AftercareNSFW

Nicole had no desire to end up as another meal for the ravenous dragon girl who had claimed her as pet and girlfriend. Or anyone else, for that matter - she wanted to live.

But few things made her question this like being released, alive, from her girlfriend's stomach.

She lay, half-curled, totally naked, on the hard, unforgiving floor of the bathtub. Being released into the cool air of Anju's bathroom felt like freezing to death after her stay in the warm, humid environment of her stomach, and she dearly missed the soft and squishy walls that had been feeling more and more like home with every minute she spent inside.

Her skin faintly burned with the acids that still lingered on it, sticky and unpleasant and stinging everywhere she could feel. Her hair was soaked with the stuff; she didn't have to look at herself to know that it was a mess right now.

She lay there, eyes closed, just breathing hard and wishing the scene hadn't ended. Wishing she hadn't been released. Wishing Anju had decided to keep her, even if it meant being digested. And recoiling from those mewling submissive thoughts in her own head. I don't want to be food, she's right, I don't want to be food... but I wish I could have stayed...

The sound of rushing water from overhead - or, well, in front of her - drew her from her lamentations. Anju had turned the shower on. She had a lovely extending showerhead which was currently pointed down the drain, with Anju testing the temperature with two fingers. Anju's naked curves were a pleasant distraction from Nicole's unpleasant condition, and Nicole peered up at her, trying to catch her gaze.

She caught it a moment later. Anju met her eyes with a soft smile. "Sorry, kitten. Any longer inside and you would have been too far gone."

"That, um, wouldn't be so bad," Nicole mumbled, feeling pathetic and needy. "You always say you're my fate..."

The tall demi-dragon stepped into the bathtub, bending down and hoisting Nicole into a kneeling position. Stomach juices - her own stomach juices - smeared all over her skin as she knelt down behind Nicole and pulled Nicole into her lap, one arm loosely keeping Nicole close while the other held the showerhead. "I'm already your fate, silly kitten. You don't need to disappear inside me to be mine."

Warmth and relief cascaded into Nicole's weary muscles as Anju turned the showerhead on her, keeping it close and running it up and down Nicole's naked body all over. The stomach juices washed away easily, running down the drain. "Nnn... feels good."

"Yeah?" Anju chuckled softly at Nicole's ear. "S'good. I want you to feel good, kitten." She ran the stream of water over Nicole's hair, drenching her hair completely until it hung heavily at her back, the unpleasantly sticky feeling now gone from it. Cool shampoo squirted into her hair, followed soon after by Anju's warm hands diligently working it in. "That's the longest you've gone without asking to be let out. And the first time I've had to let you out myself for your own safety. Something happen?"

"Heh, sorry," Nicole murmured, leaning into the pressure. Anju's fingertips working along her scalp made her shiver pleasantly, and her mouth hung open slightly with dizzy bliss. Water dribbled down her jawline and dripped off her chin. "I, uhhhn... I really got into it this time."

Humming thoughtfully, Anju retrieved the showerhead, rinsing the shampoo out with it in one hand while massaging further with the other hand to make sure all the suds were gone. "I'd love to know more, if you don't mind telling me."

The cleansing rush of the hot water running down her neck mixed with Anju's patient attention helped clear some of the fog from Nicole's mind. "Oh, being overpowered and pushed around and swallowed so easily like that... It was really different." She tilted her head up to look at Anju, watching her girlfriend work. "You're usually so gentle with me when we play."

"Good different or bad different?" Anju prompted, finishing her work and meeting Nicole's gaze.

Nicole blushed, both from the eye contact and from the memory - which somehow still provoked a twinge in the depths of her exhausted, overstimulated body. "Uh, good different... definitely good different."

"Hmhm. A dragon must defend her hoard from would-be treasure thieves..." Anju leaned in with a sly chuckle, stealing a brief kiss from the flustered Nicole. She tucked the showerhead under her arm for a moment while she poured a generous helping of her favorite after-stomach neutralizing/moisturizing/soothing body wash into her palm before spreading it across Nicole's belly. "And I am certainly a dragon. No matter how soft a spot I might have for you, kitten."

Feeling Anju's soapy hands massage her weary body gave Nicole new strength, and she ventured another comment. "I especially liked how you said I was going to, um, end up as part of your hoard..." She stared at the drain, suddenly self-conscious, watching the sudsy water disappear into it. "I like the thought of being one of your, uh, treasures."

"You are the most important of my treasures," Anju replied without missing a beat. Her hands cupped Nicole's breasts tenderly, cradling them in her palms. "The crown jewel of my hoard."

"I like thinking about you keeping my, um, my skull with your notebooks and your Sugar and Spice volumes," Nicole explained in a small voice. She hastily added, "Not that I want to be digested! It's just fun to think about..."

Anju came in close, breathing heatedly right beside Nicole's ear. In the space of a moment, Nicole's sensitive ear was enfolded by Anju's lips, and the lightest, most delicate brush of Anju's sharp teeth and hot tongue on her acid-weakened skin sent thousands of volts of sensation through her body - made all the worse by the words she said with Nicole's ear between her teeth. "If ever - when ever - I decide to keep you forever, kitten... Your polished skull and your twisted, broken glasses will be a treasure far more sacred and irreplaceable to me than even the misprint version of Sugar and Spice #17..."

"Oh..." Shivers ran up and down Nicole's spine from the tease, and she tilted her head toward Anju, trying to pin her ear against her shoulder for protection... only exposing her neck in the process. Anju shifted her attack to Nicole's now-vulnerable throat, sliding her mouth along it in slow, fanged kisses that felt like being menaced by a vampire, a loving knife caressing her skin without leaving a mark. Nicole could feel all of it so keenly after her visit to Anju's belly... a trip that she might be taking again soon, if Anju kept up with this.

