The Alluring Siren

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A soft scratching by his window woke Cross Current from the light doze he had slipped into, his eyes snapping open as he was jolted back to waking so suddenly his breath caught. He all but spat out a sigh as he rolled off the side of his bed, creeping over to slide the window open, letting the cool night breeze in as he peered out into the shadows.

"Yeah, I know, I know, I drifted off, shut up," Cross said quickly and quietly, preempting the individuals lurking out in the bushes. He snatched up the long, cylindrical satchel hanging by a hook on the wall, a quick peek inside ensuring it still held what he had safely stowed inside earlier. A few seconds later and he was out the window and stealthily hurrying along with several other stallions, the group a collection of youths just coming out of their teens.

"Seriously Cross, you're like, an old guy already or something, always falling asleep," Whiskey Sour teased once they were out on the main street that ran through the town, the husky earth pony sounding far too amused by himself.

"What can I say, life just...bores me so much at times," Cross replied with an overblown degree of faux teen angst, sweeping a reddish brown wing through his mane dramatically, and earning a few chuckles from the group.

"We really are going to leave without you next time," Spinning Top told him seriously, the lanky unicorn not laughing and definitely not happy at the delay.

"Yeah, okay dad," Cross sighed, rolling his eyes. "Do I need to clean my room and brush my teeth first too?"

"Hope you at least took a shower," Quick Sight joked in an overly serious kind of tone, his horn glowing gently as he adjusted his glasses, the flash of magic the only real light around except for the stars.

"What, and wash off this natural musk?" Cross asked jokingly, getting a few more chuckles, as well as a few played up disgusted noises. "Ah you're all just envious. So, is Dare here, or did he chicken out?" he asked, trying to count bodies in the darkness.

"Yeah right, when have I ever backed out of anything?" Double Dare spoke up quickly, the athletic form of the pegasus pushing between Quick and Spinning to walk next to Cross, giving him a cocky smirk that was bright enough to see even in the shadows.

"Never, but one does keep hoping you'll grow a brain," Cross replied, shaking his head. Dare was not exactly his favorite pony ever, though the guy wasn't terrible either. A little too full of himself, but he normally wasn't a jerk about it, which made it hard to dislike him. He was an inlander though, part of the minority that didn't live near the shore and didn't seem to properly respect and appreciate the sea, so Cross could at least hold that against him when he was feeling petty.

"Hope in vain CC, there's nothing too extreme for the Double D," Dare declared boisterously, earning himself a round of jeers and gagging noises alike from the group. "Yeah, you all go ahead, your jealousy only makes me stronger."

"Let's focus now," Cross cut in, rolling his eyes in the dark. "Dare, you brought an Offering, right?"

"Aw come on CC, what kind of idiot do you think I am?" Dare asked, and it took an effort for Cross to keep his mouth shut on that one. "Got it right here," the cocky stallion stated, and there was a muffled slapping kind of noise, like someone hitting something firm covered in fabric.

"Right, good then. And someone explained the process to you, right?" Cross asked. He might not like the guy all that much, but some things were more important than personal feelings. "You wait to be acknowledged and invited forward..."

"Yeah yeah, no worries, I got this," Dare cut in, his tone overflowing with confidence.

"...alright, you got this, far be it for me to question that," Cross said, throwing his wings up in defeat. He'd tried, no one could say he hadn't tried. Further discussion ground to a halt as the group crested the small hill the road ran over before sloping down towards the shore, and the beach came into view. It was brightly lit with dozens and dozens of torches stuck into the sand, and there had to be over a hundred ponies already milling around down by the water.

The ponies however were regulated to a background detail when compared against the five kētas that were lounging in the surf, their presence overshadowing the rest of the gathering by their size and majesty. Each one was a giant, easily over forty feet long, their pony shaped fronts transitioning into a long, whale shaped tail behind, large dorsal fins standing tall on their backs. They had smooth, silky slick looking skin instead of fur, in shades of white and black and bluish greys, as well as a kind of exotic beauty that could be rather awe inspiring. Especially for those seeing them for the first time.

Cross glanced over at Dare, and smirked at the dumb struck look the torch light revealed on the other stallion's face. Inlanders...they never spent enough time around or in the water, never enough time out on a boat. The kētas weren't an every day sight, but anyone that actually spent any time around the ocean would see them regularly enough, even get to talk to them on occasion. They could be rather friendly, if also sometimes odd and rather different.

It paid to remember however that they weren't ponies, and more importantly, that they weren't herbivores. They were predators, catching and eating fish mostly, but when it came down to it, anything smaller than them could be a meal. And they were bigger than just about anything else in the water. They were allies to the pony community, and tradition and old treaties meant that the ponies didn't have to worry about a kēta hunting them down and eating them if they were out swimming or boating. But there were loop holes, and there were exceptions, and over the centuries plenty of ponies had found their way in the bellies of the kētas.

The Offering was one such time when there could be an exception to the normal rules. Long ago it had been done for religion and superstition. Sacrifices offered up to the kētas, to the goddesses of the sea, to bring about good luck and good harvests and good anything else the ancient ponies needed and thought the kētas could provide a little mystic, a little divine aid towards. But those kinds of beliefs had faded and been largely put aside, though something of the rituals had clung on. How exactly it had changed into the event it was now was something lost to time and mystery. The community as a whole might have officially given up on The Offering, but individuals had kept it alive in secret. Granted, it wasn't really a secret in the technical sense, because everyone on the island knew it still happened, but it was A Secret in the sense that everyone involved treated it like it was, and as long as they did so, everyone else seemed mostly content to ignore it and let them have their fun.

And that was what The Offering really was about now, having fun. It had become much more of a party than a ritual, but in it's way it somehow still worked. It helped keep a bond between the ponies and the kētas, perhaps even more so than the official words on the official documents. Especially since the kētas didn't really care much for reading and writing. They were beings of actions, of events and choices made, and most of all, of exchange. They believed in a kind of mystic world of balance that was apparently both separate from but yet part of the physical world, somehow, and maintaining the balance of thought and magic and ideas in that world, maintaining The Balance as it were, kept everything else in check and running smoothly.

The kētas kept the waters safe, whether from other predators or bad weather or even just bad luck. A pony in trouble out on the water could often count on a kēta to see them to safety. In return, the community shared some of their wealth with the kētas, or at least, what bits of it they had interest in. Food was absolutely always welcome, and they did like certain pony crafted goods like jewelry or pouches for carrying things or containers for storage.

The Offering had since become the symbolic representation of The Balance between the two groups...even if it had become somewhat...lewd. Perverted. Indecent. There were a lot of those kinds of words thrown about by those that didn’t agree with the kinds of things that went on during the event, but apparently the kētas didn't see anything to be offended or embarrassed about. Sexuality was not something they saw as shameful, or indeed even something that needed to have any kind of special emphasis or reverence associated with it. It was just another type of pleasure to the kētas, though for them, it was not even the best kind of pleasure. For them, food and eating was the ultimate enjoyment. And perhaps that would explain why The Offering was what it was.

Ponies brought gifts of food. The kētas, in return, gave out sexual pleasure, and both sides rather felt like they were getting the better end of that exchange, because for the kētas, food beat sex any day. Not that it was sex exactly. Though certainly at least one pony somewhere, at some time had probably tried to give it an honest go, normal sex just isn't something you have with a being a hundred times bigger than you. But lust and innovation had worked together, and solutions had been found. And those solutions had started with the simple acknowledgement that a pony could fit quite comfortably in the mouth of a kēta...comfortably at least, if said pony felt properly reassured that they were about to receive what amounted to a full body blowjob and weren't, instead, about to be eaten.

Of course, the possibility of getting eaten was something of a sticking point. The issue was that, on most things, the kētas were willing to accept that Balance was being maintained, most because both sides thought they were getting the better deal and so that somehow apparently worked out, with their way of thinking, to mean The Balance was indeed in balance. However in one particular area, there was apparently a deficit. The kētas figured, in their mystic, cosmic sense of it all, that they were providing just that bit more into their side of the agreement and the alliance when it came to matters of life and death. They kept ponies safe, from drowning or the predations of sea going carnivores, themselves included. They saved lives, and so, in return, they felt that maintaining The Balance allowed, or maybe required, it could be rather confusing, them to occasionally take a life.

And that was a debt the kētas collected on during The Offering. In times past, those lives had been conisidered collected during the ritual sacrifices made by the community, and The Balance was maintained. Now though, things worked differently. The community could no longer condone sacrifices, and very, very few individuals ever willingly gave themselves up to be food, though it did sometimes happen for various, sometimes odd reasons. Instead, now those lives were picked out and taken by the kētas during The Offering. It was a risk one took in being part of the event, and it did keep many who might otherwise partake away. For others though, that risk, that bit of danger...that was something seen as a thrill that just added to the whole experience. Anyone who came to The Offering was at least a little bit of an adrenaline junkie.

And it wasn't even really all that risky, not as Cross saw it. The number of ponies eaten in a given year was small. They lost more lives to disease or accidents or even murder than they ever did to the kētas. Getting up and going to work every day was a bigger risk over the long term, especially since if a pony was smart and paid attention, they could keep track of things and be sure to pick the kēta least likely to have decided she was going to eat someone that night. There were rules of a sort, perhaps not hard rules written down as law, but they had tradition behind them, and that was much more binding in the minds of the kētas. As a group, they never ate more than one pony in a single Offering. As individuals, most of them never ate more than two or three in an entire year. Even holding an Offering every weekend like they did now, it was possible to go an entire month without someone getting swallowed.

A pony just had to know the individual kētas, know how often they each liked to indulge their predatory appetite, and keep track of how long it had been since they last ate someone. And on that general subject, someone probably ought to educate Dare about them so that he could start learning their habits and patterns, assuming he would bother. And since no one else seemed keen to speak up...

"Alright Dare, listen up," Cross declared as the road gave way to sand beneath their hooves. "Time to know your kētas. For a first timer like you, I'm pretty sure any and everyone would recommend Kita over there," he went on, pointing with a wing at the kēta with the soft purple mane and roundly sweet features that made her as much adorable as she was pretty. "She is the softy of the bunch, and is always a safe choice, because in the seven years she's been coming to Offerings, she has actually never eaten anyone. Not sure how she works that into their whole cosmic balance thing that the others use as an excuse for it, but she does and so she doesn't, such as it is. She's also fairly gentle about how she plays with you, which is not a bad thing."

"Uh, right, yeah, gotcha," Dare replied, still clearly a little off balance from his normal cocksure attitude as he stared at Kita, who was busy smiling and chatting animatedly with a group of stallions clustered around her.

"Now another excellent choice for a newbie would be Iso," Cross went on, putting a wing over Dare's shoulders to turn him towards the next kēta, this one sporting a sea green mane braided up with beads and pendants, and who had a relaxed, easy going kind of vibe around her. She had a couple stallions actually lounging on her, to the apparent ease and enjoyment to all involved parties. "She actually rather likes getting to give guys their first time with a kēta, and she'll never eat someone who hasn't been coming to Offerings for less than a year. She thinks getting eaten before then would be completely unfair. She'll also take her time to explain most anything you might have questions about."

"Ah, well yeah, that does seem fair," Dare put in, probably just out of a need to say something and not just stand there looking overwhelmed about things. Cross fought down the eye roll and continued.

