SHELDON AT SOLSTICE

Feature Writer:

Feature Title: Sheldon At Solstice

Published: 03.01.2023

Story Codes: Erotic Horror

Synopsis: Gryla, the legendary Yule troll, covets Sheldon’s latkes

Sheldon At Solstice

CHAPTER ONE

December 10, 2022, Earth-reconciled time

Yub-Shnagshoroth perched on a frosty ledge beneath a vast, dark sky filled with glowing green curtains. But not really.

The Astronomer had finished taking notes on his regular scrying, and now saw fit to pass some time in the Halfway Room. Here, he could visualize anything and everything his instruments and personal logs had recorded; but just as importantly, he could go anywhere he wished in the mortal dimension, with the caveat that he was out of phase. His surrounding environment would not be entirely solid to him, nor he to it. Still, it was the closest he could usually come to being back on planet Earth. And he cherished it.

Out there, on the frigid island of Spitsbergen, Svalbard, it was deep into the polar night, a season of darkness lasting nearly four months. Overhead, the soft carpet of a billion stars felt almost as vast as it truly was. Off to the north where he was presently looking, the aurora borealis danced slowly. He’d seen it only once during his captivity on the island of Hokkaido, but since returning to the Yokai ergosphere it had become one of his favorite things to spy upon. And there was scarcely a better place from which to spy than Svalbard.

On this particular evening, however, the near dead emptiness of his favored hilltop vantage was broken by a familiar presence. He’d felt it once before, in 1922, at this same time of year. It was … frankly, a soiled kind of presence.

He wasn’t entirely sure until he felt the half-solid ground quiver beneath his leather bench. Then he knew.

“Hallo again, my lady. I suppose I know what it is you want.”

2:00 pm, December 21, 2022

For Ithaca, NY, the night of the twentieth had been a disgusting mess of lake effect snow, amplified by a polar vortex. By early afternoon of the twenty-first, the three or so feet of snow had finished falling. The sun was out, and the day was just about warm enough to start to melt the snow before sundown. Which, of course, only made shoveling that much more essential, and that much more arduous.

Josefina Torres, my long distance girlfriend, was pooped, and was seated on the porch bench having a nice daydream about elves, when a shudder in the boards beneath her feet snapped her out of her reverie.

At first, she could identify no cause. Then she saw it in her peripheral vision. Something moving, far down the driveway, though when she turned to look in that direction it was too obscured by snowfall to make out.

Gradually the something drew closer, until it had a clear outline. Bipedal, roughly human-shaped, and enormous. Then she could make out that they had hair, albeit grossly unkempt, and clothes, however atrocious and ragged. And as tall as they seemed to be, they’d have been taller still were it not for an extreme case of hunchback. This was a monster alright.

Somehow unsurprisingly, they were moving with a purpose toward Steinmetz Farm.

“Shit,” Jo said under her breath.

She cupped her mouth in the general direction of the door and hollered, “Sheldon?!”

I didn’t hear her over the hum of the kitchen hood; when I came running soon after, it was because by then, the whole house was shuddering.

Turning back to the driveway, she saw that the hulking, troll-like creature was now coming up on my pickup truck. She gasped. They were over eight feet, probably closer to nine.

And a woman, unless Josefina missed her guess.

She folded her arms and made her best resting bitch-face.

“What business do you have here, monster?”

The giantess’s eyes went wide; they were far more expressive than one might expect from such a creature. She looked vaguely affronted. In answer, she reached into a leather satchel hanging from one massive wrist, and produced a sealed Pyrex dish full of baked goods. She smiled, evidently pleased with herself. And then, in a voice that was at once cheerful, and like a chorus of snarling hounds, she said,

“Is this not the huset of Herr Sheldon? I bring julekake and skolebrød, fur studen.”

It all looked and sounded delicious. But Josefina didn’t let up.

“That’s kind of you, I’m sure, whatever it is you’re trying to teach. But listen up Frau Farbissina. As Herr Steinmetz’s girlfriend, I’d know if we were expecting company. This farm is a sanctuary for troubled monsters, not a Shell station for every swamp thing with blue balls. We have a Google Calendar for chrissakes! I’ll ask if he can make some space on Monday, but Hanukkah is my time to get demon dick …”

She stopped talking when she saw the giantess’s expression change. Suddenly, she didn’t look so deferential. She looked like Kali, contemplating some smiting.

“No one defies Grýla,” she growled softly.

Just then, the screen door flew open and I stuck my head out into that shit storm. The apron strapped to my chest declared, “Shtup the Cook.”

“Did I hear my na — oh holy sh — hello there! I’m Sheldon! Did, uh, did The Astronomer possibly send you?”

I felt immediately sheepish. Josefina, as expected, was rolling her eyes. But at least the visitor’s scowl vanished.

“Ja! Yub-Shnagshoroth told me that this year, I might spend the first night of Yule with Herr Sheldon. You know, in lieu of murdering a score of innocent families in some remote village to replenish myself for the next century?”

Damn that ass-faced manipulator, I did not give my informed consent for this.

But aloud, I said, “First of all, we certainly do appreciate that generous reprieve for humanity, and I’m, uh, I’ll certainly try to help. That said … Yub-Shnagshoroth really didn’t explain the situation properly. I thought I might have just dreamed the whole thing. Like a regular dream, not a ‘visitation from the 10th dimension’ kind of dream.”

I shot Josefina a helpless look; she glowered, shrugged, and finally nodded slightly.

“Alright,” I continued, “Why don’t we … I’m sorry, what was your name?”

“Grýla. Grýla Juletrollet.”

“Well, Grýla, why don’t you come inside and have a seat, and we can sort this out over some hot tea?” I gestured towards the door, then added, “And do watch your head, the ceilings are quite low.”

I was turning to duck back inside when the ground began to shake again, even more violently than before. And I could clearly see the cause: following its master up the driveway was, impossibly but unmistakably, a cat. A house cat the size of a house.

This was certainly fine and dandy and normal.

“Don’t worry,” the monster said with a wry smile, “Jolakotturinn can stay out here, he is outdoor pussycat.”

As if in response, Stilgar appeared momentarily beside me, flattened his ears back, hissed loudly, and turned and sprinted back down the hall. A bemused Grýla ducked through the doorway after him. Josefina and I just gazed blankly at each other for a moment.

“What did I get myself into this time,” I said softly.

“That’s my line, Squiddy.”

CHAPTER TWO

Half an hour, a tea and a whisky later, we were all warming ourselves by the fire. Out of an abundance of caution, Grýla was seated on the floor rather than the couch, leaned up against the wall, a short stack of pillows compressing itself into diamond crystal beneath her mighty ass. I was licking my finger approvingly after tasting some julekake.

While it was absolutely true that she had the smell of a troglodyte, what Jo and I had initially taken for a near-dead ensemble of ratty clothes was in fact a heavy coat, and snow-pants with an abundance of patches. Unbound from these, Grýla seemed … maybe not more aesthetic, but certainly more comfortable and friendly, maybe even a bit flirty.

“A Yule monster?” I repeated, “Kind of like Krampus?”

