Emi was okay with heat. It was her default preference, being born and raised on Ka'āina i hoʻopōmaikaʻiʻia e Maui, or The Land Blessed by Maui, or just Pōmaikaʻi, Blessed Land, previously code-named Greystoke Island. But right now, the daughter of the famous Kaitan and Huli of the Teo, born Kyle Anderson and Julie Shevchenk, respectively, sat in a tree in the shade, taking a breather after swinging through the island’s jungles in the heat and humidity.

The 19-year-old “jungle girl” sat on a branch in the shade, thinking about when she should get back into the heat and humidity. When she’d left her nest earlier in the day, it was uncharacteristically chilly, almost making her wear something over the standard-issue jungle girl bikini and loincloth she wore 24/7, but she decided against it, and was relieved that the temperatures quickly shot up to the usual hot temps. The wildlife in the island’s jungles came to life (ha) quickly, and she had her first meal of the day, a wild jungle chicken that she killed and ate on a roasted spit. Her day was going okay. It was going to take a different direction in a few moments, the second she left the tree. And she suspected that it was going to change the moment she did, because that’s how things often started. She just didn’t know how it was going to change. Despite this, she breathed in deeply and jumped out of the tree.

The heat was perfect for Kaa, the python. Kaa was a hypnotic python, to be exact. This rare species is gifted with the ability of human speech, intelligence, and the ability to hypnotize prey, hence their name. However, they’re cursed to be unable to eat humans. And also because snakes generally don’t eat humans, but it was a precaution. Of course humans count that as a blessing, and for good reason. Hypnosis is an unfair advantage when it comes to hunting prey, and arguably a frightening fate for the victim. However, a lot of hypnotic pythons found out that humans were rather fun to hypnotize.

Kaa was one of those snakes. Resting coiled up in a tree, he was dreaming of the last encounter he had with a human; she was a young woman from the Teo people, and she was a lot of fun to play with. He charmed her into letting him hypnotize her, did his thing and left her with a prompt that he hoped he could use some day. Knowing the jungle was a vast place, and the reputation he’d built with the other humans had gotten them wise to his tricks, made him temper his expectations. But there were other humans he could have fun with.

He caught wind of another scent on the air. Instinctively, he flicked his tongue out and tasted the air. Raising his head about the ball of coils he was in, he kept trying to find it. The scent was familiar, but he couldn’t quite put the tip of his tail on it.

Emi landed in the tree, and her arms hurt from pulling on vines and branches. Doubling over, she caught her breath on the branch, which was big enough to easily support her weight. Looking down, she could still see the jungle floor from her height, but she would have to run to the end of the branch so she could jump off. But she was a bit tired, so she leaned against the tree.

She got her water and took a sip. Then, she climbed down into the brush, landing with a soft sound. Standing up, she took in the jungle’s sounds, closing her eyes. She took another deep breath and continued on.

Her physical build was slender, athletic, toned and slightly curvy, and covered in sweat today. Her skin had gotten tanned from life on Pōmaikaʻi and dotted with a few scars here and there she’d gotten in various incidents; fights with animals, men and even shaving nicks. Her brown hair was a little disheveled and went down to the middle of her back. Her hair framed a slender face, which also framed bright brown eyes and she wore nothing but what her mom referred to as a “standard-issue” jungle girl outfit.

Kaa continued approaching. The scent had gotten stronger; so strong that Kaa was now able to figure out who it was. He knew it was Emi, because she had a scent unique to herself, a smell of salt water and sweat. He slowly and carefully unwound himself from the ball he was in and coiled himself around the branch. He wasn’t entirely sure where the Jungle Girl was, though. But he was going to be ready for some play time. Kaa immediately began planning to get her under his spell and into his coils. She would play coy and pretend not to want it, but she did agree to do it often. Did that mean Kaa wasn’t going to have fun?

Of course not! He deserved to have some fun every now and then, and humans, specifically this jungle family, because they had been fantastic subjects to hypnotize. They had very specific ground rules, though, but he respected those ground rules; they’d get tired of him or kill him if he tried worse.

Now that he was coiled around the branch, he poked his head down through the leaves to get a good look. He searched for a couple moments before he spotted Emi sitting at the base of the very tree he was in.

