"You're sure this is safe..." she said.

"Oh, sure. Perfectly safe. He doesn't bite at all," the trainer said.

She looked doubtfully at the creature sleeping peacefully in the center of the cage. It was a dragon, though the term didn't really seem to apply completely in this case. It was hardly the threatening beast she'd spent her whole life terrified of. The creature looked... frankly, cute. Its nose was round, its teeth decidedly blunt. A tuft of reddish hair sat atop a sleek and adorable little head, and some bat-like wings were folded delicately on its back.

This had all started just a few months earlier, when she'd decided she was through letting her phobias rule her life. Since then she'd managed to overcome her fear of heights and spiders. But the most powerful and enduring of her fears was that of dragons. She'd started making phone calls and found a dragon trainer who was willing to let her spend some time in the cage with the dragon, since he was, in the trainer's words, "A real sweetheart."

"What do I do, exactly?" she asked.

"Just climb in the cage. If you like, we won't even wake him up. But if he does wake up, the rules are simple. No sudden moves. Don't pull away it he nibbles..."

"You said he didn't bite."

"He doesn't. But he does nibble sometimes. When he's playful. Or curious. It's nothing to worry about. Oh, and if anything gets snagged, clothing or the like, either gently unhook his claws or slip off the offending article."

She nodded. She'd been warned that the dragon's claws were fairly sharp, and though he was gentle, they did tend to get snagged on cloth. She'd selected a loose sweat suit that would be easy to remove if the need came up for that very reason.

"And you'll do something if I'm in trouble."

"Of course. I'll do whatever's necessary to make sure you're safe."

"Okay..." she took a deep breath. "I can do this."

She stepped onto the ladder into the cage and climbed down onto the soft earth that made up the floor. The beast was still breathing in long, slow breaths. Deep asleep. She crept closer to its head, which was about half as big as she was, and shakily placed a palm on the beast's nose. Her heart raced, and her flight reflexes urged her to get away as quickly as possible but she forced those thoughts aside and tried to focus on the sensations. The warm breath against her face that came with each slow puff was actually sort of nice. The scales were smooth, and in truth were even a little soft, like what she imagined a dolphin must feel like.

"You were right," she said, a weak tremor in her voice. "It's really not that-- eek!"

The dragon, shifting in his sleep, slid a foreleg toward her. A talon snagged the leg of her pants, and then drew back. The powerful creature effortlessly pulled her off her feet with the motion.

"Easy, easy. Just slip off the pants," the trainer advised calmly.

She nodded slowly and pulled the knot on the drawstring. With a slow, cautious motion she shimmied out of her pants, leaving her in a sweatshirt and panties. Normally she'd be mortified to be half naked in front of the trainer, but being inches away from a creature that had haunted her nightmares for her whole life was quite effective at pushing that concern aside.

"I thing that's enough for me," she said, standing and brushing off the soil that had stuck to her bare legs. "I'll just be going now."

She bent down to finish dusting herself off. In doing so, she presented her shapely bottom to the sleeping dragon's snoot. Its fragrance, clearly somewhat enhanced by the fear induced flop-sweat that was coating her, was enough to get the sleeping beast's attention. Without waking, it slid its snout forward until the tip of its muzzle was practically nestled between her legs and gave a series of short, curious sniffs.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, standing bolt upright at the uninvited and unwanted attention. "What do I do?"

"Just step slowly forward. He likes the way you smell, but it shouldn't be a problem unless..."

"Ahahahahaha..." She uttered, a fluttery laugh folding perfectly into her anxious jitters.

"What's wrong?"

"I think h-he's licking my butt."

The trainer nodded and beckoned. "Okay, you're going to want to move a bit faster now, because he's interested."

"I... I... I can't..." She said, attempting to step forward but finding her legs quite unwilling to cooperate. She was almost completely petrified in terror.

"Just step out. You should really move quickly, because if he---"

"Ah!" she yelped.

A warm, moist band wrapped around her waist and she began to feel a delicate pressure slide up her back and down her thighs. Puffs of warm air rushed up the back of her sweatshirt as its muzzle started to slip between it and her skin, and her entire rear end started to feel warm and humid. She looked down to find the dragon's long tongue was wrapped around her middle, and the gentle pressure against her lower back and upper thighs was therefore its jaws opening.

