Pretty. Suits you,” he told her.

* * * * *

The pantaur felt a mix of warmth for the compliment and chill for the emotionlessness of the face giving it. She was thankful he rarely spoke; he was very hard to talk to. His blank smile made it impossible to tell what he was thinking, and his disjointed comments were difficult to follow. She just couldn’t figure him out.

She hoped there was no one around who had a taste for humans. If a friend showed up and wouldn’t back off from trying to eat him . . . she might have to hurt somebody. The prospect of causing another person pain made her grimace, but if it came down to it, she would do so. No one was going to so much as touch this particular human.

The chances of avoiding another big predator were very low, though, with the little weirdo’s attitude. He was strolling through the jungle like it was a damn park, rather than one of the most dangerous places in the multiverse. She had already told him about how hazardous Felarya was, especially for things his size, but he was just meandering around aimlessly, oblivious to anything not directly in front of him and not bothering to be the least bit quiet. Wasn’t he scared?

Maybe she could get a better idea of what was going on in that tiny head of his if she talked to him. He was so hard to read, though . . . She mustered up some courage and asked her first question.

“You just popped up in Felarya, so why are you so calm? Most things that show up from a vortex are confused and scared. Why aren’t you?”

“I’m a traveler. I go all over the place. It’s what I do. So this is just one more trip.” he gave, hiking his knapsack up on his shoulder.

Okay, not the best explanation around. She decided to try for something that had been bothering her since she met him.

“So, um, why are you always smil-“

Edearin paused, hearing something coming toward them. It was coming quickly, and it was big, probably her size. A second later, as he stepped into view, she knew who it was. Alek.

* * * * *

Thatris watched as a giant stepped through the trees to Edearin’s left. He was freckled across his pale face, with curly, sand-colored short hair. It was an honest, kind face, one that would tell the truth if asked, but never harshly. He was lean, not muscular but definite signs of fitness well maintained. Unlike the pantaur, he wore clothes, a leather shirt and short trousers sewn together from what looked like the skins of three-dozen deer or maybe antelope.

In fact, he appeared completely human. The only exception was his size. He was a hundred and ten feet tall, just a tad bigger than Edeara was. On seeing the pantaur, he smiled and came over to give her a warm hug. Thatris noted that her face turned a unique shade of apple red when he did so.

“Wow, Edearin, it’s good to see you again. I’m sorry I couldn’t come visit you yesterday, but I accidently stepped in this crazy old elf’s tobacco field. Man, I didn’t expect HIM to come after ME . . .”

The giant trailed off when he spotted Thatris gazing up at him, only a few feet from Alek’s foot. For several seconds the two simply stared at each other, neither moving, an open, plain face and a smiling blank one. Finally, the giant spoke.

“What’s with your face?”

“I always have this expression.”

“Oh. That’s cool. Guess I’ll eat you, then.”

Before he could move or react, the huge being stooped and grabbed him up in one hand, massive fingers curling around the human’s legs. The world became a blur for a moment as he was swept upwards at an alarming speed. He wound up in front of the giant’s face. This was not going to end well . . .

The gigantic man looked human, and seemed nice enough, so Thatris gave negotiation a whirl.

“Could you put me down, please? I don’t feel much like getting eaten.” So calm, so polite.

“No.” Just as calm, and just as polite.

“Alright then. Unfortunate for both of us.”

* * * * *

Alek was wondering at the little morsel’s lack of fear, or any discernable emotion, for that matter. Usually his meals became emotional, screaming unpleasantly or crying and begging. This one seemed wholly unconcerned with his position as food. That bizarre look on his face was scraping away at his confidence like sandpaper, and that phrase, “Unfortunate for both of us” was making him have doubts.

He had heard about a giantess, Milly*, who had once been poisoned by a suicidal and strange-acting human when she ate him. She had made it, thankfully, but it had been a hell of a lesson for everyone on just what these small folk were capable of doing. Could this man be similarly poisoned?

“Edearin, is this guy poisoned, do you think?” he queried.

Edearin, far too preoccupied with being with Alek to think straight on the matter, picked a very poor choice of words to next come out of her mouth.

“No, he’s not poisoned, but-“

A moment later Alek had the human in his mouth. The sweet-salty taste was tempting to hold onto for a moment, but he was pretty hungry. As such, he skipped the formalities and swallowed. A second later Edearin slammed into him.

* * * * *

Edearin had never been so terrified in her life. She had been trying so hard not to look like an idiot in from of the one guy she liked that she had forgotten her mission to keep anyone from eating the human. She hadn’t had the wits or time to register Alek picking the oddball up and eating him. Now her hopes of becoming a couple with Alek were ruined. She had been so close to asking him, too! So close! Now that was over.

She mentally slapped herself. No. There had to be some small chance left, some hope of making this situation still work. There had to be! She pinned Alek down, her puma half pressing him to the ground and holding his limbs still with her lower four. She leaned over him. Alek looked startled.

“Whoa, hold on there, I’m a bit confused. Let’s just calm do-“

Edearin shook her head vehemently and reached toward his face. To his astonishment, she worked her thumbs between his lips and pried his mouth open. Then she did something even more incomprehensible. She leaned in and yelled down his throat.

“HEY! HUMAN! ARE YOU OKAY!?” she bellowed, praying with all her might that she would get an answer.

For several seconds there was only silence, each moment feeling like an eternity of her heart pounding in her chest and terror rushing through her mind. At last, a response came. Muffled by the layers of flesh between them but still audible, it was the calm, small voice of the human.

“I’m not hurt, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Oh thank every god in Felarya, she thought, letting out the breath she had held pent up in a relieved sigh.