"Now for my own personal taste, I don't think you could go wrong with either Asas or Shima, at least once you've been to a few Offerings" he told the other pegasus, with nods towards each kēta in turn, the former being an angel faced beauty, her sky blue hair streaked with white, and she had that kind of charming smile that could turn stallions into idiots wanting to have her flash it at them. Meanwhile the latter was the largest kēta present by a noticeable margin, half again as big as any of the others in length, her sunny yellow mane practically a golden forest of wavy strands that fell far enough to fan out in the water around her. She very much had something of a regal, dignified presence about her. Both of them had even more sizable groups of apparent admirers and hangers on around them than the first two kētas, though they also had a somewhat more aloof, less personal kind of air about them. More like celebrities meeting fans than the kind of personal sense of companionship surrounding Kita and Iso. "Asas gets really intense, especially if you have a good offering. Shima meanwhile is a total exhibitionist, if you're into that kind of thing. If not, she might be a little much for you."

"Hmm, yeah, well you know sometimes, when the mood hits me," Dare said, some of his cocky ego clearly returning. "And what about her?" he asked, pointing over to the last of the kētas. She had a relaxed, naturally sultry kind of air about her, her features seemingly defaulting to a subtle, wicked amusement. Her brilliant red mane and vivid green eyes were quite suited to emphasizing the sense that just under that calm, playful exterior, there was something wild lurking. It was also rather telling that the group of stallions clustered around her was smaller than any of the others, and that they were not standing all that closely to her, as if nervous about coming within easy reach.

"Yeah, that's Aki, and you just don't even want to go there," Cross informed Dare firmly. "She's dangerous. More so than any of the others. She's another one I can't figure out how she makes their balance thing work, though for her, it's the complete opposite from Kita. Aki has probably eaten more ponies than all the other kētas combined. I mean, yeah, getting swallowed is a bit of a risk everyone has to accept to take part in The Offering, barring those who are Kita exclusive obviously, but choosing Aki changes the risk from thrill seeker to brain dead moron levels.”

"Oh...uh...if she's that bad, why does anyone go to her then?" Dare asked curiously.

Cross sighed. "Well, we do have some real idiots living here," he answered, though refrained from letting his tone point any hooves at anyone in particular. He could still feel the frown Spinning gave him however, seeing how the stallion in question had gone to Aki twice now. Just because he'd gotten away with it didn't change anything in Cross's mind. "And some find the risk to be a big part of the thrill. More risk, more thrill. Also she does have this special trick she does that none of the others can do, which...well you'll see. Anway, it means she draws guys in, and she eats a lot of them. I mean, nothing outrageous as far as that goes in the scheme of things, maybe around eight or nine a year. Still a lot more than any of the others, but...it's weird. She's got this reputation for it, and somehow, that has kind of become this thing were it makes it less of a big deal that she does it. Aki is dangerous, she is more likely to eat you than anyone else, and so no one makes a big deal out of it, because whoever just got swallowed knew what kind of chance he was taking going to her. Somehow her reputation as a pony eater has made it so it's not her fault when she eats someone, but the fault of whoever just got eaten for taking their Offering to her."

“...and because she has a special something she does?” Dare asked with curious interest.

"Don't, just don't," Quick Sight warned, speaking up. "Do not pick her, especially not for your first time. Don't try playing games with Aki, she plays for keeps, and if you think you can get away with showing off by picking the most dangerous kēta of the bunch for your first ever Offering, she will be all too happy to make you pay for it. Seriously, listen to Cross and go with Kita or Iso. I'd really suggest Iso personally, she'll take her time with you, make sure you don't feel rushed or pressured, and she'll happily explain things."

"Yeah, like what?" Dare asked, in a tone of voice that made Cross want to smack him...or maybe even just let the idiot go over to Aki like he was clearly considering doing. They should have known better, telling Dare not to do something was pretty much throwing down a challenge to the stallion to go do it.

"Like anything you want to know," Whiskey joined in, perhaps hoping maybe to distract Dare. "What exactly she'll be doing to you, the traditions around the Offering, how many ponies she's eaten and how long it's been since the last time, heck, she'll even talk on her thoughts about eating you and how it'll make her feel and how she'd do it if you end up being picked as a meal."

"...uh...oh...uh...wha...what do you mean, how'd she do it?" Dare asked, Operation: Distract the Moron apparently having some success. "I mean, if she's going to eat you, wouldn't she just...you know...?"

Cross smirked at the other pegasus. "Swallow you whole, alive, and kicking?" he supplied, chuckling softly as Dare nodded. "Nah, most of them won't do that. And no, they won't chew you up either. They tend to see either option as being cruel and gruesome. Just because you're food doesn't mean you don't have feelings worth considering. Iso's standard method is to flatten her prey against the roof of her mouth with her tongue and apply enough force that they can't breath. Apparently it only takes twenty or thirty seconds under that kind of pressure to make a pony black out, so most barely have time to properly dwell on their fate before they pass out. After that, she just keeps up the pressure until she hears their heart stop."

"...damn. And she can actually hear your heartbeat when you're in her mouth?" Dare asked in a nervous kind of awe.

"Easily," Quick replied. "They all have exceptionally good hearing. They use echolocation in the dark, so strong ears and strong voices. Any one of them could be listening to us right now and hear us clearly, even through this crowd."

"Indeed." It was like getting slapped by the word, a sense almost more of feeling it than hearing it, and Cross felt a shiver run up his spine, both at the sensation and because he knew where it had come from.

"What was that!" Dare exclaimed, looking around wildly.

"That was Aki," Cross groaned, with a glance over across the beach to the kēta in question. She was watching them, watching him, staring over the cautious ring of stallions around her with a wicked little grin on her face. "She just hit us with her sonar. It and her hearing aren't just good, they can be very focused and very precise. She might as well be right here next to us in that regard. She's been eavesdropping," he added accusingly, but Aki was utterly shameless in the face of it.

"Uh, does she normally do that?" Dare asked, eying the kēta and her smirk uncertainly.

"Often enough," Cross sighed, and then shrugged. "She wants to eat me. Has me marked out."

"...what?" Dare asked, blinking at Cross.

"Yeah. She has this thing, she's got about a dozen of us regulars marked as 'her little morsels'. Quick Sight is another one," Cross said with a nod of his head at the unicorn in question, who was watching Aki warily now. "She's told each of us, on more than one occasion mind you, that if we ever make her an Offering, she'll eat us. She'll give us the best time of our lives of course," he went on sarcastically. "But after that, we're food."

"So, you guys can never, ever pick her, huh?" Dare asked, glancing from Aki to Cross and Quick, and then back to the kēta. "Why tell you though? If she really wanted to eat you guys, why warn you so you would know to avoid her?"

"Because she enjoys it for some reason," Quick said seriously. "It's part of the games she plays."

"And well, because it doesn't seem to keep her from eating whoever she wants anyway," Whiskey added nervously. "Cross and Quick and the rest are not the first group of stallions she's marked out. She had a whole other bunch of 'little morsels' picked before. And she ate them, all of them. And yes, all at an Offering, not sneaking up on them out on the water or anything like what the kētas promise not to do. They all came to her with Offerings."

"And we've already lost two of the new bunch," Cross added pointedly.

"...but...that's just stupid!" Dare declared. "Why would they do that?"

Cross shrugged. "Idiocy and boners win out over common sense and survival instinct?" he suggested uncertainly. "I have no idea. I get that she is pretty damn good, even compared to what the other kētas can offer..."

"She really, really is," Spinning stated, the unicorn eying Aki with far more longing and desire than any proper and intelligent sort of caution. "She is the best."

"I'll be sure to put that on your grave marker," Quick told Spinning sarcastically.

"Don't be mean to him, my little morsel," Aki's echo voice washed over them again. "Spinning is a good stallion. He brought me very good Offerings both times we've played, and he was quite the pleasant experience for me."

Spinning smiled over at Aki, looking rather pleased by her praise. Cross just rolled his eyes.

"Pleasant for her?" Dare asked, looking like he was feeling a little uncomfortable in his own skin after being subjected to such a prolonged exposure to the kēta's echolocation.

"They have fun fulfilling their side of the Offering," Whiskey told him. "There's a reason they like food more than sex. You can ask Iso about it if you want the full details, but the abridged version is that they have a very fine sense of taste and their mouths are very sensitive, very tactile. They don't literally get off on it, but the taste and feel of prey, or just a pony they're pleasuring, is something they greatly enjoy. For them, it's something better than an orgasm...or at least, the kind of orgasms they have, which are apparently nothing special."

"Oh...so, good times all around then, huh?" Dare mused.

"Yes, very good," Spinning said, and Cross stuck a wing in his way as the unicorn took a step towards Aki, blocking him.

"Don't, seriously," he warned pointedly. "You got lucky twice, you shouldn't push it. It's been a while since she last ate someone, she's due. And don't you dare try to tell me you're safe," he snapped off quickly as Spinning opened his mouth. "You're not so special that she won't eat you. Especially not if you think you are. Don't try playing games with her, most certainly not while she's listening in."

"I am going to eat someone tonight," Aki promised them, the look she was giving the group positively smoldering. Cross spread his wings at Spinning in a 'see, there you go' kind of motion. "But I get so many Offerings. What are the odds, Spinning, that I'll choose you to be my prey? You know how wonderful I can make you feel. And you know how much I enjoyed having you inside me those times. You'll come to me tonight, this I feel certain of. And then you'll cum for me tonight, and then...well...shall we see what happens?"

Spinning breathed out a little hiss of breath through his teeth, making Cross, Quick, and Whiskey all glare at him with looks that told him he was being an idiot, and which he did his best to ignore.

Cross was about to just call him an idiot for good measure, but before he could get the words out a sound started to echo across the beach. No one was ever entirely sure where it started from, but the Soft Beat was the music of The Offering. It signaled the start, and the end. And it was the sound offered up if and when a kēta decided to indulge herself. It was a simple rhythm, played by hooves upon sand. Five slow, building stomps. Three quicker beats. A pause. A pair of stomps, and the scrap of hoof through sand. Repeated three times. It spread through the crowd like wildfire through dry grass, and it brought with it a sense of something ancient, holding in that old but simple music the origins of The Offering itself, of the traditions and rituals now muddled and half remembered by the community. The kētas had their own part in the Soft Beat, slapping and swishing the water with their tails, and in their eyes shone a sense of remembrance far more keen and clearly recalled than what the ponies remembered.

"So...what now?" Dare asked as the Soft Beat faded, the stallion having fallen effortlessly into the rhythm, barely having had to think about it despite it being his first time hearing it. He looked a little unnerved by that, and by the relative stillness that had followed in its wake.

"Now The Offering begins," Quick replied with a small smirk.

"I'd say take a moment and watch," Cross put in. "See what happens, make sure it's really something you want to do. The kētas can't see to everyone in a night, but a lot show up just to watch, so don't worry about missing out either."

"Kita's got someone," Whiskey announced, pulling the group's attention around towards the round faced, sweetly smiling kēta. A dark grey stallion had stepped up in front of her almost before the echos of the Soft Music had faded, holding a good three foot long kelp snapper before him and watching her hopefully. Kita beamed down at him, and nodded in a very affirmative manner, making the stallion smile back and quickly step forward, closing the distance with some obvious nerves.

"Newbie," Quick noted, not unkindly exactly, but with that tone of voice of someone whose personal experience has lead to a mild sense of authority on the matter. "Still, it's a good offer."

Kita meanwhile had lowered herself down as the stallion approached, putting them almost but not quite at eye level. Even laying out mostly flat, there was only so much she could do considering her head was bigger than his entire body, and so she still had to look down a bit to meet his gaze. The stallion paused, looking nervous and uncertain how to proceed, but Kita's smile was gentle and reassuring. Slowly she opened her mouth, just enough to let her tongue poke out, and then just a bit more, so that he could have a little peek inside. Her tongue gave a slow, playful waggle as he hesitated, making the stallion blush self-consciously.

