Juniper's Bandit Munch

LOTS of prey today! C:

Story poll closes Wednesday night! https://www.patreon.com/posts/49231091

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“We got a good haul today.  Let’s camp here for the night.”
The team of twelve roving bandits got out their things, and started to unpack.  Among the group were two friends.  There was Lo, a small grey llama who had joined to pay off her debts.  They felt quite ashamed about her thieving ways, and would have left it in a heartbeat if they had the chance.  And then there was Juniper, a deer and lizard hybrid who most suspected of being a dragon of sorts.  She enjoyed their thieving life, but cared deeply for Lo, and was a gluttonous and greedy sort.
And unfortunately for the bandits, that gluttonous and greedy side was going to come out tonight. . .
All the bandits settled down to go to sleep, and each one closed their eyes.  Soon, all were snoring away.
. . . Except Juniper, who opened her eyes once she knew everyone was sleeping.  She sat up in bed and looked around at the bandits.  Walking away from Lo, she licked her lips, and began her feast.
She started with the leader of the bandits, an abusive man named Sal who tended to have a sharp temper—and that sharp temper was often directed at Lo.  Now, Juniper was going to get revenge for her friend, in the most delicious way possible.
She approached Sal, and disarmed him by removing all weapons from his belt and bag, and shoving them in his satchel.  Then, she went to his head.  If she swallowed that first, that would minimize the chances of him calling for help and waking everybody up.  The deer lizard licked her lips, and a moment later, she began to open her mouth wide.
If Sal was awake, he would have been horrified by the sight.  As the deer lizard’s jaws separated, it showed off the inside of her maw, were drool dripped down her teeth and tongue, pooling at the center of the mouth.  And behind it all loomed Juniper’s throat, which foreshadowed exactly where the bandit leader would be heading. . .
The deer lizard leaned forward, and gently licked up Sal by the shoulders.  Then, she shoved the head into her mouth.
The bandit had an extremely pleasant taste, and it took everything in Juniper not to let out a pleasured moan.  She licked and sucked at the delicious leader, letting her tongue run across his head and taste every inch of it, from his chin to his ears to his forehead.  She spared no part of him, and covered the entirety of his face in spit.
. . . And then, he woke up.
Sal felt something hitting his face, and let out a groan.  “Waz. . . What’s that?” he muttered, opening his eyes slowly.
What he saw made him let out a horrified yelp.  In front of him was a uvula and somebody’s throat.  And he was currently surrounded by hot, damp air and a tongue that continually licked up his head.  Oh no . . . he was being eaten!
“Help!” he yelled.  “I’m—mmmph!”
Upon hearing her prey wake up, Juniper swallowed him down to keep him from speaking any further, forcing Sal’s head into her throat.  The bandit leader was shoved forward, and went from being in the spacious mouth, to the cramped, cylindrical insides of the deer lizard’s esophagus.  His mouth was pressed against one wall, rendering him unable to speak, and when he tried to pull his head out, he found that it was stuck!  He was trapped inside!
Knowing there was no way for her prey to get his head out, Juniper leisurely continued her meal.  She licked up his neck, loving the beautiful flavor of the bandit leader, and swallowed that down too, sending it into her throat.
Sal felt it as more of him was sent down into the esophagus, and he started to panic.  Was there any way to get out of this?  No, there had to be something. . . Ah ha!  He could use his weapons to kill his assailant and get himself out once they were dead!  Smiling, he rapidly reached for his belt with his hands, trying to find his knife . . . but to his surprise, he couldn’t find it.  /Huh?!/ he thought, feeling around his waist for a weapon—any weapon, just something!—but finding nothing.  /Where are my. . .?/
Upon seeing him search for his knife, the deer lizard smirked.  “I disarmed you before I started devouring you,” she gloated to her prey in a quiet voice.  “So don’t even think about trying to kill me.  You’re nothing but my food now. . . You better get used to it!”
Upon hearing the voice, Sal’s eyes widened with shock, horror, and anger.  So Juniper was the one who was eating him?!  Why, he had taken her and her worthless friend in when no one else would have them—made the two a part of his trusted team of bandits!  And /this/ was how he was being repaid for his kindness?!  Ending up as food for a pathetic deer lizard dragon?!
Rage filled the bandit leader, and he felt around with his hands, until he brought them to Juniper’s chest.  Then, he shoved as hard as he could, trying to pull his head out that way.  Once he was free, he was going to give her the beating of a lifetime!
But no matter how hard he pushed against her, his head remained stuck inside of her throat.  “Nice try,” the deer lizard said triumphantly.  “But my throat is stronger than that.  Now, down the hatch~!”
Before Sal could protest, another /gulp/ sent more of him down Juniper’s esophagus: now his neck and head were traveling down the tube, and more of him was thrust into her mouth.
