The jungle boy stood stock-still behind Oua’s friend. The friend had completely hypnotized him, putting him under a spell that had yet to break. And the jungle boy was fine with that.

“It’ssssss been two daysssssss,” said Dante. “He’ssssss enjoying himssssssself.”

He certainly looked it, as both hypnotic pythons examined him. Ryan’s eyes pulsed with colored rings, and he wore a silly smile. It wasn’t like Oua hadn’t done that to his own jungle boys and girls, but examining another snake’s work made him a little envious. Ryan wore the same blank, silly grin that all hypno-snake subjects wore as the colored rings pulsed in his eyes. It was due to deep trust in his hypnotist, willingness to be hypnotized, and enjoyment of the experience that enabled him to fall completely under Dante’s hypnotic spell.

Oua was able to do that, too. Seeing another snake’s handywork was always interesting, though. Dante and Oua were old friends, but Dante was slightly older than Oua.

“How did you do it thissssss time?” Oua asked.

Dante “shrugged”. “Oh, I lifted him into the treessss and went right to work,” he said. He was proud to be Hypnotic Python, in the vein of the legendary Kaa, who seemed to be held both in high regard and infamy by humans.

Hypnotic Pythons don’t normally eat their humans. They’re too much fun to play with.

“Hmm, I couldn’t get Kimi to fall under lassssst time,” Oua remarked, using the tip of his tail to scratch his chin.

“You were probably too forcssssseful,” said Dante. Oua had to nod. Thinking back, he saw, in his mind’s eye, himself pushing on Kimi a little too hard, trying to get her to fall. She punched him. “And too excccccited.”

“I know, I know,” Oua said, recounting the times he successfully hypnotized her. To have a human under his spell was a feeling no human could understand.

“You broke her trussssssst,” Dante continued. “Here, watch this. Ryan, how much do you trusssssst me?”

“With my life,” Ryan instantly replied.

“I know, I know, I messsssed up!” Oua growled. He was fairly young by hypno-python standards, but old and experienced by human standards. “I’d like to ssssse my sssssubjectsssss go up againsssssst yoursssssss.”

A “ping” similar to the imagined sound when a human completely falls under a snake’s spell seemed to go off in Dante’s head. But not that kind of ping. A different one. “You mean… a contessssssst?”

“What elssssssse?” Oua asked.

Dante seemed to consider it. “I’ll get back to you on it. In the mean time, why don’t we have ssssssome refresssssshments? Ryan, pleassssssse fetch Oua and I ssssssssomething to eat. Oh, and get yoursssssself something, too.”

Without question, Ryan darted into the jungle to find game for Dante and Oua to eat. “Ssssssee? Trusssssst and charm. Never forget that.”

“I won’t,” said Oua.

:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:

Kimi Fujioka wandered the Pomaika’I jungle that had become her home. She was not lost. After all, not all who wander are lost. She had felt cooped up in her jungle treehouse and decided to step out. She had since lost track of time.

Perfect.

The Japanese-Australian woman had made her home here.

… On… the island.

Anyways. She had escaped an abusive foster home. Her parents were born in Japan, but she was born and raised in Melbourne. Then they died in a car crash in Geelong. Her foster family treated her like shit until she fell out of a cruise ship cabin, washed ashore on Pomaika’I, met her idol Julie and with her help, trained to become a jungle girl. She adopted the island as her home, and the island adopted her as well. She was happy now.

In… general, at least. In this very moment, she had a neutral feeling, just wandering and not lost. The jungle had been kind to her body. She was lean, with visibly-toned muscles, like abs that looked like they could deflect a rock. She also had arms that would make Michelle Obama proud. The sun had darkened her skin just a little bit, she held her black hair in a ponytail (at the moment) and her eyes scanned the surrounding jungle. And yes, she wore a “standard issue” jungle girl outfit. For now. Sometimes she went without anything but a knife.

A snake’s tail lowered itself behind her. She didn’t see it until it wrapped around her midriff. She shouted as the tail yanked her from the ground and into the trees. Once there, she struggled to free herself, but the coils tightened around her. She would enjoy how nice and smooth the scales felt against her skin if she wasn’t fighting for her life. Two more coils joined, and she could not move her arm. The grip was so tight that she already felt like she was out of breath and—

“If it wasssssn’t me, you’d be dead by now,” a familiar voice filled her ears. The head of the hypno-python Oua dropped down to meet her gaze. His expression was a mix of both satisfaction and disappointment—satisfied that he’d caught her, and disappointed that she had gotten caught.

Kimi sighed, relieved. “Oh, Oua,” she said. “It’s you.”