“I am, however, sopping wet and a little annoyed. A moment ago I got thrown around rather hard.”

The pantaur felt her heart drop straight down into her paws. When she had tackled him . . . This was very bad.

“PLEASE, JUST DON’T DO ANYTHING!”

* * * * *

Thatris was sitting in the giant’s belly, in total darkness. It was hot and abominably wet in the stomach, and while it wasn’t cramped it was definitely enough to spark a case of claustrophobia. The air was humid and close, with a sharp acidic smell that hinted at what would happen to whatever made it down here and stayed for very long.

Not that he planned on staying.

He puzzled over the last shout the pantaur had made. It was a ridiculous request. Now that he had been swallowed, he couldn’t do nothing. He was bound to do something in any case. He just hadn’t decided what quite yet. He turned toward where the lady’s voice was coming from and responded.

“I HAVE to do something. I got eaten. Therefore I have to get out. And I WILL get out.”

“Please . . . please, I don’t want to see him hurt . . .please . . . I’ll do anything . . . just, please.”

He considered her plea slowly, mulling it over. She sounded sincere, and he liked that. He nodded to himself in the pitch blackness, agreeing. This could work. He had other options, after all.

* * * * *

“Knock him out.”

Edearin heard the small voice drift up out of Alek’s belly, not a command but a simple suggestion. “ Do as you like, but know the consequences” it intoned. Tears welling up in her eyes, she did the only thing she could do.

“I’m so sorry.”

Alek looked up at her as she let go of his mouth, warm, confused hazel eyes meeting teary yellow ones.

“What are yo- arck!”

Edearin kept her hands locked on his throat, saliva-slicked thumbs pressed into his Adam’s apple, as he struggled to throw her off, to no avail. She held on as his face turned from its usual cream to bright pink to deep red, hating every second of it. She held on as his straining slowed down, then stopped. She held on as consciousness faded from his eyes and their lids closed. Finally, she let go.

Breathing resumed after a shuddering start. His visage gently faded back to its normal tint. She pulled his mouth open again.

“He’s unconscious now. And I hope you remember this.”

* * * * *

Thatris, hearing her, got up, head brushing the fleshy ceiling. Though it was hard to walk on the yielding, slippery ground, he managed to move around and feel in the dark for what he knew would be there. The first was the wrong path, the small sphincter too tight and leading to deeper down in the giant’s body. The second, however, was the one he wanted, larger, looser.

He ran his hand along it in the midnight darkness. A ridged, puckered hole, and it led out. He tested its size and give; he could just barely fit his hand in. Though his face never changed, anyone with him and having a source of light handy would have seen his eyes glint.

* * * * *

Edearin watched as a tiny arm worked its way up out of the back of Alek’s throat, casting about for a moment before placing its palm against the giant’s tongue and flexing. Thatris’ head and other arm squeezed their way out with the motion. The rest of him soon followed. She watched as he climbed out of Alek’s mouth, soaking wet with saliva and gastric juices, clothes probably ruined, skin pinkened from acid, and still with that damned smile on his face.

Man, that took some time. Well, going to work on part four as I can.

Felarya and races, creatures, ect. are Karbo’s

Named characters are mine unless otherwise stated.

*Reference to Milly – Milly and her poisoning story are Frenchsnack’s. Go read his stories. READ THEM NOW!!!

Well, this is definitely interesting! I was obviously confused by the transition between parts 2 and 3, but confused in a good way; the structure deepens the mystery. It's frustrating, wondering what hold Thatris has over Edearin, what he did to her and what he's capable of, but that frustration works well.

Oh, and I smiled at the reference to Milly. Good to hear the tale of her misadventure has been passed round, making other predators more cautious. :p

So, I decided to have a read of this and I think that it is decently written. The story flows ok, there are a few parts which are a bit breaking, but I'll detail those in a moment. Your human character here is very interesting, his almost complete lack of facial expression and apparent emotion is quite intriguing and even feels a bit sinister.

To the apparent plot of the story...
To be frank, it's old. It's been done before many times.
I can sum it up:
Human character comes to Felarya through a whiplash portal, meets a predator and through some deus ex machina (or other means) makes friends with them or doesn't eat them for whatever reason. Then the human meets a predator who does eat them and as wee see in your story, their befriended/controlled predator saves them.

I'm interested about your human character, but this story is very predictable so far.


Anyway, these particular parts need work.

Quote :

Edearin paused, feeling the presence of something coming toward them. It was coming quickly, and it was big, probably her size. A second later she knew who it was. Alek.

How exactly did she feel "the presence" of this something?
This could use a better explanation. Did she hear him? What this sounds like is some sort of magic, but there's been no indication that she has any or that she cast any spells.

Quote :

old human’s tobacco field.

While this is slightly amusing, farms in the context of Felarya are pretty much non-existent in the jungle. The most I could imagine is individual, deliberately planted plants placed around an outpost or fortified town which would be harvested at intervals.

Quote :

Edearin watched as a tiny arm worked its way up out of the back of Alek’s throat

So you're saying that knocking the giant out would let Thatris escape?
Unfortunately that's not possible since the muscles in the oesophagus are involuntary. They still function when the brain in unconscious, which is why it's possible to get unconscious/sleeping people to swallow.

Anime-Junkie wrote:

To the apparent plot of the story...
To be frank, it's old. It's been done before many times.
Human character comes to Felarya through a whiplash portal, meets a predator and through some deus ex machina (or other means) makes friends with them or doesn't eat them for whatever reason. Then the human meets a predator who does eat them and as wee see in your story, their befriended/controlled predator saves them. I'm interested about your human character, but this story is very predictable so far.

