The World's Breath (MeTheMe & GeneticMess)

[MeTheMe]

Skai's stomach growled as well, the sound of Hunger's meal was maybe reminding her she hadn't eaten since yesterday as well. "Oof... well, I'm pretty hungry too... we've got a couple of options, either we go into the forest and hunt something down like Hunger, or, we turn around and go back to town to pick up more food, you kind of threw all our food into our new friend..." She chuckled a little. "I don't know how the town is going to like our new friends though. Poppy is probably okay, but... I don't know that people see many pitcher plants walking around."

Poppy giggled. "We'll be fine! I haven't seen civilization in so long anyways! I think if they don't like it, they can deal, or bring it up with Hunger, who I'm sure will listen to their problems!" Her talk was accentuated by a gurgle from Hunger's pitcher. "Although I don't know how much money you all have to actually get food." Food would be cheap enough to get, but the real question was whether they could keep Hunger fed.

[GeneticMess]

If they went back, their progress into the woods would be moot. Avery wasn't going to let the satisfaction of getting back on track be torn away from him. "You know what? I think it's worth learning how to make a meal out of something on our own. Cheaper than buying rations, especially for the whole group."

That was all fine and dandy... but Avery didn't know how to hunt. Or at least, properly find animals. And he didn't want to stray too far off the path. He wasn't being picky, but he wanted to find something as big as he was to eat, or bigger! Maybe he could finally try out the other kinds of vore that had been programmed in, too.

[MeTheMe]

Poppy began counting. "One. Two. Three. Four. Four mouths to feed, think you can hunt all that down?" She giggled a little, as the whole group, with Avery's decision, were moving down the road away from the town.

Skai nodded. "I mean, me and Avery are pretty tough, and Hunger here... I'm more than certain she can catch whatever she wants, so long as it's not us. I've never really hunted myself, but... I figure we can figure it out, we killed a bear before, so finding something can't be that hard... right?"

Poppy laughed! "Ahaha... man, yes it can! Tell you what, I know where some food is... but I don't know if you're gonna like iiit!" The last bit was a little sing songy. "A pack of bandits carefully set up outside the area where my influence was, and hop on travelers every now and then... I bet Hunger here would be fed for a while with just a couple, and you two could even eat!"

[GeneticMess]

"I can try. I can... certainly try." Avery was a bit less confident now that Poppy was putting things into perspective. "Maybe I could lighten the load. I eat you, and then we only have two mouths left to feed. Problem solved." He was giggling now, deciding to show he knew how to tease, too. "But yeah, it might be a while until we found something..."

But Poppy seemed to have her own solution. Although Avery seemed... conflicted over it. "We can... see if they have any food at their camp. I don't really want to eat anybody unless they have you guys at knifepoint."

[MeTheMe]

"Whoa, hey, I'm not on the menu!" She raised her hands, looking around. "And... c'mon, you're not getting all soft on me, are you? They're -bandits-, ya know, pounce on ya when you're least expecting it and cutting your throat and coin purse. They're not exactly noble company." She smirked at him. "You'd be doing the roads a favor!"

Skai grimaced. "I mean... she's not wrong, but... I was a pirate myself and it does feel a little weird... still, if they are attacking the roads seeing what we can do probably isn't a bad idea..."

Avery got a message on his UI from Matthew. "Avery, there was a small bug and a reward didn't spawn, so I'm sending it to you now." Along with the message he got the Plant Shard, another race shard!

[GeneticMess]

He continued to giggle as Poppy flinched a little, glad to see she wasn't so above it all. But back to the subject at hand, Avery was still a bit conflicted. "I guess... but you never know why someone becomes a thief. Maybe to support a family, or... okay, this morality rabbit hole is just going to keep going deeper, isn't it?" Avery grumbled. "Alright, new idea. We eat them, but if they aren't shitty people, we let them go. Deal?"

Just then, he got a message... must've been a bug, but he got himself a Plant Shard! He wasn't sure if pitcher was the only option, but he kinda wanted to experiment with it when he got a chance. Having more than one stomach must be... interesting, to say the least.

[MeTheMe]

Indeed pitcher was an option, as well as a few other models, making his head a venus fly trap, giving him a long, petal skirt or dress, and a few other odd or creative options, although they all still seemed to keep him about his size, not like the goliath Hunger was.

Poppy shrugged. "I'm not exactly the 'eat people' size, but you three are, and Hunger eats for like, three, so that's going to fall on you all." She fluttered ahead a little, and looked around to get her bearings... "Let's see... about ten more minutes down the road, and then we'll either be attacked, or we'll take a sharp right in to the trees to their camp! Tee hee!"