He stepped forward, and gently placed the hefty fish down on her tongue, and watched in fascination as a shiver went through the kēta. Her eyes half closed, and her tongue curled at the tip as she pulled it back in, letting out a sigh of delight. Her mouth moved slightly as she savored the snapper for a moment, before she swallowed with a content breath that made the stallion before her hold his own. When her eyes refocused on him, he breathed out, smiling nervously.

Kita smiled back, and when she opened her mouth again, she opened all the way up, leaning forward in an inviting, expectant fashion. The stallion hesitated once again, but Kita seemed to be expecting as much, and she slipped her tongue out so that it slid between his legs, pressing it up against his chest, and then his stomach, and then finally over the slowly swelling length of his cock. He gasped at the warm, wet softness of it, his legs giving a little tremble, but Kita's tongue supported him, taking his weight easily.

The kēta's head tipped back a bit, picking the stallion up off his hooves, leaving him splayed out on her tongue as she lifted her neck back up. Slowly, her tongue slid back into her mouth, her lips closing softly over the stallion. The tip of her tongue curled up behind him, and she made a soft, sucking noise as she slurped him the rest of the way into her mouth with a pleased little hum. Kita's eyes shut in a delighted expression, and her jaw worked slowly as her tongue began to play with the pony in her mouth.

"Oh, damn," Dare breathed out in amazement, his wings shifting down somewhat as if he was trying to hide his reaction to what he had just witnessed.

"Right, guess that means you're definitely interested then," Cross remarked with a teasing smirk. "Relax, no one is going to give you grief for popping wood here."

"Sh-shut up," Dare replied in a bashful tone, clearing his throat self-consciously as the rest of the group just laughed.

"Modesty Dare? So does that mean Shima's no longer a consideration for you?" Quick teased, nudging Dare and pointing over to the exhibitionist of the group. The huge, sunny maned kēta had clearly been given her own Offering while they had been watching Kita, and she had nudged the pony in question over so he was flat on his back, her face looming over him. Her tongue slipped from her mouth, and gave the stallion a long, dragging lick across his entire body, pulling back a moment to smirk at the raging erection left by it's passage. She leaned back in, giving him another firm lick, and then another, and another, slowly working her way towards getting him off.

Dare's mouth opened as he watched, but words were failing him at the moment. Cross saw no reason to let up, and nudged him around to where Iso had just accepted her first Offering of the night, the kēta swallowing down her gift before leaning in to kiss the stallion that had given it to her, her lips pressing against nearly the entirty of his body and making him stagger a step. He laughed good naturedly along with it though, and did his best to kiss her back, even if he could only get one of her lips at a time, making Iso giggle. Her mouth dropped open, and he half fell, half slid inside, her tongue sweeping up his legs in a brief flash of pink.

Nearby, Asas was busy sucking vigorously on her first stallion, the pony's head and shoulders poking out between her lips, his face an expression of pure bliss as he slid back and forth, the kēta's tongue no doubt busy doing things Cross could well imagine, having enjoyed her attentions several times himself. Asas was the kind who wouldn't stop just because someone got off, but would only start going harder and faster, trying to push their limits.

"Hey, Aki's up," Whiskey said, giving Cross a light poke in the ribs to get his attention. He hesitated a moment, a sinking sensation in his stomach worth of mixed feelings, before he turned to look.

The stallion standing in front of Aki looked even more nervous than the guy who had approached Kita, though he also looked more determined. He was holding out a red gill, which was a good choice, one of Aki's favorites, though it was perhaps a bit on the small side. She was smiling her sultry little smile at him, her expression giving away nothing of her thoughts, and Cross found himself holding his breath despite being only an observer.

Eventually, after giving the poor guy time to sweat, Aki gave a playful little nod, and the stallion half sagged in relief, only to immediately perk back up straight with fresh nerves. His Offering had been accepted...now he had to actually follow through. With Aki. With the most dangerous of the kētas. But also with the one that was said, by those that had experienced her and walked away, to be able to provide more pleasure than any other. And it was that dangerous thought that made Cross feel a nervous, jealous kind of weight balling up his insides as he watched.

He wasn't jealous at seeing someone else be with her. He was jealous over the fact that he couldn't, because he so very much wanted to. Yes, she was dangerous, and logic and reason made him warn against her to anyone who would ask. But if she hadn't made it clear that she would certainly eat him, Cross would have risked it to spend a time with her. However she had been very clear, more than once, that she would eat him. That she wanted to eat him, in a very personal kind of way.

So he was stuck desiring her at a distance, unable to approach her. And even just watching her now accepting the Offering from her first stallion of the night, Cross felt himself growing uncomfortably stiff with excitement, just the anticipation of what was about to happen working him over. Aki had lowered herself down, resting her chin on her crossed hooves with her lips just slightly opened. She didn't stick her tongue out to make it easy for the stallion, but instead waited with casual patience for him to buck up the courage and actually stick his Offering, and thus his hooves, into her mouth. It did take him a moment to work up to it, but not a long moment at least.

With startling suddenness Aki's mouth shut, and the stallion tried to jerk back in surprise, but her lips held him tight, preventing him from moving. She gave a gentle suck, and his forelegs were pulled entirely in, pressing him chest and face first against her lips, her eyes shining mirthfully as she stared over her nose at him. Her mouth worked for a long moment as she kept the stallion trapped, before she finally gave a deep, indulgent swallow, humming with obvious pleasure as she finished enjoying the Offering.

Then she lifted her head, the stallion still held fast in her lips. With a quick little open and shut motion and a jerk of her head, she suddenly had him by the shoulders, his back half dangling and the erection that had been pressing against her lower lip suddenly exposed. His rear legs kicked at the air for a moment, and then Aki slurped him inside her mouth. Her jaw worked a moment as her tongue played with the pony...and then she swallowed.

Cross sighed deeply as he watched the pony sized bulge start to slowly slide its way down Aki's throat, only to pause halfway. It paused, and wriggled slightly, and then it started to slide back up her throat, vanishing as she forced the stallion back into her mouth, and making Cross curse under his breath in desire. Only Aki knew how to do that, how to swallow someone without eating them, and it drove him crazy to know he'd never get to experience that...not without eventually getting swallowed and then not being brought back up.

So he could only watch, and try to ignore the aching need starting to throb below as Aki swallowed the stallion again, the bugle in her throat traveling down slower, and even further this time, coming dangerously close to base of her neck before she stopped him. She started to bring him back up, only to swallow him down again. The stallion traveled up and down her throat several times more, before he was pushed back up into her mouth, her jaw working as she doubtlessly used her tongue to play with him for a while. Then she swallowed him again for another round of being squeezed up and down inside her throat.

When she finally brought him back up and carefully spit him out into her hooves, the stallion was a limp, gasping figure, his eyes blinking in an unfocused manner, and his spent, softening cock laying as exhausted across his stomach as he was in Aki's grasp. She gave a self satisfied laugh at the state of him, before reaching out to set him down safely on the beach, dropping him off to one side where he would be out of the way. Her gaze swept across the watching faces with a hungry, inviting air. Her eyes stopped on Cross, and the way she smirked at him made him blush softly and fight the urge to hide his erection behind a wing. She'd already seen it though, so what would be the point?

"You should come to me, my little morsel," she told him, and he could feel the narrow focus of her echo voice on him, for him, and him alone. "I would take care of that for you. I won't even eat you after your first orgasm if you come to me now. I will dedicate the rest of the evening to your pleasure. I will take you away from here, to somewhere nice and private, just for us, and give you hours of delight. By the time your final swallow came, you would be so exhausted from the pleasure of it, you would not even notice as you slipped away into blissful sleep."

Cross had to force himself to look away, those vivid green eyes of hers holding far too much promise and enticement. The idea of just what she could do to him, do for him, had him so on edge that the feel of her voice was threatening to make him climax. He actually found himself considering her offer for a moment, and had to pummel those thoughts down. That was the kind of thinking that got ponies eaten, the kind of temptation that lead to a final evening of thrills, but ultimately still a very final one. In that moment though, Cross had to admit, the way Aki still kept ending up getting to eat those she had promised to eat suddenly made much more sense to him.

"No? You should really consider before turning down my offer. I may never make it to you again," Aki informed him, something both playful and yet serious in her tone. "I will eat you, of this there can be no doubt. Why not come to me, and know the greatest pleasure possible before the end?" Cross quite pointedly did not look at her, but turned his attention to the other kētas. This did not exactly help his state of desperate sexual need, considering what they were all busy doing, but it was the best he could manage at the moment.

"Damn, that was something crazy to watch," Dare suddenly spoke up, and Cross nearly fell over in surprise. He had completely forgotten the other stallion was there. Actually, he had completely forgotten any of the rest of the guys were there, but the sudden realization helped snap him back to his senses and shake off some of the trance of desire Aki had laid on him.

"Yeah, and that is why Aki is the best," Spinning declared heatedly.

"Still not worth the risk," Quick stated firmly.

"You know, I understand that you and Cross are kind of screwed out here by her little peculiarities, but that doesn't mean the rest of us can't have fun with her," Spinning said defensively.

"You are so on your own there," Whiskey told him. "She's never promised to eat me, and I'm still going to keep avoiding her. It is not worth the risk."

"Alright, we are clearly not going to agree with you," Cross spoke up, a little bit testily to be sure, as Spinning opened his mouth to argue. "I think you're taking way too much risk going to her, but we can't actually stop you. You really should take your two times and be done with her, but somehow I doubt you're going to listen, so whatever." That said, he turned to Quick and Whiskey, giving them each a look. "I'm done waiting and watching, I need to go let off some steam and Asas is looking really tempting right now. Can you guys help Dare out with making his first Offering?"

Quick rolled his eyes, but nodded in a reluctant kind of way. "Fine, but you're going to owe us for this."

"Oh bite me, why should he be my responsibility?" Cross demanded.

"Why should it be mine?" Quick shot back.

"You've known him longer than me," Cross said.

"Yeah, but Whiskey is the one that invited him along," Quick pointed out.

"Then make Whiskey do it, I don't care!" Cross exclaimed. "I did my part giving him good advice, I'm out!"

"Uh, guys...we have a problem," Whiskey cut in, grabbing both other stallions and spinning them around. Cross blinked, and Quick stared.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me!" they both exclaimed together as they realized Spinning and Dare had left while they had been talking...and were both heading right for Aki.

"We need to stop them," Whiskey said, starting to hurry forward, but stopping as neither Cross or Quick moved. "Guys? We need to...you know...get moving?"

"We can't actually stop them you know," Cross said with a sigh.

"And frankly, I have no intention of getting any closer to Aki than this," Quick added. "We warned them, at this point, it is totally on them."

"Yeah but, I mean sure Spinning might be okay, but if Dare goes up to Aki with his first Offering and with that cocky attitude he has, she is not going to just ignore that. She will totally eat him just to make a point to everyone watching."

"Or maybe she'll just ignore him?" Quick suggested hopefully, glancing from Whiskey to Cross and back again.

"...she didn't eat anyone last month," Cross replied simply.

"...oh he is so eaten," Quick groaned.

Cross just shook his head and turned away. This was not his problem. He'd done his best, he'd warned Dare, and if the idiot refused to listen, then he wasn't going to listen, and whatever happened to him was his own dumb fault. He started to head over to Asas, feeling like he could really do with some of her extra enthusiastic and vigorous attentions, especially considering the extra special Offering he had managed to acquire. One that was definitely going to not only ensure he was next in line, but that she was going to be very generous with her time and attention. He'd been rather thrilled when he had caught the fish he had, and had spent a lot of time thinking about who he wanted to present it to.