I wouldn't say that, actually. The structure, at the very least, gives it originality, maintaining the mystery of how the human survived, and what he did to the pantaur. His relationship with her is different to what we usually see. He hasn't befriended her. She fears him, and apparently has good reason to fear that he may harm Alek.

Quote :

Quote :

Edearin paused, feeling the presence of something coming toward them. It was coming quickly, and it was big, probably her size. A second later she knew who it was. Alek.

How exactly did she feel "the presence" of this something?
This could use a better explanation. Did she hear him? What this sounds like is some sort of magic, but there's been no indication that she has any or that she cast any spells.

Predator sense doesn't apply solely to nagas. Most giant predators have it. It has nothing to do with their own control over magic, or lack thereof.

French snack wrote:

I wouldn't say that, actually. The structure, at the very least, gives it originality, maintaining the mystery of how the human survived, and what he did to the pantaur. His relationship with her is different to what we usually see. He hasn't befriended her. She fears him, and apparently has good reason to fear that he may harm Alek.

I know she fears or is at least freaked out a bit by him, which is why if you notice my post I said "doesn't eat them for whatever reason." I've seen it before. This character hasn't made friends, that is obvious, so he's gone the other route of subduing a predator.

Quote :

Predator sense doesn't apply solely to nagas. Most giant predators have it. It has nothing to do with their own control over magic, or lack thereof.

I know that. I just assumed that it was known that (to quote the wiki):
"Some type of predators in Felarya such as nagas, fairies or deerataurs are able to sense the large magic field that covers the world."
So I assumed that she was using some other means to sense him.

It makes sense for nagas to have it, as it's like the thermal sense of some Earth snakes. Faeries are already highly magical so it makes sense for them to have it too. I'm not sure about deerataurs, but I assume it's something to do with Deer having acute senses.

This isn't just me speaking. I've talked to other people, such as rcs619 and they've said the same thing.

Yeah, the scope of the predator sense was intentionally scaled back.

Nagas are the most adept at it, while fairies and deerataurs have a slightly inferior version. Even then, those other two only have it because they are highly magical.

Most preds do not have it, nor are they supposed to. Even Karbo has said that it was really only meant for nagas and got taken and used by everyone else once he mentioned Crisis having it.

Ah, okay.

well, to address each problem stated by Anime-Junkie.

1. Sensory problem: this I will fix. My bad for forgetting to read the pred sense part of the wiki. I will change it to "heard"

2. Old elf with a farm. This guy is in my characters thread. He's a recluse and a chain smoker, so he has a tobacco field at the edge of Bulvon Wood. " Jack 'Smokes' Williams".

3. Controlling Edearin. He's not controlling her or friends with her. She's following him for her own reasons, which will be shown in part four.

4. Knocking Alek out. I know the esophagus is an autonomous muscle system and putting Alek out would not allow someone to climb up. How this works, as before, will be stated in part four.

As to why Edearin's so afraid . . .

I'll have part four up in a few days, if I get the time.

Well, it took some time, but here’s part four of the Smiling Man. Hope you like it.
This story does contain vore, so don’t read it if you dislike vore.

Chapter 3: Odd Revelation

“I’m asking why you choked me out and saved that human.”

Edearin twisted her fingers together, wringing her hands uncomfortably. Alek was sitting up against a massive tree, rubbing his throat where she had gripped it barely half an hour earlier. He was awake again, recovered from his choking, and understandingly upset about it. The giant pantaur’s tail was lashing with anxiety; she hated situations where lying or trickery might have to be used on a fellow predator. She hesitated, squirming in place, and looked away as she answered.

“I . . . well . . . I was trying to . . .”

She steeled herself, looked straight into his eyes, and told the truth.

“I was trying to protect a friend.”

The giant looked startled for a moment, then his face became gentler.

“Listen to yourself. Edearin, humans and little things like that are FOOD. You don’t make friends with food. Yeah, I know there’s exceptions like Crisis’* friend Léa*, but that’s really rare. Really, really, really rare.” he told her firmly, trying not to be harsh.

She surprised him by snapping back.

“I am NOT friends with him! I was talking about you.”

Alek blinked, confused by her vehemence. She had been protecting him? He looked down, peering at the human that was sitting cross-legged on the ground a ways away. The tiny thing looked back at him with that creepily dead grin and said nothing.

“I don’t understand. You said he isn’t poisoned, so why . . . ?”

“Because he’s dangerous to eat. Eating him . . . Alek, he could have KILLED you. Do you see what I’m saying? He . . . could . . . have . . . killed . . . you.” she intoned, every word stressed and deadly serious.

Alek shook his head, half in denial of her statement and half in attempting to work out why she would say such an outrageous thing. He had heard of predators being hurt by the little meals’ bigger weapons, and a few even killed, but this human didn’t have anything like that. If he did, he would have used it sooner, before being eaten. Her words made no sense.

He looked once more at the tidbit sitting close by. Sure, that expression was weird and a bit . . . doubt inducing, but it was just an expression. He didn’t have any weapons on him, besides a miniscule pistol that was far too small to do any damage. He didn’t smell like poison or chemicals, or seem like a mage. He was plain. Just your average snack.

“Edearin, that’s st- . . .”

He caught the start of the word “stupid” in time and swallowed it. It would hurt the pantaur if she heard it, and even if it didn’t it was still rude. He chewed on his lip for a second before rephrasing his sentence.

“Look, if he’s somehow convinced you he can do something to someone our size or he’s threatening you, he’s bluffing. Small folks like him just can’t hurt a predator without some kind of big weapon or magic. Now stop thinking he can do something he can’t and snap out of it.”

