Traditional AppetitesNSFW

Kh'amiya sat up in bed, looking over her sleeping girlfriend in silence. She desperately wanted to join Sute in what seemed to be a rare night of peaceful sleep, but tonight her mind and body had decided otherwise - sleep had eluded her most skillfully.

A finger trailed along Sute's pretty white scales, and Kh'amiya's lips contorted to count them silently. One... two... three... four...

Sute's nose twitched in her sleep and she grunted, and Kh'amiya lifted her head, peeking over. "Sorry," she whispered into the darkness.

The only response was a quiet sigh, and Kh'amiya sighed too - it seemed she hadn't woken Sute after all.

She drew her hands back into her lap, staring off into the darkness of the inn room. Half of her wanted to wake Sute and beg for her to gobble her up and give her a peaceful rest of one sort or another, and the other half recoiled strongly from doing something so... humiliating. So shameful.

Hopping down from the bed and slipping out into the common area in her nightgown, she tapped the summoning bell gently - enough to set off the mechanism that would alert R'inyha and allow her to be transported if she were awake, but not enough to actually ring it.

It took a few minutes for R'inyha to respond; Kh'amiya was starting to become sure her sister was actually asleep tonight, despite her protests of only sleeping at dawn and dusk.

But as Kh'amiya was about to head back into her room, R'inyha blinked into the inn room, face streaked with blood and bow strapped to her back. "Hey, little sister."

"Inyha," Kh'amiya said with relief, hugging her. "Are- are you all right?!"

"I'm well enough, thank you," R'inyha assured her, taking a cloth from her pouch and dabbing her face before guiding Kh'amiya over to a padded bench in the inn room. "Don't worry - it's not mine. I was just doing a little hunting. I just had to get clear of the angry beastie before I could answer your call. I figured if you're calling me late at night, it must be important."

"Ah," Kh'amiya mumbled, staring at the ground. "... Sorry. I just can't sleep."

"That's important enough a reason," R'inyha said, squeezing an arm around her. "What's wrong, Amiya?"

Kh'amiya licked her lips, looking away from R'inyha. "... Um... I wanted to get your opinion on something. As a huntress."

"Sure," R'inyha said, nodding. "Whatever you need. What is it?"

Still staring at the ground, Kh'amiya opened her mouth. "I-... Is it really true that eating people is a bad thing? That- being... eaten is humiliating, means you're not a person?"

R'inyha chewed her lip for a moment. "... You're asking about our traditions back home? With the Raptors?"

"Yeah," Kh'amiya said in a small voice. "It's... been a while. And it's not like I ever got the huntress training, or much of the gossip, or anything. I just got... you know, the huntresses making fun of me. Saying I wasn't a huntress, I was better fit to be someone's prey, but that they wouldn't demean themselves to eat me, things like that..."

"Hm." R'inyha tipped her head back, putting her hands down on the bench at her sides and swinging her legs. "Well. You know that our tradition holds that the bigger and more dangerous the prey, the more people are fed, the fiercer the huntress, the more respect she gets, all that."

Kh'amiya nodded. "Right."

"That came from... hm, let me start over. At some point in the distant past, eating each other was... kind of a problem for us Raptors," R'inyha said, staring off at the common area's flickering lamp. "And the population was getting a little low. We didn't have enough mothers to raise children in our traditions, and those girls that were born, well..." She licked her lips, biting her lower lip after a moment. "Mmf. They didn't make it to adulthood often. Anyway..."

Blushing, Kh'amiya ducked her head. "Oh."

"Heh. Yeah." R'inyha grinned, patting Kh'amiya's back. "So the huntresses are eating each other, our numbers're going down and nobody's really hunting. Because they have their own belly filled, you know? Why worry about the others? Anyone who's hungry can just be the next one to fill your belly - or you theirs. Trust is way down."

"Right," Kh'amiya says, squirming in her seat. That doesn't sound so bad...

R'inyha looked over, smiling fondly. "Don't cum your panties just yet, Amiya. I'm not done with the story."

Kh'amiya nodded, face red.

"So the chieftainess at the time declared a taboo. Anyone who ate one of her sisters would be exiled from the tribe and sent off to fend for herself in the wilds - probably eaten by some other tribe's huntresses - because she was clearly too weak to be anything but a liability. But then, those who could feed many more mouths than their own would get special privileges. Like special access to the Nunhs, for example."

The mental image of being someone people wanted special access to temporarily made Kh'amiya stop paying attention. People getting in line to be with me... Wanting to be the mother to my daughters... being fucked over and over by powerful women trying for a baby with me...

"... Amiya?" R'inyha asked, nudging her. "Still with me?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah," Kh'amiya said, blushing brightly. "Sorry... You were saying about... special access to the Nunh..."

