Even amidst all my panic, the irony was not lost on me that I had fallen into a Szalinski moment.

All around me was a lake of white, cold milk, framed on all sides by the shining white and lamentably inescapable walls of the bowl I was trapped in. All around me, soggy flakes of some form of cereal floated, some threatening to push me under the surface and obscure me underneath a mass of carbohydrate. Overhead, the giant metal shape of the spoon sailed down from the sky periodically like a great skyship, guided by the colossal hand of the hungover girl I had only just escaped the rancid jaws of. It crashed into the lake periodically, scooping up seemingly impossible amounts of material as it rose, dripping down milk to the disturbed surface below, until it was engulfed by those massive lips I knew so well and disappeared into her body with sickening squelches, crunches, and a massive wet gulp that sent the bulge of material so recently in the same position as me down to her ravenous belly. I had to note that in all the time I had been inside Jo's mouth, I had never actually experienced her eating cereal; but my curiosity was overpowered my desire to live. My curiosity was experiencing Jo eat cereal, not being eaten with Jo's cereal. I hadn't survived as long as I had just to die this way.

"Jooo!! Down hereeee!"

I bellowed my lungs out at the underside of the chin far above me, moving methodically as her powerful jaws grinded up her breakfast, until my lungs were hoarse and I was feeling light-headed. The titaness paid me no heed, however; my miniscule presence in her breakfast was unnoticed as she continued to gaze at the long, rectangular slab of her phone in her other hand, audibly slurping at a steaming mug of presumably coffee as she did. My last cries were drowned out by the rumbling belch that echoed up from within her, and above me the spoon had cruised into view once more. Breathing heavily, I decided to rethink my tactics. Clearly, my aimless shouting was getting me nowhere, and soon enough I would be scooped back into her foul mouth or worse whether I liked it or not. There had to be a better way of getting her attention, some way of making her notice me before she obliviously ate me again; and suddenly, triggered by that very cataclysmic thought, the idea came to me. It was risky, certainly, perhaps the riskiest plan I had tried so far in my survival of Jo and her giant digestive system. Indeed, it involved putting me directly back on course to where I didn't want to be. But I had to remind myself that my risky plans had gotten me through multiple life-threatening situations already, not to mention a little sprinkling of luck along the way.

If that luck could just stay with me for but a few more moments, I'd be golden.

As the spoon descended into the pool, I broke out into a frantic swim across the bowl, getting myself in line with its submarine course through the cereal and just climbing onto it as it scooped its contents up into the air. In the split seconds it got higher, I pushed to the centre of her spoon and faced my oppressor head on as the spoon came level with her lips. The jaws opened, and suddenly I found myself looking into that terrible and yet fantastical place, that stinking, slimy prison yet paradise that had been my home, my cell, and my torture chamber for the last day. In all its glory it yawned before me; teeth thick with grime and sludge yet still glistening in the light of the morning; tongue still covered in filth but writhing and ready for its new mouthful; almost spiderweb-esque strands of saliva criss-crossing the cavern from roof to floor; and of course, the thick, sweltering onslaught of her breath, made all the more rotten by that old stench of sour milk and cereal mush, remnants of which were still coating her maw from the last mouthful. Its sheer horror and queer, fantasy-fuelled beauty struck me all at once, and for a moment I just stood there, chest deep in milk, mesmerised; thinking maybe going back wouldn't be so bad.

Then, I remembered where I was, and what I had to do.

With a mighty roar, I bellowed her name one last time, pushing flakes around me away from my sides with such force that they fell off the spoon and rained down to the abyss below. Such was my display of power, even for one as minute as myself, that I figured Jo would have to notice me.

For a fraction of a second, the spoon continued to move towards the cavern, and I thought all hope was lost.

