“I’ll be back in an hour to pick him up, okay?” Brinn asked as she deposited Nick into Kiri’s upturned palm. 

“That should work out just fine.” Kiri nodded. 

“Okay. Good luck. Bye Sweetie.” She waved cheerfully at Nick and blew him a kiss. Her smile didn’t quite reach her eyes, however. 

“Bye Brinn.” Nick muttered, his stomach roiling from nerves.

After Brinn left, Kiri pushed the wooden door closed behind her, latching it shut with a click. She looked down at the miniscule human in her palm and smiled politely at him. He returned the gesture with a wave and a nervous smile of his own.

“How are we doing today, Nick?” She asked as she moved further into the room, her heels clicking on the tile floor as she crossed over to the desk on the other side.

“Oh I’m all right, I guess.” Nick mumbled, his eyes downcast, absentmindedly stroking the soft flesh of Kiri’s palm with his own hand. 

“Good.” She replied simply.

The trek across her office gave Nick a moment to take in her appearance. She was wearing a dark blue blouse that appeared to be made out of something like silk. Her dark hair had been gathered into a twisted knot at the back of her neck, and her makeup was kept simple but effective; limited to a dark brown lipstick, a little blush to enhance her caramel colored skin, and a bit of eye-shadow.

Glancing down, Nick observed her plain black high-heeled shoes, which were the source of the staccato taps on the floor below. Above these, her legs were encased in a pair of tan pantyhose, which eventually disappeared into a knee length black skirt. All in all, she looked completely professional. 

Nick was, of course, still naked. 

When they’d reached the desk, Kiri lowered her hand and Nick obligingly climbed off the warm surface and sat down on the cold wood in front of the Titaness who settled into the chair facing him. She opened a drawer and after a bit of rummaging produced her stylus and data pad, ready as ever to take notes. 

The Titaness clasped her hand in front of her and lowered them onto the desk, while she looked down on Nick from above. 

She cleared her throat, which brought Nick’s attention immediately to her face. “Nick, I think it’s time we discussed the incident with Trell. I imagine this isn’t going to be easy for you, but if you ever expect to get better, it’s something you’re going to need to do. Are you ready?” 

Nick hesitated for a second, and then nodded. “Yes. I think I am.” 

“Let’s begin then, shall we?” She picked up the stylus and tapped on the pad in front of her, giving herself a moment to review her notes from their previous session. 

“I want you to tell me what you felt after she drugged you.” 

“I… it was all very confusing… I was drugged after all.” Nick reminded her. 

Kiri smirked. “I understand that, Nick. I’m not asking for a blow by blow recount of what happened, just what you can recall.”

“Just… she was trying to confuse me, make me doubt myself. She had this way of changing her appearance to look like Brinn. It looked nothing like Brinn, normally, but once I was drugged… it was enough to convince my mind that she was Brinn.”

“Mmm hmm.” Kiri hummed, jotting down something on her pad. 

“I began to… see things. One minute I’d be back on Earth, only tiny like I am here. And then Brinn would appear and she’d try and step on me or something. Then I’d be somewhere else and Trell would be there, acting nice. Then Brinn would be nice and Trell would be cruel and violent. Eventually I started mixing them up, couldn’t remember if it was Brinn that had red hair or Trell, and which one of them I belonged to.

Kiri nodded. “I can’t be certain, but it sounds like she gave you a pretty high dose of a hallucinogenic party drug commonly known as ‘Daze’.” She blinked and smiled. “Not that that’s particularly relevant to you, I suppose. Please, continue.” 

“Right, well, anyway… This seemed to last forever. There was nothing my mind could grasp. Nothing to hold on to. I couldn’t tell what was real and what wasn’t. Eventually, I guess, Trell learned that I had been swallowed before. Maybe I told her, I don’t know, but she used that knowledge against me.” Nick shuddered and pulled his knees to his chest. “She manipulated me into wanting to be swallowed by her, because she discovered that I wanted to be swallowed by Brinn.” 

“And why did you want to be swallowed by Brinn?” Kiri asked softly. 

“I don’t…” Nick shuddered again. “I don’t really know.” 

“Hmm.” Kiri hummed again, her brow arched skeptically. She suspected Nick did, in fact, know why he had the desire to be consumed by Brinn; he just wasn’t willing to admit it to himself. “Perhaps if we attempt to recreate the moment for you, would that help?” 

Nick looked up at the Titaness, wary confusion written on his face. “Wh… What did you have in mind?” 

