Blake sat back inside Jade's belly, staring up at the unfamiliar ceiling. The smell was ghastly, like multiple kinds of meat mingling together; and the visuals weren't much easier, with the rosy perimeter of her gut's tissue clashing with waves from the murky sea of stomach acids. But worst of all was the continual, uneven sounds of her stomach - moaning, gurgling, calling out in pain on every end of him. It sent a clear message: despite her latest tasty snack, this little girl's metabolism was still fully active, and demanded more fuel.
"Blaaaake?" She called out.
He sighed. "You're still hungry, aren't you?"
A dragon-like roar swept him off his feet. His whole body flipped over, and the stomach acids splashed in great waves. He inched back from them nervously, clinging to the stomach's walls for support. He could feel the pulse through her muscular tissue, creating no small amount of discomfort in his own gut.
"Uh, kinda." She chuckled nervously, shaking her brother slightly. "Could you call on those ghosts to conjure me up a ham sandwich?"
He shouted at the great expanse of her stomach wall: "Magic doesn't work that way! It's a delicate, complicated process! I can't call on them for just anything! We're dealing with forces beyond the knowable!" He nearly collapsed against the rosy surface, the yielding mass producing a gross squelch, and a disapproving him emerging from Jade's mouth. "If you use it for dumb things, without knowing the process, then... Then..."
A tiny gurgle. The pace of her heart increased slightly, indicating that she was moving faster, still on the lookout for Aria. She continued where he trailed off: "...Then you get shrunken, right?"
The bespectacled shrinkee twitched in anger. She's just a kid, she's just a kid, she doesn't know any better, she's a full two years younger than you... "You've made your point. Well, then - " He turned to his reflection in the misty pool of green acid. To stay calm and composed - and avoid lashing out again - he tried focusing on his mouth's movements. "Spirits, make my sister a sandwich!"
Instantly, he felt a great force from outside, at the right side of the green-and-red room. The sound of gurgling intensified. The harsh blow forced him towards the foul barrier of the stomach wall. He pressed deep into the labyrinthe curves formed by the gut, the pink stuff nearly engulfing his body as it accommodated him. No matter how much Blake squirmed, the wet texture kept him stuck hard. That is, until another tremble came from right below his ribcage - knocking him into the other direction... And into the churning fluids below! He tried to yelp out a spell, but it was too late. His face fell first into the acids gaining a hefty mouthful; followed by his chest, and then his gangly legs. Soon enough, the bumping from the exterior of Jade's body raised up another great wake. Before he had any time to recover, the sea within his sister lifted up from under him, sweeping forward. He nearly flew through it, before finally landing on a relatively dry patch of her stomach.
His arms slipped a bit on it as he struggled to keep hold. The green sea kept rippling below. With one mighty tug, the boy propped himself up, and collapsed onto the surface. He sputtered out some of the juices that found their way in his mouth - only for one last bump to send a fine mist splashing onto them. The shrunken boy made the best attempt he could to rub his glasses clean of the muck, considering how not a single part of his robe was uncovered from his sister's digestive acid. Wait - Jade! He shouted up: "Are you okay?"
She replied: "Urgh... Yeah, two girls just bumped into me from either side. They should really watch where they're going! It's like they were trying to make me into a sandwich."
He thought for a moment, before realizing: Oh, right - "Make my sister a sandwich..." Very funny, you smart-aleck spooks.
"But I'm still hungry.." She complained above, rubbing her stomach. "If you can't make a sandwich for me, can you at least tell me where the cafeteria is? Maaaaybe Aria's there. Who knows?"
Another droning groan from her intestines cut through the air, merging with her careful footsteps and half-whispering but still-booming voice. The splashes and gurgles were getting to be too much for Blake's mind to handle. With a heavy heart, but a heavier sense of nausea, he receded. "Sure, if it'll stop this rumbling."
And so, they traveled. The smaller sibling gave a couple of directions as she described her surroundings - still occasionally yelping in panic as the stomach acids approached him. His body might have been strong enough with its enhanced capabilities to dive in... But there was a time and place for testing his powers. Jade's stomach was not the place. Snacktime was not the time.
Between one swerve down a hall, he asked her: "What are you doing at the high school, anyways? Kinda a weird place to spend your free time, isn't it?" As she turned on a sneaker-clad heel, he felt himself nearly flying again - murmuring a quick spell put him back intact, sticking like glue to his sacred island in the chaotic waters.
"Hey, don't treat me like I'm dumb!" She said it loud enough that people outside could probably hear - but didn't really seem to care. "Your little sister just cares about you, and wants to see what you're doing. All there is to it. That's why I'm keeping you safe and carrying you around."
He groaned again. Just a child, still growing, don't blame her... One more rumble from her stomach sent him bouncing up again, followed by a few bumps from her long legs stepping forward. "Thank... You?"
A long period of silence reined. He felt vaguely discomforted... Was Jade angry with him? Or was there something she was trying to keep hidden... Was that why she ate him? To remove any sense of suspicion? No, that was crazy. But then why else was he in here, this dark, musty cave, with her inadvertent bodily functions causing an unholy experience as he sloshed around? Making now too-familiar squelches, and purrs, in an uneven, yet almost hypnotic rhythm.
Until a new noise entered the mix. Something harsher, sharper. It came from above. He gazed up... And found the opening in the ceiling expanding, bringing down a mouthful of food into the cavernous belly. Stepping aside on instinct, he dodged the incoming mountain of mashed potatoes - and realized he was knee-deep in green liquid. He scurried back up, only to be met with another pile. This spoonful was large enough to engulf his whole body, And engulf it the food did; he clawed his way out, only to find some more of the chewed, masticated goop flopping down onto him. An attempt to contact Jade was ruined by the potatoes falling on his face - which soon became full of his sister's candy-scented, but nonetheless disgusting saliva.
She patted her stomach, rearranging the hillock of foodstuffs within. It now formed its own island in the green sea. "Aria's not here. Well, lunch is soon enough! I'll just stick around and keep munching until she shows up."
How soon did that mean? His attempt at questioning was ruined by a torrent of milk, pouring down her esophagus into a steady waterfall. The pale liquid splashed against the acids around, sending the island in motion; like a bowl being stirred. And once it finished, Blake only had a split second to crawl back out. The now-wetter food was easier to push apart, though no less enjoyable; the cold chunks of white stuck between his skinny fingers. He tried to shake it out, but the more he moved, the more the food platform underneath him crumbled away. And if it was gone...
The stream of food from above didn't seem to stop, though. In steady streams, chewed-up portions of his sister's early meal rained down, spreading across her gut. Contrary to the mage's hopes, the gurgling only grew stronger as it dissolved the food. And the walls, pulsating with her heartbeat - they moved around to join the enzymes in breaking down the food, tossing the pieces around slowly but firmly. To think, this maelstrom, this rise and fall of archipelagos happened every time he had a meal with Jade in the past. It would take him a long time to eat with her again - or maybe to even eat, period.
As the churning and burning continued...
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