Then, quite suddenly, the colossal jaws closed, lips contorting into an expression of shock and wonder. As I continued to watch, the lips moved in an expression of confusion as their colossal owner managed to breathe out the words "what the hell...", before suddenly I was moving higher, past her nose, until I found myself looking into a massive spotlight of brilliant blue, the black hole in the middle straining hard to get a good look at me. Her eyelashes descended above me as her eye narrowed, before relaxing again as she finally came to the realisation of what the speck was in her food. I could see, so close to the tantalisingly intricate pupil, the emotions of shock, amazement, bewilderment, and above all disbelief twinkle in its seemingly boundless depths, and from below me the mouth that was about to consume me once again spoke breathily the words that confirmed I had been successful.

"Well, I'll be fucking damned...."

---

Standing back on the cold, hard surface of the breakfast bar gave the impression that I had finally come full circle. One day ago, almost exactly to the hour, I had woken up on that very surface, confused, in awe, but most of all terrified of the smirking titaness who was sitting before me devouring breakfast, completely unaware of the ride she was about to take me on as a prisoner of the thing I had lusted for. Now, I felt relief, but also resilience, toughness, the staunch emotions to which the only real comparison I can imagine is a grizzled war veteran. I had survived Jo's mouth; I had survived her meals, her drinks, her daily routine, her partying, her friends. I had even, against all the odds, escaped her terrible stomach, which had undoubtedly claimed the lives of many before me. Now, I was ready to face my judgement; and, be her judgement good or bad, I wanted answers. It was time to finish this insane journey.

Jo herself wasn't looking too peachy. Dressed in what looked to be an old, grey sweatshirt, the titan before me was a shadow of the smirking, seemingly malevolent yet (on her own terms, at least) just woman that had greeted me upon my awakening into this strange journey. Her brown hair was thoroughly dishevelled, unkempt and untidy, sticking out in random places in a mix of bedhead and the events of the previous night. Her eyes, still as blue as the sea, looked hollow as black rings encircled them, testimony to the lack of decent sleep she had gotten and the tiredness she was suffering as a result. Flecks of vomit still clung to her upper and lower lips, forming a ring of brownish hue around her thin, red lips, which remarkably looked no different to when I saw them that previous morning so long ago. She gazed down at me, not with the gleaming spotlights of the Jo I knew from yesterday, but a curious yet less malevolent stare that hinted at her still hungover condition. She was interested enough to talk to me, and knew she had to finish what she'd started, but she was tired, and didn't feel awfully well.

This seemed like a Jo that could be reasoned with.

"I can't believe it. I just can't fucking believe it," she said quietly, almost at a whisper. "If what I remember from last night is true...shouldn't you be dead and passing through my colon right about now...?" She shook her head slightly. "I'm dreaming, I must be. This can't be real. It's a hangover dream...."

"You're most certainly not dreaming," I replied to her, for once cutting off her ramblings rather than the other way around. Something about the situation made me feel like I was in control; an amazing thing, considering I was still so much smaller than she was. "What happened last night did happen. And yet, I'm here."
I proceeded to explain to her everything that had happened that night, right from the point that Jo had opened her jaws and shown Melissa my tiny form lying on her tongue. I told her of Melissa's fake snog, my short time in her own disgusting maw, how she had spit me into her shot glass and watched with glee as I was gulped down by her without even being noticed. I told her of my desperate fight to not be swallowed, and then my experiences of her stomach; including, at her request, the gruesome intricate details of what the inside of her stomach was actually like. She learned of my fight to stay alive in there, how it almost failed, how her drunkenness was ultimately my saviour when she threw up the contents of her stomach, myself included, and I miraculously avoided being flushed by smashing into her upper teeth instead. From there, I told her of my awakening (leaving out the part about climbing on her face) and how I had attempted to escape to get her attention- as, I explained to her when her brow furrowed upon learning of my attempt to escape, my day had officially been served and I was aware she wasn't aware of me- which led to my swift and accidental fall into her cereal and my risky yet successful plan to get her attention. She listened intently the entire time, and when I was finally finished all she could do was look down at me in silence, before finally mustering up the words to say.

