Neil 

 

 

When I woke up it was early morning and I was laying on my sleeping bag in my tent. For a few moments I thought that everything that had happened yesterday had been a dream, but only for a few moments. 

 

Getting my bearings I tried to get up but my entire body felt heavy, sluggish like something was weighing my chest down. The cause for this became apparent as I opened my eyes and did in fact see someone was on top of me weighing me down. 

 

Looking down I could see the snake girl from the day before laying beside and partially on top of me. What was her name again? Shassala I think, although I may have butchered the pronunciation. Shassala was on her side with one arm and part of her chest and head thrown on top of me, her tail was coiled underneath her, partially on my legs back under her and then back on top of me trailing up my torso. Damn her tail was surprisingly long. 

 

Had it really been an entire night? God I still felt so tired. If Shassala was the one who dragged me over here and stayed with me then I really couldn’t begrudge her a place to sleep. Hell if I had been able I would have given her my tent for just her to use. 

 

Shassalas' body was surprisingly cool and it was actually quite nice in the already hot and humid morning. Likely today would be another day of temperatures over 35 to 40 degrees celcius. Considering I was used to a colder mountain climate, getting used to a sweltering jungle climate was proving to be a harder transition than I thought. 

 

Stretching as best I could without waking her I tried to remember what had happened yesterday, was it really just yesterday? How long had I been asleep for? 

 

I remembered the joy I felt at making a working potion, having fun exploring the mountain top, the shock at seeing slimes in my camp, my panicked flight from the creatures, my injuries, subsequent healings and then finally killing the damn things before collapsing in front of the pool waiting for my last stand. I had a vague recollection of Shassala coming up the stairs and I think she gave me some food? After that I must have passed out because I couldn't remember anything. 

 

I still wasn't sure exactly what had happened to cause me to collapse like that, sure the fight was closer than it ever should have been, I had been injured a few times, and adrenaline leaving a person like that usually left you with shakes, but it must have been something else. Maybe all the potions caused it? It would make sense that potions could give you some kind of magical hangover. 

 

Going over all of my actions from the previous day I cursed myself. I never should have left my weapons behind. I even left my hunting knife, and all those rocks I passed by, didn’t I have really good aim with thrown weapons now since I killed that first slime? I should have at least tried throwing a few small rocks. Even if I had just slowed them down a little it would have helped. 

 

 

Actually all of my preparations so far have been lacking. This isn't a forest I'm used to. This is a place with monsters and magic, if it weren't for this woman here I'd probably be dead now. From now on I needed to remember that danger was lurking around every corner and I needed to plan ahead for it or I'd quickly find myself as somethings meal. 

 

I was brought out of my musings as the snake woman started shifting on top of me sighing in her sleep. This is when I noticed for the first time that she was naked.  

 

"What the hell happened while I was asleep?" I whispered.  

 

Fortunately, I was still fully dressed with even my boots and socks still on. Maybe that was just how she slept and she wasn't going to change it just because I was there? Given that she had saved my life by showing me how to make a healing potion and definitely helped me by bringing me to my tent, feeding me and looking after me I shouldn't make a big deal about a little nudity. After all this was her homeland and I should adapt to their customs. 

 

I tried to gently extricate myself out from under her without waking her but given how tangled up my legs were with her tail such a thing was probably not possible. 

 

With an incredibly cute yawn she stretched her body which was a strange experience when I felt her tail tense around my legs at the same time as her arms moved out to the sides and I could have swore I heard a pop in her spine when her back arched.  

 

I watched as she slowly pushed herself up her body still lying half on top of mine. 

 

"Good Morning Shassala." I said. 

 

Her eyes opened and she looked at me. With an embarrassed squeak she pushed herself off of me and sat up stretching her arms as she went. Saying something that probably meant "Good Morning Neil or maybe “What the hell you pervert?” She looked down at her bare chest looked up at me. Trying not to stare I nonetheless got a pretty good look, deciding not to be a creep is harder than not actually being a creep unfortunately.  

 

Her breasts were larger than I had thought, a bit more than a handful and a damn near perfect shape, they were topped off by small nipples that were a light pink color. 

 

Her face flushed more than I think it would be possible for a human and she practically leapt towards the door one of her arms crossing over her chest as she started struggling with the door.  

 

Trying to be a gentleman I turned away and looked at the wall of my tent. Unfortunately she was still struggling almost a minute later. 

 

When she finally started to get very frustrated I rolled towards the wall and pulled my sleeping bag out from under me. Picking it up by the side I held it up in front of me and without looking I placed it on her shoulders. She jumped when I touched her but settled down and rearranged it on her shoulders when I saw from the corner of my eyes that she realized I wasn’t looking. 

 

Now sufficiently covered and face an even deeper shade of red she moved out of the way of the zipper and I saw what the problem was. It seems part of the tent got stuck on it when she closed it the other day so it would need to be cleared before it would open. 

 

Carefully working the material of the tent out of the zipper I opened the door and moved out of the way to let Shassala out first. Turning around I was a little surprised to see her hovering over my shoulder watching me the sleeping bag still covering her. 