Despite himself though, Cross couldn't help pausing to look back, watching as Spinning and Dare joined in the wary crowd that was standing before Aki. She was watching them too, and Cross sighed at the look she laid on the pair. Idiots, she'd been listening in on them all talking, she'd spoken to them, and now they were getting her undivided attention in a very dangerous way. He honestly wasn't sure who he should be more concerned for, at least for the moment before he reminded himself they weren't actually his friends, they were just...guys that hung out in the same group as him. He didn't even really like either of them...though Dare was probably more tolerable than Spinning. Unfortunately, he was probably in more danger right now, especially if he tried to give Aki any of his attitude and act like picking her for his first time was no big deal...

Cross groaned and facewinged as Dare stepped forward, flashing that stupid grin of his up at her like she was some mare at a bar he was about to woo. Idiot, idiot, idiot. Aki was so going to make an example of him. Cross tried to turn back towards Asas, but the train wreck about to take place was too much for him to ignore. He swore, and then walked back over to stand by Quick and Whiskey to watch. Dare whipped a good sized sea skimmer from his bag with a showy flourish. Not a bad fish to go with over all, and it was bigger than normal, so bonus there. He could have gotten some real nice, tender attention from Kita for that, or a rather long session with Iso.

But no, he went to Aki, who was now staring down at Dare with a look of intense consideration. Only it really wasn't, because Aki never let her real thoughts show so plainly. After a moment she smiled sweetly at Dare, and nodded, making the stallion's grin widen and turn ever so slightly smug. He didn't hesitate to step forward as Aki lowered herself, and Cross had to reluctantly admit the guy at least knew how to hide his nerves. That, or he was an even bigger idiot than Cross thought he was and Dare actually believed everything was going smoothly. Either way, he walked right up to Aki, stepping right in front of her waiting mouth, and holding out the fish for her in a way that indicated he clearly expected her to take it from him, rather than for him to give it to her.

As it turned out, she did take it from him, just not in a way he was probably expecting. There was a sudden burst of motion as Aki's head snapped forward, her mouth closing on Dare with the speed of a snake striking. In practically the same motion she threw her head back, and everyone got a split second view of both startled stallion and fish going airborne before Aki's mouth closed entirely around them both. Her jaw worked back and forth rather enthusiastically for a time, and Cross rather figured Dare was finding himself spending a lot of time getting rolled over and over with his Offering smacking against him. Then Aki tilted her head back, and swallowed, and there was a collective holding of breath from the crowd as a pony sized bulge traveled rather quickly down her throat...and just barely stopped before it could vanish into her stomach.

Then Aki swallowed again, and a rather smaller bulge went zipping down her throat to land on top of the larger one, making Cross blink. Had...had she just hit Dare on the head with his own Offering? There were a few nervous chuckles from the crowd that suggested he wasn't the only one wondering that. Then the bulge that was Dare went crawling back up Aki's throat, disappearing into her mouth as she settled in. She'd made her point it seemed, and now she was ready to actually start having fun with the stallion...mutual fun that was.

Cross looked down at his hooves. He couldn't watch another demonstration of Aki's whole body deep throating technique. The first one had gotten him way too worked up, and he had been way too tempting for his level of comfort. He couldn't quite bring himself to walk away either though, much as he wanted to. He didn't like Dare much, but he didn't hate him either, and he just couldn't pretend not to care, at least a little, to see what happened to the guy.

After a subjective eternity glaring at sand, Cross looked up as he heard a sharp, gasping breathing, and saw Dare's spent and quivering form laying prone in Aki's hooves. He wasn't just done, he was utterly gone, his rapid and heavy breathing about the only thing to indicate he was still alive. Whatever Aki had put him through, it had clearly taken it's toll, and had left him wrecked. Dare couldn't even manage to raise his head as the kēta regarded him thoughtfully for a moment. She breathed in deeply, and then promptly stuffed him back in her mouth.

"Oh you idiot," Cross breathed softly as he watched Aki swish the stallion around for a moment, and then swallowed. This time, there was no slowing, no stopping. The round, smooth bulge that marked Dare's passage down her throat kept going, all the way down, and Aki let out a pleased, happy little sigh.

The Soft Beat started then, and Cross was only half aware of being part of it. His hooves moved with the rhythm without need for him to think on it, and the sound was soon swept up and carried by the crowd across the beach, eyes turning away from the other kētas to stare at Aki, the music seeming to flow with and around her as her tail beat out its part. There was a reverence in that moment, the old memories and thoughts returning again, though stronger this time. Still muddled, still unclear, but there was a weight, a pressure in the beat that pulled at all of them, that filled them up and came bursting out.

And then it was done, the feelings fading away as the Soft Beat died, and the general revelry came creeping back in. It took a moment, it always did, but The Offering would pick back up soon enough.

"Well, shit," Quick sighed, shaking his head. "Dammit Dare, why did you have to be such a moron?"

"We warned him," Cross said firmly, trying not to sound angry. He kind of was though, and to his surprise, not so much at Dare, but at Spinning. The stallion in question was staring up at Aki rather uncertainly at the moment, though he eventually glanced back at the group, and there was something of a nervous, sheepish kind of look on his features. Cross glared at him, and for once, Spinning didn't have any attitude to give back.

"Right, well, it's done, nothing we can do now," Cross said promptly.

"Yeah...just kind of sucks," Whiskey sighed. "I mean seriously, his very first Offering?"

"Should have gone to Kita or Iso," Cross said firmly. "Everything would have been fine then."

"True...though then Aki might have eaten Spinning instead," Whiskey pointed out.

"Right now, I would not have cried about that," Cross admitted.

"Speaking of Iso, she looks pissed," Quick said, making Cross glance over at the kēta, and flinch a little. It was a little off putting to see that normally ever so relaxed and laid back face openly glaring, and he felt a sense of relief that he was not the subject of that look. Aki however very much was so, not that she was paying Iso any mind at the moment, but instead was nonchalantly ignoring the other kēta to pass flirty, daring grins around at the stallions near her, clearly eager to see who would get their nerve back first and approach her.

Iso eventually gave up on trying to burn a hole into Aki with her eyes, and her expression became that of someone who needs to do something they really weren't looking forward to doing. She hesitated a long moment, and then with a heavy sigh, carefully spit a stallion out of her mouth onto her waiting hooves. He had a rather startled, rattled kind of look about him, and he glanced up at Iso in mild alarm. She gave him a very sheepish smile, and spoke softly to him. There was no way to hear her all the way across the beach where Cross and the others were, but everything about the kēta at that moment suggested she was being very apologetic.

"...she was going to eat him," Cross said with certainty. "She was right in the middle of eating him, pressing him flat with her tongue to make him pass out, but then Aki went and ate Dare before Iso could finish. No wonder she's so upset with Aki."

"Wow, that has got to be awkward," Whiskey said seriously as he glanced between Iso's face and the stallion she was busy apologizing to.

"Awkward for her, but damn lucky for him," Quick said with a soft whistle. "Well...guess that's a silver lining? Dare was an idiot, but he inadvertently saved that guy's life?"

"...yeah, yeah I guess he did," Cross agreed, if not in truth, than at least out loud. It didn't really make things better, but it was enough to pretend that it did, and so in a way it actually did. A little bit anyway.

"Right, well...at least we know we can go make our Offerings in perfect safety now, right?" Quick pointed out, obviously trying to get their spirits back up.

"Right," Cross agreed, hefting his satchel a bit and starting to turn towards Asas again, only to pause. A thought had just hit him. A wonderful, terrible, dangerous thought. His gut reaction was to dismiss it, ignore it, or else lock it away and bury it. And he tried. He really, really tried, but somehow he couldn't quite seem to pull out the hooks that the idea had sunk into his mind. It would be stupid. It would be stupid. But...but it could work. It should work. His mind raced, looking for the problem, for the issue, for the reason why and how it would fail and blow up in his face, but he couldn't find that reason.

"...guys...I need you to check something for me," he said slowly, carefully.

"Uh, okay?" Whiskey replied uncertainly.

"So...Aki just ate someone. That means no one else can get eaten tonight."

"Yeah, we know," Quick said, as if Cross had just asked him to confirm that the sky was blue or water was wet.

"Tradition and their whole Balance thing," Whiskey put in, trying to be helpful.

"Right, it would break tradition, which is as close to law as you get with kētas, and going against The Balance is like sacrilege to them. None of them would dare go against that. Even Aki couldn't and wouldn't," Cross said, nodding to himself.

"Yeah...and?" Quick prompted, wanting to know where Cross was going with it.

"So right now, she is safe. She is as safe as she can ever be," Cross said, staring at the kēta in question. "Two ponies in one night is something the whole group would find outrageous. Two ponies in one night by the same kēta? The world might well explode as far as they see it."

"Okay, I'm going to stop you right there," Quick said, his tone suddenly sharp. "Because however right you might be in that reasoning, it's still Aki, you do not want to start playing games with her like that."

"Besides, she'd never accept your Offering," Whiskey put in, trying to go for a more reasonable approach to Quick's rebuking one. "She knows she can't eat you tonight, so she'll just turn you down."

"True, true...however..." Cross replied, a small smirk pulling at his lips. He swung his satchel around, opened it up, and showed the guys what he had brought.

"...is that a golden finned dart?" Quick asked in amazement.

"Yup," Cross replied smugly, shoving the fish back inside. "Rarest, tastiest, most desired fish in the sea if you're a kēta. Too fast to chase, too alert to sneak up on, too clever to trap."

"Damn, you maybe see one guy a year show up with one of those," Whiskey breathed. "If the kētas knew you had that, they would be practically falling all over each other trying to encourage you to come to them."

"And you think if you go offer that to Aki, she's going to feel like she has no choice but to accept?" Quick said sternly.

"Maybe. Maybe not. Honestly, I do not see a way this ends poorly for me though," Cross said, his certainty growing. "Best result, I offer, she accepts, she gets a rare treat that she'll love and I get to know what her throat is like without ending up in her stomach. If she refuses...well first off, I get to gloat a little at forcing her to turn down something this special because she refuses to take an Offering from me without getting to eat me. And then I go to one of the others who will not only be super happy about me picking them, but will probably make a show out things to rub it in Aki's face some more, and they'll give me their very best efforts."

"Cross, you're being an idiot," Quick said firmly. "You say this more than anyone else; do not play games with Aki."

"Yeah but, this is totally different," Cross insisted. "I mean come on, what can she do? What can she really do? Eat me? Not a chance, she could never get away with it, not even her. Take the Offering and give me a lackluster reward? That'd be a kick to her reputation and her pride. There is no downside to this, just two good results with one being better than the other." He took a deep, steadying breath. "I'm doing this. I got to."

"Cross..." Quick warned.

"I have to," Cross replied. "Seriously, this is probably my one and only shot at getting to have fun with her that doesn't end with me eaten. And she is just too much of a temptation, I think about her way more than what is probably healthy. I do not want to end up like her other little morsels, breaking under the strain of need and desire and accepting getting eaten in exchange for what she can give me, or however it is she keeps making them come to her. I can do this, and then be done with her, for good."

"This is not going to work the way you think it is," Whiskey said simply.

"Okay, how then? How will this backfire? How can it backfire?" Cross demanded. "Tell me exactly why this isn't going to work."

"...I...I don't know..." Whiskey admitted unhappily.

"I don't either," Quick grumbled. "But just because we can't think of way, doesn't mean she can't," he added meaningfully, pointing towards Aki.

"She can't...there isn't anyway she can use this to eat me," Cross said, now with confident certainty, pushing passed Quick and Whiskey and heading towards the kēta.

"You're an idiot!" Quick called after him, but Cross ignored him. He also ignored the surprised, puzzled look Spinning gave him as he slipped through the crowd, moving to stand right in front of Aki. She hesitated a moment, her eyes boring down into him with a thoughtful consideration, even if her ever present little smirk never wavered.