He was perplexed when she sniffled, eyes tearing up.

That was the last straw. He considered himself an easygoing guy, even polite with people he ate, but this, this was it. NOBODY made his friends cry like that and got away with it, not other predators and certainly not some blank-faced morsel of food. He was up and striding over to the human in an instant.

* * * * *

Unlike the first two times he had been grabbed in Felarya, Thatris had time to register the fact that the giant was coming after him. The towering man was taking huge steps, each angry stride covering eight meters and bringing him closer to Thatris very fast. The force of his weight made the ground jump slightly at every footfall, the shockwaves getting stronger as he approached.

And he looked furious.

The giant bore down on him with alarming speed due to his long legs. Thatris got up, standing and, strangely, not running. He waited until the giant leaned over and brought his hand down. It was coming down hard enough to break a few bones, but its main intention was not to kill him but to pin him.

It never caught him. The human darted away at the last moment, leaving Alek’s hand to slam the ground futilely. Then he took off running at a startlingly fast pace. The giant hesitated for the barest moment, surprised at his speed, and then straightened up, chasing the human down with massive steps.

Thatris was very fast for a human. He was a traveler; he walked everywhere. In his homeland of Evenwood, he had gone all over the endless jungle, and years of moving about on foot, sometimes for months at a time with only minimal rest, had made him into a long-distance runner of great speed and endurance. He could outstrip and outlast just about anyone, provided they were human.

Alek wasn’t a human.

He was simply too big for anything the size of a human being to directly outrun in a straight line. His strides were too long in comparison to a human’s. There was no way even someone as fast as Thatris could get away on speed alone.

The man dashed as fast as he could as the giant’s footfalls got closer and closer. It was a useless effort, he knew, but not pointless. If he could find somewhere too small for the giant to get into . . . There! He dodged to one side as he spotted a burrow of some kind, made by an animal close to human size by the looks of it.

It was an opening just a bit bigger than himself, and he would have to crawl to get inside. Unfortunately, his gigantic pursuer was only a couple steps away from catching him and he was not going to have time to crawl in. He was going to have to take a chance and jump in headfirst. Pushing off with his last step, he dove into the hole.

He felt Alek’s fingers kiss his left ankle, threatening, but then the touch was gone and he was flying down into the burrow like a dirt-diving rocket. His momentum carried him a good six feet further in before gravity took over again. He slid on his belly in the soft soil for a moment, then pushed up onto his hands and knees to crawl even deeper into the dark of the tunnel.

* * * * *

Edearin ran after the two as they charged through the forest, trying desperately to keep up and the entire time yelling for her giant friend to stop chasing the human. For a minute she lost sight of them, and spent every moment of it scared to death. Alek was safe so long as he didn’t eat him, but she was terrified that was the first thing he would do. At last, she found Alek shouting, enraged, down a small burrow. She immediately deduced what had happened and his first cry confirmed it.

“Come out of there, you little freak! What’s the matter?! You didn’t run and hide before! You seem fine with making a girl cry!” he roared, bellowing into the dark opening in the ground on his hands and knees.

The human’s voice came echoing up out of the hole, as calm as always and as empty as his constant grin.

“I ran because you chased me, obviously. It’s my obligation to do so. Hiding is the same. As for Edearin, I didn’t force her to cry. That was her choice.”

Then the pantaur heard something, an edge to that ever-emotionless voice. It made the blood drain from her face and her heart skip a beat.

“And don’t you DARE call me or anyone else a freak in my hearing.”

Alek’s normally pleasant visage turned bright red with fury at the words.

“Are you THREATENING me? I’d like to see you try and hurt me! You’re just a human, and a meal, and what’s more, you’re a bastard for scaring Edearin! Come out of there and face me, goddammit!”

Edearin ran over to the giant and grabbed his shoulder, desperate to stop him from getting to the man and eating him. She shook his shoulder, gripping it hard to get his attention. When he continued to hurl angry words down the burrow, she yanked him back with force and shouted into his startled but sill furious face.

“Alek, listen to me! DON’T provoke him! You have no idea what he can do, and frankly I don’t know how much he’s capable of myself, but I know for an absolute fact he can hurt you very badly, probably even kill you. I don’t want you to get hurt because of me . . .”

The last words were choked with tears, and soon rivulets were running down her face in bright streams. He was taken aback by the complete surety in her voice, but his anger at her pain wasn’t anywhere near being spent. He hugged her for a second, fiercely reassuring, and then bellowed down into the hole.

“You come out or I’m going to dig you out, you little psychopath. And I’ll call you a freak or food or whatever since you made Edearin cry! Unless you think you can come out here and stop me!”

Now there was a definite sharpness to the human’s voice, constrained but very much present.

“I’d advise you to whet your tongue less often or you’re going to cut your own mouth. I assure you I WILL come up out of this hole if you say the word ‘freak’ again.”

“FREAK!”

* * * * *

Thatris arrowed up out of his hiding spot in an instant. His face hadn’t changed, but his brain was boiling with fury. There was nothing he hated so much as that word and the implications behind it. His birth parents had abandoned him because of it, and the few rare humans in his own world had used it on him when they had met him. He burst out of the tunnel and into the light.

Alek was waiting for him, and the giant’s massive hand instantly caught him in a ferociously strong grip. He felt his organs being squeezed into shapes never meant for them to be in, but he didn’t care, as long as he was swallowed. The giant stood up, the forest becoming a green blur, and dangled the human over his open mouth, planning to drop him in.

Perfect.

