Close at Heart

Close at Heart

(Warning, this contains safe, non-fatal vore, if you don’t like it don’t read it, and please don’t bite my head off for writing it if that’s the case, I gave fair warning.  This is also another Alice and the Naga story, set several months after The Naga’s Hunt.  There are a couple of tiny spoilers but nothing big >w>)

Alice moved aside the curtain of reeds blocking her way, letting out a happy sigh as the early morning sun flowed into the small dark tunnel behind her.  The change from the damp muggy air to the fresh sweet air and the sweetness of living plants caused her to smile happily. Even though she had been coming to the oasis several times over the last few months she still felt just has happy that first day, as she did now.She sighed, taking a moment to rest his cheek against one of the cattail reeds, the cool fresh feeling nice against her slightly sun bitten skin.She had been using less and less sunscreen of late, this morning without any, and her skin was starting to show for it.  

It was fortunate that at 7:30 in the morning the sun was nowhere near as fierce.After a minute or two the little girl gingerly walked through the reeds, going carefully so not to trip over any exposed roots.Finally her shoes hit sand as she pushed past the very last reed.By Alice’s right was a small bubbling white pool of water, steam bellowing from its surface high up into the air.  She watched the steam rise for a few minutes, fascinated when it dispersed higher up.  Fort had told her at one point to avoid touching or going into any of the hot springs without him around, particularly the white one.  
He had told her, rather bluntly that the water was poisonous and it was hot enough to sear the flesh right off her bones, with the hope that a bit of fear would keep her away from it.She hadn’t been afraid but she did take his warning to heart, she made sure to keep away from the boiling water at all costs, Alice rather liked her skin where it was and she had learned burns hurt really badly too.

Alice continued past the sand and onto the soft moss, giggling cutely as her feet sunk into it.  After a moment’s thought she took off her shoes and socks, putting them away into her bag so she could enjoy the softness against her soles and toes and not having to worry about stepping on any sharp objects in the soft lichen.  She giggled as her soles sunk into the soft moss, feeling the springy material press back against her weight.  After playing around a bit, hopping over a patch and watching the imprints of her feet disappear till she finally settled a bit, breathing a little heavily with a big smile on her face.

Content with herself she went on, following the almost invisible path to the middle of the oasis and the giant flat stone where she knew her large friend liked the sunbath during the day.  
She had learnt quite a few of the hidden paths through the place, trails left by the small inhabitants of the oasis, or the one huge one who’s large snack like tail left small wakes in the damp soil.  She was following one of the small animal tracks, her friend left much bigger ones then this.
She took her time as she went, having come extra early that morning and suspecting that her giant friend was probably still asleep.  She wanted to surprise her friendShe was in for a surprise when she stumbled past those last ferns and the large flat rock came into view.

There was no large red and black naga curled up on it this time.

Alice blinked in confusion, glancing about for any sign of her friend and trying to piece together in her head why he wasn’t on the rock.  Putting her shoes back on Alice wondered over to the rocky dish, resting a hand against the scale flattened surface.  The answer came to her then as she ran her fingers lightly over the cold stone, realising then that it hadn’t been touched by the sun yet, it had yet to rise enough yet.
She had never gotten here before ten in the morning before, she had had no idea that the sun wouldn’t reach this spot for an hour or so yet.  That answered why he wasn’t there on the rock yet, he’s be lying in the sun elsewhere for a while still, if Fort in fact was even awake.  She remembered that Fort was probably still resting off a rather large meal.
She still couldn’t stop the shudder that went through her body as she recalled the rushed memory, the fear and pain, the metallic smell of her friend’s blood and the sound of his pain as the crocodile bit and mauled the naga as it tried to get at the little girl he had whipped out from between its jaws right at the last second.
He had thrown her out the way just in time to save the little girl’s life, at a cost as it was done in such a rush that she got pretty badly scraped up.   He had managed to drive off the crocodile, dealing mortal injuries to it; they only found this out later when he found its carcass floating in one of ponds.  However in the process the naga had gotten some pretty bad injuries of his own, leaving him unable to hunt.  Alice still felt guilty about it all, believing she was at fault for the incident because she had been so near the water when it lunged, that because Fort saved her life that it had almost cost him his own.

