Chapter 61: “The Swallower”

Shplack! Shplack!

As orange rays of light spill from windows, Daniel finds himself going another round with his blue-turned gooey mother.

Groaning, he drowns himself in her maternal love, literally, as the lake dweller pulls him even deeper into her mass. Such overwhelming comfort then surrounds him as he thrusts his hips. All the while, his gooey captor squeezes the silhouette barely visible within.

"Oh, child~" Viviane coos, her eyes softening as her son jiggles away from within. She caresses his head, which stretches out from between her breasts, with pleasure. No matter how he swims inside of her, she ensures her sweet son gets enough love and oxygen to keep going.

Splurt! Splurt!

Regardless of stamina, however, Daniel is still human. He tries to push on, but he reaches his limit, pumping with one final thrust before shivering in place in exhaustion. Such love emptied for his slime mother doesn't go to waste, as the lake dweller closes her eyes and hums, feeling his energy course through her.

"That's it," she purrs, hugging her bulging mass he's added to. "Mommy is comfy, isn't she?"

"Ungh...very," Daniel answers, his weak smile somewhat visible from the face imprint that extrudes out.

Viviane giggles before leaning her face down to kiss such covered lips of her dear child. She takes in delight over how much she can spend with him now without being left behind.

Yes...it'll be only a matter of time before she'll be able to become truly one with him. Is there anything greater?

Breaking from the kiss, she nuzzles her child's head.

"Do you want to stay in mommy?"

"That's..."

Before Daniel can answer, the front door opens, along with the shuffling of plastic.

"We're back! We'll need another pair of hands to-"

Marianne pauses with a few bags in her hands to see her slime sister enveloping their son like a pregnant woman. It's not too surprising, but seeing them have fun for the entire shopping trip is rather annoying.

She huffs, tilting her head. "Well now, it sure is nice to have our son all to yourself while we get you food, huh?"

Viviane flinches before curling her lips. "A-ah, I really appreciate it, sister. Should I help or...?"

The fusion sighs as she drops the bags nearby. "Not as you are, but you could certainly allow our son to help out."

"Oh..."

Reluctantly, Viviane pulls away to the ground while letting the artist slip out smoothly, leaving him on the couch. It takes a bit for the artist to recover himself as he breathes more freely; however, the judgmental eyes of his mother-girlfriend on his stark-naked form is quick to shake him up.

Laughing nervously, he straightens and hurriedly grabs his pants. "R-right, ahem, I'll be down to help!"

Marianne forces a smile while closing her eyes. "That's better. Had fun, love?"

"Yes, sorry."

"Oh, why are you sorry? Am I supposed to be sorry that you were spending time with your mother, all cozy inside?"

Daniel sweats as he hastily slides his underwear and pants on. "N-no, that's not what I...anyway, ha ha, let me help you with the rest of the groceries! It may help if you two split so we-"

"I'm not splitting back into Mary and Anne this soon," she cuts, crossing her arms. "In fact, since you seem to have plenty of drive, why don't you pick the rest. It's the least you can do for Mama, who did all of this work, right?"

Daniel knows better not to argue, despite knowing how many trips it took last time to bring back the truckload of food when Anne had to be mass-fed. In the end, he swallows and nods, moving past the fusion to bring in his new inventory.

As their son leaves to the garage area, Viviane twists her lips to the side. "That's cold, sister."

"We can't spoil our son too much; otherwise he'll turn rotten," Marianne counters before taking out a whole packed chicken from one of the bags. "You, on the other hand, have to be fed. I bought several of these fat guys just for you, so knock yourself out."

"Ooh! Yes, that will definitely help," Viviane cheers, stretching her gooey arms out to take the heavy bird out of the fusion's hand.

Pulling it into her mass through the arm, the chicken, including the plastic wrapping, all dissolves with nothing left before it could reach her majority mass. Instantly, she feels a surge in liveliness, and with it, she firms up a little more.

The progress is encouraging enough for her to wiggle in delight. "Hehe, a few of these might be enough for me to start shaping myself a better human form!"

Marianne smiles more easily, but snorts. "Good to hear, but don't rush it. If you melt again, I swear I'll find a way to take you back inside of me."

Viviane shivers at the thought. "S-sister, be at ease!"

"What do you mean? I'm perfectly calm."

Like Daniel, Viviane felt it wise not to press. It would seem, as a fusion, Mary and Anne can be quite scary when together.

"How can a star that's relatively young disappear unexpectedly?"

That is the biggest question, not only asked by Lecia, but by many observatories, scientists, and news outlets around the world. As much as the Stonehenge leader wanted to cover it up, such a missing star that's part of a well-known constellation would be noticed by enough observers.

"I'm not certain," Rachel answers on the screen of Lecia's monitor, thinning her lips. "A star shouldn't just disappear; rather, it transforms. In this case, Epsilon Aquarii is less than four million years old compared to our sun, which is four-point-six billion years old. It should've had many more stages in its lifecycle before disappearing."

Lecia nods, finding that reasonable. "And even if something were to happen, there should be remnants or some fluctuations, right?"

"Precisely. The only fluctuation I saw was when I observed it during the ritual. After that, the received waves have been fairly stable...until it just up and disappeared a day ago. That, right there, is what's causing a bigger uproar in the science community."

Lecia rubs her forehead, worried what this might mean. It doesn't help that the worldwide attention from this star departure might impact their organization's momentum.

"Wasn't there another name for this star?"

Rachel hums. "It's also known as Al-Bali, which was assigned by the IAU."

"That's in Arabic meaning...'The Swallower'? Pretty ironic if it only swallowed itself."

"I thought so as well. Looking into its history, it was named as such by an Egyptian astronomer, Al Achsasi, in the seventeenth century. Unfortunately, we only have an incomplete manuscript in records."

The fact that an astronomer, born in late Egypt, named such a star doesn't go past the Stonehenge leader, especially given recent records learned of Cleopatra. It's very possible that few in older times were on track to unknowns then.

Lecia hasn't disclosed this possible Egyptian connection to Rachel yet, given her connection with Daniel and the painting. It's not that she doesn't trust the astronomer, but she has to be even more careful if there's a chance of a leak.

Refocusing, Lecia clears her throat. "For now, we'll have our team look into it more. Please continue monitoring the stars in the meantime."

"Of course, um...that painting, by the way..."

Lecia sighs. "I'm sorry, Rachel. I know you didn't want to involve your friend's son, but I-"

"No, I understand!" the astronomer interrupts, but her eyes narrow painfully. "The symbol definitely resides in the book, so I can't deny there may be a relation. You don't think this is related to Amy's disappearance, do you?"

"I'm not sure," Lecia answers truthfully. "The best thing for now is validating whether Daniel found such symbol by accident...or if there's bigger meaning than we know."

Rachel frowns.

'Just how could that be?'

Although there's no reason for Daniel to reveal such a find during their chat, such evidence doesn't help the sinking feeling she has towards his brilliant girlfriend.

For one, she not only carries Amy's would-be twin sister's name, but shares similar presence and intelligence to her former colleague.

However, the biggest flag was Anne's casual mentioning of NMT-5101 during their discussion over gaseous galaxies. After digging into documents from her notes, she remembered that the designation was only a temporary name during their research of the plane before the official one was decided on.

Only she and Amy could have known that; that is unless it's mentioned in the notes by Amy Daniel held.

"Is there...something wrong, Rachel?" Lecia asks, cocking her head.

Relaxing her expression, the astronomer smiles weakly. "No, it's nothing."