A Wonderful Mind to Play With

A voice, unfamiliar and yet recognized, spoke to her. Kira blinked as something jostled her from sleep, her dreams scattering in a rainbow haze like a popped soap bubble. "Hmm?" She sucked in a sharp breath and jolted at the sight of the snake in front of her, suddenly wide awake even as she recognized Jen. "Jen? Wait -- why is it so dark? Where... are we up a tree?" Rather than reach for her camera as Jen had hoped, Kira grabbed for the massive branch she was sitting on so that she wouldn't slide off. Despite her fear, she didn't try to shake Jen's coil off her shoulders. It wasn't the snake she was afraid of. In fact, knowing part of his long, muscular form was partially wrapped around her actually helped reassure her that she wasn't about to plummet... however far up they were. Cautious and yet curious all the same, she stretched slowly to one side to peer down towards the ground. It was dark enough that she couldn't really gauge the distance, however.

Biting her lip, she straightened and looked back at Jen. "How did I get here? How long have I been here?"

"I fell asleep? Why did you let me fall asleep?" She had no idea Jen's 'lights' would affect her so thoroughly. They had been absolutely beautiful, even captivating, she had to admit. But... she'd meant to get back hours ago. It wasn't safe out here after dark!

Kira glanced up to see what Jen was pointing out, and she drew in a quick, surprised breath. "Wow." This far from any human structures, there was no light pollution to interfere with the starry sky above. Millions of glittering lights, some so small she could only barely make them out if she avoided looking directly at them, shone overhead. She accepted her camera from Jen without looking, her hands wrapping easily around the familiar case. "You're right, it would." She moved to take off the lens cap and blinked when she found nothing covering the camera lens. Right -- she hadn't had a chance to put it back on, had she? She'd been talking with Jen and then he -- with his eyes... Kira darted a quick look at the snake, but of course there was nothing unusual about his eyes now.

She raised the camera and snapped a couple of photos, then drew her legs up and carefully stood, one hand braced on the massive trunk behind her for support. If she just got a little higher, a little farther out, there wouldn't be as many branches blocking her view. A shot like that would be stunning.

"Oh, uh. Thank...you?" He didn't really give her a chance to respond before his tail was curling around her, steady and reassuring. Kira found herself relaxing into the scales. It was strange, how she didn't really fear the snake at all. Sure, he hadn't given her a reason to, but he was still an enormous snake -- and more than that, a stranger. Would she trust another person she'd just met as much as she did Jen? Kira frowned, unable to say. And what on earth did he mean, he could tell what he wanted from her heartbeat? She blinked and refocused on him, shaking her head as they rose above the leafy branches. "Spend the night? Out here? No way, I couldn't do that." She didn't have anything for an overnight stay: no pajamas, no toothbrush, no sleeping bag or tent, not to mention food. A couple granola bars were tucked into her camera bag, back where she'd left it in the crook of a tree. That wouldn't do her much good here.

The night sky spread out overhead, the view incredible without any branches in the immediate area blocking her line of sight. Jen's question drew her gaze to the moon, bright and gleaming like a big... white... eye. "Imagine it...?" Her memory conjured the vivid, twisting geometric patterns she'd seen in Jen's eyes and overlaid them on the pitted canvas of the moon. It was shockingly easy to do. She didn't know she'd literally spent hours dreaming of Jen's eyes, their colors etching themselves into her mind. Kira's weight rested heavier on Jen's coil as her breathing slowed. "Whoa. I can -- I can... I can see it." How? The question slipped away as she stared upward, already lightly transfixed by the imagined sight Jen spoke into being.

Kira's expression faded away as Jen tricked her back into blissful blankness. She stared slack-jawed at the night sky as geometric shapes and colors only she could see merged and split and slid across the moon's surface, Jen's soft voice in her ear. Concerns... desires... Relax. Let him help. Trust in him. "I... have nothing with me," she said, low and distant and calm. Jen's lights enthralled her and left her smiling and glassy-eyed. Lulled into a stupor, she hardly thought at all about what she was saying. There was no room for tact or subterfuge; only the truth. "No supplies, no change of clothes. I can't just... stay..." Traces of confusion slipped across her face, there and gone like clouds crossing the moon. "Desires? I don't..."

