Voretober Day 6 - Gang
Today's prompt went through like 3 changes in ideas before I settled on this one, but I think I'm happy with it! I love Bug F.ables and obvious all the things I love must have vore, so it needed some more of that! And there might be some mild mind break in here. (Also, as usual, this is technically an AU where Z.asp is in place of V.i for gay porn reasons.)
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A.stotheles sighs as he slips into the Bandit Hideout, pulling the hood of his cloak down with his one good hand now that he’s safely inside. The plan with the wasps has fallen through. He had intended to just leave the captured adventurers here or, if they somehow managed to get out, let them find him and take revenge. But his time alone and thinking it over has given the cricket the chance to decide to offer them freedom in exchange for battle. Then they can fight honorably.
He didn’t like having to use such underhanded tactics like tricking them but the money he’d been promised was too much to pass up. Of course, he doesn’t have the money now, thanks to those awful wasps. So if those adventurers do get out...well, he certainly won’t mind if they teach those crooks a lesson.
As much as he doesn’t want to admit it, he’s tired and stressed out. A.stotheles feels as though he’s too far in over his head with this, and now that he doesn’t have the money promised from the wasps, he has to worry about where they’ll be getting funds from. It’s another thing to worry about. He’s reaching a limit and he doesn’t want the bandits to know it.
...he hopes that the others don’t give them too much trouble. If these adventurers are as skilled as they seem to be--and he doubts the wasps would have paid him to get rid of them if they weren’t--then he’s sure they are capable of taking care of themselves. But he doesn’t want the bandits he’s done so much for to recklessly throw themselves into harm’s way. They can be too cocky for their own good sometimes...
The cricket sighs to himself and looks around. It’s unusually quiet right now. Normally, there’d at least be a guard or two here but he doesn’t see any of the bandits. They might be eating right now. Just as A.stotheles thinks that, the entire hideout rumbles with a strange noise.
“BWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRPPPPPP!!!!!”
The cricket’s eyes widen and he braces himself against a wall, having thought for a moment that there was an explosion. But as the echoing noise tapers off, he realizes that it wasn't anything like that. It almost sounded like a roar of some kind...and it came from the mess hall. It gives A.stotheles a bad feeling and he quickly makes his way there to investigate.
As soon as he enters the mess hall, A.stotheles freezes, unable to parse what he’s looking at. It’s just...a large, grey mass that’s burbling and groaning and churning loudly. It bulges and shifts unevenly, at first as though it were alive, but soon the bandit leader realizes it’s because something is moving under the surface. A hand here...a thorax there...and faces he can recognize. It’s the bandits...all of them.
Even as the realization hits that A.stotheles is looking at a massive stomach filled to the brim with his bandits, he remains frozen and silent. And because he’s behind that massive stomach, Team S.nakemouth hasn't realized someone has entered.
“Urgh...” K.abbu lets out a soft groan, unable to do much else as he’s splayed out on his back and pinned under the weight of his own stomach. “...please...tell me that’s...the last of them...”
“We have searched the entire hideout twice over, so we are sure,” L.eif reassures. He provides a couple of gentle pats to K.abbu’s stomach. “You have the entire bandit hideout packed away right here.”
“As angry as I am about being tricked and kidnapped, I still don’t see why this was necessary,” Z.asp comments, standing on the opposite side of K.abbu with his arms crossed.
“Are you suggesting that we should have simply left the bandits to do as they please while we rot behind a cell?” L.eif asks.
“We could have just gotten our things back and left after escaping,” Z.asp retorts, “and then do something about their leader.”
“We think this plan is more proactive,” L.eif says. “Now none of the bandits will be causing trouble.”
Z.asp glares silently. That’s the logic L.eif had used to convince K.abbu to start eating whatever bandits got in their way in the first place, which eventually evolved into the wasp and moth having to feed the rest to the beetle once he was pinned by the weight of his own gluttony. It’s hardly the first time L.eif has convinced K.abbu that the solution to their problems is to simply eat it...probably won’t be the last, either. It certainly tests Z.asp’s patience, though.
“I still don’t think they deserve something like this,” Z.asp huffs. He then turns his attention downward to glare at the beetle. “And K.abbu, you have to learn to stand up to L.eif at some point. This is just getting embarrassing.”
“But I...was just trying...to help...” K.abbu says between groans and burps. He always has his heart in the right place, but L.eif always seems to know how to twist the logic into making this seem okay. K.abbu had agreed that the bandits were an issue...and that there were too many to reasonably turn in to authorities...and that they might run or find a new hideout by the time they told Elizant...and before long, K.abbu was left with a bellyache.
Through it all, the team has to speak over the constant noise of K.abbu’s hard working stomach. The deep groans and thick bubbling sounds practically echo in the large room, and the muffled voices of the many bandits only add to the cacophony. It’s impossible to tell what any of them are saying, though it’s most likely plenty of begging or pleas for their leader to save them.
Speaking of their leader...A.stotheles takes a few slow steps forward, still mesmerized by what he’s seeing. He stops in front of K.abbu’s stomach, which was both wider and taller than himself. He could hear the voices of the bandits, but even standing this close, he found it hard to make out what they were saying. He thinks he hears his name a few times, somewhere under all the thick noises.