"Hello there, my little morsel," Aki said sweetly, tilting her head a bit to look more closely at him. "How nice it is to get to see you up close for a change. What brings you to me?"

"Oh, you know, it's The Offering, and I have something to offer," Cross replied smoothly, swinging his satchel around. Aki's eyebrows twitched up ever so slightly, and then she gave a single, soft, dry laugh.

"I see. How very cheeky of you. Honestly, do you really think..." she started to say, but cut off sharply as Cross dumped the golden fin out into his hooves. For just an instant, actual surprise crossed Aki's face, but then she swiftly shut it down, her expression becoming a carefully controlled mask. Cross could still feel her shock though, and he could feel the way his smile widened as he gloated internally. Behind him, he could hear whispers and a few Ooo's and the building of talk. It wouldn't take long at all for the news of what he had to spread across the beach, or the news of who he was presenting it to.

Aki's expression gave nothing away, but those vivid green eyes shone, and Cross could practically see her thoughts racing as she rapidly considered every angle of the situation. Whatever else she was, she was not stupid, and she knew well how to work her way through the social and political aspects of The Offering in order to come out on top...and usual with a nice little pony snack. This time though...

Her head lowered closer to Cross, and when she spoke, her voice was low, and soft, and very much for him alone. "You believe you are being very clever right now, don't you?"

"The thought had occurred to me, yes," Cross replied through his grin.

"Well, you are, and yet, you are not," Aki informed him. "Clever enough to trap yourself without realizing it. You should walk away now."

"Can't do that," Cross said, still smiling, but his tone was firm. "I just pulled a gold fin out in front of you. If I walk away, I'll look like an absolute jerk who just brought this over here to taunt you with it. That won't earn me any favors with the other kētas. This all rests on you. You can accept, or you can turn me away."

"If I accept, which I very much am tempted to do, I will eat you," Aki said, and for a moment, Cross's smile faltered. There had been something so very earnest about the way she had said that.

"You can't, you know you can't, not tonight, not right after you just ate Dare," he replied, trying to sound just as earnest. He smiled at her again. "You're trying to scare me away. It's not going to work. If you really did know a way to get away with eating me, why would you warn me? You've been wanting to eat me for years now."

"Yes, but not like this," Aki said, and it was nearly a pout. "I wanted you to come to me willingly, happily, to give yourself to me for an evening of joy and pleasure before you became part of me. This...this is a cheap shame, built on poor faith and trickery. This is not how I want you."

"Fine, then don't eat me, since you couldn't get away with it anyway," Cross said, holding the golden fin out towards her a bit more, and feeling very satisfied at seeing the way she stared longingly at it.

"You do not understand," Aki said, and he could hear her starting to give in to temptation. "You are one of my little morsels because I know, in my heart, that once I have tasted you, I will not be able to let you go. I will need to eat you."

"Fine, then say no already and I'll be on my way," Cross replied with a shrug, and started to pull the fish back, only to pause as a slight but violent twitch shot through Aki, as if she had been forced to firmly stop herself from lunging.

"...very well. Not how I wanted you, but it seems this is how I shall have you," she whispered. She then looked Cross in the eyes, and nodded to him in acknowledgement.

Cross's heart suddenly started thundering in his chest, and his legs wobbled and threatened to make him stumble for a second before he got them under control. She had said yes. She had actually accepted his Offering. He hadn't actually believed she would, not deep down. He hadn't given himself time to really think about it, hadn't really realized how much he had been expecting her to turn him away. But she hadn't!

Excitement and desire exploded inside him, the kind that left his stomach in knots and his limbs tingling and slightly numb. He had not felt this way since the first few times he'd had sex, or his first couple Offerings. It was all he could do to keep his focus on Aki as she rested her chin on her crossed hooves, and opened her mouth to him. He probably would have been embarrassed at how swiftly the sight brought him back to full length and hardness, like he was some inexperienced newbie about to have his first time, but he was too worked up to care. He was actually going to get to enjoy Aki. If she had been a mare instead of a kēta, he would have said he had a crush on her...and very serious one. It was hard to think about her in that way though, knowing she wanted to eat him, but that didn't change the base desire, the longing.

She didn't make him reach to give his Offering, but instead let her tongue roll out, long and supple and inviting. Cross carefully took the golden fin, and giving in to a sudden burst of daring, dragged it slowly across Aki's waiting tongue. There was a brief, aborted inhalation from her as she clearly fought down some knee-jerk reaction to his teasing, though the way her eyes stared down at him made him quickly drop the fish. It had barely flopped down before Aki's tongue blurred back into her mouth with it, and she started to fix him with a glare...but then her eyelids fluttered and her whole expression just melted into one of purest bliss.

While Cross accepted the idea that the kētas found food better than sex, he had never been able to properly wrap his mind around to understanding how it was possible. Watching Aki at that moment though, he had no trouble at all in believing it however. She looked positively orgasmic as she savored the golden fin, the kēta actually pressing her hooves to her cheeks as if trying to contain all the flavor and enjoyment. Her eyes were closed, and she was even breathing faster as her jaw worked, and Cross could feel a sense of something building, and felt like Aki was getting ready to burst from resisting the urge to swallow so that she could keep on enjoying the taste.

At long last she finally gave in, and she let out a soft little moan of delight as the fish went sliding down her throat, leaving her gently panting. Her eyes opened, and they locked onto Cross with such hunger and desire that he couldn't stop himself from stepping back. At that moment, she rather looked like a kēta who wouldn't pay attention to the traditions and the rules, if simply because she didn't have enough presence of mind to do so. His wings twitched, ready to get him airborne and far away, but then Aki relaxed, those vivid green eyes going half lidded, and she laid her head back on her hooves in a pose of languid ease.

"That was so amazing," she purred, fixing Cross with a delighted smile. "Thank you, so much for that delight." She hesitated, and bit her lip softly. "My little morsel...you should walk away. Please, as much as I want you, I know that you do not share my desire, that you wish to live on and continue being what you are. As thanks for what you just gave me, I have to try this one last time to warn you...if you step into my mouth, you will not ever step out. I will eat you..."

"And I'm going to tell you, no matter how much you might want to, there's no possibility that you could get away with eating me right now," Cross replied. "Come on Aki, you're clearly in a good mood now, why ruin things trying to bluff me into giving up now?"

Aki sighed, and shook her head slowly. "Very well, come to me then, and at the very least, I shall give you as much pleasure as I know how."

Cross felt like he had to squeeze his heart back down into his chest as the kēta's mouth opened for him again, her tongue reaching for him once more. He stepped gingerly onto that smooth, soft length, first one hoof, then another. Aki's tongue slid forward, and he lowered himself onto the delightfully warm, wet, silky surface, shuddering as he felt his erection make contact. It felt like his cock was being engulfed into the intoxicating softness of Aki's tongue, and his hips rocked softly as the kēta moaned happily at getting to finally taste him. Her head tilted back, lifting him up, the strong muscle supporting him effortlessly.

Aki fixed Cross with a sultry look as her head tilted back further, a smile growing around her lips as she did so. Cross went from looking up at her, to directly ahead, and then down as her head tilted even further, the slickness of her tongue soon letting him start to slide forward towards her waiting maw, the stallion reaching nearly orgasmic heights as his rock hard length was dragged across her tongue. It was an effort to fight it down, to hold back. There was so much more to look forward to, he was not about to blow his load right at the start.

And then he was in. He was entirely inside Aki's mouth, the warmth seeping in all around him, a salty seawater tang filling his nose. Her jaws closed, and darkness fell, leaving him suddenly blind, and making him all so much more aware of the feel of her tongue beneath him, the way it held and supported him and pressed against his skin. He pressed himself down against it, rocking his body, rubbing himself against her with wanting and desire, and the air around him hummed with her delighted vocalization.

Aki was not one to remain passive though, and it only took a second for her to take charge. Her tongue rose under Cross, pressing him to the roof of her mouth, pinning him in place as it rolled back and forth across his chest, his stomach, and his cock. He groaned, giving in to the pleasure of it and blissing out for a time as she played with him for several long, delightful moments.

Then he was lowered, and Aki's tongue rolled and spun him neatly around, facing him back towards the front of her mouth, before it shoved him back. Her lips parted a bit, letting in light, letting him see the length of pink tongue before him, see the pin pricks of stars in the night sky. He felt the soft firmness beneath him nudge him further back, and then a squeezing tightness closed around his back legs, pulling at him, yanking him back and down in a short, sudden jerk that left him half in her mouth, and half into her throat.

Cross's breath caught. This was it, this was really, really it. She was going to swallow him...and despite all the certainty of his logic and reasoning, he suddenly found himself really hoping she actually was going to bring him back up again. There wasn't time to dwell on that thought though, and the resounding GULP of her swallowing was something he felt as much as heard. The light of her mouth was pulled away, darkness closing in around him again as her throat engulfed him. It was tight, but so wonderfully soft and slick, the feel of his body rubbing against her insides as he slid down being a purest ecstasy. His cock throbbed where it was pressed against her throat, and his body shuddered as he felt a ripple of muscular action roll over and around him, forcing him further down, pushing and then pulling him along with it.

He had the briefest moment of alarmed worry as he continued to slid further down her throat, but then a ripple of squeezing pressure came rolling up to meet him, and Cross felt himself caught, felt the walls of smooth flesh around him hold him tight. Then another wave rose up under him, and he was lifted, pushed up ahead of the constriction, gliding along smoothly, and then suddenly the pressure was gone and he landed with a plop back onto Aki's waiting tongue.

She didn't give him a second to recover, her tongue rolling him onto his back, spinning him around. The tip of her tongue curled back, sliding between his back legs and up over his cock, pressing down against it firmly and rubbing back and forth.

"Ah! Aki!" Cross gasped out, suddenly aware of how very sensitive he was, of how excited he had become by his trip down inside her. Her soft giggle echoed loudly in his ears, and her tongue lifted him back to the roof of her mouth, flattening him there, squeezing the folded over tip of itself between his cock and her palate as she rocked him back and forth, dragging his flaring erection against the warm wetness of her tongue. He squirmed, gasping, the pressure, the need for release building up inside him.

Then he was practically dropped as her tongue all but fell out from beneath him. He land with a wet smack, and hadn't a second to catch his breath before he was shoved back and swallowed again. He was squeezed down her throat headfirst, leaving him disoriented for a moment, and then the walls tightened around him, holding him in place, before pushing him back up, and then letting him drop again. Rolling waves of squeezing muscle washed over him as he was bobbed up and down several times. His mind swam from pleasure and from the rush of blood to his head as he was held upside down, until it was hard to think, until all he could do was feel and experience the moment.

And then he was back in her mouth, Aki giving her tongue an easy flick that pushed him up to the front, rolling him over her teeth to her lips. A few quick nudges with the tip of her tongue effortlessly positioned his body around, and slid his straining erection through her lips, engulfing it between them. Her lips pursed and relaxed in turn, squeezing and sliding over his length, dragging weak, pitiful gasps out of him. He was nearly there, the pleasure was too much, had been too much, he had been overwhelmed by it to the point that he hadn't been able to get off, but it had kept building and building all the same, and now he was about to break from it.

"Aki! Please, I'm almost...please, in your throat!" he begged, and just like that her tongue plucked him back with startling speed, shoving him into her waiting throat to be swallowed down. He slid quickly, deeply down into her until he was brought to a sudden halt, the space beneath him sealed off tightly, and despite his disoriented state Cross had a sudden mental image of Aki pressing the edge of her hoof to her neck as he had seen her do, closing off her throat. Then she swallow, hard, heavy, the rippling contraction almost crushingly tight as it squeezed her throat around him. She swallowed again, and again, and again in rapid succession, drowning him in the sensation, leaving him struggling helplessly against it as her throat rolled and rubbed and slid over his body and his cock.