"Man, I... I can't believe you actually survived. I mean, I've put you through some pretty crazy stuff in there," she poked a finger into her cheek as I was used to seeing her doing when referencing her maw, "and I thought you'd give up eventually and I'd just eat you. But you fucking... did it. I mean, I even actually swallowed you, if accidentally, and you still somehow managed to get out. I'm... impressed. Genuinely. You might be the most resilient tiny I've ever met."

I felt some pride in that; knowing that, however small a victory it was, my survival had earned me Jo's respect, or something at least akin to it. I could only hope that would stand me in good stead for my judgement. But I was still missing something; something that I had been wondering the entire time I had been trapped in there.

"Tell me, why did you do it? Why did you put me through this whole thing?"

The giantess closed her eyes, and let out a deep breath through her nose. When she opened them again, she looked sad- almost, I thought, guilty. Almost.

"Well, like I told you yesterday, I have the power to shrink people down to whatever size I want. I could make you half my size, a foot tall, I could even have made you microscopic, just by thinking about it. At first, I wasn't sure what good it'd do me. But then, one day, when I was being bullied in school, I looked at the people harassing me and thought I'd like to teach them a lesson for messing with me. Just like that, my mind turned to my power, and they were all unconscious on the floor, about the size you are now." Her lips curled to form a small smile as she remembered. "I made them apologise to me for bullying me, and then I made them rub my feet as punishment. They never bothered me again."

"So, that's what I started doing every time I got into a problem with someone. Soon, I was known for it, though no-one dared to tell anyone about it because they knew I could easily just shrink them again. I'd make them do all sorts of things, though foot massages were my favourite. To this day, I still only shrink people that are annoying me in some way."

"So... like me with using you as a base for my fantasies," I reasoned.

"Exactly," she replied, "as I told you yesterday." She paused to take another sip from her coffee, savouring its warmth and flavour, before continuing. "It wasn't until I started to get into my teenage years that I started to enjoy the power. I'd get a little feeling of glee every time I found someone who annoyed me, knowing I could teach them a lesson they'd never forget. Ex-boyfriends, ex-friends who spurned me, siblings. Anyone I could find a reason to shrink, I would. But, what's that old saying.... Power corrupts...."

"...and absolute power corrupts absolutely," I finished.

"That's the one. Anyway, that was when I started getting a little more... ambitious. It started out as just threats; I'd threaten to crush them or eat them if they didn't do my bidding, things like that. It spurred them on to do their work, but I wanted more. More power. A few months later, I was on the verge of killing them; a few months after that, I was going through with it. I relished stomping someone's life out with my foot or my arse; I loved the feeling of a tiny person struggling as they slid down my throat, the sensation of them dying in my stomach." At this point she stopped, looking down to find me not only shaking slightly, but once again sporting a full on erection.

"D-don't mind me," I managed to stammer fairly coherently. "Continue."

Her brow furrowed again in annoyance, but she continued nonetheless. "I suppose the power had gotten to my head; my enemies started disappearing left, right and centre. Sure, there was the odd sibling I could torture when they irritated me, and that gave me a fix. Melissa, too, when she found out about my powers, was enthusiastic. She seemed to enjoy both being the torturer and the tortured. She was fun to play around with; the feeling of having a willing tiny was different, refreshing." She smiled again in remembrance, looking off seemingly into the aether. "I even gave up my old ways for a bit; unless I and she did something together to a tiny. That was the most fun." The smile faded. "But then... then she moved away. Got a job in the city and left me back here, forcing me to go back to my old ways. I kept going, doing what I did, playing with the little bastards that annoyed me. But nothing seemed to satisfy me like it did with her." She paused, and her gaze came down to meet mine.

"Until you."

She gave me a small smirk, though something about it seemed more genuine than the smirks I'd seen from her before.