Kiri smirked again. “Something like this, perhaps?” She pushed her chair away from the desk and leaned forward to place her chin on the desk in front of Nick. She opened her mouth wide and stuck her tongue out slightly. She was eternally grateful there were no cameras or anyone else in the room to see her do this, because she was certain she looked ridiculous. 

Nick’s eyes widened at the sight of her open mouth in front of him. The dim light of the overhead lamp was nevertheless bright enough to pierce into the depths of her maw, reflecting off the saliva soaked surfaces of her perfectly white teeth and writhing tongue. 

He could feel his heart start to beat faster and his breathing became shallower. Was she really suggesting this? Was this a good idea? His mind screamed at him to stop, to refuse to do it, but his body apparently had other ideas. He climbed to his feet and approached the open orifice slowly. 

“A… are you sure about this?” Nick asked timidly as he drew near. 

“Just pretend that I’m Trell. Or better yet, pretend that I’m Brinn, since that’s who you thought you were dealing with. Just bring yourself back to that moment and describe how you’re feeling. “

Her breath washed across his face as he came closer, occasionally a fleck of saliva, likely unnoticeable to Kiri, would fly out to strike him on the chest. He didn’t seem to care. 

As if in a trance, he reached out to touch the plump brown flesh of her lower lip. He brought his other hand up and placed it on top of her tongue. 

“Tell me how you feel, Nick.” Kiri’s words were slurred by having to keep her mouth open. Again, she was glad nobody could see this. 

“I feel… I’m feeling kind of anxious. My heart’s beating a mile a minute.” 

“Okay.” Kiri responded. “Can you climb inside now?” Her jaw was starting to hurt. 

Without a word Nick grabbed hold on her bottom row of teeth and used them to hoist himself up. After a second, he plopped down on her tongue and slid inside her mouth. 

Once he was safely inside, Kiri closed her jaws and rubbed her chin where the muscles had gotten a little sore. On the one hand, she was somewhat disappointed that Nick had agreed to do this, as it meant he was still enthralled by the idea of being swallowed. Had he refused, it would have meant he was that much closer to being cured. On the other hand, she also now had a unique opportunity to study his… unusual predilections first hand. 

She lifted her chin off the table and sat back in her chair. As she did so, she mentally assessed her own feelings about this situation. It didn’t turn her on in the slightest, and she didn’t feel any kind of power rush that she knew other Titans likely would at this point. She’d always found that to be rather pathetic. Lording over animals no bigger than her finger…that wasn’t power. Getting those who were subjectively “stronger” than you to do what you wanted; that was power. 

Idly she flicked her tongue underneath Nick, causing him to sprawl across the muscle. “Keep talking to me Nick.” She mumbled around the little human in her mouth. “What’s going on in there?” 

Nick breathed in the miasma inside Kiri’s mouth. It had gone dark when she’d closed her jaws, but that just meant the input from his other senses was that much sharper. He could feel the wet saliva all around him. The thick slimy substance completely coated his hands and lower legs, and occasionally a drop would fall from the roof of her mouth and splash on his back or the top of his head, soaking his hair. 

The scent of her most recent meal lingered in the air around him. He only had a passing familiarity with Titan cuisine, so he wasn’t able to identify the dish based on scent alone. He could tell it had been something spicy, however. He could also taste a little of it himself whenever he breathed in through his mouth, because breathing in the mist of her saliva was pretty much unavoidable otherwise. 

As he crawled forward, he could begin to hear the internal sounds of her body. Her stomach rumbled a bit, far below him, and every breath seemed to whoosh down her throat, despite the fact she was currently breathing through her nose. 

His blood pumped in his ears. Here he was, inside the mouth of yet another giant Titan. His mouth had gone surprisingly dry, given the humidity of the environment, and his mind had become sluggish. He blinked as he remembered Kiri had asked him a question. The fact that he’d forgotten was rather remarkable, considering each word she spoke rumbled like thunder around him and rattled his body like an earthquake. 

“I’m feeling…” He blinked as he tried to put to words his emotional state. “Anxious? I guess. Excited? I feel like I want to get out of here, but at the same time that I want to be in here more than anywhere else in the world.”

Kiri made another notation on her pad. A part of her mind couldn’t help but draw parallels between Nick and the only other ‘wild’ human she had ever met. Kiri continued to marvel at just how different Nick and Niall were. She could recall perfectly Niall’s reaction when she’d lowered him into her mouth. His screaming in terror and his struggling… but with Nick all she’d had to do was ask. Actually, she hadn’t even had to do that much. All she’d done was offer him the opportunity and he crawled right in. 