She didn’t like remembering how hurt her friend had gotten, how he had been crippled for a few days afterwards.  Alice hadn’t wanted to leave her friend, worried something would go wrong for the injured naga while she was gone.  
She also worried that he would starve if he was unable to hunt.  Even though she knew he hated the taste of the sandwiches she had for lunch she had made sure to pack extra ones, knowing that it would not fill him up but at least stave off some of the hunger.  
She had been quite surprised the next day to find her injured friend sleeping away, a noticeable bulge in his tail, all which remained of the monster croc that had the previous day tried to make a meal out of her.  He had told her that he wasn’t about to waste good meat when she asked why he ate it.
She always felt sorry for the crocodile as well, Fort had told her it was very old and probably didn’t have many days left, it didn’t feel right that such an old creature should met its end at the claws of the person trying to protect her.

She sighed, forcing the memory from her mind.  Fort was okay now and that was all that mattered, now all she had to do was find him.  She glanced about, trying to figure out just where he would be, thinking over the spots she knew the naga liked.  Half the times she had come here he’d usually be sunbathing, the other times he was nowhere to be found.
It took her a moment to remember about his Den.
She had only been to his underground sleeping place once before and her mind had trouble remembering the way, she had been sick and feverish at the time.
She smiled faintly at the memory; it was the only time she could clearly remember the naga not acting all grumpy at all.  That day Fort had seemed worried, he had carried the barely moving child to his den himself, keeping watch over the poor sick little thing.  Alice was sure most of it was all a fever induced dream, Fort didn’t seem the type to ever be worried, he was bigger and stronger than anyone else she knew.

Despite her misgivings about remembering the way it took her little time to find the right trail, being it was perhaps the most well used one she had come across, leading right to the water pool.
Stepping past that last shrub she stumbled into the warm sunlight, casting a bit of the chill that always seemed to linger away.   She couldn’t stop the giggle when she spotted her friend.
He was laying, asleep on the bare rock, the lower half of his snake body; not including his actual wrist was still lying deep within a deep hole in the rockface.
He had evidently managed to crawl out of his cave, make it to the sunlight and fell straight asleep again, sprawled out on his belly.
However at her giggle the naga lazily opened an eye, not as asleep as he seemed, giving the little girl an unamused look when he noticed her.
“Has anyone told you its rude to wake naga’s up?  One might just decide have a little bitty girl for breakfast, the happy ones taste the sweetest and go down so very easily.”  He grumbled, crossing his arms and resting his chin on them, narrowing his eyes a bit when Alice rolled hers.
“You’re being silly again.”  The little girl lightly reprimanded; her smile evidence that she still didn’t take any heart to that threat of his, even if it was obvious to the little one by now that he could indeed swallow her whole  after what happened to the croc.
The threat had no strength to it, he wasn’t even considering doing such a thing but the naga did not appreciate the young girl’s reactions.  He had to force himself to ignore it, knowing he had only just woken up and that the little one didn’t mean to be disrespectful.  Alice was just a little thing, a child; those sorts of things were to be expected to come out of a child’s mouth more often than not.
Alice frowned at his silence, coming over and sitting down next to his head as he tried to go back to sleep for a little longer.  She watched him trying to nod off for a little bit, worried he was still weak from his injuries, even though they had all but finished healing by now, the only signs of the fight was a partially grown new scale on his shoulder where the old one was ripped off and a few red patches of new skin.

“Are you alright?”  She finally asked, laying her head against the top of his, feeling him stiffen despite this.

"Alice...Stop.”  He growled, unfolding an arm and firmly pushed her away, feeling a bit grumpier with tiredness then he usually would.  He usually liked the kid’s little friendly gestures but today he was feeling particularly short tempered.
He caught the smell of her hurt at pushing her away and immediately regretted it.
“Sorry little one, I didn’t sleep well last night.”  He explained sleepily, feeling guilty when he glanced at her and she forced a smile in return.
“No I’m sorry, I should have asked.”  The little girl whimpered softly, getting up to walk away, or tried to.  Next moment a strong arm, almost the length of her whole body had looped around her, Fortitude gently pulled the girl down next to him, pressing his cheek against hers as he turned onto his side.
“It nothing to worry about little one, I shouldn’t have snapped, I’m just tired.”  He whispered, nuzzling the little one a moment with his eyes closed, smiling when he felt her relax in the loop of his arm and against his chest.  One thing he noticed was a change in her scent; it lacked that horrible, poisonous smell of the lotion she liked to slather on her skin to stop it burning.  He was happy she wasn’t wearing it today, the smell always turned his stomach, it smelt chemical and wrong.  He was sure it wasn’t good for her; he was quick to blame it whenever the little one got even a little sick, she seemed so weak sometimes.
Without it her natural, sweet and almost flowery scent, like lemon thyme was perfectly clear and healthy.  He liked that smell, pleasant and mild.