“No,” she said testily, “I mean yes, but no. He works with the Christians, though they have a testy relationship. I don’t. Also, I hate him. He’s a drunken ass, and when he’s not terrorizing kids, he’s the most useless creature on this Earth … save perhaps my husband, Leppaludi.”

As she said this, Josefina emerged from the kitchen with a plate of homemade petit fours — and yes, I am aware how lucky I am to have found a mate who not only tolerates my absurd life, not only treats me like a prince, not only sucks my soul out in the bedroom, she can fucking bake!–and took her place on the couch beside me, after handing a tiny lemon cake to Grýla, who stared at it in bemusement.

It had officially become one of those holiday parties where all the guests bring baked goods and no one brings a main. Fortunately, I always planned to feed an army on Chanukah. If only because it meant leftovers for a week.

“Ah, delicious. Your Josefina is a keeper, you do know that, right?”

I grinned from ear to ear.

“Definitely.”

The troll smiled absently.

“I can see it in your eyes, you truly love each other. Much like my Leppaludi when we first met. Alas, things change … and if all you have is love, it isn’t much.”

She then turned to my sweetheart and asked, absolutely deadpan.

“Tell me, dear, is Herr Sheldon as good to you as you are to him? Does he make himself useful in the kitchen? Does he steke your kotelettene properly in bed?”

Josefina is a hell of a woman, and we’d been through a lot in the ten months or so we’d been a couple. But damn if her cheeks didn’t flush nearly to the color of a shoggoth’s skin, being put on the spot like that. Hell, I blushed a bit myself.

“First of all,” I cut in, “If you want to know how well I cook, you can judge for yourself. Just as soon as dinner” — and just then, I heard the beep — “Ah, perfect timing.”

As the scale of our celebrations had increased over the years, I’d given up some years back on frying latkes fresh on demand for multiple nights. Instead I’d make one giant batch of slightly under-cooked pancakes a couple nights before Hanukkah, using as much as ten pounds of potatoes and half a dozen eggs, and stash them on the hastily emptied bottom shelf of the refrigerator. Thus I was freed from my station in front of the stove. So long as we didn’t unexpectedly run out, which we never did, I could take out latkes a dozen at a time, finish them in the convection oven, and throw them on a platter with a big mound of labneh or tofutti.

I continued talking from the kitchen, hoping to keep the giantess occupied.

“Not to brag, but you’re in for a treat. This is the old Steinmetz family recipe. Do you want some salmon roe, Grýla?”

“Ja.”

“Alright, that’ll be just another moment here … done.”

I returned bearing two plates of six pancakes each, one topped with mounds of red caviar for her, one with just the labneh and scallions for us. As is my custom, I stood by eagerly and watched her bite into one like a complete geek. The satisfying crunch resonated loudly in her big mouth; I winced a bit as her lips smacked and her tongue audibly worked within.

She grunted approvingly, and I felt it vibrating in my chest.

“Deilige! I can only compare it to the raggmunk the Swedes make, but this is a hundred times better.”

Josefina and I exchanged relieved glances. We certainly hadn’t planned on a house–guest of the monstrous type, but it was going about as swimmingly as anyone could hope.

“Takk,” I said, literally the only word of Norwegian I knew, “You should know, two things we Jewish men take very seriously are food … and pleasing our women. And speaking of that, I have a few questions.”

It was a messy situation anyway you looked at it, and Grýla’s answers weren’t exactly to our liking. But we reached a compromise. She and I would spend the night down in the living room, where we piled up two spare mattresses. My pal Misha Betzalel, who was also queerplatonic cuddle buddies with Jo and one of the handful of people who knew our secrets, was fortuitously available. Or he was once he dropped everything.

In his words, “This is far too fucked up, I can’t in good conscience not come over and involve myself.”

As to the program of activities, Grýla claimed no particular interest in cuddling or anything else extraneous. But she was insistent that I be available to her all through this, the year’s longest night, from sundown (about four-fifteen in the afternoon less than two hours from now) to sunrise (about seven-fifteen in the morning). And she couldn’t make any promises I would be unharmed, yet another thing I could reluctantly accept as a demi-demon.

I accepted a lot because of my particular duties as the primary human representative of Morai-sa, the enclave of extra-dimensional demons who had turned me into what I am. It was an important role that I was glad to be able to serve. But it often felt like an unpaid second job; specifically, prostitution. I say this not to convey lack of honor or dignity or validity. Sex work is real work. I say it because, like actual sex work, being a fuckdemon is difficult and often thankless. It takes focus, skill, compassion, and a certain set of people skills that I’ve honestly been making up as I go.

At about three-ten in the afternoon, I ushered our guest to the barn out back, which had a veterinary room where she could safely and privately wash herself off. Josefina got a fire going. At three-fifty in the afternoon, Misha arrived. We three humans went up to the master bedroom. I made sure they’d have everything they needed for the night, and also a way to get through to me if they needed a clear path to the kitchen or exit. At four-ten in the afternoon, I hugged and kissed my girlfriend.

“So, um. Good night, my love. I’m sorry we have to be apart. It isn’t fair to you, but …” I just shrugged.

“Don’t worry about that now, sweetie,” she replied, her eyes scrunched up in a sunny grin, “We have the white noise machine. Just remember: look smart, be kind, and be careful. That witch weighs like four times what I weigh, she could fucking crush you.”

Past times, I’d have argued this, and reminded her of how much sketchy shit I’d already survived by the time I ascended to half-demon, or how much abuse a demon body could take and still heal in moments. But I knew that would be specious and unhelpful. So instead, as I dug quickly through the closet for a shirt, I simply said this:

“I promise I’ll be very careful, love. And in the morning, I’m going to take a very thorough shower, so that I can get right back to snuggling you.”

I took a deep breath, cleared my thoughts, and slowly descended to the living room. Grýla was there, lying on her side, with the oversized yet too-small bathrobe still on. It had fallen away from one side to expose most of her right breast, along with her right leg and a bit of her hip. It all honestly looked not bad for her stocky build and inestimable age.

Seeing her in such a humanizing light, I had to re-evaluate a bit. She was still a wrinkled old woman with a hunchback and a misshapen nose, sure. But also: her lips were ample. Her pose, slightly vulnerable. Those big expressive eyes betrayed a gnawing absence, like the Hunger I knew all too well. And behind them, I sensed a mind that was utterly trained on my person, and on the rare treat of a night spent sober, awake, giving and receiving pleasure. In short, a giantess cougar.

I smiled warmly, gently, almost stupidly.

“Hey,” I asked, “do I have a few minutes? I’d like to brew some coffee, so it’s there when I need it later. You asked for a full night. So unless we collapse first from exhaustion, that’s what you’re gonna get.”

CHAPTER THREE

Chanukah celebrates a Jewish military victory, but more importantly, our resistance to cultural obliteration. In modern times, it brings many of us joy to gather with goyishe friends and share in each other’s wintertime festivities. That being said — it was surreal and vexing to be imposed upon by someone akin to Grandfather Frost or Santa. Josefina and I had had these eight days set aside for each other all year. The resentment was still bubbling up in quiet moments like this one. I acknowledged it. Then let it go.