Juniper welcomed her food’s shoulders as they came inside her maw: they were big and broad, like the rest of the delicious body beneath it.  Plus, it made it so that Sal’s hands were forced to his sides, so that was a definite win for her.  She licked and sucked at the limbs, tasting them with a happy sigh.  It had been a long time since she’d had food this good.
Inside, Sal was in quite a bind.  He couldn’t move his arms anymore (well, he could /move/ them, but barely—not enough to escape, which was the thing he was most keen on doing at the moment), he was getting deeper in the throat, and even worse, he could hear faint growls coming from below . . . and he had a feeling he knew what the source of those growls were.  His heart skipped a beat.  How could he get out of this mess.
Then, he got an idea.  He got up with his legs, and pushed them firmly against the ground, trying to use enough force to get his head out of the throat.  It hadn’t worked last time, with his arms, but surely it would work this time. . .!
. . . It did not work this time.  Unfortunately, no matter how much he pushed, and no matter how hard he tried, his position in the throat remained the exact same—he wasn’t moving an inch.
Juniper laughed.  “Man, when are you going to get it?” she asked, swallowing down Sal’s shoulders and lapping up his chest.  “You’re just my food now.  There’s no way of getting out of this, so just give up.”  She gulped down his chest and moved to his midsection.
Sal sighed.  Maybe she was right and there really was no way to escape—no!  No.  There had to be a way to get out of here; there just had to be!
But then, the deer lizard swallowed down his stomach.  And he reached his destination.
Sal’s head popped into a new, open space, one that wasn’t constantly squeezing around his face.  At first, he breathed out a sigh of relief. . . But then, he heard the loud /groooooowl/ sounds around him, and the scent of acid his his nose.  Shit, he was. . .!
“HELP!” he screamed, thrashing and screaming as much as he could.  “I’M IN HER STOMACH!  SOMEONE HELP ME!”
Juniper chuckled.  She couldn’t hear him—the stomach walls were too thick for her or anyone to hear her prey—but she could see the thrashing, and knew exactly what that meant.  Plus, she felt him pop inside her belly, heard it growl longingly as she gave it food: she needed more of that, and she needed it now.
So she quickly gulped down the rest of Sal, sending more of the bandit leader to her hungry gut.  Sucking in his legs like noodles, he piled inside of her stomach, until, finally, only his feet were left.
Sal prayed she wouldn’t do it.  But the deer lizard swallowed the last bite, and sent all of him into her stomach.  “NO!” he screamed, thrashing and struggling as best he could inside of her belly.  But it was too late: soon all of him was inside her belly.  It grunted and growled around him, wanting to digest the food. . .
/Mmmmm!/ Juniper thought, standing up from the ground.  /That hit the spot./  
/I wonder what the others will taste like?/
Juniper went around the camp, disarming then swallowing each of the bandits in turn.  All of them woke up at some point during the devouring process—some, like Sal, fought and struggled to escape, some submit to their fate as food, and others were somewhere in the middle.  Most lost their fight when they reached the stomach, and all stopped resisting once they were fully swallowed.  One by one, they piled inside, until finally, Juniper had swallowed the last of them.
And just like that, all ten bandits were inside her now enormous belly, squirming away.  The deer lizard smirked and patted her big round gut.  Soon they would all digest away into nothing, she and Lo would be rich, and her friend would be free from the thieving life.  That was part of the reason she had done this, after all—that, and because all that thieving made her very, /very/ hungry.
She went back to Lo’s side and lay down, her stomach growling and glorping as she went next to her friend.  The grumbling was getting louder and louder, and soon, Lo was woken up by the noise.
“Mmmmm,” the llama muttered sleepily, sitting up with a yawn.  They were too tired to look properly, and didn’t notice how big the belly was when she turned to Juniper.  “Indigestion?”
“You could say that,” the deer lizard replied.
“Here.”  Lo dug into her bag and found a potion, which they gave to Juniper.  “Here.  This should help.”
“Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Juniper guzzled down the potion.  Inside her, the bandits were whimpering fearfully as the walls squeezed in, threatening digestion.  When the potion came inside, the stomach quieted . . . for a moment.  Then it started to push against the bandits, dripping fluid without growls this time, quietly sending them toward their doom.  Many of them screamed and cried and protested, but there was nothing they could do to change their fates.
Lo sleepily scooted forward.  “Want me to rub your stomach?”
“Sure,” Juniper replied, turning to the her friend.  The llama came forward, and began running her fingers across the deer lizard’s big gut, rubbing gently.
The rubbing had a noticeable effect.  Inside of Juniper, more juices started to drip onto the bandits, getting on them faster than before, and screams erupted inside of the belly.  Digestion was setting in, and it was going to doom them all.
Lo sleepily stopped rubbing.  “Better?”
“Much,” Juniper replied.  “Thanks, Lo.”
“No problem.”
The llama turned over and closed her eyes.  “Good night.”
The deer lizard did the same.  “Good night.”
In her stomach, bandits continued to scream in horror as they began to digest. . .