Skai nodded. "I can live with that, still feels weird, but... we are making the roads safer, she's right, we'll see if we can't spare some of them."

[GeneticMess]

While they walked, since the path ahead was uneventful, Avery fiddled with his options for a plant species. The petal options intrigued him, and encouraged him to get a bit more adventurous. He tried it on while they walked, and now he was a plant person wearing a dress made of tulips, vines with said flowers on the ends under his dress to help him walk and eat. He even had long, flowing, tulip hair. He didn't think he looked half bad!

"What are you going to eat, then?" Avery then jumped back into the conversation. "I think it would be adorable to see you with a big belly." He giggled again, and then watched her flutter ahead. Almost hunting time...

He looked back at Hunger... yeah, even she didn't seem to notice his form change. It was peculiar... did they're programming make them believe he always looked like this? Or that he was still the same?

[MeTheMe]

Indeed, no one seemed to notice! They treated him all the same, like he'd always been this way! The options were easy to use, and the change instant! Poppy shrugged. "I figured if you all at a few bandits I'd be the one to take a bit of bread or dried meat or whatever food they have laying around. I guess I could try and gorge a little if you MUST see me do it, but... we'll cross that when we get there, hm? Tee-"

Zip thunk. An arrow zipped past Avery's face, and lodged itself in a nearby tree, as assailants began to make themselves known. Five of them, two with bows, three with swords, advancing on the group. "Slit 'em up, boys and girls! Let's get us a little pay day!" The sword wielders in front, two male elves, and one catgirl, marched up on them, ready to fight! The bow users, a harpy and a dwarf pulled back strings and prepared more shots...

[GeneticMess]

"I mean, as long as you leave enough for the rest of us, I've got no problem with letting you ham out-"

Avery was cut short (almost too literally) as an arrow narrowly missed his nose. His face went from green to pale green. Looks like the bandits found them before they could. Equipping a cutlass in one hand and his magic in the other, he immediately got into a defensive stance.

"... I'm calling dibs on the catgirl. Just for the record." He made that much clear to his group before they charged. Avery waited for the one he dibbed on to approach, while also making himself useful to try and divert arrows away from his allies with wind magic. With luck, they'd hit the bandits instead.

[MeTheMe]

"... did you just call dibs on an enemy-" Skai started to say, pulling he own short sword, before another couple arrows whizzed at them... only for Avery's magic to smack into the fletched projectiles and, as if reflecting them, sent them back! The catgirl and one elf were struck, staggering and surprising them at that attack, they hadn't been expecting that!

Both archers looked embarassed and surprised for a moment, before they looked bound and tied by thick vines, the ever silent and large and dangerous Hunger had moved in on them, and both were struggling against their binds trying to free themselves from the enemy!

The unharmed elf charged at Skai, who parried an attack, trading some parries and attacks with him!

[GeneticMess]

Avery tried to explain, before realizing that announcing he was going to eat his foes might not be smart. Whatever, he used his cutlass and tried to get the elf off of Skai, trying to outnumber her attacker! Again, trying to decapicitate rather than kill.

His stomach grumbled during the conflict, so he decided to try his new form out. Avery's vines slithered along the grass and foliage, wrapping around the catgirl's ankles and trying to pull her towards him. If she didn't get away, he'd be able to pull her under his dress. Maybe he could try out anal, but for now just held her close until the other bandits were taken care of.

[MeTheMe]

The cat girl was still reeling a little from the arrow in her shoulder... when she fell on her ass and felt herself being pulled towards that weird plant lady in the petal dress! She'd lost her blade falling over like that, and was being dragged towards him now, fighting the vines and trying to escape... to no avail.

Skai and Avery working together easily overcame the elf, his sword being hit away from him, and turning to try to run, before Skai tripped him. She looked over to the last elf, who was asleep, arrow still in his leg, Poppy standing on him, holding a thumb up.

The archers were screaming and struggling and fighting, but the thick vines of Hunger were shoving them into her pitcher, which closed over the hapless bandits. The pitcher bulged and shook as they fought to get out, but they couldn't, they were trapped in the ravenous plant.

[GeneticMess]

Before he knew it, the bandts were all taken care of. "Wow, that was... a lot easier than I expected." He chuckled. For a rather ragtag gang, they did pretty well! Avery used a free vine to hold down the elf that attacked Skai long enough for her to get a firmer grasp on him. Now everyone had something to fill them up, and Hunger had already begun to enjoy her catches.