Helplessly slipping back into subspace under the onslaught, Nicole squirmed in Anju's grip, her voice trembling and squeaking. "Even, hh, Sugar... Sugar and Spice #17?"

A laugh bubbled out of Anju, and she broke character completely, shaking her head. She sat up and released her pet, grabbing the showerhead and rinsing down her front with it. "The misprint version, yes!" She moved in for a peck on the cheek. "You're cute."

"I don't want to be digested though," Nicole reminded her. "Just, uh, in case you're getting any ideas."

Tipping Nicole's chin up so that their eyes met upside-down, Anju grinned, one eyebrow quirked. "Ideas I didn't have already? No, not at all."

Nicole's cheeks reddened, and she found herself briefly speechless.

Anju just dragged Nicole toward herself, laughing all the more. "I'm kidding, kitten. I have other ways of making you mine forever in mind. Here, face me so I can do your back."

Obligingly, Nicole nestled herself in against her naked girlfriend's body, kneeling between Anju's knees and tucking her head under Anju's chin. She could feel the cool gel being squirted onto her back, then Anju's strong hands rubbing along her skin and making the dull burning sensation go away. Here, tucked into this small, tight embrace, seeing nothing but Anju's body, being massaged like this... it was kind of like the situation she'd just come from. But safer - Anju didn't really mean her any harm. Didn't really want to hurt her. Just wanted to hold her and take care of her.

She sighed, laying her head against Anju's chest and shaking some more of those submissive, preyish thoughts from her mind. Being cared for like this helped make things feel... normal again after the world-shaking experience of stealing from Anju's hoard and being eaten alive and brutally digested.

For her part, Anju left Nicole to her thoughts, only interrupting them briefly to ask Nicole to stretch out her legs so Anju could wash them.

As the adrenaline and lust of the endo play wore off, Nicole was left feeling... tired. Depleted, both physically and emotionally. It was only natural after the intense and mind-blowing highs of stress and bliss from being grabbed, struggling, being swallowed, touching herself and hearing her girlfriend doing the same around her. She even nearly fell asleep right there in the bath, resting her head on Anju's pillowy breasts.

She was still in a sleepy trance when Anju finished blowing her hair dry and princess-carried her out of the bath, wrapping her up in a fluffy towel and bringing her to the bedroom. "Mh... Tired."

"I know, kitten," Anju murmured, laying her down atop the bed. She headed to the closet, selecting a set of comfortable pajamas and warm fluffy socks for each of them before returning with them and presenting Nicole hers. "You fought well, my foolishly brave little thief."

The two women dressed in warm silence - well, relatively. A chill playlist Anju and Nicole had made together was playing on Anju's tablet where it rested on the nightstand. Calm music from some anime or another played through the Bluetooth speaker beside it on the nightstand, providing a soothing backdrop to the night.

As she had finished her dressing first, Nicole immediately climbed under the blanket, peeking back out and beckoning Anju to follow. "Cold..."

"Coming!" The dragon was blessedly warm as usual, her body heat immediately seeping into Nicole's body through her thin pajamas.

"Warm." Nicole voraciously burrowed into Anju to absorb as much heat as possible, grunting with relief. "I want all the warm. More please."

Anju snorted, cackling. "Shall I breathe fire over you, my good girl?" Still, she curled arms and legs around Nicole's body, embracing her girlfriend to smother her in warmth one way or another.

"I was more thinking, uh, skin to skin to share heat," Nicole said, nuzzling her cheek against Anju's neck. "Good warm dragon..."

Anju smiled, her fingers running through Nicole's hair. "Yes, well, I'm a lot warmer since you've been getting me to eat so much more. Not to mention the usual winter hibernation fat... I should be a nice, toasty furnace for you."

"I like laying my head on your boobs after watching you fatten them up on someone," Nicole admitted. She nuzzled her head up under Anju's chin, sighing contentedly. "Um, oh! Should we put on the Sugar and Spice anime? It's cozy... Nice way to unwind after all of that."

Humming, Anju reached for her tablet - and grabbed for the bag of gummies sitting beside it on the nightstand, too. Treats! If Nicole had had a tail, it would have wagged.

Laughing softly at Nicole's antics, Anju scritched into her beloved kitten's head as she pulled up the anime watch list site. "Oh, yes. We were on episode 19, right? Getting close to the end of the first season already..."

"We uh, didn't finish episode 18. Or I didn't, since I fell asleep during it," Nicole sheepishly reminded her girlfriend. "Sorry."

"It's alright," Anju said, absentmindedly offering a handful of gummies to Nicole as she opened up her media player. "Okay, let's see... episode 18..."

"'m gonna do it again," Nicole said with a wide yawn, accepting the gummies and placing them on her own chest to be picked off one at a time through the night. The sleepiness and the coziness and the snacks were a dangerous combo. Her chances of making it to episode 19 were once again devastatingly slim. "I hope you like episode 18..."

Anju grabbed the remote and turned off the lights in her bedroom, leaving the two of them illuminated only by the glow of the tablet screen. She chuckled, shaking her head. "For you, I would watch episode 18 as many times as it takes."

Nicole settled in, eyelids heavy. "Mmkay. Thanks..."

As Nicole's mind drifted off to a place between waking and dreaming, listening to the familiar opening song, she wondered whether there was ever a world where Anju really would decide to keep her forever the way she had pretended to tonight.

She wondered if the Nicole of that world minded.

She wondered if she would truly mind, if this were that world, if she were that Nicole...