Content warning: non-consensual hypnosis and coils from a snake
You back up against the tree on the branch you planned to settle on for the night. The panther you hadn’t noticed until it stood an arm’s reach away stared at you, brows furrowed in what you might have thought was frustration if you didn’t assume it’s just sizing you up for a meal.
Oh, yes, great idea you had to camp out in the jungle alone. Prove to your friends you didn’t need their help, that you could look out for yourself. Now you were staring at the teeth of a hungry jungle cat. Of course cats can climb trees. Why did you think it was safe up there?
Your heart jumps as the panther seems ready to strike, but you blink as it seems to sigh instead.
“Why do you humans always insist on coming out here?” the panther asks. “The jungle is dangerous! That’s why you built villages!”
“What?”
And that’s how you met Bagheera, a friendly panther who nevertheless is very tired of humans wandering into the jungle for some reason or another. Says he’s escorted a fair share of humans back to the nearest village and has never fathomed why they seem insistent on getting lost in the jungle. Still, he won’t turn on someone in need, and as he settles down to sleep on the branch says he would keep you safe and lead you to the village in the morning.
You tried to explain that you’d entered the jungle to prove you didn’t need help and you would stay out there as long as it took to prove it, but Bagheera just scoffs.
“Don’t be ridiculous, I’m sure there are much safer ways to prove that. This jungle is far too dangerous for a human. Why, there’s peril at every turn, even for me. It’s only my sharp senses that keep me safe.”
With that said he yawns and stretches onto the branch to sleep. You’re insistent that you’re capable enough to survive on your own out there, though.
“I’m not afraid,” you say. The back of your mind points out that you had in fact been terribly afraid moments ago when you encountered Bagheera, but you ignore that. “I’ve done thorough research.” Again, you apparently didn’t research the fact that cats can climb trees, but you continue ahead. “I know all about the jungle’s dangers, I can look out for—”
A rustling in the leaves above draws your attention up and you lose your train of thought. A grinning snake lowers from the leaves, watching you with pulsing eyes, a sea of green stealing your attention. A soothing sea green, an attracting light green, and a numbing dark green flows over the snake’s eyes in rings and you find yourself staring intently, deeply.
“My . . . myself . . . I . . .” You mumble as your thoughts derail. A warning wells in your mind that your research suggested it dangerous to look into a snake’s eyes, but the colors look so fascinating you want to stare—just for a little bit, at least, it can’t be too dangerous to just steal a glance.
“Oh, no,” Bagheera grumbles, “I’m not going to argue anymore tonight. Please, just go to sleep, human.”
“Yesss,” the snake hisses, slithering closer to give you a deeper look into her eyes. You instinctively back away as she moves closer, but she rises and you lean forward to stare closer. “Please, go to sleep, please, go to sleep.”
The snake sways before you, and you follow, side to side and in circles, gaze locked to her grinning eyes. You know you wanted to look out for yourself—that’s why you came to the jungle, wasn’t it?—was it? You feel so relaxed, a pleasant tingle shimmers through your eyes and into your mind, maybe what you really wanted was to find this snake to stare at. Just a little longer, at least, surely it’s still safe to enjoy these beautiful colors filling your vision, filling your mind.
These thoughts pass through your head as your wide eyes fill with colors, pupils shrinking as your eyes mirror the snake’s dazzling display. Green rings pass through your eyes, obscuring your vision and blurring the jungle, bringing only the swaying snake into focus as her soft words tickle your ears and swirl into your mind.
“Sleep little human,” she sings, circling her head to drag your gaze around and tire you faster. Her words sink into your mind and block your thoughts. “Ressst in peace.”
Sleep, sleep, sleep—this command fills your head as your mind slows. You find it hard to think, every thought preempted with the impulse to sleep. It is late, the evening has grown long, the evening has grown dark, you agree with the tumble of thoughts in your head that you should go to sleep.
You feel scales curl over your legs and around your hips, and long muscles squeeze around you as the snake wraps you up. A distant memory says it’s dangerous to continue to stare, and it’s certainly dangerous to let the snake wrap her coils around you, but you feel so sleepy, so dizzy, your eyes droop and all you want to do right now is go to sleep.
Maybe you’ll start looking out for yourself tomorrow. Right now, just relax and drift into a deep slumber. As the snake coils and binds your arms close and massages your back you begin to rationalize that it’s okay to keep staring.
It may not be any less dangerous, but that doesn’t matter.
The heavy coils drag your body and mind down, but that’s fine. You don’t need to think, you don’t need to move.
You aren’t looking out for yourself until tomorrow, so it doesn’t matter if you do something dangerous, like let a snake wrap you up tight and hypnotize you. Someone else can take care of it. You don’t need to worry about it. You don’t need to think about it. It’s someone else’s problem, you can just relax and enjoy the heavy hug squeezing around your chest and kneading your arms into jelly.
“Sleep,” the snake says, dragging your muddled head up and down, side to side, wearing your mind into senselessness. With each sway she grows closer, filling your gaze with her friendly grin and enchanting eyes.
“Sleep,” she hisses, printing the word on your mind, pressing you into mindless slumber as she presses your body into her coils, shoulders massaged by her squeezing scales, legs and arms squashed by her heavy tail slithering around you, scales massaging along your skin in constant swirling motion.
A tiny thought speaks of danger, but you ignore it. You’re not going to look out for yourself anymore, not until— The snake squeezes her tail around your neck, and you gulp, thoughts dissolving as she presses her will and coils against you. You’re not going to look out for yourself anymore, as you lose the very concept of a tomorrow from your mind. No more tomorrow, only the now, only the snake, only the coils, only her eyes, only sleep. No need to think, no need to plan, no need to look out for yourself.
The snake’s hypnotic spell snuffs out that last tiny thought, and you grin wide as her hypnotic colors flow through your eyes, pulse through your mind, all concept of danger lost to you. All that matters, all you want to feel, is the snake’s enchanting eyes and tight coils squeezing around your neck, over your shoulders, against your chest, down your arms, and gripping your legs.
You have no reason to look out for yourself. All you need is the snake’s wonderful embrace and beauty, and whatever she might have planned for you.