She also remembered that feeling of idle curiosity over what having a human in her stomach would feel like. Frankly, she still felt a clinical sort of interest in the experience. I wonder if I should just swallow Nick she mused to herself. It would be fairly easy, just one quick gulp and down he goes. It’s not like I’d leave him in there for long. Just a few minutes at most. Just long enough to analyze the sensation… He’d probably enjoy it, anyway. She frowned as another thought occurred to her I wonder what Naskia would say about that…

Nick crawled further into the pitch black darkness of Kiri’s mouth. He stumbled forward a bit as he brought his hand down on empty air, throwing him off balance. He managed to catch himself before he tumbled over. 

“Kiri?” He called. “Can you open your mouth just a little? I need some light.” After a moment his titanic host obliged and a small shaft of light from her slightly parted lips pierced the gloom around him. In the newly acquired light, Nick found himself at the very back of her mouth, sitting on the edge of her tongue. Directly in front of him was the pulsating pink chute that was Kiri’s throat. He felt his heart skip a beat as he stared down into the abyss of her body. 

Her tongue gave a slight twitch underneath him. 

There it is. He thought to himself. I’m standing at the entrance to another titanic body. It wouldn’t take much would it? Just another step and I’d fall right in. She’d have to swallow me or choke, just like Zara did… then after that, her body would do the rest automatically. 

It would be really easy. Nick swallowed nervously. Just one more little step…

A gust of air rushed past him as Kiri breathed outward, rustling his hair and forcing his eyes closed. After a moment it passed and he was able to see again. He looked back down into her throat. He could hear the pulse of a heartbeat echoing in his ears, but he wasn’t sure if it was hers or his own. The quivering pink flesh in front of him twitched hypnotically. He leaned forward to get a better look, raised his hand up as if to crawl forward. 

Just… one… little… step. 

Suddenly his mind snapped back into focus, at the same time as he felt a slight pinch on his ankle. Without warning he was dragged backwards across Kiri’s tongue and into the light of the outside world. For a moment he hung upside down in front of Kiri’s face, dangling from where her fingertips gripped his ankle. Then she gently lowered him onto a clean white cloth that was spread out on the desktop. 

Kiri cleared her throat, and if Nick didn’t know any better he would swear she looked flustered. She rubbed the back of her neck and wouldn’t look at him, and even with her tan skin he could barely see just the hint of a flush on her cheeks. 

“Well, I think that’s enough of that.” She muttered. “Go ahead and dry yourself off with that cloth, Nick.” 

Nick gathered the cloth around himself, as he pulled his knees into his chest. Saliva dripped down the back of his neck, but he couldn’t seem to bring himself to care about it, his mind was numb as the full weight of what had occurred, or almost occurred, inside Kiri’s mouth hit him like a sledgehammer. 

Kiri looked back down at Nick when she realized he hadn’t responded to her. He saw him curling himself in a ball and wrapping himself, almost protectively, in the cloth. 

She arched an eyebrow. “Nick? Are you all right?” 

“I …I almost did it again.” Nick muttered, more to himself than in response to Kiri. 

“Almost did what, Nick?” Kiri asked, hoping to finally coax the truth from him. 

“I almost made you swallow me. I almost threw myself down the throat of a Titan. Again.” He shuddered and wrapped the cloth around himself tighter. “Why would I do that? What’s wrong with me?”

“I suppose you could be suicidal.” Kiri observed. “But I don’t think that’s quite the case is it, Nick?” 

Nick shook his head. His eyes were glazed over and he looked straight ahead, rocking himself slightly. “No. I’m just pathetic I guess. Weak and Pathetic.” 

Kiri nodded and made another notation on her data pad. “Perhaps. But I think you just took a wrong turn trying to adjust to your new circumstances. I don’t think you’re so far gone that you can’t be put back to rights, however. It’s just going to take a few adjustments.” 

*.*.*.*.*.*

Brinn looked up as the wooden office door in front of her opened with a click. The door swung open on antiquated hinges, allowing the petite, dark haired woman to exit into the hall. 

“How is he doing?” Brinn asked as she pulled herself to her feet. 

Kiri didn’t say anything for a moment as she pulled the door shut behind her. Then she turned to face the taller woman. 