I hazarded the small extravagance of using my demonic energy to boil water for coffee, and set to work grinding and measuring beans for the French press.

“I’m curious,” I called back to the living room, “How much did ol’ Assface tell you about me?”

“What’s to tell?” she replied, “He said you were handsome, good in bed, and nearly indestructible. All good qualities in a man.”

As much as I knew how Yub-Shnagshoroth knew things — that scrying bowl, the one he used to keep tabs on Earth’s timeline — I still couldn’t get over the casual confidence with which he asserted things, sight unseen. For example my being good in bed.

“Not untrue,” I said as I filled the chamber with water heated to a precise eighty-eight degree centigrade, “But there’s something else you should probably know. I’m a shapeshifter. And while I am a man, I wasn’t born with the same parts your Leppaludi might have. Do you … understand what I mean?”

“Yes,” said Grýla, rather flatly, “You’re like that scoundrel Loki. You can choose to have a kuk or a fitte.”

“Um. Basically, yes.” I finished pressing and set aside the rig to rinse out later.

When I came back in, the giantess had a raptor’s smile and her tits fully out. I definitely felt something stirring in me.

“You have something else that’s far more important to me than your face or your kuk. You have nerve. Most humans would see my body and run screaming. You’re standing there looking right at me, with interest.”

I chuckled to myself as I approached her and got down onto my knees at the edge of the mattress.

“Didn’t he tell you? That was the very first qualification: I fuck monsters. In fact.”

And here a quartet of rubbery brown octopus arms erupted from the white button-down, ripping it to pieces and sending a half dozen wooden buttons skittering across the room.

“As a demi-shoggoth, fucking other monsters is a special treat.”

It was a power move, one that Josefina had suggested I lead with when I wanted to make a dramatic impression. I’d set aside a little fund for new linen. Every so often, she and I would gather the salvaged buttons, bust out Bubbe’s old Singer, and make some new shirts.

“You see — oh, can you sit up just a little?”

I reached out two of those long sucker-clad arms, and slid them under Grýla’s rolls of flesh, simultaneously tipping up her chin slightly with my human left hand.

“— with humans, I’m usually holding back.”

Our faces were rather mismatched in size, so I planted my kiss square in the middle of her lower lip. French was out of the question; I just let it linger, while my finger ran slowly down her neck and onto her shoulder.

Our faces only inches apart, she nearly whispered her reply, “No need for that.”

I got a grip on her hair, and tipped her head the rest of the way back so I could neck her. Ah, yes, there you are. I felt her across the empathic skin-to-skin connection, albeit faintly. A curious presence. Hunger mingled with little drips of relief.

Her skin was tough, but her nerves, sensitive. Silently she mouthed the word, “Ja,” repeatedly as I trailed kisses and bites down to her collarbone, then her left breast.

As I crouched there straddling her torso, fondling her, I felt a sudden bulge in my boxer briefs. The space dick, as I called my demonmade cock, would sometimes appear on instinct. But this one was extra-large. I had to wrest it free before it needlessly destroyed another article of clothing.

Grýla, a bit startled, reached out with calloused fingers to get a better feel for what was poking her belly. She seemed not to believe her senses.

“Faen. You really are a monster.”

She reached out to gather her enormous tits, which were trying to slip under me or sag onto the mattress, and pressed them forward and together.

“Of course,” she continued, “It’s what you do with it.

And Leppaludi does nothing, all day and all night. You ever stick your pikk in a pair of pupps?”

“Not on this scale.”

I smiled despite myself at the absurdity of it all as I produced a tentacle pod, and wrung out lubricating slime that splashed over her tits and ran down her cleavage.

It ran off onto her neck, down the sides of her belly, and onto my crotch while I shimmied into position. With long, unhurried strokes, I stuffed myself between the giantess’s breasts while she shut her eyes beatifically. The caress of her soft skin had my full attention at first. Then, I spared a thought to send one of my sucker-clad arms down her pants to graze her bits. Rubbing there yielded the first of several surprises that night: a seductive melody of pleasured moans and sighs. Pitched, seemingly improvised, flawless, and across at least a two octave range.

I’ll tell you two things about the monsters of Spitzbergen. First, they get freaky in their caves up there, and second they’ve got some serious pipes on them. In singsong, Grýla was absolutely mellifluous.

“Faen,” she cried, “I don’t know what you’re doing to my fitte, but keep doing it.”

As a queer man, I’ll admit, I’ve never taken titfucking all that seriously. I hated having it done to me as a teenager with barely sufficient boobs; I certainly had no grievance when HRT made my chest far too small to bottom the activity. But after Josefina’s recent breast augmentation, I discovered topping it can be goofy fun. With Grýla’s absurd knockers, and me with the extra-large space dick and a tentacle slithering into her cunt, it was doubly absurd and still pretty damn fun.

So when the giantess’s eyes went as wide as a pair of softballs, and she began to cry out in enraptured soprano and dribble wetness from between her legs, I was already rather invested; and I was a bit bummed when she said she needed a few minutes’ intermission.

“Creation,” she said, winded, her voice assuming its usual old-as-the-hills timbre, “I could do that a dozen times. How about you, Blekksprutgutt?”

“I’m sorry, what?”

I was standing over the mattress now, stretching out my limbs.

“It means, ah … Octopus Boy.”

“I love it. Can I grab you some water before we go again?”

We didn’t spend the whole night titfucking, but we went again a couple times, each time trying something slightly different. Me facing away, towards her feet, while she teased my asshole with a wetted fingertip; her looming over me while I sat at the couch, as I treated her to a reacharound with octopus and squid tentacles. When I slid my eager cock against her chest, the tip nearly reached her chin.

Her proportions were such that that didn’t seem quite possible. But she could roll out her tongue like a red carpet to greet it, like nobody I’d ever met, save perhaps my mentor Kaesalpinnix with their bear snout.

Grýla tongue was soft and slick and warm. And it had a little canker-like bump that I could distinctly feel as it grazed my tip, slid past the tender bit of flesh that lovingly recreated circumcision scars of some of my partners, and halfway down the shaft.

Oh, fuck.

I looked into her eyes, which were nearly level with mine despite her kneeling position. They spoke volumes, on top of what I could already feel from her empathically: thrill, delight, and an aching desire to take things further.

“Grýla, I …”

“You want me to suck? I can tell, you’re curious. This maw has swallowed baby seals whole, it is quite tough.”

I grabbed my dick with both hands. Not so much to beat it off as to try and gain control of what it was trying to do. The giantess looked untroubled. Me, not so much.

“You’re thinking about it right now, aren’t you. How much of it could pass my lips before you’re shoving my uvula aside and sliding into my … heh.”

Oh. Oh shit, here we go. She stuck her tongue back out expectantly as the first spasm rippled through me.

“Shit!”

Warm cum, made sticky and briny and masculine by years of HRT, surged through my demon plumbing and erupted. Some of it hit her chin and tongue, some of it plastered the faint bit of peach fuzz above her upper lip, and some of it hit her neck and ran onto her chest. The rest dribbled down my cock and balls and left hand.

Grýla smiled from ear to ear, and she hummed a little ditty in that absurdly melodious singsong voice, as she wiped the jizz around and into her skin.

