The Nectar Job

Marvin grew distressed as the woods around him darkened. The sun had vanished into the trees hours ago, and now the light that bled through the old forest was gradually dying out, like the last embers of a campfire. His boots stomped upon the bed of twigs and leaves in a quick tempo: the beating of an anxious heart, or the ticking down of a clock.

Thud, thud, thud. Thud, thud, thud. Thud, thud, thud.

He could feel his probability of success drain with each triplet of the beat. The odds of him succeeding in his task - and, in parallel, of ever leaving these old woods - were nibbled away by the languid approach of night.

His company - the elder neophytes and devotees that led him to the forest - were camping out away from the tree line. They told him, "you'll head out late morning. We'll wait for you only until the second undern before nightfall. Just over a day. Do you understand?"

Most of Marvin was focused on maintaining his brisk pace through the faint trail. "There

is

a trail," they assured him. The minutes went by so slowly; impatience boiled in his blood. But as quick as he could force himself to walk, it didn't seem fast enough to keep up with the onset of night.

Thud, thud, thud. Thud, thud, thud. Thud, thud, thud.

"If you reach it before midnight, you'll be fine. But no later. Understand?"

Marvin chewed his lower lip. He found his current predicament unbearable, so he looked inward to the past:

Admittance into the College of Sister Clothilde,

the

university for natural science in the Imperial realm of Vesitha, was so far the proudest achievement of his life. He recalled his elation during the ceremony where he was sworn in as an honorary neophyte (a

man

at such an institution!) It was like a dream - he worried he would awaken at any moment. And then, just a year and a half into his studies, there came to him an even greater opportunity:

"You've been elected for candidacy in the Holistic Society as a Colleague of Zoology," an honorary Sister, one of the head faculty, abruptly told him after a lecture. She asked him, then and there, if he was interested. Following a pause of thrilled bewilderment, Marvin giddily accepted.

"Make arrangements," she warned him, after giving him details of his new liaisons to the society, "you will face a trial. A test before you are admitted. I have no idea what it is, but it

will

be difficult and more than likely dangerous."

Days went by, and through gossip and breadcrumbs of hints from members of the society a faint picture of his trial took shape: some errand involving a bit of travel, hiking, and harvesting of an alchemical ingredient. A few of his fellow neophytes and acolytes (the female students), who turned out to be members of the society (the playful secrecy of the society was a bonus to its appeal) began to giggle around him: "heard you're gonna be taking the 'nectar job' this round, Marvin."

"Nectar job?"

At the camp, before he embarked, the devotee chaperoning the outing handed him a sack with a large jar inside. It could easily hold a full gallon. "Fill it up," he was told. "From what?" he asked. "You'll know. You'll know exactly what to do," the devotee said, smirking, "

if

you're society material."

Marvin poured over his books and notes. He had been given enough to fill in the blanks. The ominous comments from his elders and the jeering from his peers served a deliberate purpose: precious clues.

The keyword

nectar

told Marvin that he would be tasked with harvesting a sample from some rare plant or another. Another keyword,

danger

, made it clear this wouldn't be a common flower.

It

had

to be a plantkin: an anthromorph of flowers, trees, or any other species of the kingdom of

plantae

. Vesithan laypersons had many names for them and their varieties:

alarune

,

dyriad

,

flower maiden

,

vine demon

...

This forest had carnivorous plants. And when Marvin saw the size of the jar, he knew - "it's gonna be a

big

plantkin, huh?"

"Just over a day. Stick to the trail. Fill it up," the chaperone summarized.

Thud, thud, thud. Thud, thud, thud. Thud, thud, thud.

Lights danced in the distance between the trees. Fairies and god knows what else. But he stuck to the path. He was

sure

he was still on the path. He had to have faith in himself, and trust in fortune to guide him along.

Thud, Thud, Thud. Thud, Thud, Thud. Thud-

He froze. There were lights above him. He looked up, expecting to have come across a party of fairies. Instead, he saw what looked to be glowing orbs suspended by leafy vines. The vines cascaded up the trees, clung to the branches, and dangled the lamps, like lightposts for the trail.