“He’s doing better. I think I’ve finally gotten him to the point where he can admit to himself what his over-arching issue is. Now that that’s accomplished we can begin to take steps to rectify his situation.”

“And, what exactly is his um… problem?” Brinn asked rubbing the back of her neck nervously.

“Well, to simplify, he’s upset with himself.” 

Brinn blinked. “I think you better complicate that explanation just a little.”

“All right,” Kiri smirked. “He’s facing subconscious turmoil. Admittedly I don’t have a lot of experience with humans, and even less with the wild ones, but what my experience does tell me is that the wild ones have a hard time adjusting to being pets.” 

“Well, Nick seems to have done all right.”

Kiri nodded. “And that’s part of the problem, you see.” She cleared her throat. “Nick loves you, and there’s a part of him that doesn’t mind being your pet. However, there’s still the part of him that was independent. I imagine he’s been taught his whole life to stand on his own two feet, take care of himself and make his own way. The same way Titans are.”

“That makes sense.” Brinn nodded. 

“But therein lies the difficulty. He’s got two competing… voices, for lack of a word, in his head. The conflict, the cognitive dissonance, between them is what’s causing the stress.” 

“I don’t understand.” Brinn’s brow creased in confusion as she tried to comprehend what Kiri was telling her. 

“He was losing himself in you Brinn!” Kiri explained. “His entire sense of self had become so wrapped up in you that he was losing his basic identity. This was causing him to be depressed because some part of him was still ‘wild’ and saw his submission to you as weak and pathetic.”

Kiri sighed. “The reason he threw himself down your sister’s throat is because, in his drugged state, he thought she was you. The only way his subconscious mind could find to resolve the dissonance was to literally become a part of you, Brinn. He subconsciously wanted you to consume him.” 

Brinn’s mouth fell open in shock. She tried to form words but her voice didn’t seem to want to work anymore. 

“And then,” Kiri continued. “After he’d been rescued and he realized what he’d done and why he’d done it, his own sense of self-loathing just caused him to… snap.” 

“So, he’s …suicidal?” Brinn asked weakly. 

“No. He doesn’t want to die, Brinn. His subconscious mind wanted to become a part of you, to live through you. It doesn’t make any sense on a rational level, of course, but the subconscious isn’t always entirely rational.” 

“Oh no.” Brinn moaned, falling back against the wall and sliding to the floor. “That’s horrible! What have I done to him? I’m the one who did this to him, not Trell.”

“I’d have to agree with you.” Kiri said flatly, but then smiled gently when Brinn looked up at her, startled. “But don’t worry, now that we’ve identified the problem, we can start to rectify it.”

“…Like what?” Brinn wondered. 

Kiri hesitated “Well, there are some steps you can take to help him to heal, but I warn you, some of them are going to take some real effort on your part, they won’t be easy.” 

“I understand, please tell me.” Brinn said eagerly, rising to her feet again; and then her voice became small. “…I just want him to be happy.” 

Kiri nodded. “Okay. The first thing you need to do is give him a space of his own. Somewhere where he can be by himself. This space needs to have opaque walls so he can have some privacy, where he doesn’t feel like he’s being watched all the time.” 

Brinn nodded eagerly. “Okay, that makes sense, what else?

“This is going to be the hard one- you can’t just snatch him up whenever you feel like it anymore. Carry him in your open palm; let him get in and out of your hand by himself. If you do need to pick him up, you have to ask permission first.” 

Brinn blinked. “Really?” 

“I’m serious.” Kiri crossed her arms over her chest, her brown eyes holding Brinn’s gaze. “He needs to be in some control over what happens to him. Do you understand?” 

Brinn sighed, and then nodded, a rueful smirk on her face. “I do. I understand. I want to help him, so if that’s what I have to do, then that’s what I’ll do.” 

“Good. Finally, he needs a way to reassert his sense of self.” Kiri rubbed her chin idly. “He needs something productive to do, like a hobby, or something. Something he can take pride in and feel accomplished.” 

Brinn’s face lit up with a bright smile. “I think I know just the thing.”

*.*.*.*.*.* 

Brinn returned home from a trip to the store with a number of packages, which she carried in her arms. After a bit of struggling, she managed to bump the “Close Door” button with her hip. 

“Nick?” She called into the house. “I’m home!” She kicked her shoes off in the entryway and threw her access card onto the table In the kitchen. Then, packages in hand, she made her way to her bedroom. 