Hesitantly, he reaches out with his one hand and presses it into the expanse before him. What would normally be a solid and sturdy exoskeleton was much softer than expected, due to the process going on and the fat K.abbu has naturally been accumulating over time. On top of that...it’s also incredibly warm. A.stotheles’s hand sinks into it slightly, pressing down on one of the many bulges being made. A deep grumble echoes out of K.abbu’s gut.
“HHHWWWWWOOOOOOOOOUUUUUURRRRRRRRPPPPPPPPP!!!!!”
Another belch bellows out of the beetle, sending with it some scraps of exoskeleton and a tattered bandit’s hood. Z.asp winces and takes a step back, waving the air away. L.eif just starts kneading into K.abbu’s belly with both hands.
“Just let it all out, K.abbu,” L.eif says soothingly. “Your stomach knows what it’s doing. Look how hard it's working.”
“This is disgusting...” Z.asp grumbles, turning his head away. He doesn’t leave, though, standing close to K.abbu’s stomach as well.
“Team...I-I think there’s...” K.abbu tries to speak, but another, softer belch bubbles out of him, followed by a soft groan. He can feel another hand kneading into his stomach that certainly doesn't belong to his teammates, but he’s struggling to get the words out. He had a weakness for belly rubs...especially while so full...
On the other side of K.abbu’s stomach, A.stotheles is pressing his one hand deeper into the churning flesh. It’s all so soft and warm...it feels amazing. The noises echo and rattle in his head. He moves in closer, putting his head against it to listen. He can feel his bandits writhing pathetically against him and more clearly hear their overlapping cries and pleas. It makes him shudder...but he just presses in deeper, kneading as much as he can.
“Settle down...” A.stotheles says, more to himself than to any of the bandits. “Face this end with honor...you’ll surely be adding to a mighty warrior...”
Something in the cricket’s mind had snapped upon seeing a scene so impossible and dire. The bandits were everything to him. Everything he did was for them. He’s fought to protect them, hurt others to feed them, done awful things just to make sure they could get by. They’re all he has and all he thinks about. And now...here they all are, packed tightly behind the stomach of a beetle, digesting down like mere berries.
He should be devastated. Some part of him likely is. But the louder part of him told him to accept this. The bandits are all together, and soon they always will be. Devoured by, in A.stotheles’s mind, a powerful warrior who earned the honor of devouring them. They’ll add to his frame to make him softer and mightier. It’s a respectable fate, surely.
K.abbu’s gut shows little mercy or restraint. It’s greedily mulching down the bandits inside, squeezing and churning roughly against them to grind them all into a thick paste. Their muffled screams and cries are steadily snuffed out bit by bit as they’re either mashed down into slurry or fully submerged and smelted down. It’s a shockingly quick process compared to how much meat is in there, but the minutes are still ticking by.
“Mmm...doing such a good job...” L.eif says after a while. K.abbu’s gut has gotten so much softer and rounder now. The moth’s hands press in and make the whole thing squelch and squish with ease. The only noises it makes are wet, thick bubbling and chugging sound as slurry is being processed and pumped along. K.abbu’s stomach has been slowly shrinking down as it’s all worked down.
“Let’s get him sat up,” Z.asp says. “He’s getting light enough that we can get him on his feet soon.”
“Team, wait...” K.abbu groans softly. His entire face is flushed, still unable to do much to warn his team of the intruder. And even still...neither of them really heed his attempts.
“Up we go, K.abbu,” L.eif says reassuringly. He and Z.asp both stoop down, grabbing K.abbu by one shoulder each and lifting him up. It makes his entire gut slosh thickly as the soup is stirred around, cutting off anything he might have said with a wet “BWWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLCCCCCHH!!!!!”
On the other side of K.abbu’s gut, A.stotheles had remained pressed up against it through the entire process of digestion. When the stomach got smaller, he had gotten down on his knees and leaned down to stay that way. It was only by coincidence that Z.asp and L.eif never noticed him. And because they hadn’t, and his attention had been so captivated by K.abbu’s stomach, he never noticed K.abbu’s stomach rolling over onto him until it was too late.
A.stotheles can’t even yell. His eyes widen as the massive, sloshing organ suddenly rolls over him and knocks him over. He’s suddenly smothered under it, disappearing almost entirely other than his twitching antenna that poke out.
K.abbu huffs and puffs a bit now that he’s sitting up, his sloshing guts settling slightly. L.eif pats his head a few times. “There, not so bad, was it?” he asks. “Once you’re done, we can go and pay that leader of theirs a visit.”
“Can we at least not kill him?” Z.asps asks with a tired sigh. “I think having his entire group mulched down like this is enough of a lesson. I’d like to keep the body count at a minimum...”
“We didn’t think you were one for such mercy, Z.asp,” L.eif comments with a tilt of their head.
“I didn’t either until I learned there are some things people do not deserve to go through,” the wasps huffs in return.
“Then we can compromise and just smother him under K.abbu’s stomach for a while.” The moth reaches over and smacks the beetle’s gut, making it wobble and slosh thickly. “If he causes more trouble after that, it’s really his fault.”
“Fine...” Z.asp grumbles, crossing his arms.
K.abbu just gives a soft groan, feeling sluggish after all that churning. He can feel his mystery belly rubber under him, twitching slightly from being pinned by his heft. Whoever it is, K.abbu will have to apologize profusely when he gets the chance. He just hopes they aren’t too angry when he’s able to get off of them...