“This stuff’s marvelous for my wrinkles, you know.”

I somehow doubted my cum was the reason, but actually, after going a few rounds, the giantess did look a bit younger. She was still a tubby nine foot troll with warts. But her skin was a bit more like leather, and a bit less like tree bark. And her head didn’t hunch over quite so low.

“I’m, uh, glad you don’t mind,” I said, “I try to ask folks first if they want it, and where.”

“Relax, my little Blekksprutgutt. You’re doing fine. If I could get my Leppaludi to do a quarter of what you do, I would never leave the mountains. I’d say fuck it, let’s be fat lazy sex pigs together. Let my boys handle Yule by themselves, they’re old enough.”

CHAPTER FOUR

I went to the kitchen to grab my now-cooled coffee. I took a few sips on the couch.

“So,” I asked as I set the mug down on a coaster, “You and he don’t fuck anymore?”

Grýla shrugged and gritted her teeth.

“A few times in a century, nowadays. When I get my taste of outside sex, or bathe in the blood of a dozen children, I come home and … then he’s attracted to me. ‘My dear prune,’ he’ll say, ‘What became of you? You look daisy fresh. Come to me.’ And I let him fuck me, right then and there. I’m not needing it again so soon, but it’s nice to have his full attention. But two hours later, it’s over, and then it’ll be a week before he feels the need. And then a month, a year, a decade, and I dry up and shrivel all over again. And the cycle repeats.”

I reached down to where she was sitting, and stroked her enormous head of hair. I didn’t know how she managed it, but she’d gone into the shower that afternoon looking heavily matted, come out looking decent and mostly detangled, and now, her head was an avalanche of shiny, arrow-straight white and straw-blonde strands.

“That, my mighty spruce tree of a woman, is tragic. If I could summon the dudes from Queer Eye, I’m sure we could fix your situation. But they’re busy defending pink sauce, so fuck it. Assface and I will think of something. Did he tell you about the time we saved the planet?”

That seemed to lift her mood a little.

“Spruce tree, I like that. You can call me your Grantre.”

“Grantre? Okay, sure. Come here, Grantre,” I said, and I let my pants and briefs drop to my ankles, “I would love to see how you suck a cock.”

Which brings us to the second big surprise of the night.

Her eyes had that inscrutable predatory look as she leaned in close, gave the dick a confident stroke or two, pursed her lips and slid it between them. Her mouth was hot and cavernous; save for those powerful lips and tongue, I didn’t feel much, until she had taken half of my length and I brushed against something.

“Oh, that’s nice. What is … that?”

I could feel her swallowing, but it was distinctly inhuman in more ways than just the scale of our body parts. She seemed to have precise control over the throat muscles; I felt them grab onto my cock, tugging at the skin this way and that. She barely moved her head, and my hands were fidgeting idly at my sides; but deep in her mouth it was like a big wet hand jerking me.

I tossed my head back, thinking I might get to enjoy half a minute of this before she came away panting for air. But she just … kept … going.

“Holy fuck,” I said, “Can you teach me how to do that?”

Only now did she lift her head to reply.

“Another human, no way. You? Probably.”

My eyes shut tight with anticipation. I must have looked the very adult version of a kid on Christmas.

“I don’t think I can take much more,” I said, interrupting her as she was sinking down on my cock yet again.

“Then bring it over here,” she said conspiratorially, “Let me swallow it while I finger you.”

She lay back on the mattress, and gestured for me to come straddle her face.

It was a high-difficulty position for a blowjob, one I normally reserved for highly skilled dicksuckers like Josefina, and only at their request. However, as is so often the case in my, “Professional,” life as a Morai-sa representative, human rules had gone out the window. I dropped to my knees, careful not to put weight on her neck; Grýla opened wide; and I turned out my hips, pushing me forward and into her.

I heard, and felt, the giantess fumbling around with something under her woolen skirt. Then I felt the huge finger, slicked up with her own lube, teasing my asshole.

How could anyone last two hours with this woman?

I had to sit still for a couple minutes, half buried in her face, concentrating hard to get my ass to relax. But then I was glad I had. That enormous finger reached up and into me and massaged my little pleasure button. I began to drip, dribble and then drool out a steady stream of thin cum, shivering with arousal.

Her free left hand started smacking my ass, goading me to thrust into her. Once she’d made clear what was expected of me, she went back to jilling off furiously, letting out little moans of ecstasy when a baseline human wouldn’t know how to breathe, much less vocalize, with a dick stuck in there that far.

And as advertised, I could not keep it together. The next time she spanked my ass, I reached out and grabbed two fistfuls of her lovely hair and shoved it in to the hilt, and held it there, hips twitching involuntarily with the undulations of her throat. I let it drag the orgasm out of me. This time it felt as abrupt and pent-up as a shotgun blast.

“Mmmnnnnn!” Grýla intoned, swallowing it all up, overstimulating me further.

“Fuck, shit, oh fuck I can’t take it, it’s too good, please I …” I cried, rather louder than intended.

I stood up awkwardly — which, let’s be honest, there’s no way other than awkwardly to dismount that position. I think cis men who’ve had their ego filled to the bursting point, because domspace is a real and dizzying thing, are too high on life to appreciate the visual ridiculousness of it all. I mean I slid out looking like the saddest little shrinking elephant, my legs rubbery with exhaustion.

My smile was weak but myrthful, and hers was satisfied and strong, as I stumbled over to lie down parallel to her.

“Shit, I don’t know about you but I think I need coffee and a snack. What the hell time is it even?” I checked my smartwatch, “Ten?!”

The giantess frowned.

“We’ve only a little over half the night left.”

I wasn’t immediately sure what to say to that, so I asked myself what Tamaki Suoh would do. A host should always do his best to lift his guest’s spirits.

I gave her a sympathetic look as I reached out to caress her left tit.

“For what it’s worth? I’m having such fun here, I don’t think I could let you go a century without paying me another visit. But we’ll figure that out in the morning. For right now” — and here I reached out a squid tentacle, patting her loudly on the belly with its club, a move shamelessly stolen from the Anomaly — “Tell me what you want to do. Sit on my face? Get fucked? Get podded in all your holes?”

She wrinkled her brow uncertainly at that last option.

“Squid tentacles,” I explained, “You’ll see.”

Grýla considered this carefully.

“Hmmm. My fingren in your raeva felt nice … I can think of some things to try.”

CHAPTER FIVE

Dear reader, it bears repeating that I’ve been to other dimensions, I’ve had all my holes stuffed simultaneously by a horny shoggoth, I’ve been gangbanged by cosmic horrors and I’ve been dominated by a sadistic spider demon. It takes a lot to make me truly nervous nowadays.

But Grýla fit the bill. So when she asked sixty-nine, I made a couple of tweaks.

First, as I lay back on the mattress and propped up my ass with a pillow, I grew myself a couple of extra tracheal stomas out the sides of my neck. It’s important to be able to breathe, should you find yourself with a half-ton monster on top of you. Then I added a little slack to the insides of my bottom holes. Doesn’t matter if you can heal sexual injuries in seconds, they still take you completely out of the passion of the moment.