* * * * *

A second later Edearin crashed into Alek and pinned him up against a tree. He grunted at the heavy impact, nearly dropping the prey caught between his fingers. She tried to push him to the ground to be pinned as before, but the tree at his back prevented that, keeping him upright. She strained to get at the man in Alek’s hand, but it made her unbalanced.

Alek turned the tables on her in that instant, changing his mind on where the morsel in his hand should go. With a brief, sincerely apologetic wince, he spun in her grip and switched positions with her. Her eyes widened as he pressed one knee against her panther body and wrapped his free arm around her to stop her arms. He looked sorry, but also firm.

“I’m going to show you this human is just another meal. He’s not powerful, and he can’t do anything to me, or to you, or to any predator, no matter what he told you.”

The firmness turned gentler for a moment, then became set again.

“This is for your own good.”

She opened her mouth to say something, perhaps a question, perhaps a plea, but in the end it didn’t matter.

The giant took the opportunity to toss the little human into her mouth.

Her eyes widened in surprise. A second later she tried to spit the human out, but he quickly reached up and held her mouth shut, in much the same way that she had held his open only an hour ago. Then he tilted her head back and held it there.

“Swallow. There’s nothing to be afraid of. He can’t hurt you. Just swallow him. That’s all. You’ll feel better once he’s in your belly. I promise.”

She looked at him, locking eyes for a second. Then she took a deep breath through her nose and swallowed.

* * * * *

Thatris squirmed in Edearin’s mouth, trying to get in a better position to move properly. He was squashed against the roof of her mouth, held mostly still by her tongue that was pressing against the entirety of his body except for his back. That was against the hard palate of her mouth, the ribbing hard but softened by his wet clothes.

He was soaked with saliva, more of it gushing over him as her mouth sensed a meal ready and waiting for consumption. His smile, unchanging even now, had become a nuisance; her saliva kept getting into his own mouth for him to constantly spit out.

He would have to wash his mouth out with water once he got back from her stomach.

Then her tongue shifted under him, pushing him farther back into her mouth. A moment later he felt the familiar warm grip of her throat muscles on his lower legs. For a moment they had trouble pulling him, but the delay was short. In moments he was dragged down into the dark confines of her belly.

* * * * *

Alek watched, confident he had done the right thing, as the bulge in her throat slid past her collarbones and vanished, the last anyone would see of that strange and heartless little morsel that had dared to harm Edearin. He was startled by the tears leaking from the corners of her eyes.

“I’m so glad it wasn’t you that ate him.” she said, relief in her voice.

“There, you see? I told you you’d feel better once you ate him. He couldn’t do anything after all.”

“It’s okay if he hurts me. I’d rather die than see him hurt you.”

Alek sighed, shaking his head. Not this again . . .

“He CAN’T hurt you, Edearin. He’s in your stomach and he can’t go anywhere.”

Suddenly the human’s voice, just barely audible, emendated from inside the pantaur’s body.

“Oh, I beg to differ. And you needn’t worry, Edearin. As you were force-fed, I don’t intend to harm you.”

The giant glared down at Edearin’s midriff. What was WITH this snack?

“You shut up. You only got out before because you intimidated Edearin into knocking me out and getting me to throw up, so stop acting like you can do it yourself.”

Edearin shook her head sadly.

“I didn’t ever make you throw up. He got out on his own. Climbed out.”

Alek blinked. That was impossible. Nothing could get out of the stomach without being regurgitated; the muscles for keeping food down were too strong. But Edearin . . . he had never known her to lie. She was the most honest person he knew. But there was just no way . . .

* * * * *

“Are you a mage?”

Thatris tilted his head at the question that came faintly through the blackness of Edearin’s stomach. A mage? Certainly he had no grasp of the arcane. He had no magical talents.

He did, however, have one physical talent.

“No. I’m no mage. I am boneless.”

“What?”

Thatris didn’t bother to answer the query. He needed to get out of here before the pantaur began to digest him. He reached up, feeling for the rim of her esophageal sphincter. After a bit of fumbling in the dark, he found it. He had felt a bit nervous for a little while, with the increased gurgling of her stomach getting ready to churn, but now he could be on his way.

He worked both his forefingers into the puckered hole; that was all it took for him to get through. He relaxed, muscles slacking to a normal state. Then he relaxed even beyond that, flesh losing its original consistency and becoming more like putty than actual muscle. In this state he worked his hands into her esophagus, fingers with nothing but rubbery cartilage and pudding masquerading as tissue bending at impossible angles.

He squeezed his arms all the way in with a slow, controlled flex. His head would be next. He sighed through his smile; he always hated to squeeze his head through things. There was no pain, but the pressure of it was unpleasant. He didn’t possess a skull, just a few cartilage plates as flexible as the rest of him. His brain and other organs were just as easily compressed as his flesh, and suffered no ill effects from it.

He wormed his way into the base of her esophagus, and got ready for the difficult process of climbing-or rather squirming-back up her throat. The muscles of her esophagus reacted to his presence and began trying to push him back down into her belly.

Only trying, though.

The esophagus couldn’t grip him. He was slick with internal juices, of course, but this wasn’t what prevented his being pulled down. He by all rights should have been going down. The slow ripples of the throat flexing simply couldn’t get a grip on him. When they tried to squeeze him, he relaxed and became almost liquid in nature. The throat could handle liquids, granted, but a liquid that adapted to the esophagus’ flexing and that could move was an impossibility.

He let it grip him initially, conforming to his shape, and then squeezed himself smaller to avoid being pulled down. He moved in perfect time with the waves of her throat, letting the muscles clench on him and rippling his own body in a reflection of the movement.