What luck! 

Not one one to waste an opportunity, Oua lowered his tail down to Emi. The serpent’s tail gently lowered until Emi spotted it. Instead of freaking out, she stood up. The tail wrapped around her arms, and descended downwards, pinning her arms to her side, until the tip stopped at her knees, then lifted her up into the trees. Pleased with her eager cooperation, Kaa gently squeezed her while still lifting her up into his tree. It was easier to pull her up like this, instead of how he often did it, by wrapping her up or curling the tip of his tail around her waist. When she was ready, he pulled her up into the tree and deposited her onto the branch.

“Kaa!” she exclaimed.

“Yessssss, jungle girl, sssssso niccccccce to ssssssssee you,” he said with a laugh that made his entire body ripple.

"What a pleasant surprise to see you here," she remarked.

“Yesssssss, alwaysssssss a pleassssssant ssssssssurprissssssse,” he said. He moved around the Jungle Girl, cutting off her escape routes, although he saw that those attempts were unnecessary. “Let me get a look at you,” he said as he let a few colored rings emanate from his eyes. Then he saw nothing but black, and Emi’s hand covering his eyes.

“Do we have to?” she asked.

Kaa stopped and sputtered. “Wait—what!?” Kaa was a little disappointed that Emi didn’t want to be hypnotized right now, but that was right now. “You don’t want to look at me?” he asked with feigned hurt. “I thought we were friendsssssss.” He knew this wasn’t going to fool her, but he wanted to have some fun

“You and I know how this goes,” she said. “We banter, and then you find a way to hypnotize me. Don’t you ever get tired of it?”

“You don’t like playing with me?” Kaa sadly asked.

“No, I do,” she said, turning away from him. “But doesn’t this just get a little repetitive?”

Kaa was confused. But it didn’t matter to him and he wanted to change her mind. “Repetitive?” he asked. “What do you mean?” He curled his body around her, keeping a distance from her body, while getting in her face.

“You try to hypnotize me every time we meet!” she repeated. “Don’t you ever get tired of it?”

“Why ssssshould I?” he asked.

“But don’t you ever get tired of the same old thing? Every time a human comes to you, you pick them up, trick them into being hypnotized, play with them, let them go—I really appreciate NOT being eaten, by the way—wash, rinse, repeat. Don’t you get tired of the repetitiveness?”

Kaa confidently opened his maw to answer… and stopped. “I… um…”

Emi realized what was going on. She was really making Kaa think about his own existence! “Well, I suppose there’s lots of things for a snake to do besides hypnotize and play with humans,” she said. “Like for example, I know you used to wrestle Kaitan without hypnotizing him often.”

“Kaitan wassss a ssssspecial casssssse,” said Kaa, “But he often wresssstled me bessssssst when he wassssss clear-headed,”

Emi sat down, putting her head in her hand as she listened to Kaa talk about his existence. “Well, you’re a wild animal, your main purpose is to just… exist!” she said. “Don’t be too sad about it. And yeah, I’m not wrestling right now.” She looked down at the ground. It would be a LONG fall. “But you don’t HAVE to hypnotize a human if you don’t feel like it.”

“But why’d you come into my tree?” he asked.

She should’ve answered “Just to say hi”, but she didn’t. Instead, the atmosphere in the tree changed. She froze, staring into the snake’s eyes. As soon as he read her expression, he nearly jumped backwards. “Wait a minute…” Suddenly, he chuckled, causing his entire body to ripple. “I ssssssssssee what you’re doinnnnnnnng. Thought you could outsssssssssssmart me, did you?” She was biting her lip and her heart was beating fast.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she denied. But she could see that the jig was up. She backed up until she felt park of the snake’s tail hanging down like a seat, which she took. Again, her relaxed body language gave her up. She didn’t show any fear, either in her face, nor by the way she crossed her legs when she sat down. Remembering that she was supposed to be pretending to be reluctant, she hopped off the snake’s tail, promptly taking up a fake defiant posture, but kept her eyes forward at Kaa. Again, she had to remind herself to look away.