“Yesssssss, Kimi,” he said, “Sssssso niccccce to ssssssee you.” He examined her, like what he saw. He had her wrapped from her knees to her chest.

“Are you going to let me go?” she asked.

“I think I like ssssseeing you like thissssss,” he said, teasingly. He also saw that she had relaxed. “You’re not sssssscared of me? You’re not worried I might eat you?”

“You’ve never tried,” said Kimi, “Besides, you physically can’t. Remember the curse?”

Oh, Oua knew the curse. Centuries ago, a Pomaika’ian holy man, known as a kahuna, cursed the island’s hypno-snake population so that they couldn’t eat humans. Literally. Any hypno-snake starts violently gagging as soon as the human’s body is close enough. The violent reaction often causes the snake to drop the human, and the human goes on with life, unaware of what just happened. Regular, non-sentient, non-hypno, snakes, though… Well, they don’t eat humans, anyway.

Hypno-snakes didn’t often eat humans before the curse, anyway. But some did, enough to make that kahuna act in the community’s best interests.

“Isssss there a reassssson you were in my neck of the jungle?” Oua asked.

“Nah, mate,” she replied. “Just wanderin’.”

“Were you losssssst?”

“Not all who wander are lost,” she answered.

“Ah. I sssssee.”

Oua unwound his coils from around her, but kept some on her midriff so he could place her on her back on his coils. She slid down his body until she nearly reached the tail. Her position was relaxed, and she looked at him expectantly, anticipating something. Casually, she undid her top and loincloth, placing them on a nearby branch. Oua knew what she was thinking. He lifted her. She didn’t move.

“So, what are we going to do now?” she asked, wearing a slight smile.

“Hmmmm, I think I know,” Oua said, locking eyes with Kimi. “May I?”

“You may,” she said. At that, she smiled a full smile, teeth and everything as she leaned forward. “Let’s do it. Give me your best.”

“Then, jusssssssst look into my eyessssssss,” he said while activating his hypnosis. Colored rings of blue, purple, green and yellow emanated in his eyes. The rings reflected in Kimi’s eyes. Her arms dropped to the side, her mouth lightly opening. They didn't do much at first, but they kept her attention rapt on his, preventing her from looking away.  Although, it was better to say she didn't want to look away.

Oua hummed a lilting tune as he pushed his face closer to hers, simultaneously lowering her body towards the nearest branch to let her sit. He kept their gazes locked as she slid down his tail, gently landing on and straddling the branch. Then he lowered his head so that she was looking straight forward into his eyes. He softly sang some incomprehensible lyrics as his head darted and swung to and fro. Kimi was hypnotized in the classic sense and couldn’t (wouldn’t) look away.

“I sssssee you’re eager today,” said Oua. He chuckled. “Yesssss, that’sssss it,” he said. He was relieved and pleased. There was nothing like a visibly eager and happy subject. Oua and Kimi had a relationship that many of their counterparts would envy. She was genuinely happy to see him. Other jungle dwellers like her might dread meeting their snake. She enjoyed it, because after all the shit she went through, she was rewarded with a jungle life and her own hypnotic snake.

He kept her eyes on his while he wrapped and unwrapped his body from the branches to allow him to wrap her up. When it was ready, the tip of his tail descended towards her, and gently slipped around her waist. She was so rapt in his hypnosis that she nearly gasped when the scales contacted her skin. However, she kept her gaze on his, and not breaking her smile.

Her mind was getting a little fuzzy, but a good kind of fuzzy. It felt a little bit like being drunk, except it was a nice feeling instead of a bad one. The longer she kept eye contact, the deeper she would fall under his spell. So, she resisted a little. It made the brain fuzziness feel like she was amidst cotton candy… for lack of a better term.

Oua’s tail encircled her waist, and he tightened the grip, securing her. Then he re-adjusted his coils so he could easily slide the scaly tail up her body. The tail ascended slowly and methodically. She wasn’t going anywhere, so he could take his sweet time with her. It was usually like this… except when she didn’t want to be hypnotized… that he would take his time with the induction and coiling. Even better, she was still smiling as she leaned forward to look deeper into his eyes.

“Yessssssss, thank you,” he said.

“Thank you,” she replied.

Kimi continued resisting, but not too much. It was really just a way to prolong the induction so she could enjoy it longer. Oua liked it because he found that the subject was under a deeper spell when they finally gave in. It was one of many things Kainak taught her (much less important than how to hunt and how to start a fire, but still useful in these encounters). However, in the end, the therapeutic aspect of snake hypnosis had helped her recover from PTSD brought upon by her foster family. She could literally have no thoughts or worries for hours to days, only giving herself over to her python friend.

She wanted to be hypnotized today.