His coils curled around her, pressing and massaging. Kira groaned and slumped down into their embrace, distantly amazed at how good that felt. Jen's body engulfed her with a restrained strength that she could feel right down to her toes, even through her hiking boots. "Yes," she moaned, head tilted back and eyes still fixed on the full moon. "Cozy... relaxed..." Her arms hung limp at her sides, her camera once again a forgotten weight on her chest. A faint yearning sound, not quite a hum but more than a whine, tumbled free. Oh, that sounded so nice. To feel like this, as much as she wanted? Yes. A thousand times, yes. And yet... "Cleaning?" She murmured. "M'not... a pet. You... make it sound like you... want to keep me... forever."

Kira blinked, cat-slow, and from somewhere dredged up enough energy to nod acceptance of Jen's apology. "That's... okay, then. You sound really nice, Jen." She smiled, but couldn't bring herself to look away from the moon. Jen's power was truly astonishing. She knew the moon wasn't actually filled with rotating colors, and yet she could see them so clearly... Then Jen shifted, his head rising before her and blocking out all but a thin outer ring of the moon, a pale corona during an eclipse. His eyes were alight again. It was so terrifically, wonderfully easy to switch her focus to his lights, the real lights, and let them continue sweeping her away. Each strobing fractal sent a new wave of peace and pleasure washing over her. Despite that, Kira flushed, her face warming with embarrassment. Was that rude of her, getting so absorbed in the imagined lunar kaleidoscope that she didn't even look at Jen when he was talking to her? She was still listening to him; of course she was. It just took her a little longer to respond. The colorful lights left her sluggish and slow, so that gathering her thoughts together was like slogging through knee-deep snow.

She stared up into Jen's eyes, languid and happy. Food? She probably should eat. The middle of the night wasn't the best mealtime but she had skipped dinner, however unintentional. Supplies? What supplies could she possibly gather out here in the middle of nowhere? Pictures... pictures could be nice. She distantly recalled the splendor of the night sky stretching out overhead. Taking a few pictures of that had been her original intention, and Jen's idea, but now...

Kira stretched against Jen's tail and brought her hands up to rest on his highest coil wrapped around her waist. Pictures were great, but what she wanted first, well. "Can we stay like this?" She breathed. "Your eyes are... so beautiful, and I -- I love your coils." Something about that prodded at her memory, but not enough to distract her. It probably wasn't that important, anyway.

She groaned and went completely limp in Jen's coils as they engulfed her. The effortless massage felt incredible, loosening and relaxing muscles that hadn't been so free of tension in untold ages. Had she ever been so relaxed? A distant part of her wondered how much better his coils might feel if she didn't have so much cloth in the way between skin and scales. Kira flushed. She couldn't just -- just strip down out here, even if they were in the middle of nowhere in a pitch-black jungle. But the longer she stared into Jen's lights, the stronger that voice inside her questioned, why not? Why shouldn't she? It would feel so good, and she wanted to feel good, didn't she?

Another long, low groan emerged as if pushed up from her chest by the press of Jen's tail. At his whispered suggestion everything -- everything -- seemed heightened, seemed better. His eyes before hers were more enthralling than ever, quieting her thoughts. His lulling voice and the rustling susurrus of wind through leaves seemed to enclose her in an isolated bubble where only the snake and Kira mattered. The cool, fresh air was headier than ever, and Jen's body wrapped around hers felt marvelous. It was a good thing he surrounded her so completely, for she didn't think she'd be able to stand on her own anymore. Luckily, she didn't have to.

"Ahh." Automatically obeying the snake, her lips curled up in amusement. 'Say ahh?' Her teeth sank into the plump fruit, biting off a mouthful, and she promptly forgot about the silly expression. Had she ever, ever had a more delicious peach? Juice and flavor alike burst across her tongue and she moaned. Kira chewed quickly in anticipation of another bite, and then another, and all too soon the peach was gone. Her tongue chased the streaks of juice that leaked down her chin. "Oh my god," she sighed, eyes half-lidded now with heavy, lethargic satisfaction but still locked on Jen's. "That was the most... best..." Giving up on words, she licked her lips again and asked, hopeful, "More?"