“It’ssssss ssssssssimple,” he said. “You’re jusssssssst pretending that you don’t want to play with me.” He looped part of his tail around her head, moving her towards him. She ducked out of his reach. Well, if she was going to pretend to resist, she could at least make a genuine effort of it.

“And what if I meant it?”

“If you meant it, I could tell,” Kaa chuckled, seeing the game she was playing. “I confessssss, you almossssst had me there.”

“Whaddaya mean?”

Kaa laughed, draping his tail around her shoulders and bringing her closer to him. “I alwaysssss enjoy our little mind gamesssss,” he said, “But I think it’ssssss time we get down to busssssinesssss, hmmmm?”

“I should be going,” she stammered, taking his tail off her shoulders and turning to leave.

“Are you ssssssssssure you want to leave?” he asked, his voice seductive and sweet like honey. His touch sent chills all through her body, even though he’d just given her a light brush with the tip of his tail. He had correctly guessed that she didn’t want to leave, made even more obvious by the fact that she didn’t move. He wrapped his tail around her wrists and pulled her towards him.

She wanted to answer him with a snide, snarky comment. But she didn’t. Instead, her expression changed. she could feel her heart pounding, and she didn’t resist when he shackled her wrists together. “I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe I just like your company.”

Kaa chuckled, causing his whole body to ripple.

“But you don’t have to!” she said soothingly. She may have been bluffing at first, but now she was serious… at least in her mind. “Tell me, why DO you feel like you need to hypnotize every human who comes your way?”

“Why do I?” He asked, “It’sss my nature, and I like to do it, but more than you like to reccceive it. In fact, I can tell you want to be entrancssssssssed right now.” 

“That’s ridiculous!” she huffed, crossing her arms. Dang it, she did want to be hypnotized. But she was having a lot of fun playing this game with Kaa, and judging by his chuckle, he was receiving her message. 

“Of courssssssse it’sssss ridiculoussssssss,” he laughed. “Why would you enjoy by hypnosssssisssss? I underssssssssstand. You’re a proud young woman, and I admire and ressssssspect you for that.” 

“Flattery will get you nowhere,” she said. 

“I don’t blame you,” he replied. “I mussssssst be embarrassssssssssing to be friendsssssssssss with.” 

“I’m not embarrassed to call you a friend,” she replied, finally yanking her wrists from his grasp and turning to leave, but Kaa’s tail had already wrapped around her wrist. 

“You aren’t?” Kaa asked.

“No.”

“Ssssssso you like being hypnotized?”

“Yes. But not now.”

“You’re sssssuch a bad liar,” he chuckled.

“What?”

“What kind of hosssssst would I be if I didn’t give my guesssssssst what they came for?” She didn’t have time to react. Emi suddenly found herself with an eyeful of Kaa’s colored, hypnotic rings. She froze and fixated on the rings as they reflected in her eyes and she couldn’t look away.

“Oh, you,” she said, realizing he’d beaten her, and feeling her mind beginning to cloud over from the hypnotic effects. A warm sensation swelled up and spread in her chest. She didn’t move, her mouth agape. His soothing voice weeping into her mind and she felt herself relaxing a little. Her heart rate slowed. She felt good. But she managed to regather a little bit of her wits to begin resisting, a technique to enhance her enjoyment of the hypnosis and dragging it out. She had indeed wanted to be hypnotized.

“Pleassssse be sssseated,” Kaa instructed. She did as she was told and loosened her arms. Enthralled by Kaa's colored rings, Emi didn’t notice that he was lifting her up into the trees until she was placed on a branch. He may have had her in a bit of a tight grip, but she wiggled her way out of his coils. 

“Watch the colorssssss,” Kaa sang, swaying his head to and fro to keep her attention, as his tail slowly began to descend back down. “Put your mind at eassssssse and let me do anything I pleassssssssse.” His tail finally reached her, slipping around her waist from the front and to the back, making its way around to the front again. He gently squeezed to tighten his grip on her, ensuring that she wasn’t going anywhere. Once he was beginning to coil her the way she wanted him to, she refocused on his eyes (even though she hadn’t broken eye contact).  The colors all emanated from his eyes in random patterns. First it would be blue-green-yellow, then green-yellow-Blue, then green-blue-yellow and so on. They were so fascinating, and so pretty to look at. She wanted to watch them for as long as she could, feeling the wonder warmth in her chest that was getting stronger. Even better, his soft scales squeezing her midriff was like she was being hugged. At the speed Kaa’s spirals were going, it could take a few minutes for her to fall under. And she would be under a deeper spell.