His whole body thundered with orgasmic release as he finally came, shouting something incoherent that might have attempted to be Aki's name as she continued to swallow around him, dragging more and more pleasure out of him. His cock throbbed and pumped as it emptied his balls out to coat the inside of her throat, and then it kept pumping furiously even after he had nothing left to give.

And still Aki kept going, her throat pushing him up and dragging him quickly back down, bouncing him in short, rapid motions to drag his now overly sensitive cock against the soft slickness of her insides, making him squirm and gasp and shudder with overwhelming sensation. He was reeling, his mind overloaded with sensation and his body abused by the constant pressure and limited air. He was struggling to breath, to think, to move. Stars danced across his vision, the only light in that dark, squeezing space.

The pressure rose under him again for a moment, and then was suddenly gone. He sucked in great, racking lungfuls of air, fresh, wonderful air that made his lungs burn and sent him coughing. He was only vaguely aware that he was laying on something soft and warm, and his addled brain very slowly managed to piece together the fact that he was back in Aki's mouth, her lips parted as she let the cool night air in.

Cross was exhausted. More than that, he was wrecked. He couldn't move, could barely think. His softening cock was sore, and his chest and ribs felt bruised, the bones seeming to slide uncomfortably beneath his skin. For all the excitement and pleasure getting deep throated by Aki had brought, it had also extracted quite the physical toll on him. He might have to beg the guys to carry him home with the way he was feeling at the moment.

He made a half-hearted effort to at least roll onto his stomach, but was still trying to figure out which leg was which when Aki's tongue lifted under him, and proceeded to neatly tuck him aside in her cheek. He made an indignant noise about it, struggling a bit to free his right wing where it had gotten trapped at an awkward angle.

"Uh, Aki, what are...?" he coughed out, but stopped as he heard a sudden commotion from outside. It was muffled, but he could make out several voices raised in a kind of confused, and amazed, excitement. Something was happening out there, something unexpected, but Cross was in no position to try figuring out what it was if it required more than just listening. Then there was a wet, smack of a noise, and someone gasped and coughed...right on the other side of Aki's teeth from him.

"Oh, ugh my freaking...everything..." a voice moaned. A alarmingly familiar voice.

"...D...Dare?" Cross asked in a dumbfounded voice.

"Cross? Uh, where are...?" Dare's voice turned into a short, startled yelp as Aki's mouth opened, and Cross had a brief moment to watch as the stallion was rolled out down the kēta's tongue to her waiting hooves. She...she had brought him back...brought him back up from her stomach somehow. That had been what the crowd had been fussing about, they would have seen the bulge that had been Cross go up into her mouth, and then seen a second bulge crawl up her throat from below. Through her still open mouth, he could hear the gathered ponies break out into astonished cries and shouts of disbelief as Dare reappeared. She had...uneaten him.

She had uneaten Dare, and Cross was trapped inside her mouth.

A cold chill reached down his neck and crushed his stomach with an icy grasp as the realization, and implication hit him. She couldn't eat him, not when she had already eaten someone that night...so she had just...pulled Dare back out of her stomach, whole, alive, intact. And now she had him, had Cross, to do with as she pleased.

"Just because we can't think of way, doesn't mean she can't." Quick's words echoed in his mind. He had thought he was being so clever, and yet she had been playing with him the whole time. She had even told him, warned him right to his face, and he hadn't listened.

Desperation flooded a brief surge of strength into his battered limbs, and Cross jammed a hoof to the edge of a tooth and shoved. The smooth, wet inside of her cheek provided almost no resistance, and he rocketed forward with a sudden burst of speed. He flailed and grabbed at Aki's open lips, pulling himself along, and he started to fall...and was brought up sharply as his back legs were snagged in midair. He looked up along the length of his dangling body to see Aki's mouth closed securely over the limbs, her vivid green eyes wide in a brief moment of surprise and relief.

Cross struggled, trying to kick his legs free, his wings trying to beat and pull him loose, but Aki's lips pressed tighter around his trapped limbs, and his feathers were too damp, too heavy for his exhausted muscles. She gave a little slurp, and he was pulled up and in, very nearly sucked back into her mouth in one go, and only his spread wings and forelegs stopped him from just sliding right between her lips, the wide spread limbs catching him.

"Aki, w-wait, please!" he gasped, trying to pull or push or wriggle his way back out, but his flailing hooves found nothing he could get a solid hold on. His gaze sped desperately across the beach, trying to find something, anything, anyone. He saw Quick and Whiskey, staring at him in shock and a kind of hopeless unease. He met their gazes, and Whiskey averted his eyes, shaking his head. Quick just stared back at him helplessly.

Then Aki sucked at him again, pulling him tighter back against her lips, his wings and legs shaking with the effort of trying to hold against the pressure. The cold, strangling sensation in his stomach broke open then, and real panic flooded out into him, wresting control of his body away from him, and he started to flail uncontrollably in a mindless effort to get away. The panic stabbed down into his chest, making his heart race violently, and his lungs started trying to suck in every bit of air there was while also pouring forth desperate words from his mouth.

"Help! Please, someone do something, don't let her...!" Cross cried, and was cut off as Aki flipped her head back, her lips parting for a split second to toss him back, and then her mouth snapped close around him, dropping him onto her tongue. He slid and rolled over the slick surface of it, and fetched up against the back of her mouth. He scrambled madly, trying to crawl away from her waiting throat, but her tongue rose and pressed him back. He tried to fight and shove, but he had nothing. He had no solid hoofing, no leverage, nothing but slippery, smooth edged surfaces with no holds, and her tongue was so much stronger than him that it wouldn't have mattered in any case.

"Aki! Aki please, please! Don't do this! Please don't eat me!" Cross pleaded, his body still desperately trying to fight the inevitable force of her tongue as it pushed him back. This could not be happening, how could this possibly be happening? There hadn't been a downside, it should not have been possible for her to turn things around on him like this, she couldn't just uneat someone, it was cheating! "AKI!"

GULP

Cross would have screamed if he could have as he was yanked back into the dark, squeezing space of the kēta's throat, but he couldn't. The pressure around him was even tighter than before, crushing down around him, constricting his chest until he literally couldn't breath in, all the air squeezed out of him. He struggled feebly against the muscular vice around him, trying to force it apart with his legs and wings, but even pushing with everything he had left accomplished nothing. He slid, slowly, gradually downward, the crushing pressure traveling with him. The stars were back, swimming through the darkness in front of his eyes, a dizzy lightness filling his head as his thoughts turned hazy, and he realized in a distant, unfocused way that he was right on the verge of passing out from lack of air.

And then he heard it, the muffled, rhythmic stomps. They were playing the Soft Beat, playing it for him. Beneath him, around his rear legs, the terrible crushing pressure suddenly vanished, replaced by an empty, gaping void. He was nearly there, already halfway into Aki's stomach, her throat now holding him in place for just those few seconds longer until consciousness fled, and then she would let him drop, and then...

Cross coughed violently as air exploded into his lungs unexpectedly, the constricting pressure around his chest letting up. He hacked and gasped and gulped fitfully as his body was pushed upwards, and he spilled out into Aki's mouth in a utterly uncoordinated heap. He could only lay there, struggling for air, his ribs aching, his chest burning and his mind spinning with confusion. She hadn't eaten him. She had been so close, had so nearly snuffed his life out, and then...and then he had been spared? Why? What could possibly...?

Her tongue rolled under him, and Cross was unceremoniously spat out. He landed on her waiting hooves, stunned, staring up at the night sky. And at the storming, glaring features of the kēta. Aki was pissed, was livid, her glare something that should have turned her green eyes red and been setting the very air on fire. Slowly, weakly, Cross managed to tilt his head, and follow the line of Aki's ire towards its destination.

He found himself looking at Iso.

"...uh...wha...huh?" he said in a soft, strangled voice.

"This. Can. Not. Be. Happening." Aki ground out through gritted teeth, looking like she either need to hit something or go have a good cry. "I can not believe her! I can't believe she just...when I was right in the middle of...how could she?"

Cross blinked in astonishment at seeing Aki flustered. It was just...so unnatural. He glanced back over at Iso, who was looking rather self-satisfied and pointedly not looking at the seething kēta, then back to Aki. Somewhere in his head, two oxygen starved brain cells managed to bump together and share an idea between them.

"...she ate someone, didn't she?" he asked Aki slowly. "You...you took just a little too long trying to eat me, and she beat you to it. And you can't eat two ponies in one night, you just can't," he went on in a nearly drunk kind of way as his mind struggled to keep working.

"She did," Aki growled, fixing one last glare at Iso, before looking down at Cross with bitter disappointment. "I had you! She took you away from me! That's not fair!" she pouted.

Cross considered that for a moment. "...oh I don't even want to hear it," he sighed, and a small chuckle fought its way up his battered body. "You fake ate someone to trick me into coming to you, that was cheating."

"I did not!" Aki pouted indignantly. "I ate him for real...I was just intending to bring him back after a bit, so I made sure to swallow plenty of air for him. He needed to be taught a lesson about respect. It had nothing to do with you, that just happened to be an unexpected opportunity that arose because you thought you were out thinking me."

"Still so cheating," Cross insisted, trying to roll to his hooves, before flopping back down with a grunt, his legs refusing to support him.

"Stop that, you'll hurt yourself," Aki admonished, earning herself an incredulous look from the stallion.

"Like you care," he groaned softly.

"Why would you even say that?" Aki asked, and she actually sounded...hurt.

"...you just tried to kill and eat me," Cross pointed out, and Aki sighed.

"And here I thought you were one of the smart ones. I thought you understood us better," she said, shaking her head. "I did try to eat you, but not from malice. From affection. It is why you are one of my little morsels. I like you, and I want to have you, to make you part of me forever."

"I...um...Aki that's kind of..." Cross tried to reply, but words were really failing him at the moment.

"Yes, I know, you don't get it. So few ponies ever do," the kēta said softly. "It's alright. Just as long as you understand that I don't hate you or wish you harm. I feel terrible about how beat up you are right now."

"...eh, I'll live," Cross sighed after a second, and then laughed softly, holding his ribs. "Hey, look at it this way, you weren't exactly happy about getting me like this anyway, right? Now you get to try again, properly some time."

"Thank you for that, though I know you're just going to do your best to avoid me from now on," Aki said, looking a little dejected. Then her head tilted thoughtfully, and the corner her lips twitched up slightly. "Although...now that you have experienced what I can do for you, perhaps..."

"Don't get your hopes up," Cross cut in quickly, and Aki giggled gently.

"You can't pretend you didn't like it," she purred, and fixed him with a playful look that was so much more of what he was used to seeing from her. "I heard you crying out my name, I tasted the pleasure that I brought out of you. And that was just from one round of playing. I think...yes, I think I am going to make my earlier offer to you, for an entire evening of fun, something you may accept whenever you want. It need not even be at an Offering. If you request to be eaten by me, I will first give you hours and hours of that kind of pleasure, pleasure until you literally pass out from it. You will get as much time from me as your body can tolerate, and it will only be when you drift away from that pleasure that I will eat you."

Cross was silent for a long moment. "It was nice talking with you Aki," he said in a slow, carefully moderated tone. "But could you put me down? I think I need to go home and sleep for a week." He very deliberately kept a extremely firm hold on his imagination, and gave himself a good, vicious mental kicking where some idiot part of himself was trying to work out how it could, maybe, possibly, be worth it.