"When I saw your interest with my mouth, I knew you were one of those types. I was of course aware that people like you existed; having been playing with tinies for twenty or so years, I knew my shit when it came to the 'giantess' community. But up until you, I'd never met one. Sure, I was mildly taken aback by your fetish being turned on me; the reasoning I gave you for why I shrank you yesterday was genuine. I wanted you to see what a real mouth was like, to experience your fantasy up close and personal. But the thought also gave me massive amounts of pleasure. The mix of unwilling and willing was so new to me that it was like nothing I'd ever done with tinies before. I don't know how it's been for you, but I've thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. I only wish I could've experienced you down in my belly, and sliding down my throat." Though still duller than normal, I could see the menacing gleam in her eyes. My theories had been confirmed; this wild ride Jo had taken me on, all the torture I had experienced, was in part down to her own pleasures, her own desire to have power over a tiny person, to dominate and humiliate them. In my clarity, part of me was disgusted that I had been used to fulfil her own fantasies; it was, in essence, a complete hypocrisy when considering that her primary reason for shrinking me was to teach me a lesson about my own fantasies.

For once, however, the primal part of me had the intelligent thought. I could easily use that fact to engineer a deal with Jo, to ensure my own survival and perhaps even undo my slavery, thus far unmentioned. Here, I had to be confident; there was no room to buckle, if I were to convince this titan of my case. It was time to get negotiating.

"Well," I started tentatively, as if walking on nails. "I thank you for your honesty... however brutal it may have been." I looked up into her massive eyes, locking our gazes. "Here's the thing. Technically, I failed. I ended up getting swallowed and sent down to your stomach."

"You're not seriously suggesting what I think you are, are you...?" I could see that voracious gleam in Jo's eyes again, her lips curling into a smile slowly. The beast may have been exhausted, but she wasn't dead. "No, I'm not," I corrected her decisively. "Just hear me out. Yes, I failed. But I also escaped. You said yourself that my survival has impressed you. By that merit, I think you would rather let me live."

Her brow furrowed once again, and she looked at me incredulously. "So...you're saying I should let you live... because you didn't die the first time I ate you." She put her hand up to her face, as if in thought. "Surely I could just... eat you again instead? You said yourself that it almost killed you the first time. I see no reason why it wouldn't the second. You survived by luck, not skill." She smiled at me. Inside I was swearing at myself, but I knew it was the weakest branch in my argument. It was time to bring out the big guns.

"Respect is but one branch of it. Besides, do you not remember that I am, by the agreement we made yesterday, your slave for life?" That got her thinking. Empowered, I continued. "Would you really throw that opportunity away just to have ten minutes of ecstasy feeling me in your stomach? You can get that from any poor fucker who happens to annoy you."

Slowly, she nodded. "Fair point. I let you live, and you're now in my eternal servitude. I can see the merits of that- even if I can't see why you'd want to be an itty-bitty slave to me from now until you die."

Now it was time for me to smirk. "I didn't say I was done, did I?"

"Don't get too cocky, midget. Or I might have to reconsider eating you." She licked her lips, smiling at me again. I was in danger of losing control of the situation, so I pressed on undeterred to secure my hold on it, reflecting once again that even in her tired and hungover state she was still dangerous.

"Now, here's the thing. You just told me that you enjoyed our little experience so much because I was both willing and unwilling at the same time. Right?"

"Mmmm," was the only signal I got that I was.

"Right. The thing is, you know I'm into the sort of thing you did to me, right?"

"Mmmmm...."

"Here's the thing, though. I know your plan- at least, the plan you told me was your primary plan- was to make me look at my fantasy in such a way that I would never want to go near it again. But the thing is..." and this time I smiled back at her, my own microscopic eyes gleaming, "...as terrifying, life-threatening and dangerous as it was... I fucking loved every minute of it."

I had to pause for a second, just to get some amusement out of the look of amazement that passed Jo's face.

"You mean to tell me that you enjoyed EVERY part of your time in my mouth?"

"Yep."

"Including all my meals, the gum, the running..."

"Mhm."

"Even my breath?"

"Especially your breath."

"Jesus, you are one kinky little bastard, aren't you?"

"Oh, you have no idea."

Giving her a little rundown of what exactly I was into; it needn't be repeated here, as I'm sure one has a good idea of my fantasies by now considering one has just read about them; I continued.