He crept upward, slowly but very surely. It took him a little more than five minutes to get to the back of her throat.

The first thing he saw was an inside view of Edearin’s open mouth and the astonished face of Alek.

* * * * *

Alek watched in disbelief as the bulge that had appeared in the pantaur woman’s throat slowly pushed its way upward. Edearin looked pale, probably close to gagging as her esophagus futilely continued to work, attempting to pull her rebellious meal back down. Finally she did gag, coughing and then making retching noises. As her mouth opened, Alek saw the human pop his head out of the back of her throat.

That smile, that awful void of a smile, was still in place.

* * * * *

Edearin felt the human worm his way out of her throat and entirely into her mouth. She nearly vomited outright. He tasted like acid and bile, the taste of the inside of her stomach. It was the worst thing she had ever had touch her tongue.

The man suddenly did something unexpected. He jumped out of her mouth.

Alek had been holding her up until this point, and was close, only a few meters of space between them. The human landed on his shoulder.

Then Thatris, to the horror of both Alek and Edearin, darted sideways and slithered into the giant’s ear.

He slipped in the small hole (far too small for a human) with no effort, body squeezing in, completely boneless, and vanishing like an octopus into a crevasse.

Alek looked stunned. Edearin looked terrified.

“What the he-OW!”

The giant slapped his hand to the ear the human had crawled into. Edearin seemed distinctly ill.

“I TOLD you . . .” she reminded, turning rather green as the man’s voice came out of Alek’s ear.

“Now then. It seems I am once again inside your body. Except now I happen to be in your ear. A rather nice ear, all things considered. Very clean.”

“Get out of there, you little – GAHHH!”

Alek clutched at his ear, shaking his head furiously and hissing in pain, eyes watering.

“Careful, there. I’m right up against your eardrum at the moment, so I’d advise against being overtly insulting. That just then was a light slap on your eardrum. I may just hit it a tad harder if you don’t keep a civil tone. I could even punch a hole in it and make you deaf, if you happen to say ‘freak’ again.”

Alek’s face drained of color.

Edearin started to cry. This was why she had been following the human on her own. After eating him, she had woken up with him worming up behind her EYE. He had told her that if she didn’t try to eat him again that he would let her off without hurting her, but if she tried to swallow him once more he would push her eye out of the socket or even make her go blind.

She had promised not to eat him immediately.

That would have been that and he would have gone on his way if it hadn’t been for her fear that he would be eaten.

She had not been afraid for herself, of course. She hadn’t been frightened of or for him, either. What she had been scared of was the thing that was happening right here in front of her: someone she cared about was being hurt. She had felt it was her duty to keep the other large predators in the area that might meet him safe by stopping them from eating him.

She had been hoping that he would run into something he couldn’t harm, a fairy able to shrink him small enough that he couldn’t get back out of her belly, or some poisonous insect that would bite him, or possibly that he be killed by some accident. Nothing like that had happened.

She had kept at her mission, following the oddball around night and day, praying none of her friends would find and eat him, that no one besides herself would have to experience the horror of having this terrifying thing moving around in their body unhindered.

And now, she though bitterly, she had failed.


There’s the end of part four. Hope it answers some questions. It get even better in part five, which I’ll have up when I can.

*Reference to Crisis and Léa – Crisis and Léa, along with Felarya, belong to Karbo.

Named characters are mine unless otherwise stated.

There's something rather chilling about this story. And I think chapter 4 was the right time to start providing explanations. Good continuation.

Thank you.

This was basically the first part of the story's climax (continued in part five) where things really start to boil over. I got the idea for Thatris' ability and how he uses it while thinking about octopods and how they can squeeze into tight spaces. I also thought about how people used to think earwigs could get in your ear and make you deaf.

Most people are disturbed by the idea of something moving around through them uncontrollably, so i guessed predators would be a little creeped out by it, too (unless in thier stomach or they were comfortable with that person.) Despite being timid myself, I love horror stories, especially the old Ayakashi (classic Japanese horror).

Thatris isn't really that bad of a guy, but he's got a peculiar way of looking at things and, of course, doesn't like being eaten. As you may have noticed, he doesn't like racial insults (little human, ect.) and hates being called a freak or similar terms (his parents abandoned him when they discovered his strange condition.)

Either way, thanks for the input.

There is something truly frightening about this guy, something reletless, implacable. you really managed to convey the menacing feeling very well
My only remark is concerning the way you described Edearin's reason to follow him. Maybe you made her sound a little too altruistic ? ^^ I think it would looks more credible if it was because she had friends in the area and she wanted to protect them, rather than predators in general .

Well, I guess Felarya might be a bit harsh for a pred to be that nice to others. Everything eats everything else world doesn't exactly promote that kind of altruism. I thought her up with her attitude in my mind being not an altruist but someone who hates seeing other big sentient preds hurt and willing to step in.

Still, I may tweak it a bit if the reasoning works it's way through my head in one piece.

And thank you for the compliments. I made Thatris to be something dangerous to creatures that really aren't used to small creatures being so fearless or able to hurt them without serious weapons. He isn't afraid of them in the usual sense, his odd way of thinking (which will be explained in part five ) and blank face make him unpredictable, and he can do some very serious damage if provoked.

I tried not to make him OP. He's designed to be only a limited threat in that he can't just walk up and go for a pred and hope to kill them. He has to have access to some orifice or place he can get in that's vulnerable and sensitive to even human strength (though most humans can't reach these points due to inaccessibility), and he has to do so through either stealth or surprise. He has definite weaknesses (also in part five) and his best weapons are his mobility and unpredictability.