He gently tightened his grip on her and continued steadily wrapping her up. “That'ssssssss it, keep going,” he soothed. “You’re doing sssssssso well. Clear your mind, focussssssss on me, and enjoying the hypnossssisssssss. I know you want to give in, but you’ll keep going, becaussssssse you want to enjoy thissssssss.” 

Indeed, she was enjoying this. From the outside, she just had a dumbfounded, slack-jawed look, but inside she felt like she was sinking into a comfortable bed of brush and sand while her thoughts began to fade. His song seeped into her mind, making her resistance slip a little, but she kept her composure, visualized by keeping her eyes wide open to take in Kaa’s hypnosis. It still made a warm feeling grow in her chest and a feeling of relaxation starting to creep in starting with her bare toes.

"Th-thanks for hypn’t'z'n me,” she mumbled.

“That'ssssssssss a good girl,” he cooed, winding his tail a little higher up her abdomen, squeezing intermittently, “Don’t give in, take it in, keep going.”

It felt like Emi’s surroundings were fading into wobbly obscurity, the sensation of warm liquid flowing through her open eyes and into her brain, oozing over it and making it dull, heavy and calm, waves of relaxation washing over her, a profound dizziness and disorientation, a ticklish, tempting pleasure that rippled through her body, a total lack of care for anything.

Kaa could see that Emi was struggling to put up a fight, and it pleased him. He adjusted his tail as it wound up a certain part of her anatomy so she wouldn’t notice, then squeezed to adjust his coils after doing that. “Keep fighting, Emi,” he sang. “Drink in the colorsssssssss. You want to keep ssssssssstaring.” It wasn’t time to tell her to let go. That was for later. For now though, he couldn’t help but be pleased with his willingly captive audience.

She was getting tired, wanted to fall asleep. But she couldn’t, wouldn’t, didn’t want to. Kaa was doing this to her for her and she wanted to accept his favor. At the same time, she became more aware of the coils moving up her body, keeping her in place, drawing her into his thrall. Her head and eyelids drooped a little bit, but she fought to keep them open and up. She wanted to keep going until she was under his spell. His squeezing tail on her skin was inviting her to give in, as well. But she kept going, enjoying this hypnosis and every minute of it. It was like being hugged, mentally and physically; the soft coils squeezing her, comforting her, and his soft voice and their previous experiences comforting her mentally. She so wanted to give in, but she had to resist.

Kaa was proud of her, that her trust for him was so strong that she was cooperating so much. She was so fun to play with! Now the tail had reached her shoulders, meaning that she was almost completely cocooned in his coils. Before he could get there, he loosened his coils and squeezed her again. “You’re almossssssssssst there,” he encouraged. “I’m proud of you. You’re doing sssssssso weeeeellllllllllllllllll.”

Moving his head closer to her for the final bombardment of rings, Kaa snaked his tail up to her neck. "When my tail gripsssssss your neck,” he said, “You will fall under my ssssssspell. You will feel complete relaxsssssation and blissssssss all over your body.” He slipped his tail around her neck, tugged on it, then tightened his grip on her entire body. She made a “gulp” noise. “Now, give in to meeeeeeeeeee.” So she did.

She sat on the branch, wrapped up in snake coils from her legs to her chin, immobilized. A silly, goofy grin from ear to ear painted her lips, her eyes wide and emanating the spirals. Her mind was empty, except for a desire to obey Kaa, like being under a benign Imperius curse… probably not the best descriptor. But all that mattered was that she always enjoyed being under Kaa’s spell, because it was a chance for her to let go, get away from any stress and just have some mindless fun.

“Did you enjoy yoursssssself?” Kaa asked, tightening his grip on the jungle girl until he had her snugly wrapped up in his coils, unable to move.

“Yes, Kaa,” she answered.

