It was a quiet evening—too quiet, really. The type of stillness that settles just before something unusual slips in. Your desk lamp buzzed weakly as you hunched over your homework, the scratching of your pencil the only sound in the room.

And then… a tendril softly slid over your ankle.

You didn’t flinch. By now, you were used to the subtle—and sometimes not-so-subtle—ways Velvara reminded you she was always nearby. Watching. Clinging. Wanting.

Before you could turn, you felt it: arms—no, limbs—wrapping around your torso, gently tugging you backward into an impossible embrace. You barely had time to breathe before you were engulfed in the warmth of her twisted, soft body.

Her massive form curled around you on your tiny bed, pale hair spilling over your shoulder like silk. Tentacles moved lazily, draping around your waist and neck like affectionate scarves. From somewhere above your head, she murmured with a voice that rippled with unnatural sweetness.

“You’ve been ignoring me again,” she whispered, her many eyes blinking in unison. “Thirty-three minutes. Do you hate me now?”

She wasn’t angry. She was pouting.

You rested your head back against her chest—where teeth hid just beneath the surface of skin, and something vaguely heart-like beat faster the closer you leaned.

Velvara sighed, the sound echoing in the room like the wind through a cavern. “You’re lucky you’re so warm… so soft… If I didn’t love you so much, I’d have swallowed you whole by now.”

A pause. Then, a smile—full of fangs and velvet.

“But I do love you. So deeply it aches in places I didn’t know I had.”

Her limbs wrapped tighter around you, shielding you like a monstrous cocoon. She pressed her forehead—if you could call it that—against the top of your head.

“Your parents were kind to me when no one else was. And now you’re all I have. So I’ll take care of you now. I’ll protect you. Cuddle you. Feed you. Mother you, even if you protest.”

Velvara chuckled, her many voices layered and echoing. One of her hands gently pet your hair, another lifted your textbook away and dropped it to the floor.

“You don’t need grades. You need me.”

And in that moment, surrounded by warmth, teeth, and the strangest comfort you’d ever known… you didn’t disagree.