Once inside, she discovered Nick curled up on top of the bathrobe she’d discarded onto the bed after her morning shower. He was fast asleep. 

Her heart melted a bit when she saw him, sleeping a lot more peacefully than he had since he’d been rescued from Trell. She hoped that being able to talk over the incident with Kiri had helped him. She also hoped the changes she was about to enact in their relationship would ease his mind further. She hated to think that she’d been the cause, however unwittingly, of most of his stress and resolved to do as much as she could to help him heal. 

Unbidden, her sister’s voice floated into her mind; “I told you we aren’t so different…” 

Brinn shook her head to chase away the ghost of her sister’s voice. No Trell, She thought resolutely. In many ways we aren’t very different. But this, this is one way we aren’t alike at all. 

She approached the bed as quietly as she could, she hated to wake him, but she was too excited to share with him what she’d bought at the store. 

“Nick?” She whispered and gently stroked his back with her fingers. “I bought you some presents…” 

She smirked in amusement when he suddenly sat bolt upright, completely awake. 

“Really?” He asked. 

“Yup. But first…” She squatted down until she was seated on the floor next to him, as close to eye level as she could comfortably get. “First, I want to talk to you.” 

Nick didn’t say anything, but she knew she had his undivided attention. 

“So, I spoke with Kiri today, after your session. And some of the things she said have led me to the realization that I owe you a huge apology.” 

“Oh, Brinn, I…”

Brinn held up her hand. “No, I do, Nick. I know now that I’ve been too overbearing towards you, and it’s caused you a tremendous amount of pain. I realized it’s the real reason Trell was able to manipulate you the way she did. I never wanted to hurt you Nick, but I have. I see that now. And for that I’m sorry.” 

Nick smiled and rose to his feet, beckoning her closer with his hand. She lowered her head down until her chin touched the bed. He walked over to her and planted a small kiss on her upper lip. 

“I forgive you, Brinn.”

Brinn lifted her head back up, with a small grin on her face. “I’m glad. But… an apology doesn’t mean much without some action to go along with it. So, with that in mind, I’m instituting a few changes around here. The first of which is: No more being grabby. From now on I will ask to pick you up, no matter what… unless it’s an absolute emergency. Deal?” 

“Deal.” Nick nodded his head. 

“Good. Second: I’m getting rid of your pet tank, from now on you sleep in this…” She opened one of the packages and brought its contents up onto the bed. It was a white box structure, with a door and a few windows carved into the front. 

“Go ahead.” Brinn nodded towards it with a grin on her face. “Look inside.” Nick approached the door, and pushed it open. Inside it looked like a studio apartment. It was pretty simple, but there was a bed, a chair, and a table as well as a small area that he might be able to use as a closet. 

“It’s not much right now.” Brinn admitted. “But I’m sure we can fix it up more as time goes on. The point, Nick, is that this is your space. You can go here whenever you need to get away from the giant world- me included. The roof does open, admittedly, but I promise I will never invade this space without your permission.” 

“Wow…” Nick muttered. Then he choked out a laugh. “it’s actually a bit nicer than the place I had back on Earth.” 

“Oh! And I got you these.” Brinn’s head disappeared below the bed again and when she reappeared she had a number of clear plastic wrapped packages in her hand. When she lowered her hand, Nick could see that inside of each package was an article of clothing. 

“I hope you like them, Nick.” Brinn bit her lip nervously. “I’m not sure how you feel about the subject of clothes, but you can wear these, or not, whenever you want. They aren’t much, just simple shirts and pants, but they’re a sight nicer than most of the ridiculous outfits that are usually made for humans.” 

Nick nodded and stacked the packages neatly in a pile. “Thank you, Brinn.” 

Brinn crouched down even lower, so she could look Nick in the eyes. “There’s one last thing. Kiri mentioned that maybe you would benefit from having something to do, something to keep you occupied.” 

Nick nodded, wordlessly urging her to continue. 

“Well, I recently dealt with a rather… interesting human patient at work, and it got me to thinking… maybe things would go smoother with treating humans if they had someone a little closer to their own size looking after them. And there are some animals that are really hard for me to treat because they’re so small but… well… they wouldn’t be nearly as challenging for someone your size…” 

She bit her lip again.

“I guess what I’m asking Nick, is how would you feel about training to be a vet assistant for me?” 

Nick was silent for a long moment as he considered the proposal. Finally he looked up at her with a large grin on his face. 

“That sounds awesome!” He enthused. “When do we start?”