Chuckling again, Kaa unwound his body from around hers until she was freed of his coils. "Sssssstand up,” he said. She did as she was told but felt a little disappointed at the lack of coils around her. Kaa circled around his catch, impressed with his work. She was a willing captive audience. But as always, he didn’t know how to start playing with her, just that he had several ideas. In the end, he decided to start with the basics, beckoning her to him with the tip of his tail.

He put his tail down and began to sing, “Sssssshut your eyesssssss, and trusssssst in meeeeeee…” His other friend/hypnosis subject, her mother Huli, had taught him that song. It made her close her eyes and walk along the branch, her body on a blissful autopilot. When Emi reached the end of the branch, he stopped her, putting his tail on her forehead. “Hold sssstill, pleasssse.” Then he turned his body into a staircase and let go of his catch so she could continue. When his tail was removed from her forehead, she immediately, thoughtlessly descended his body. Kaa moved his head until he was at the tip of his tail, waiting for her to step onto his back. Not thinking, she stepped onto his back.

Gently, he bucked his body and lifted it up when she fell on top of it. He raised his body higher, tipping himself until he felt her sliding down his scales on her backside. He twisted and turned his body in different shapes and designs as she slid along his scales. She laughed loudly, a melodic laugh. He liked hearing her laugh, so he adjusted himself a little more to keep her going on a seemingly-endless loop of his body Finally, Kaa dipped his body a few feet downwards, allowing Anika to slide into that little hammock-like thingie, so she could rest a little

“Are you having fun, Emi?” he asked.

“Yessssss,” she answered, not the first time she hissed like that under his spell.

Kaa chuckled at her little hiss. "That'ssssss a good sssssubject,” he said. He lifted her up, back to the branch, but kept her on his coils. Then he positioned her to that she might as well have been sitting up. Then he lifted her onto the branch. Noticing her slumping forward, he gently tugged on her hair. “Ssssstraighten up, pleasssssse.” She did as she was told and sat up straight. He couldn’t decide what to do with her at first, so he looped a couple coils around her waist and squeezed. There were so many choices that he had a hard time picking. "What would you like to do?” he asked.

Kaa “shrugged” but acquiesced to her request and slid his tail up her body until she was back in her coiled cocoon. Then he lifted her off the branch, wrapped more coils around her legs down to her knees and held her out, horizontally, over the jungle floor. “Ready?” he asked, as if that would stop him.

“Yes, Kaa,” she said.

He unfurled the cocoon the second she answered, and he watched her plummet down the sides of the massive tree. She screamed, then laughed hysterically. He stopped her when his tail almost ran out, then pulled her back up. She screamed and laughed again, clearly having a lot of fun. It was also fun for Kaa. Hearing her screams and laughs kept him going. He laughed as he yo-yo'ed her, but not with her; more at her, but in a benign way.

He kept doing it a few more times until he heard her starting to get a little tired of the yo-ing, so he pulled her up and placed her back on the branch. “What’ssssss wrong, Emi?” he asked. “You look like you’ve gone for a… ssssspin!“ He laughed again. Oh, he slayed himself!

“Can we do something else?” she asked.

Kaa had an idea. "Ssssstiffen, pleasssssssse,” he said. She went stiff as a board in an instant. Then he snaked part of his tail around her arms and legs. He lifted her right leg up to test if he could. Her movements were stiff, too stiff for what he wanted to do.

“Let me move your limbssssss,“ he said.

“Okay,” she said.

With her permission, he moved her arms and legs like she was a toy until she was bent forward on her hands and feet like a quadruped. Then he let her go. "You’re an ape,” he said, “Act like one!”

So she did. First, she grunted, then she charged forward and leapt to grab a branch above her. She swung around, aided by a strong upper body, like an ape. She drew on her experiences, of watching the apes with her parents, and whenever she hung out with them. She never beat her chest, though; that’s a challenge, and she wasn’t challenging anyone.

But Kaa quickly got bored. “Okay, sssssstop,” he said. She stopped, freezing in place in the branch above him. He picked her up with his tail and placed her back on the branch she was previously on. “That wassssss good.”

“Thanks,” she replied.