 

Deciding the tent was too small for us to be climbing past each other I got out first. Looking at my camp I tried to make sure everything was still were it should be, it looked like she had moved everything I owned as it all looked slightly off from where I had left it. The biggest change though was the complete lack of the plants I had gathered. I hope they hadn’t gone bad or anything like that, it would be annoying to have to gather more. 

 

Making my way over to the fire pit on wobbly legs I was about to sit down when I spotted unfamiliar clothes near the fire. So she must have somehow gotten them wet or dirty and left them there to dry. Shit she probably got them dirty saving my stupid ass and I repaid her by leering at her.  

 

Feeling about half a foot tall I wobbled over to where I had left my pack the other day, or at least fairly close to it I opened it and found a T-Shirt. I was pretty sure she had gone through my clothes at one point but it didn’t look like she took anything, just looked at and touched everything. 

 

Walking back over to the tent Shassala who was out of the tent now with the sleeping bag held in front of her still and an embarrassed expression on her face, it looked like she was further back on her tail, making her more than a head taller than me. I held the shirt in front of me and handed it up to her before turning around to give her some privacy. That girl was tall when she wanted to be. Hearing her shift around and put the shirt on I placed her still slightly sodden clothes on the clothes line so they would dry a little faster.  

 

Turning my attention to the fire I added some wood and started blowing on the coals to try and get them burning. I probably could have gotten them started but I was still tired and the blowing was giving me a little bit of a light head. 

 

Instead I stacked some small twigs and wood shavings in a pile and got out my box of matches. Hearing Shassala approaching me from behind I looked at her and found myself staring at her as she for lack of a better word sauntered towards me. I probably shouldn’t have stared but with her just wearing a long t- shirt and the way her hips swayed side to side when she moved towards me was incredibly sexy. 

 

Looking back at the wood I felt my own face flushing, was I really thinking this about her? 

 

Opening the box I took out a match, struck it against the side of the box and held it to a thin piece of bark. When it caught fire I moved the match around starting fires in several other spots.  

 

Before long the fire was merrily burning away. So focused I had been I almost jumped when I saw her face hovering beside mine, Shassala having apparently moved beside me and intently watching me start the fire. Although now she was looking at the box of matches in my hands with wonder in her eyes. 

 

Opening the box I took out one match mimed striking it against the side of the box and said “Just like this.” Before handing it and the box to her. 

 

She took them hesitantly looking at the match and then me. Turning it over in her hands she looked at first the match and then the match box. Holding it in her hands I corrected her grip making sure she wasn’t holding it too far from the end and then adjusted the box to make sure she would strike it against the proper side. 

 

With some hesitancy she struck the match and looked at it wide eyed saying something that I took to mean “Wow.” She held it for a few more moments before dropping the match when it started burning down towards her fingers. 

 

Saying something that sounded like a curse she put her fingers in her mouth. 

 

“Oh shit, here.” I said picking up a water bottle, twisting it open and holding out my hand for hers. 

 

Holding her hand in mine I looked at her fingertips. “Just a little red. You’ll be fine.” I said pouring some of the still cool water on her fingers. 

 

Giving her the water I turned back to the fire and decided to make us both some breakfast. I was absolutely starving. Opening my pack I took out 2 MREs, I know not exactly gourmet food, but they pack well, are calorie dense and I don’t even need to use my camping stove for them. 

 

Opening the bags Shassala made herself comfortable on my sleeping bag and wrapped herself up in it a little to give herself a little more modesty I assumed. Adding water to the heater packs I let them sit against a rock cooking while I prepared the sides and some extra salt and pepper. As I prepared everything Shassala watched me with interest seeing where I got things from and probably trying to guess what some things were. 

 

When the meals were heated I gave Shassala the far more tastey Beef Shredded in Barbeque Sauce keeping the rather disgusting Chunky White Chicken for myself. Adding copious amounts of pepper to it helped but even then it was about as good as it sounded. Giving her a spoon and the bread I let her dig in while “enjoying” my chicken.  

 

Giving it a smell she hesitantly tried the food and with an exclamation of surprise she began to dig in. I hope she didn’t think all of the meals tasted that good, I carried MREs because of all the calories they had, not so much for the flavours. 

 

The two of us sat beside each other and enjoyed our meals while occasionally side eyeing the other. I think we were both curious about each other but too nervous to really try and speak first. I felt like a teenager again trying to decide if a girl liked me or hated me. 

 

Eventually our meals were finished and it was just desert and the snacks, my stomach felt like it couldn’t handle any more food at the moment and even Shassala was leaning back and sighing in contentment. 

 

Looking at me she said something in a bubbly tone that I took to mean thank you for the meal and I responded by saying “your welcome.” 

 

By practicing with your teacher you have learned some basic phrases in Lamiaese. Keep practicing to improve! 

 

 

 

Despite having only half-heartedly paid attention I found that I could now recognize several phrases that Shassala had said before and I thought I knew several words now. Hesitantly speaking, I decided to try and learn more about her language and my knew friend.