And delicious.

Alice was surprised for a moment.  Fort very rarely showed affection she had found; when he did it would be stiff, brief and unsure, like he didn’t quite know how to respond.  She smiled when he nuzzled her hair, relaxing into this rare little treat of the naga’s friendliness.  To Alice it was a special treat, with the memory of the animal attack so close to her mind.  The little one relaxed and closed her eyes, wrapping her little arms around his forearm, already starting to doze off in into his warmness.
Fortitude slowly opened his eyes, glancing at Alice, smiling thinly when he saw the adorable sight of the small girl relaxed against his chest, the little body completely relaxed as she dozed, evidently enjoying the warmth he gave off.  He could barely feel her light little hug around his arm.
He wasn’t a generally someone who could be considered cuddly, with all the sharp hard scales he had and his formidable looking claws and fangs, despite this the little human girl didn’t seem to notice or care.  She liked to be as close as she could, never minding the vast amount of heat his body gave off, and he didn’t think she had ever complained about overheating before.
He had always known human’s had a lower temperature then his kind did, however he sometimes worried about how cold this little one seemed at times.  It reminded him sometimes of hatchlings of his race, they were always cold when they were little.  It was normal for hers though to be the same temperature all the time; that much he knew.  Still, he couldn’t help but wonder at why she always seemed to crave heat so much, it couldn’t be that she was always cold was it?  Yet looking at her he wondered if that was indeed the case, at the moment she did feel a little chilly in his arms.

‘I know just the way to warm her up.’ He thought distantly, seeming to focus more on the small child.

Perhaps it was her scent that triggered the thought that came to his mind, and caused his mouth to water as he stared down at the girl.   It was a common practice for naga of his kind to be protective, and a little clingy to those they saw as their charges.  This had morphed however to include the use of their storage stomach as well at some point.
The desire to swallow down the little girl had always been at the back of his mind, ever since he had first met the little child in fact.  It was that cute little defenselessness and the desire to swallow down smaller prey, feeling them moving within his stomach, even if the feeling came with a slice of discomfort and pain.
It was also her tiny size, the innocence that still refused to die in those periwinkle blue eyes, despite the horrible circumstances the little one had been through that made him want to do it beyond the need of a mere predator.

The desire had been worse the last few days, after the close call with that crocodile.  He tightened his arm a fraction tighter around Alice at the mere thought, not enough to hurt her, even if she shifted a little in discomfort till he loosened it again.  
If he been even a fraction slower, if she had been closer to the water, if he hadn’t paid attention... He didn’t even want to think about the outcome.  The best case scenario was that the little one would had been injured but alive, but with how big it had been the odds were that the encounter would have only ended in tragedy for the little girl.
Fortitude forced back a sigh, instead he looked down with a faint smile at the dozing Alice, thinking idly but not really thinking to himself that it wasn’t much difference if she was resting there, or just a little further lower, and deeper within.

He tried to force the urge back like he usually did, knowing that such an attempt would likely scare the little one and cause both of them harm.  He was finding it harder than usual however, without that horrible sunscreen stuff there to help not to focus on her delicious sweet scent and the urge to protect after coming so close to losing the little one.
In an effort to not think about it so he tried to think back to how he was feeling when she had disturbed him earlier, this however was a mistake.
He thought back to his threat to swallow up the little one and how unaffected she was.
Then thought back to all the other times he had said something similar and having her respond in the exact same way.
He looked down at the girl with an unknown look, the idea that she believed he wasn’t capable of such a thing coming to mind.  It wasn’t a wise thing to make a naga think he was being taunted, that he couldn’t do something as simple as that.
It took him even longer to push down that almost dangerous thought, knowing that mindset was hazardous for the little one so trustingly curled up in his arms; even if he so much as tensed to much he could hurt her badly, if not worse.
Fortitude took a deep breath, calming down with this thought in mind.  She was only a kid, she didn’t know better, he couldn’t bear the thought of harming her.
This didn’t stop the desire however.