"Right," R'inyha said, laughing. "Um- right, for huntresses who could feed a lot of mouths. Or getting honored in special feasts in their name, things like that. So over time, that just... kind of became part of our culture. Anyone who ate someone else in the tribe was showing what a weak huntress she was, that she could not only feed only herself, but that she would rob her sibling of a chance to eat, too. Our numbers grew again, and the new chieftainess quietly stopped enforcing the old rule. But nobody really took advantage of it - cause by that point, everyone had internalized that someone who preyed on her own sisters and brothers was showing how weak she was in front of everyone."

"But then, why do they call me prey?" Kh'amiya asked. "I mean- if it was a bad thing to eat your tribesmates..."

"It's the biggest insult there is in our culture," R'inyha said, shrugging. "To say you're the kind of person that's weak enough that even the weakest of huntresses would be able to claim you. And there's still Raptors who are prey today, and our huntresses do gorge themselves on human prey. We just don't talk about it much."

Kh'amiya's eyes went wide. "Wait, really?"

"Well... yeah. We like to think of ourselves as beyond petty squabbles over food and all that, but we still sometimes get into territory disputes with other tribes, conflicts over inter-tribe romance, that kind of thing. As long as there's two people, there's going to be fighting. And there's no taboo against eating people outside the tribe," R'inyha explained with a wince. "Or... being eaten by someone outside the tribe. It does happen, you know. I've lost some of my favorite hunting partners that way."

"Oh. So... not a good thing that people want to be." Kh'amiya mumbled. "... Then why did you eat me?"

"Because you seemed to like it, and you were curious," R'inyha said with a carefree smile. "It's as simple as that."

Kh'amiya screwed up her face into a confused frown. "But weren't you saying I was... really weak by doing that?"

"No, no! I'm just explaining why other people think this way. I don't buy into that stuff," R'inyha insisted. "... I think it's sweet that you want to give yourself to the people around you. I think your girlfriend's pretty tough, and she looks out for you and makes sure your belly is full too - that's a huntress to be proud of. That kind of thing is outdated, if you ask me - especially with more cultural exchange with cultures where eating each other is more common. I honestly didn't realize it was so deep in your head."

"It's really deep in my head," Kh'amiya admitted.

R'inyha rubbed her back. "But you weren't afraid to be eaten by me, were you? Was it that humiliating to you?"

"Um- yeah," Kh'amiya said, face red. "But, it was fine, 'cause it was you. I, uh, actually kind of liked it..."

"Ohhhh." A knowing grin started to spread across R'inyha's face. "Ohhhh, I get it."

"Get what?" Kh'amiya asked, reddening further. "What do you get?"

R'inyha leaned forward, peeking up at Kh'amiya from up close. "You like being humiliated by stronger women, don't you?"

"Wh-" Kh'amiya's face felt like it was completely on fire. "What are you talking about? I do like strong women, but-"

"You like being pinned down by them, used at their pleasure?" R'inyha pressed. "Being helpless to resist~? You're jealous of Sute's meals, because she defeats them and picks them up and gobbles them down, and they can't do a thing to escape her..."

"Nn..." Kh'amiya didn't answer in words, but the boner lifting her nightgown was all R'inyha needed to see.

"It's fine, it's a totally normal kink," R'inyha said, laughing and backing away. "I bet that girlfriend of yours would be happy to lean into it more if you just told her about it."

"But she'll think I'm weak!" Kh'amiya protested. "She won't want to be with me."

R'inyha squeezed Kh'amiya's thigh. "Showing the things that make you feel weak's what relationships are all about. You cover each other's weaknesses. You know? Sometimes that means physically, you know, having each other's back and protecting each other. Other times it's just..." She grinned. "Telling her you want her to pin you down and treat you like food, and letting her do it to you. She wants to make you happy, right?"

Kh'amiya ducked her head, blushing furiously. "Right."

"So. Don't be scared. If she loves you, she'll be happy to hear it," R'inyha said, sitting back and smiling.

"And if not?" Kh'amiya prompted.

R'inyha's smile disappeared, her face abruptly very serious. "If not? You call me. And I set her straight." The smile returned after a moment of letting this hang in the air. "But she will. I'm sure of it." She patted Kh'amiya's leg softly. "You should get some sleep, Amiya. It's nearly sunup, and I'm sure you have more adventures to go on tomorrow."

"Okay," Kh'amiya murmured, face still pink. "Thanks, Inyha."

"Any time, little sister." R'inyha gave Kh'amiya a kiss on the forehead, getting to her feet. "I'm going to get back to my hunt, see if I can track down the injured bastard before turning in for the night. If I succeed, I'll share some meat with you when you get up. Now go rest!"

"I will, I promise. Good night!"

"Good night."