Kaa was thinking about letting her go when he got another idea. “How about we go for a walk on the forest floor?” He asked. “Well, you can. I would if I had legs.” He chucked to himself.

“I like that idea,” she said. “Where and how far do you want me to go?”

Kaa “shrugged,” or he would have if he had shoulders. “Wherever and how long and far assss was you want to,” be said.

“Okay,” she said.

“Now, why don’t you dessscend? I’ll be right behind.”

Emi swung herself off the branch and climbed down the tree, her movements animalistic from living her entire life in the wild jungle. Kaa unfurled himself from the branch and slithered down, following the Jungle Girl to the forest floor, in no hurry at all. She looked up and smiled wider at the sight of him, then returned her attention to the forest floor. She jumped the last meter, landing in a perfectly executed four-point stance and stood up to wait for Kaa. Kaa was right behind her, slithering the final few meters until he was fully spooked out on the ground. For the sake of appearances, he rose his head above Emi. “Ssssshall we go… that way?” He pointed to the south.

“The south is safer than the north right now,” she said.

Kaa chuckled. “I thought you were brave,” he remarked to himself before slithering off towards the south, away from the coast. With a wave of his tail, he beckoned the young woman along, curling his tail around her a couple of times, and tugged on her midriff to get her moving. Kaa led the young woman along the forest floor, expertly maneuvering over the occasional obstacle effortlessly, a grin on his lips. He kept his pace manageable for her. Being a snake, he could slither faster than she could walk, and that often posed some problems in the past. By now he had learned from that.

Still blissfully under his spell, she followed him like a duckling, his tail around her midriff to keep her from falling too far behind him. She kept pace with him, content, not caring that he slithered along at his own pace. Being held while walking with him helped. “So where are you going?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Kaa replied. “I jussssst… go with the flow, asssss you humansssss like to say.” Humming to himself, Kaa slithered along on his merry way, not caring if anyone saw him. Actually, that’s a bit misleading; he did kind of care, but in a smug way: “Look who I caught!” was the intended message. Yes, he did care about his subjects, but he also liked how it looked, having a jungle heroine under his spell. She chuckled, randomly. Kaa was happy to hear Emi chuckle, because he knew the Jungle Girl was having a good time.

They kept walking, seemingly for hours, until Kaa looked behind him and saw that she was getting tired. Her hunched posture was drooping a little more than normally and her eyes weren’t as wide open as they had been. He’d forgotten that humans don’t have the endurance snakes do. She was probably thirsty and hungry. He decided they needed to stop and rest for a little while. He would have to find a place for them to stop for water and food.

Fortunately for both of them, they came across a waterfall and a spring. Kaa stopped immediately, then let her go so she could run over to the pool and have a much-needed drink of water. She took her time drinking, bending over on her hands and knees to drink from the clean water that she had clearly had before. Then she stood up, walked over to a tree, climbed it and came back down with some fruit. She gathered some nuts and started a fire. Kaa recoiled from the fire, but was relieved to see that she was roasting the fruit and nuts. It did confuse him, only because he’s not human, unable to understand why humans would need to cook food, but he let her do as she pleased.

She finished eating. Then they danced and wrestled a little. She went after him first, tackling him to the ground. Bewildered at first, he almost told her to stop before she told him, giggling, that she wanted to wrestle. He smiled and wrapped his tail around her. He almost got her off her, but she found her footing and pinned him against the dirt on the edge of the pool. He chuckled, then pulled her left leg out from under her.

He slipped his tail off her and slipped it back around her again. He would have asked her what she wanted to do next, but he gently set her back in a seated position while wrapping a couple coils around her body until he had her wrapped up from her chin to her knees. When Kaa finished, he pulled her against his bulk and began to gently massage her, basking in the moment. “Ssssssshut your eyesssss…” Her eyes drifted closed.

“You’re sssssssuch a good ssssssubject,” he said softly, “Thank you sssssssso much.”

“You’re welcome,” she said. “Thanks for hypnotizing me.”

“You’re welcome,” he said, curling his body around her, letting her rest against his body like a pillow. “Go to sleeeeeeeeep,” he sang. Her head lolled off to the side. He closed his eyes and also fell asleep, satisfied with a good day of hypnosis.