Taking that breath made it even worse in fact, since he only breathed in more of her sweet, tasty scent.

Alice stirred when Fort took that deep breath, the massive rising and falling of his chest causing her to glance up with sleepy eyes at her friend, noticing an odd look in his eyes that she had seem a few times before.
“Fort, are you alright?”  She asked, sitting up and folding her hands in her lap.  His eyes seemed glazed over for a moment, lost in thought it seemed till the suddenly focused on her, a slow smile curling his lips as he finally came to a decision.
“I’m alright, just thinking about things, nothing for you to worry about though.”  Alice frowned, not sure why he looked so odd, it was like the naga gone completely tense for no reason.
“Is it a secret? I won’t tell.”  She asked in a sweet voice, causing him to laugh softly, going back to normal a bit.

“I know you won’t, I know.  However...”  He crouched down a bit, curling some of his body from the hole and looping it loosely around the little girl a bit.
“I worry how much I can trust you, sometimes...If I had a secret, a big one.  How can I know I can trust you with it?”  He almost felt guilty at the expression that crossed the girl’s face as she leapt to her feet, or tried to as he still had a firm hold of her in the crook of his arm.
“But you can trust me, double, triple cross my heart, with sugar and everything!”  He knew that he had said the key words to this, knowing how much the little girl believed in trust.  He had heard Alice say several times that she trusted him; it always stunned him when she said it, never quite believing her.
She seemed to wilt a bit at his words, causing genuine guilt to stir within.
“Sorry little one, I know I can trust you, I’m just not sure if I can trust you completely.”  He muttered softly, lightly stroking her hair, loosing heart with this.

“But you can.”  Alice whimpered, tears in her eyes.  That was what really snapped him out of it.

“No-no little one, don’t be sad, I didn’t mean that.”  He apologised, giving the bitty thing a gentle squeeze, feeling guilty at what he had been doing, he hadn’t meant to upset her.
“I should explain dear one.  I only said that because I want you to know I’ll never, ever harm you.  You do know that right?”  Alice nodded, confused and a bit upset; he could have told her that without hurting her feelings at all.   This she said, making him feel even guiltier.
He took a deep breath, closing his eyes a moment.
“I know you don’t really believe me when I say some things, I can’t blame you either, but you do know about some of my abilities, like how I eat right?”  Alice tilted her head, not sure where he was going with this.  After a moment she nodded again, thinking she had a rough idea of what he was saying.
“I’m sorry I rolled my eyes.”  She whispered softly, eyes wide, thinking that was it that had made him go weird and upset and say hurtful things.
“Oh no-no, not that, well...maybe a bit.”  He sighed, looking at the tiny thing; her scent was still making his mouth water despite this.
“You know I swallow my prey whole, nagas don’t chew often and we can ingest large objects.  You know roughly that my sto-belly.”  He quickly switched the word to a nicer, more child friendly one.
“Is in the middle of my tail, well we have another.”  When he saw her look of confusion he lightly took her tiny hand in his and rested it against his middle, a few hands below his ribcage, the timing was perfect as it rumbled just then under their hands.  He sighed, knowing this was probably sounding odd, and looking at the little one Fort was sure the girl wasn’t catching on.

“Do...you want to... eat me?”  The girl hesitantly asked, surprising him, evidently she was understanding what he was saying just fine, Fort forgot that despite her frail appearance she a smart kid.  There was a scent of unease coming off the little one, she was starting to look very worried. Alice had finally recognised the look in his eyes, hunger, and it worried her a fair bit, since he had only eaten recently.  Why was he still hungry? Why was he looking at her like that? Was he going to what she really hoped he wouldn’t?

He sighed, hating the worry in those periwinkle eyes.

“Alice, you know I would not hurt you, even if I were to do something...along those lines I would not hurt you.” He muttered, letting her have her hand back.
“Yes...I know...just...won’t eating me hurt me? I know what tummies d-do and I don’t w-wanna be f-food.”  She whispered, staring at him wide eyed.
He chuckled softly, resting his clawed hand against his middle again.
“Not all tummies do young one. This one wouldn’t hurt you, it’ll just want to keep you close and warm.”  He muttered with a soft smile, not something that happened much with the usually stoic naga.
The little girl whined slightly, obviously still very unsure about the idea even at his reassurance, although the thought of warmth did get her attention a bit.  The next moment to her surprise Fort had rested his forehead against hers, those large fierce eyes gazing into hers.
“I won’t hurt you, that’s the furthest from my mind.  Don’t be scared little one, I won’t do such a thing if it scares you.”  He murmured softly, sighing sadly as he pulled away, till he felt the girl’s little arms wrap around his head.  He froze.

