Tarrying
It was around noon, as scheduled.
It seemed too easy, though--that was the problem. She'd mulled it over for some time, and by now Fiela had made a decision regarding her ostensible date. This wolfess was the last person to be played for a fool. She would have none of it. And yet, there he stood, suspecting nothing.
Once again, the white rabbit found himself at the feet of his canine rival, a towering monolith of claws, teeth, and ebony fur. Once again, he found himself growing in apprehension at the sight of her. And once again, there was just the slightest familiar tingle of morbid curiosity, excitement, awe, or fear--quite possibly a combination of them all.
"So you decided to show? Thought you might bail, little guy," Fiela said with only the slightest of giggles. At what, Rey did not bother thinking about. "And don't you clean up nicely?"
The rabbit traced the quickest of looks at himself, then back at Fiela. He had no proper response, nor could he bother to think of one at first. The circumstances were still entirely unclear in his mind. Regardless, he knew what role to play. He'd known Fiela for a time and by now he surely knew a little more of just what went on inside her head.
"Ah, yes, thank you. You certainly look nice yourself," Rey replied coolly.
Fiela cocked her head. It's almost a shame.
"I gotta ask..." Fiela trailed off, taking small, dainty steps around the miniscule creature. The soft pads created no sound as she stalked with her graceful, ready stride. "Why did you decide to come?"
"I..." Rey didn't seem to rightly know how to answer, but did so anyway. "I-I saw no harm in it, I suppose." Fiela could just about smell his adrenaline already--he was a fearful one indeed. No confidence. Probably no plan other than vague guidelines, if she had to guess. But that didn't matter.
Quick as lightning and just as likely to stop a heart, Fiela lunged downward and caught Rey with a single motion, one akin to a hawk snatching a snake or a fish, completely effortless and, as it became clear, completely planned. With that same motion, she returned fluidly to a straight standing posture.
"None at all? You shouldn't lie to me, bunny."
"B-but why?" Rey stuttered within her fist. "Why would you--"
"Because I know better," Fiela snarled. She showed none of the telltale signs of anger, but she had the powers of intimidation like no other, able to pierce through his very soul with a glazed, calm visage. "Another diversion. I don't care for it. I've let you go once, twice even, and I'm not one for the Bond act when it's obvious you're just tricking me so that the same old thing can happen again and again. I've learned my lesson from the one tiny...Derek."
"That's not fair!" Rey protested, swallowing the biggest of terrified lumps in his throat. "You...you lied to me!" Sweat trickled down from every side of his face.
"Hey, you said it yourself yesterday that if I caught you, I could do whatever I wanted with you, and you wouldn't do anything about it. I never lied." The wolfess loosened her grip a bit, dangling Rey by one leg and twirling her captive around with a grind of her fingers, eying him as she did so. "I did you a favor in return, so as far as I'm concerned..."
The toothy, cavernous pit opened wide, a tongue greeting the parting lips in anticipation. Rey felt all remorse and surprise siphon from him; he had tempted fate, and for the last time.
"...You still owe me."
Fiela suddenly dropped the helpless thing. Down Rey fell, only to land on not the splattering solidity of concrete that he would have now preferred, but the soft, wet surface of a tongue that wasted no time in glazing over its new prize. Fiela, clacking her teeth shut the second he disappeared into her maw, let escape a content hum as the rabbit struggled within.
Light only scarcely filtered in through the ivory prison. Rey tried desperately not to look behind him, to pick himself from the unfamiliar ground that lapped and jostled him, but every time both attempts were met with failure. He would inevitably fall again, become terrified of the sharp teeth that he could be thrust to by the tongue and crunched by at any moment, and turn away, then to see only darkness--darkness that was permeated, gleaned over by the scant light, only by a pit that spelled certain doom.
Rey had heard stories about tinies being eaten by giants, and seen some of those stories upfront. It did not take any amount of them to know that it would be no more pleasant to experience himself. And here he thought that he had learned his lesson--that he had accepted what Fiela promised him all that time ago.
The floor suddenly reared up and pressed the helpless prey against his predator's cheek, softly sucking away his taste and his endurance. It battered him weak, checking away first his ability to escape, then second his will to do so. Trapped between wet flesh, Rey could not fight back, mentally or physically.
"You are tasty," Fiela managed, the sound a piercing echo to the soaked and beaten rabbit. "But the least I could do is make it quick."
The tongue returned to its normal state, lying deceptively dormant, as it positioned Rey along its face. And before he even knew it had happened, the rippling muscle tossed him back, darker and darker, until he could see nothing at all, and then all was truly black; thankfully for him, his own cowardly nature had forced him into unconsciousness at just the right time.
Fiela swallowed, and gone was Rey.
Really, Fiela thought as she returned to her daily schedule without skipping a beat, though tracing a finger down her neck thoughtfully. It almost is a shame.