There was also the minor risk of breaking a rib, or suffocating under her weight, but for that, I could only hope my extra limbs would bear enough of the load.

“But first, me see this body your god gave you,” she said, leaning over me to part the robe and trail her thick fingers down my body.

I’d let the space dick vanish, replaced by my default hardware.

“Ooh! Such manly muscles on my Blekksprutgutt. And down here.”

I shuddered as she brushed against the swollen two inch long T-dick, and continued down my thighs.

“You’re as pretty as a girl!”

I blushed slightly as I pushed my knees apart.

“I’ll take that compliment. Anyway, I can play with it a little — ”

“And deny me a chance to play with fitte? It’s been centuries. You just use your hands to put your legs back.”

I was starting to get tender in my bits after so many rounds of using the space dick, so the moment they felt her tongue’s caress, I was bordering on overstimulation.

“Haaaaaah. Go slow,” I said shakily.

And she did, or at least what counted as slow for a troll at mealtime. She ate it all, clit, cunt and ass, like an animal–using her whole mouth, and with the most feral of noises. I shouldn’t have been entirely surprised if she’d gotten carried away and sunk her big, ragged teeth into my thigh meat. But no. If nothing else, she remembered and respected which kind of meal I was.

I inhaled sharply as she twirled one gnarled finger around between my labia, coating it thoroughly in spit and my own lubricant, and slid it into my cunt.

“Fuuuuck.”

“You want fuck?” she said, between rounds of smacking my T-dick around with her huge tongue, “I’ll show you fuck.”

Her finger slid into me, almost but not quite up to the second knuckle. I’d widened the canal, but I hadn’t made it any longer. This seems to have become my line in the sand. I’ll consider wearing tits for a sex scene, but I won’t pretend to have a normally proportioned clit and vag. These things don’t trigger me anymore. But they aren’t for sex, they are for education and performance art.

“Careful,” I said, stroking their hair affectionately, “It’s very shallow even by human standards.”

The thought occurred to me briefly that this was, to Grýla, about as tiny of a motion as muffing Josefina was to me.

Soon, she had one finger resting calmly inside my cunt, and a second sliding deeply in and out of my ass. Overstimulation of my clit had ceased to be an issue, but now I felt so stuffed it was a wonder I had room to drop my diaphragm to breathe. She was a demanding lover, to be sure. But she topped off my batteries, and then some. Which meant there was no extravagance I couldn’t attempt. I could see myself enjoying a night like that every few years.

“Alright, little Blekksprutgutt. Let’s make this more interesting.”

She slid off of me and shuffled around until she was kneeling, legs spread, cunt and ass nearly in my face.

“I’m read—”

The rest came out as a strangled murmur, reverberating from my other breathing holes. I could feel what must have been a hundred pounds or more pressing down on my face; I couldn’t open my eyes, nor breathe from my mouth and nose at all.

Then the pressure let up a bit, at least sufficient that I could move my tongue around. There was something vaguely sweet and almost … gamey about troll cunt, unexpected but not unpleasant. Sheer proportionality dictated that her clit was about as large as mine, and it slid around quite freely when I batted it back and forth.

“Yes, my dear little manslut.”

Again I felt her damp fingers slide into my holes, but this time with a bit more temerity. I suppose she didn’t want me to get off too soon.

Not that it did much good. I must have had half a dozen little orgasms, with little to no ejaculation, while struggling under constraint of that weight to properly eat her out. But hey, she was clearly appreciating it. She began to rock back and forth, slowly and steadily at first, but increasingly in sharp little pumps of her hips. So, too, increased the fervor of her singsong, and the force with which she fingered my asshole.

“Naughty man, naughty man,” she began to say as she tipped my chin back slightly and grinded her bits in my face, “Make me … make me … hnggghhh!”

The flood of watery spurt poured over my nose and face like I was being waterboarded in it. It was profuse, and it just kept coming.

“Naughty man,” she said again with a coy, gentle smack to the side of my face, “Look what you’ve made me do now. And you’re not even finished. Clearly, we’ll just have to keep going until you cum again.”

I’d had all of three breaths of fresh air when she sat back down on my face and began jerking off my T-dick in her fingers. I lost control before she could even get her finger back up my ass. This time, I made sure I tapped out, giving me a chance to actually vocalize where I was at.

“Fuck, fuck, oh my fuck … I actually got off a few times … Not all my orgasms come with jizz … That was awesome, but I need a breather.”

We stopped for two o’clock in the morning coffee and tea and donuts. While I was in there, I chanced to look at my phone, which I’d left silenced and plugged into a charger.

I had several texts from Jo. I took a moment to reply to the most recent one, from about one-twenty in the morning, which simply said:

Misha says pls confirm you’re alive. Something he saw when he got up to pee.

Christ, that poor man. From the top of the stairs one might conceivably have gotten a glimpse of me getting faceridden to hell and back. Meesh knew I was a competent bottom, but still … oof.

I’m fine but not enough coffee in the world. Running on adrenaline. Coming upstairs to pass tf out at sunrise.

“I gotta say,” I said aloud as I returned to the living room, “I’m getting pretty excited to pound that fitte. And maybe that ass? But first … donuts!”

Or more accurately, donuts, latkes, hiroshimayaki, cider and red wine. I grabbed some petit fours and a slice of schoolbread as well. Two in the morning, and I was heating up a whole little dinner for us.

“These, you have to try. They’re from Japan, another place that truly appreciates fried food like we Jews do.”

She said nothing, because she was too busy going to town on it. High praise from a troll.

“Alright, so, the situation with Leppaludi. Spill. I’ve been with lots of men, so maybe I can help. What’s different when you first come home to him? Is there something special about that first night that you can’t seem to sustain?”

As it turned out, there were a couple things. For one, I didn’t understand what sort of time-dilating nonsense made it possible for her to reach northernmost Canada in two days, set sail, and land in Svalbard in another two. But the trip left her limber and in excellent physical condition. She could be on top, she could do most of the work, and she could accommodate her man in any number of ways. Clearly that wasn’t it.

And on a related note, the years when she’d managed to find a lover, she found herself better prepared to receive her husband’s monstrous troll dick in whatever hole would please him. She enjoyed it all, but if a week went by without sex, as happens, it would be a lot more difficult to use either her cunt or her ass the next time … and Leppa could be lazy about foreplay, excepting when the sense of novelty really got him into a particular mood.

Not helping things was the fact that he sucked at communicating in the heat of the moment. They’d developed some understandings of blanket consent, which helped, and he steadfastly kept to those for her sake. But she still didn’t love how rather than proposing them, he tended to just grab and take them. And if he decided he didn’t want to do something, he didn’t explain himself. He just stopped doing it.

“I don’t understand,” I said between mouthfuls of cabbage pancake, “You’re actually a pretty good communicator yourself.”

Grýla frowned, shrugged her enormous shoulders, and took another big swig of cider.

“We can have a productive conversation about anything else. He’s an good father and disciplinarian, which is why our sons are all such fine upstanding petty crooks. But when the moment comes, something stoppers our easy sharing. Him and me as well.”

I took another sip of wine.

