Rather than intercede between the lamia and Bagheera, you settle into her draping coils like a blanket. You pull a loop around you that had slipped off to snuggle closer. Bagheera seems to try to argue with the lamia, but as he stares at her wide-eyed, pulsating colors ripple through his eyes and he ceases speaking. He grins until he stands perfectly stiff, staring into space.
It’s a little concerning that she seems to have won the argument without a proper rebuttal, but Bagheera seems happy about it. The lamia turns back to you and flinches.
“Oh! You’re awake.” She slides closer to you.
“Yes.” You smile to be disarming. “But it’s not easy with such a soft, luxurious tail hugging me.” You caress the end of her tail to your cheek. “You have a very lovely tail.”
The lamia blushes and her eyes widen. “Wh-What?” She laughs and looks away for a moment. “Oh, th-thank you! I’m glad you—would you like me to—” Her tail shifts, settling around you into a more firm, but soft and gentle, grip. She cuddles you with her tail like a big plush, squeezing down your body. Her tail is heavy, but the coils support you so you don’t have to hold them up. Instead of fatiguing you, the weight relaxes your body.
You get a feeling this was closer to her coils before you—woke up? While you were in what felt like a spa for your mind? You’re still not sure what that was about, but it doesn’t seem too concerning. Still, you’re curiuos, and you ask about Bagheera. She frowns and huffs.
“He was very rude. Do you know, he practically smacked me!” she says.
“Ouch.” You cringe at the thought. “Well, he’s rather protective. Maybe he thought you were threatening me?” You look down. “Er, what were—”
“I-I was not threatening you!” she says, eyes wide. “I was just—well, I was afraid you would freak out if you saw me, would shove me away so I”—she looks away—“you see, there are so many false rumors about lamias. I just wanted to make sure you were—relaxed—before proper—introductions?”
You glance to Bagheera. “And you wanted to relax him to end your little argument, I gather.”
The lamia looks at her hands and taps her fingers together. “And maybe I wanted you to myself a little bit. Sorry. It gets lonely out here.”
You smile. She doesn’t seem malicious. Maybe a little forceful.
“Well, we haven’t had proper introductions yet,” you say.
After you exchange names you glance at Bagheera. You were tired before, but this seems like a good opportunity to chat with your new acquaintance.
“I can imagine it being lonely out here, but at least you’re free.”
The lamia looks down and sighs. “Freedom doesn’t mean much without someone to share it with.”
You look away for a moment. “You know, Bagheera was trying to get me to leave the jungle, go to a human village. But I want to stay out here.”
“Oh, yes, I overheard you arguing with him before,” the lamia says.
“He says it’s too dangerous out here.”
The lamia looks up. “Well, it can be dangerous, that’s true.” She glances down to you. “But it’s much easier if you have a partner to help you . . .”
“. . . .with a big, strong tail,” you add. The lamia laughs; squeezes her tail along your shoulders and chin, and you automatically smile.
“Oh, yes, a partner with a big, strong tail to keep you safe.” She grins. “Someone who can win an argument with a strong glance.” You both laugh then turn silent. She glances back to Bagheera a few times. “Do you—would you—like to—stay with me? Leave here, go somewhere private, stay here in the jungle with me?”
You swallow.
“More than anything else at this moment.”
She grins. She squeezes her coils closer and lifts you up, her thick, strong tail holding you in spite of gravity pulling you down against her scales. You heat up at her scales coaxing over your skin, and she holds you all the closer as your body warms up. With her grip firm she carries you to a dense, private tree for just the two of you . . .
“Now then,” she says, snuggling close to you over her coils, “would you like an aid to drift off into a deep sleep tonight?” She caresses her hand over your cheek, running her other along the back of your head. Your body tingles and you shiver in her coils, again automatically smiling at her touch.
“That sounds lovely,” you say. You rest your face into her hand, though for the most part you have little ability, nor need, to move on your own.
“Then relax,” she says, trailing the sibilance at the end, “and let me lead you down a dream initiation for our first night.” With that, the colors emerge again from her eyes, rings expanding like steady ripples in a pond. They fill your sight, rippling through your vision into your eyes, into your mind, colors shimmering through your slowing thoughts. You giggle as the tingle from her touch seems to swirl into your head from the colors in her eyes into yours.
“Yes, just relax,” she says, pulling your faces close until you nearly touch, “relax for me, won’t you? Go to sleep,” she sings, “please, go to sleep . . .” The colorful fog from before settles over you, this time enhanced from knowing it’s exactly what you want, sinking into the hypnotic bliss on purpose, her purpose. A smile spreads over your lips as she massages you in her hugging coils.
“Sleep in my coils, very deep,” she sings, her melodic voice ringing in your head. You giggle, drunk on hypnotic pleasure, and the lamia laughs after. You smile wider, your eyes drifting shut, yet you hold them open as long as you can to follow her enchanting eyes. She smiles, beautiful, perfect.
“Sleep . . .” She kisses your lips, as soft as a pillow, as you sink into her world of hypnotic dreams of color. “Sleep . . .” She smooches you, sliding from the softness of a pillow to the heavy comfort of an encompassing blanket, her eyes, her coils, her body, her love blanketing your mind with serpentine paradise. For the rest of the night your thoughts can rest as you sleep in her hypnotic, coiling embrace.
Congratulations! You unlocked the lamia wife ending!! I wonder if Bagheera worried about you once he woke up. Ah well, it’s nothing to dwell on. As long as you’re with your lamia partner you’ll dwell on little else but her . . .
Duth Olec's Cuckoo Cosmos 