"You’re really a very clingy little child, aren’t you?”  He finally asked with a slightly bemused look to his face, reaching up to try and untangle her hands from his hair, only to have her grip tighter.
“I’m not scared of you silly; I know you won’t hurt me.”  Alice chided, finally letting go, smiling at the still stunned naga.  She always found how he froze up like that funny.
He raised a brow at her amused look.
“I couldn’t resist.”  She giggled, thinking it was just reason to hug his head just then, she needed the comfort of wrapping her arms around something, and he always got very worried when she hugged her arms against herself, since that usually was a lead up to her part fears resurfacing.

The naga chuckled and mischievous look came over his eyes.
“Well if we’re no longer resisting things, I might just enjoy a sweet little snack.”  He purred, reaching out for her.  The little girl knew that playful look for sure, even if it was rare.
She giggled, trying to climb over his tail.  Fort let her try from a little, smirking as she slid against his smooth scales.  Finally she managed to stumble up it, laughing a little in triumph, even as he gently caught her around her middle and legs, one hand easily wrapping around her waist and the other pinning her legs together at the knees.  He sat up and turned the little girl around to face him, grinning with amusement when he saw the delighted look to her eyes.  With a cheeky smirk he lightly scrabble two of his fingers against her sides, causing the ticklish little girl to burst into laughter.
Alice squealed and giggled, trying to escape, unable to because of his firm hold on her little body.  Thankfully he relented quickly enough to allow her to catch her breath.

“M-meanie, no fair.”  She finally gasped, giggling on and off.  The naga chuckled, lightly nuzzling the top of her head.
“Oh?  But I caught you fair and square.  It’s not my fault you couldn’t run away.” He purred, eyes narrowed.  Alice giggled, his breath tickling her face.
“Yes it was, you left you big tail all over the place.” She huffed, crossing her arms and giving him her cute little pouting look.
He purred again, he couldn’t resist, that expression was adorable.
“Not on purpose, you just happened to run into my coils.”  He muttered softly, beginning to coil his tail around himself and the girl more comfortably.  
He nuzzled the top of Alice’s head again, followed up by gently licking the side of her face, smiling at her sweet, untainted taste.  The little one stiffened, letting out a soft, disgusted sound at the wet slightly sticky sensation against her face, causing a deep rumble of amusement to start up in his chest.
“You trust me little one?”  He finally asked once the rumble faded off, just noticing with downheartedness the scent of her worry was coming back as realisation came over her features.
“You still wanna...”  Alice couldn’t finish her question, shaking a little bit within his grip.
He hushed her gently, raising her above his head, looking up into her eyes, which Alice found very different.  Even laying down he was so big he more often then not would find himself glancing or peering down at the little girl, rarely were their faces on level with each other, rarer still that Alice was the one on the taller level.
“I couldn’t resist, little one” He taunted gently, using her words back at her.  Although there was truth to it as well, he couldn’t resist the urge anymore.  His eyes softened again, the joking expression fading to a more serious one.
“I promise little one, I won’t hurt you, and if you get too scared... I’ll stop.  I need you to do me a favour though.”  It took a few moments for Alice to slowly nod, looking like she couldn’t decide if he was playing a trick or not, he didn’t seem like he was playing so much anymore...

“Don’t struggle little one, try to stay still, it will be a lot more comfortable for both of us.”  He whispered softly right afterwards, smiling reassuringly at her little worried face.
Alice whined softly, realising that he was serious.  She had to force her fear back, eyes screwing tightly as she shivered a bit.  He was starting to get worried, till very slowly she nodded again, receiving an approving look from her giant friend even as the worry still lingered.
“Good girl.” He muttered softly, lightly nuzzling her little belly, frowning when he felt the hard edge of a rib; she was so small and thin!  He knew she was undersized and underweight for her age.  The little eight year old was only 3 and a half feet tall, the average size of a five year old, and her weight more closely matched that of a four year.
Again the older naga felt a flash of hatred for those kidnappers for what they had done to this child, how many had they messed up in some way, or killed or sold before her?
With a weary sigh, pushing that from his mind and turning his attention back to the little one, smiling reassuringly one last time, before he opened his mouth wide, impossibly so for a human to do. He very carefully lowered her legs into his open maw, curling his tongue up over his bottom teeth so they wouldn’t scrape over them.