“Communication is hard, especially about sex. That part will take time. But I think I can help you with a piece of your problem right away. Wait here. There’s something I want to show you. If it proves helpful, you can keep it.”

CHAPTER SIX

Honestly, it was just dumb luck that I had the thing available to me downstairs; I’d utterly failed to foresee tonight might call for something in the back catalogue of my toy chest upstairs. But this particular item I’d recently taken out, just for the lulz, and it happened to be in the little, “Pleasuredome,” of the back den, where we kept the massage table and a discreet stash of sex toys.

It looked like a miniature traffic cone made of black bubbles, or a snowman in a latex suit. At 8 inches of insertable length, and three inches diameter at the widest, it was a very intimidating piece of hardware to those in the know.

“Now, this,” I said, as I applied some lube, “Is way too big for most people, but it should be perfect practice for you. I used it, when I was learning how to use my shoggoth abilities to change my holes. Now I don’t need it. So, we lube it up and away you go.”

I handed it to her, and she grasped it carefully by the flared base, turning it over before her eyes.

I ræva mi?

“Yes, it goes in your ass …”

I had a little microwavable squeeze bottle of coconut oil for such occasions. I brought it in freshly warmed, and prompted Grýla to get on all fours. To my great relief, the first lobe of it slipped right in, and it seemed to put an intrigued little smile on her face.

“I see you recognize this feeling.”

“Well, Ja. What could possibly make a grown woman feel more like a princess than you get to lie back and get fokked in the ræva?”

I was smiling too, as I drew the plug back out and poured on even more lube.

“I know just what you mean. I feel like the gayest, handsomest prince when some big strong rugby player lays me down, pushes back my legs, looks me in the eyes and gives me his dick.”

Getting the second ring of the toy inside her ass took a couple minutes of patient work, which was to be expected. This would be a respectable girth for a cock, and the plastic was quite stiff. And the ring after that? Pornstar cock.

“Nice?”

“Drit, that’s big,” she said, “So what now?”

“We leave it in. You can hang out right where you are, or you can walk around a bit while it does its thing. And then, once you’re good and relaxed, I’m going to fuck your little fitte.”

At this, the giantess began to snort and laugh. The plug slid out a notch, and then with a little fthud of wind, it popped the rest of the way out and tumbled onto the mattress. We both burst into riotous laughter.

“Oh, G-d,” I said, “Are you unhurt? I … I’ll get the plug.”

“I’m fine, fine. I’m sorry I … it isn’t your accent. It’s just … little human man with fitte like this” — she pinched her right thumb and forefinger demonstratively — “talking about my little rovdyrkjeft.”

It took a minute to get back on track after that, but soon Grýla was carefully testing out bodily movements. Ass up, ass down, a few steps around the room.

“I like this, it feels naughty.”

“Normally I use my tentacles to warm people up, but you can’t take those home with you in your satchel. Ths, you can.”

She was breathing a little heavily.

“Ja,” she said.

“Are you feeling nice and relaxed with that fullness?”

She nodded.

I knelt, carefully slid the plug back a notch, and called up my most slippery of tentacles. I stroked her lower back gently with my right hand, and softly clasped the dactylus over her bits. It was nice and warm — my fleshy projections always felt slightly above core temperature — and I gave her a few moments to soak that in. She sighed happily.

The empathic connection with her wasn’t particularly strong, not even as strong as with some humans, but I could sense we were roughly where we needed to be. It just never hurt to be too cautious. And I wanted to make this count.

“Fokk me.”

“Patience,” I said, and I started to massage her back and hips lightly as the little suckers rocked back and forth, tugging at her clit and labia.

“Not my greatest strength … ohh, but that is nice.”

I didn’t expect to make much headway getting the knots out of her lower back; they felt like knobs on a tree. But I could increase circulation a bit, prime those nerve endings, and maybe boost that sense of connectedness a little for her …

“Alright, that’s enough. You’ll make me sleepy if —”

She cut off as, once again, the slender tip of an octopus arm slithered into her wet hole. Amplified by all this preparation, I could sense her shock and pleasure. I struggled a moment to process this, because my own nerve endings were likewise lit up like a Yule tree: squeezing through the tight space made by the plug, surveying the shifting landscape of her cunt, laying feelers on every square inch of it in glorious cephalopod tactile precision, until I was in her up to … well, what would have been my elbow. Only then did I start sliding in and out of her.

“Ahhh, fokk … Mmmm.”

Her moans really were music to the ears. Something continued to nag me about this … Leppaludi. He was, she’d insisted, a competent lover when he could be bothered even to show up. But how could a man hear this joyous noise from his love, and not do everything in his power to bring it about time after time?

“Give me the kuk.”

Unnoticed by me, it’d winked back into existence of its own accord, and now it was marble-hard, and trembling as all my ab muscles sat at a hair trigger. I withdrew the arm and tentacle, wrung out some slime, and indulgently stroked up and down the length of the space dick. In such a state of arousal it was a thing of beauty to see. But I dared not keep the woman waiting.

“You want it, you got it.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

Gingerly I teased out the plug, which promptly slipped free, and set it aside. I laid the tip of my cock under her and shoved, letting it skid across her wet hole and the angry nub of her clit. Then I brought it back and slipped it inside her, with only the slightest resistance. I grabbed onto those enormous love handles, and pressed into her.

Eager flesh gripped me tightly, wet heat washing over my senses. For someone who’d been celebate for decades, she sure knew her way around a dick.

“G-d, that’s good. Is this how you like it, Grantre?”

“You fokking know it, Blekksprutgutt. Give me more.”

I was giving her maybe half my length, casually but not gently. But the height differential was making it tricky to get any deeper. Ah, well, no one said monsterfucking would be easy. I shoved down on the small of her back, propelling me up onto my toes.

“There, there! Oh, creation!”

“Yeah, that’s good. Can you spread your knees a little?”

Once I was back flatly on my feet, I could go harder. My thighs clapped sharply against that giant ass.

She started in again with the melodious moans, and this time, I joined her with some of my own as I plumbed deep into her mighty cunt. In teasing her, I suppose I’d also been teasing myself. I didn’t have many occasions to wield the XL space dick. And while I generally no longer worried about having particular hardware to avoid dysphoria in the act, wielding the XL was uniquely over-the-top, a real treat. Not unlike the first time I, as a top, strapped on a dick that would have scared me as a bottom, and saw a partner’s eyes light up.

“Get it,” I murmured, “Get it, get it.”

I wasn’t sure I was audible, and I doubted I’d have made any sense to her. But the words just came. It was like I’d experienced time dilation, and the world was moving too fast for my little mind to handle.

“I could do this all day,” said Grýla.

She had a point. It was a supremely workable position given our respective sizes. I could tell she was having a grand time, but something. So I extended a dainty little tendril, wrapped it around her clit, and massaged it.

Like an itch scratched well, the effect did not go unnoticed.

“Oof, fokk …”

I went back up on my toes a moment, and let gravity lend a hand. Instant shudders. She tightened around me even more, and I leaned into it, blissed the fuck out. Little by little I felt her train of thought melt, and finally derail, tumbling down into pleasurable abandon with a titanic splash, my own not far behind.