Anyhow, I'm working on part five and it should be done soon. Keep critiquing; I live for the sole purpose of improving my writing. Thanks.

EDIT: Right. I thought for a bit on how Felarya works and I'll take your advice, Karbo. This really isn't the kind of world that allows for that kind of attitude in the wild.

Well, here we are. This is the last part of the Smiling Man story line, where you get to see some crazy stuff. Thatris' mental workings, and some of the things he has going for and against him. Enjoy, critique as you like. This story does not contain vore, but does have dialogues referencing it. Here's part five.

Chapter 4: Odd Ending

Thatris was jammed deep in the giant's ear, contorted and compressed in such a manner that was utterly impossible for a human to be in. He had pushed himself up against the thin membrane of Alek's eardrum, one hand pressed lightly on it. With just a quick jab he could make the huge man permanently deaf. Right now, though, he was busy conversing with the two giant predators.

"Well, well, well. This must be strange for you, having something in your body that's moving around outside your stomach."

Alek, still not fully realizing that the human in his ear could seriously damage his inner workings, attempted to stick a forefinger in his ear and dig the invader out. Thatris sighed at his persistence and flicked one finger, hard, against the delicate eardrum. A sharp yell, explosively loud from his position in the ear, burst out. The finger instantly retreated.

"Don't try to ream me out of your ear again. It's useless, and it's annoying. I can do any number of things to you from here. Things a lot worse than making you deaf. If I do recall correctly, beyond the eardrum is the inner ear. I could make you have a terrible case of vertigo if I cared to try. After that, well . . ."

* * * * *

Alek knew what was past the inner ear. The brain. And the thought of this psychotic little human inside his skull absolutely horrified him. His face went milk white.

"W-what do you want? I'll . . . I'll promise not to eat you." the giant assured, voice shaking as he realized that this human was going to possibly kill him. A sigh resounded in his ear.

"That is a very late attempt at negotiation. And it's contrary to what you were saying before. What happened to all that rage? I thought you were going to kill me for making Edearin cry. Was that just bluster? I'm wondering if you really care about her."

Alek felt his face burn at the accusation, partly from the suggestion itself and partly from renewed anger. He snapped back at the tiny monstrosity in his ear with bite to his words.

"Don't you accuse me of that! Of course I care about her! But . . . I . . . I . . . I don't want to die. I'm sorry, Edearin." he admitted, head lowering ashamedly.

Edearin shook her head, squeezing his forearm in reassurance that she didn't blame him for the fact. She leaned in and spoke into the giant's ear.

"Listen, human. I get that you don't like being eaten. I thought about it for a long time. I remember how scary it was when I was small and everything wanted to eat me. I can empathize with you, a little. Small folk get eaten, because that's how things work. I'm going to make you a deal."

* * * * *

Edearin waited, breathless. She had no way of predicting what this man would do, or how he would react to her attempt at negotiation. The situation could go from bad to catastrophic in a moment if she said the wrong thing.

"I'm willing to listen. What kind of arrangement?"

The pantaur released her breath in a rush, thankful that she had managed to say something he considered worth talking about. She knew that many small folks hated to see others of their kind eaten, so she chose that route of bargaining. Carefully wording her proposal, she tried it.

"What if I stopped eating humans? If that's not good enough, I'll even go straight and eat nothing but plants and animals. You'll let Alek off if I stop eating your kin, right?"

* * * * *

Alek's eyes widened. She would give up humans, even other little snacks, for him? All those tasty morsels that were so delicious and wiggly? He felt a surge of deep shame at himself, at his selfish words from before, trying to save his own skin. Here was Edearin, honest, caring Edearin, and she was going to give up so much to help him. He felt tears start to leak from the corners of his eyes, running down his cheeks.

* * * * *

"That is absurd. Completely absurd."

Edearin's expression became frightened; the human wasn't going to believe her promise. He thought she would betray it. She swiftly affirmed that she would keep her word.

"Really, I swear I'll never eat a human or little thing like that ever again! Never! Not one single morsel! You can . . . you can even watch me, all the time, to make sure I don't. I don't care! Just leave Alek alone!" she babbled, desperate.

"Edearin is honorable. She'd never break a promise." Alek agreed, backing his friend's claim to integirty.

"What are you even saying? I can't understand you. What . . ." there was a pause, the human working their words out in his head. A moment later the answer came to him.

"I see. I know you would keep that promise, if you made it. I'm not disbelieving you, I just think the promise itself is not . . . not . . . appropriate? . . . no . . . not . . . not . . . ah, necessary, that's the word. I don't want any such thing from you."

The pantaur tried to figure out what this strange man was saying. He . . . didn't care if she stopped eating humans or not? What could that mean? Her answer came a moment later.

"Such a vow is a ridiculous thing. You are a predator. You eat people, and you are perfectly fine doing so. Holding back and forcing a diet on yourself would be a silly thing to do. You may eat anything you like as far as I'm concerned. As for the giant, I'm going to give him a deterrent from eating me in the future."

* * * * *

Alek howled as the man in his ear punched his eardrum. The pain was unbelievable, white-hot agony splintering into his head like a rain of blazing spears. He hit the ground at some point, legs crumpling under the torment, but he barely felt the impact. He was too busy screaming as the human struck his eardrum twice more, each blow sending another wave of pain through his ear. Oh gods, it hurt so bad he was going to die!

* * * * *

Edearin yelled, horror-stricken, as Alek dropped like a stone to the ground, thrashing in the dirt and moss. He was kicking furiously, rolling back and forth as he held his head and roared with terror and agony. The pantaur, pushed to her limit, leapt onto him and used her lower half to pin him as she had before, preventing him from hurting himself in his throes of pain.