"WHAT DO I DO NOW?" she cried as the tongue pulled tighter, causing her to bend over slightly.

"Well, now he's going to eat you," the trainer said simply.

"WHAT!? You said I'd be safe!"

"You will be. All of our dragons have had their digestive enzymes suppressed. They can only digest specially treated foods. You'll pass right through. It'll just take a while."

The tongue tugged harder and the jaws began to close, folding her in half and enclosing everything between her armpits and knees in a hot, wet chamber.

"How will I breathe?" she said, the pressure of her knees squishing against her chest robbing her of a bit of her voice.

"Trust me, ma'am. It's all been taken care of. Just try not to struggle and we'll have you out of there in a few hours."

She felt a muscular contraction around her lower body and her body slid another foot inside, forcefully folding her entirely in half and drawing in everything but her head and feet. It was almost, but not quite, painful. If she'd not been so limber, she'd be quite uncomfortable indeed, but her lithe body was flexible enough to assume the position without much more than a brief period of adjustment.

"Hours! But you--"

*GLCK*

The dragon's throat rippled and she slipped entirely into its mouth. Hooked as it was over his muzzle, her sweatshirt slid off entirely, remaining cutely slipped onto his upper muzzle like some sort of nose-sock.

The trainer crossed his arms and shook his head, watching as the woman made a vaguely recognizable bulge that slid slowly along his long neck. Her pert little bottom and tapering legs spread the scales a bit as it slid down, moving in short, lurching slides. Her weak struggles produced quiet squelching sounds that grew increasingly muffled, along with her frightened objections.

"Ol' greedy guts just couldn't help himself, could he? And he didn't even wake up..." He said, a lightly scolding tone in his voice.

~~~

She slid backwards, her body tightly wrapped in pulsing, rippling muscle that drove her into the steadily warmer depths of the sleeping creature. At this point she had little more than a bra and panties on, meaning she felt every wet, snug ripple as it dragged her toward its stomach. The fear she felt was almost crippling, but as she moved along, and more of her flesh was basted and kneaded by the act of swallowing, she began to appreciate the sensations. The trainer was right, at least, about the breathing. Somehow she was having no difficulty breathing, save for the mild chest constriction caused by her position. The deep, massaging motions of its esophagus wasn't hurting her at all. Quite the contrary. The anxiety and tension that had knotted her muscles was being quite effectively eased away.

In a minute or so, she felt her butt push through a muscular ring and she was extruded into a looser sack. Its stomach. There was no smell of acid inside, and whatever he'd last eaten was little more than a thin porridge that smelled a bit like beef stock. After a bit of struggling, she managed to shift her jack knife position into a fetal one. Her heart was still rattling in her chest, but slowly she became aware of a slow, steady thump that she found positively soothing. The dragon's heartbeat. It, coupled with the warmth and tightness, gave her an almost womb-like level of comfort.

A few hours passed, and in that time she felt her fear fade to nothing. The muscles eventually contracted again, squeezing her out of the stomach sack and into a tight tube feet first. Another few hours of gentle, persistent massage let her to the tightest ring yet, and then with a few forceful shoves, squeezed her out into the relatively cool air of the enclosure.

She tumbled from the dragon's rear end to the soil and looked around. The lights were off. It must have been the middle of the night. Sitting in a chair, slumped over and deep asleep, was the trainer. She considered calling to him, but there was something touching about him staying after hours to make sure she came out okay. It seemed wrong to wake him. She gazed at the dragon and realized that she didn't feel a whisper of fear anymore. Why should she? It had done the worst it possibly could to her, it had eaten her, and she was perfectly fine. She actually felt better now than when she'd gone in. She'd never been so relaxed. All she really wanted now was to curl up and sleep for a while.

A smile came to her face. Dropping to all fours and crawling alongside the still sleeping dragon, she cuddled up against the beast's soft belly to share some of its warmth and ward off the slight chill on her sticky skin. She then shut her eyes, drifting quickly to a peaceful, safe slumber.