"So, we have a situation here where we both get pleasure out of something that requires both of us to do it. A symbiotic relationship, if you will. I get the pleasure of being tortured by you, and you get the pleasure of torturing me. It's a win-win situation, even if I can't imagine actually pleasing someone else would appeal to you- no offence or anything, but the last twenty-four hours haven't really given me that vibe. Either way, here's what I propose. You let me free because even if I did get swallowed, I'm still here and breathing; thus, in reality, I win, and you have an obligation to unshrink me as promised. But what I suggest is, we do this again- at a time of your choosing, because you're the one in control here. You give me a week's notice when you want to have your- no, our- fun, and I have to clear my schedule and give into that no matter what; it's not like I have a choice anyway. That way, you're happy, I'm happy, and the world keeps spinning without anyone ever knowing what we're doing. So I ask you, do we have a deal?"

I extended my tiny hand out, perfectly aware that she couldn't conventionally shake it, but doing so all the same to keep up the air of confidence. I had to admit, I was proud of myself for that speech, and as I watched Jo think it over- proof in itself that she was genuinely considering the possibility- I could at least feel a reserved calm that, should worst come to worst, I fought my best and came up with a decent sounding alternative, for the both of us.

Jo, however, had her own counter-argument.

"Actually, if I recall correctly, I said that if you survived, then maybe I'd unshrink you. No promises were made. What's stopping me from just keeping you as my slave forever? I have the power here. Your words and your fancy arguments don't change that, and don't you forget it. Why should I let you go?"

She was right, of course. There was nothing stopping her from doing just that, least of all me. I had no aces up my sleeve for that one, but I at least had one counter-argument, unsure of it as I was.

"Think about it this way. If you were on holiday and just stayed forever, you'd get bored of it quite quickly, would you not?" I could see she was thinking about it, so quickly I continued. "If all you ate was chocolates day in and day out, you'd get pretty sick of chocolates; and most likely die of a heart attack too, I'd imagine. The best things in life are for savouring, having every now and then to remind you how good they are and then leaving them for a while so you can reflect on how good it was before you do it again. If you keep doing this forever, you'll get bored quickly, and then you'll lose that pleasure, and find yourself lost again, like you were after Melissa. This is a new opportunity. Don't overdo it and let it become bland." Now I could see her really pondering, and suddenly, realising my last point made a really good second point, hastily added on to the end;

"Besides, if you keep me forever, I just become another unwilling tiny. And where's the fun in that? You said to me yourself that what was so exhilarating about this was how I was both willing and unwilling at the same time; that I'm scared of your mouth, but also absolutely love it. Keeping me makes that spark die off. Letting me go keeps it alive. See what I mean?"

Jo's face had contorted into one of deep thought. She was straining to find something to counter me with, something to throw back in my face and say she could and would keep me forever. Hell, I knew that if she wanted to, she could, and there was nothing I could do to stop it; and she knew that too. But she also knew, despite stubbornly not wanting to agree to it, that I was right. Finally, she let out a massive sigh, giving me a penultimate cold whiff of that rancid breath of hers, before capitulating.

"Oh, fuck you." She locked eyes with me again. "Fuck you to hell, you're right. Much as I don't want you to be, you're right." She closed her eyes slowly, and opened them again, seemingly putting the debate behind her. "Fine, I'll unshrink you," she said, sounding somewhat defeated, but the glint in her eyes told me otherwise as her lips formed into a disgusting, yellow-toothed grimace and she leaned towards me, just as she did when she first told me of my fate. "You just remember... that for all your arguments... and all your deals..." her voice quietened, slowly getting quieter as she got closer, "...you're still just the tiny... and I'm the giantess... and if I really wanted..."

The disgusting grin was now right in front of me, almost every detail on the grime-coated and otherwise stained teeth visible. Her voice dropped to a whisper.

"I could do whatever I wanted with you."

The last cloud of her disgusting breath blew hot and heavy past me as I began to feel lightheaded, and before I could even say anything back I found myself slipping rapidly into unconsciousness.