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The shop had been slow today. The Batter and his puppeteer had shown up briefly in the morn, and little to no elsen had passed by.
All in all, a good day to kick back and relax. He had a gut feeling the so called purifier would come around soon in need of his services. But until then, he leaned against the countertop, enjoying his peace and quiet.
That was, until the thud of heavy footsteps met his ears, growing closer, heralding the arrival of something big. Seemed like he would no longer be left alone and unbothered.
A massive white spectre stepped into view, with a mouth full of teeth and long deadly claws. It reminded him vaguely of a lizard, but humanoid and wrong, as if someone had tried to stretch reptilian skin over a human.
Sugar would probably call it a duck.
Carefully, slowly, Zacharie reached for one of the bats in his pack, as the thing sniffed the air. Sure, he was certainly not as skilled as Batter at purifying them, but he could still win a fight in a pinch.
Still, he wasn't confident, especially against such a big one. If he could help it, he'd rather slip away and avoid it, until the Batter eventually showed up to deal with it.
Maybe he could even bribe him with a little sale.
Despite his hopes, the spectre was quick to notice him, gaze snapping to his mask.
The ground shook slightly under its gait, a wrapper from an earlier customer kicked away, as it moved to close the distance.
Wait, it was far too corporeal to be a spectre. That meant…
The bat in his grip suddenly felt inadequate for the situation at hand. It would not do much against a beast of flesh and blood, at least, not in his hands.
The Batter would likely win such a fight though.
Wait, was that a little baseball cap on its head?
“…Batter?”
The beast paused, cocking its head to the side as it stared at him, its tail wagging.
It, it had to be him, right? A monster, wearing his clothes, and seemingly responding to his name. But why was he like this? And why couldn't he feel the puppeteer's presence?
“What happened to you mon ami?”
The Batter cocked his head to the side like a curious dog, but kept his gaze on him, unblinking. Zacharie felt a pang of terror flutter in his guts, but he ignored it.
“Do you need help? I can see if any of my wares can aid your current predicament.”
His head recentered back to its proper position, and he approached again, slowly, more calmly than he had before.
Zacharie couldn't help the way his heart fluttered with fear, as the beastly batter stood on the other side of the counter. Towering over him, the shadow cast upon him swallowed him entirely, eating up all the sunlight that leaked through the mall's entranceway.
The monster was watching him, expectantly, and for a moment, the merchant had forgotten his job. Stuttering back into motion, he opened his pack and began to dig through it, in search of something particular.
Belial’s meat. An item used for curing any ailment, except death, of course. If anything was to work, this would be it.
“Here friend, try this.”
Offering out the meat in his hand, Zacharie was filled with a sudden terror and regret, as the Batter opened up his massive mouth to accept it, sharp teeth gleaming. But before he could pull back, the jaws had already closed around his hand, and he braced for the pain.
The Batter was gentle, like a well trained dog, taking the meat from his hand without even a nip, tongue licking at his hand and wrist as his jaws pulled away. Baited breath escaped Zacharie, and he deflated with relief, patting the Batter on his snout, before wiping the slobber off his hand.
“There, that should help. Shouldn't take long to take effect.”
Only, as he waited, nothing seemed to happen. Idly tapping his fingers on the countertop, he waited, as the Batter watched him, sniffed him, but remained unchanged.
It wasn’t working.
“Hmm, that didn't work. Perhaps your ailment requires something specific, stronger.”
With the plan to charge him for everything once he was back to normal, he began fishing through his bag once more, searching for an item he'd “missed”, for the solution to the problem to be suddenly found among his wares.
There was nothing new. No update to his inventory to solve the issue at hand.
Under the mask, Zacharie frowned, but his thoughts were quickly interrupted, as Batter prodded him with his snout. With a sigh, he shoved him away.
“Sorry cher client, no free samples.”
Unfortunately, Batter did not seem deterred, as a wet tongue graced the side of his face, soaking everything the mask did not cover.
With a groan, Zacharie closed his bag up tight, pushing it out of his insistent customer’s range, before he turned back to give him a good talking to.
But the Batter's beastly shape gave no care for the bag full of goodies. Instead, empty eyes locked onto him, long neck stretch far over the counter, uncaring for his personal space.
Was… was he drooling?
Zacharie took a step back, feeling like a mouse under a cat's watchful gaze.
“Batter?”
Batter took a step forward, climbing over the counter with ease.
“Batter what are you doing?”
The pale beast's form filled the way out, drool dripping down its chin, as Zacharie's back hit the wall. Whatever familiarity had filled its gaze was now drowned out by predatory hunger, eyeing up the merchant like prey.
He should've kept the bat on him.
“Li-listen, if it’s more meat you want, I can open up my bag and—”
Such feeble attempts at a bargain with a beast were silenced, as the monster rumbled with a growl, and pounced.
Zacharie screamed, scrambling back, but it was too fast. Jaws closed over him as he was yanked off his feet, trapped between Batter's teeth.
“Batter please stop, put me down!”
But the beast didn't listen. As Zacharie braced for the teeth to pierce him, he was instead disoriented, as Batter jerked his head upward, the merchant feeling himself slide deeper into the jaws.
Wait.
It jostled its head again, opening its jaws wider this time, as Zacharie felt his head hit its throat.
Wait no. No no no no.
His stomach dropped, as he desperately tried to get a handhold on its teeth, not caring that he nicked himself on them.
Whatever Batter had become, was trying to swallow him whole.
“Batter please, don’t.”