Oua’s tail reached her chest. Out of respect, he loosened his grip, but only around there so he wouldn’t disturb those sensitive pieces of flesh human females had on their chest. Kiki sucked in a sharp breath. Then she released it slowly.

“Yessssssss, you desssssserve to be hypnotizssssed,” he hissed softly.

She did deserve to be hypnotized. She deserved to not have a care in the world while obeying the snake’s suggestions, becoming his toy for a little bit. She almost fell in that moment, but kept herself “awake” to see this through to the end.

Oua’s tail crept up her arms, towards her shoulders. The bit of skin there disappeared as his tail curled around them, leaving her head and neck untouched. Then his tail curled around her neck. He sharply squeezed it around her neck, making her eyes open wider. That was her usual prompt, and she allowed herself to completely fall under Oua’s spell.

She didn’t have a care in the world right now.

Oua hummed a chuckle as he looked her over. She was wrapped in his coil cocoon. The rings pulsed in her eyes and she wore a silly, yet cute smile on her lips. “Yesssssssss, there you go,” he said softly. “How do you feel?”

“I feel amazing, Oua,” she replied. “Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome, my lovely playmate,” he said. He effortlessly lifted her body, but then let her down, straddling the branch. He had a better idea. He loosened the coil cocoon around her, letting it fall, exposing her nude body. “Sssssstand up, pleassssssssse,” he hissed. She obediently stood. “Let’sssss ssssstart with the bassssicssssss.

“Trusssst in meeeeeee, trusssssst in meeeeeee.
Ssssshut your eyyyyeeeessss… and come to meeeeee.”

He beckoned Kimi towards him with his tail. She obediently closed her eyes and walked forward, beginning the traditional trust exercise. She walked to the end of the branch and he placed his tail on her forehead, stopping her as one foot dangled in the air. Then he made a staircase with his body.

“You can sssssleep… ssssafe and sssssssounnnnndddd…
Knowing Iiiiiiii…”

As she continued walking his body, his tail circled her from above.

“… Am a-rooooouuuuunnnnnnd…
Ssssssslip into sssilent sssslumber
Sssssail on a sssssilver misssssst
Ssslowly and sssssurely your sssenssess
Will cease
To exissssssst…”

Simultaneously, she fell onto her back on his tail. The tip of his tail wrapped around a branch and she started swinging her from side to side like she was on a hammock. Then he lifted her, gently tossed her in the air, balancing her stiff body on the tip of his tail in the center of her back. Another gentle jostle had her upside down, balanced on the crown of her head. All of this was possible because she did unconditionally trust him.

He let her fall onto his tail again, and lifted her up to place her on her feet on the branch.

“Now that that’sssss taken care of,” he said, “Let’sssssss get thissssss party sssssssstarted.

:-:-:-:-:-:

Oua basked in the Pomaika’I sun, sleeping off a very vigorous play session with Kimi, who slept in his coils. She straddled the branch, bare legs uncoiled and dangling. However, she was still coiled from waist to neck. He provided a little pillow with his tail, keeping her head from tipping backwards and making her snore. She too was still tired from a session that involved a lot of running, wrestling and other activities. And Oua still wanted to do more to her, but couldn’t think of anything.

But for now, Oua was content to keep Kimi wrapped in his coils under his spell while he snoozed.

The air began to crackle. Sparks shot from nothing. Hearing this, Oua opened his eyes. He watched the sparks increase, the crackling getting louder. He was barely awake, so he thought his sleep-fogged mind and eyes were hallucinating. It wouldn’t be the weirdest thing he’d seen in his life, but it was still weird. He didn’t even consider the possibility that the sparks would light a fire (that’s because they weren’t going to start one).

He blinked a couple of times until he roused himself from sleep. He watched, eyes wide, as the sparks formed a line that opened into a circle. Then he remembered what this was. It was very similar to the way he travelled between universes. The head of a python, much like him, emerged from the portal that had been made in reality.

“Sssssssalutationssssss,” said the new snaked.

“Sssssalutationsssss?” Oua asked.

“Am I interrupting anything?” the snake asked. He looked behind Oua’s head, saw Kimi wrapped in his coils. “Oh, I am. Ssssorr—”

“You’re not!” Oua barked.

“Wake the jungle girl up,” said the snake.

“Huh?”

“Ssssshe needs to hear thisss.”

Oua sighed and smacked the side of her head with his tail.

“OI! That hurt!” she barked, then saw the other snake, and paused. She recognized she looked a little silly wrapped from chin to waist in snake coils.

“We have a guessssssst,” said Oua. He lifted her from the branch and brought her over to the other snake.

“I come with good tidingsssss,” said the new snake. “Dante hassss invited you to the Kaa Gamesssss.”