"Of course," Aki said sweetly, and Cross mentally kicked himself some more at her tone. She had seen something in his face, heard something in his voice. She knew her offer had found some part of him interested enough to consider it. He really had been an idiot, he had thought getting to spend this one time with her would cure him of his desire for her. Instead, now he feared it had only made it stronger. "Please, take care of yourself my little morsel."

Cross swayed drunkenly as he was set down, and he had to lean against Aki's supporting hoof for a bit until his balance steadied enough for his legs to remember how to do their jobs. He hadn't taken more than a couple wavering strides before he felt himself clamped between two other bodies, and glanced left and right to find Whiskey and Quick leaning their shoulders into his, helping support him.

"Shut up, I'm an idiot, I know," Cross said weakly, earning himself a hard look from Quick as he was helped across the sand.

"Yes, yes you are, you idiot," Quick agreed angrily. "I told you, don't go playing games with Aki."

"Hey, you don't need to tell me, I'm the one who always says that," Cross pointed out, his attempt at light hearted self-depreciation not going over so well with Quick. Fortunately Whiskey spoke up before the stallion could start tearing into him.

"How are you feeling?" the husky earther asked.

"I feel great," Cross declared. "I am sore, bruised, battered, beaten up, half dead...it was awesome," he laughed drunkenly, and winced as his ribs twinged.

"So...now would probably not be the best time to ask if you understand why I think she's worth the risk, huh?" Spinning inquired in a would be hypothetical tone, making Cross blink and glance towards the voice. He hadn't even known the unicorn was there. And also Dare, Dare was there, walking along with a slight limp and looking really kind of lost in thought.

"Shut up!" Quick snapped at Spinning, but Cross nudged his friend in the ribs with a wing, and then looked over at the lanky unicorn.

"Yes, your timing really sucks on that," he said earnestly. "But buck it, I do now understand. However, you're still an idiot, and so I am."

"You saved my life," Dare suddenly cut in, the words just kind of spilling out of him it seemed, leaving him floundering for what else to say or do now that he had said it.

"And you saved whoever Iso had originally been about to eat, and then Iso saved mine, been a night for it," Cross replied with a shrug. "Don't think too much on it, I wasn't trying to. Things just kind of worked out that way."

"Yeah, but..." Dare tried to argue, but Cross shushed him with a wordless exclamation.

"Seriously, I didn't do anything you should feel grateful about. I thought you were dead," Cross told him honestly. "I just thought I could take advantage of the fact that she'd eaten you to get some fun in. There's absolutely nothing noble about what I did, so just don't."

Dare frowned, but let the matter drop. The group walked in silence the rest of the way back to Cross's home, and Whiskey helped steady him as he snuck back into his room through the window.

"So...same time next week?" Cross asked, and there was a rather pregnant pause.

"You're an idiot," Quick's voice whispered from the shadows outside.

"I know, same time?" Cross replied shamelessly.

"...yeah, fine, just actually be ready and meet us next time," Quick sighed in a disgusted tone, though it was hard to say if it was all for Cross or should have been spread around for everyone to share.

"Awesome, see you guys then."

Tenderly, Cross shut his window, gave half a thought to taking a shower, and then flopped down into his bed. The sheets needed to be washed anyway. It could wait till tomorrow. He was too tired, too sore to care. He barely managed to get a pillow under his head before he drifted off, sleep pulling him into a darkness filled with stars, with tight, warm spaces and wicked little laughs. And watching it all, watching him, a pair of vivid green eyes filled with a hungry desire...

Fishing for Kētas

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The water had turned a vivid orange with the setting sun by the time the first ripple started to spread from around the little wooden bobber, and Cross Current held his breath in hopeful anticipation. The ripples repeated, and again, and then the bobber jerked. He gave his fishing pole a sharp, purposeful tug, and felt the line snap taut as the startled fish below tried to flinch away.

"Finally!" Cross breathed in relief as he started to reel his catch in, the pole bending as the hooked fish fought to escape. It was getting late, and he had been having poor luck so far. Nothing he had managed to land had been even worth considering for The Offering, and after having tossed so many back into the sea, the young stallion had been starting to worry he wasn't going to have anything to offer that night.

He was just about to get the net ready when there was a startlingly strong tug on the line, something that very nearly pulled the pole right out of his wings, and made him have to place a steadying hoof on the edge of his boat to avoid losing his balance. He groaned, cursing under his breath as he pulled hard on the line, hoping something bigger hadn't just gone after his fish. The pole bent to a dangerous degree and Cross forced himself to let up the pressure a bit, not wanting to risk breaking it, or snapping the line. He frowned as the line remained steady however. If something like a shark had grabbed his catch, he would have been expecting it to be fighting with him over it. This was more like something was just holding onto the line and...and...

"Oh come on," Cross growled, giving the line a series of three deliberate, spaced tugs. He paused a moment, and then gave three more. And he felt the pressure release. The sun tinted water below darken as the shadow of a huge form rose from the depths, and the stallion set his hoofing before his boat was rocked by the wake as first a giant head, and then shoulders, and then a good dozen feet of slick, shimmering torso rose above the sea as the kēta reared up out of the water.

She was gorgeous, even by the high standards of the kētas, though Cross would admit he was somewhat bias in regards to this particular siren of the sea. Still, the bright red mane, the lustful green eyes, the playful, sultry expression that seemed to be her natural, resting face. She had plenty to make a stallion want to ogle. Although at the moment, Cross's focus was on something besides her looks.

"Aki, give me my fish back," he told the kēta in a polite but firm tone of voice. She blinked at him, her head cocking to one side in a rather adorable, thoughtful manner, the motion causing the fishing pole to jerk in Cross's hold as the line pulled taut from where it disappeared into the corner of Aki's mouth.

"What fish?" Aki asked, Cross's fur standing on end at getting hit with her echo voice at such a close distance, even if she was clearly holding most of it back. His eyebrows lowered at her, and he gave the fishing pole a pointed tug, making the line dance all the way up to her lips. "...there's no fish there. You just managed to hook me.

"Aki. Give. Me. My. Fish," Cross repeated, pulling on the line harder. Not that he expected it to accomplish anything, and it didn't. The kēta didn't even acknowledge the effort, but it gave him something of an outlet for his annoyance so that he didn't start yelling at her.

"Seriously Cross, there's no fish. Just me. I mean, did you actually see a fish?" Aki asked, her voice infuriatingly calm, especially in contrast to the playful glimmer in her eyes.

"I felt it take the bait," Cross groaned, letting the line go slack. "I'm been fishing more than long enough to know what it feels like to hook a fish. And if there is no fish, why are still holding my line? And using your echo voice? It's almost as if you know you wouldn't be able to talk normally, like say, because you have something in your mouth?" he went on in a rather dry, sarcastic tone.

Aki made a thoughtful noise at that. Her lips twitched, and the muscles around her jaw subtly tensed and relaxed in a pattern Cross had, through many an Offering, come to recognize as signs of a kēta's tongue in action. A few seconds later and Aki made a soft little 'pwto' of a noise, and Cross watched the empty hook sail out of her mouth and plink down into the water.

"Don't you dare swallow!" he exclaimed, pointing a hoof swiftly at her. "Aki! That is my fish! Come on, I need it!"

Aki giggled, flashing Cross her best smile. The one that had a habit of making stallions do dumb things around her. "Aw, but you like watching me swallow," she purred playfully, something wicked lurking in her voice. "But, as you can see, and hear, there was no fish on your hook, and obviously none in my mouth since I can talk clearly. And I know you know what it looks like when I swallow...you really are so fascinated with my throat, after all..." she went on, her voice turning more and more sultry as she spoke.

Cross cleared his throat somewhat awkwardly, the thread of his frustration at the kēta being derailed by her aggressively flirting with him. Which was totally unfair, and he cursed himself for being so readily flustered by her. Especially by her.

"Aki, come on, quit messing around. It's getting dark, and fishing has been lousy today. I need whatever I caught for the Offering tonight."

The kēta shrugged apologetically. "Don't know what to tell you, there's no fish here," she said earnestly.

"Aki...I can see the bulge in your cheek," Cross declared flatly.

"...no you can't," Aki retorted.

"Wha...bu...err...yes I can!" Cross half yelled.

"Where?"

"Right there!" Cross exclaimed, pointing with a wing. "Right cheek, slight bugle, looks about the right size to be a four footer, maybe thirty odd pounds."

"...you're making that up," Aki scoffed.

"No, I'm an experienced angler," Cross countered stubbornly. "And I've been to enough Offerings to know what kind of bulge a pony makes, so it's just a matter of comparing sizes and educated guesswork."

"Fine, if it'll make you feel better and put an end to these silly accusations," Aki sighed dramatically. Cross yelped softly as his boat gave a sharp jerk, and then steadied as if it was no longer floating on the water. His stomach gave a little lurch as the boat rose, the kēta picking it up with a casual ease and bringing it, and thus Cross, right up in front of her face. She smiled sweetly at him, and from that distance, the expression took up most of his vision. It also made him question the wisdom of sticking with the boat and letting her bring him that close to her mouth, rather than bailing out and going airborne.

Granted, he really ought to be safe. There were rules, traditions, agreements. Lots of reasons why he shouldn't have cause for alarm or worry. There was the whole quasi-religious Balance thing the kētas put so much faith into. A pony not only shouldn't have to fear a kēta, but ought to feel safe out on the water with one. Many ponies had been saved from drowning or worse by a watchful kēta.

Then again, ponies did sometimes go missing out on the water. Not often at all, rarely enough really that it could very well just be accident and mishap. Bad weather, unexpected waves, one of the few dangerous wildlife that lurked in the water. That said, most disappearances did seem to happen at night, which it nearly was. And this was Aki he was dealing with. She wouldn't break tradition or go against The Balance, but she had a way of working within the rules to her advantage.

Plus Cross would never forget the fact that the last time he knew he was safe around Aki, it had very nearly cost him his life.

So jumping out of the boat was definitely a very near thing as the huge mouth in front of him slowly opened, the glistening, inviting pink length of Aki's tongue poking out slightly as she gave him a look that brought a flood of memories back. It was quite the mixed bag of feelings, from the overwhelming pleasure she had delivered upon his body, to the fear induced panic as she had swallowed him down to eat him. About the only thing that stopped him from running was the thought that he might not be able to make it. He remembered how fast Aki could move when she wanted to, and his wings might not be able to get him out of lunging range if he provoked her instincts.

Also, as his friend Quick liked to point out, he was rather an idiot where Aki was concerned, and the view into her mouth and down her throat was something that froze him in place. Not with the proper and healthy cautious fear it ought to have, but with an irrational, possibly suicidal lust and longing. Her playful flirting had already primed his body, and the wonderfully inviting sight before him had his libido ready to go...along with more physical attributes.

Cross did his best to hammer down the dangerously treacherous thoughts, though it was hard as he watched Aki tilt her head a bit from side to side, her tongue wiggling around to let him see under and around it, and generally doing everything she could to give him a very thorough look at all the soft, warm, slippery surfaces of her maw...that is, show him that her mouth was empty! That was the point! Only...well, it could be both after all. With Aki, it could very well be both.

"See? Nothing in there right now," Aki said, her word choice something he definitely caught, and which made a little shiver run up Cross's spine. He really ought to just let it go. He could skip an Offering, or just go and watch. It wouldn't kill him...and messing around too much with Aki just might. After all, he was totally, completely, absolutely safe right now, by tradition and weird sea siren religious logic...as far as he knew. Just like last time.

"...you have it hidden behind your back teeth on the right side," Cross stated matter-of-factly, leaning over to look outside the kēta's mouth and along the line of her jaw. "You stuck it between your cheek and teeth, I can see the bulge from the outside, even if the fish itself doesn't stick up above the line of your teeth."