But its tongue found his hands, licking at the weeping wound before pulling them back inside its mouth. And then, with his head pressed against its throat, it swallowed.
Zacharie knew there was nothing he could do, but he still squirmed as his head was pulled inside, gravity making it easy as the beast continued to look skyward. Squeezed like a tube of toothpaste, the rest of him was pulled inside with ease, the merchant soon no longer feeling the coolness of outside air on his legs.
It didn't take long for it to swallow him all the way down, as he soon found himself dropped into a much bigger, and noisier, fleshy chamber.
Batter's stomach.
Panicking and desperate, he banged his fists on the stomach walls, crying out with pleas to his once favorite customer.
“Batter let me out! Lâche-moi! I’m not a spectre or food!”
The chamber rumbled with a growl, before gravity suddenly shifted, Zacharie jostled around as it moved. It wasn't long before he found what little space he'd had was now gone, as the beast laid down on its filled belly, leaving him crushed beneath its weight.
So tight, so heavy. He could barely squirm, as his panicked heart pounded in his chest, fingers trembling in terror. It was crushing the fight out of him, and Zacharie didn't have the strength to rebel.
“Batter?”
His voice cracked, breathing becoming harder, unable to calm his panicked breaths, shaking and stuttering.
He wouldn't really be eaten and digested, right? The Player still needed his services, the game still needed its merchant.
…right?
The monster never answered, as instead, his fleshy prison began to rumble with the sound of snoring.
Oh. This was it, wasn't it? A hefty meal and a nap. He was going to offer his services to the Batter for the last time. He'd expected that maybe, at some point, the righteous puppet might see him as an obstacle, his game ending with a bat to the head.
Somehow, this seemed worse. A slow painful death, no swift mercy.
At least, the stomach had yet to fill with acid. He’d take this small grace while it lasted.
Slowly, whether out of acceptance or exhaustion, his breath slowed to match the Batter's, his heart following its in due time. It wasn't awful inside of it, at least, not right now. With no acid to burn him, the stomach walls were soft, softer than he’d expected. The weight on top of him, while somewhat unpleasant, was bearable.
And well, he could rest easy, knowing no spectres would come to harm him in here.
Like slowly drowning in a river of meat, exhaustion filled his body, and he soon fell unconscious, tucked away inside the beast formerly known as the Batter.
Consciousness returned in a slurry, thick like the meat that flowed from the fountains of Alma. And the first thing he noticed, was that he couldn’t move.
Odd.
His fingers twitched, his toes wiggled, but any attempt to shift a limb was met with strong resistance.
No, it wasn't that he couldn’t move. He was tucked away somewhere tight, very tight, as if trapped in his own massive backpack, only soft, squishy.
Where the hell was he?
Something wet dripped onto him, and he squirmed, before the droning sound he’d been hearing since he’d awoken stuttered, before a snore returned.
The memories clicked into their place, before Zacharie found his fight renewed. Just cause he was still alive, didn’t mean he'd be if he stayed any longer.
The crushing weight was gone, but in its stead the stomach felt much smaller, tighter. It left the poor merchant feeling like a chicken tied up for the roast, waiting for when the oven reached heat.
Despite the futility, his feeble squirms seemed to do something, as the snoring stopped, and he heard the Batter groan in discomfort.
“Hmm, slept too long.” :/
His voice. His voice was back. Then maybe…
“Mon ami, can you hear me?”
Silence. He could feel him shift, a hand press against his organic prison, before the chamber rumbled with a burp.
“Ah, that explains the taste.”
Zacharie wasn't sure how to feel about that statement, but didn't comment on it.
“Please do let me out cher client, you are still in need of a merchant, and I don't want to be in here any longer.”
A reply did not come immediately, Zacharie feeling him move around accompanied with the muffled sound of rustling.
“Your bag is right here.”
A pang of terror shot through his gut. He hadn't expected Batter to give any resistance in letting him out, but the fact he was giving a reason to keep him, suddenly made him very afraid he wouldn’t be let out.
“You won’t be able to get stronger equipment without me stocking it.”
He was pleasantly surprised his voice remained calm and steady.
Silence, again.
“…I’ll give you a good discount. Fifty percent!”
The terror was leaking through, voice shaking. But instead of saying anything, the Batter simply sighed.
What if the game didn't need its merchant? What if it could easily go on without him, replace him? He—
“Fine.”
Zacharie hadn't realized his rapidly beating heart had drowned out the Batter's calm pulse, until his voice filled the space.
“It would be hard, like this, but they aren’t here, so…”
Gross organic sounds were the only warning before the stomach suddenly expanded in its capacity, a low animalistic growl rumbling through it. And then, the stomach squeezed, tight, tighter, shoving him upward like a nearly empty tube of toothpaste.
The light of outside was a relief, even if it was bordered by all those long sharp teeth.
Gravity shifted, and Zacharie found himself dropped to the floor in a crumpled heap, as the monster towered over him, saliva dripping from its jaws. It leaned down to lick him, and he shuddered.
And then, with a sickening crunch, it began to compress in on itself, until the familiar humanoid shape stood before him, dark eyes judging him. Batter groaned in discomfort, rolling his shoulders and neck, joints audibly clicking, before wiping the drool from his mouth.
A few traits remained, as Batter smiled down at him with a mouth full of sharp teeth and clawed nails. Or maybe, he'd just never noticed them before.
“You taste good.”
Zacharie’s chest twisted with an emotion he couldn’t quite pinpoint, as Batter hopped over the counter of his shop, and left without another word.