The vines, he realized, were everywhere. Not only on the trees, but the earth as well. Marvin had no idea how long he had been walking on these vines. As eerie as they were, they kindled hope in him. He felt he was getting close.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

His steps were cautious, despite his way being clear. The intertwined vines actually made the earth beneath him uniform and more stable. Or were they roots? He noted that the glowglobes extinguished themselves behind him, and only those just before him lit up. Something knew he was here. Something was

guiding

him.

Thud. Thud-

He froze again - a silhouette just to his right! It was distinctly feminine, save for the head: he thought it to be a woman in a sunhat, but inched closer and saw it was a mushroom.

She was pale and still, and would resemble a stone statue were it not for the cap and scales that veiled her face. There were no limbs, but contours and bulges that resembled outlines of thighs, arms, and breasts.

It was certainly the most impressive bit of fungus Marvin had ever seen. He read about these so-called

mushroom maidens

, but nothing compared to coming upon one in the wilds like this. Even her "face" had features: calm, closed eyes, a nose, and a soft smile. Her stature was a slight bow, as though she was greeting him.

He left her alone and continued. As he progressed, he could pick out similar shapes between the trees. This place was littered with mushroom maidens!

Further in, Marvin began to detect a sweetness in the air. A good omen. Whatever he was supposed to find, he was close. He compared himself to a bug approaching a sundew, thinking of the other inhabitants of the forest. If he were an insect, or even some small mammal, with a greater sense of smell, how enticing would this perfume be to him? Would he be entranced by the fragrance, absent-mindedly wandering towards the source?

The lights led him into a clearing of sorts. Glowglobes in the canopy softly lit the space. It was like being in a chamber. The vines coalesced into the source at the center. Marvin had to pause, holding himself up against a tree, and take in the sight of her. She was it. She was

huge

.

Her base was a massive lily, its white petals wearing the soft pink light cast by the globes, with a pool of rosy liquid within it. Within this pool was a woman, ordinary in all ways besides the soft green hue of her skin, the vines, leaves, and petals that wove along her arms, waist, and long golden hair, and the intimidating size of her.

She was twice as high as him, despite having no hint of legs or feet. Marvin surmised she was, proportionally, four times the size of a human. The large jar made sense now.

She turned to look at him, cocked her head, and smiled curiously at him. Her violet irises glowed. She brought up a hand and waved at him, beckoning him to come forward.

Such a human gesture!

He obeyed and slowly walked closer to the flower maiden, admiring the anthropomorphic aspects of her:

He noted the dark shade of her full lips. The beauty mark at one corner of her mouth.

He noted the fullness of her figure.. She was, to use a simple and somewhat coarse vocabulary, pudgy. The words "yummy, tasty, succulent" came to Marvin's mind.

Creatures of the natural world surviving through sexual temptations of other species was common. Perhaps this is what Marvin was dealing with? But did many men come this way, this deep in the forest? Highly doubtful. And, as Marvin already conjectured, that sweet-smelling pool of hers likely lured in enough insects and critters on its own.

No. Much like the mushroom maidens he saw earlier, the feminine form of this plantkin was not a functional trait. Marvin read much about this phenomenon, with the female form - the shape of God, the Great Mother, according to the Sisterhood - present in all animal kingdoms, in the demigods (demons to many), in the elementals and their progeny, and even in the phenomena of the cosmos. He had read of it, and now he was seeing it.

Phantom intellectuals bickered in Marvin's head as he gazed up at the plantkin. He noticed her nipples: dark, engorged, like large ripe raspberries. Nectar steadily flowed from them, running down her glistening waist, and into the pool.

Marvin knew, on a basic sensory level, that the nectar was the source of the sweet smell in the air, was thin but sticky, and tasted mildly of citrus. And the mere sight of her lactating breasts told him they were full and hard. There was a tiny impulse itching at the back of his mind to drink.

This was quite the entrance exam for the Holistic Society..

"Hello," she said, beaming a simple grin down to him.

She spoke!

He noted her white teeth. Were they part of the divine pattern or functional?

His parents used to scold him at dinner: "chew your food well! Chew! Chew! Or you'll get indigestion!"

"Hello?" she repeated, cocking her head once more.

"Hello," Marvin finally said, putting aside his growing anxiety, "I'm Marvin."

It made sense to introduce himself.

"Marvin? I've never seen a Marvin before."

She's capable of conversation! She employs language!

"Uh, no," he chuckled, once he overcame his excitement, "I'm a human. Marvin is my name."