"...you can't prove that," Aki replied after a second, pulling the boat back so she could eye him properly. Her gaze made a brief trip from his face to down between his legs, and then back to his now slowly reddening features. "Although you definitely seem to have enjoyed the view," she teased.

"Shut up," Cross grumbled, ducking his head bashfully and fighting down an urge to cover himself with a wing. He felt stupid being bashful about it, especially considering just a week ago he had technically bribed her into giving him a full body blowjob and deep throat experience. And yet he couldn't help it when she was being so blatant about the fact that she turned him on so much. "And yes I can."

"Oh? And how is that?" Aki asked smugly. "Short of crawling in there to poke around..." she added with a dangerously inviting quality to the words.

"You're an idiot!" Cross heard Quick's voice yell out in his mind, and he was in full agreement with the memory of his friend, because his immediate reaction was not to dismiss the idea right away. "...uhhhhhh..." he stated instead of any meaningful response.

"I mean, I guess if you really feel like you need to be completely, totally, absolutely sure," Aki went on in a playfully singsongish voice, her eyes boring into him intently, watching him as if evaluating every little motion and feature of his expression and body language.

"Uhhhhhh..." Cross continued, trying to mentally bludgeon his brain into action, but it was currently tied up in a war between his libido and his everything else, though most especially his common sense and desire to live.

"I see. Well, I mean, if you feel so strongly about it," Aki said with a shrug. "Very well Cross Current, I see that my hooves are tied on this matter. You drive a hard bargain and all that, and I have no choice but to submit to your examination," she stated earnestly, even if her eyes were twinkling with mirth the entire while. The boat shifted under the stallion's hooves, and he fought for balance as Aki brought him right in front of her mouth again. His wings snapped out as he over-corrected, and was forced to take a quick step to avoid falling...and his hoof landed right on Aki's bottom lip.

"Oh my, so eager," Aki mused, the feel of her echo voice vibrating through him making Cross's erection throb with needful desire. "I do so like my stallions eager. Go on then...do it. Climb in."

Cross took a slow, deep breath in, raising his hoof off of Aki's lip, and hesitated. Stepping back was the smart move. Stepping back was the safe move. It was just a fish. Nothing more. Just one of hundreds he had hooked in his time. Aside from a general guess of its size, he didn't even know what kind of fish it was, or what it would be worth as an offering. It was just a fish, letting it go was the correct choice. Letting it go was safe. Letting it go was just a matter of missing out on one Offering. Letting it go was allowing Aki to get away with stealing from him. It was letting her win. It was admitting that he didn't have the guts to take back what was rightfully his, and which she had no right to take, or to put him through all this over. Letting it go was backing down.

Cross stepped forward, putting his hoof down firmly, deliberately, purposefully. Unfortunately Aki's tongue had no sense for the dignity of the moment, and his hoof slipped right across the slick surface it represented, causing him to fall with a resounding splat onto the damp softness. His wounded pride took an immediate backseat to the surge of sensation that went up his body as his chest and stomach and raging erection slid across Aki's tongue.

He lay there, stunned for a moment by the feeling, by the memories that came flooding back with the sensation. His gaze turned towards the back of the kēta's mouth, to the dark opening of her throat. More memories, of the enveloping softness and warmth, pressing in around him, rubbing against him in ways that had set every nerve alight with enjoyment. Other, less pleasant memories tried to intrude, his common sense trying to hammer in the remembrance of crushing pressure and suffocating darkness, but it had no more traction on his thoughts than he had on Aki's tongue.

"Need some help there, Cross?" Aki asked after a moment, and the stallion groaned, both at the sensation and the unfair amount of mirth the kēta managed to put into her echo voice. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I am loving getting to taste you like this, but I am going to have to get going soon if I'm going to make it to The Offering in time."

"I swear Aki, I am going to get you for this somehow," Cross grumbled, trying to stand up, but quickly aborting the effort. Aki's tongue was just the worst combination of softness, wetness, and springiness to make walking on it a reality. Of course, those very same factors are what made it a delight to lay upon, and only made it all the harder to stay focused as he was forced to slide himself along with an awkward effort of dragging and pushing himself. Gliding over to the right side of her mouth, he managed to get a little better traction from her teeth, though the surging jolts of pleasure shooting through him as his cock rubbed across Aki's tongue were making him clumsy and uncoordinated.

The patient, casual humming Aki was indulging in was not helping anything either.

Eventually though, Cross managed to haul himself along to the back of her mouth, hook a leg over her teeth, and fish around until he found what he had known was there all along. Which was to say, a fish.

"Ha! Knew it!" he exclaimed in triumph. Soggy, tired triumph, but still!

"Huh, well now how did that get there?" Aki asked in a tone of perfect sincerity.

"Yeah, gee, I wonder," Cross snarked, turning around, and tossing the fish out of the kēta's mouth, where it landed with a dull thunk in the boat. He kicked off her teeth, trying to slide more on his side before the pleasure of rubbing himself against her tongue caused him to lose control of himself. He bumped up against her front teeth, clambered awkwardly over them, and reached out and down blindly, trying to find the bottom of the boat to put his weight down.

His heart seized in his chest as Aki's lips closed down suddenly around his middle. It then started hammering frantically as Aki slowly lowered the boat away, an oppressive silence filling Cross's ears as her humming stopped.

"A...Aki?" he barely managed to force out through nearly paralyzed lungs.

"Yes, my little morsel?" Aki replied, and Cross felt his throat go dry. She had been calling him by his name this whole time, something he only belated realized with any consideration. It was something she had never done at The Offering. There, he was always her 'little morsel'. And hearing her use that term for him right now, made his stomach fill with a vast, hallow sensation.

"I'd like to leave now," Cross said in a voice of extremely forced calm, a little quaver running through the words.

"But, would you really?" Aki mused, and her tongue pressed up, gliding smoothing between his rear legs, and pulling a strangled gasp from the stallion as his mind swam with enjoyment. "You are so very worked up right now..." Her lips pursed, her tongue gently pressing him forward until his cock slide across her lower lip. She then sucked him back just as slow, a shaky groan escaping him. "Wouldn't you rather I help you with this?"

"Ahh, Aki...wha...but this isn't...we're not at...how..." Cross struggled to find his words, having trouble thinking over the pleasure and the fear. He had no context for this outside The Offering, no idea what the rules or expectations might be. He had no idea what tradition might say about it, or what The Balance might cover. He was completely out of his depth. "Wh-what do you want?" he managed to get out.

"Just your consent, and your trust," Aki replied with maddening casualness, giving his whole body another back and forth sucking.

Cross shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. There was no way, this was beyond stupid. It had to be a trap, a ploy to trick him into agreeing to something, but...why bother? She had him. The sun was almost gone now, the light of the rising moon providing the only real illumination. Out here, away from the shore, no one would be able to see them clearly, if at all. She could just swallow him down, and there wouldn't be a single witness. No evidence except for his empty boat, and even that she could easily get rid of. He could so easily just vanish, be one more pony that disappeared upon the ocean. So why bother asking for anything from him at all, least alone just words that he couldn't possibly enforce.

"I...Aki, I..." Cross floundered, wishing he knew something of what she was thinking. At times, the kētas seemed so much like ponies one could be forgiven for treating them just like giant, sea living versions. And yet every so often one just ran right into a wall of how different they could be, and think. Like now. His permission was somehow important, and meaningful to her. His words right then had power to dictate her actions, though for the life of him, he had no idea why, or even how he felt so certain about it. But he was certain, and despite everything, he found he actually did trust her, as insane as that was given their relationship. "...okay. I consent. I...I trust you..."

Aki let out a long, near moan of a sigh. And then she ate him.

Cross gasped in alarm as he was strongly sucked back into her mouth, the wan light of the moon vanishing into total darkness. Her tongue rose, shoving him back effortlessly, so quick he never had a chance to even try resisting, and then his world was engulfed in the resounding noise of her swallowing him down. Her throat took him, closing in around him, leaving him completely enveloped by the kēta. He wriggled and squirmed, trying to move, but all he could do was be pulled down by the tight, slick walls.

It was too much, the feeling, the emotion, everything that had lead up to that moment. The teasing, the flirting, the feeling of her mouth had worked him and worked him, and now he was trapped in her throat, being pulled down to her waiting stomach. She had devoured him, just as she had always said she would, and somewhere inside Cross, the desire for just this moment had been waiting. It was a mad, senseless desire with no logical reasoning, but it was real all the same. It was what had drawn him to Aki, made him want her so much. The knowledge that she was such a dangerous predator, that she ate ponies and took true joy in it, and now she was eating him. He had always secretly felt a thrill whenever she swallowed someone down for good, and now that thrill was for himself.

His body was wracked with pleasure as he came, one last thrill as Aki's throat squeezed down tight around him, that crushing pressure that forced the air from his lungs, until flashes of ghost light and twinkling false stars filled his vision, and then that too faded to utter darkness as the pleasure peaked, and then began to taper off, consciousness going with it...

...Cross gasped, jerking awake into darkness. His eyes blinked, trying to clear as he sucked in deep lungful of hot, humid air as he floated, his body loose and feeling weightless as small waves bumped and jostled him. He reached up a shaky hoof, and felt it touch something soft.

"Ah, there's my little morsel," Aki cooed, a bit of relief in her voice, her lips brushing his probing hoof back and forth. "I was about to be worried."

"...wha...what happened?" Cross asked, coughing lightly.

"You passed out," Aki giggled. "I do apologize, I might have gotten a little carried away, but I was just so eager." The darkness lifted, stars shining down, and the moon glowing brighter still as Aki's head moved, no longer filling his vision. He was in the water, floating on his back, the great form of the kēta lazily drifting nearby.

"...you ate me," Cross stated numbly.

"Mmmhmm, and you were every bit as yummy and filling as I had dreamed you would be," Aki sighed happily, though it turned wistful. "Sadly, I couldn't keep you. Not after you gave me your trust and consent. It would have broken the Balance, because I know you still wish to live as yourself, and are not yet really ready to be part of me."

"...uh...yeah, okay..." Cross replied, having no clue how to respond otherwise. Instead he just lay there in the water for a time, drifting next to Aki. "We're missing The Offering," he said after a time, though it was an idle remark without much importance or urgency.

"Yeah," Aki agreed, in much the same tone.

"...hey Aki," Cross spoke up after a few more minutes of silence.

"Hmm?"

"What would you have done if I hadn't given you permission?"

"Oh, I would have eaten you all the same," Aki stated. "But for good."

"Oh...uh, wouldn't you get in trouble for that?" the stallion asked, feeling odd at the simple curiousity he felt, devoid of any concern.

"No one would have known," Aki said simply, quietly. "I told you before, once I tasted you, I was never going to be able to let you go. I was going to need to eat you. If you couldn't trust me, then and there when you were most vulernable and helpless to me, then I knew I would have to eat you right then, because I might never have a realistic chance to do so in future."

"...but I do trust you..." Cross said slowly, wondering at himself at the truth in his own words.

"Yes," Aki said, and he could hear the smile. "You will be mine, one day. I know this now. And I know that, since you trust me, I can, and shall, trust you, to pick when that day shall be."

"Oh. So...so you're not going to eat me until I ask you to?" Cross asked, again, wondering at the odd sense of truth to the implication he had just made, that it was not a question of if, but merely when. "Even if I approach you at The Offering?"

Aki laughed gently. "Even then, I would not. Though frankly Cross, you shouldn't worry about that. I'll be happy to play with you, to taste you, to swallow you down and back up, whenever you wish me to. You're my little morsel, more so now than ever before. I want to have you as much as possible, until I get to have you for good."

Cross was silent for a moment more. "...yeah, I'd like that, Aki."

A Final Offer

by VoreType

The Alluring Siren

Fishing for Kētas