The giant's flailing slowed after a few minutes, his shrieks shrinking into quiet whimpers. He was sweating, breathing hard and shallowly. The pain and fear in his kind face spurred the sobbing pantaur to shout at the human.

"You monster! You don't have any right to-"

"I have EVERY right to do this." the human interrupted, voice calm and so utterly reasonable.

"You can't hurt him like this!" she cried, absolute conviction behind her words.

"I beg to differ. He ate me. That means I get to hurt him."

"He ate you because you're meant to be eaten!"

"At least we agree on something. I certainly am meant to be eaten. BY THOSE WHO CAN EAT ME. If you can somehow keep me down and digest me, I'll go with a smile and no protests. If you can't, then you'd better pray I'm unconscious when I get to your belly."

"But prey shouldn't fight back!"

"Are you saying your meals should just let you eat them, then?"

"No, that's not it! You can run, that's fine, and struggle, yes, but fighting to hurt is not what you're supposed to do!"

"Listen, you catch prey. Then that prey is yours, isn't it? You can do as you like with it, correct?" inquired the man, changing tact suddenly.

"Right."

"Then the prey can do whatever it likes to you. You both give up your rights at the same time."

"No, tha-"

The human interrupted her again, this time with complete confidence and a steel edge to his voice.

"Did you think it was a one-way path? That is NONSENSE. You chase me because it's your obligation to do so. I run and hide from you because it's my obligation to do so. That's how it goes. You try to eat me, I try to avoid being eaten. When this is going on, nobody is safe until one or the other gives up or can't go on."

"Bu-"

"You aren't in charge of the situation. I'm not in charge of the situation. Nobody is dominant until the other is dead or the interaction is over. If you want to eat me, I'll do anything necessary to stop you. I will run. I will hide. I will negotiate. I will fight. And I will KILL you if I think it's needed. We can both do whatever we want to win."

Edearin stared, unable to fathom these words. Prey weren't supposed to do this. They ran or hid. They didn't fight. She had never met a human as completely ALIEN in their thinking as this man. He couldn't be predicted, he couldn't be made sense of, and he couldn't be turned aside. His bizarre behavior and unrelenting absolutism were terrifying.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT!?" she screamed, hoping for some tiny insight to what this foreign creature desired in exchange for her friend's well-being.

There was no sound but for Alek's labored breathing (he had passed out from the pain) for nearly a minute. At last, the man spoke.

"I want to end the interaction. I don't have any desire to be hurt. If you leave me be, I'll not bother you. I believe your giant friend has learned his lesson, as well. He should be a bit hard of hearing for a few hours, but that will fade. I'll just be on my way."

* * * * *

Thatris Jibbs wormed his way out of Alek's ear, sucking in a deep, refreshing breath as his lungs expanded back to their original capacity. He slid from the gigantic man's ear to the ground, adjusting his hat as he straightened up. The pantaur was on him instantly.

One of her paws smashed him flatter than a piece of paper.

Unfortunately for his attacker, being smashed flatter than a piece of paper didn't do a thing to the boneless man. He was simply squished into a puddle of flesh that quickly popped back up into its former human shape. The man's dead smile never wavered.

The pantaur pounded him again and again, the whole time shouting in fury. She crushed him a dozen times, only to have him push himself back up regardless of how many times she squashed him. She unsheathed her claws, ready to slash him to ribbons.

The man dodged, rolling away from her blow. Edearin hissed at him, swiping with claws extended. He dodged again, jumping back onto a tree root and narrowly avoiding the razor sickles. One slid over his abdomen, drawing blood. Red, bright blood. He was bleeding.

"So you aren't immortal. You can bleed and die." the pantaur growled, tail lashing ferociously.

"Of course I can die. I can't be crushed, but anything else is fair game. Cutting, stabbing, burning, all of it. As such, I think I'll get going. You two have a good day."

The pantaur swung at him, but the human was too fast. He shot into a tiny space between the tree's base and the ground, slipped inside like a silverfish into a crack, and was gone. The only thing he left was a white handkerchief, a square of snow lying, pristine and innocuous, on the root he had leapt upon. The pantaur huffed, but picked up the tiny thing. It was a lone memento of her experience with that odd and very alien man, so she might as well keep it.

"Just a gift. I thought you deserved it." was written in small letters on the back.

* * * * *

Epilogue: Lym, a dryad, had listened in interest as the pantaur and giant couple told her about the frightening blank-faced human they had met. It sounded like a ghost story; a smiling madman with the fearlessness of a Glouteux and the capability to slither into any space, no matter how small. It was creepy, but not very convincing. They asked her to spread the word to other dryads and predators in the area. Then the two left, arms around each other.

She wondered why they had thought up such a thing. The two looked like they were going to be happy together. She smiled, shaking her head. Young lovers; you never knew what they would do. Horror stories, honestly. She didn't see any reason to share the nonsense tale with her network, so she left it at that.

* * * * *

Thatris was feeling quite good. His cut from Edearin's claws had miraculously healed overnight, and he was once again traveling. He would have a real story for his mother when he got back home. He took a deep breath of the lovely air, full of jungle scents and sounds, and let it out with a contented sigh. He was going to have a great journey in this Felarya. He was a traveler, after all, and this traveler always walked with a smile.


Well, that's all for my Smiling Man story. First story I've written here in Felarya. Thanks to all the folks who helped me by critiquing my work and especially to Frenchsnack for his insightful stories that got me rolling along with this project.

Felarya is Karbo's creation.

Named characters are mine unless otherwise stated.