"Anything to say for yourself?" Avery asked, positioning the catgirl under his butt and using her as a stool... assuming she could support his weight. Even though it wasn't much, if she couldn't then he'd just fall off and onto his side. Out from under his dress, but still tied up in his vines.

[MeTheMe]

Skai let out a soft sigh. "Yeah, it was, thankfully, the wind spell really stopped them in their tracks there, well done there, Avery." She smiled at him, before she grabbed her elf, and began her meal. She opened her mouth, and shoved his dazed, defeated head into her, before beginning to work her way over his shoulders and chest.

The cat girl did hold up as he sat on her, scrambling onto her hands and knees right before he did. "Oof! Get off me! I... umm... fuck." They'd been defeated so easily, they had never seen a group so powerful come through this way! "We... didn't expect a fight like that? Umm..." She saw the others being eaten, and began to sweat a little. "Alright, you don't have to eat me! I can... umm... take you to the rest of the bandits!"

[GeneticMess]

"Thanks, I try." He smiled at Skai's praise, and then couldn't stop looking at her as she started swallowing her meal. He'd never seen her eat, especially not a whole person. Up to this point, she'd only been eaten. He couldn't hide a cheeky and flustered smile from her as he watched her belly grow. Would she have eaten him like that if he lost to her during the scuffle on the ships? He pondered that for a moment, getting a stiffie under the petal dress.

Avery found himself sitting on the catgirl's back, she was surprisingly able to scramble enough against his restrains to do so. Not enough to get away, though. But then she gave an interesting offer. "The rest of the bandits? That could be..." His eyes glanced over Skai's and Hunger's squirming bellies. "... interesting. What do you guys think? Should we listen to her?"

[MeTheMe]

At his question, and the catgirl's pleas, Hunger nodded. "More. Bodies. More. Food." Those in her pitcher were still struggling and bulging it out, their shouts were muffled by the plant flesh and stomach.

Skai held up a finger of a talon as she worked on her elf, swallowing up his middle section and hips, bulging her gut out, which shifted as he struggled in vain. His ass and legs disappeared quickly as well, slurped up by the harpy as she rubbed her full, bulging gut. "I... guess, the more we eat the longer we won't be hungry. And they might have supplies and stuff at the their camp we could use. If you trust her, I don't know."

Poppy giggled a little. "Aww, pleading for her life! Don't want to be eaten like your comrades here? Hmm... yeah, okay, but I say we don't promise anything, it could be trap and we could have to eat her anyways!"

The cat girl shook her head, though she was hidden under the dress. "No trap, please, I'll give you them and you don't eat me... deal?"

[GeneticMess]

"The camp would be nice for food and resources..." He quietly added, before everyone came to a consensus. "Alright, that settles it. You lead us to the camp, we eat them, and you don't get eaten. And, you stop ambushing travelers for their money and loot, or else you WILL get eaten if we see you again. Those are my terms."

With that, he stood up and only bound the catgirl's hands with his vines, letting her walk in front of him. "Just lead the way... although, you're pretty vulnerable out in the open. If you can give us directions, I can keep you under here until the coast is clear." He offered, parting his petal dress. If she hadn't noticed before, she'd probably notice now that he had a dick, and despite how convincing he might've looked, wasn't a girl.

[MeTheMe]

The catgirl stood, and... oh, he was a guy, she'd assumed incorrectly... that was a silly assumption she guessed... but she kind of didn't want to crawl around on the ground under his dick the whole time. "Umm... it'll probably be faster if I walk, instead of crawling around under you." She looked down at the vines tied around her wrists, grimacing a little. "Alright, let's go, there are three more, so be careful."

Poppy chuckled. "My, the diplomat, aren't you Avery? You were the one noting how hungry you were and were the only one to talk to the food instead of just getting your grub on! Tee hee!"

Skai patted her gut as she followed along. "He's right though, if we can stop all the bandits, it's a good idea."

[GeneticMess]

"Alright." Avery didn't argue the point any further, letting their... "temporary party member" walk as she pleased. If their were three bandits left, he started thinking of how to split their catch between the four of them. Skai ate one person, Hunger ate two, and a snake, which had eaten him and Skai... so 5? 4.5? Whatever. Point was, Poppy and him were running empty. They could each have a meal, and the last one would go to whoever could manage it.

"... Shut up." Was all Avery could say, lacking a good argument that time. Skai picked up a bit of his slack, though.