Alice stiffened as immense damp heat engulfed her legs, watching as Fort gently closed his lips over her knees, the warmth increasing.  She squirmed slightly as she felt his tongue shift and press against her legs, hot wetness soaking into her pant legs in its wake.  After a few minutes she felt him lower her a little deeper, feeling a wave of pressure pressing down on her feet and drawing the little body deeper into his own.  She closed her eyes tight, shivering slightly for a moment as the wet heat continued to slowly, but steadily climb further and further.  She found it hard to hold back a tingle of panic up her spine, forcing herself to remember that this was her friend, this was Fort.  Slowly she forced herself to relax, finally opening her eyes, curious despite her worry.

Fort grimaced slightly; the texture and taste of the fabric of her overalls were highly unpleasant, he counted it a positive that the cloths her kind made for their hatchlings tended to be much softer then the adults, otherwise this could be a lot more unpleasant.  It wasn’t as bad once he had slickened the fabric enough to slide down easier.  Still not as good as the feeling of wool going down but not to dissimilar, her clothes were either that or cotton anyway.
One thing he highly regretted though was not getting the little one to take off her shoes before doing this, as he felt the hard rubber edges pressed against the inside of his throat uncomfortably.  Alice giggled nervously at his grimace, giving a weak smile as the somewhat tight pressure climbed further up her legs, reaching her waist when he swallowed a little harder.
He looked at the little girl within his jaws when he heard it, smiling back around her little body before he gave a small gulp and moving the discomfort further on, opening his mouth as he slowly fed a bit more of her body into his jaws, closing his lips just above her waist.  Again he marvelled at how very small the little human girl was, already he was almost done.  He was in fact going rather slowly, the hatchlings or others small enough to do this with in the past had gone down quicker, those had been used to it however.
Fortitude was out of practice as well, other than eating his prey it had over a couple of centuries since he had devoured something for a purpose other than substance.

In little time Alice took her last glimpse of the sky, Fort’s teeth glinting above her before he slowly closed his mouth, enclosing her in hot darkness.  She waited tensely, feeling his tongue lightly press her head against his pallet, warm breath gushing about her.  It felt like her whole body was being pressed and kneaded, a ringing purring from the naga unintentionally causing her muscles to relax as she became aware of a great amount of warmth, then a powerful rippling ~Gulp~ that deafened her and completely pulled Alice down, deeper and deeper within.  She squirmed instinctively, just for a moment as the tightness momentarily smothered her, before she was pulled into a much larger space.

Fort closed his mouth, waiting a few moments for the little girl to relax before pulling her down with one last swallow, pulling the little body all the way down within with a practiced motion.
He gently rested a hand against the bulge she made in his throat, following her descent, purring at the feeling till he lost the shape in his chest.  With that he rested both hands on his stomach, lying himself down as he felt her pulled into it, lightly rubbing the small lump she made, his stomach looking close to the beginning of what some would call a beer belly, barely noticeable really, he could easily hold someone double her size with barely an issue, something her tiny size was child’s play.
Looking at the massive naga then it would have been all but impossible to believe there was a little girl settled within its belly.
He carefully laid himself back against the curvature of his massive coils, sighing softly, feeling rarely content.

Then the little girl moved.

Fortitude gasped, gritting his teeth as Alice suddenly and violently shifted with a scared whimper, pushing at the hot wet walls pressing in on her, unable to see even an inch in front of her face, instincts taking over for a moment.
The big naga clenched his teeth as a great wave of nausea swept through him as she did, leaving small waves of red pain in its wake caused by old internal scarring that never healed quite right.
“Agh-Alice!...shh, gah!-you’re safe!  It’s... all okay...shh...shh...good girl...it’s alright, I won’t hurt you...shh, it’s alright...it’s alright...” He whispered through the discomfort, trying to force it back before either his stomachs could clench, likely scaring the little one worse, maybe even hurting her.  Even as he spoke he could feel her begin to relax, the painful pangs of nausea beginning to fade away. He still continued to rub his middle carefully, still talking soothingly, all the while mentally scolding himself for forgetting how the little one must have felt for a moment there.