"Oh," she nodded, "I know what those are. So you're Marvin the human."

"Yes, correct. And who are you, madam?"

"Me? I'm a plant."

"Yes, of course. And your name is-?"

"My name?"

She brought a finger to her lower lip and looked off to the side, as though deep in thought.

"Well," she said after a thought, "I'm 'me' I suppose. Me: the plant."

"Okay."

As he nodded, smirking, Marvin reminded himself that he wasn't dealing with an ordinary woman.

The scent, the lights,

he thought

, are all designed to attract visitors to her.

The vines that cascaded from her base also climbed up the neighboring trees for a simple reason: to cheat their way to the top of the forest canopy, where she could dine on the sun's radiance.

That massive tulip she resides in - a giant flower surrounded by great, ancient trees - it's like a cheeky dress. Only at the sun's zenith could any sunlight pierce the canopy, and even then but a trickle. It was merely there to be pretty. Charming. Like the rest of her.

In some sense, even common flowers possess an inherently charming design.

And with a body like that, charm is superfluous. Hell, with a scent like hers, the body itself is superfluous.

She

had

to be carnivorous. What were her mechanisms for digestion?

"You look at me so thoughtfully," she remarked.

"Do I?" he asked, coming out of his swirling thoughts, "did the others?"

"Others? I don't know any other Marvins."

Why would a plant need to be coy?

"Other humans."

"Oh, right. Yes, some. But the rest looked at me differently. They really liked to look at me."

She ran her violet-tipped fingers down her neck, over her breasts, and down the sides of her waist. For the first time, Marvin permitted himself to look upon the woman part of her as, well,

a woman

.

Though he was a studious academic, Marvin was also a virile young man. And this woman, with her scent, her golden hair, and warm smile made him feel as though it was the holidays: disputations were over, lectures were done (for only a short time); and so, he and his cohorts went into the city, where he celebrated from bar to bar, drank, joked, and played jester to every party of ladies until one (and if fortune blessed him, more) chose him as the outlet for her unrelieved passions.

Nevermind the deep green color of her flesh. In the glowglobes, she was a composition of greens, blues, pink, and bright violet. And those swirling vines and flowers: they spiraled on her arms, neck, and waist like bangles, rings, and necklaces.

"You are beautiful," he said. "All of you," he added, looking at the vines and glowing globes they suspended.

Luminescence,

churned an engine in his mind,

what sort of alchemical reaction-?

"And those, er, mushrooms," he remembered, holding up a finger, "they are also pretty."

"They are very pretty things," she nodded," but they are not me. They live here with me. They are my friends."

There was a change in her demeanor. Her smile cooled, and she now looked at Marvin in a way that mirrored his analytic gaze.

"They eat what's dead," she said.

Marvin gulped, considering how to continue. Was she growing impatient with him? Could she hurt him? Leaving her and walking the forest at night was a bad idea. And the thought of coming back to camp empty-handed filled him with dread. His eyes wandered among her bosom, her dark areolas, her lips, and her golden hair. He let himself inhale deep breaths of her perfume - the scent of her nectar, fresh from her lactating breasts - to balance his heavy anxiety with the haze of lust bubbling in him.

"I came a long way to see you."

"You did? Just to see me?"

"Well, not just to

see

you, as pretty as you are."

Marvin pulled the jar from his bag and presented it to her.

"I need to fill this up with your nectar."

"My nectar?" She raised her eyebrows and brought her finger back to her lips. "What's that?"

"That's the sweet-smelling stuff flowing from your bosom, dear," Marvin answered.

"Oh," she giggled, "yeah, I should have figured. Practically everyone and everything

loves

this stuff! They can't get enough!"

"Yes, I'm sure. Would you be so kind as to fill up this jar for me?"

She frowned at him, mocking a confused look.

"But Marvin," she said, "when somebody wants my nectar, they just suckle straight from me and drink as much as they want. I don't know what to do with that jar!"

Alright, I'll play along

, Marvin thought. The thought of wrapping his lips around her nipples made his heart drum harder. Her scent was affecting him more by the minute.

"You just have to express your milk into it."

"Milk?"

"Nectar," he quickly corrected himself, "I meant your nectar. Just express your nectar into that jar for me."

He offered the jar for her, but she merely stared at him.

"I'm sorry Marvin, but I have no idea how to 'express' my milk for you."