“Stars and moons and worlds and the infinite … nnnnhh!”

I tried to catch up, but couldn’t … her spasms of ecstasy had strangled the life out of my erection, or as much of it as was buried in her. So I stopped, and took a minute to revive myself while she panted and sighed.

“Again?” I suggested. Try another position?”

Grýla nodded yes to both. So we tried a few. Missionary was insane–imagine, me face down in a pair of enormous pillowy breasts, kissing and fondling them, overstimulating the shit out of my ecstatic troll partner’s clit, and breathing through the pain when her fingernails dug into my shoulder blades as she came repeatedly, legs shuddering. Then I had her roll over onto her side, which offered me a better range of entry angles than doggy style. Didn’t do as much for her, though.

I’ve mentioned previously I have rather little self-preservation instinct at times. As such, I also assented to try cowgirl. Assisted, of course, by my own tentacles wrapped around her thighs to support her. That was a fucking workout, but I let her ride for long enough to rock and roll her way to a powerful orgasm. That one drenched me, and the bed. And thankfully, it seemed to wear her out too. We both sat back panting for several minutes afterwards.

“I think that makes it officially a marathon,” I declared, wiping sweat from my brow, “Time for a water break.”

I downed most of my 1L Hydroflask while sitting there; Grýla murdered a gallon jug.

“Shit, what time is it? Four thirty?! Time flies when you’re pounding it out.”

“I suppose you’ve more than fulfilled your promise, Blekksprutgutt. Do you need to turn in for the night?”

I thought about it a moment. The spirit was tired; but the flesh still wanted for something. “Not quite. I think I’ve got one more left in me.”

“What’s left to do? You want to take my fitte from behind again?”

“No. I want to stick my cock in your ass so deep that it pokes Satan’s eyeball.”

That got the rich cackle it deserved, and before I could say anything further, she was assuming the position on all fours.

“This is going to be tricky,” I said, “But I have an idea.”

With her knees spread and arms bent, she could get low enough, but only just. She tugged at her right cheek to spread herself open, and I slid the slender pod in and out, with little resistance.

“That’s nice, but is it necessary?”

I patted her ass softly.

“Just making sure we’re ready.”

“Get on it, we’re wasting night … fokk, fokking fokk …”

“And that’s just the tip. Alright, easy, easy …”

Gently I stroked her back, making meaningless coos and susurrations. Over the years, I’ve somehow evolved the habit of trying to soothe my bottoms during anal sex like a ranch hand soothes a nervous animal. Maybe it was all that time watching Uncle Chuck guide horses. I’ve been called cute for it, and I’ve been called a lunatic for it, but damned if it doesn’t get results.

… And good. The toughest bit was past. Slowly I moved in and out of her. Of necessity, the angle was a bit funny, but what mattered was her getting comfortable.

“You said you had … oof … an idea?”

“In a minute. But first …”

I slid deeper into her ass, watching carefully for any indication of discomfort… until there was nothing more I could give with both feet planted.

“This okay?”

“More than okay. Now what?”

This was going to be either the most impressive sexual feat since my ascension, or a very quick trip to a smashed face and broken tooth. I could heal all that; still, I was trepidatious as I pulled back. Now here’s something few lovers can do …

I put my hands on her hips, shot out a quartet of nice strong octopus arms, and latched onto her thighs and shoulders, lifting my body off the ground.

“Hva i helvete?!”

“It’s okay, hon. I’m a professional monsterfucker. I got this.”

Hovering loosely over the small of Grýla’s back, it was a cinch to slip my dick in, put my hands to her waist and just sink into her.

The results were immediate. Heat, and immense pleasure, and her whole body lurched shifting her weight forward onto her arms. Her whole lower body tensed.

“Faen!” she cried, “Faen! Fokk me with your hestkuk!”

I’m not really sure what she was thinking, but the giantess stood up nearly to her full nine foot height, here in the only spot in the house where it was even possible, only to think better of it and lean herself over the couch. I’d pay good money to know what faces she made to accompany all that creative cursing. At any rate, I sensed no pain, just the sensory avalanche of heavy bottoming.

I felt like Doc Ock and Manny Ferrara somehow rolled into one bizarre character sheet.

Out shot a pair of squid tentacles, because fuck it, it’ll be dawn soon, why not take it to eleven at this point. One got a nice firm grip on her clit, the other began to tease its way into her cunt. The giantess’s trembling hands dug into the back of the couch for stability as our bodies rocked. I shut my eyes and pressed my forehead up against the blade of her left shoulder.

A flash of shared awareness. I was the giantess, bent over a couch too puny to seat me. Grýla was the speck of a man who clung to my back, his absurd horsecock filling me, the monstrosity within him reaching out to touch the monstrosity within me.

I snapped back into my own head. She was panting, both her holes throbbing faintly with orgasm, but what’d passed between us had momentarily stolen her voice.

“Forpulte faen,” she said, “What was that?”

“One of my … gifts.”

“Take me harder.”

I pounded and pounded, sweat pouring from me, stupid grin on my face.

I couldn’t sustain much more than I was doing, but I gave it what I could. Skin clapped on skin; and with every blow, I flexed my cephalopod arms slightly. Her cries began to take on more of a heavy metal quality. I knew it was still pleasure, but one could have been forgiven for guessing otherwise. Both of us were on the verge of overstimulation, mouths slack, ragged with pleasure. And deep in my guts, I was building up to one of those tectonic finishes that I knew would leave me utterly exhausted.

“Fill me,” she singsonged, “Fill my rævhøl with your cum.”

“Say that again.”

“Fill my rævhøl with your cum.”

The words hit me like a crosswind, and I crash-landed into chaos. The surging erection and spasming tentacles stretched her as I emptied completely into her ass. I kept up the motions as my fire flickered out. Your move, Grýla …

She threw back her head and screamed, her bits throbbing against my bits.

Finally, gasping for breath, I let the tentacles unwind and sank back to my feet.

CHAPTER EIGHT

I had started to think nothing could tire Grýla Yuletrollet, but that last round had done her in. She collapsed flat onto the bed, rolled over facing the window and passed out. I lay back and stared contemplatively at the ceiling; the adrenaline was wearing off, but sleep wasn’t coming in a hurry.

Then she turned to roll the other way, and her arms piled on top of me.

As a youth, I’d hated situations like this. And as an older man the best I can say is I’ve learned some tools at least to cope with it. I took it as an opportunity to meditate on what we’d done, what I was learning about myself, and so on. I drifted a while … not necessarily to sleep, but somewhere.

I do have my limitations, though. I have to put my pants on one foot at a time just like you full mortals do. So, the moment I emerged from my stupor and saw that the sun had begun to rise, I tried to shake the massive naked woman awake. And when that failed, I wormed my way out of our tangle and got to my feet.

In her sleep, she snorted, “Leppa, jeg kan ikke …

I made two big cups of coffee, and ran up to take a shower.

When I got out, fresh and thoroughly scrubbed, I peeked my head into the master bedroom. As expected, Josefina and Misha were still snuggled up. Well for them, I thought. I’ve got breakfast to make, and a conversation or two to have.

