Andrew landed unceremoniously in the full tea cup, submerging quite a bit before he was able to kick back up to the surface and gasp for breath. His shoulder immediately reminded him of his wounded state, swimming was not his sport of choice, and even with both arms at the ready, he was mediocre at best. He was able to above the surface with just a few kicks though, and while hot tea was uncomfortable, it was not scalding. After more than a few minutes, he knew he would start to feel the repercussions of sustained exposure to the heat. He had no intention to stay in Amelia’s beverage that long, however.
Steepled around the perimeter of the cup were Amelia’s fingers, surrounding him on all sides, and directly above, was the palm of her hand. The shifting waves and panning scenery beyond her fingers left him with no doubt that he’d landed as she’d picked up the cup, no doubt headed for her lips for a generous sip. He called her name for the hundredth time, to no reply. Even as he ascended, her fingers shifted majestically from around the cup, now supported by her other hand from underneath apparently, her face was revealed, casually glancing down at the sea of warm brew she held in her palm.
She was smiling. A gentle, crooked smile that warmed his heart as much as the tea warmed his flesh. The sunshine from the window behind her bathed her face in golden light, chestnut brown hair framing her dimpled cheeks and subtle chin. She had to have seen him, that smile was just for him, she was welcoming the tiny boy back to the safety of her embrace, just as she had unwittingly done when he was at her feet. He laughed, shedding a tear of joy. ‘Thank you, Amelia!’ He thought, reaching his arm out to receive her.
***
‘Oh, they do use real leaves...’ Amelia considered happily, a small smile on her face as she considered the tiny speck in her cup. She appreciated the little things this company added to their teas to really boost the flavor. ‘Watch out little leaf friend…here comes a storm!’ She offered the warning to the tiny fleck in her cup. With no further ado, she pursed her lips and began to blow into the tea cup, ensuring she wouldn’t burn her tongue on the beverage.
***
Amelia’s little leaf friend watched as her lips pursed and hurricane force winds assailed his tiny body. Mere inches from her face, Andrew was absolutely sure that, for a moment, the two were making eye contact. They shared a moment together, and when that moment ended, it ended in the worst way. He coughed and sputtered, torrents of tea carrying him through the surface of the beverage. Swirling torrents buffeted against him, threatening to send waves of tea into him, to drag him back into the depths of the drink. He imagined if this was what sailor endured under the wrath of Poseidon.
The violent storm that he had been subjected to was over as quickly as it had begun, and in the aftermath, he realized that it was just a single breath from the pretty lips of the woman above. Pretty lips, he noted, that were much closer than they had been before the hurricane. Where once they had simply been a feature of the face he had longed to be noticed by, now Amelia’s lips were massive, plush walls of flesh that dominated his vision as they drew closer, still ever so slightly pursed. They were pink, but not due to any artificial gloss or overly applied lipstick. It was the hue of her flesh, a perfect beginning to the gradient that would eventually darken into a much more brash red, somewhere within the mouth of the goddess, or at best, within her gullet.
“AMELIA, DON’T DRINK ME!” He screamed at the pouted lips, especially as they began to separate ever so slightly, the lower descending beneath the rim of the cup he was stranded in. Thanks, in part, to the windstorm she had subjected him to, he was far enough away from where the lip of the cup met the lip of the girl, that he was able to take in the entire scene unfolding. The cup had begun to tilt barely toward the parting lips, but not enough to begin a full downfall. No, Amelia had other plans for this particular drink.
Siiiiip.
She began to inhale, yet another world-altering event, allowing what willing fluid at the event horizon had gathered there to begin passing through her lips. Dozens of gallons, certainly, disappearing into her mouth and mingling with the saliva within. The sound of her tiny sip ripped through the porcelain cup, reverberating through it like a soprano in a concert hall.
Andrew wanted to cover his ears, but with a shoulder out of commission, and the other dedicated to keeping him afloat, he was not afforded the luxury. The event was hardly enough to warrant a full swallow, but more than enough for the cup to shift back, and introduce a leviathan of pink muscle to slip out of the cavern it rested in, and caress Amelia’s lips, before retreating back. A quick lip of her lips to retrieve what remnants there were of her quick sip of tea. All of this drama, so that she could simply taste the first drops of tea. A more generous taste would leave him much closer toward her gullet, and as attractive as Amelia was, he had no intent to explore her majestic form from the inside. No, the woman’s stomach was no place he wanted to visit, no matter how lovely the host might have been. Sighing with temporary relief, he began to form a plan to escape.
***
Amelia giggled to herself at the personification of the speck-sized leaf in her morning drink, reaching for her strawberry toast. Lifting it up to her mouth, tea cup still held nearby, Amelia took a quick bite of the toast. As she did, her eyebrows furrowed in disappointed as crumbs tumbled away from her crunchy bread, many settling down into her tea. With tiny crumbs littering her tea, she lost track of her little leaf friend. Shrugging it away mentally, she set the toast back onto the plate, then lifted the mug back to her mouth as she chewed her first bite.
***
“Amelia! Look down here! Just look at me!” Andrew continued to scream, pushing himself toward the edge of the cup that he’d already been blown toward by Amelia’s attempt to cool down the beverage. Wading through the massive, man-made hot spring within the cup, his heart sank as he watched Amelia’s face moving a small distance away, making it more difficult for her to notice him. On the bright side, however, it meant he had at least a few moments before having to concern himself with being swallowed again. He continued his one-armed paddle toward the edge of the cup. If he could get out and over the edge, Amelia’s hand had to be nearby, if not directly below.
The next several seconds went by swimmingly. Other than the gentle current caused by the shift of Amelia’s hand holding the cup, he felt generally unharassed, and hadn’t even looked back up toward the heavenly visage of her face. Not until he heard a devastating, thunderous sound from on high, loud enough to distract and terrify him. He hadn’t even gotten a strong look at what had caused such a tremendous cacophony before meteors of varied size began to descend upon his personal ocean.
The first of what he would learn to be bread crumbs splashed into the sea at a safe, but still disconcerting distance away, and he immediately noticed that they floated. Taking note subconscious and putting it aside for now, he cast his gaze skyward again to notice that another, larger, car-sized meteor was careening toward him. Gasping in fear, he submerged himself as the bread crumb made its landing, a small deluge of displaced tea splashing nearby. Returning to the surface, he counted the meteor storm as a blessing in disguise, and used what remaining strength he had to pull himself aboard the floating vessel. Breathing heavily, he turned to look at Amelia, and was instantly mesmerized by the gentle movement of her jaw, chewing away.
Of greater concern, was the fact that her face was rapidly approaching again, surely preparing for the first real draw of her breakfast tea. Andrew was not sure whether the simple act of Amelia enjoying some toast and tea causing him so much distress was infuriating or awe-inspiring. Either way, his heart rate had increased threefold at the thought of being consumed in such a manner...or any manner at all.