"Nectar," he corrected again, "and expressing it should be easy, if your breasts are as similar to a human's as they appear. Just wrap your fingers around your breast, with your thumb on top..."

He made a 'C' shape on his own chest to demonstrate. She mirrored his motions, watching him with an eager smile.

"...and then you just run your thumb down like this, and-"

He flinched as a stream of nectar hit his face.

"Hey, I did it," she said excitedly.

"Yes, great work," Marvin patiently replied, wiping the warm, sticky fluid onto his sleeve, "now let's do that again, and this let's get it into the-"

Another stream splattered onto his cheek. While it was sticky, it was also runny enough to quickly trickle down his face. It seeped into his skin with a pleasantly warm tingle. The sweet, fruity smell was quite strong, but not overpowering. He pursed his lips shut, careful not to get any into his mouth.

"Hey, look at that! My other breast does it too!"

"In the jar, please," Marvin barked, his patience running thin.

"But Marvin."

"What?"

"Your cock is hard," she said with a girlish glee.

He looked down to see an obscene tent at his crotch. He saw it twitch, feeling the pleasant throb in his shaft.

"Hey Marvin," she went on, almost laughing at him, "I know how to 'express' milk from human boys. Would you like me to demonstrate?"

"No," he said through gritted teeth, trying to keep his temper in check, "that's quite alright."

A cascade of vines rose from the earth in front of the plantkin, bending toward her and braiding into a makeshift armrest.

"Are you sure, Marvin?" she teased, resting her chin in her palm and showering him with a devilish smile, "I know how cumbersome a hard cock can be for a human."

"I assure you I am quite-"

Another squirt of nectar silenced him.

"It's so cumbersome to want to

fuck

, Marvin. And I can tell you want to

fuck

."

He remained silent, slowly inhaling and exhaling, tempering his frustrations.

"Are you sure you don't want to suckle from me?" she went on. "You came all this way, after all."

He did come all that way. And now it seemed he would be leaving empty handed. He smiled softly and looked to the side. The journey back through the forest, in the middle of night, would be difficult. But the hardest part would be meeting his cohorts at camp with an empty jar.

The flower maiden watched sadness and acceptance wash over the young man's features. Her demeanor changed yet again.

"So you've decided not to partake in any of the pleasures I offer you?"

The coldness had returned to her voice.

"I'm afraid not," he shrugged.

A blank washed over the flower maiden's soft face. Her empty eyes stared off into the darkness, as though in a trance. Her body, still soft and inviting, was eerily rigid. She was like the mushroom maidens littered around her clearing.

Marvin took this abrupt change to mean that she was no longer interested in him - that he should leave. And so, he turned around and began heading towards the edge of her domain.

He didn't see or hear the vines protrude from the ground behind him. They rushed towards him in a wild swarm. Hardly a yelp escaped his lips as they wrapped around his limbs, lifted him off the ground, turned him around, and brought him back to the flower maiden. He hung helplessly eye-level before her. She regarded him with a soft but alien smile.

"D-don't hurt me, please," he stammered, barely managing the words through his terror.

"I won't hurt you, Marvin," she assured him, "I've learned how to properly handle humans. Now..."

The vines brought him closer to her. He squirmed, but they held him firm, like a harness around all four limbs.

"You are going to drink from my breasts," she firmly told him, staring him down, "you came all this way, and you

will

accept my gifts. Do you understand?"

Marvin merely nodded. His voice had failed him. All he could do was hyperventilate from fear.

"I'm sorry to force you like this," she said as she brought him to her bosom, "but you are quite frustrating for a human. Why are you so adamantly against partaking in the pleasure I offer?"

That was clearly a rhetorical question, as she forcefully plugged his mouth with her nipple. His mouth was quickly filled with her nectar.

The taste was sweet, thick, but refreshing despite being warm. He swallowed it down eagerly. Lips, tongue, and throat moved independently of Marvin's wits. It was like his body couldn't get enough. And how great it felt running down his throat! It was like a smooth rum, and settled in his stomach just as well.

"That's it. Drink it

all

up," she cooed.

The warmth in his stomach radiated out into his whole body, filling him with a pleasant lethargy. The suckling was an unconscious effort now - her nectar was a concoction unlike any other he'd tasted. His thoughts gradually dulled and quieted. The emptiness in his mind was a relief.