“What is it, Lepp — oh, it’s you. Good morning, Herr Sheldon.”

“Good morning, Grýla. I want to talk, and I made us sausage and eggs to eat while we do that. Can you toss on some clothes for the day?”

I took a moment to text the others and let them know we were decent. Once situated, me at the coffee table and Grýla at the wall, I continued:

“It’s a shame no one does couples counseling for monsters. I think I might know someone who can help you, though. I’ll ask next time I see them.”

“Who?” she asked between bites, “Surely you don’t mean Yub-Shnagshoroth?”

I chuckled.

“No. This is one of my mentors, Kaesalpinnix. They’re a hierarch of the Planters and one hell of a therapist. But also, listen. I think we should try and do this every year. I can’t say it’ll be quite like this, but it’ll be fun. There’s just two things: first, I need it scheduled in advance, it can’t be a surprise like this.”

She waited to finish her sausage link, which disintegrated under her sharp teeth like paper in a shredder, before replying.

“I do keep a calendar, Blekksprutgutt.”

“Good. Let’s take a look at next year then, shall we? Next winter solstice I am … free. No conflicts with other holidays. I’d just want to run it by Josefina.”

There was a creak at the stairs; I turned and saw Josefina in her pink polka-dot nighties, trailed by Misha in his blue and gold Hanukkah pajamas.

“Run what by Josefina?”

Words can’t properly attest to how fucking cute Jo is when she’s sleepy, but I’ll try: she looks like an angel just awakened from a thousand year rest. But you know, with one hundred percent less fire and ninty percent fewer eyeballs, and slightly more pronounced dark circles.

“Solstice again,” I said, “same time same place next year. There’s no overlap with Hanukkah ”

She held up a hand.

“Before I say yes, let me get a look at you, darling.” She inspected my head, neck and chest for injuries. I’m not sure what she expected to see, knowing what I am, but it seemed to help satisfy her protective instincts, and I really cannot fault her for that.

“Anything break overnight? Any soreness in your bits or your bum now?”

“No, and maybe a little,” I said sheepishly.

“Eh, fine, then. It’s the twenty-first? I’ll be in town by then, but I can always figure out something to do with myself… Do I smell eggs and veggie sausage?”

By way of an answer, I gestured to the kitchen and, after a quick hug, Josefina meandered that direction. I waved Misha in for a hug as well.

“Alright,” I said to Grýla, “The twenty-furst. Unless, of course, your husband has other plans for you that night, in which case you should see to him. Which brings me to the other thing: how the hell do we get in contact if one of us has a change of plans?”

She laughed at this.

“Your friend Assface, I see him every couple weeks. He likes to go sightseeing in the arctic. Always at that same little hill in Spitsbergen, not far from where I live. It is most annoying. But I suppose it’ll help.”

Breakfast was a warm and jovial affair after that. The giantess didn’t want to stay long; fair, considering there was nothing in our house designed to accommodate her. But she did take the time to regale us with a couple stories about her offspring; there were thirteen, every single one of them a petty criminal and comical oaf. Plus the aforementioned good-for-nothing husband, and Jolakoturrinn, who I gathered was the terror of many a norse child. He had a strange aversion to socks, though. I couldn’t fathom it. Stilgar, like every cat I’ve loved, is a rampant sock thief.

At some point, we felt and heard a rumbling from outside. Josefina went to the bay window.

“What is it, babe?”

I could see she had that now-familiar look, where something was extremely weird by normal people’s standards but not necessarily weird for us.

“Oh, you know,” she said with a bemused grin, “Her cat shrunk, and your cat grew, and now we have two moose-sized housecats chasing each other around in the snow.”

To which we all nodded sagely.

A few minutes later, I was standing out on the porch, looking over the early morning yuletide landscape of East Ithaca. Truly it looked peaceful. Save, of course, for the massive spray of snow when Stilgar pounced at Jolakoturrinn, missed, and careened into a snowbank.

“Oof. So, you got everything?”

“Ja. See you next year, Octopus Boy.”

“See ya, Spruce.”

I said this, of course, but then Jo and I ended up putting on our coats and following her halfway down the driveway. She waved one last time from the road, turned, and rumbled off to the north, stopping once to whistle to her cat, who came bounding after her through the three inches of snow like it was nothing.

“Glad Yule to all!” I heard her exclaim.

A few minutes later, she was gone from view.

We turned back towards the house, and found Stilgar sitting there expectantly in the drive. He was, of course, back to his normal fifteen pound self.

“Hey, Stil. Did you make a friend this week?”

He chirped, and sprinted for the house. Josefina and I took our time in following.

“So,” I said. “That was a scheduling nightmare — ”

“Shel, do you recall us having a conversation a couple months ago about holiday travel plans? Do you remember what we agreed on that evening?”

I sighed contritely.

“That we would tell the Morai-sa I won’t be available for any work on Chanukah. Jo, I did tell them. This came from The Watch, not Ana, and he was very unclear with me.”

Clearly frustrated, she shook her head.

“Isn’t that worse? Assface reads the future, and may or may not have converted to Judaism a century ago. He would’ve known this was going to inconvenience us.”

“I agree. Next I see him, I am giving him a piece of my mind, and Ares’s number.”

She looked at me seriously.

“Can you do that, and not pull your punches? You’re usually so non-confrontational.”

“I sure as hell can when it concerns time with my girlfriend,” I grinned hopefully at her, “Would that set things right? That and, oh, I’ll pay to move your flight back a day?”

Ah, there was the smile that lit my world again.

“Baby, don’t even, just use my fucking credit card and set it up for me so I don’t have to, and you got a deal. Oh, and one more thing. How would you feel about being affianced to me some day soon? Hypothetically.”

My jaw dropped for a moment.

“It was scary,” she continued, “Knowing you were at risk and not knowing for certain you’d be unhurt. I got to thinking about us.”

“Well … hypothetically, I would say that’s a rather long conversation for this driveway, but I very well might be into that. I might also add that polyam weddings are the cutest and most dorktastic things I’ve ever been to. But, maybe we could talk about it some more after we get a few hours’ rest?”

“Yeah, okay,” said Jo.

We held hands and walked in silence as we came up to the top of the driveway and approached the farmhouse.

“You know something Shel?”

“What, Jo?

“When you and I have a calm and reasoned fight about something, and you treat me with respect the whole time, and then we ultimately reach a resolution we can accept at least for the moment, as equals?”

“Yeah?” I said, “At least on the nights when we’re succeeding at it. What then?”

“It makes me really fucking hot and bothered when that happens. It makes me want to be lying down in bed, with you right behind me, gripping me roughly by my ribs and underboob, pounding my ass and telling me I’m your bitch. As equals.”

Christ, it hadn’t been four hours since that fuckfest.

“I admit, I said, “I am tempted to try.”

“Or” — she reached around and smacked my ass — “I sometimes think about you going down on me and telling me I’m your goddess. As equals.”

“You know, It’s not even eight, if we pound now we’d still have time to sleep in a few hours afterwards.”

I opened the front door, held it for Josefina, and waved her in like an absolute jackass.

“There is no try, Shel. Either do, or deez nuts.”

The door clicked behind us.

THE END

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