His voice, muffled and louder than ever as it was, and the immense warmth helped to calm her, even with all the other natural sounds of his body going on around her that familiar voice, with that odd buzz you could hardly notice was familiar and comforting in itself, even if it was filled with annoyance most of the time.
It was the distress that caught her most then because it was so out of place, so unlike Fortitude.  She grew still, remembering what he had told her and worried she had hurt her friend.  She remembered then how he had promised that she would be alright, safe, even if she was within his belly.
The little eight year old didn’t exactly know what happened in a person’s tummy but knew it wasn’t something one would say was a hospitable place, yet the little girl didn’t feel like anything was wrong, there was no discomfort, no pain.
In fact the surrounding flesh around her was very soft, and seemed to cradle and press close against her, a constant pulse in her ears, matching the giant heart so close to where she rested.  It was also wet, very dark and had a clingy thick wetness all around, all of which she didn’t like to well, feeling hemmed in, but even that was easy to ignore.
Above all the warmth that really calmed her completely.  She loved the amount of heat that Fort gave off normally; it dulled the chill that she could always feel in her chest each time he might have carried her or picked her up, even just sitting down near him helped.  The warmth was even greater within him; her body grew somewhat limp as the great warmth seeped into her sickened little form, chasing that horrible, deadening chill away, at least for a little while.

Alice could even breath quite comfortably, even if the air didn’t exactly smell very pleasant.  She curled her nose a bit.

“It smells really bad in here, like stale raw meats.”  She felt the surrounding body jump at her words.  Fortitude had started to think Alice had fallen asleep, she hadn’t moved much for a while, her heartbeat and breathing, both of which he could still hear had been calm and steady, much to his relief.   The big naga felt like he had made a terrible mistake doing this, had let his instincts take over, and had been wondering if he could somehow get her to think this was all a dream without messing with her poor little head anymore.  It took him a bit to process what she had said, and once Fortitude had he couldn’t hold back his laugh.

“I would imagine it would, little one, you’ll get used to it before long.  How are you feeling?”  He asked softly, lightly pressing down on where he could feel Alice’s head.
“I’m alright...I’m sorry I moved before...”  She said back, letting out a surprised gasp when she felt the ‘wall’ she leaned against press back against her head.
“I understand, it’s normal... I’ll let you out in a few minutes little one, and I promise that you don’t have to worry about me doing this again.”  He muttered softly, ashamed he had scared the sweet little thing so.  He felt surprise moments after are when he felt her tiny fingers press back into his hand and stroked feather-lightly against the slick soft flesh within, the almost ticklish sensation not something he expected in the least, easily gentle enough not to cause him discomfort.
“I don’t mind staying longer...you didn’t hurt me like you promise, and it’s so warm and soft, I kind of like it in here a bit.” She said softly, almost sleepily.  He stared down at his stomach for a few moments, hardly believing what she had just said.
“Really?”  Was the only thing Fortitude could say, not quite believing her, yet why would the little one lie?
“Yeah...I trust you...Fort, ...I’m a feeling a little sleepy...”  She murmured softly, feeling exhausted by the rush of emotions she had felt in such a short time and the deep warmth and softness surrounding her.   A soft, almost tender smile crossed the naga’s face, a deep rumbling purr echoing in his massive chest.
“Then sleep little one, I won’t let anything get you, I’ll let you back out later.”  He said softly, starting to curl his tail about himself, lightly resting his hand over the little girl and he felt her shift a little, getting into a slightly more comfortable position.
He should have guessed she might slip off like that, he had noticed her craving for warmth before, and she regularly took naps on the warm rocks or any sunlit patch, heat tended to make her sleep.

“Alright...F..ort....”  He chuckled faintly, feeling the little body let out one massive sigh before her already calm breathing deepened.
He lightly placed both hands over her, turning a little onto his side as he too started to settle for a nap, for the first time in a long while able to sleep a little later into the afternoon like he used to before meeting the little girl.
He’d let her out once he woke up, he rarely slept more than a few hours and it would give time to clean up the little thing before she went back to her foster home, even if his initial instinct was to keep her here in the oasis.  He had always half regretted taking the little one to that town.  He didn’t know what human’s ate though, what their young needed; he suspected she might not have survived if he had.

He smiled, gently rubbing the little girl, thankful to have gotten this close; he’d forgotten how much he loved this feeling.  One thing was for certain-

“We’ll be doing this again, little one.”